Chapter 70: Planting Blessings (10)
Just after the Chinese New Year, Zhu Sanshi, who was in charge of reception, came running over with a report, "Big Brother, there's a letter from our Third Brother in the county."
Zhang Wuji was asking Liu Shiwu from Liujia Village to prepare the birthday expenses for this year. Although the money was not much, every registered employee was given 20 cents for their birthday, but as part of the organization's work, it had to be done.
After the explanation, Huo Chong took the letter and opened it. He saw that the third brother, Li Tieniu, wrote in a more legible handwriting about the latest developments in the county. The land arrangement was very good, especially for those farmers who were not very interested in selling their land. After a year of adjustment last year, their attitudes were obviously much better this year.
In the letter, the third brother urged Huo Chong to go to the county town as soon as possible. The farmers and workers who participated in the planting of Fubao here all wanted Huo Chong to preside over the planting of Fubao in person.
Tie Niu's writing is all in vernacular, and his emotions are very clear. It can be seen that the farmers and hired workers really believe that Huo Chong has the ability to "plant blessings." These people who are eager to buy a guarantee for their future do not believe in Tie Niu, Huo Chong's third apprentice brother.
Huo Chong thought this was really interesting. After reading the letter, he called two "apprentice employees" in and asked, "Do you believe that I can cultivate blessings?"
The two apprentice employees nodded repeatedly, "We believe it."
"Why would you believe it?" Huo Chong continued to ask.
Both of them looked puzzled. One of them asked back, "Why don't we believe what Master Huo said?"
Huo Chong was confused by this and didn't know how to answer. Someone once said that there is no love or hate without reason in the world. This answer is too vague. If possible, Huo Chong would rather everyone could say it clearly.
Since the situation in the county was like this, Huo Chong had no choice but to go to the county. Before leaving, Huo Chong asked the rabbit farm here to get rid of all the adult rabbits over two years and three months old.
I thought we would set off quickly after finishing the work, but unexpectedly, Liu Songshan, the team leader of the rabbit farm, came to ask whether the order to deal with the rabbits was true.
Huo Chong was passing on the content . When he looked at the document, he was shocked. How could getting rid of rabbits that were more than two years and three months old turn into getting rid of all rabbits?
Liu Shiwu, who wrote the document, was called in for questioning. After thinking for a while, Liu Shiwu blushed and said, "At that time..."
When Liu Songshan saw Liu Shiwu from the same village doing this, he immediately knew that Liu Shiwu had made a mistake and started scolding him.
Huo Chong stopped Liu Songshan from yelling. He called Qian Qing over and asked her to arrange for the Internal Affairs Department to prepare a standard form. After Qian Qing asked about the content of the form, she went out to do her job. Liu Songshan looked at Liu Shiwu angrily, but Huo Chong didn't seem to be going to get angry. Liu Songshan asked angrily, "Master Huo, you should let Qian Qing write it next time."
"No." Huo Chong immediately disagreed. Without waiting for Liu Songshan to refute, Huo Chong said: "This time I was careless and didn't arrange the process properly. I didn't sign and confirm. From now on, we must pay attention to this. The form must be there! The signature must be there!"
Soon, Qian Qing brought a sample form over. Huo Chong read it and signed the section for review.
Then let Qian Qing make one first, and we will consider further refining the process. Huo Chong already has dozens of people, several projects, and industries in several places. In the future, it may be possible to move from the mountains to the seaside.
Reliable people are of course the foundation, but those who are not strong enough but can be used should not be abandoned. If you want the system to work, documents are a necessary means.
When the form was ready, Huo Chong asked Liu Shiwu to fill it out. After filling it out, Huo Chong checked and signed it. Finally, he gave it to Liu Songshan and asked him to execute it according to the form.
After Liu Songshan left, Huo Chong looked at the ashamed and fearful Liu Shiwu and sighed, "From now on... we have to continue learning this process."
When he arrived at the county town, Huo Chong was greatly welcomed by the crowd. Hundreds of people surrounded Huo Chong, hoping that he could directly bring them blessings. What was originally thought to be a meeting turned out to be a conference, which was completely beyond Huo Chong's imagination.
After the gathering was over, a man who looked well-dressed left the gathering and went straight to Mr. Zhang Qixian's house in the county town. When he saw Mr. Zhang, he bowed and saluted, "Master, I'm back."
"What's it like over there?" Zhang Qixian asked.
"Then Huo Chong did not perform any ritual."
"Oh?" Zhang Qixian was very surprised. "If he doesn't perform rituals, how can he make those people believe him?"
"Huo Chong told everyone that everyone would be blessed after death. But Huo Chong wanted everyone to have a better life while they were alive. As long as they joined his blessing association, Huo Chong would pay the taxes on their behalf. They would not suffer any loss. If there was no place to make money, Huo Chong would arrange jobs for them..."
Zhang Qixian listened with great interest, and finally couldn't help laughing and said, "After all, Huo Chong wants everyone to do hard labor for him."
Not only did Zhang Qixian send people to inquire, many prominent figures in the county also sent people and got similar information. Even Magistrate Lu sent people, including his own people and secret agents from the government.
Comparing the information from both sides, County Magistrate Lu felt much more relieved. Since Huo Chong was not causing trouble for any religious sect, County Magistrate Lu did not have to bear any risks. As for how Huo Chong wanted to recruit people to join the Welfare Association and earn reputation by paying taxes on behalf of others, County Magistrate Lu did not care.
The people sent by the government said that many local gentry sent their people. If these people think Huo Chong is a threat, County Magistrate Lu can find someone with enough weight to sue Huo Chong. As for now, County Magistrate Lu has returned from the capital, and his peers in the Ministry of Personnel have privately informed Jinshi Lu that he will soon be promoted to a state official. And leave Shandong according to court regulations.
At this time, it is better to do less than more. Besides, what good would it do to Magistrate Lu to get rid of Huo Chong, the county's largest tax payer?
Huo Chong didn't know who was plotting against him, but it wasn't something Huo Chong cared about. After meeting with the people from the Zhongfu Association and promoting the Zhongfubao concept of "to be blessed, you must have it while you are alive", Huo Chong distributed the rabbit meat he brought to the employees in the county.
Agriculture in the Qing Dynasty was agriculture, which was very different from the coexistence of agriculture and animal husbandry in Europe. Huo Chong believed that if he wanted to make money, he could not just rely on farming. Animal husbandry would suffer from the problem of germs, and it was really a dead end. Huo Chong's rabbit farm had encountered problems. Two-thirds of the rabbits died in one branch due to unknown bacteria. This made Huo Chong prepare a separate cage for each rabbit that no longer drank milk and raise them separately. The sterilization process was also strengthened.
Overall, animal husbandry is a way to make money. Although it is not stable, at least it can make money. So the county also handles it in this way. Although rabbits are also raised here, donkeys are the main animal.
After inspecting the donkey farm, I saw that there were several more large animals inside. It turned out that the loan sharks from the neighboring Linzi County had mortgaged other people's animals and sent them here first. In fact, it was not much different from selling them to Huo Chong in disguise. In addition to a donkey, Li also had two horses and a cow.
Just as they were about to rush back to complete the regulations and documents at Zhangdian, someone came to the door. Seeing the cold and stern look on their faces, they were here to cause trouble. Huo Chong felt that such a mess should have happened a long time ago, and when he saw it now, he immediately came out to see it in person.
When the leader saw Huo Chong, he immediately shouted, "Master Huo, our horse was stolen and pawned at a pawn shop. I heard that the horse is with you, so we are here to get it back!"
Huo Chong didn't want to answer such remarks. They just wanted to stir up trouble with empty words. They were too optimistic. Thinking of this, Huo Chong laughed and said, "Haha, since they stole your horses, then let the government tell them. As long as the official documents arrive, what's the point of me keeping those horses?"
