Tang Dynasty Xie Lu Lang

Chapter 240 Living Bodhisattvas Reborn as Buddhas

A large crowd gathered around, their faces beaming with enthusiasm. Upon learning that Zhang Dai was the one who funded the construction of the weaving workshop, they all expressed their gratitude and offered their thanks.

Seeing this scene, Zhang Dai felt a little nervous. The women and children in the weaving workshop were too enthusiastic, which made him feel somewhat reserved.

“Zhang Lang is a bodhisattva in life; he will surely attain Buddhahood in his next life! If it weren’t for Zhang Lang’s generous donations, we would all have perished in the marshes last year…”

The weaving workshop sheltered mostly women, who were more emotionally sensitive. When talking about receiving the relief, they couldn't help but burst into tears: "My husband was conscripted to repair the dike and dig the river, and we haven't heard from him since. We don't know if he's alive or dead. If it weren't for Zhang's relief, I, a woman, would have had a hard time surviving, let alone raising my children..."

Since deciding to fund disaster relief last year, Zhang Dai has often considered himself to have done good deeds, but he doesn't really have a direct feeling about how many people he has saved or how much good he has accumulated. Now that he has finally come to the weaving workshop and seen the people who have received the aid, he is filled with emotion.

He wasn't boasting about his abilities or character, but the thought that if it weren't for this planning and hard work, these people might already be buried in the grass and turned into bones, but they are still alive and well, made his nose sting and a sense of responsibility well up within him!

Nothing in this world is unchangeable, and no suffering is inevitable! People wander and become reckless because of ignorance, but as someone who knows the future, he has a responsibility to guide the world in a better direction! Otherwise, what need would this world have for him?
Among the counties and prefectures affected by the disaster last year, Zhengzhou's situation was not too severe. The main impact was on Xingyang and Guangwu, and the heavy irrigation of the canals also significantly affected commerce around the canal. However, the number of people who suffered complete agricultural and sericultural devastation and severe economic losses was not too large.

Even so, the weaving workshop in Zhengzhou still provided relief to nearly three thousand women and children. Even after deducting boys and girls, there were still more than a thousand women weaving. It was the second largest weaving workshop in the region after Weizhou.

The reason why so many disaster victims were taken in was because Zhengzhou is located at a major thoroughfare and has a large number of unemployed migrants who have no land or property and make a living along the Bian Canal. Once a disaster strikes and disrupts normal production and shipping, their already fragile living environment is immediately plunged into dire straits.

In addition, some people who have been affected by the disaster need to flee their hometowns to make a living elsewhere, and their first choice is naturally prosperous cities and towns. Zhengzhou itself may only have a few thousand households affected by the disaster, but the number of people flowing in after the disaster may be several times that number.

This was a huge challenge for the state government. With such a relief center, women and children who were already in dire need of help were sent there, which solved a considerable problem for the state government.

"You need not thank anyone. Once you're here, you must work hard to support your families. The weaving workshop will not exploit you, but it needs to generate some income to survive. As long as you meet the work requirements, you will have food and clothing. If anyone dies from hunger or cold here, the manager here will be severely punished!"

Zhang Dai wasn't so wicked as to keep enjoying everyone's thanks. After they had all vented their emotions, he bent down and helped up those nearby one by one. He also waved to signal those further away to get up and return to their quarters. He still needed to inspect some of the basic facilities of the weaving workshop.

This weaving workshop occupies more than two hectares and is surrounded by a fence. Because most of the residents here are women and children, and it also stores a lot of materials, many vicious dogs are kept as security guards. The prefectural government also has a team of yamen runners stationed here to deter thieves. Since its establishment, it has not been disturbed much.

To prevent fires caused by the accumulation of materials, the workshops separated the work and living areas. The buildings were mainly row of sheds, with fire-resistant river sand piled up in front of and behind the houses. The living environment was not necessarily very comfortable. There were also pools of various sizes for soaking cocoons and retting hemp, so the safety was still relatively guaranteed.

After all, the project was started last year, and then disaster relief was immediately provided. It was impossible to achieve perfection at the same time. As it continued to be maintained, improvements were made gradually. The warehouses in the weaving workshop were already being built with rammed earth, and then the weaving rooms and dormitories were gradually replaced.

Originally, Zhang Dai lacked capable subordinates, so the weaving workshops here were managed by his father's assistants, while Zhang Yi and others were responsible for conveying Zhang Dai's orders. Therefore, Zhang Dai was very careful when he inspected the workshops.

He first went to the weavers' dormitory. The house had two rows of bunk beds, with six to eight people living in each room. The blankets made of dry reeds and cattails were not very comfortable, but they were quite good at keeping warm.

The bedding was mostly filled with hemp and straw, which was not very effective at keeping warm. So there was a fire pit built in the room, and ten catties of firewood and charcoal were distributed to each dormitory every day for heating during the cold season when ice and frost formed.

Besides the adult weavers, the weaving workshop also took in thousands of boys and girls. In principle, these children were supposed to live with their mothers, but in reality, more than 300 of them were not led by adults, or were orphans, or had their mothers die unexpectedly after being taken in.

These children are mostly teenagers, with some as young as one or two years old or even still in swaddling clothes. They have virtually no ability to work and are not very good at taking care of themselves, yet they consume just as many resources.

"Currently, in the weaving workshops, regardless of age, those who are registered receive two liters of millet daily, with an additional two he of flour every other day. Weavers work two hours a day, and are considered finished if they produce ten feet of silk or twelve feet of cloth. As for the young and old, they have no means of support..."

Two liters of millet weigh between three and four jin (approximately 1.5-2 catties). After being steamed or cooked with water, the weight will increase further. It may seem like a lot, but many people in later generations may not be able to eat more than a few jin of grain in a whole day. However, that is with the combination of a variety of dishes, snacks, and other ways of obtaining energy.

If one only consumes staple foods, two liters of millet distributed throughout the day's meals would not be enough to make one hungry, but it would not be enough to make one feel full either. Such a diet would also make it difficult to sustain heavy physical labor, so weavers only worked for two hours a day.

This wasn't purely out of kindness, but because the supply of looms and materials in the weaving workshops was limited, while the number of disaster victims they were taking in was too large. In order to ensure that all those who were able to work could participate in the work, they had to limit the working hours of each person. Skilled weavers could weave as much as two to three bolts of silk a day, but that was without restrictions on working hours.

A bolt of silk is forty feet long. If each person weaves ten feet a day, and the price of a bolt of silk is five hundred coins, then each weaver can earn more than one hundred coins a day. After deducting the costs of raw silk, hemp thread, etc., each person can earn about fifty coins.

There are about 1,500 weavers who can work normally in the weaving workshop, and they can earn 75,000 coins a day from weaving. However, there are nearly 3,000 people in the weaving workshop, and each person eats two liters of millet a day. According to the current price of millet, a bushel of millet costs more than 70 coins, plus transportation and other expenses, which can reach 100 coins, plus the flour given out every other day, each person's daily food expenses alone amount to 30 coins, which is 90,000 coins a day.

As a result, the weaving workshop would incur a loss of 15,000 coins (equivalent to 15 strings of cash) for every day it operated, amounting to more than 5,000 strings of cash per year. And this only covers the pure food and beverage expenses; if other expenses such as the addition of machinery and the upgrading of the premises were included, the required cost would be even greater.

Therefore, when Zhang Yi and his team returned to Luoyang to report that they had found over 5,000 bolts of silk in various weaving workshops, they were truly only reporting good news and not bad. The truth is, even the weaving workshops in Zhengzhou, which were operating so smoothly, were still losing money, and the loss rate in other places was only higher.

However, among these expenses, the highest cost was food. The reason why the food cost per person reached as much as thirty coins was mainly due to the soaring grain price during the year of the great disaster, with a bushel of millet costing as much as one hundred coins.

It should be noted that during the years of the Fengshan ceremony, a dou (a unit of dry measure) of rice in Luoyang was only a dozen coins, but now it has increased several times over, which has greatly increased the cost of living.

In other words, as the disaster subsides, grain prices stabilize, and weavers work longer hours and perform better, this operating model of the weaving workshops can quickly turn a profit, and it is worth continuing to adhere to and promote.

Moreover, Zhang Dai's purpose was not to make a profit, but to provide disaster relief.

Leaving aside the initial investment costs, in a situation like the Zhengzhou weaving workshop, only an additional five thousand strings of cash are needed to ensure that the nearly three thousand women and children in the workshop can safely get through the disaster year. Is there any more cost-effective deal in the world?

He's already shamelessly gone to brothels to beg for money, so why shouldn't he continue?

"The construction of the weaving workshop should also be expedited. The purpose of taking these women and children in here is not to make them suffer. We should do our best within our capabilities!"

After inspecting the operation of the weaving workshop, Zhang Dai pointed to the open space outside the fence and said, "The mulberry grove needs to be built as soon as possible, and another batch of houses should be expanded. If the rainfall is not normal this summer, there may be another wave of disasters. The people in the prefecture know that they can find a way to make a living here, and they may flock here. If they are not taken care of properly, disaster relief will become a disaster."

It's not a possibility, it's certain. In the fifteenth year of the Kaiyuan era, the disaster will continue, with fifty prefectures reporting drought and fifty reporting floods. At that time, even larger areas will be affected by the disaster.

The scale of disaster relief efforts in Zhengzhou's textile workshop may increase several times over, so the situation is not optimistic. Zhang Dai even refused to pay Yingnu's redemption money, holding onto the money in preparation for this.

He stayed at the weaving workshop until dinner time in the evening. The weavers dragged their tired bodies and lined up to get their meals at the canteen. Zhang Dai also stayed there to eat with them, mainly to listen to the weavers' discussions about how today's meals were compared to usual, and whether the managers were deliberately putting on an act to deceive them.

However, the feedback he received was quite good. The portion sizes of today's meals were not much different from usual, except for an extra side of pickled sauce and steamed fish.

The steamed fish was caught directly in Xingze, simply processed, salted, and then steamed. It was completely devoid of oil and water and had a muddy, fishy smell. Zhang Dai could only eat a couple of bites before he couldn't eat anymore, but the weavers all ate it with great relish.

"Zhang Lang has the heart of a bodhisattva and is so handsome. If my daughter doesn't starve to death, I will definitely dare to introduce her to Zhang Lang!"

When the weavers saw that Zhang Dai was also staying here to eat, some of the more outgoing women couldn't help but laugh and chat. But as they laughed, tears rolled down their cheeks.

Seeing this, Zhang Dai's nose also stung with tears. He raised his hand to rub his eyes and then laughed, "Who can escape death in their few decades of life? We live because we haven't tasted enough suffering yet! Remember this kindness. Next year, when I also go to the Yellow Springs, each of you should bring your families to gather here and protect me as a soaring ghost king!"

"Zhang Lang is joking. He's going to become a Buddha or a saint next year, and what kind of ghost king!"

Upon hearing this, the weavers responded with laughter.

(End of this chapter)