Chapter 149 Incense and Instruments
During this period, workers' working hours and labor intensity were truly money-making risks. Their length of service could be equated with their life expectancy. It was not as simple as losing hair or having dark circles under the eyes. They were completely regarded as consumables that were reasonably consumed in the production process, no different from machine parts that were replaced regularly. To be honest, there was a difference. At least the machines could still be maintained, but the workers could not.

The work is demanding, but the income is so little that life is hard. Many times a cold can destroy an entire family.

Illness leads to weakness, weakness leads to mistakes at work, mistakes at work lead to dismissal, and after being dismissed, how long can this family last?
Among the lower class in the entire Magic City, it is rare to find family savings that can cover a month's expenses, but it's not that much either, otherwise why are they called the lower class?

When most families do not have much savings to withstand risks, the cost of unemployment is too terrible. So these people can endure exploitation and work hard even though their wages are not high, just because they are afraid.

Although it was pitiful, after thinking about it, Yan Xu still did not dare to raise the salary, because he could not grasp the extent of the chain reaction of the salary increase. This involved an entire exploiting class. If he really dared to touch it, the consequences would be more serious than a major reshuffle of the entire gray and black area of ​​Shanghai.

Without these gang leaders, their positions will be replaced within a month or two, but a wage increase means that the exploiting class will permanently lose this part of the profits.

So you can raise prices, but you can’t raise wages, no matter how grandiose your words are.

At that time, the exploiting class still had a very simple understanding of the economy and capital, which was to squeeze people to death, because human life was worthless and there were no laws to restrict them, so why make it so complicated? Of course, the simpler the better.

Yan Xu had no way to deal with this. The entire class was exploiting the interests of the lower class. Raising his wages and increasing production costs would be more hateful than killing the bosses in the gray and black areas.

If you deal with those gangsters, at most you will attract opponents like the Boxers. If you dare to touch the interests of the upper class, believe it or not, the other party will invite the Heavenly Master of Longhu Mountain and the Abbot of Shaolin Temple to have a heart-to-heart talk with him.

Do you really think you can do whatever you want just because you have some ability? This world is very treacherous.

If it weren't for the divine Guan Yu descending from the sky and using Yan Xu's body to strike the sword that shocked the Demon City, with his killing method alone, he would have been cast into the ranks of evil demons who could be killed by anyone. How could he have been allowed to live at large until now?

As for whether the person he killed deserves to die, that is not important. If they want to deal with you, they need to find a reason. Just saying that you are too murderous is enough for those righteous people to pin you to the ground and beat you.

Yan Xu thought hard for a long time. Since he couldn't raise their wages, he would make up for it from other places. Reducing the expenses of these families by providing meals was also a solution.

Soon the factory issued new regulations. In addition to changing the working hours to 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., ten hours a day, the factory also provided two meals, morning and afternoon. They were nothing but porridge and steamed bread. The factory told the public that this was a reward system implemented to increase work efficiency.

Yan Xu was also facing a lot of pressure, because the working hours in other factories were longer than his, the treatment was more stringent, but there was no reward, which would definitely cause people to be uneasy.

Under pressure, Yan Xu had to link the increased treatment with religion and promote the Guandi Society in the factory. After all, foreign churches also gave out communion, so there was nothing wrong with his Guandi Society giving out porridge and steamed bread.

In fact, this is also quite taboo, because there are many people who use religion as a cover to cause trouble, such as the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Boxer Rebellion not far away.

However, the Qing Dynasty once vigorously promoted Guandi, although it was to offset the influence of Yue Fei, but Yan Xu's Guandi Society still gained a politically correct identity.

Moreover, his identity was not ordinary. He was not a member of the Qing Dynasty. Instead, he was deeply involved with foreigners and concessions. The Qing government didn't know where to start even if they wanted to intervene.

Not to mention that he is secretly called the God of Killing. If he really confiscates the other party's industry and completely infuriates the other party, he will probably start a killing spree.

Ordinary means would be fine, but if they really provoke Guandi to descend, Qing officials don’t think he will show mercy to them.

In the end, with both sides concerned, the master spent a sum of money to settle the matter. But Yan Xu couldn't swallow this anger, so he asked Xiao Tianlang to take the two brothers to the north to recruit people.

He has so many factories and so many employees, so it's not too much to hire three to five hundred security guards. According to the eight-hour work system and three shifts, it's normal for the number to triple.

To put it bluntly, Yan Xu has already started to rebel, but no one knows whether he can make up his mind in the end, not even himself.

The main reason is that it is not yet the Republic of China period, and there is a foundation for reform. If he rebels now, he will have no choice but to become a warlord, because it is useless for him to have high ideological awareness alone. The people below do not understand his ambitions at all, and do not even understand why he wants to do this. It would be strange if there are no problems at that time.

Although he suffered some injustice, Yan Xu's efforts were not in vain. Thousands of families benefited from him. Not to mention that under the influence of the Guandi Society, living cutting and mutilation were almost extinct in the Magic City, and human trafficking was also greatly reduced.

Although the merits cannot be said to be immeasurable, one can still obtain three thousand small merits, which is recognition.

"It's not easy." Looking at the merits accumulated during this period, Yan Xu sighed and said with satisfaction.

The first upgrade of the Incense God requires one thousand merits. Knowing that the upgraded golden finger is the complete form, Yan Xu did not hesitate and upgraded directly, wanting to see what new abilities it has.

The upgraded incense Shinto has a new feature, incense instruments.

The function is very simple, which is to use incense to imitate the treasures in the hands of immortals and Buddhas, from the Tai Chi diagram in the hands of Laojun to the soul-catching rope in the hands of the ghost, there is nothing that cannot be imitated.

Of course, the quality of the incense and the objects that carry the incense are different, so the power of the imitation will also be different.

For example, incense is divided into three grades: high, medium and low. Low-grade incense can only imitate magic tools, medium-grade incense imitates magic weapons, and high-grade incense is spiritual treasure.

It sounds simple, but it is actually very difficult, because the higher the quality of the incense, the harder it is to obtain.

Only the sincere and pure prayers of devout believers can be transformed into high-quality incense.

Ordinary believers will offer medium or low-quality incense according to their mood. If they encounter a setback occasionally, they may get poisonous black incense.

Not to mention how difficult this is, just the fact that a devout believer can only provide a little bit per month, and at most ten points per year, is enough to make Yan Xu vomit blood.

A primary imitation would require one thousand incense sticks, an intermediate one would require ten thousand, and an advanced one would require one hundred thousand. Before Yan Xu had even calculated the multiplication, he had already given up on fantasizing about having a lot of spiritual treasures.

It can be said that if he had had this much time to accumulate, he would have soared to success long ago.

But this did not stop him from trying, after all, incense was of no use to him.

(End of this chapter)