Chapter 42 Official Status (Part 2)
The tax collector left, and peace returned to Liujia Village for a while.
Huo Chong continued his work. Lenses had become his biggest source of income now, so Huo Chong started the furnace and continued processing.
In the afternoon, someone knocked on the door. Tie Niu went to open the door, and soon he led Liu Laowu in. When Liu Laowu saw Huo Chong's expression, he immediately forced a smile, "Brother Huo, I'm not here to collect a debt today. Really not!"
Huo Chong looked Liu Laowu up and down and saw that he came alone, not with his family members like before. From this point of view, at least Liu Laowu was not here to cause trouble.
"Let's talk inside." Huo Chong made an invitation.
The two sat down, Huo Chong was very indifferent, and Liu Laowu looked embarrassed. After a while of silence, Huo Chong felt that he could ask Liu Laowu to leave. Before Huo Chong could speak, Liu Laowu laughed dryly, "Haha. Brother Huo, I offended you before."
"Yeah." Huo Chong agreed readily.
Liu Laowu sighed and continued, "I can't do anything about it. Your master took our money and ran away without a trace. If you saw this, what would you do?"
"Yeah." Huo Chong agreed. If he encountered such a thing, he would never use Liu Laowu's simple and inefficient method, but would use a more ruthless method.
"Brother Huo, you can pay me back anytime you want. I won't ask you for the money I earned from planting seeds. We see that you are so capable, and we want to get closer to you, Brother Huo."
"You guys?" Huo Chong felt that this word was really suspicious.
Liu Laowu probably thought that this question was an excuse, and quickly said, "Brother Huo, we are angry that your master cheated us. Brother Huo has never cheated us, and he will pay us back when he makes money. We just think that Brother Huo is so capable, do you want to take him as an apprentice?"
"What?" Huo Chong didn't understand.
"Brother Huo, you only have a few people under you. I see you are tired and thin from running around every day. I want to ask if you want to take in an apprentice. We are all from the same village. If you have a few more apprentices, you won't have to work so hard."
Liu Laowu's words... No, it was Liu Laowu's decision that surprised Huo Chong. This guy almost had a fight with Huo Chong before, and now he dared to ask Huo Chong to accept their apprentice. Regardless of whether Huo Chong agreed or not, Liu Laowu was not afraid that Huo Chong would beat the apprentice Liu Laowu recommended to death after he agreed?
Thinking of this, Huo Chong laughed dryly, "Fifth brother, why do I feel like you want to make my life difficult?"
"No, no, no!" Liu Laowu waved his hands like a windmill. Before he was about to continue, he sighed, "Hey! Brother Huo, those people wanted to invite you to drink. I saw that you are a straightforward person, and I thought you would not go. So I told you something from my heart. At that time, I thought you and your master were in the same group. Now I think you and your master are not in the same group. I put the blame on your master on you. If you want to scold me for this, you can scold me. But I think you will think the same way."
"Ha!" Huo Chong wanted to beat Liu Laowu right now. But Huo Chong felt that Liu Laowu was telling the truth. He asked, "Fifth Brother, why do you think that my master and I are not the same kind of people now?"
Liu Laowu answered straightforwardly: "If you and your master are of the same kind, your master must know your ability. You can settle the matter and pay back the money. Why is your master still running away! He hasn't come back yet, you two must not be of the same kind!"
Huo Chong's unhappiness was all shocked away by Liu Laowu's judgment. Even in such a remote place, there is no shortage of smart people. This judgment pointed out the facts and the truth at the same time, and it was completed with extremely simple and clear logic. Although Liu Laowu certainly didn't know the word logic, his judgment completed the logical form.
"Fifth brother, I just want to expand the workshop." Huo Chong told Liu Laowu about his expectations.
"That's good. I'm willing to partner with you." Liu Laowu also accepted it happily. "It's just that we have a quarrel, that's our business! Don't take it out on my apprentice!"
"Huh!" Huo Chong admired Liu Laowu's sharpness. "Fifth brother, I want to dig more coal. I wonder if anyone will mess with my chicken feathers?"
"Mining coal? You want to dig coal and buy it? That won't work." Liu Laowu said hurriedly.
"Why?" Huo Chong was very puzzled.
Liu Laowu quickly explained. It turned out that Huo Chong's intuitive worry was correct. The Qing tax collectors only came to collect the land tax this time. Every spring and summer, these tax collectors would come to collect taxes again. This time, the taxes were all kinds of exorbitant taxes.
If someone in the village raises cattle or something, they will be taxed. If someone in the village opens a workshop, they will also be taxed. As for how much tax to collect, it is entirely up to the tax collector to decide. If you feel that the tax is unreasonable, go to the county to reason. The result is that without exception, you will be punished.
As for those who want to mine coal, as long as there is a well-known mine, regardless of whether the government will allow private mining, even if the government turns a blind eye, the one eye that is open will be on the mine, watching how much benefit can be gained from the miner.
Liu Laowu's words were of course long-winded, and Huo Chong had to work hard to understand Liu Laowu's words. But Liu Laowu's meaning was very clear. After saying this, Liu Laowu continued: "Brother Huo, you have connections in the county, so I didn't see the tax collectors asking you to collect these. I think you have connections, and I can follow you in the future."
Huo Chong's recognition of Liu Laowu went a step further. At least this guy knew that he had to have the protection of the government to pay less tax or even no tax. If he thought about it this way, the reason why he was not eaten alive by the three villages was that the head constable Xu Youlin hired did play a huge role.
Thinking of this, Huo Chong was not too anxious. Xu Youlin said that the current county magistrate was his relative. And the villagers said that the county magistrate's term seemed to be about to expire. If he became so arrogant and made all kinds of unrealistic promises to Liu Laowu and others, Huo Chong would still be eaten alive by this group of people when the current county magistrate Xu was promoted.
After seeing Liu Laowu off, Huo Chong continued with his work as if Liu Laowu had never been there.
But Huo Chong's heart was not as calm as his appearance. No wonder Zhangdian was not short of coal, but people only dug a few coal holes and dug some coal from them when needed. Huo Chong was actually very curious. In this era without environmental supervision, there was no such thing as occupying coal pits in places with coal.
According to Liu Laowu, let's not talk about how to fight with the locals to occupy the coal mines. As long as the government knows about this, tax collectors will flock to the mines and drain the miners.
In the next few days, Huo Chong's heart was like a haystack. Whenever he thought of such abundant resources, he would be a little distracted. If possible, he would directly dig coal and iron ore and smelt metal products. Even if he didn't sell the metal products, using them alone would make Huo Chong's work of firing colored glaze much easier.
But this is not how to solve the problems encountered after mining. Although he paid back the money, he already had conflicts with the rich families in the three villages. As long as he dug out the mine himself, those who hated Huo Chong would report to the county. Huo Chong would have to face the big trouble that fell from the sky.
Time passed quickly, and it was the first day of the eighth lunar month. Liu Sijin, who had rented Huo Chong's land, came to visit and happily told him about the growth of the beans. Huo Chong listened to Liu Sijin patiently, praising him for his ability to farm and his skill as an experienced farmer.
With such praise, Liu Sijin smiled. After he was done, Liu Sijin said, "Brother Huo , I tried my best. But your fat is still good."
"Fourth brother, I told you that if you want to use fertilizer, just do it next year." Huo Chong answered readily.
Unexpectedly, Liu Sijin did not show any joy, but hesitated to speak. Huo Chong could only ask: "Fourth brother, just say whatever you want to say."
Liu Sijin asked tentatively: "Brother Huo, do you want to sell those plots of land you have in the north?"
"Not for sale!" Huo Chong answered firmly.
Liu Sijin was stunned for a moment, then tentatively said, "Those plots of land are so scattered..."
"If anyone wants to sell the land next to those plots of land, I'm willing to buy it!" Huo Chong was determined not to give up.
"Brother Huo, my relative has some land over there. I was thinking if you could sell the land..."
"Fourth brother! I will never sell that land!" Huo Chong interrupted Liu Sijin. Seeing Liu Sijin's embarrassed look, Huo Chong tried his best to suppress his unhappiness, "Or this way, I'm willing to rent all the land! It's comfortable to farm a large piece of land!"
"Brother Huo wants to rent the land?" Liu Sijin asked, but he was not too surprised.
Huo Chong thought that it was certainly beneficial to operate the land in blocks. Although he was also a small landlord, he had to rent other people's land. This question was indeed a little strange. But what was even more strange was that Liu Sijin was not surprised by this request. This puzzled Huo Chong.
Is it true that landlords also rent out their land in this era? In order to prove his idea, Huo Chong said, "Fourth brother, how about this. Please help me invite all the people from that piece of land. I want to treat everyone to a drink."
Everyone has arrived, about 7 or 8 people. Liu Sijin introduced this group of people to Huo Chong, all of whom are of different generations.
Everyone didn't like soju, so they just sipped it like medicine. I don't know if it was because of the alcohol, or if they had the idea from the beginning. Everyone proposed a similar idea, wanting to buy the other people's land.
Since everyone wants to buy other people's land, naturally no one can buy it. Huo Chong was fed up with the nonsense of this bunch of people, and brought out the customs of the Shandong wine table. He said to everyone: "Ladies and gentlemen, I want to talk, drink first!"
After saying this, he poured two ounces of wine into the bowl, picked it up and drank it all in one gulp in front of everyone's astonished gazes. Then he held up the bowl for everyone to see.
Seeing Huo Chong being so generous, several people felt that they could not drink much, so they shut their mouths and prepared to listen to what Huo Chong had to say.
"I want to rent this piece of land!" Huo Chong said loudly under the influence of alcohol.
