Chapter 22: Stabilizing the Basics (II)
The Daqing River was right in front of Huo Chong. Several large black-sailed boats were parked at the shore. When Xu Youlin approached, someone came out of the boat to greet him. Wine bottles, wine jars, and wooden barrels filled with maltose were transported into the cabin.
Huo Chong didn't want to intervene, so he stood at a distance. Even if he was working for free, he would have to pay for anything that broke during the transportation, so he might as well just look at the scenery. Seeing Xu Youlin directing the Cao Gang's people to carry the goods in an orderly manner, Huo Chong felt even more relaxed. Just after taking a few glances, he heard a call from a distance.
The sound of the horns was very loud and uniform, like singing. Huo Chong was shocked by the sound he had never heard before.
I found a high place and saw a group of people walking towards the river. They leaned forward desperately, and they could not fall down at this angle because they relied on a rope. Everyone had a rope on their body, and everyone was pulling forward desperately. These ropes were connected to a thick iron chain. The other end of the iron chain was fixed to the bow of a large black-sailed boat.
There are boatmen standing on the boat, and the helmsman standing at the stern. These people either control the direction or work hard to provide power for the boat. With the efforts of everyone, the boats on the Daqing River continue to move forward.
Seeing the boat moving forward, passing the position where Huo Chong was standing, and finally out of Huo Chong's sight, Huo Chong felt that everything he saw was beyond his imagination.
Nowadays, only sports and leisure time will there be paddle boats that are propelled by hand and foot. Huo Chongzhen did not expect that the canal boats in 1717 were actually towed by manpower.
Of course, there are things that are more difficult to imagine than this. The Daqing River in front of him was something Huo Chong could only imagine. At this time, the Yellow River did not return to the north. Since someone in the late Northern Song Dynasty dug up the Yellow River in order to prevent the Jin soldiers from going south, the Yellow River has been flowing into the sea from the Huai River until now.
The fact that Shandong is located north of the Yellow River forced Huo Chong to admit from the bottom of his heart that he had really traveled through time. The river in front of him was the Daqing River, and this name was not meant to flatter the Qing Dynasty. The water of this river was relatively clear and could provide shipping. According to Huo Chong's memory, this area was probably the course of the Yellow River in the 21st century.
As he was sighing in his heart, another canal boat came towards Huo Chong with the sound of a new call in the distance. As soon as he saw the figure of the boatman, Xu Youlin, who had finished his work, had already arrived in front of Huo Chong, "Brother Huo, is there anything else you can do with your liquor?"
Huo Chong nodded, but asked, "Brother Xu, how many uses do you think it has?"
"It's drinkable and can be lit. The bottle can also be used to hold water. That's all." Xu Youlin's voice was cold, and it seemed that he didn't like the liquor very much.
Huo Chong asked, "Brother Xu, do you still remember falling asleep quickly and sleeping soundly after drinking?"
"Oh?" Xu Youlin's face became even more unhappy, "It's really ugly when you're drunk."
Huo Chong pointed at the trackers who were already clearly visible, "I don't know how much they can earn, but they are exhausted every day and I'm afraid they can't sleep at night. A glass of shochu will probably help me sleep well all night. Shochu can invigorate the blood."
Xu Youlin replied coldly: "The boatmen can't afford it."
Hearing this, Huo Chong suddenly understood a survey he had read. It was a survey report on liquor consumption, and the data even included some data from the 1980s. Part of the report results were exactly the same as what Xu Youlin said.
Thinking of this, Huo Chong smiled and said, "Whether they can afford it or not, what does it have to do with whether they like it or not?"
Xu Youlin shook his head. “They like a lot more.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Xu Youlin turned to Huo Chong and asked, "Brother Huo, do you want to..."
Xu Youlin is really a smart man and a qualified businessman. Since Xu Youlin has understood, Huo Chong no longer describes the future business development, but returns to reality, "What's the use of thinking. I have to try to know if I can do it. If I can't do it, then I'll just think about it."
"Hehe, since I have seen Brother Huo's methods, Brother Huo does not need to worry that I will not come back. It will take me three months to go back and forth. Today is April 15th, and I will probably be here on July 15th. By then, I can wait and see what Brother Huo can prepare."
"Three months, time is tight." Huo Chong sighed. This was the truth. Just running from Zhangdian to the Yellow River or Daqing River took three days to walk a hundred miles. If it were in the 21st century, three days would be enough for Huo Chong to fly around the earth at least one and a half times.
When Huo Chong returned to Zhangdian, he was almost exhausted. It was true that a long journey was not easy. Huo Chong carried several pieces of iron sent by Xu Youlin, and the journey really took his life.
After a day's rest, Huo Chong asked his fellow apprentices what they could do. All of them said they could work, chopping wood and boiling water. When asked what their specific strengths were, everyone hesitated.
Huo Chong sighed. No wonder Master Liu Shu could abandon his disciples so easily. Such a group of guys were actually of limited use except for boosting momentum. Compared with these junior brothers, the second senior brother Zhu Youquan was able to organize a surprise attack and successfully drove out Huo Chong and his junior brothers. It was not unreasonable for Master Liu Shu to feel sorry for the second senior brother.
However, Huo Chong was not disappointed. One of the experiences he had in the platform was training. Moreover, Huo Chong did not expect his juniors to reach a certain level. After basic training, these people would always be able to improve.
Huo Chongming and his fellow apprentices first pieced together a wooden board using wooden strips and began to teach them to recognize words.
It only took one day for the junior brothers to learn the four characters: one, two, three, and ten. It took more time to learn from four to nine. But by counting on their fingers, the junior brothers could barely understand what the decimal system meant.
Before the sun set, Huo Chong and his fellow apprentices made a work schedule. A lunar month has 30 days, with adjustments made through leap months. Huo Chong made a 6×5 table on a wooden board and four wooden signs with the names of the four fellow apprentices written on them.
This was probably the first time that the juniors had seen such a neatly organized form. Although they didn't know what it was for, they looked at it from left to right, as if they could figure out the trick just by looking at it. Huo Chong hung up the sign and explained to the juniors, "We will arrange shifts from now on. From now on, all the basic things we need to do every day will be completed through scheduling."
After dinner, Huo Chong and his fellow apprentices sat together and discussed the work arrangements. The house had to be cleaned and the rabbits had to be fed. These were things that had to be done every day. Of course, these things needed to be done in shifts.
After hearing this, Li Tieniu asked, "Big Brother, I see you are making wine and bottles. Do you have to do this every day?"
"Do you want to learn?" Huo Chong asked.
Li Tieniu hesitated and dared not speak, but the sixth brother Liu Shiwang asked tentatively: "Big Brother, I want to learn, can you teach me?"
"If you want to learn, I will teach you." Huo Chong answered without hesitation.
"I want to learn how to make bottles." Fourth junior brother Zhu Xiushan shouted immediately.
"Okay. Xiushan, if you want to learn, I will teach you." Huo Chong didn't care what his junior brother wanted to learn, as long as he was willing to learn.
But the third apprentice brother Li Tieniu remained silent. Huo Chong asked, "Tieniu, why don't you say anything?"
Tie Niu said dejectedly: "Big Brother, Master has always called me stupid. I'm afraid I can't learn it."
"Oh? There is such a thing?" Huo Chong did not directly encourage and incite Tie Niu. It is also a kind of courage to have the courage to say that he is stupid.
Early in the morning of April 20, Huo Chong woke up and called his fellow apprentices. They had learned the character "three" yesterday, and today they would continue to learn the characters "four, five, six".
The fourth and sixth brothers learned very quickly, but the third brother just couldn't do it. Seeing that the fourth and sixth brothers could write the three characters very naturally, Tie Niu's face turned red.
Huo Chong was curious. Third Junior Brother's attitude was absolutely correct. Logically, it shouldn't be like this, but the fact was that he just couldn't do it. It was as if something was preventing him from learning.
Sending the fourth and sixth brothers to light a fire and cook, Huo Chong grabbed Tie Niu, whose hands were shaking from excitement, and said, "Third brother, take a break."
"Brother, I can't learn it." Tie Niu's face turned red because of shame.
Holding Tie Niu's hand, Huo Chong said gently: "Third brother, I see you have learned it. But when you write, you always think of other things and other people. Tell me, who do you think of?"
Tie Niu was stunned and bowed his head deeply. Seeing that he had hit the point, Huo Chong pulled Lao San's shoulders hard and made him look up at him. Although he was forced to look up, Lao San tried hard to look away, not wanting to look at Huo Chong.
Huo Chong was sure that this was a sign of psychological trauma. He pressed his hands on Lao San's cheeks and forced him to look at him. Huo Chong said decisively: "Lao San, who scolded you for learning to read? Tell me and I will punish him."
"No one, no one." The third brother still didn't dare to face the pain in his heart.
When the Cao Gang besieged them nearly a month ago, although Third Junior Brother Tie Niu failed to show his ability to help, he did not run away. Huo Chong was unwilling to lose such a person, so he continued to force the Third Junior Brother to look at him directly, and said loudly: "Third Junior Brother, who are you following now? Are you following me or the person you followed before?"
Third Junior Brother Tie Niu still couldn’t say anything, he could only say “I…I…”
"Third brother, tell me. Tell me!" Huo Chong still refused to give up Tie Niu.
"I... I'll follow the eldest brother." Tie Niu finally said with difficulty.
"That's all. Follow me, and I'll decide whether you can learn to read or not. Do you remember that?"
After hearing what Huo Chong said, Li Tieniu burst into tears. He choked up and said, "Master said that I am not worthy of learning to read. If I dare to look at the words, Master will beat me."
Huo Chong said decisively: "Master, this is wrong! Master, what you said is wrong!"
Seeing Huo Chong's firm attitude, Tie Niu became even more uneasy. He actually explained for his master, "How could the master be wrong!"
Huo Chong had also received training, and seeing that his junior brother's inner demon was still at a low level, Huo Chong was relieved. Holding Tie Niu's hand, Huo Chong said, "Tie Niu, is it right or wrong to recognize the words?"
“Master…”
"Don't mention Master. I'm asking you whether you can recognize the words correctly or not."
"Recognizing words...that's right." Tie Niu said what was in his mind.
"Tie Niu, you are right, there is nothing wrong with recognizing the characters. Whoever says that recognizing the characters is wrong is wrong. If the master says so, then the master is wrong. If I say so, then I am wrong!"
"How could Master and Senior Brother be wrong!" Tie Niu said uneasily.
Huo Chong was amused by these simple words. It must be because of this belief that Tie Niu did not run away in such a bad situation, but followed Huo Chong. If this cognition was shaken, Tie Niu's loyalty would probably be destroyed.
Without continuing with the previous conversation, Huo Chong asked, "Tie Niu, who are you following now?"
This time Tie Niu answered smoothly, "I'll follow the senior brother."
"Then I tell you, you, Li Tieniu, should learn to read. You can learn to read. Don't care what others say. Just remember that you are mine, and just follow me. If I ask you to learn to read, you will learn to read. If I say you can learn to read, you will definitely learn it."
Tie Niu still had a confused look on his face, probably because he couldn't accept the completely different conclusions from his master and his senior brother.
Huo Chong said nothing more, but picked up the branch and began to teach Li Tieniu how to write "四五六". Although he was a little panicked and uneasy at first, by the fourteenth time, Li Tieniu could write these three words crookedly by himself without Huo Chong holding his hand.
"You have already learned how to write these three words. If you write them more often, you will be able to write faster." Huo Chongwenyan expressed his agreement to his third junior brother.
