"Clan leader, someone from the Chen family is here."
"Chen family, which Chen family?"
Zhang Heng was leading people to fire guns, and someone came to report that someone from the Chen family was here.
"The Chen family in the Chen family compound."
The visitor reminded Zhang Heng.
Zhang Heng suddenly realized: "Invite people quickly."
"Clan Chief Zhang."
Not long after, a well-dressed country squire in his forties came from a distance.
Zhang Heng looked up and down and said with a smile: "Mr. Chen, are you so nice to come see me?"
Mr. Chen smiled bitterly and asked, "Clan Chief Zhang said he wanted to buy my house a few days ago. Do you still take it seriously?"
"Seriously, how can this be false?"
Zhang Heng held a Mao Xuan rifle, pulled the bolt, took another look at the sky, and said without looking back: "Didn't you let someone tell you that you weren't going to sell it?"
The bitterness on Mr. Chen's face became even stronger, and he replied: "This is the moment and that is the moment."
When Zhang Zhentian came to visit, Zhang Heng was just a rich man who had returned from Nanyang.
Mr. Chen is not short of money, so he naturally does not want to sell the house to him.
Today is different from the past. Not only did Zhang Heng become the head of the Zhang family, he also brought back a batch of weapons from outside.
Originally, he wanted to wait and see again.
As a result, the servant came and said that Zhang Heng was distributing guns to people. They were all Zhang family members. There were three trucks of weapons. It was like a war.
Now Mr. Chen couldn't sit still at all. There were several nursing homes in his family, but those people could only guard against a small thief, but they couldn't guard against hundreds of robbers.
"Okay, let's move tomorrow. It will be completed within three days."
Zhang Heng threw the gun in his hand to Da Kui and looked back at Mr. Chen: "I'm not embarrassing you, right? If you have any difficulties, just ask. I'm a reasonable person and everything can be discussed."
"No, the move will be completed within three days."
Mr. Chen forced his smile and left.
the next day.
The flowing water table is still going on.
A militia group was also established. In the morning, more than 300 people were brought to the foot of the mountain to practice for a while. Each person fired 20 rounds to find out their feelings first.
Of course, it is unrealistic to expect these people to become sharpshooters immediately.
Sharpshooters need Zixi to feed and time to raise. Fortunately, Zhang Heng does not expect them to go to war or compete in the Central Plains. They just need to practice slowly until they can hit the target.
The militia coach is Dakui and Xiaokui's father, the most powerful hunter in town.
The old man is almost fifty, and his body is still strong. Even though he has not received formal training, after decades of hard work, he has never convinced anyone when it comes to playing with guns.
"Practice gunnery in the morning and physical fitness in the afternoon."
"Twenty rounds per person per day will give initial results in one week. You must know that even those who come from the martial arts hall may not be able to shoot a hundred rounds in one semester."
Speaking of the militia, Zhang Zhenhu's face lit up.
In the past, he was just the head escort of a car escort in a trading company, so he didn't have the majesty of the current deputy captain.
Although this is a rural militia group, not a regular army, it can't handle so many guns. Few of the official groups under warlords can have 350 fast guns. These are all made in Germany and have a much longer range than those made in Hanyang.
"Cousin, how are you doing over there?"
Zhang Heng looked at Zhang Zhentian again.
"The documents for the militia have been approved, and the craftsmen have started to build the golden dragon-headed cane."
"We have also found a tailor. In addition to making robes and jackets for the eight old men, we will also rush to make a batch of short shirts to use as uniforms for the militia."
Zhang Zhentian answered truthfully.
Zhang Heng nodded and warned: "There are only spring, summer and autumn in the Jiangnan area, and winter is not very cold. One short suit can last a long time, so it doesn't hurt to do two more."
"In addition, we will also distribute trousers and shoes uniformly. Especially shoes, not straw sandals or cloth shoes, but military boots like those of officers and soldiers, which are strong and durable."
Zhang Heng does not intend to buy clothes from the real world and bring them back.
That would be troublesome and would not save much money. It would be better to buy the cloth and let a tailor teach the women in the town how to make it. After all, this is considered a craft.
"Clan leader, your safety is the most important thing. If something happens, brothers Dakui and Xiaokui are not enough. Let's pick a few more. It will be safer. After two days, the Chen family compound will be vacated.
Now, I will choose some people to live in the outer courtyard and the backyard, and have them patrolled day and night to prevent the unsighted from having ideas at night."
After finishing talking about the matter at hand, Zhang Zhentian thought of Zhang Heng again.
Zhang Heng thought for a moment and thought it made sense, so he said: "Dakui, go and pick eight people from the militia who have trained hard and look relatively stable, and they will stay with me from now on."
With eight people, including Kui Xiaokui and Zhang DaDa, ordinary thieves would not be able to get close.
Even if you encounter real bandits, twenty or thirty people can still greet them for a while, and it's hard to say who will win or lose.
What's more, the bandits are not iron-headed children.
If someone sees you with a gun and is not easy to provoke, they will naturally not touch your brow. They are also afraid of offending someone they cannot afford to offend.
Three days later.
Bang bang bang bang...
There was another burst of firecrackers.
Zhang Heng stood at the door of the Chen family's courtyard and looked at the word "Zhang Mansion" hanging on the gate tower.
From now on, there will only be the Zhang Family Courtyard of the Zhang Mansion in Dagou Town, and there will no longer be the Chen Family Courtyard of the Chen Mansion.
Speaking of which, given his status, he was not even close to the status of a "mansion" in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
But now that the Republic of China is here, no one is pursuing that, so the word "Zhang's Mansion" is appropriate for Zhang Heng now.
"master."
Four little maids, leading a dozen servants, all saluted Zhang Heng.
Zhang Heng's expression remained unchanged and he said "hmm" pretending to be calm, but in fact he felt very pleased with himself.
Feudal society, it is good to have feudal society.
In modern times, if anyone dared to ask a servant to call him master, he would be trolled to death if he posted it on the Internet.
Of course, families that are really powerful and employ a large number of servants will not give you the opportunity to post them online.
In that invisible corner, some things are actually retro, but ordinary people can't see them.
"Sir, the yard has been tidied up, each of the 72 rooms has been cleaned, and new window paper, bedding, and some unusable furniture have also been replaced."
The speaker was Uncle Zhong, the former butler of the Chen family.
After the Chen family moved away, it was said that they were going to the provincial capital and live in a small foreign-style house.
Uncle Zhong was getting older, and the Chen family felt that he was no longer useful, so they dismissed him along with the other two old servants.
When Zhang Heng heard about this, he was worried that there might be trouble if he didn't have a housekeeper, so he kept these people here.
Zhongbo is one of them, able to take charge of internal and external affairs.
Grandma Sun is the second one. She is an old woman who came out of the palace and knows how to massage and hammer feet.
There is also Lao Yangtou, who can wait on livestock and drive carts.
However, Old Yangtou is too old and can fall asleep while driving. It means that the old horse knows the way and knows the way, otherwise he can drag you to the mass grave.
Zhang Heng naturally didn't want to go to the mass graves.
So he sent Old Yangtou to the concierge, and as for Grandma Sun, he stayed with him to teach the four little girls the rules and ways to serve others.
"Master, don't underestimate your hammer feet. There are many acupuncture points on your feet. Once your feet are comfortable, everything will be smoothed out."
"You are not married yet. When you are, I dare say that not only you, but also the wife will be unable to do without this. If you don't do it for a day, it will feel like there is something wrong in your heart."
Grandma Sun held a pair of small mallets and hit the soles of Zhang Heng's feet while signaling the four maids to study hard.
Zhang Heng hummed comfortably, half leaning on An Yuyu's lap, and thought to himself: "I have taught my apprentice and starved the master to death. If Grandma Sun can save a hand, she won't be able to do anything with her foot-hammering skills."
Let the Chen family be driven away."
"Sir, there are 20 people from the militia here, saying they are staying to guard the hospital. I am thinking that we can station ten people each in the front yard and the back yard to protect everyone. What do you think?"
The old housekeeper stood aside and waited.
"Just do what you want."
Zhang Heng said indifferently.
The old housekeeper heard this and said again: "I have checked with the farmers about the land deeds you bought from the Chen family. The total is 1,200 acres."
"There are also three shops in the town, two rice shops and one grocery store. They are currently doing pretty well."
"If you don't have any other ideas, I'm going to let the shopkeeper below run the business as usual and send the account books to the house for review once a month. Everything else remains the same."
"In addition, I have also arranged the residence in the house. The rough lady will live in the backyard, the watchman, the sedan bearer, the coachman, and the porter will live in the front yard. Grandma Sun and the four little girls will live with you in the middle.
The hospital is always at your service, do you think this arrangement is appropriate?"
"It's OK, you arranged it well."
Zhang Heng became more and more satisfied with the old housekeeper.
With such an old butler who coordinates everything, there is no need for him to worry about the inner house.
"Right."
Thinking of the accounts, Zhang Heng also asked: "How much rent did the Chen family charge before?"
"If I tell you, it's 70%."
"Seventy percent!"
Zhang Heng shook his head: "The leases of the Chen family are all invalidated and replaced by the leases of my Zhang family. The land rent will be changed to 40%. We will also be responsible for the food tax."
"Forty percent?"
The old housekeeper was stunned for a moment: "Master, 70% of the rent is considered a good thing. We charge 40% and are responsible for paying the grain tax, so there is nothing left. We cannot give the land to tenant farmers for free all year round.
We don’t want anything, just a reputation, right?”
Landlords during the Republic of China were quite ruthless.
Seventy percent of the rent means that the landlord has to take away 70% of the annual grain.
This is not bad, some more ruthless ones will harvest 80%, and the remaining food is not enough for the people.
Mr. Gu mentioned in his "Rizhilu" that if you get three to four hundred catties of grain per mu, you have to pay seventy-eight percent of the rent. If you rent ten acres of land, you will only have six to seven hundred catties of grain left after one year.
In famine years, the output dropped, with only one or two hundred kilograms of grain produced per acre. After paying the rent, the people had to go out to beg for food the next day.
In addition to rent collection, there is also a fixed rent.
It doesn’t say how much harvest you will get, but how many kilograms of grain you are required to pay.
You have set a price of 300 kilograms per mu, and when the autumn harvest comes, you have to pay 300 kilograms of grain per mu.
If there is a good harvest and 400 kilograms of grain are harvested from one acre of land this year, everyone will naturally be happy.
In bad years, one acre of land only produced 200 kilograms. In order to pay the fixed rent of 300 kilograms, one had to sell his sons and daughters, or even sell his whole family into slavery.
"You don't understand. You can't make much money from farming. It doesn't matter if the rent is 40% or 70%. There is no difference in my eyes."
"Most of the tenant farmers who rent my land are villagers from ten miles and eight villages. Instead of earning food ration money from the villagers, it is better to use a few percent of the rent to become a good person."
Zhang Heng showed a serious look and said: "I have no shortage of money, and I don't worry about ways to make money. What I want is people's hearts and stability. Do you know what stability is? If there is food in the rice vat, there will be stability."
, even if you drive them away with sticks, they won’t turn into a mob.”
The old housekeeper still had doubts and said hesitantly: "But Master, the rent in this town is 70%, some even 80%. If we lower the rent, will anyone gossip?"
Many people in the town have no land and can only rent land from landlords.
If Zhang Heng's salary is reduced, it will be like several factories recruiting workers together, and suddenly one of them raises the salary from 3,000 to 5,000. It will definitely cause turmoil and attract criticism from other landlords.
"Don't be afraid of this. The big landowners in the town will not be free for long. Sooner or later, I will buy all the land in their hands."
"At that time, except for farmers who own land, the rent of tenant farmers will be reduced to 40%."
"That day in front of the ancestral hall, I boasted about Haikou, saying that I would make everyone in the Zhang family well-fed and well-clothed. It was not an empty promise."
Speaking of this, Zhang Heng looked at the old housekeeper: "The reason why many people don't have enough to eat is that the land rent is too high. After paying the rent every year, the tenant farmers have nothing left, and many of them starve to death every year."
.”
Zhang Heng never considered himself a savior. He just wanted to make the lives of those around him better within his ability.
As for making money, as a bad guy from both worlds, there are so many ways to make money.