Chapter 76: Covering Mountains and Seas (Part 3)
Huo Chong was not surprised that the other party questioned him right away, but that didn't mean Huo Chong would give in. After hearing the other party's questioning, Huo Chong immediately asked back: "When I got here, Master Feng's men came to cause trouble for me. It seems that Master Li wants to ruin my business!"
The other party immediately became angry, and several of Li Daoqiong's men immediately started yelling at Huo Chong. Huo Chong was not angry either, and after the gang had finished yelling, he said to Li Daoqiong, "Master Li, your men are saying what you think, right?"
Li Daoqiong sneered, "Master Huo is a smart man."
Huo Chong bowed and said, "In that case, I'll take my leave."
After saying that, he turned and left.
Feng Yukuan quickly pulled Huo Chong and said, "Master Huo, now that we are here, are you just going to leave like this?"
Huo Chong shook his head. "Master Feng, I will remember your favor for introducing me to you. But there is no way to discuss this matter anymore."
After saying that, Huo Chong continued to walk out. But he heard someone behind him shouting, "Close the door."
Huo Chong thought that the voice should be from the guy he had beaten. He turned around and saw that it was indeed the case. He saw him walking down with big strides, shouting, "You attacked me last time, this time I'm going to kill you."
Since the opponent was like this, Huo Chong did not tolerate him. He also walked towards him. As soon as he entered the attack range, Huo Chong launched an attack. He kicked this guy down again with just one encounter.
When Li Daoqiong's men saw Huo Chong taking action, several of them rushed over with shouts. Huo Chong punched and kicked them, and knocked them down in a moment.
"Mr. Feng, are you in cahoots with Huo Chong?" Li Daoqiong asked viciously.
Feng Yukuan wanted to explain, but in the end he said angrily: "I don't care about your two sides' affairs!"
After hearing this, Li Daoqiong threw off his coat, revealing the vest underneath. Huo Chong felt that Li Daoqiong probably had never thought of reconciliation from the beginning, otherwise he would not have worn such a convenient outfit for fighting.
Both of them were martial artists, so they didn't waste any words and confronted each other directly in the open space. Huo Chong moved his feet, and Li Daoqiong also kept his distance from Huo Chong at the same speed. The two seemed to be walking slowly along the circular trajectory with the same center.
The first guy who was knocked down got up again and rushed towards Huo Chong with a roar. Huo Chong grabbed the guy's belt and used the force to throw him towards Li Daoqiong. While Li Daoqiong's steps were a little messy, Huo Chong had already launched an attack.
Li Daoqiong was a real martial artist. Even in such a hurry, his moves were still very steady. He did not act rashly at all because his men were beaten. After fighting with Huo Chong for seven or eight moves, he looked a little surprised.
Huo Chong was not surprised, but rather delighted. Since rabbit meat and sunflower oil provided sufficient protein and fat, his physical fitness had recovered quite well.
This is not to say that Huo Chong's body had been ill before. The 21st century is an era of no lack of nutrition, and the Qing Dynasty could not maintain such a nutritional level. This situation caused Huo Chong's body to function differently in the Qing Dynasty than in the 21st century for one year.
Of course, a fighter cannot do without muscles, but too much muscle is also a burden. According to the specific situation of the individual, training muscles that can burst out strong power in a short period of time is one of the keys to exerting personal strength.
Now Huo Chong has regained the feeling of the 21st century, and he can exert all his strength before his muscles become suffocated by excessive congestion.
Li Daoqiong was indeed a martial artist, and he also felt Huo Chong's strength and the reality that Huo Chong could exert even greater strength. Suddenly, Li Daoqiong gave up defense and began to attack with all his strength.
Huo Chong saw from the corner of his eye that Li Daoqiong's men were beginning to surround him again, and saw Li Daoqiong punch him in the chest. Huo Chong tightened his muscles, took the punch, and punched back.
Two loud bangs sounded almost simultaneously. Huo Chong and Li Daoqiong were each hit by a punch. However, Huo Chong was hit in the pectoralis major muscle, while Li Daoqiong was hit in the shoulder socket by Huo Chong. Both of them were knocked back a step, and Huo Chong rushed forward again. However, Li Daoqiong turned around and ran, while his men had already rushed over.
By the time Huo Chong had beaten Li Daoqiong's men down and driven them away, Li Daoqiong had already rushed back, holding a spear in his hand, and shouted angrily: "Huo, today it's either you or me, or I or you."
After he finished shouting, Li Daoqiong had already charged at him with his gun. Huo Chong drew out the sword from his waist along with the scabbard, drew out the long sword, and threw the scabbard aside. The two men fought again.
In the 21st century, Huo Chong learned weapons in addition to boxing and kicking. Of course, the teachers who taught weapons had different opinions, and they all thought that the weapons they mastered were the best weapons. Huo Chong finally chose swordsmanship.
Of course, I learned Tai Chi sword, but the real battlefield swordsmanship was the rapier and broadsword, especially the swordsmanship that originated in Northern Europe, or inherited from the Teutonic Knights.
This swordplay is simple and practical, with a sense of simplicity. The teacher at that time proudly recounted the glorious history of the broadsword. During the Thirty Years' War, the Swedish army led by the Nordic Lion, King Gustav of Sweden, fought a battle with the Holy Roman Empire army in a place called Lützen near Leipzig.
The two sides first fired cannons, then muskets, and when the cavalry began to charge, the battle entered a melee.
Because his mount was shot, King Gustav of Sweden and his three followers accidentally ran into a large group of imperial cavalry wandering in the center of the battle line. In the close combat, two of Gustav's followers were hacked to death, and another follower was injured and escaped. Gustav himself was hit by several fatal wounds in the head, neck, and back, and almost fell off his horse and died immediately. Only his warhorse, covered in blood, ran back to the Swedish army's line by itself.
Derived from the variant of the rapier, the "broad sword", it demonstrates its power on the battlefield.
The so-called broadsword is certainly not the exaggerated thing like a saber in games or animations, nor is it the heavy sword in fencing. The length of the broadsword is about the same as that of an ordinary rapier, and the width will not exceed four centimeters.
The basic movements of this swordplay are very simple, but the skills are extremely strong. When Huo Chong first started learning it, he almost doubted his life.
But Huo Chong was a platform man after all. When his bloodthirsty professional instincts were combined with the essence of swordsmanship, Huo Chong suddenly understood. Wars had never stopped in Europe for thousands of years, so the purpose of swordsmanship was simple and clear. It was to kill people in order to survive.
Just like Li Daoqiong in front of him, he has indeed worked hard to master his spear skills.
After fighting for several rounds, Li Daoqiong actually shook a gun flower. Huo Chong also learned a little about gun techniques and knew that shaking a gun flower was a profound technique. The problem was that Huo Chong didn't understand that shaking a gun flower was of no use when he had already sealed the door.
It seems that Li Daoqiong is still a person from the Qing Dynasty after all. Although he inherited the spear skills passed down by his predecessors, he is not able to understand every single move.
In this regard, European swordplay, which originated entirely from the battlefield, does not have this problem. All the routines have been analyzed to be safe and thorough, so thorough that there is nothing to analyze. Swordsmen only need to experience how to use these swordplay techniques to the best of their ability through repeated training and battles.
And 21st century kinesiology allows learners who can afford it to understand how their bodies can perform to their full potential.
Holding the hilt with both hands, Huo Chong slashed at the position where the spear shaft was supposed to rotate. With a clang, the spear was knocked aside. Huo Chong took advantage of this gap and rushed into the attack range of the spear.
Long weapons are more powerful because they are longer. Because they can be thrust out and retracted quickly, they can block the enemy from the attack range. When Huo Chong got into the attack range of the spear, Li Daoqiong could only cross the spear to defend with all his strength. This is the advantage of the broadsword's attack range that can attack quickly.
After two consecutive slashes and a step forward, Huo Chong's sword was placed on Li Daoqiong's neck. Instinctively, Li Daoqiong's body stiffened.
Huo Chong took another half step forward and completely suppressed Li Daoqiong. Seeing the fear in Li Daoqiong's eyes, Huo Chong snatched Li Daoqiong's spear and threw it far away, then he retracted his sword and turned away.
Halfway through, he bent down to pick up the scabbard, put the sword back in, and walked to the door.
Li Daoqiong's men had probably never seen such a fight before, and when they saw Huo Chong approaching, they were so scared that they quickly ran away. Huo Chong opened the door and strode out.
Although he was in a good mood after the victory, Huo Chong also knew that if he wanted to sell things to Japan in exchange for the copper, sulfur, and mercury he wanted, he would definitely not be able to go through Li Daoqiong.
Is this what they call "there can't be two tigers in one mountain"? Huo Chong thought regretfully.
In the next few days, Huo Chong continued his work. The hornwort grows in the sea and starts to lose some branches in late summer. It reaches its peak in autumn and decreases rapidly in winter. It is rarely seen in late winter.
This is the peak production period. A large amount of vegetables are harvested and then sent to the processing factory to be boiled and refined into agar.
The so-called agar is just one of the many colloid components of the hornwort. Since Lao Shisi specifically asked for good quality, Huo Chong no longer mixed in other agar colloids and used pure agar. Although the cost increased a lot, Huo Chong tried his best to meet the customer's customized needs for the sake of his old customers who paid readily.
There is more and more agar-agar, and the harvested potatoes and sweet potatoes have begun to be used to make wine.
In the headquarters in Zhangdian, agar and agar-like substances are not only used to make solid alcohol, but also to make bacterial culture dishes. The yeast powder that Huo Chong is using now is the selected strain isolated and cultured from the bacterial colonies in the solid culture dishes observed under a microscope.
With standardized products, production becomes a very simple job. Producers only need to follow the regulations and do the operation well.
For example, when making wine, you need to check every once in a while whether the fermentation materials have been used up. This step only requires using a fine mesh colander to stir and observe what is scooped up. If there is no thick residue, it proves that the fermentation has reached the stage where you can either start distilling the wine or add maltose.
As for how to judge, there are naturally testing procedures such as litmus paper to complete it.
The situation had not yet reached this stage. Feng Yukuan, who had not been seen for several days, appeared in front of Huo Chong again. Compared with his polite expression last time, Feng Yukuan looked stern at this time, but he was straightforward.
With such frankness, Feng Yukuan said in a deep voice: "Master Huo, I really didn't expect that you are also a master."
"It's just for self-defense." Huo Chong replied.
Feng Yukuan did not discuss this further, but just asked: "Master Huo, what exactly do you want to sell to Japan?"
"That's all I have, and that's all I sell."
"Master Huo, what do you want? Do you want a Japanese sword?"
Huo Chong shook his head repeatedly, "What do I need that for?"
Among the additional knowledge I learned when I learned swordsmanship, Japanese swords were not highly regarded. The ones that were highly regarded were probably some of the machine-made Japanese swords after the Meiji Restoration.
Modern metal processing technology is fully capable of producing sharper knives, and Huo Chong has no special respect for traditional skills.
"Master Huo, it's nothing that you want copper. Everyone wants copper now. But what do you want sulfur and mercury for?"
"To make medicine," Huo Chong answered. This was the truth, except that he omitted the word "fire" in front of "medicine".
"Mr. Huo also knows medicine?" Feng Yukuan finally showed surprise on his face.
"I just saw a few recipes and wanted to give it a try."
"What medicine is sulfur used to make?" Feng Yukuan asked.
"Medicine for skin diseases?" Huo Chong answered. He had seen so many sulfur ointments, most of which were used to treat diseases such as psoriasis. It was enough to fool an ignorant Qing Dynasty person. Besides, Feng Yukuan was a smart man, and it was easier to fool such an ignorant smart man than a fool.
"And what does mercury do?"
"Make red mercury as a medicine." Huo Chong continued to deceive. Mercuric oxide was indeed one of the many medicines in the past.
"How much does Mr. Huo want?"
"I want as many as I can get." Huo Chong continued to answer.
Feng Yukuan was indeed a smart man. After talking for a while, he never said whether he would make a deal or not.
Huo Chong did not press the issue, but simply communicated with Feng Yukuan as if he were a modern trader.
After seeing Feng Yukuan off, Huo Chong continued his work. There were many things that needed to be arranged in Mouping County. Huo Chong had discovered that there were more people selling land here than he had imagined. This was a bit strange. Because the grain price in Mouping County was more expensive than in Zibo County, and the total amount was less.
In this situation, if it were the 21st century, everyone would definitely buy more land to expand production. The price is high and the quantity is small, which is in line with the economic model.
However, in this situation, a large number of land sales occurred, proving that the income from farming was very low, so low that even the high grain prices could not make up for it.
Since someone was selling it, Huo Chong certainly wanted to buy it, so he went around looking for land that suited his expectations.
Huo Chong even invited the farmers who wanted to sell their land to drink. Even though they had fallen to the point of selling their land, these people did not complain about the liquor Huo Chong provided. Instead, they opened up after two drinks .
It turned out that these people were really overwhelmed by the taxation, and Mouping County was close to the sea, with frequent winds and rains, poor land, and frequent droughts. Although the people who sold the land were of all ages, without exception, they just couldn't make ends meet. They had to sell the land to raise the money they needed.
Huo Chong taught these guys to his fourth junior brother who was also in the same business as him. The fourth junior brother also tried his best to promote Huo Chong's "Zhongfubao" to those who were selling land.
Unconsciously, the first cycle of winemaking was over. Huo Chong also recruited a small group of people who wanted to plant blessings in Muping County.
