Iron Powder and Spellcasters

   Chapter 260 Factory

  Ivan - a former sergeant "known" for his alcoholism and domestic violence in Gervodin - finally understands the true meaning of life: life is not highs and lows, life is lows and deeper lows.

   He was the first enemy Winters captured during his first battle with the New Reclamation Corps. From this point of view, the existence of prisoner Ivan is the witness that Winters officially raised the flag of rebellion.

   From the moment he was captured, Ivan’s experience can be summarized as: being beaten, interrogated, escorted, imprisoned, and most importantly, forced to weave straw shoes.

   There is no violence and coercion, and the attitude of the boss is simple and clear: no work, no food.

   The management of the prisoners was handed over to Samukin by Winters, and there were only three prisoners in total at that time.

   In order to prevent someone from resentfully doing something on the straw sandals, Ivan and the three were asked by Samukin to leave special marks on the straw sandals.

  Samukin told Ivan sincerely: "If there is a problem with the quality of the shoes, then you will have a problem."

  Ivan nodded desperately. At one point he really thought he was going to die, and being lucky to survive made Ivan extremely life-threatening.

  Samukin invited an old man who knew how to weave shoes from Nanxin Village. The old man taught the captives for a day, leaving a few sets of brackets and a large bundle of rushes and flax, and walked away shaking his head.

   For the first two days, Ivan lived entirely by drinking water. The straw sandals he made will fall apart before they are worn, and naturally they cannot be exchanged for food.

  People in desperation can occasionally burst out with power that amazes themselves. On the third day, Ivan, who began to master the tricks, succeeded in weaving a pair of shoes.

  Although the quality of the shoes he made was still not up to standard, Samukin gave Ivan two small loaves of brown bread as an encouragement.

   On the fifth day, Ivan received a normal amount of brown bread.

  Ivan's life after that is to reunite with his former colleagues one by one while constantly improving his shoe-knitting skills.

   During that time, Winters was dedicated to destroying the microstructure of the garrison garrison in Gervoudan. For any grain requisition team that was ambushed by him, the recruits could leave by disarming and surrendering, but he did not let go of the veterans and sergeants.

  The prison in Wolftown is getting more and more crowded. Even if it has been expanded many times, it is still full of sergeants from Gervodin.

   Warden Samukin initially insisted on solitary confinement to prevent concatenation. Later, there were too many prisoners, so they were not very particular about it, and it became the norm to stuff four or five people in a cell.

   This made Ivan even miss the days of living in a single room when he was just captured.

  As the number of prisoners soared, Ivan gradually left the front-line shoe knitting position and began to teach others the skill of shoe knitting in exchange for bread. His life has improved considerably.

  It was at this stage that the supply of straw sandals produced by the "labor camps" exceeded the demand. Originally, one pair of straw sandals was full for one day, but soon it became three pairs of straw sandals for two days, and then two pairs of straw sandals for one day.

  People only have two hands, and there is a limit to how fast we can make shoes. Ivan is not a businessman, but he realizes that he will starve or die of exhaustion if he continues to develop. The demand for straw sandals is saturated, and new gadgets must be found that are equivalent to more bread.

  It's all "weaving" anyway, and Ivan thought of basket weaving, seating, and basket weaving. He petitioned Samukin, hoping to invite a craftsman to teach his skills, and he also wanted to critique raw materials such as reeds, wheat straws, and thin wicker.

   The day before the petition, the prisoners were transferred the next day.

When    walked out of the barracks, Ivan was so scared that he was about to wet his pants. He thought he was going to the execution ground. But they were only taken to a hidden camp deep in the forest.

  It was in this camp that Ivan met another prisoner, Lieutenant Asko, in a crash.

  Asko was ordered to assist Bud and Mason in slaying the bandits, but he was captured as soon as they left Gervoudan. In fact, Asko was taken to Wolf Town long ago, but he lived in a single room, so Ivan never saw the lieutenant.

   "Why were you also arrested?" Ivan's tears flowed all of a sudden: "Gevodan is gone?"

"I was tricked." Lieutenant Asko was very calm: "Don't worry, the rebels are rushing to move us now, which means that Major Ronald is coming—probably already. I guess it will last for a few more days. The Major can come to our rescue."

  Ivan was both happy and a little regretful when he heard this.

   In fact, he still really wanted to try basket weaving and table weaving, because it was one of the only two things he hoped to do in his undisturbed life—the other thing was getting married.

  Ivan waited for Major Ronald to appear, and he waited for a long, long time.

   Waited until he was brought back to the scorched wolf town, until Samukin invited the master craftsman, until the wicker and straw were approved... Major Ronald did not appear.

  Ivan began to learn to weave baskets and seats, but Lieutenant Asko, who was once calm and calm, was almost out of control, and Ivan had to persuade him.

   "Stop drinking and eating meat, those are all working hours." Ivan suggested carefully: "You should come learn basket weaving with me. If you do a lot, you will still be able to cover your working hours."

  Asko looked at the former sergeant and now a novice bamboo craftsman with intoxicated eyes: "The rebels win, what's the point of these things? If the rebels lose, I will naturally regain my freedom. Weaving baskets? Drinking! Drinking!"

   Food is in short supply, how can there be so much wine for the lieutenant? Ivan silently weaves the straw, watching the lieutenant try to intoxicate himself with watered moonshine and carry more "hours" on his back.

  Ivan didn't think as much as the lieutenant, he was simple-minded, he was just hungry, and learned well. The brutal sergeant Ivan did not survive, but the timid prisoner Ivan survived.

Major    Ronald finally appeared before Ivan, but he also came to the labor camp as a prisoner. Not only the major, but all the officers who were alive at the former Gervoudan garrison came here.

  Ivan has become numb, and now even if General Adams appears in front of him in shackles, he will not be surprised. He was promoted to teacher, in charge of teaching his former officers to weave baskets.

   Lieutenant Asko's will was completely disintegrated. The lieutenant first wanted to commit suicide, but after being rescued from the sling, he stopped drinking and learned to weave baskets honestly with Ivan.

   The troughs and deeper troughs are real, and the days just pass by.

   On this day, as always, Ivan brought straw and distributed it to the cells. He then went to the warehouse and set about inspecting the cells of the previous day's products.

   In order to prevent other prisoners from secretly tampering with resentment, Ivan insisted that the "marking measures" be retained. If you can't do anything well, then follow the "mark" to go back to find someone and deduct rations.

   Now Ivan can not only eat enough, eat meat occasionally, but also get a salary.

The proverb    says that "sparrows are small, but they also have blood, organs and bones".

  As the scale expanded, Samukin's labor camp gradually differentiated into many "organs", like a small society.

  For example, Ivan, who is now only responsible for teaching and quality inspection, no longer weaves baskets and shoes like ordinary prisoners all day long.

  The production of weaving requires a lot of raw materials, so Samukin sends those prisoners who behave well to chop branches and harvest straw as a reward.

  Hard-working prisoners were responsible for light, important work, and they were given occasional ale and meat, and they were allowed to hang out within the walls of the labor camp.

   Prisoners with poor skills and attitudes are at the bottom of the labor camp society, sitting in prison cells all day long.

  Invisibly, the making of the basket is divided into several processes, each of which is in charge of different "levels" of prisoners.

  In labor camps, human life is very low. If you want to die, as long as you don't work, you will soon starve to death.

   Samukin, who manages the labor camp, does not have the same obsession as "let everyone survive". His attitude has always been "if you want to die, go to die", and the rest are naturally willing to live.

  The initial operation of the labor camp was stumbling, and there were incidents of prisoners hiding tools and trying to kill guards to escape. But it continues to move in the right direction—from Samukin's perspective.

  The output of woven products has steadily increased, and gradually subdivided into different styles such as large baskets, small baskets, wide mouths, and narrow mouths.

  Samukin pulled the basket on a carriage, and exchanged food with peasants in a nearby village.

   At first, the carriage only went to the villages in Wolf Town, because it was close. However, the demand for baskets by the farmers in Wolf Town soon became saturated, and the basket-making capacity of the labor camp was increasing day by day, so Samukin had to send a carriage to a neighboring town.

   In order to sell more, Samukin was sold very cheaply. The two craftsmen in Wolf Town were quickly overwhelmed. They couldn't compete with free raw materials, unpaid labor and the production method of "one person only does the same job".

   A bamboo craftsman was recruited by Samukin and came to the labor camp as a supervisor. Another bamboo craftsman has land at home, and weaving baskets and mats is a subsidy for the family.

   And the craftsmen in Heishui Town and Wumastiff Town are about to follow in the footsteps of their counterparts in Wolf Town.

The reputation of the    labor camp spread quickly, and there were even foot merchants in the town of Sank who drove horse carts to buy goods.

  Samukin is ruthlessly destroying the “household” production tradition in rural areas, but he does not realize it himself, he is just trying his best to keep the labor camps running.

Although   Ivan was Samukin's "accomplice", he also failed to look at this issue from a higher perspective. To be honest, he was just doing work for rations, deducting work hours, and making some money by the way.

  Ivan checked the previous day's products and picked out the ones that were obviously of substandard quality - he even let them go, but some prisoners were just too much.

   After the inspection, he went to inspect the cells as usual. Today Ivan is not so much a prisoner as a half guard.

   A real guard came over and patted him on the shoulder affectionately: "Brother Ivan!"

   "What's the matter? Sir Hamill?" Ivan knew who it was by hearing the voice.

   "Sir Samukin asked you to come over." Hamill reminded in a low voice, "Sir Montagne is here, and I want to see you by name."

  Ivan walked towards the camp uneasily, thinking non-stop all the way. Finally, he walked outside Samukin's office and hesitated for a long time before knocking **** the door.

   "Please come in." It was the voice of Chief Samukin.

  Ivan swallowed and pushed the door in. He saw that Chief Samukin and "Lord Montagne" were chatting happily.

   Winters turned around and saw this sergeant Gervodin, who was famous for drinking and beating his wife again.

Winters looked at the former sergeant carefully—the other was so thin that he could see skinny necks, shoulders, and wrists, and his old clothes were like rags hanging on branches; The joints are swollen high.

   "You're the Ivan who likes to beat his wife?" Winters asked, frowning slightly.

  Ivan would wake up in his dreams because of this sound. The owner of this sound once dragged him out of the room like a dead dog and smashed his three molars with one punch. He trembled, not daring to answer.

   This is Ivan wronging Winters. It was Pierre who beat up Ivan that night, and Winters was just asking questions, and he let Pierre light it up.

   However, Ivan's memory has long been confused, so he believes that it is the blood wolf Montagne, and this misunderstanding may not be solved until death.

   Seeing the trembling appearance of the other party, Winters sighed.

He said to the prisoner with emotion: "Your wife is really... amazing. I heard that you are still alive. Your wife holds a child and a child, and blocks the gate of the garrison every day to petition for your pardon. Blocked until late, I don't know what she eats and drinks, it's just annoying."

   Hearing Winters' words, Ivan's eyes were dull and his limbs were stiff, as if his soul had been shattered.

"What's wrong with your husband and wife?" Winters asked with interest, propping his chin, "I heard that you beat your wife when you drink too much, so that the neighbors across the street can hear it. In this way, your wife still Never leave and never give up. And such a good wife, you have to fight every other day. In the end, did you fall for the evil, or did she fall for the evil?"

  Ivan lowered his head deeply.

  Winters turned to look at Samukin: "Is this a special custom of your Paratus? Alcoholism, wife beating, and the other party still looking for life and death?"

   "How can you use 'you'?" Samukin was extremely aggrieved: "My family moved here only ten years ago!"

"Okay." Winters picked up a piece of paper from the table with a smile, and tapped on the prisoner: "This is the first pardon list, and it turned out to be without you. According to my opinion, it should continue to be imprisoned. You, when you work enough hours, when will you be let go."

  Ivan tried to swallow, but his mouth was dry.

"But Samukin said you were very diligent and had a good attitude." Winters picked up the quill, scribbled the prisoner's name at the end of the list, and said coldly, "It's also for your wife's petition— you're free."

  Ivan still stood stiffly in place.

   "Why are you still standing?" Winters raised his eyebrows lightly: "Let's go!"

  Samukin stood up, patted Ivan on the shoulder, sent the latter to the door, and said to the latter: "The pardon will be officially announced tomorrow, and then a carriage will take you back to Revodan."

  Ivan nodded gratefully.

   "Go." Samukin waved his hand: "Pack up and go."

  Winters watched Samukin go out and come back, although his expression was calm, his mood was a little turbulent. Not for the prisoner, but for Samukin.

  Samukin Sopkin is his old Wolftown subordinate, one of his most trusted and powerful subordinates. When he only had thirty or so people, Samukin was already the ten commander, one of the three ten commanders he had selected earlier.

   The other two ten commanders were Vashka and Tamas, the latter now the first company commander of the Iron Peaks infantry.

  If Samukin also goes to Revodan, then the position of the first company commander should be his. But at that time, there were a large number of prisoners in Wolf Town who needed to be controlled, and Samukin was the only person who had this ability, and he had always been in charge of managing the prisoners.

  So Samukin stayed in Wolf Town, he missed the battle of Gervodan, the battle of Hammer Fort, and the reorganization of the troops.

   For Samukin, Winters felt guilty.

   He had a lot of things he wanted to do when he returned to Wolf Town, but his initial motivation to find the brick-burning brothers Xiao En and Xiao Ping fell to a secondary position.

He wants to come and see Bud, he wants to kidnap Kaman, he wants to put Big Bentine on trial in Wolftown, he wants to talk to Ronald and others... and, he wants to take Samukin to Revordan .

"I've seen this kind of thing a lot." Samukin smiled and walked back: "Everyone in the village knows that if a husband and wife fight, if they go to persuade them, they will be scolded by both of them. You don't need to speak for Ivan's wife at all. Since that mother-in-law asked you to petition, she deserved it if she was beaten to death."

   "Just don't come to block the door." Winters smiled bitterly: "The gate of the station is blocked every day, so I have to walk over the wall."

   Samukin laughed.

  Winters looked at Samukin and said with emotion: "You can manage hundreds of people with dozens of people, and you can still produce output. You managed this labor camp really well... It's better than I imagined."

   "Just messing around, just don't blame me." Samukin scratched his hair embarrassedly: "I have had a headache recently, I don't know what to do."

"what?"

"There are too many people." Samukin pointed to the prison area and said helplessly: "Some people have already started to form gangs - the Revodans, Beiba Town and Nanba Town. There was a fight just last week, and I doubt it. Did I make them too full!"

"You can touch this point, it means that you are better than all company commanders." Winters was no longer satisfied, but a surprise, and he thoughtfully mentioned Samukin: "I think of something I didn't understand before, but now I can read it. Something interesting. Do you know the sea blue pier?"

  Winters narrates the rivalry, strife and strife of the Montans, Vine and Palatines on Aquamarine Docks.

  Samukin listened carefully and asked back: "You mean, the people above the dock workers deliberately divided them into three groups and asked them to fight each other? So I should also..."

Winters turned over the paper and drew a triangle on the back: "Not necessarily 'deliberate', more likely 'laissez-faire'. Customs didn't want to directly manage all the dockworkers, and they didn't want to see the dockworkers in a group. So the gang And associations fill that space.”

   Having said that, Winters divided the triangle into three layers, and wrote customs, gangs and dock workers respectively.

   "What's the benefit of doing this?" Winters asked instructed.

  Samukin bit his lip: "Uh... people fight people, easy to control?"

   "What's the downside?"

"There are fewer people who are really working." Samukin thought hard: "Also... very dangerous. The small gang will lose control at some point. In the fight last week, two were maimed, and I hanged two more. , all of a sudden there are four less people who can work."

   "Then what are you going to do?" Winters put down his pen.

   "I can manage it now. I think it's better to let the prisoners understand that there is only one fist in the labor camp. If it can't be managed, I will try to separate them."

   "Very good, really good." Winters sat upright, put away his smile, and called out: "Samukin Sopkin!"

  Samukin stood up abruptly like sitting on a soldering iron: "Here!"

   "Pardoning the prisoners, on the surface, is in response to the petition of Gervodan and Beiba Town." Winters said word by word: "Actually, I don't care about the prisoners. I'm here to free you!"

   Winters took out an iron arrow from his bosom and said solemnly: "An iron arrow is ten small arrows, now called a company, with a total of 120 people. This iron arrow—is yours."

  Samukin looked at Tiejian, his nose a little sore.

   "The troops have already been formed, and it is difficult to integrate them directly. So I plan to set up another military police company, and you will be the commander of this company."

   "I..." Samukin choked up a little, tears welling in his eyes: "You still remember me, Centurion."

   "No, I don't want you to be the commander of the military police now." Winters made a sudden force in his hand, and the iron arrow broke with a "bang".

   Winters slapped the broken arrow on the table: "One hundred and twenty people, so wronged you! I'll give you one thousand two hundred people!"

   "One thousand two hundred?" Samukin was stunned.

"It's 1,200 people." Winters laughed proudly. "But not 1,200 soldiers, but 1,200 prisoners, prisoners from Vigne. There is no one in Gévordan, and I have to take charge myself. The big labor camp. But now, you are qualified to carry this heavy burden. Your official position is still the company commander, but the people under your command will be ten times that of other company commanders. Pack your bags and come back to Revodan with me the day after tomorrow!"

   "Then... what about the labor camp in Wolf Town?"

   "All those who have not been pardoned are moved away, with the twelve hundred prisoners you will take over. Take them all to Forge Township, where the troops are stationed."

   "What about the officers and captives of Gervoudan?" Samukin looked distressed: "Do you also take it to Forge Township? Is it too close to Gervodin?"

   Speaking of this, Winters also had a headache: "They still stay in Wolf Town, you can assign some reliable personnel to Lieutenant Budd, and let Lieutenant Budd take care of them first."

   Samukin raised his hand in salute.

Winters sighed, he had no intention of concealing his true thoughts: "One thousand two hundred people, I don't know if you can manage a large labor camp of this size. I want to re-mine the Iron Peak mine, and I want to organize a logging team. Also A lot of things are expected to be done with these prisoners. So this position is very important, and I don't trust anyone."

  Samukin leaned his body, pursed his lips, and his eyes were tense.

   "Don't be so sullen, why are you so serious?" Winters smiled lightly: "You called me all the way, are you even afraid of me?"

  Samukin forced a smile, but his cheeks were still stiff.

"But I can't do everything myself, you have to share my responsibilities sooner or later. I think you can already challenge more important responsibilities, and you are the first person in my old department to take on such responsibilities. Let go. Go do it, and I'll give you the bottom line."

Winters threw the two broken arrows to Samukin, and smiled helplessly: "If you don't do well in the big labor camp, you can find a blacksmith to put this iron arrow together, and come back and continue to be a military police for me. Captain."

  Samukin held the iron arrow and was silent for a long time, then got up and saluted.

   Winters also stood up and returned his salute solemnly.

  …

When    left the labor camp, Winters was relieved, but he had another concern.

   He hadn't had time to put Big Bentine on trial, and he hadn't had time to talk to Major Ronald, but those were little things.

   After arranging the whereabouts of Samukin, Winters had only one important thing left to do when he came to Wolftown - to abduct dear Father Carmen to Gervodin.

   This matter, Winters is not in a hurry, he has not even spoken to Kaman alone yet.

  Because he knew very well that he wanted to turn Kaman to Gervodan... Well, the key to this matter is not Kaman.

   [Thanks to book lovers for their collection, reading, subscription, recommendation ticket, monthly ticket, reward and comment]

   [The process in which the labor camps defeated the wolf-town blacksmiths was the process in which the handicraft workshops defeated the rural self-employed]

   [Not a factory, and still far from the Industrial Revolution]

   [A workshop refers to a large-scale handicraft workshop in the budding stage of capitalist development; a factory refers to a modern production method of machined production. ]

   [The core of industrialization is the change of power source. Taking manpower as the prime mover cannot be called "industrialization" in any case, only handicraft]

   [As for the assembly line, the real assembly line was invented by Ford. However, the concepts of "decentralized production" and "centralized assembly" have long been applied to industries such as shipbuilding]

   [The concept of division of labor did not appear until after industrialization. The handicraft workshop is the product of the division of labor among many people. There were handicraft workshops in the Qin Dynasty and ancient Rome, but it had nothing to do with industry]

[Please allow the author to give an example, the ship outfitting operation carried out by the Venice Arsenal on the 16th: the keel and the hull are completed in the new arsenal, and then go down the river to the old arsenal. Storage facilities, then swords, and then projectors and artillery…everything that should have been fitted out.” This description is completely the feeling of the vehicle assembly line, but it is not an industry, it still belongs to the handicraft industry]

   [Title of Chapter 12, Volume 1 of Capital—Division of Labor and Workshops, the content is about workshops]

   (end of this chapter)