Chapter 52 Intelligence Network (Part 3)
Winter is coming, Huo Chong is walking on the beach, looking at the sea which he has not seen for a long time. The sea breeze blows in his face, from the collar, from the cuffs, from the trouser legs, from every gap that can get in, and touches Huo Chong's skin, and takes away Huo Chong's body temperature like a ruthless green tea bitch.
On the beach in front of me, more than a dozen people, their faces red from the cold, were still bending over to pick up plants called hornwort from the beach. There were not many people on the beach in winter, and facing the boundless sea, these people on the beach looked as insignificant as pebbles.
But human labor is so great that in just two days, more than a dozen people worked day and night and picked up hundreds of kilograms of cow sedge.
Huo Chong had prepared some things before the trip. He lit a coal stove in a simple fisherman's house by the sea and began to experiment with making agar.
It was ridiculous to transport several hundred kilograms of coal for two hundred miles. What was even more ridiculous was that the Qing tax collectors would collect taxes as soon as they saw people transporting these salable goods. Huo Chong's official uniform and stickers worked, and when they saw that there was an official among the people, the tax collectors immediately gave up collecting taxes. This made Huo Chong feel that the one thousand taels of silver were really worth it.
However, Huo Chong had plenty of time to think about everything he saw. Huo Chong spent the thousand taels of silver in order to earn ten thousand taels, one hundred thousand taels, or even more. But those scholars who could only read a few taels of silver did not have Huo Chong's strength. They could not learn any knowledge that could be used for immediate production from a few taels of silver.
If they spent a thousand taels to become an official, they would definitely hope to get a return tenfold or a hundredfold like Huo Chong. There is really no other way to satisfy them except corruption and exploitation of the people.
As the fire in the house was jumping, Huo Chong couldn't help thinking about this matter. When Huo Chong broke free from his thoughts, he found that many fishermen had crowded into the house without knowing when.
Because there were too many people, the air in the house became increasingly polluted. The fishermen were originally just crammed here, and soon fell asleep in the room heated by the fire . Seeing this, Huo Chong simply asked Yang Youfang to bring in some door panels and arrange them neatly. Now everyone finally had a place to sleep.
After the work was done, the room that was originally used as a production workshop became a large dormitory. Several people snored while sleeping, which made Yang Youfang, who was already very unhappy, even more unhappy.
Huo Chong pulled Yang Youfang, who was about to explode, out of the door and whispered, "Everyone is freezing, so what if we let them get some sleep?"
"Brother Huo, it's not that I don't want them to sleep. It's just that some people..." Yang Youfang muttered to express his unhappiness.
Yang Yongfang couldn't help it now, but Huo Chong couldn't help it a long time ago. But the situation was really bad, and Huo Chong had to bear it. And the lives of these fishermen were really hard. In the 21st century, when talking about the coast, it is easy to associate it with wealth. However, at the end of 1717, the fishermen in the Shandong coast were very poor.
Huo Chong paid a minimum of ten cents a day, and the seaweed they picked was collected by the pound, which was only two cents per pound. More than a dozen people from several families who could endure the cold in winter came out to pick seaweed with great effort. It was winter!
What's wrong with keeping everyone warm?!
Judging from the sky, it was almost time. Huo Chong continued his cooking. This was also seen in a report. Huo Chong paid special attention to it because it was related to Shandong. The so-called agar production method is very interesting. It is to pick up seaweed and extract agar by boiling.
With colored glaze, there is a benefit, which is that a thermometer can be made. There is no need to do any research on the temperature itself. Once the thermometer is on, Huo Chong can control the temperature range.
After boiling it for more than a day, they managed to extract more than 20 kilograms of agar from 200 to 300 kilograms of seaweed.
Huo Chong calculated that according to the ratio of agar and alcohol to make solid alcohol, it seems that less than 5% of agar powder, with a small amount of water and a large amount of alcohol, can make another kind of solid alcohol.
Now that the weather is cold, the efficiency of making vinegar is low and the effect is poor. Since Zhu Erniu and Huo Chong reconciled, Zhu Erniu patted his chest to ensure that this would not be wrong. And Huo Chong himself really didn't want to use the expensive calcium acetate to make solid alcohol.
I didn't have the chance to use agar before , but this time I suffered a lot and got an official status. I can't miss out on the many advantages that an official status brings.
If there are more than 20 kilograms of agar, even at 4%, it can make 500 to 600 kilograms. Huo Chong stayed here for another three days, and more fishermen came. They went to farther places to pick up, and the total amount increased greatly.
The agar production also increased dramatically. Huo Chong originally thought that 100 kilograms would be enough , but he ended up producing more than 700 kilograms. In addition to the more than 7,000 kilograms given to the Fourth Master, Huo Chong still had enough agar to make other things.
Huo Chong quickly found the fishermen and told them that it was okay this time. Everyone should stop picking up fish from the sea.
I thought the matter would end smoothly here, Huo Chong got the things, everyone got the money, and everyone was happy. Unexpectedly, the fishermen cried when they heard this, and cried and said Huo Chong had a bad conscience. Everyone thought they could earn more, so they worked so hard. Huo Chong left like this, and many people were frozen badly, wasn't it for nothing.
Yang Youfang wanted to say something. Huo Chong stopped Yang Youfang and said to the fishermen: "You have suffered a lot. How about this? I think the food is very good. I will pay you double the money these days. You must not go to the seaside again. I will come again after the spring. In this way, in addition to this money, I will give you half of the money for next year's reservation."
After hearing that their income had more than doubled, the crying fishermen finally stopped crying. Huo Chong's pockets were empty again.
On the way back, Huo Chong could only apologize to Yang Youfang, "Brother Yang, I'm sorry for making you spend so much money. I'll go borrow some more money when I return to Linzi County. Thanks to you for helping me contact the lender, otherwise I would have been out of money."
Yang Yongfang had indeed advanced the money for Huo Chong. Hearing Huo Chong's pitiful words, he could only sigh: "Brother Huo, you are also an official. It is much easier for you to borrow money than others. I am just worried whether you can get the money back. I heard that you are going to see the prince. He is the emperor's son. What will you do if he refuses to give you the money?"
Huo Chong felt warm in his heart. It was a good feeling to have someone care about him. And Yang Yongfang's evaluation of the prince was even more heartwarming. In Yang Yongfang's eyes, the prince was a bad guy, a very bad guy. This was infinitely close to the truth.
But it would be too shocking to say that he might even lose his head on this trip. Even if it was true, he couldn't say it at this time. Huo Chong could only smile and said, "Don't worry, I will do my best. I will pay you back as soon as I come back from the capital."
