"I just went to the nursing home in the south of the city two days ago, and those little babies are really pitiful." A fat man with a shiny face and a ridiculous appearance sighed in the private room of Duojinglou, the most beautiful building in Runzhou, "I, Zhang Desheng, can't study, so I can only do business." But those officials, studying and studying, where did they read all the books one by one? Even the rations of orphans and orphans can be deducted. ”

Just looking at this Desheng dressed in a plain silk shirt without colors, and there is no gold and jade on his body, no one can think that he is the owner of the largest silk factory in Runzhou, and there is a family behind him.

"How can it be less?" The Confucian scholar opposite Zhang Desheng hurriedly said, "Each person has eighteen catties of rations per month, who dares to deduct the morality and politics of the queen mother and the ministers?" ”

Zhang Desheng laughed for a while, and looked angry, "Yes, yes!" If it weren't for the virtue and politics of the Empress Dowager, His Majesty and Zhang, and Han, these abandoned babies would all be buried in the ditch, and no one would have deducted the rations paid by the imperial court. It's just that children don't know what to do, and they eat too much......"

"Brother Zhang!"

The Confucian seemed to have sores on his buttocks, fidgeting, coughing a few times, his face changed color, and he didn't dare to let Zhang Desheng say any more.

Zhang Dechang sighed, and the corners of his lowered eyes were compassionate, "The court may give a lot, but a dry finch and mouse are in the middle and exploited, and it can fall on the head of the little baby, which is too little." The little baby is just when the body is growing, hungry and full, all with yellow faces and thin muscles, Amitabha, which makes people look at it. ”

The fat face, which was a little ridiculous, seemed to be plated with a layer of light, and it became solemn and solemn, which made people look at it.

"That brother Zhang later donated a sum to the nursing home?" Confucius asked, holding chopsticks and holding a large shrimp ball.

"Donated some." Zhang Desheng was not the slightest proud, but even more depressed, "At that time, I brought less money, and after I went back, I thought about asking my family to send a cart of grain." It's just that if you give one hundred and eighty stones, it's too much, but it must not be two days, and those 'finches and rats' will be divided. I can only give five stone rice first, not enough to share it, so I can keep more, and the rest will be given next time. He sighed and pointed outside with chopsticks, "In this world, even doing good deeds must be thought about before and after, alas, ......"

The scholar wiped his mouth with a silk scarf, got up from the table, and bowed respectfully to Zhang Desheng, "Brother Zhang is virtuous, anxious for justice and righteousness, and the younger brother is respectful." When I go back today, I will show Brother Zhang's virtue in the newspaper. ”

"I can't afford it, I can't afford it." Zhang Desheng hurriedly jumped up, "Donating money and materials is just how it should be, is it to fight for fame?" ”

"Brother Zhang, you're wrong. If Brother Zhang is as virtuous as he is, and the younger brother doesn't show it in the newspaper, what else is there to promote? The younger brother presided over this newspaper, and he had to tell the people of Runzhou that there are not only villains in this world who only care about their own selfishness, but also pure gentlemen like Brother Zhang. Educating the people is the teaching of the saints, and if you can tell the world that good people can get good results, then this is education. It is not for Brother Zhang's virtue, but also for the work of education. ”

An hour later, Zhang Desheng's carriage returned home.

When the carriage came to a stop in the front yard, a fat man with a good meal got out of the carriage.

A fat face is getting more and more oily, and he has just had dinner with the deputy editor-in-chief of Runzhou Express, and Zhang Desheng is in a good mood. He picked his teeth with a toothpick and walked into the main room step by step.

An old man in the house had been waiting for a long time, and when he saw Zhang Desheng, he hurriedly stepped forward and saluted, "Fourth master." ”

Looking at the old man's face, Zhang Desheng continued to pick his teeth again. When he picked out a piece of pink meat from between his teeth, he squinted his eyes and raised his voice: "What's wrong?" What's going on? ”

The old man had a sad face, "Fourth master, the workers over there in the silk factory are making trouble again." ”

"Trouble again?!" The toothpick snapped twice, and Zhang Desheng's eyes narrowed, "What's the trouble?" Is it because of the lack of money? Is a month's and a half's wages called less? I still take care of them and eat them! You ask them to ask, is there a more generous owner than me in this 100-mile radius of Runzhou! ”

The villain said the same. But the workers said...... Say...... There is only one lunch in the tube, the rice is thin, and there is a lot of black rice, and there is a strange taste when eating. also said...... "The old man swallowed, observing Zhang Desheng's face as he spoke.

"What else?" Zhang Desheng asked with a grimace.

The old man lowered his head, "I also said that the old man has been dragging his wages and not paying them, so he can only borrow from the account, and he will have to record interest when he takes his wages to offset the account at the end of the year." ”

Zhang Desheng snorted heavily, "The silk can't be sold, what money can I give them?" It is also stated in the deed that the account will be repaid quarterly and settled at the end of the year at the latest. Didn't I settle it at the end of last year? I owe them nothing! ”

"But they ......"

"What them!" Zhang Desheng said angrily, "Those poor bones only dare to make trouble because they see that you are soft and think that you will help them speak." Don't forget, who paid you, me, or the poor bones? If it weren't for your daughter's sake, I would have fired you a long time ago. You go back and say to Zhang Wu that whoever dares to make trouble will be arrested and sent to the officials. ”

The old man was so scolded that he couldn't raise his head, and he didn't dare to reply to his mouth, he only knew how to nod.

"I don't have any money, so I can't be a turtle and ask my mother-in-law to sell it. That's the quickest way to get money! Zhang Desheng scolded and said, "After two months, the slave workers of the Japanese Kingdom came and dismissed them." This class of cheap bones, wait for them and still don't pay the account, see how Lao Tzu cleans them up. ”

After scolding for a while, Zhang Desheng drove out the father of his concubine, and called another steward to come in, "How long will it take for new goods to come from the Japanese country?" ”

"Back to the master's words, someone from Xiuzhou said that during this time, the country was strictly controlled, and there were too few new goods. He also said that please rest assured, when the emperor of Liao agrees, he can sell it openly. ”

"What an emperor, a puppet emperor!" Zhang Desheng corrected angrily, "A deal as rich as Li should have been done a long time ago." It's still delayed, and until when? This back and forth delayed me for half a year, which is half a year less money. I have to suffer more than half a year of those poor sticks! ”

Zhang Desheng complained, and the person in charge didn't know what to say, so he lowered his head and waited for the complaint to finish.

After the complaint was vented, Zhang Desheng said to the steward, "When the time comes, a few people will come down, how to manipulate these machines, you have to teach them first, and then start the revolution after the church." Also, the people in charge of the factory don't need any skills, as long as they are obedient, as long as they listen to the master! ”

……………………

"The workers in those silk mills are really miserable." Tian Zhen returned to the editorial department, just changed his clothes, and said, "After only half a year of work in the factory, my hands are ulcerated, my feet are swollen, and I am so thin that I don't look like a man." You haven't been to see the Zhangjia silk factory, the whole factory is wet everywhere. It's hot and stuffy, and after spending half a day in it, I can't even breathe. Those workers have to work in this kind of factory, and they have to put their hands into the boiling water to get the thread, and they don't think of people as human beings. ”

An editor laughed, "Zhang Desheng is a famous Zhang Dashan person!" ”

"Good?" Tian Zhen took a sip at the bottom, "When I went to the nursing home, I only gave more than three yuan and five stone rice." In the past few days, I only saw him at the banquet, and it was a long time to preach, and I thought that he had donated 300 yuan or 500 stones, so I gave up such a little. ”

"I heard that yesterday the fat man donated 80 yuan of incense money in Jinshan Temple, and the monks each had a piece of satin for tailoring. Moreover, the old feudal monarch of his family has a regular requirement to give Jinshan Temple and Changle Nunnery fifty catties of sesame oil each every month to light a lantern. Another editor said.

Tian Zhen snorted angrily and said, "I don't do anything, I still want to please the Buddha in front of him, and after he dies, there will be ghosts without going to hell." ”

The first editor said, "After death, we will talk about it after death." No one can do anything about what is happening now. Lu, Zhang, You, and Duan of the silk factory are all county wangs, which one does not have the support of three or five jinshi? Zhang Desheng's uncle is a governor in Hebei. ”

"Say what?" A person walked in from the door, it was the Confucian who accompanied Zhang Desheng to dinner, "Zhang Desheng, those merchants are treacherous, but they didn't violate the king's law." Murder and arson, the government can manage it, and if you don't pay the wages, the government can manage it, this work is too hard, how can the government manage it? And no one forced those workers to go to work in the silk factory, and if they felt miserable, it would be better not to go. The sky is blue and the sky is white, even if the county is wangwang, it is impossible to force people to go to their homes to work. And ......"

"And what?"

"I heard that the Duan family is now using Japanese people to work, and they have started a lot of silk workers. When the Zhang family also learns this trick, they don't have to listen to those complaints. ”

"How can you not complain? The so-called male ploughing and female weaving in the world, without the input of textiles, only rely on the soil to dig food, and how many can eat enough? There are also many bankrupt people. ”

"If you can't eat, you can go to Tuobian." The Confucian said, "Didn't you see that the imperial court changed the almshouse to the Baochi Bureau?" Whether it is a homeless person or a beggar, as long as it is under twelve, the court will not raise it in vain. If you don't have anything to eat, go to the government as soon as possible to sign up and go to the frontier to pioneer the land. I heard that although there are many deserts in the Western Regions, the water and soil at the foot of the snow-capped mountains are also good. In Xinjiang, Yunnan Province, the four seasons are like spring, and the land is fertile, which is much better than that of Jiangnan. ”

"Things are expensive to leave their hometowns, and people are cheap to leave their hometowns. Don't you hear that your homeland is hard to leave? Tian Zhen retorted.

"I don't want to work, I don't think it's because it's hard to leave my homeland, it's not that the work is too hard, it's that I'm lazy, right? According to their thoughts, I am afraid that it is best to hope that the court will raise them for nothing. ”

Tian Zhen was angry for a while.

"It is better to teach a man to fish than to teach him to fish. The imperial court has actually done well enough. If you really don't have anything to eat, the court will still give you land, grow food and eat it yourself. Isn't that enough? Even though Zhang Desheng and his ilk are cruel, why can the Japanese people endure hardship, but they can't? It's not lazy yet! ”

Tian Zhen said angrily, "When those workers make a fuss, will the court say so?" ”

"There are soldiers of the imperial court in Runzhou, and there is a railway on the other side. If there is really a mess, even if you can make some noise, within ten days, you can calm down. ”

"Something's wrong, there's something big!" Before Confucius's words fell, an editor ran in.

"The Duan family's silk factory caught fire, and the Zhangjia silk factory was also in chaos. Something is wrong! ”

Tian Zhen glanced at several other colleagues in surprise, this crow's mouth turned out to be right today!