Chapter 161 Confused Cadres

Chapter 161 Confused Cadres

Chapter 161 Confused Cadres

Onigashima, Beasts Pirates executive meeting.

Kaido sat in the main seat. After reading the report in his hand, he threw it on the table for other cadres to circulate.

Most of the cadres of the Beasts Pirates are as uneducated as Kaido, and they probably just glance at the key points. But even if they can't understand the overall picture and only look at the key points, they can realize the problem.

Every cadre who read the report had a look of surprise and confusion on their faces, not understanding why things had turned out this way.

"Where is Lu Li? I want him to explain this to me."

Kaido said that the results reflected in the report violated their years of experience in running factories and even more so their instincts as pirates.

"Mr. Lu set sail from the port this morning and should be almost at Ghost Island by now."

Yanzai Jin spoke up. During this period, he was the cadre who observed the changes in Wano Country from the closest distance, and he was also the person who had the most contact with Lu Li.

From the initial indifference to the current change of address, we can see the obvious change in his attitude towards Lu Li.

Precisely because this important figure in the Beasts Pirates was friendly to Lu Li, the other cadres, even if they had little contact with Lu Li, would not look down on this friend of Yamato.

"It's quite a coincidence. Just let him come directly over."

Kaido didn't think much about it, he just thought it was good that Lu Li appeared when he needed him.

Not long after, Lu Li was taken to the conference room. He was a little surprised to see that the room was full of people. He didn't expect that everyone was having a meeting at that moment.

It was also the first time for him to see all the cadres of the Beasts Pirates gathered together. There were all kinds of people, big and small, it was really strange. If they all used their fruit abilities, it would be like a gorgeous zoo.

Now it has been a month and a half since he and Yamato governed Wano Country, and the three new pilot factories have been in operation for two weeks. He came to Onigashima specifically to talk to Kaido about some new projects.

Unexpectedly, as soon as I entered the room, I saw all the cadres turning their heads and staring at me with their eyes wide open.

"You came just in time, tell me what's going on?"

Kaido pointed at the report on the table and said, "Boy, are you going to make up a report?"

When Lu Li saw the report on the table, he suddenly realized what the cadres were discussing here.

He had someone send this report to Onigashima the night before. Although Kaido told him and Yamato to go for it, he had to let Kaido know about some major things before he did them, such as the construction of factories and pilot reforms, so he had to be tactful and let Kaido know about the relevant results.

"How come the Governor is doubting the contents of the report?"

Lu Li said with a smile, after being in the Beasts Pirates for more than a month, he probably understood the local atmosphere.

When facing strong or valuable people, Kaido is very indulgent, and there is no such serious hierarchical relationship between the cadres, so he is speaking more and more casually now.

"Your report states that the output of the new factory in the past two weeks is 30% higher than that of the old factory. Isn't this a fraud?"

Kaido asked seriously.

"What's there to fake? If I wanted to please the Governor, I might as well just write that it tripled."

Lu Li walked forward and picked up the report, knowing that Kaido probably hadn't even read the details and explanations in it, and that he would have to speak the final word.

Oh, the report was not actually written by him. Instead, he asked the Kang family to write it after doing the statistics. After reading it, he felt that it was relatively regular and consistent with the facts, so he gave it directly to Kaido.

The cadres present became a little impatient after hearing Lu Li's words. Drought Jack said, "Boy, don't be so arrogant. You need to know what you are talking about. This is a 30% increase in production. As far as I know, those workers are all new."

Lu Li nodded, "Yes, it is precisely because we are new talents that our output is low. Originally, according to my estimate, the production capacity must reach 50% of the old factory to be qualified."

As soon as these words came out, the cadres present were dumbfounded, while Kaido's eyes were shining, "Lu Li, tell me quickly, what is going on?"

Among the crowd, only Maria and Jhin had flickering eyes, as if they were thinking about the key.

"It's a simple truth."

Lu Li smiled and explained, "First of all, everyone has misunderstood a little. The workers I selected are all elites. Although they have not worked in the old factories, they are all excellent craftsmen. Not to mention the artificial devil fruit factory, they can directly take up the weapons factory and the seastone processing factory and complete the work excellently."

He pointed to a column on the report and said, "In fact, the weapons factory and the seastone processing factory have already met my expectations. Compared with the original factory, the output has increased by 50%. The production capacity of the artificial devil fruit factory is poor, but it is only similar to the previous one. The 30% capacity increase marked in the text below is the statistics of the total capacity."

Lu Li's words shocked many cadres again. Kaido snatched the report from Lu Li, looked at the numbers in each column carefully again, and showed a look of surprise.

"Mr. Lu, you said the Devil Fruit Factory has poor production capacity. Why is that?"

Black Maria asked, "Is there something different from your plan, so it can't be improved?" Lu Li shook his head, "That's not the case. From the beginning, I didn't expect the output of the artificial devil fruit factory to be very high. The reason is what I just said. These are newcomers. Although I carefully selected them, they are people with craftsmanship in Wano Country. Their skills are okay for weapon processing. There are too many new technical fields in the artificial devil fruit factory that they don't understand. It is difficult for people who have not received systematic training to work there efficiently."

"So, if we assign the craftsmen from the old devil fruit factory to lead the craftsmen in the new factory and train them, wouldn't their output be higher?"

Maria pondered, thinking that perhaps under the new factory model, even artificial devil fruit factories could be expected.

"That's the truth."

Lu Li said, then changed the subject, "However, I don't recommend doing this, and I'll explain why later."

"Lu Li, according to this, the new factory's production capacity is indeed very high, but why is this so?"

Kaido asked impatiently, he wanted to know what the trick was and whether it could be copied to his old factory.

If we ignore the Devil Fruit Factory, the output of the general-sale products under his industry has increased by 50%. If he expands the scale further, how much money can he make? He gets excited just thinking about it.

"It's a simple reason. Because they are now free workers, they work on their own initiative. They really want to do a good job, which is better than being forced to work."

Lu Li explained, "A person's working state has a great impact on work efficiency."

Kaido pondered for a moment and felt that he did not quite understand Lu Li's words. He raised a superficial question, "But we did not force the people in the old factory to work. We paid them."

Lu Li glanced at the cadres and found that they all had the same expression as Kaido, so he explained helplessly: "In a sense, what the Governor did before is the same as what I do now. People work because they are forced to do something."

Seeing that everyone was puzzled, he continued, "But the models of the two factories are completely different. The workers in the old factory are treated poorly. The wages they receive are only enough to feed themselves. They also work under horrible high pressure and are often beaten and scolded by supervisors. This is actually a life of slavery."

"How can he be considered a slave? We pay him a salary and feed him. Isn't that good enough?"

Maria frowned slightly. She was the one who made the previous factory management plan.

"No wonder……"

Lu Li complained in a low voice that Maria was a sadistic queen who liked to play the slave game, so even after paying the wages she still ran the factory in a distorted way.

"What did you say!?"

Maria was a little unhappy and felt that she was seriously underestimated.

"I mean, Miss Maria, you have fallen into a misunderstanding. You think the wages we pay to the workers are enough for them to eat."

Lu Li held up a finger and said, "If he is alone, he can indeed eat his fill, but in reality, many adult workers have families. After they use their money to buy food, they share it with their families, so he cannot eat his fill."

Seeing Maria's surprised expression, he continued, "If a person is hungry, he will have no strength. Long-term hunger will also make people depressed and negative. How can he work efficiently under such circumstances? Once he is dazed, the supervisor will think he is lazy and will whip and insult him. When the worker is injured, he will be even weaker and hate the Beasts Pirates. In this case, it's good enough if he doesn't make trouble. Do you still expect him to produce efficiently? It's a completely vicious cycle."

Lu Li's voice was low. "Of course, this vicious cycle will not last long. If it continues like this for a long time, people's life span will not be long. I don't know if there have been any statistics, but I estimate that there are not many craftsmen who can survive for more than ten years in the factory."

Lu Li's words bluntly explained the drawbacks of the vicious cycle of the old factory, and many cadres understood it.

After thinking about it, they were surprised to find that what Lu Li said was right!

"Mr. Lu, I know very well what slaves are like."

At this time, Jin spoke up, "If you say that the people in the factory were slaves before, I think it's not much different, but why do you say that free workers are better than slaves?"

Both King and Kaido have witnessed the darkness and cruelty of the world. King himself has been treated as a slave and a test subject for many inhuman experiments.

In his view, slaves are the private property of slave owners. They are told to do whatever they are told. Slave owners do not need to pay slaves wages, they just need to give them food to eat.

Although Kaido paid wages to the people in the factory, Jin felt it didn't make a difference, because in essence he still gave them a meal that barely filled their stomachs, and their actual daily use was managed according to the same plan for managing slaves.

This is a management method derived from their own experience. After all, they have seen how slave owners manage. The overseer can drive the slaves to work by waving a whip. It does not require any additional costs, nor does it require talking about human rights with the slaves.

So even though Jhin hated slave owners, he admitted that this was a way to drive labor cheaply.

When Lu Li heard Jin ask this question, he smiled, "This is a counterintuitive point. Do you all think that the economic cost of using slaves is very low?"

The members of the Beasts Pirates present all nodded, with expressions like "Isn't this natural?"

"But in fact, the economic cost of using slaves is not low. You are all great pirates who have traveled all over the world. You must have been to many countries. Some countries are feudal monarchies, and some are slave countries. So, have you found that the economy of slave countries is often not as strong as that of feudal countries?"

Lu Li did not say anything absolute, because he was familiar with the world history where there had been a powerful slave country, but the composition of that country was more complicated, and it eventually collapsed because of slavery.

(End of this chapter)