The tax collector left. Liujia Village temporarily restored peace.

Huo Chong continued his work, and lenses were the biggest source of income now, so Huo Chong raised the furnace and continued to process it.

In the afternoon, someone knocked on the door. Tieniu went to open the door, but not long after he actually led Liu Laowu in. When Liu Laowu saw Huo Chong's expression, he immediately squeezed out a smile, "Brother Huo, I'm not here to ask for debt today. It's really not!"

Huo Chong looked at Liu Laowu several times and saw that he came alone and did not take the young people at home like before. From this perspective, at least Liu Laowu was not here to disturb trouble.

"Go to the house to talk." Huo Chong sent out an invitation.

When the two sat down, Huo Chong was very cold, while Liu Laowu looked embarrassed. After a while, Huo Chong felt that he could ask Liu Laowu to leave. Before Huo Chong could speak, Liu Laowu laughed dryly, "Hehe. Brother Huo, I offended you before."

"Yes." Huo Chong expressed his approval cheerfully.

Liu Laowu sighed and continued, "I have no choice. Your master took our money and ran away without a trace. You said, what can you do if you see this?"

"Yes." Huo Chong still agreed. If he encountered such a thing, he would not take simple and inefficient means like Liu Laowu, but would adopt more ruthless methods.

"Brother Huo, you can pay back my money anytime. I won't ask you for my money. Seeing that you are so capable, we want to get closer to Brother Huo."

"You?" Huo Chong felt that the word was really suspicious.

Liu Laowu probably felt that this problem was an excuse, so he hurriedly said, "Brother Huo. We are angry that your master cheated us. Brother Huo has never cheated us, and he will pay it back after making money. We think that Brother Huo is so capable, do you want to accept an apprentice?"

"What?" Huo Chong didn't understand.

"Brother Huo, you only have a few people under your command. I see that you are running around every day and you are tired and thin. I want to ask if you want to accept apprentices. We are all fellow villagers in the countryside. If you have more apprentices under your command, you don't have to be so tired."

Liu Laowu's words... No, it was Liu Laowu's decision that surprised Huo Chong. This guy almost wanted to join Huo Chong in the past, but now he dares to ask Huo Chong to accept their apprentices. Not to mention whether Huo Chong agreed or not, would Liu Laowu be afraid that Huo Chong would kill the apprentice recommended by Liu Laowu after he agreed?

Thinking of this, Huo Chong laughed dryly, "Fifth Brother, why do I think you want me to have a hard time?"

"No, no!" Liu Laowu's hand was like a windmill. He was about to say it. Before he was about to say it, he sighed, "Oh! Brother Huo, those people wanted to invite you to drink. Seeing that you are a cheerful person, I thought you wouldn't go, so I told you something to you. I thought you were in the same group as your master. Now I think you are not in the same group as your master. I put my heart on you. If you want to scold me for this, you will scold me. But I think I think that I can let you go."

"Ha!" Huo Chong really wanted to beat Liu Laowu now. But Huo Chong felt that what Liu Laowu said was indeed the truth. He asked, "Brother Fifth, why do you think that I and my master are not the same person now?"

Liu Laowu replied readily: "If you and your master are on the same side, your master will definitely know your ability. You can settle the matter and pay back the money. Why are your master running away? He hasn't come back yet, so you will definitely not go along!"

Huo Chong's unhappiness was shocked by Liu Laowu's judgment. Even in such a remote mountain, there was no shortage of smart people. This judgment pointed out the facts and truth at the same time, and was completed with extremely simple and clear logic. Although Liu Laowu certainly did not know the word logic, his judgment was to complete the logical form.

"Fifth Brother, I just want to make the workshop bigger." Huo Chong told Liu Laowu what he expected.

"That's good. I'm willing to join you." Liu Laowu also accepted it happily, "It's just that we're out of breath, that's our business! Don't vent your anger on my side!"

"Hmph!" Huo Chong admired Liu Laowu's keenness very much, "Fifth brother, I want to dig more coal. I wonder if someone will pound my chicken feathers?"

"Dig coal? Do you want to dig coal to buy it? This is not possible." Liu Laowu said hurriedly.

"Why?" Huo Chong was puzzled.

Liu Laowu quickly explained. It turned out that Huo Chong's intuition was correct. The Qing Dynasty tax collectors only collected land taxes this time. Every spring and summer, these tax collectors would come down to collect taxes again. This time the tax was all kinds of heavy taxes.

If someone raises cattle in the village, he will have to collect taxes. If someone opens a workshop in the village, he will still have to collect taxes. As for how much tax is collected, it is entirely up to the tax collector. If he thinks the tax collection is unreasonable, he will go to the county to reason. As a result, he will be punished without exception.

As for mining coal, as long as there is a well-known mine, not to mention whether the government will allow mining to be opened privately. Even if the government turns a blind eye, the open eye will stare at the mine. Stare at how much benefits can be gained from the miners.

Of course, Liu Laowu's words were rumored. Huo Chongde took a lot of effort to understand Liu Laowu's words. However, Liu Laowu's meaning was very clear. After saying this, Liu Laowu continued: "Brother Huo, there are people in your county, so I didn't see the tax collector asking you to collect these. I see that you have a way, and you can get along with you in the future."

Huo Chong's recognition of Liu Laowu has been further improved. At least this guy knows that he needs to have an umbrella from the government to pay less or even no taxes. If he thinks this way, the reason why he was not eaten alive by the people of the three villages was that the headmaster invited by Xu Youlin did play a huge role.

Thinking of this, Huo Chong was not too anxious. Xu Youlin said that the current magistrate is his family. The villagers said that the magistrate seems to have his term of office expired. If he became so arrogant and made various unrealistic promises to Liu Laowu and others. In the future, when the current magistrate Xu is promoted, Huo Chong will still be eaten alive by these people.

He sent Liu Laowu away. Huo Chong continued his work just as Liu Laowu had never been there.

But Huo Chong's heart was not as calm as he looked. No wonder Zhangdian was not short of coal, but only people dug a few coal eyes and dig some coal from it when needed. Huo Chong was actually very curious. In this era without environmental protection supervision, there was no such thing as occupying coal pits in places with coal.

According to what Liu Laowu said, let alone how to fight against the locals if they occupy coal pits. As long as the government knows that something is going on, tax collectors will flock to suck the mines dry.

In the next few days, Huo Chong felt like he had dried hay flowers in his heart. As long as he thought of such rich resources, he would be a little unrestrained. If possible, he would dig directly coal and iron ore and smel metal products. Even if he did not sell metal products, using metal products alone would make Huo Chong's work of burning glass much easier.

But this is not how to solve the problems encountered after mining. Although he paid back the money, there was already a conflict with the wealthy families in the three villages. As long as he digs out the mine yourself, those who hold a grudge against Huo Chong will report to the county. Huo Chong has to face the big troubles that come from the sky.

Time flies very quickly, and on the first day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, Liu Sijin, who rented Huo Chong's land, came to the door and happily talked about the growth of beans on the ground. Huo Chong listened to Liu Sijin patiently, and kept praising Liu Sijin for farming, which was an old dealer.

With such praise, Liu Sijin smiled. After he finished his fun, Liu Sijin said, "Brother Huo, I have tried my best, but your fat is still good."

"Fourth brother, I said, if you want to use fat, you will just pull it next year." Huo Chong replied cheerfully.

Unexpectedly, Liu Sijin did not show his joy, but he still wanted to speak but stopped. Huo Chong could only ask: "Second brother, what are you talking about?"

Liu Sijin said tentatively: "Brother Huo, do you want to sell the land you are in the north?"

"No!" Huo Chong replied decisively.

Liu Sijin was stunned for a moment and said tentatively: "Those pieces of land are so scattered..."

"If someone wants to sell the land next to those pieces of land, I am willing to buy it!" Huo Chong insisted that Qingshan would not relax.

"Brother Huo, my relative is there a little bit of land. I was thinking if you sell the land..."

"Second Brother! I will never sell that land!" Huo Chong interrupted Liu Sijin's words. Looking at Liu Sijin's embarrassed look, Huo Chong tried his best to suppress his unhappy mood, "Or like this, I would like to rent all that land! It would be comfortable to plant a large piece of land!"

"Brother Huo wants to rent?" Liu Sijin asked, but was not too surprised.

Huo Chong felt that it was of course beneficial to manage land in pieces. Although he was also a small landlord, he had to rent other people's land. This question was indeed a little strange. But what was even more strange was that Liu Sijin was not surprised by this requirement. This made Huo Chong very puzzled.

Is there a lot of landlords in this era? In order to prove his thoughts, Huo Chong said: "Fourth brother, either this is the case. Please help me invite all the people from that land, and I want to invite everyone to have a drink."

Everyone has come, and it’s No. 7 or 8. Liu Sijin introduced these people to Huo Chong, who are of different generations anyway.

Everyone didn't like soju, and they sipped a little like a medicine. I don't know if it was because of the alcohol, or they had ideas from the beginning. Everyone came up with similar ideas and wanted to buy other people's land.

Since everyone wants to buy other people's land, no one can buy it. Huo Chong got fed up with the nonsense of these goods and took out the atmosphere at the Shandong wine table. He said to everyone: "I want to talk to you, let's do it first!"

After saying that, he poured two taels of wine into the wine bowl, picked it up and drank it all in everyone's shocked eyes. Then he raised the wine bowl for everyone to see.

Seeing Huo Chong so generous, the few people felt that they were not able to drink enough, so they shut up and prepared to listen to what Huo Chong said.
Chapter completed!