Chapter 117: The First Disaster Relief (I)
Among 30,000 households and more than 100,000 people, there are two people who have a clear awareness of rebellion. I really don’t know whether to say it is a lot or a little.
Huo Chong didn't want to study this either. Because autumn was coming, from the seaside to the mountainous areas, the impact of the drought showed a situation where the seaside was high and the mountainous areas were low. The price of grain in the disaster area began to soar in the situation where there was a price but no market.
Immediately afterwards, the number of poor people applying to join the Zhongfu platform reached a new high. Zhongfu platform even made an urgent request to the headquarters to quickly allocate a batch of printed forms and documents to deal with the situation.
This situation had already occurred at the beginning of this year, and the staff at the headquarters were not very surprised. They were just shocked by the approximate figures. After summarizing the figures from several places, it is estimated that the number of new people who want to join the Society of Blessings may reach 20,000, or even more.
The terms of the Association of Welfare and Welfare implicitly include disaster relief, or at least explicitly state that there is such a possibility. Before the headquarters staff could raise the question of whether they had the ability to provide disaster relief, a guy who had not been seen for a long time came to visit.
Huo Chong couldn't believe it at first. Worried about being cheated, Zhang Wuji called his sixth junior brother and asked him to go out and take a look. Not long after, the sixth junior brother Liu Shiwang came back and said, "Big Brother, it's really the Master."
Liu Shiwang was not at all happy about the visit of his master whom he had not seen for a long time. In the past few years, Liu Shiwang followed Huo Chong to do things, and he already knew what happened that year. Huo Chong knew it even better. The brothers looked at each other, and no one wanted to speak first. Finally, Huo Chong suppressed the urge to deal with Uncle Liu, and spoke first, "Shiwang, no matter what, he was also our master. You should entertain Uncle Liu well and ask him clearly what he wants to do."
Huo Chong insisted on working while his sixth apprentice brother went out to do some work. But he couldn't calm down. The mess Uncle Liu had made before had been solved by Huo Chong a long time ago, and no one wanted to settle accounts with Uncle Liu in recent years. However, Uncle Liu was also very tactful and didn't come out, making Huo Chong think that this old man really retired and would no longer participate in the affairs of the underworld.
What was Uncle Liu's purpose in coming here this time? Could it be that Uncle Liu was blinded by greed and came forward for his own sake?
Just as I had sorted out my thoughts, my sixth junior fellow apprentice Liu Shiwang came running back, "Big Brother, Master is here to give face to the Duizi Sect."
Sure enough, it wasn't for Uncle Liu himself. Huo Chong was relieved. If it was for someone else, Huo Chong would have the opportunity to decisively reject Uncle Liu's request. After all, this was the Qing Dynasty, and the master was still very important. Even if the master was a big bastard, the apprentice would be criticized if he didn't give the master face.
"What happened to the Dui Clan?" Huo Chong asked. When he asked, Huo Chong had a guess in his mind. The Tianli Cult was an organization that cheated people out of money, not much different from what Uncle Liu did. This kind of organization was not good at running itself, so in order to make money, it had to make more aggressive promises.
Huo Chong's Zhongfu Club only needed to state the possibility of disaster relief to attract many people to join. This was because what everyone wanted was the Zhongfu platform's ability to pay taxes on their behalf.
Correspondingly. In addition to the promise of providing a place for believers who paid money in the "White Lotus Mother, Vacuum Home" after death, the only way that Tianli Sect could persuade people to pay money was to provide disaster relief in years of disaster. Huo Chong thought of what Master Liu had done in Liujia Village, and really hoped that this guy would be eaten alive by the disaster victims.
Even in the industrial age, disaster relief is not easy. In the agricultural age... we'll see.
What Liu Shiwang relayed was the same as what Huo Chong had guessed, that Duizimen was under heavy pressure. Too many disaster victims came to the various branches of Duizimen, and missionary families like Uncle Liu in various villages asked them to fulfill their promise.
According to Uncle Liu, the leaders of the Dui Clan did not want to default on their debts. However, the price of grain was soaring, and there was no demand. These people simply could not afford to pay enough money, not to mention the current grain prices. Even if they sold all their property, they could not afford the grain for disaster relief.
After saying all this, Liu Shiwang asked, "Big Brother, what are you going to do?"
"He is my master after all, and we cannot but give him face." Huo Chong already had an idea.
"Do you really want to give food to Master?" Liu Shiwang asked in a low voice.
"right."
"Big Brother, I also think we should give Master some face. Giving him some food is fine. But seeing Master like this, what if he takes the food and comes back to ask for it again? What should we do then?"
"Haha, Lao Liu, what are you afraid of?" Huo Chong said with a smile.
"I'm not afraid of anything. I'm just afraid that Master will come again and not be able to get food. What if he blocks the door and says bad things about us?"
Huo Chong was amused. The sixth apprentice brother didn't know what Huo Chong was thinking, so he quickly asked, "Big Brother, am I wrong?"
Huo Chong shook his head. "Sixth Brother, you have learned a lot. You know how others can control us. I am happy to see that you are becoming more and more capable."
Hearing that Huo Chong did not blame him, Liu Shiwang sighed, "Big Brother, I also think that Master would not do that. It's just that he is unwilling to do it, and the people who invited him out will not let it go. Back then, I didn't understand how you led us through that hurdle, and I didn't know how big a deal it was! Every time I think about it in the past few years, I get goose bumps all over my body. The group of people who found Master were really desperate! If they are desperate, they will not let us have an easy time!"
Huo Chong looked at Lao Liu's uncomfortable appearance, and the word "social death" flashed through his mind.
In the 21st century, there are many cases of people being socially killed through online propaganda. But compared with the Qing Dynasty, it is really nothing.
With a large number of cameras, various records of money flows, and various modern means, it is still possible to investigate something clearly. The technology of the Qing Dynasty could not provide the technical means to truly figure out a thing.
Since we can't figure out what happened, we can only let others judge. As a social animal, human thinking mode is analogy. Huo Chong refused the master's request. If the master blocked the door and cursed him, others would not care whether Huo Chong was right or wrong.
Others would put themselves in Huo Chong's shoes and think that since Huo Chong even ruthlessly rejected his master, the relationship between them should be more distant than the relationship between Huo Chong's master and Huo Chong. If Huo Chong was so cruel to his master, how would he treat someone who was even more distant?
Once Huo Chong's master makes others think this way through his actions, he will cause Huo Chong to suffer "social death".
Although it would be a foolish act that would hurt both sides if it really happened, just as nuclear weapons are most powerful on the launch pad, if someone used this to threaten Huo Chong, Huo Chong would have to be cautious and even spend money to avoid disaster.
Thinking of this, Huo Chong felt that he still had to meet Uncle Liu. If necessary, it would not be a bad idea to ask Uncle Liu to stay with him for a while. After all, when Huo Chong traveled to this era, Uncle Liu really saved Huo Chong's life.
For this reason alone, there is no reason for Uncle Liu to suffer from other people's bullying outside.
