Chapter 81: First Visit to Literary Inquisition (Part 4)
"Mr. Huo, your business is growing bigger and bigger." After Feng Yukuan finished speaking, he picked up the teacup and took a sip.
Huo Chong felt that Feng Yukuan's words were malicious, so he also picked up the teacup and took a sip without saying anything.
Seeing Huo Chong like this, Feng Yukuan laughed and said, "Haha, Master Huo, I just think your family is too small. I don't even see anyone serving you. I've seen those businessmen whose net worth is not even 20% of Master Huo's, and they only have a bunch of servants at home."
Huo Chong heard this and smiled helplessly, but did not answer. In the 21st century, singles are lonely but not particularly conspicuous. The reason is simple, there are too many singles. So they are not conspicuous at all. It was different in the Qing Dynasty. Most people got married early and had a lot of wives and children. Singles were particularly conspicuous.
"Mr. Huo, I have some people on my side. Do you want to buy them?" Feng Yukuan said bluntly.
"No." Huo Chong answered bluntly. Human trafficking touched Huo Chong's morals. If it was a profitable slave trade, the capitalist in Huo Chong could still treat it as a business. But if they bought it for his own use, Huo Chong couldn't accept it.
Feng Yukuan thought for a moment before continuing, "Master Huo... those are the children of scholars. I think they are worthy of Master Huo."
"Haha, Mr. Feng. Since they are the children of a scholar family, why would they sell them? Are you kidding me?" Huo Chong said sarcastically.
I thought Feng Yukuan would be perfunctory, but I didn't expect him to look full of regret. "Master Huo, the government has recently handled several cases of literary inquisition. They have confiscated homes and exterminated families. It's very tragic."
Literary inquisition. Hearing this , Huo Chong felt unhappy. The Qing Dynasty loved literary inquisition. If it was to suppress feudal sects, or to slaughter traitorous literati and reactionary capitalists, Huo Chong would not care. The problem is that in the Qing Dynasty, these people often lived a very comfortable life.
Seeing Huo Chong remained silent, Feng Yukuan lowered his voice, "Master Huo, I'll be honest with you. Among those people whose families were confiscated and exterminated, there are also some who are old acquaintances of mine. Their women and children were captured and were to be sold. I think Master Huo is an upright person. If I can buy them, it will always be better than having them bought by a brothel."
"Didn't they say that she would be sold to the Northeast and become a slave to the armored men?" Huo Chong was a little confused about the situation at that time.
Feng Yukuan sighed, "Alas! That's what they say. But how can some women and children survive after traveling thousands of miles to the Northeast?"
Huo Chong still didn't want to cause trouble, but on second thought, he felt that he couldn't just pretend he didn't hear anything. Apart from anything else, what Huo Chong lacked the most at the moment was a teacher. Even a little girl like Qian Qing, who was a cultural teacher, was now called "big sister".
After thinking for a while, Huo Chong asked, "Is it really possible to buy people from the government?"
"If I want to buy it, I can only use connections and wait until those with connections have bought it, and then it will be my turn. Master Huo has connections, no, Master Huo, you are the official. Master Huo, when you go to see the officials, it's different from me." Feng Yukuan tried his best to persuade.
Huo Chong thought about it and could only say, "I'll think about it again."
After that, he changed the subject, "Will Bai Siwen's fleet come again?"
"Their fleet comes and goes twice a year, and we can't get to Japan's ships, so we have to use their ships."
Huo Chong could only temporarily believe that this was true. Fortunately, there were still things to do at the breeding farm, so it wouldn't be a waste to wait any longer. Especially since there were more important things to do here.
Two thousand years ago, Qin Shi Huang unified China and unified the writing system, wheel gauge, and weights and measures. In this era, the wheel gauge has disappeared. Every wheel is a different size.
In Muping County, now Rushan, a flagpole was erected high on the road outside the county, with an advertising banner that read, "Change wheels, no charge if you're not quick!"
A dozen old wheels were placed on a rack under the flagpole, and it was hard to misunderstand what was going on here. When Huo Chong was watching his men introducing the new wheels to the villagers according to the training content, the county's head constable came here with several people. He greeted from a distance, "Master Huo, I brought a few people here."
Huo Chong went over to them and saw that they were well dressed and obviously not from the same hometown. They greeted Huo Chong and looked at each other before asking about the new wheels.
The employee in charge of this matter came over and introduced the new wheels to them. They tried them and found that the new wheels were much lighter than the old ones. They squatted down to look at the wheels and found that the bearings of the new wheels were made of iron. They were really surprised and some even began to marvel at them.
Huo Chong was somewhat proud. In fact, when he first thought about iron smelting, Huo Chong did not find any direction. It was just that modern people had an instinctive idea about steel production. In the Qing Dynasty, metal products were not only few in variety, but also had a very small scope of use.
Huo Chong's business had a huge demand for transportation. Every time he heard the friction between the pure wooden wheels and the axles during transportation, Huo Chong hated the wheels of that era. When Huo Chong was traveling, he went to the Xi'an Museum to see the bronze vehicles of Qin Shihuang's time and was amazed at the design of the vehicles 2,000 years ago.
The people in the Qin Dynasty already had a deep understanding of metal bearings. It was just that they were limited by the technical level and could not produce bearings. In contrast, in the Qing Dynasty, the entire technology was not as good as 2,000 years ago. They just put wooden wheels on wooden axles and started using them. It's really unbearable.
"Master Huo, your axle is... unusual." A middle-aged man came over and praised. This guy was in his thirties, and like Huo Chong, he wore a melon-shaped hat. He let his braids flow out from the back of the hat, which made him look much better.
Huo Chong laughed and said, "Haha, this thing looks good, but it needs maintenance. If it is not used for a long time, I am afraid it will rust."
This is also the biggest problem with metal axles. Huo Chong has not yet developed metal surface treatment technology, which requires quite professional treatment methods. At this time, if you want to prevent rust, you have to oil it. And you have to use it frequently.
Hearing this, several guys who came to see the new wheels frowned. It was obvious that they were very concerned about maintenance.
Huo Chong didn't know what the purpose of these guys coming here was, so he explained his equipment according to the sales process. Things can't just be used without repair. Although wooden equipment has various problems, it has the advantage of not being easy to rust. The maintenance of metal parts is much more sophisticated than that of wooden parts.
After listening to Huo Chong, half of these people no longer had the uneasiness or even hostility they had when they first arrived, and a look of disdain appeared on their faces. This made Huo Chong happy in his heart. Self-debasement has limited meaning and is even harmful. But being looked down upon is a good thing, at least it can reduce a lot of hostility.
One of the physical reactions of humans is to feel jealous of those who are stronger than them. Jealousy is a reaction, a reaction that has been shaped by genes for hundreds of millions of years. If you have no reaction to the strong, you will only fail in the competition for survival.
Upon learning that Huo Chong's new wheels have many inconveniences, these guys will feel that on average, what they already have is not at an overall disadvantage.
After viewing the items, several people did not buy anything in the end. They just said some useless words and left. Huo Chong politely sent them away and continued to sell his own things.
In fact, the sales of the new wheels are very average, or even not very high. But this is not a problem for Huo Chong. What Huo Chong needs to do is to hide the trees in the forest.
When Huo Chong was selling his wheels with great fanfare, others would forget that what Huo Chong really wanted was to have his large number of transport vehicles equipped with the latest axles. Internal users were Huo Chong's own vehicles, and the largest customer base for external sales was the official road to Jinan. A small place like Muping County was not even considered by Huo Chong.
A few days later, no one cared about Huo Chong's new wheel. Even if they talked about it, it was just a topic of conversation among the rich. Those who still had carts would occasionally consider Huo Chong's new wheel, or go to the homes of the few neighbors who bought new wheels to watch the fun. As for the landless poor, they couldn't even watch the fun.
When the situation was calm, Feng Yukuan invited Huo Chong to "go out for a drink." At the place where Feng Yukuan placed the smuggled goods, Huo Chong once again met the Spanish merchant Bai Siwen, the Semu man who gave himself the Japanese name of Oda Hideyoshi.
"Sir Huo, do you really not want to buy a pistol?" Bai Siwen said to Huo Chong with the calmness and magnanimity unique to a technological leader.
Huo Chong waved to Qian Qing, who was dressed in men's clothes, and Qian Qing immediately took out a box from his suitcase. The suitcase caught Bai Siwen's attention, but he didn't even look at the box. He pointed at the suitcase and asked, "Is that made of the leather I sold you?"
"Would you like to take a look?" Huo Chong said with a smile. I originally thought that there was no grazing in Luzon occupied by the Spanish, but I didn't expect that the ghost place was actually the origin of buffalo. There is indeed a big difference between buffalo leather and yellow cow leather, but it is only 100 points and 80 points.
If buffalo leather is set at 60 points as the passing score, pig skin, sheep skin, and rabbit skin will undoubtedly fail. It can even be said that they are far from passing.
Bai Siwen and Feng Yukuan carefully examined the suitcase. Feng Yukuan was very reserved like a Chinese. He thought the suitcase was good, but he could not help but nod slightly. Bai Siwen was already amazed and praised loudly .
After praising him, Bai Siwen did not mention the musket and asked directly, "Mr. Huo, are you selling this suitcase?"
After that, the two began to bargain. They really asked for a high price and paid the price on the spot. The heated discussion made Feng Yukuan dumbfounded. In the end, the deal was made at the price of two and a half cowhides and a box.
Huo Chong praised Bai Siwen for his knowledge of the goods, and at the same time he opened the box and took out a pistol from it. Bai Siwen's face was originally full of pride of "making a profit", but after looking at the pistol for a while, his face became solemn.
It seems that this guy is knowledgeable and has already realized that this pistol is special.
Just when Huo Chong was feeling proud, Bai Siwen said with a straight face: "Mr. Huo, are you kidding? How can you fire a gun with this structure?"
