Chapter 67: Planting Blessings (VII)
"Brothers, please tell the local authorities about the donation of fame and honor when you go back. I believe there will definitely be people willing to donate." Magistrate Lu said to everyone.
"Of course , of course." The tax farmers agreed readily.
After the banquet, Zhang Qixian pulled Huo Chong. Huo Chong did not say anything. After they walked away, they took a detour to Zhang Qixian's house. When Huo Chong arrived, someone had already arrived in the house. A few more people came one after another, all of them were juren.
After serving tea, Zhang Qixian sighed, "The magistrate is determined to apportion the money. Everyone should be careful."
Everyone else nodded, and Huo Chong followed suit. It was indeed very interesting to see the contradictions within the ruling class. No matter how cooperative County Magistrate Lu showed, his ultimate goal was still money, money, and money.
"We have to say it, but we can't pay the money and grain." Zhang Qixian has expressed his position.
Huo Chong felt that these landlords might not be able to defeat the county magistrate, and he did not want to fight with the county magistrate to the end. "Everyone, can you ask County Magistrate Lu to give a minimum price? If everyone shares the cost, it should be possible, right?"
Zhang Qixian sneered, "Haha. Brother Huo, are you playing dumb?"
Huo Chong was not angry either. "Please give me some advice, Brother Zhang. Speak in the most straightforward way."
Zhang Qixian thought for a moment and said, "Brother Huo, what do you think County Magistrate Lu wants?"
"Well...he wants to get promoted, right?"
"Yes! If the county magistrate wants to be promoted, he must collect and pay more. If County Magistrate Lu can take out all the money for repairing Xiaoqing River this time, I'm afraid that Prefect Li will recommend him for promotion immediately."
Huo Chong thought that these gentry might be overly worried. "Mr. Lu wants so much, does he really think he can get it?"
Several candidates looked disappointed and mocking. Zhang Qixian sighed and asked, "What did Brother Huo say when Magistrate Xu asked him to deposit the money in the county?"
Huo Chong didn't expect these guys to be so well-informed. He was surprised and told the truth, "A new official won't admit old grievances."
Zhang Qixian nodded, "Yes. If Magistrate Lu uses up all our financial resources and gets promoted and leaves, will the debts left behind be old debts?"
Huo Chong nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes, yes!"
"Brother Huo, we only need to pay taxes according to the rules set by the court, and we have already helped the county magistrate a lot. If we still want to be unique and let people say that we are one of them, wouldn't that be meaningless?"
Huo Chong wanted to say that this was a good idea, but when he saw the other candidates staring at him, he immediately felt something was wrong, "Brothers, do you think I still want to be Ren Shique?"
Haha, hehe. The other candidates just laughed, but their laughter contained thousands of words.
Huo Chong sighed, "My dear brothers, if someone thinks that I have established contact with the Fourteenth Master, who is now the favorite of the Emperor, I will not know how to act and think that I can really become an official. This is wrong. I thought I knew my limits, but I dare not even think about such a thing."
"Brother Huo, why do you have to say it so clearly? Are you trying to show off by saying this?" said a scholar with some displeasure.
Huo Chong shook his head. He could still remember clearly who became the emperor in history. The fact that Kangxi could go to the fourth son's house also showed that Kangxi valued the fourth son. But at this time, he couldn't say that. Huo Chong could only say from a rational point of view: "Brothers, it's good to lean on a big tree for shade. But how can we know who will succeed. I just want to live a peaceful life. At this time, if I stick to the fourteenth master, or pretend to be powerful, wouldn't it be digging my own grave."
The scholars all looked a little surprised, but no one said anything about such a sensitive topic.
"Brothers, I just asked if I could find out the bottom line. I just don't want to spend more, and I want to spend the least amount of money to get the greatest peace. Since you have given me instructions, I will do what you tell me. Brothers, please don't misunderstand me. I have always been a commoner and I don't understand the ways of the higher-ups. I will ask for your guidance in the future. Thank you in advance."
The scholars looked at each other for a few times, and Zhang Qixian smiled and said, "Since Brother Huo said so, we understand. We will do what we can for the tasks assigned by the county. The county wants us to pay money and grain, but we can't do what they say just because they say so. Those people can't be fed."
Huo Chong nodded repeatedly. He had a new understanding of the struggle among the upper class. It seemed that officials and gentry were in collusion and supported each other when oppressing the people. However, when it came to internal struggles, they were also clearly divided and confronted each other without giving in.
Look, facing the trustworthy county magistrate Lu, these guys have already joined forces.
After the meeting, Huo Chong returned to the village and mobilized his own forces to publicize what Magistrate Lu asked Huo Chong to publicize. Most of the rich people had heard of donating to fame, but they didn't care much. On the contrary, ordinary people heard about such a thing for the first time, and they all took it seriously and listened. They also raised many questions.
When he learned that it would cost at least one hundred taels of silver to donate for his fame, and that he had to take an examination every three years and would be dragged away and spanked if he did not do well in the examination, he immediately gave up the idea of donating for his fame.
However, some people became interested in when the beating would take place, and asked the people under Huo Chong who were cultivating Fubao whether it was true that scholars would be spanked, and when and where they could see such a scene.
Apart from this, Huo Chong did not do anything else. Repairing Xiaoqing River is indeed a good project, but it has nothing to do with Huo Chong. This is not the construction of a new China. Why should Huo Chong donate to a feudal monarchy? This feudal monarchy is still a system of minority oppression, a country that can "better befriend foreign countries than be slaves."
Now that Huo Chong does not have the strength to overthrow the Qing Dynasty, he naturally has to honestly focus on his own life. If he continues to contribute money and effort to the Qing Dynasty, it will be completely beyond Huo Chong's acceptance.
After New Year's Day, it was the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. Huo Chong convened a village meeting. At this time, Zhongfubao's business scope covered more than 70% of the population in the three villages, and taxes would be paid soon. Huo Chong certainly had to discuss this.
Those people who still had enough balance in their Zhongfubao naturally didn't care. They received the balance and waited for Huo Chong to say when to pay the next round.
The guys who didn't have enough balance were getting nervous. Huo Chong waved his hand, and his junior and his men brought a few boards with the names of the major projects Huo Chong was currently working on, including transportation, construction, land leveling, etc. The content, workload, and wages of each job were clearly marked.
"Everyone, if you feel you have free time now, you can choose a job now. I will pay the balance of the wages to everyone after you pay the full amount of the benefits. If you don't have time now, then you can agree on when you can work, and I can advance your money first."
Huo Chong finally returned to his old job and felt that he spoke much more fluently.
After the villagers saw the projects, the staff explained what they did not understand. Huo Chong was very happy to see the young people who had received training starting to take on the work.
I used to think that education was a service to heavy industry and a long process. I never thought that education could also produce immediate results. What is happening right now is the best proof. It seems that I need to recruit more people. The more people under my command, the better.
After arranging the work, Huo Chong went to inspect his own industry, the four rabbit farms, to ensure that there would not be a situation where all the rabbits died of a disease.
Even though Zhu Erniu and Mr. Zhu's family at the winery couldn't be said to be on good terms with each other, at least they no longer kept each other from seeing each other.
There was a little problem with Li Tongshan's side, and the production of colored glaze was not as smooth as expected. Huo Chong simply laid his cards on Li Tongshan's plate, and decided to directly produce transparent lenses and open an eyewear store in Jinan.
After hearing Huo Chong's explanation of grinding lenses for the first time, Li Tongshan praised: "Brother Huo, I have seen those glasses. I thought our colored glaze can also make them. But I didn't know that the key is actually grinding."
Huo Chong was very happy that Li Tongshan was so smart, so he encouraged Li Tongshan, "It is not difficult to burn transparent colored glass. The difficult part is that the quality of the colored glass must be pure, and there must be no problem with the light transmission angle. Plus the grinding. These are all slow and delicate work. So the price of glasses is not cheap, that's why they are expensive."
When Li Tongshan heard this, he smiled cunningly and said, "It seems that Brother Huo will have to pay for it."
"If I can get the lens just by paying money, I will be so happy. Paying money is just the first step. The rest requires Brother Li to spend effort. I will have to beg Brother Li every day and ask him to spend more effort."
"Haha." Li Tongshan couldn't help laughing. It seemed that he was quite satisfied with his dominance.
After leaving Li Tongshan, Huo Chong felt interesting. One of the essences of human beings is "dominance", which is said to be the result of a certain substance that appeared in the fish era hundreds of millions of years ago. It is precisely because of this feeling of dominance that we can face the cruel competition of the world more effectively. A purely passive personality, really don't expect him to create anything.
The vinegar-making part was still being done, but there was no additional progress. Huo Chong's demand for vinegar essence had greatly decreased, and he was just trying to keep the already built content running.
The remaining leather production was also stalled due to the raw materials, and Huo Chong was considering whether he could raise cattle on a large scale. But there was one very annoying thing about raising cattle, which was that it was not legal to kill cattle. At least Huo Chong was worried that killing cattle was illegal in the Qing Dynasty.
Thinking of this, Huo Chong thought he could go find someone to ask first.
When he went to the county and asked if he could kill the cow and eat the meat, Li was immediately frightened and asked quickly, "Brother Huo, are you a Hui?"
"Of course I'm not." Huo Chong quickly denied.
Captain Li then said, "The cow cannot be killed."
Later, Captain Li was afraid that Huo Chong might not be able to explain clearly, so he asked the county's legal clerk to explain to Huo Chong.
In the Qing Dynasty, it was explicitly stipulated that it was forbidden to slaughter oxen, because oxen were essential livestock for clearing fields and sowing crops. They were very useful, and there was so much food to eat in the world, so why slaughter oxen?
The clerk directly told Huo Chong that the Qing Dynasty Code stipulated that anyone who slaughtered oxen, opened a stall or sold oxen would be subject to certain penalties. For the first offense, the offender would be put in the shackle for two months and given a hundred strokes of the cane. For the second offense, the offender would be exiled to a nearby military base. Even if the ox was his own, he would be sentenced as a theft of an ox. If he slaughtered someone else's oxen, the punishment would be even heavier.
"Is it not allowed to sell oxen privately?" Huo Chong saw a business opportunity.
"Of course private selling is not allowed!" the clerk emphasized.
"Then how can I sell the cattle?" Huo Chong felt that selling cattle was a very good business. He had already raised a lot of rabbits. Although there was a huge gap between rabbits and oxen, they were both breeding industries after all.
Huo Chong had read many instruction documents on how to make various protein-rich feeds, many of which contained sections that could be easily implemented.
The clerk did not answer immediately this time. Instead, he looked at Huo Chong for a few times and then said, "Master Huo, don't say I didn't tell you this before. If you want to raise cattle to sell, you have to pay taxes."
"Oh...pay taxes?" Huo Chong felt something was wrong and asked quickly, "How much tax do I have to pay?"
"The tax for raising cattle is not low. This needs to be filed with the county, and maybe even the prefecture. This is not a small matter."
Huo Chong quickly retreated and asked, "If raising cattle doesn't work, raising donkeys and horses should be fine, right?"
"Master Huo, I don't look down on you. If you do this, don't let us go and embarrass you by saying something else when we go to collect taxes."
Huo Chong had no choice but to go back and think about it. He could not think of anything, so he went to Linzi County to meet Yang Youfang, who was quite worldly-wise.
Hearing Huo Chong say that he actually wanted to raise cattle, horses, and donkeys, Yang Youfang immediately asked, "Master Huo, is it possible that you have a relationship with the brothers on the official road?"
"I have never dealt with brothers who do business on the official road."
Yang Youfang frowned slightly, "If we have never dealt with each other before, why would Mr. Huo want to eat this meal?"
"Don't you want to make some money?" Huo Chong said with a smile.
"It's not easy to earn money to feed this journey." Yang Youfang sighed, "Nowadays, anyone who can own a horse is a rich family. The food and feed for this person are not cheap at all."
As he spoke, he introduced the current market price to Huo Chong. In the Qing Dynasty, horses generally cost around 15 taels, but a good war horse could cost twice as much.
Huo Chong also forgot where he saw it. It seemed that ordinary short-term workers, equivalent to today's part-time workers, usually made at least 30 wen a day; senior technicians made about 100-200 wen a day; ordinary workers who received monthly wages had a monthly salary of between 300-1500 wen, and could not even get 1 tael of silver a month; long-term workers in landlords' homes had an annual salary of only about 10 taels.
According to Yang Youfang's introduction, a horse farm worker could barely get this price at that time. As for the people in ordinary villages, they simply could not earn this much.
The most important thing is that horses can only be worth money if they are sold. As the clerk said, the government has to collect taxes from Huo Chong, and there are all kinds of exorbitant taxes from who knows where. So even if the farmers have their own livestock, they raise them under the government. As long as a family has a barn, they have to pay taxes. If the number of livestock is large, they have to pay even higher taxes.
Huo Chong was really shocked. What the hell did this mean? No wonder the number of livestock in China has not increased as much as in Europe and the United States. The tax issue may be the biggest impact.
At this time, the population is booming again, and labor may be cheaper than raising oxen...
Wait... Huo Chong felt that there was something that had been looming in his mind for a long time, but it suddenly became clear to him. The price of grain.
From the few intelligences collected, grain prices have been rising. Most importantly, grain sales in the market have not increased dramatically due to the increase in grain prices. This is what Huo Chong analyzed from the data.
Huo Chong had too many things to deal with at the time, and now he finally had time to think about it. Now it seems that all of this is intrinsically connected.
Thinking of this, Huo Chong asked Yang Youfang to introduce him to a few grain merchants he knew so that he could have a drink with them.
Of course you have to drink, but not for the sake of drinking. Although the grain merchant didn't quite understand why Huo Chong was so interested in the changes in grain prices, he still told Huo Chong.
The price of grain rose from less than one tael of silver for 120 catties to 1,200 wen. The price of fish was generally around 20 wen per catty, pork was 30 to 35 wen per catty, and beef was about 25 wen per catty. Duck eggs cost 45 silver coins (100 wen) and chicken eggs cost 54 silver coins (100 wen). One hundred wen of silver coins could buy four catties of duck eggs or four and a half catties of chicken eggs, which was about 25 and 22 wen per catty.
"Can we still sell beef? Aren't we allowed to kill cows?" Huo Chong was shocked.
The grain merchant said with some disdain: "Those beefs are from cows that died of old age or disease. Mr. Huo, don't you see that the price of beef is cheaper than pork!"
So that's it! Huo Chong finally understood.
We were drinking when a stranger suddenly showed up. He turned out to be the head of the police from Linzi County. He said he had a close relationship with Li, the head of the police from Zichuan County, and that was why he had to come. Everyone was afraid to say anything.
The captain revealed his intention as he spoke. It turned out that Linzi County also knew that there was a guy like Huo Chong who could directly supply goods to the Fourteenth Master, and they were very interested in Huo Chong.
According to the latest news from the court, Kangxi pays special attention to the Fourteenth Prince.
When Yinzhen went to war, Emperor Kangxi issued an edict to the Mongolian princes of Qinghai, saying: "The general is my prince, he is indeed a good general, leading a large army, and I know that he has the ability to lead troops, so I let him take charge of the important task of life and death. Whether it is military affairs or matters of great or small, you should follow the instructions of the general. If you can be sincere and work hard, it will be the same as my instructions to you in person. You should just be harmonious, be of one mind and body, and work hard."
Kangxi had said so, how could the officials have any misunderstanding? Of course, they probably did. Anyway, officials at all levels believed that the Fourteenth Master would be the next emperor.
Recently, even more exciting news came out.
After Yinzhen's Western Expedition, Emperor Kangxi not only rewarded him with 100,000 taels of silver, but also often brought his sons with him and gave them more rewards. Although Yinzhen's title was only Beizi, the marriages of his sons were of the same standard as the eldest sons of his prince brothers. In addition, Kangxi rewarded Yinzhen frequently, which was unmatched by any of his brothers.
Huo Chong finally understood why there had always been legends about Yongzheng usurping the throne. Normally, a prince treated like this would definitely be the next emperor. There would be no other possibility.
