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Chapter 77 Sweet Harbor Storm - The Beginning of the Rout
"It's okay. I ghostwrite letters in front of the county government every day, and I can earn a little money to read the full text. But if it doesn't work, I have a cousin -" His face turned slightly red after saying this, "I have an engagement with my uncle and aunt. Not a snob, either. A few meals are always okay.”
Chen Tianxiong smiled slightly and thought that he would just give him a small mirror as a thank you gift in the future.
Returning to the South China Sugar Factory, Chen Tianxiong made some arrangements, especially sending people to the city to keep an eye on Linzhuang to see if he was "ruining the dirt" to the point of not caring about it. If this person held the money, If we continue to live in a private life, we need to readjust our plans. News soon came that Linzhuang had left the county and returned to Monk Zou Temple.
"Old Chen, why do you have to convince Lin Zhuang?" Wen Tong asked.
"He is the leader of the sugar factory workers, and he has some prestige." Chen Tianxiong said, "Our people's lobbying alone will definitely have some effect, but it is still not as powerful as what he says. "
"What if he keeps pushing back and refusing to help?"
"It's not up to him." Chen Tianxiong had already prepared. "He gave us the copy and waited until he handed over his little pigtails to us. With this," he showed the copy of the list. , "He couldn't deny it even if he wanted to."
"You really belong to me," Wen Tong admired him sincerely, "How could he be willing to take this bait?"
"The benefit of the 28-year hidden deduction is not just that money is attractive." Chen Tianxiong said, "As soon as I lured him with the settlement money, he couldn't hold it anymore."
"There are hidden deductions for the settlement allowance. This world is really dark." Wen Tong said with emotion. "By the way, Chang Shide is back."
"Why didn't I see him?"
"He is in Lingao, preparing to carry out his mission." Wen Tong explained the specific plan between the Executive Committee and South China to deal with pirates. "What the navy means is that it is best to learn more about the details of this group of pirates and simply eliminate the evil. , so as not to leave any future troubles.”
"I understand." In fact, Chen Tianxiong didn't have a clue about this matter, but it all depends on people, and intelligence work relies on people to run out. "But now we have to plan the recruitment. What did Wu De say to our request for instructions?"
Matters involving large-scale accommodation of local indigenous people are now the responsibility of the Civil Affairs Committee. Basically it was Wu De who had the final say.
"Wude approved it, but he asked us to submit a report on how to arrange this labor force," Wen Tong said. "Whether it should be resettled locally or transferred to Lingao."
"What do you think?" Chen Tianxiong has his own opinion on this issue, but Wen Tong is responsible for the situation in Leizhou, and he naturally knows better than Chen Tianxiong how much labor is needed locally.
"Of course we will settle them on site." Wen Tong has a big plan. The winery will start construction soon and will need a group of workers. As for the comprehensive processing of sugar industry waste, it will also require a lot of manpower. There is no problem in absorbing these labor forces.
"I think so too. Most of them are locals from Leizhou and Xuwen. If we force them to be sent to Lingao, I'm afraid people will not accept it."
"And how to arrange the family members."
"The factory can't accommodate so many people at one time, but it's probably no problem to support their families with their wages." Wen Tong said, "I plan to make the wages equal to rice silver - half money and half rice. The price of rice here is high, so it is often used The Vietnamese rice shipped by Shi De is more cost-effective. When the business becomes bigger in the future, we can slowly recruit family members to work."
This is a good idea. After Chang Shide established the maritime rice and sugar route from Xuwen to Vietnam, the South China Factory had a large granary in its hands.
Even so, once the "recruitment" is completed, the food and drink of a thousand people will be the responsibility of South China. It was fine that no one cared about it originally, but once there was a master, it would be easy to cause trouble if something went wrong in the management.
"The problem of food is easy to solve. Chang Shide has shipped rice. You can eat as much as you want." Chen Tianxiong said, "If it's too late, let Dachang Rice Bank pay some of it first."
"You also have to pay for settling-in expenses," Wen Tong said. "A worker always gets one dollar."
"Of course," Chen Tianxiong nodded, "it also shows our sincerity."
"But this money cannot be given to Lin Zhuang. He is so greedy and will eat at least half of it. We can't be taken advantage of."
"Of course, it's up to us to do favors." Chen Tianxiong said, "I'm afraid he'll get away with it."
Now I calculated how much money and grain it would cost. No matter how people arrange things, they have all been planned one by one.
"But when are you going to recruit people?"
"It depends on Lin Zhuang's consciousness. However, if he really doesn't realize it, we will take advantage of him." Chen Tianxiong said, "Now it seems that Xiao Zhanfeng's statement that burning incense will not cause any trouble is certain, but we You have to guard against his kick."
After Chen Tianxiong left, Lin Zhuang gained money and became more courageous. He originally planned to hang out with Ai Ai for a day, but then he thought that the situation was complicated now. Huanan and Haiyi Tang were eyeing him. Although his worth had doubled, There is the advantage of having both sides, but how to manage this situation of "having one's feet in two boats" is a very troublesome matter. If you stay in the hall any longer, you won't be able to control the situation. Although I felt a little regretful, I quickly left Ai's house and went back.
On the way, we first went to a rice shop, where we bought some old rice with the few taels of silver we had and sent it to Monk Zou's temple. He was already an old customer here, so Mi Xing naturally complied.
He went to Qian Chun's store again and put the silver that Chen Tianxiong gave him on the counter. I quickly returned to Monk Zou Temple. He has a room here - it was given to him by Zhu Sanye in the temple. He is a bachelor who has settled down and spends all his money as soon as he gets it. He lives in a sugar house on weekdays and has no decent household items. There is only a bamboo bed in the house and a few tattered clothes, so he is not afraid of thieves. When he arrived at the temple, he didn't say hello to anyone. He went back to his room, closed the door, lay down on the bed, and started thinking.
It is a good thing to be able to step into two boats and have both sides, but after all, it is not a long-term solution. Sooner or later, we still have to decide whether to go with Haiyitang or Huanan.
On this point, Linzhuang has no ideological struggle. In his opinion, Huanan is an outsider after all. No matter how powerful he is, he can't defeat the deep-rooted Hai Yitang here - at most, everyone will make peace in the end. It's always right to follow Hai Yi Tang.
But Huanan was much more generous than Mr. Zhu. The shopkeeper Chen I met today was able to make fifty taels at a time. This kind of magnanimity was something that Mr. Zhu did not have. Lin Zhuang couldn't help but sigh. If the two could be swapped, he would definitely be devoted to Shopkeeper Chen.
What made him salivate the most was the five hundred double-column silver coins. Lin Zhuang had never seen such a large sum of money. He was thinking about how to get the money - at least part of it.
The matter of burning incense and swearing an oath cannot be postponed. This was his idea just now. No matter how slow it is, I won't be able to explain it. Zhu Sanye wanted him to take the opportunity to make trouble. If he didn't make trouble, he would already be discounting it. If there wasn't even a formality, there would be nothing to talk about in the future.
The problem is that once the oath is taken, it is tantamount to breaking one's promise to South China. If the other party becomes angry, it is easy to deal with him. This must be guarded against.
I am thinking about whether there is a way to deal with both sides as much as possible. Someone knocked on the door outside the house: "Brother Lin"
He heard that the person calling the door was one of the leaders of the group, named Ma Sanqiang. He is a Qinzhou native and has great prestige among the unemployed workers in Qinzhou. Lin Zhuang cannot help but deal with him perfunctorily.
He quickly got up and opened the door, letting Ma Sanqiang come in and sit down.
"Brother Lin" Ma Sanqiang got straight to the point, "Someone brought rice outside. This time the rice is old rice. How can we eat it?"
"Can't we eat Chen Mi?" Lin Zhuang knew that he was making a fuss about this matter again, and the boss was not happy in his heart. One of the main reasons why he had been hanging around in the hall was that he didn't want to see these people. In the temple, people are very particular about poverty all day long.
Seeing his nonchalant attitude, Ma Sanqiang was so angry that he trembled all over: "You can eat it if you want." As he said this, he shook open a cloth bag. The rice inside was broken into pieces. Many of them were discolored and turned black and yellow. There were also some rice inside. Lots of barnyard grass and sand. It doesn't even count as rice, it can only be regarded as the bottom of the warehouse.
Lin Zhuang felt guilty. He only spent a little more than three taels of silver to buy rice. He asked the rice bank to "buy as much as they can, the more the better." Naturally, the rice they sold to him was the cheapest. Finally, we settled on three yuan per stone. I didn’t expect that the quality of the rice was so poor that it would only be fed to pigs.
"It's still rice," he insisted. "Eating it will fill your stomach. I can't be particular about the conditions now."
"It's not about eating this food. It's better to eat the bran." Ma Sanqiang felt early when he saw that he had never eaten in the temple for more than a month. Although he was dressed in rags, his body was not thin at all, but a little fat. There is anger.
Lin Zhuang calmed down and spread his hands: "I can't help you. This is the money given by Master San. I'm not a rich man, so I can give more money out of thin air. There is good rice, two liang and one stone, how can I feed it?" "These many people"
This is a very convincing statement. Although Ma Sanqiang was very suspicious of him taking it for himself, he had no evidence and could not say anything.
"I don't believe it. Zhu Sanye would only give these few dollars to do good deeds."
"Mr. Zhu doesn't do good deeds to begin with -" Lin Zhuang said, suddenly feeling that it was inappropriate for these words to reach Mr. Zhu's ears, and quickly changed his words, "I mean, it's already a big deal for Mr. Zhu to help everyone." You are so kind, you have to give something back to others before I ask you to go to South China to do something, and everyone is resisting." He felt that his reasons were sufficient, and even his throat roared, "How do you want me to go and talk to Mr. Zhu? explain"
"I won't do this kind of illegal thing." Ma Sanqiang's attitude became tougher. "To tell you the truth, someone has asked me to go to South China to work. I remember that everyone gathered together to file a complaint. You can't just make trouble for yourself and refuse to agree to others. Now it seems that this is unnecessary." He said, clasping his fists, "Brother Lin, take care of yourself" and walked away.
This was a shock to Linzhuang - "Someone asked him to go to South China to work," he thought to himself. Shopkeeper Chen clearly said that he wanted him to help "recruit people", but why did he already put his hand in? He hurriedly chased him out. In the yard, Ma Sanqiang and the fellow villagers who usually gathered around him were packing their luggage.
"Three strong men, we have something to discuss." He took Ma Sanqiang's hand and said, "When you come back, we will discuss it again. Don't tear everyone down." He then whispered, "You help me maintain it, and I will naturally have it." Good for you”
A look of disgust appeared on Ma Sanqiang's face, and he said loudly: "I don't care about it. Just keep the money and spend it yourself. I, Ma Sanqiang, work hard and make money openly, and I don't want to use this kind of money from unknown sources." Wave your hand and say "go"
More than a dozen workers from Qinzhou followed him out. Lin Zhuang stamped his feet repeatedly, but knew that he could not stop him. He saw the workers and family members around him talking incessantly, and his heart was filled with excitement. Lin Zhuang cursed secretly in his heart - Shopkeeper Chen, you are too poisonous. Huanan must have sent people to move among the workers a long time ago.
"Master Lin," a sugar cook came over quietly, "some people who used to work in the sugar factory have been here recently. I'm afraid they are people from South China."
"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
"You are missing all day long, where can I find you?" The other party was very dissatisfied and complained, "You don't take things here to heart."
Lin Zhuang was speechless. He knew that Chen Tianxiong had defeated his army, so it would be fine if he cooperated with the "recruitment", but if he was playing tricks, he would have already prepared a plan to deal with him. This moment completely shattered his dream of having both sides.
He gritted his teeth and said: Shopkeeper Chen, you are unkind, don't blame me for being unjust. I decided to burn incense on time and start the incident - it was the next day anyway. That night he summoned some prestigious people among the sugar house workers to discuss matters. Unexpectedly, the attitudes of these people had changed a lot.
Among the unemployed sugar factory workers, the most enthusiastic about causing trouble and destroying Huanan are the sugar cooks, but these people are unwilling to do it themselves - although they hate Huanan the most, they have earned a lot in the past and their families have some foundation, unlike the The other workers were miserable. Don't want to get yourself into trouble.
As for the poor general laborers, the situation was already fierce, but Nan's attitude was resolute and he was always ready to fight. However, things have turned around now - Huanan's willingness to recruit them as workers has spread among the people. There is a glimmer of light in front of them. Naturally, no one is willing to do such illegal things again. No matter how much Lin Zhuang instigated, they all said that this matter was against the king's law, and he was afraid that there would be no good fruit to eat. Some people also lamented the hardships, saying that their whole family had never had enough to eat, and if something happened and they went to the prison, everyone in the family would probably be killed. starve. Some people simply suggested that everyone go to South China to work. ,.
