Chapter 1834: The Best Business
The interview went by very quickly. These people were specially hand-picked by Ashley, so they fitted Mag’s requirements in all aspects. Therefore, Mag only had to ask them a few simple questions to pick out 10 of them who best fulfilled his requirements.
As for the remaining 10, Mag kept a list of their names so that they could go over to work immediately if the seafood shop was to expand.
“This is the address of the shop. Be here at around 9 am tomorrow. I want to give you some training before we start business operations. The official opening will be on the day after tomorrow.” Mag wrote an address on a piece of paper, and handed it to the last-minute appointed leader.
She was a mature and gentle elf called Alia. Her smile was warm and friendly, and she was very approachable. As she used to be a senior servant, she had the ability to manage, and was thus appointed by Mag to be the acting manager of the seafood shop.
He would be giving them a basic pay of 5000 copper coins per month as well as a certain percentage of sales commission.
There would be a test at the end of every month, and the top three salesmen could receive the chance to be promoted and also a big bonus.
The foundation Mag wanted to build for this seafood shop was based on meritocracy.
After hiring the workers, Mag understood the situation at the textile factory under the accompaniment of Ashley.
As one of the people with actual control over the textile factory, Mag owned half of the stocks, and was in charge of the sales. He had similar say as Irina over the textile factory.
The current spinning machine run by the steam engine had passed through the exploration stage steadily. The 12 production lines were operating with a high efficiency and the output was very stable.
On top of that, tens of thousands of elves were using the manual spinning machine that Mag had adapted in the manual workshop. They almost could equal the output of the spinning machine.
“Judging from our current output, we will be able to produce more than 20,000 batches of cotton yarn. If we do not increase our workers, there will be a limit to how much our output can be increased.” Ashley passed Mag a table.
“To be able to produce up to 20,000 batches on the second month is already exceeding my expectations.” Mag received the table, but did not look at it. Instead, he was looking at the hustling elves in the workshop. There were occasional traces of magic, and although the work was tough, they were all smiling happily. At times, they would joke around, making the atmosphere very harmonious.
“What’s the arrangement for the workers’ working hours?” Mag asked Ashley.
“Currently it’s nine to five. The workers’ off days were arranged so the machines would not stop running,” Ashley replied.
“Has the city lord’s castle lifted their restrictions on you?”
Ashley was a little shocked at Mag’s question. However, she quickly replied, “The restrictions have yet to be completely lifted because there are a lot of Night Elves, the current limit for the number of elves leaving the factory was increased from 500 to 5000.”
Mag nodded. The city lord’s castle had accepted the Night Elves into the city, but the city lord himself also had difficulties. Allowing the Night Elves to slowly integrate into this city was good for both parties.
“I’ve already received the first loan for 10,000 batches of cotton yarn. I’ll get the finance department to credit it in, and we can release the first official salary for them. Living in Chaos City is all about money,” Mag said with a smile.
“Alright.” Ashley blinked. Mag did give every elf an advance payment of 1000 copper coins, and the factory covered food and lodging, but if the elves wanted to buy something outside, they would still have to plan their expenses wisely.
Paying the workers their salary would also allow them to have a sense of achievement for their labor. This was completely different from the limitless oppression in the Wind Forest.
“Other than that, I also intend to introduce 12 cotton yarn machine production lines to increase our efficiency. While not affecting the delivery of the cotton yarns, the quality could also be increased.”
“Do you intend to weave the yarn into cloth?” Ashley was shocked.
“Yes. Cotton yarn is the lowest tier production. Although we’ve mechanized to increase efficiency, in order to open up the market, we’ve lowered our selling price, and our revenue is not high. On top of that, the high-quality yarn that was made into cloth will have a higher value. The revenue could also increase by a large margin.” Mag nodded. He added, “Of course, we will only make the best quality fabric, and will not be producing it in high volumes.”
Ashley thought for a while, but was still puzzled. She asked, “Since high-quality fabric has a higher revenue, why don’t we put in all our effort in production?”
“Goods are only precious when they are scarce. If there was high-quality cloth everywhere in the market, its price would naturally fall.” Mag smiled and shook his head. “Monopoly could indeed bring us a huge revenue, but it would also harm people in this field of business, and that might bring us future trouble.
“Although this industry would still have to go through mechanization, this is a foreseeable, slow process, and should not be done overnight. We can just take away with us the thick stack of money on the table. It’s not very nice to flip the table too.”
Ashley understood. She looked at Mag with increasing admiration. Mr. Mag had foresight, and that was not something ordinary people could surpass.
Mag toured around the factory building. Irina bought a really big plot of land from the city lord’s castle for the factory and Night Elves’ accommodations, but only half of the piece of land was used. Mag did rough planning, and drew out areas for the new workshop and weaving room.
Mag would still have to go back to slowly research the weaving machine. However, that was not like the spinning machine. In his memory, there was a ready blueprint of a weaving machine from the Middle Ages, but it could not do detailed work, and would definitely not meet the criteria of the fabric. Therefore, it required improvements.
He had already launched the steam engine, and the textile industry would definitely welcome a huge revolution in the future. Mag would start it off, and when it was time for the steam spinning machine to level up, he would already be dabbling in another field.
Mag left the factory, and went over to look for Scheer.
The appearance of the Great Old Ones had messed up their initial plan for the steam train. However, their test trial had already succeeded, and all they needed was the peace talks to be renewed. The steam train would open up a new era, and Scheer was very confident in that.
Mag knew very clearly that Scheer’s judgment was not wrong. The steam engine could open up a new era, and so both he and Scheer had signed an extra agreement for the priority supply of the steam engine.
“I heard that Mr. Mag and Princess Irina’s textile factory is already on the right path. Are you planning to expand so quickly?” Scheer asked Mr. Mag with a smile as she signed the contract.
“Yes. The increase in efficiency brought by the machine is very obvious. It’s inevitable that many of the labor-intensive industries would be replaced by machines, and the capitalists who grasped the mechanical techniques would have the greatest benefits.” Mag nodded with a smile. “Producing steam engines would naturally be the best business.”