Infinite Reincarnation – Arthur Hurt - Chapter 205



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Infinite Reincarnation – Arthur Hurt Chapter 205

36-Class conflict

Arthur listed ways in which businesses could extract money without necessarily charging commissions.

A typical example is the forced use of goods. This involves using specific uniforms, collection tools, carriages, etc. provided by the introducing company. Of course, this is not free, but for a fee.

“Of course, it’s not that they can’t be nitpicked, but they’re a bit weak to deal with.”

“Then what should we do?”

“well…….”

How to make people obey the king’s orders? The simplest way to make people follow the rules is to set an example. When society was in chaos and everyone was trying to do whatever they wanted, such an example could bring order to the world. Since people have intelligence, when they see someone who has done something wrong, they think, “Oh! I shouldn’t do that.”

But even then, there had to be a prerequisite. That ‘something’ had to be something that the world thought was not right to do. And the benefits of doing that ‘something’ had to be small when calculating the gains and losses.

But in today’s world, is it really ‘wrong’ to exploit workers?

Just as a feudal lord ruled his own land according to his own rules, it was a natural ‘right’ for a businessman to make a profit from his own business, and exploiting workers, that is, squeezing their labor costs, was a proven way to make a profit. And the king is trying to punish him for it?

In the current situation King Lai was in, it was not easy to provoke the bourgeoisie’s opposition in that way. This was because the royal authority weakened by this defeat had to be supplemented through their support.

Arthur shared this awareness of his situation with Fried and others.

“Then, even if fee exploitation is really taking place, it would be difficult to issue a royal decree to stop it.”

As the Conte Ossarin’s expression hardened, Arthur realized that his tongue would be enough to persuade the King. The King’s will to increase gunpowder production, or rather to restore royal authority, was strong enough to sacrifice a portion of the support of the bourgeoisie.

But I wondered if I really had to do that to cause aggro. If I persuaded the king to stop me from earning more than a certain amount of intermediary fees, where would the resentment come from? It was obvious even without looking.

Arthur explained the second plan that came to mind.

“If that doesn’t work out, the People’s Assembly will create its own staffing agency.”

“Are you talking about the people’s assembly?”

“Yes. The key is competition. If the labor dispatch company under the People’s Council does not receive a certain amount of commission, it will be difficult for other companies to receive more than that.”

Why did the staffing agency win? It was because the workers had no other choice.

Competition for low commissions between companies? In a world where collusion between companies is common, everyone would be trying to collect commissions. However, if a dispatch company that only receives appropriate commissions were established under the People’s Association, the situation could change.

“Oh!”

Arthur continued as Rep. Fried blushed in admiration.

“Don’t be so excited about it in advance. I can foresee all sorts of difficulties from the start.”

First of all, it was not easy to establish a dispatch company under the People’s Council. The bourgeoisie that runs the related company will probably use all kinds of lobbying to block the deliberation of the bill.

Even if it is difficult to assume, there will be all kinds of lobbying in the process of passing, and even if it is established, it will not be smooth sailing. When a non-profit-seeking company and a profit-seeking company collide, it is natural that the profit-seeking company will win. This is because the profit-seeking company can make more attempts with the accumulated profits, and the results from this can give it a competitive advantage.

Naturally, companies that do not pursue profits, such as the Minhoe-affiliated personnel dispatch companies, would have to receive subsidies from the Minhoe budget in order to maintain their business in the face of fierce competition, and this was bound to be criticized as not being fair competition from other dispatch companies.

Moreover, given the purpose, it was clear that the heads of dispatch companies would dislike it, and in this day and age, a business competitor meant a target for sabotage.

So, they had to choose between either colluding and living peacefully together, or completely destroying their competitors by any means necessary.

This was also the double end of the market competition system. Since no one enjoys competition, or even if they do, it is only for a moment of intense passion, so eternal competition is an unsustainable system. It is human nature to want fruits without competing or working hard.

No, if you look at the nature of business, it is the same. Are the businessmen themselves willing to shoulder the ‘risk’ of competition? If there is an opportunity to eliminate or eliminate a competitor, the businessmen are the ones who will definitely seize that opportunity, and if there is no opportunity, they are the ones who will rack their brains and work day and night to create that opportunity.

Arthur spoke about it.

“Because it is a company directly managed by the People’s Council, there will probably be less illegal sabotage, but politically, there will inevitably be a lot of attacks.”

And for such political attacks, they would carry out all sorts of extraordinary and diverse preparatory work. It was not easy to feel safe, as during the war, they would even demolish the shelters of the poor who had gone to the battlefield under the pretext of urban sanitation projects.

“It’s difficult.”

“It’s difficult, but if you can do it, there are many benefits.”

“What is that?”

“It could be part of another slum relief project. There is no need for a labor dispatch company to only send workers to the sewage collection project.”

They both nodded, as if they had expected that part.

“The most important significance is that it creates a channel through which the poor can voice their grievances to government agencies.”

“ah!”

Rep. Fried burst into exclamation. The fact that the Minhoe is a labor dispatch company directly operated means that it is also a good window for understanding the working conditions of workers.

Arthur spoke in a subtly lowered voice.

“If you think about it the other way around, it’s also a means for us to convey something to the poor.”

Congressman Fried nodded, swallowing dryly. Arthur could tell that the word ‘revolution’ had not yet left his expression, but he continued to speak.

“But in order to run it like that, there are more than one or two things to take care of overall. It’s not as easy as it sounds to take care of everything from the budget to the sense of mission and work attitude of the employees, and to organize the system so that it can run to some extent.”

“Wouldn’t it be possible for Lord Hurt to help you?”

“Me? Haha. Excuse me, but if you’re joking, it’s not funny.”

I’m not laughing. Do you know how busy I am these days? I have to improve the saltpeter field and gunpowder production process with Count Ulururance, and I have to split up the suspicious workers at the Ignaqua factory, and I have to share the method with Count Stan, and I have to discuss the production of firearms with the Tsuraz Craft Guild soon, and you want me to establish a welfare manpower dispatch company under the People’s Council? Blindfold, blindfold. I have to call someone for that.

When Arthur laughed as if he was embarrassed, Councilor Fried smiled awkwardly and took back his words. After all, it was not a job that a loyalist would be in charge of.

Rep. Fried changed the subject to lighten the awkward atmosphere, like a man who gets rejected by a woman he’s seeing on a date.

“Your maid’s wedding is coming up soon.”

“Has Congressman Fried been invited as well?”

“Thank you for sending me an invitation.”

“Most of the members of the National Assembly must have received it. They helped a lot in stabilizing prices, didn’t they?”

In order to stabilize the value of Scalon, Jaran had to ask for cooperation from influential figures in various fields. No matter how much he passed on war bonds to the nobles, it was difficult to maintain price stability with that alone.

This is because the defeat could have triggered fears of a decline in the value of Scalon, which could have triggered hoarding and led to a surge in liquidity in the market, accelerating the decline in the value of Scalon.

Therefore, in this area, the cooperation of the wealthy bourgeoisie was desperately needed, and the People’s Assembly had the influence and connections to convey the central bank governor’s request to the bourgeoisie.

“You’re marrying a beauty who’s as young as your niece… … I’m jealous.”

“Everyone has their own fate.”

Congressman Fried spoke about the family of Sonya Tanya, who was Zarran’s future wife, and said that their cooperation as a major grain distributor helped stabilize prices.

While they were talking like that, someone knocked and came in. It was a staff member working at Rep. Fried’s office. He whispered urgently in Rep. Fried’s ear, and Rep. Fried’s expression hardened.

He got up with a forced smile.

“Something urgent came up suddenly… … I’m sorry.”

“Are you going?”

Arthur didn’t bother to ask what was going on. If there was something he could say, he would have said it when he got up.

“I’m sorry. I’ll tell you later. Oh, you, Osarin, finish your meal with the lord. I barely touched it.”

As luck would have it, something happened not long after the food was served. Instead of refusing, Ossarin Conte thanked Councilor Fried and remained with Arthur.

There was a brief awkward silence. Perhaps because he was more focused on being a listener than joining in on the conversation, Osarin felt a little awkward trying to take the initiative in talking to Arthur.

So Arthur spoke first.

“What do you think is going on, Mr. Osarin?”

“It’s probably because of the strikes that are popular these days.”

“I guess there will be a lot of complaints to the people’s council as well.”

The petitions that came to the People’s Assembly were not the begging of the poor common people, but protests from factory owners and the bourgeoisie. They were petitions asking for conveniences through the authority of the People’s Assembly, or, although the power of the People’s Assembly was small, pressuring the security forces to beat up those striking guys.

But Osarin responded cynically.

“They don’t seem to realize that this is a result of their excessive exploitation of the workers.”

“It’s not that you don’t know, you will know.”

“yes?”

“Don’t these rich, educated, and smart people know that their wages are exploitative? I know. If they were really so stupid as not to know, they would have already been ruined by their competitors.”

At Arthur’s words, Osarin blinked blankly and said.

“No… … Don’t they have any sympathy?”

“Sympathy? There must be some who do. However, those who could not suppress that sympathy and failed to make enough profit by paying high wages would have been pushed out by competitors and disappeared.”

“… … .”

What should I say… … When Osarin was left speechless by the fresh shock of an unprecedented perspective, Arthur continued.

“They are also human. Unless they are evil-minded devils, do they like being cursed at? Unless they are anti-social people, do they not have a desire to be praised and admired by others? No. It is a natural emotion for normal people. They just are not competent enough to pursue it while competing with other business owners.”

Osarin muttered blankly.

“Not competent?”

Arthur continued.

“Their situation is… … um… … . Let’s say they’re on the back of a beast. They can’t get off even if they want to. Well, it’s better than those who are put in front of the beast as prey.”