Time Smuggling Starting from the Year 2000 - Chapter 83

Chapter 83
Rolin wasn't a government official, so he was easily bought over . The noble guardian's reason for existing was to make profits, and his principles were adaptable because he was corrupted . Any amount of profit was valuable in the glorified plane age . They would have destroyed another plane for it .
If Rolin were human, he'd be a Jew .
He caved in before Huang Xuan even began to weigh the pros and cons . Without a doubt, he had weighed them himself .
From this, Huang Xuan estimated that this artificial intelligence, which came from 100,000 years in the future, had the imagination and the intellect of a dog . Mr . Rolin wanted profits, yet he did not know how to earn it . Huang Xuan smirked . The low-intellect guardian was certainly his perfect match . Of course, all of this was a figment of Huang Xuan's imagination .
Ford's A-type cars were selling well at that time . However, they suffered huge losses when they stopped production during their transition period, which lasted half a year in 1927 . During that period, Henry Ford and his son, Edsel Ford, began to invent the A-type car . While they took a short time, the mandatory transformation caused Ford to fall to the second place among the world's car manufacturers .
Despite this, Ford kept the Rouge workshop . It was self-sufficient, as Ford had imagined it to be . Everything, from the raw materials to the finished cars, was stored in one location . Rouge continued to be the world's biggest workshop owned by a single car manufacturer for the next 100 years . Furthermore, the popular circulating pipeline technology had also started here .
Since food was worth nothing, Huang Xuan lost interest in selling his food products . Detroit was a messy and rugged city . Huang Xuan felt influenced by its character . He stole an entire outfit and USD$1 from three individual gangsters .
This was enough for him to get to Rouge .
It was said that Ford used to live there when he was growing up . At that time, nature was still thriving . However, by the 1930s, the industrial revolutionaries revamped the place, leaving thick clouds of smoke in their wake .
Under normal circumstances, Rouge had a total of 100,000 workers working at the same time, which could be seen as a small, self-sufficient city .
Rouge was recruiting people every day . It was one of the few companies who raised its workers' salaries during the Great Depression . The $5-a-day scheme itself, which was invented by Henry Ford, was said to have increased their salaries by 100% . The way Huang Xuan saw it, however, these schemes were not aimed at improving the economy . Instead, they were aimed to secure stable, skilled workers for the company .
The fact that the workers never rested spoke for itself . In an age where contractual terms were unclear, to keep the manpower numbers in the tens of thousands, the turnover rate was expected to be high .
Mr . Ford had to recruit hundreds of people each day, and on some days, he even had to recruit thousands of people . Increasing the workers' salaries was an appropriate solution . Otherwise, the company would waste even more money and suffer lower productivity .
Those were the facts .
Most of the workers surrounding Huang Xuan had thick arms and bored expressions . Ford only had to ensure these workers were well-trained . They would only be concerned with nurturing talents in the 90's, or even in 2000 . They didn't dream of doing so during the Great Depression .
While countless companies went bankrupt, men who only possessed physical strength stood no chance of earning USD$5 a day . However, most people wanted to try their luck anyway .
A middle-aged man in a purple sweater walked out . He stood outside and read from the perennial recruitment notice . He shouted, "All those who know how to operate a milling machine may enter!" After he was done, he raised his head and left .
About ten white young men skipped in happily . Not long after, half of them walked out, dejected . Huang Xuan attempted to find out more about Ford's technical department . However, to his disappointment, most people thought that the factory was the technical department .
Huang Xuan was not flustered . On the one hand, he could stay for about ten days this time . On the other hand, he could not yet predict what he would be bringing home with him . He had to keep his eyes peeled . While the Great Depression was triggered by overproduction, there wasn’t always an excess of products . According to Rolin's findings, agricultural products were the cheapest products in the market; however, they were also the most difficult to obtain . When the farmers realized that the cost of bringing a goat to the market was more than the revenue they earned from its sale, they killed their goats . They did the same for their wheat and corn .
Strangely, people questioned why the farmers didn't just store them and wait for the prices to rise before they sold them . However, nobody could foresee when the Great Depression was going to end . The farmers could not tell if it was worth it to store their goats and harvest — they could have been wasting more money attempting to store them . In actual fact, the goats and harvest were going to be worthless for a long time .


These problems affected Huang Xuan in that while he had a huge sum of money in his hands, there was no supply to meet his demand . This was the core of the problem — everything was going against the laws of economics .
Yet again, there was shouting . Yet again, the people who met the requirements had opportunities to be interviewed . Huang Xuan remained outside the factory with the majority .
"Kid, what do you know?" a Hispanic asked Huang Xuan . He was a talkative old man who was growing a beard .
"Maybe . . . " Huang Xuan flipped his hand and continued, "Driving . " He was driving his kart well .

Every American knew how to drive . The old man turned his head . He was a skilled man . From their conversation, Huang Xuan learned that he had worked many jobs before: he berthed, he lathed, and he constructed . However, he was growing in years . Therefore, in 1930, he joined the unemployed army .
Huang Xuan surveyed his surroundings . He was far from Detroit . The black man whom he had hitched a ride from charged him an additional 10 cents to get here . Apart from through the big gate in front of him, there were few other ways to enter Ford's factory .
He decided he could afford to wait for a while longer . As decently dressed as the people around him were, it was obvious that their standard of living was low . If 21st century Americans could choose, they would definitely decide that 1931 was a harder year than 1943 . On this safe continent, people feared poverty more than they feared Nazis .
"Hi, kid . " The Hispanic lifted a palm and patted Huang Xuan, who had been studying material on his own . He said, "They need two drivers . There aren't many . Don't waste it . "
Huang Xuan struggled to focus on the plane he was in instead of on the energy screen . The recruiter was still the same man in the purple sweater . Huang Xuan tugged on the metal weaves on the corner of his shirt before he entered the factory .


About 300 people were fighting for these two vacancies . A few burly men made their way ahead of the crowd . The rest of them, unwilling to be left behind, followed closely .
"We need two people to drive these two cars from Green Village to this factory every day . They'll have to load the goods on their own . . . " the manager seemed to be talking to himself yet, everyone was listening intently . When he was done talking, someone shouted, "I've driven cars for 20 years! Doing deliveries is not a problem!"
"Then why aren't you doing deliveries?" Several people retorted immediately . Huang Xuan remained at the side, studying the surroundings .
They were at the borders of Rouge . The employee's entrance was about a kilometer away, and In front of him stood an impressive bungalow . It was different from the ruins of the east, the newly built Rouge was modern and sturdy . Although it didn't have a clear glass concept, the sheer number of machines displayed its strength .
As the interviewees continued to argue, a few white men in old-style tuxedos walked over . The man in the purple sweater approached them and put on his best smile . He asked, "Mr . Thomas, what do you need?"
"A few artists and skilled workers who are able to understand drawings . " Thomas' eyes brushed over each of the interviewees . They rested on Huang Xuan . The Asian kid in the crowd of 30-year-old barbarians naturally drew attention .
The man in the purple sweater nodded and immediately headed for the gate, leaving behind over a hundred of people . Ford needed to recruit nearly 35,000 people each year to fulfill its manpower requirement of 50,000 workers . In other words, 70% of Ford's workers left the company each year . Other factories were facing similar problems . This was the reason Ford implemented the USD$5-a-day scheme . Despite this, the workers remained of ordinary caliber . Training them up was going to cost far more than recruiting skilled and capable workers .
"Filipino?" Thomas asked as he approached Huang Xuan . He had nothing better to do .
"Close enough . " Huang Xuan was not interested in discussing his ethnicity .
Having received an unexpected reply, Thomas whistled under his breath and turned to the man next to him, who was in a black tuxedo . He commented, "There are more and more illegal immigrants these days . It's disgusting . "


The other party shrugged . Huang Xuan raised his eyebrow . He paid no regard to the racist fella . There were animals like him everywhere, and he simply had no time to entertain them .
Another bearded man snickered and replied, "I'll bet he needs a job . In fact, he looks like he desperately needs one . "
"He looks like he's got the wrong place," Thomas grinned .
At that moment, five more people joined them . The leader wore a condescending smile on his face . He said, "Perhaps he really needs it . "
"Oh, Julien . Do you need one?"
Many people chuckled . Huang Xuan understood what they were saying . He reached into his pocket for the remaining five cents he had . He flicked the coin with his thumb . It landed on the floor . He whistled at Thomas and said, "Honky, looks like you need that . "
"Honky" was an insulting way to refer to white people . It was much like the term "Nigger" . It was the term black people used when they looked down on white people . When Huang Xuan used it, the people in the factory burst into laughter .
They laughed not because of the term itself, but because they enjoyed watching the drama unfold . Detroit was a rough city . The workers often played football during their free time . The opportunity to attack without the protection of guards was thrilling for them . Huang Xuan was obviously picking a fight by saying what he did to eight white men .
Apart from Ford's workers, everyone remained neutral regardless of race . They were all waiting for something exciting to happen . Although the workers wore suits, their arms were still big enough to wrap around Huang Xuan's waist . Clearly, he didn't stand a chance .
Huang Xuan knew he couldn't win against the eight white men . Despite this, he continued to look down his nose at them . He slowly walked out of the crowd and said, "I'll bet one cent that I can knock you out with two punches . "