"Your Excellency, this is a wonderful plan. I would like to offer you a drink...dry!" The white porcelain wine cup hit the air, and the hot wine liquid fell into the stomach like a line of fire. Everyone's throats made a refreshing squeaking sound.
Late at night, in the flower hall in front of the Xiao family mansion, Xiao Letian was hosting a banquet for several heroes of this operation. Tietoutuo and Wang Huaiyuan were the protagonists. Xiao Hexin, Sima Yun and Long Ye were accompanying them. The six of them sat together, and the aroma of wine and vegetables filled the entire flower hall.
After three rounds of wine and five delicious dishes, Sima Yun patted Tietutuo's bald head and said with emotion, "Toutuo, Toutuo, I remember that when you joined the prince's service, you were still a little monk in his teens. After so many years, you You’re over thirty, right?”
Tietoutuo nodded with emotion, "Yes, when the kingdom of heaven first emerged, I was still a young monk in the temple. If the demon Qing hadn't slaughtered five or six villages under the mountain, leaving no incense money in the temple, Maybe I’m still guarding the Green Lantern Ancient Buddha..."
This Tietutuo is not a wandering monk at all, he is actually a veteran of the Kingdom of Heaven on Taibai Peak. This guy once became a monk in a Buddhist temple when he was young. Later, because of the war, the temple was abandoned, so he had to go down the mountain and wander around. It was precisely because the murderer who destroyed the temple was the army of Qingyao, so Tietoutuo surrendered to the Kingdom of Heaven without saying a word. army.
By mistake, Tietoutuo became Xiao Letian's general again. In this Feng Shui drama, Xiao Letian, who had a keen eye for beading, promoted him and sang the drama with him as the center. .
What kind of bullshit Feng Shui skills are all prepared by masters of martial arts in advance, and hearing ghost sounds during the day is also because Tietoutuo is proficient in ventriloquism. As for spitting fire and changing colors, he is a martial artist. There is nothing unusual about the necessary skills.
Everything is just a show, just an acting, but this Feng Shui drama just hit the Achilles heel of the ancient Chinese people. Aren't you superstitious? Then I will use superstition to defeat you. Don't say that this trick is evil, it is purely a helpless method.
Xiao Letian knows that the power of tradition is very powerful. Let alone the Tongzhi Dynasty of the Qing Dynasty, even in the era when compulsory education was universal in previous lives, there were still many people who believed in cults, and there was still a market for witches and wizards in the countryside. . Even among high-ranking officials and dignitaries, there are also high-level Feng Shui masters among them.
Many luxury houses require Feng Shui masters to modify their designs. The top wealthy and dignitaries can talk about state affairs on the screen, but there are not a few who burn incense and worship Buddha in private.
Superstition has long been ingrained in the bone marrow of the Chinese people, and it cannot be lifted by oppression.
Xiao Letian can use the power of the government to forcibly acquire land, but you can acquire land but not people's hearts. When the special zone starts construction, you won't even be able to recruit workers.
Of course, Xiao Letian can also use the scoundrels like Jiao Si'er and let them use their family's rogue methods to force the people away, but paper can never cover the fire. When the matter is exposed, the people's hatred of Xiao Letian will double. Rising, this is not what he wants.
"Sir, your plan is really good. In this way, we can get the land and win over the people of the city. Moreover, when the special zone is established in the future, the resistance of the surrounding people will not be great, and the recruitment of workers will be much smoother... But There's something I don't understand. Since you already have such a clever plan, why would you use someone like Jiao Si'er in advance?" Tietoutuo asked puzzledly.
"Well, that's a good question!" Xiao Letian nodded, picked up a prawn dumpling, put it in his mouth, and muttered, "This is the secret of showing kindness. Have you ever heard of the allusion of rice rising and rice grudged against rice grudged? ?A poor person, if you give him a liter of rice, enough to feed him for three days, he will thank you profusely. But if you just give him a bucket of rice, enough to feed him for half a month, he will have to think about your family's It’s a granary…”
"These people will say, if you can give me a bucket of rice, why can't you give me a warehouse of rice? Look, there is no end to human greed. Where is the bottom of greed? So, I must sacrifice Jiao Si'er in advance. Old dog, let these people know what bad people are like in the world. Only through comparison can they distinguish between good and bad..."
"What is black? It is black because of the white background. What is light? It is because you have seen the dark night, then you can understand what light is... So, when you want to send him a paradise, You might as well let them taste what hell is like first, and only then will they be grateful..."
What Xiao Letian said made everyone in the room silent for a long time. After a long time, Master Long sighed and said, "Why do you have so many words? It's really a waste of brains. I'd better just be my warrior!"
Xiao Letian did not continue this topic, but turned to Wang Huaiyuan and asked, "It's time for Third Master Qing to arrive in the capital now, right? Give Third Master Qing a good news immediately, saying that I have solved the problem of land acquisition for him... In addition, what have you done recently?" How's the investigation going? Is there anything going on in Shanghai and Guangzhou?"
What Xiao Letian was asking about was the Shanghai Industrial Zone and Guangzhou Industrial Zone, which were promoted together with the Tanggu Special Zone. These were the three bold attempts of the Qing Dynasty. Xiao Letian's intelligence network had been paying close attention to every move of his competitors.
"The Shanghai Industrial Zone has now been captured by the Hunan Army. Marshal Zeng appointed Li Hongzhang as the general manager, and Li Hongzhang chose the wealthy Hu Xueyan. As he had guessed before, the entire industrial zone was like the yamen of the Qing Dynasty. There is no difference, there is a clear hierarchy from top to bottom..."
"But after all, Hu Xueyan is the richest man in Jiangnan. He has plenty of land. His land acquisition work is smoother than ours. Some big landowners don't want to sell their land. The Hu family chooses the fertile land in Jiangnan at will, trading one acre for three acres. In this way, many landowners around Shanghai ran away. Went to Suzhou and Hangzhou..."
"But Hu Xueyan doesn't have Western learning skills like Mr. Hu Xueyan. After the land acquisition, he doesn't know what to do next. Now I heard that Britain, France and even countries like Spain and Italy have sent businessmen to help him make plans. The result is that a country One standard, one plan for one country, which makes it very confusing..."
Xiao Letian laughed when he heard this. It seems that Hu Xueyan has a dark eye on the outside world. Can you use industrial design from Spain and Italy? Weak Western countries are not meant for large-scale industry. If you use their standards, your special zone will be really ruined.
"What about Guangzhou? Tell me about the situation there..."
"Hey... don't mention it. The foreign captain brought the latest news a few days ago. These clear demons are actually doing the same thing as founding the country. They are just fucking enclosing territory!"
The Guangzhou Special Economic Zone and the Tanggu Special Economic Zone were both private lands belonging to the Manchus. Initially, the Manchus wanted to occupy all the industrial zones and create another wicker border in the Central Plains, giving their Eight Banners an extra area of hardcore crops that could guarantee harvests despite droughts and floods.
However, due to the interference of Qingliu and the covert conflict of the Hunan Army, the Shanghai Special Zone was taken away by Zeng Guofan and others, leaving only two special zones still under the control of the Manchus.
The Tanggu Special Economic Zone is very special. Qing Sanye and Xiao Letian are in charge here, and the bad habits of the Manchu people have not been able to penetrate. But Guangzhou is different. The Manchu and Qing lords actually understood the special zone as another land grab. They didn't even have the money in place, and they had already begun to occupy the land.
The generals in the city of Guangzhou and the Eight Banners soldiers marched out of the city in a mighty manner. They planted stakes on good land when they saw it. In less than three days, they actually enclosed six to seven thousand acres of cultivated land, and all the people got was a piece of land. Just an IOU.
"One acre of good irrigated land is worth at least 50 taels of silver near Guangzhou, but these demons took it away after giving me an IOU of 15 taels. In order to prevent farmers from re-cultivation, they even destroyed the water channels in the fields, and even A lot of big rocks have been scattered, and now the whole city of Guangzhou is crying, and the people are going to Beijing to complain to the imperial court with the blood letters of all the people..."
Now everyone at the table stopped eating, and everyone was full of anger. Everyone here was a vanguard against the Qing Dynasty, and they all had a blood feud with Qing Yao. How could they bear this anger.
"We are not afraid of not knowing the goods, but we are afraid of comparing goods. In this special zone, after all, the Hunan Army is Han, and they still care about the feelings of the same people, so they will offer high prices for land exchange. And these Eight Flags Dogs are basically They don’t treat us Han people as human beings, they just kill us as if we are animals, and they dare to enclose us. If they force us to create a kingdom of heaven, let’s see who else can save them!”
"We adults are kind-hearted. Not only do we not know how to rob, but we can also come up with clever strategies to appease people's hearts. The people of Tanggu are blessed!"
Just when everyone was talking about it, a soldier suddenly came over and reported, "Sir, Jiao Si'er is here and is waiting in the study. He said he must see you today, otherwise he won't leave..."
"What? He dares to threaten you, sir. I'll throw him out..." Sima Yun wanted to go out after saying that, but Xiao Letian stopped him. "You don't need to, I'll go see him..."
At this time, there was not even a pot of charcoal fire lit in the study, only the candles on the silver candlesticks were dancing with flames, stretching Jiao Si'er's figure. In the flickering candlelight, Jiao Si's face changed into a strange look, and his eyes were full of resentment and unwillingness.
"Jiao Si'er! Why are you looking for me so late?" Xiao Letian opened the door, and the cold wind made Jiao Si'er tremble.
"Bless me..." Jiao Si'er casually hit a thousand, followed by words filled with resentment.
"Master, you are not particular about how you handle this matter. How can you go back on your word? You agreed to leave the land acquisition to the slaves, but during the day you took away the land yourself. You don't want the slaves to make any money. flower?"
When Xiao Letian heard his dissatisfied and angry tone, he felt angry and said coldly, "Jiao Si'er, have you forgotten your roots? Don't forget that you are a slave in this house, and I am the master... …Kneel down!”
Jiao Si was so angry that he almost jumped up from his chair, "You are the master if I make money, but if I don't make money, you still want to be my master? You admire me too..."
"Kneel down!" Xiao Letian smashed the tea bowl with a bang, and then two guards rushed in from outside the door, grabbed Jiao Si'er and kicked him hard in the knee socket.
"Damn it, is this old dog deaf? I asked you to kneel down, but you still dare to stand up...kneel down!" Another hard kick, and Jiao Si's knee hit the floor.
By this time Jiao Si'er had already given up. The land expropriation he was talking about was a big business worth one hundred thousand taels, and an old money man like him couldn't get it out of his eyes. What's more terrible is that this deal is not just for him, but those losers from the capital will also share the profits. If they can't get this piece of meat, Jiao Si'er will never think about hanging around in Sijiu City in the future. .
More importantly, Jiao Si'er has mastered Xiao Letian's core secret. With such a big handle in his hand, does Jiao Si'er still need to be afraid of him?
"Xiao Letian, don't be arrogant. You can't hide the things you do behind your back from me. I've never seen anything with these piercing eyes in my life. If you destroy my job, don't blame me for being unkind..."
"Hey, is there something in your words? Tell me, what kind of feelings do you want to tell me? I'm all ears today!"
