America 1881: They Call Me Legend

Chapter 224 How glorious it is for me to be an oil worker

After Meyer returned to the oil field, he arranged for his engineers who had followed him to install the refining equipment.

They inspected those oil wells and found that the original oil well equipment was good and advanced. Engineer Jackson even designed a pump for him to extract crude oil.

Meyer has no plans to drill a second well until the refining equipment is on track.

Therefore, as long as there are enough workers, we can start work.

"Hanny! Hanny!" Meyer called the deputy's name in the office.

Hanni was studying the drawings with the engineers in the outhouse when he heard Meyer calling him and trotted in.

"How is the recruitment of workers going?" Meyer asked while flipping through the "Standard Oil Company Oil Well Operation Manual" on the table. "They still need two days of training before they are recruited."

"Well, no one signed up," Hanni replied.

Meyer suddenly raised his head and stared at his deputy with wide eyes: "Not one?"

"Well, not one."

"That's impossible." Meyer twisted his stiff neck, "This is based on the normal Chinese salary."

"What if the cost of living is high?" Hanni muttered in a low voice.

Meyer didn't seem to hear what Hanni said. He thought for a moment and then said to Hanni: "Go and find out what's going on."

Hanni changed his clothes and went to town.

About two o'clock in the afternoon, Hanni came back on horseback.

He took off his coat and walked into Meyer's office.

Seeing Meyer's expectant expression, Hanni's face looked a little strange: "It's because the wages are low, and those Chinese are unwilling to work!"

"Impossible!" Meyer slammed the table, "I have dealt with them before."

"They position themselves as cheap labor. I have never heard of a Chinese employee refusing to work because of low wages. There are always some of them who will stand up and be willing to accept the price!"

As an employee of the Standard Oil Company, he had seen all kinds of workers.

"Could it be that these Chinese people can't understand English?" Meyer frowned and pointed out a possibility.

He had previously come into contact with some Chinese workers who did not even know a few Chinese characters, let alone English.

"When I went there, I happened to meet the boss of the grain store, Chen. He was explaining the meaning of our recruitment notice to the people around him."

"These people don't seem to be the same." Hanni scratched his head. "They seem to be talking about 'equal rights.' They will get whatever the white people pay."

Meyer jumped up from his chair, and he, who was always elegant, cursed: "Fart! What nonsense are you talking about? What do these people know about 'equal rights'!"

"They also specifically explained the meaning of this word to me, saying that there is no difference between them and white workers. If so, they are more ingenious," Hanney said.

These words were of course taught to these Chinese by Chen Jianqiu.

When he came back from Santa Fe with Holmes last time, he looked at the pile of books he put in the bucket and something suddenly occurred to him.

He pestered Holmes to compile a simple English pamphlet; he took some time off to write a Chinese one.

Whenever he had time, he would pull those who were busy on the construction site to the square in the center of the town and give them a crash course.

Hanif Restaurant's meals are provided directly during class. If you don't attend class, the price of meals will be doubled.

Holmes teaches English, and he teaches Chinese. He teaches whatever he can and teaches whatever he can.

Chen Jianqiu also gave Li Sifu special treatment. If he had something to do, he would ask Li Sifu to take one or two classes.

Meyer was a little confused and stood there in a daze.

"Otherwise, we'd better go outside and recruit them," Hanni suggested.

Meyer shook his head.

Transferring people from other factories, recruiting people from nearby places, and even recruiting Mexicans were not things he had never thought about, but they were all unrealistic.

Except for those refinery engineers and workers who brought themselves, no one else was willing to come.

And these people alone are obviously not enough to meet the production of oil wells and refineries.

"Add more money! Add more money!" Meyer gritted his teeth, "I'm going to go directly. I want to make some things clear. Don't get cheap and be nice."

He told Hanni: "Go find Captain Lynch and ask him to send a few men with guns to follow me."

Roswell Newtown, afternoon, half past five.

Next to the notice board in the square in the center of the town, there was an extra table and a chair, surrounded by a group of workers who had just finished their work at the construction site.

Meyer was sitting on the chair, while Hanny took a pen, went to the recruitment advertisement originally posted on the bulletin board, and changed the salary on it.

Under normal circumstances, the salary of Chinese people is half that of white people in the same position. With this change, it is basically the same level.

Meyer looked left and right, but did not see Chen Jianqiu in the crowd.

If there is no one to translate, then there will be no one to translate. Anyway, you will understand what you are going to say next.

"Everyone has seen that the salary has been increased. Anyone who is willing to work should register with me. Priority will be given to those who understand English." Meyer had a notebook in front of him. He turned the pen in his hand and tapped it on the table.

on, making a "da, da" sound.

Those white people in the crowd, you look at me, I look at you.

This amount is slightly lower than what Chen Jianqiu offered before, and he earns more without working on a construction site.

A few of them came out, and a few young Chinese guys also stood up.

Among them was He Jiasheng who went to the cave with Chen Jianqiu.

Because of his quick reaction and flexible mind, just like Li Sifu, he is now Chen Jianqiu's key training target.

"Manager, it seems there was some trouble when Peter came here." Hanni looked at the white people and whispered in Meyer's ear.

Meyer nodded and winked at the man holding a gun next to him.

Captain Lynch did not come over because he had something to deal with. He took a picture of the deputy captain of the factory guard team and followed him with four or five guards.

The vice-captain is a Dixie guy with a red nose.

He adjusted his hat, lifted up the shoulder strap of the repeating rifle on his back, cleared his throat and said:

"Some unpleasant things happened here before, and one of our managers and several experts were beaten."

"This is a barbaric, crude thing, very serious in nature."

He looked around arrogantly, seeming to show his majesty, but also seemed to be a provocation.

"I am a very reasonable person and I only believe in the gun in my hand. I hope that similar things will not happen again here in the future."

"The company has company rules!"

The deputy captain took off the gun from his shoulder and showed it to the onlookers.

"If it happens, I will exercise the power granted to me by the Constitution and punch a hole in the head of each of those people; if it doesn't happen, then I will be good friends with everyone."

"It doesn't matter if you don't have a gun, I can provide protection for everyone!"

His words were not only a warning to those white people who had committed crimes, but also to the Chinese people present.

The vice-captain was very satisfied with his speech. He looked at the people around him again and found that these Chinese were also looking at him.

He proudly played with the repeating rifle in his hand, and at the same time looked at Meyer beside him.

You see, force is better.

However, at this moment, a burst of laughter suddenly came from the crowd.

The vice-captain's face suddenly turned red, and he was about to open his mouth.

The crowd parted, and Chen Jianqiu walked up from behind.

He changed into a gray cloth robe and stood in front of the crowd with his hands behind his hands.

The eyes of many Chinese people behind him were focused on him.

"There is no need to provide protection. We appreciate your kindness." Chen Jianqiu looked at the deputy captain and said with a smile.

"What do you mean?" The vice-captain looked at Chen Jianqiu angrily.

Chen Jianqiu did not answer, but raised his hand and said to the Chinese behind him: "Let this gentleman see your guns."

The crowd dispersed immediately and ran towards their houses.

Half a minute later, they returned to the square almost at the same time, neatly arranged into a square formation.

On their shoulders, they all carried a brand-new Winchester repeating rifle; on their waists, they all had a Colt revolver.

"Everyone, work hard, Standard Oil will not treat you badly." Chen Jianqiu said to them, as if he was the spokesperson of Standard Oil.

"Jiasheng, let's sing the song I taught you." Chen Jianqiu gestured to He Jiasheng.

A loud singing voice came from the square array:

“Wherever there is oil, that’s my home

The red flag flutters in the clouds

The hero whips his horse into action

How glorious it is for me to be an oil worker

Wearing an aluminum helmet and walking around the world

…”

The vice-captain was dumbfounded, and so were Meyer and Hanni.

Although they could not understand Chinese, their momentum and mental outlook were really shocking.

One of them silently put away his gun, while the other two opened their notebooks and obediently began to register the names of the Chinese workers in front of them.

Second update

(End of chapter)