The big man has a living father

Chapter 124 (Merge of super long chapter) How can you kidnap someone without morals?

The subordinate bowed and said, "If that's the case, kill all those corrupt officials."

Shi De turned around and asked, "The big boats on the Wei River are easily overturned by the waves, but they carry mud and sand with them. Have you salvaged all the mud and sand?"

When he turned around, Shi Decai pretended to see Huo Hai and hurriedly bowed: "Second Lieutenant Huo! I have been waiting for you for a long time!"

Huo Hai smiled.

Shi De was simply saying that the officialdom was full of chaos and it was a pipe dream for Huo Hai to eliminate all his opponents in the officialdom.

But on the other hand, Huo Hai was like the big ship he was on, which could easily be overturned and drowned in this officialdom.

But Huo Hai didn't play dumb with him: "I want your family's land, name a price."

Shi De smiled and said, "Master Huo, I don't want to sell this land."

"I heard that the purchase of the land was ordered by His Majesty? If you, Lord Huo, use His Majesty's name and say that His Majesty wants my land, you can take it immediately and give me one-third of the market price."

Looking at Shi De's expression, it was clear that he was saying, "Do you have guts? If you do, let's fight. If you don't, use your majesty to put pressure on me. I look down on you."

Huo Hai raised the corners of his mouth: "His Majesty said he wants your family's land."

Shi De looked at Huo Hai's shameless expression, but he didn't answer as if he had known about it for a long time. Instead, he looked at the thin ice on the coast ahead that had not yet melted: "When I was a child, every time I didn't listen, my grandfather would sit sideways, not saying anything, not criticizing me, just sitting there."

Shi De looked back at Huo Hai and said, "But every time, someone would come to teach me a lesson and beat me up."

Shi Fen is a relatively generous elder, of the same generation as Zhang and Ou.

But he doesn't have Zhang Ou's ability to not offend anyone.

He is of a different kind.

When his descendants, who were minor officials, came home to visit him, Wan Shijun would wear court robes to meet them and would not address them by name. When one of his descendants made a mistake, he would not rebuke them, but would sit on a side seat and refuse to eat at the table. In this way, the other descendants would blame the one who made the mistake, and then ask the elders of the clan to plead for mercy. He would expose his upper body to show his admission of fault and show his determination to correct it before they would agree to their request.

How to say it, the Han version of Mahatma Gandhi.

That’s right, Shi De is the grandson who came to ask for forgiveness with a thorn stick on his back.

At this time, the guards behind Shi De came out holding two half-naked people.

Huo Hai didn't see these two people at first.

One of the guards said: "You two, hurry up and plow the fields."

After saying that, he gave him a whip.

With each whipping, the two men's skin was immediately torn apart.

The two men were already wearing thin clothes and were skinny, shivering in the cold wind. Now they were being beaten like this, making people feel that they would not be able to survive soon.

Shi Decai said, "These two people are refugees from Heluo."

"When Lord Huo's people sent them north, they thought it was too far and wanted to stay."

"But." Shi De pointed to the north: "This is the tomb of Emperor Gaozu. How can I let them stay here? So, I took them in and allowed them to become slaves of the Shi family."

Huo Hai sneered.

I'm afraid they were abducted by force.

I sent them north at the beginning. At that time, they were hungry and cold. I provided them with food, water, clothes and shelter. How could they not go north?
Shi De sighed, "If Your Majesty wants my family's land, as a minister, I will definitely give it to you. But if you give me the land, my servants will lose their use."

"I'm afraid it's not a good idea to use food to feed useless slaves."

The guard behind him said: "Sir, we can't let them waste food if they are useless. It's better to kill them."

After saying that, he drew out his knife and was about to chop down the two men.

Shi De raised his hand: "Stop."

After saying that, Shi De turned around and looked at Huo Hai: "Master Huo, I can stop these two people, but what about the remaining hundreds of slaves?"

"What do you say?"

Huo Hai looked at Shi De. This guy was indeed an extraordinary person.

Liu Che cared about everything except human lives.

Shi De was well aware of this, so he made a fuss about these slaves.

I'm afraid that Liu Che would not blame him for this at all. Instead, he might even like him more and want to transfer him to the Crown Prince's Palace to take up an important position.

Xiang Xu really couldn't bear it anymore. He knew all the tricks here. He raised his head and said, "What a shameless thing."

"You said these people couldn't survive, as if you saved them."

"If you hadn't interfered, they would have reached Tongguan long ago. Now they have wine and meat every day, enough food to eat, warm clothes to wear, and three thousand yuan in wages every month. In less than three years, they will become the richest group of people in Chang'an City."

"Now you have detained them, turned them into slaves, and want to kill them. You are also using them to threaten my young master?"

"court death!"

The two slaves with knives at their necks raised their heads with confused expressions.

When they heard Xiang Xu's words, they couldn't believe it.

When they passed by here a few months ago, they were detained and became slaves of Shijiawu Fort. What a miserable life they have been living in the past few months? Dozens of the people who were with them at the beginning have also died.

They were just thankful that they survived.

But now, when he heard that those who had fled here with him were living like gods in the north, he immediately came to his senses.

He was originally like a walking corpse, but now he perked up and began to struggle.

Shi De glanced at the two slaves and then looked at Huo Hai.

Huo Hai raised his right hand and waved his fingertips twice, signaling Xiang Xu to shut up.

Then he said, "Be polite. Mr. Shi is helping me and taking the blame."

"Kill him now if you want."

Huo Hai is not someone who will be threatened.

Besides, there has never been a death in demolition. Any change in any matter will inevitably affect the interests of some people.

Just because the vast majority of people can accept it doesn’t mean that a small number of people will accept it.

But what happened today was just Shi De threatening Huo Hai.

It's just like during a war, Shi De drove a group of people in front of him and said, "If you have the guts, shoot them with arrows."

You don't even have to kill them yourself, he helps you do it.

Is Huo Hai a threatened person?
The expansion of Chang'an is imperative. Once successful, it will free up a huge amount of space for Chang'an, allowing the current Chang'an with a population of hundreds of thousands to become a world-historical-level city that can accommodate one million or two million people!

It can also allow the remaining people in Chang'an to free themselves from their current environment and live a better life.

If this is not done, the economy will collapse sooner or later, and everyone will have to return to their previous lives. In fact, because it will cost more money to fight the Huns, they will be exploited and end up living a much worse life than they do now, and will be exploited until Liu Che's later years.

It's like a trolley problem.

On one side are millions of people, on the other side are hundreds of people.

In fact, this problem does not require Huo Hai to move the wrench, because if he keeps running over it, it will mean a hundred people sacrificing to the heaven, not a million people.

Moral kidnapping?

As long as I have no morals, how can you kidnap me?
Shi De was confused.

Based on the intelligence he had obtained, Shi De learned that Huo Hai was extremely ambitious and planned to become Huo Zi.

We should follow the example of people like Mozi, Confucius and Laozi.

How could such a person have any moral defects?

You should know that Gongsun Ban, who is as powerful as Mozi, is not Gongsun Zi. Even though he is the ancestor of craftsmen and the saint of craftsmen, he is not worthy of the word "Zi" in his name.

It's because of their obvious moral flaws that they have been attacked.

How could Huo Hai say something like you can kill people at will?

What Shi De didn't know was that Huo Hai must get this land.

If the Shi family's land was further north, Huo Hai would not want it.

After all, 98% of the land on the north shore has been taken.

But the problem is that the Shi family’s land is on the north bank of the Wei River.

Although Huo Hai and Liu Che planned to change the course of the Wei River to the north, according to Huo Hai's calculations, it would directly enter the actual river channel where it should enter.

But don’t forget that Chang’an is not just about the Wei River.

Eight rivers surround Chang'an!
The Feng River, which is closest to Chang'an to the west, and the Ba River and Chan River to the east, all have water.

Therefore, even if the Wei River changes its course, it will not disappear directly, but will become smaller.

To be precise, the yellow water of the Wei River will disappear and turn into clear water.

Logically speaking, Huo Hai could also fill up the original Wei River channel.

But... such a good natural river, which can be used directly as a canal, is filled up? Isn't that a waste of natural resources?

After the historical diversion, the ancients had neither the awareness nor the ability to preserve the river channel and turn it into a canal. Doesn’t Huo Hai understand this?
In addition, the people of Chang'an still need water, so after the re-planning of the Chan River and its introduction into the original Wei River channel, a new Fengba Canal can be created, which will also be the source of drinking water for the people of Chang'an.

In this way, Chang'an's industrial sewage went to the Xinwei River, separating drinking water and industrial sewage.

This plan goes with the flow. On the one hand, it utilizes the current small river channel in the north, which is easy to widen. On the other hand, it uses the old river channel in the south to build a canal with stone banks.

In the future, this river will be the economic artery of the entire Chang'an!

You have to know that in Chang'an in later generations, there were so many things underground that it was difficult to even dig a subway, let alone dig a canal. How could it be possible to just leave a canal?
This is a good thing that even Chang'an, which was so scientifically planned in later generations, did not have.

Can you miss it?
But the problem is that the canal coast can only be used as a port.

If all the land here is taken over, the Shi family will be able to engage in water transport in the future.

Anyone who knows a little about the transportation industry knows that the transportation industry, whether it is water transport, express delivery, large truck fleets or something else, is the place where violent groups are most likely to breed.

Because all the people working in this industry are young and middle-aged laborers, and they are strong men who have been working and exercising for many years.

And all of these people have families to support.

Any leader in this industry would say that someone is not allowing us to make money by transporting goods.

Then this person is dead.

Huo Hai would never allow such a family to exist in Chang'an City in the future.

Especially now that we know Shi De's true character, we cannot allow it.

It is better for a hundred workers to die now than for ten thousand of them to be tied with stones and sunk into the river in the next few decades!

Therefore, Shi De never thought that his threat to Huo Hai would make Huo Hai even more determined to get this piece of land.

Seeing Huo Hai's determined eyes, Shi De couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

This person, doesn’t he want to be Huozi?

Or... is he cheating me?
Shi De now holds a knife in his hand, and if he chops down, he will cut off both Huo Hai's reputation and his own reputation at the same time.

It would be difficult to put the knife away if I didn't chop it down.

froze.

Huo Hai seemed impatient: "Don't dare? Or can't?"

Shi De's face darkened, but he immediately thought of something he had heard recently.

When Chang'an Avenue was being planned, all the nobles involved invited Huo Hai to discuss the matter.

Shi De’s cousin was present at the time.

That time, no one was able to get any information out of Huo Hai except Xiao Guang, who spoke his mind and asked directly, and Huo Hai actually responded.

Shi De looked at Huo Hai and said, "To be honest with you, I have already guessed what you are going to do. You want to build a new city here. I know exactly how much material your cement and brick factories have produced."

"I don't know how you're going to trick people in Chang'an City into buying houses in North Shore, but I also want to make this money."

Huo Hai shrugged: "To tell you the truth, you guessed right."

There is actually nothing to deny.

Logically, even if there were cement factories and brick factories, no one should be able to guess where they were.

Shi De guessed that there was only one possibility, and he was not just guessing, it was that there was a traitor.

Among ten managers, there is a traitor.

You have to know that those people who signed the contract to sell the land are just ordinary people. They dare not offend Huo Hai. If they sign the contract to keep it confidential, they will keep it confidential. Only the ten managers are highly suspected.

Shi De: "Sure enough."

Although I don’t know why, I am sure what Huo Hai is going to do.

But Huo Hai said: "If you keep this land, I won't build the house. Just keep the land for growing cotton."

New city? A new city is still being built in the south of the city!

It’s just a matter of waiting two or three more months and using the profits from the coal mine to buy the south part of the city.

The only regret is that the forest park there can no longer be preserved in the future.

Shi De was stunned for a moment: "Why? I only have this little piece of land? Do you have such a big appetite and want to take it all for yourself?" Huo Hai: "To be honest with you, I don't want to take it all for myself, but I must have this piece of land because I need water transportation."

Water transport? Shi De laughed so hard that he covered his stomach with laughter: "Weihe River? Water transport? Hahahaha?!"

The Wei River is too wide, the water is too fast, and there are mudflats in the river channel. How can we transport water transportation?

There is a rope of dozens of meters tied to the boat, and the trackers on both sides are pulling it forward?

Isn't this hilarious?!

Huo Hai: "Don't worry about it."

Shi De just thought that his words could nail Huo Hai to death, but he didn't expect Huo Hai to ask him to kill someone.

Now Shi De understood that Huo Hai was clearly being stubborn.

After Shi De finished laughing, he began to talk calmly: "Master Huo, if you swear that you will use the Wei River for water transportation, and continue to do so for many years on a large scale, then the Shi family's land will be given to you. You only need to compensate me with a piece of land of similar size somewhere else."

"You know the land along the river is fertile. If I just take a piece of land of the same size, you will have made a fortune."

Shi De believed that Huo Hai would not dare to accept it.

Huo Hai, you are showing your cowardice!

If you don't dare to answer, I will kill the slaves immediately.

Shi De was certain that Huo Hai would not condone this and would make further concessions to protect these slaves.

Shi De didn't expect that he could control Huo Hai so easily.

When Shi De was feeling very proud, he heard Huo Hai: "Great! Shi De, as the saying goes, a gentleman's word is as good as his bond. You won't regret it, will you?"

When Shi De heard Huo Hai say this, he was stunned!

"You..." Shi De: "Are you sure you can keep the water transport going all year round, without stopping, and immediately publicize it?"

Huo Hai nodded: "No problem."

Of course, water transportation must be maintained all year round. Does Shi De really think that the bricks for building the new Chang'an City have to be transferred from Tongguan?

You should know that the silt from the Yellow River and Wei River is the best construction sand and the best brick-making material!!!

Of course Huo Hai couldn't transport bricks. Wouldn't that be stupid? How much would the transportation cost be?
Of course, Huo Hai mined sand and made bricks from the old Wei River, and then transported the sand to the construction site.

Of course, it is impossible to pass through the land. Of course, it is directly transported by water, transported to the main road.

Not to mention other products, building materials alone can be transported continuously for at least five years.

Is this considered long-term water transport?

What's more, Huo Hai predicted that these nobles were probably secretly planning to make money in their own fiefdoms, and would later send more rich products to Chang'an to make money.

Especially sending money to Chang'an!
They minted coins privately and transported them to Chang'an by land, and the transportation costs accounted for 40 to 70% of the value of the currency.

But if you use water transportation, it will be much cheaper.

Because the Yellow River has a huge drop in elevation at Sanmenxia and the underwater terrain is too strange to be transported by water, everything coming from the east has to be unloaded at once.

Moreover, the Wei River is difficult to transport and one has to disembark once more.

Two times of disembarking for transportation consumes a lot of transportation capacity.

You know, taking food as an example, the consumption for 500 kilometers of water transportation is 40%, while that for land transportation is 95%!

It takes twenty cars to deliver one.

Even if the vehicle is only transported for two sections, the consumption will increase by three times.

Even if the grain price in the grain-producing areas is only one-third of that in Chang'an, there will be no profit in transporting it here.

Which businessman would do this kind of charity?

But what if you only disembark once? The consumption is just over double.

If you transport a shipload of grain from a place where the grain price is only one-third of that in Chang'an to Chang'an, you can get the wealth of one and a half ships of grain!
This is food, but what about other more expensive local products?

Although it's unlikely that one person would have too much of this cargo.

But who in the world doesn’t want to make money? As long as the canal is open, who in the world won’t come?

Once the ancient Wei River is dredged into a canal, goods will be transported in continuously.

Therefore, the canal's water transportation will never stop. Huo Hai even dares to guarantee that this thing may continue to play a role until the Earth has the ability to immigrate to other planets.

After all, this is not a dug river channel, but a super high-quality canal made by intercepting most of the ancient river channel to form a small river channel.

Less work, more profit!

Fortunately, the current capital is Chang'an. If it were Luoyang, Yangzhou, or Chengdu, there would be no such good thing. Only Chang'an, surrounded by eight rivers, has this good thing because of its special geographical environment where the south is high and the north is low, and it has many small rivers in the same direction as the Wei River.

Shi De looked at Huo Hai and nodded confidently.

I was stumped for a moment.

I have already said it, so why don't you carry it out?

If this gets out, don't call yourself Shi De anymore, call yourself a person who has lost his credibility and morality.

Shi De: "Okay, since you agree, Lord Huo, let's do it. I heard that it's popular to sign a contract now? Let's make a contract."

Huo Hai laughed. Shi De had gotten himself into trouble.

He must have been sure that he was exaggerating and didn't dare to accept it, but he didn't expect that he actually dared to accept it.

Talking big is a disease and must be treated!
I didn't expect that such a difficult person and such a difficult problem could be solved so easily.

Then the next step is to start dredging the new river channel and building a bridge across the river.

Huo Hai signed the contract and got in the car and drove straight to the dock.

Shi De watched the carriage leave and took a deep breath.

Shi De was still certain that Huo Hai was just talking nonsense and couldn't let go of his pride, so he gritted his teeth and agreed.

"It seems that the Huo family makes more money than expected, and they are willing to lose money just for the sake of face."

"However, the next time we meet will not be here, but in the court!"

……

In the car, Shang Fu hesitated to speak, but couldn't help saying: "Sir, from what Shi De said, there is a traitor among us!"

Huo Hai: “Check.”

"After finding out, send them to Shu."

"Zhang Qian is currently carrying out the Qinghai-Tibet Plan in Shu. The things they need to do there are no less important than those in Chang'an, and they need people."

Shang Fu was stunned for a moment: "Sir, since Chengdu is so important, why do you want to send a traitor who has been found out to do the work there?"

Huo Hai smiled.

Of course, the purpose is to attract the attention of the master behind the traitor to the southward advance plan.

There are no fewer things planned in Shu than in Chang'an.

At present, Shu is already producing salt and tea.

With Huo Qubing's advice and guarantee, and the surge in coal mine profits, Emperor Liu Che delegated the salt-making business to Zhang Qian.

Huo Hai remembered that there were two places in Shu County where salt could be produced, one was Zigong and the other was Qionglai.

The place called Qionglai was the territory of Sima Xiangru's former father-in-law.

Zhuo Wangsun originally made his fortune in the salt and iron business and was a local tyrant.

Don't think that the affairs of Sima Xiangru and Zhuo Wenjun will affect the Zhuo family. At the beginning, Emperor Liu Che took back the salt and iron rights, and the Zhuo family was in charge of this. If it weren't for Sima Xiangru, the Zhuo family would not have been able to survive.

Now the Zhuo family cooperates with Zhang Qian, and they can dominate both the black and white in Chengdu.

They should be able to get the brine out soon.

Moreover, in order to increase production and to quickly open up the Southwestern Yi, Huo Hai told Zhang Qian about the natural gas!
With natural gas used to burn refined salt, Chengdu's salt will soon be better than the salt from the seaside. It can not only be sent to open up roads to the southwestern countries, but also to open up the ancient Tea-Horse Road and explore the road to India.

It can also be sent to Chang'an to make money.

A cup of tea and a salt will soon become popular in Chang'an.

As long as the Shi family is not fools, once they learn the secret in Chengdu, they will definitely shift their focus there and invest money there.

In this way, they would not be able to leave the money in Chang'an and go against Huo Hai.

At the same time, they went to Chengdu to make money, which was a great help to the Southward Advance Plan.

Kill three birds with one stone.

Huo Hai shook his head and mentioned Chengdu. He wondered whether Zhang Qian had obtained the Shu brocade.

Shu brocade was very famous in ancient times, especially Shu embroidery.

Although it is said that there are four famous embroidery styles in modern times, and Shu embroidery ranks second, that is because Su embroidery was used to make dragon robes in the Ming and Qing dynasties, so Shu embroidery ranked second.

Historically, Shu embroidery directly replaced embroidery and became the magic weapon for foreign trade throughout the Han and Tang dynasties.

The two words "Shu embroidery" are directly synonymous with the two words "silk" in the Western Regions and Central Asia.

The reason is that as early as the early Western Han Dynasty, Chengdu had manufactured a special loom that could control a thousand threads.

This loom can be controlled to easily weave silk with patterns.

Create super exaggerated and exquisite top-notch patterns!
Originally in the Qin Dynasty, Shu embroidery was just gorgeous, but now after so many years, its technological content has become higher, its efficiency has also increased, and its production has become more refined.

Huo Hai asked Zhang Qian to find the successor of the craftsmanship of the hook-and-hook jacquard wooden loom and send it to Chang'an immediately.

He was originally asked to come here to make a new loom to help weave the cotton that would be produced this year.

Although the cotton that the princess brought from South Vietnam could not be industrialized, hand-spinning and weaving could become a huge light industrial category next year.

Now that Chang'an people are rich, they can't just focus on food, right? That would make the surrounding people poor because of the high prices.

So this thing is quite important.

Unexpectedly, I got Egyptian cotton seeds now!
The craftsman of this loom is even more important!

We must develop new spinning machines and new looms! Because industrialization is inevitable, we need to upgrade technology in advance!
When he arrived at the dock, Huo Hai saw another ship parked on the shore.

Before the people on the boat got off, Huo Hai could tell who he was because his clothes were very different.

Luoyin Hou Hunxie.

The former Hunxie King.

King Hunxie on the boat became furious when he saw Huo Hai.

Originally, surrendering to the Han was just a delaying tactic. As long as he could return to the grassland, the situation might turn around over time.

Who knew that all the Huns were taken away.

Became a laborer and a dairy worker.

King Hunxie sent his subordinates to test it out. Don't be ridiculous. The Xiongnu men who were so poor that they had to eat grass before are now earning 3,000 yuan a month. Will they go back?
Even the subordinates sent by King Hunxie to test him were beaten! They were hung up and beaten.

The former generals were beaten by the former soldiers, and the key point was that they couldn't even show any signs of strength.

Now these people are the workers of the Huo family, why don’t you try to touch one of them?
So Hunxie was very troubled.

When he saw Huo Hai today, he stared at him without saying a word.

Huo Hai would just casually bow and greet the court officials, but when he saw Hun Xie, he bowed specifically and said, "Marquis Luoyin."

Hun Xie returned the greeting: "Master Huo, the Crown Prince's attendant, what a coincidence!"

Huo Hai: "What a coincidence! You shouldn't have crossed the Wei River."

Hun Xie was silent for a moment: "I know I can't get the soldiers back. They will never leave with me."

Huo Hai: "Come back whether you have taken it or not. You shouldn't have crossed the river. Don't kill your sons."

Hun Xie: "I just...see that people in Chang'an are doing business, so I want to do business too."

There is no way for Hunxie to rise again now, nor can he be a military general, and it is impossible for him to live off his wealth. Although he has a lot of wealth, he was rewarded with a lot of money for surrendering and being granted a title of nobility, nearly 100 million yuan.

But, if you live off your savings, you will eventually run out of money.

"I want to see if any of my former subordinates are willing to do business with me. I heard that the coal mine does not prohibit them from leaving."

Hunxie had no choice. He couldn't just go and do business with the old men and women at the ranch, right?

Han people in Chang'an? Hunxie can hire them, but the problem is that Hunxie hires them to do Han people's business and compete with them?

Isn't this just giving away lives? Hun Xie knew that this was unreliable.

Huo Hai understood what Hun Xie meant: "Doing business? I have a business. Why don't we cooperate? We don't need many people. What we mainly need are women. We just need to go to the ranch and bring some people with us."

Hun Xie's eyes widened: "Tens of thousands of miners gathered together, and you let their women run brothels. Aren't you afraid that they will mutiny?!"

Huo Hai poked his head out: "Damn wisdom, what are you thinking about! I'm talking about Xiongnu-style mutton hotpot, Qionglu-style farmhouse, and roasted whole lamb!"

Although it is not a true Hun characteristic.

But who in Chang'an wouldn't want to try the Xiongnu specialty restaurant that was personally named by the Xiongnu King?!

(End of this chapter)