As soon as Zhang Yida entered the house, he saw the hemp shoes piled up like a hill in the living room. He was also surprised and asked:
"Sister Shuzhen, did you make this up all by yourself?"
Shuzhen shook her head repeatedly: "My mother-in-law and I made it up."
Zhang Yida glanced around the room. It was very simple, with no decent furniture, but the room was still very clean inside and out, and it could be seen that it was cleaned frequently.
An old woman in her sixties came out of the room at this time and asked:
"Shu Zhen, what's wrong? Why are there so many people at home?"
"Auntie, leaders from the county and bosses from the capital are here to inspect the hemp shoes at your home," the village party secretary said with a smile.
Everyone came up to say hello one after another. The old woman was very happy and quickly found some stools and asked the guests to sit down. Then she asked her daughter-in-law Shuzhen to boil water and make tea.
After the old woman and Shuzhen walked into the kitchen, the village party secretary turned to County Magistrate Wu and Zhang Yida and his party and said:
"Shu Zhen was a hard-working woman. Her husband died a few years after she got married.
I became a widow in my 20s. In the past ten years, in addition to raising my children and attending junior high school, I also had to take care of my mother-in-law, who was in poor health.
These years have not been easy, and everyone in the village admires her. If anything happens, everyone is willing to help.
But she is a strong woman and usually does not need help from others. The family of three maintains their basic life by knitting hemp shoes."
Hearing this, Zhang Yida was in awe and felt that his Huinong Loan must do something for them.
After a while, bowls of hot tea were served. Since there were not enough cups, the tea was brewed in earthen bowls.
Zhang Yida didn't mind it either. He took the tea and said thank you to Sister Shuzhen, then took a big sip and asked with a smile:
"Sister Shuzhen, let me ask you how many pairs of shoes you can make in a year? How much can they sell for?"
Shuzhen sat on a small stool on one side, thought for a while and replied: "I probably make 300 pairs a year, which can be sold for two to three thousand yuan."
Zhang Yida took the hemp shoes piled aside, looked at them carefully, touched them, and felt that the handicrafts were quite good, but they were too cheap for less than 10 yuan a pair. He asked again:
"Do you usually sell your shoes locally?"
Shuzhen nodded and said, "Either I go to the market and set up a stall to sell it, or I sell it to buyers and let them transport it to the city for sale.
These shoes are made by locals, but they are difficult to sell. They are basically sold to purchasers."
The village party secretary added: "These shoes are still too cheap. I can only sell them to buyers. I go to the city to sell them myself, and the travel expenses are not enough."
Zhang Yida found a pair of hemp shoes that were similar to his size and said with a smile, "Can I buy a pair?"
Then he asked Zhao Erya to pay 100 yuan and hand it to Shuzhen, but Shuzhen refused.
Zhang Yida looked at her with a smile: "Take it! Sister Shuzhen, it is only natural to give money to buy things."
Shuzhen hurriedly shook her head: "If not so much, 10 yuan is enough."
"It's okay, we'll just get a few more pairs later." Zhang Yida waved his hand and said, then took off his shoes and put on a pair of hemp shoes.
It was hot weather in August, and we had walked such a long way, so the smell was a bit strong.
Zhang Yida was also aware of this problem. He wore hemp shoes and carried his own shoes outside to the yard to diffuse the smell.
He came back after a while and said:
"These shoes are very good! They are cool, breathable and non-slip!"
Looking at Shuzhen, she praised: "Sister Shuzhen, your craft is pretty good!"
Shuzhen smiled and was quite happy that the big boss from Beijing praised her shoes.
Zhang Yida asked again:
"If the sales channel problem is solved for Sister Shuzhen, do you have any ideas to make more shoes? Expand the production scale a little more."
Shuzhen thought for a while and finally nodded: "If we don't worry about selling, my mother-in-law and I can make hundreds more pairs every year."
Zhang Yida shook his head, it was still too little. He asked the people around him: "What are the processes for making hemp shoes?"
The village party secretary spoke enthusiastically: "
Mr. Zhang, I know!
Knead jute into thick ropes or thin ropes, use long and tough straw to dry in the sun and pound it loose with a hammer, and hook the front end of the wooden bench with a rake.
The person sits in the middle of the wooden bench, uses a belt to cover the waist bar from the back of the waist to the front, and then hooks the hemp rope with the wire in the middle of the waist bar. The other end of the hemp rope is put on the straw shoe rake and starts weaving.
Wrap the last circle slowly and tightly until it is finished."
Zhang Yida smiled and boasted: "The party secretary explained it in detail, even a layman like me can understand it."
The conversation changed and he said seriously: "However, this production technology is still too backward. If you want to get rich and create better economic income, you must transform.
I have a few suggestions.
First, let’s talk about sales channels. Now that the Internet is so developed, your handmade hemp shoes should not be limited to one place, but should be sold all over the country.
The country’s e-commerce industry is now so developed, we must keep up with the times. Sell your hemp shoes across the country through e-commerce.
Second, product style.
The style of hemp shoes should not only be made into sandals, but also into slippers, cloth shoes, and casual shoes.
Combined with other materials, hemp rope can be made into new-style cloth shoes and casual shoes. The styles closely follow the fashion trends. Whatever styles are popular among urbanites can be made into whatever styles are popular.
Focusing on the two concepts of "environmental protection" and "pure handcrafting", we give added value to our products.
The third is the production process.
The hemp rope needs to be dried, so choose the right materials! It also needs to be cut back from the field.
These processes can be completed by establishing some small processing factories. In the future, each household will only need to focus on the most important links for manual manufacturing. All other links will be gradually replaced by industrial processes.
Free up productivity and increase production volume.
Three suggestions: sales channels, product styles, and production processes. If you do these three things well, you can definitely create economic returns that are several times higher than now."
Everyone applauded, and County Magistrate Wu laughed and said: "Mr. Zhang, you are worthy of being a young leader and entrepreneur. His suggestions are great!"
Then he turned to look at other government workers and issued an order: "You will write a report for me next and follow Mr. Zhang's suggestion."
Other government workers nodded.
After sitting at Shuzhen's house for several hours, we had almost all the things to talk about. It was getting late, and County Magistrate Wu leaned next to Zhang Yida and whispered:
"It's almost getting dark. Mr. Zhang will go back to the county to rest first, and we'll do another inspection tomorrow!"
Zhang Yi nodded and said yes, then asked Zhao Erya to take out a large stack of RMB and bought all the hemp shoes at Shuzhen's house.
Shuzhen declined: "Mr. Zhang, you already have 10,000 yuan. If you don't have this much, 3,000 yuan will be enough."
Zhang Yida smiled kindly: "Sister Shuzhen, just keep the extra money for your children's tuition!"
Others also advised:
"Sister Shuzhen, this is Mr. Zhang's wish, just take it!"
Shuzhen and her mother-in-law were also deeply moved. They wiped their tears and sent Zhang Yida and his party to the entrance of the village.
Saying goodbye to Shuzhen's family, the village party secretary and others, the group got in the car and returned to the county town.
Returning to the hotel where we had lunch, Zhang Yida smiled and said to County Magistrate Wu:
"County Magistrate Wu, please don't set the reception standards so high. It makes me very nervous. I have already felt the affection of the leaders of the Valley County Committee and County Government. Thank you all leaders for your concern.
I have already made up my mind about this investment, and the specific investment plan is still being worked out.”
When County Magistrate Wu heard that Zhang Yida had confirmed the investment and was making an investment plan, the smile on his face became even thicker and he said:
"Mr. Zhang, you are a guest from afar, and you are here to lead the people of our valley to become rich. It is also appropriate to entertain you warmly. You must not refuse."
Zhang Yida couldn't resist, so he had a sumptuous dinner with County Magistrate Wu and others in the hotel.
Then, County Magistrate Wu invited Zhang Yida and his delegation to the county radio and television station to watch a historical Qin Opera drama "Jiang Wei" together.
The show was very exciting. Zhang Yida was fascinated by the ancient Qin opera and asked:
"County Magistrate Wu, are Jiang Wei and Jiang Boyue also from the valley?"
County Magistrate Wu was quite proud and said:
"Yes, he is the most famous person in our Valley County in history!"
"Nine Expeditions in the Central Plains is really a sergeant in Liangzhou. County Magistrate Wu, your valley can be said to be full of outstanding people!"
Zhang Yida said with emotion that as a Sichuan native, he had heard the story of Jiang Wei since he was a child. Later, when he went to university and majored in history, he got to know Jiang Wei better.
Jiang Wei led an army to resist Deng Ai's army outside. As a result, Adou, a die-hard man, rushed to the street and was tricked into opening the city gate and surrendering, and then gave Jiang Wei an order to surrender.
A lone army rushed to Chengdu, which frightened Adou. When Jiang Wei's army retreated to Chengdu, there would be no chance of a comeback.
It’s so sad to miss it like this!
After Jiang Wei surrendered to Wei, he continued to drive a wedge between Zhong Hui and Deng Ai until his death in an attempt to restore the Han Dynasty.
The final result is failure, death of the body, annihilation of the whole family, and execution of everyone!
A generation of talents with outstanding military ability and loyalty to the Shu Han. They were the backbone of the Shu Han in the later period. Their strategy of "gathering troops to seize the valley" was also very clever. He was about to severely damage the Wei army but was ultimately unable to turn the tide.
In fact, he was not afraid of opponents who were like gods, but teammates who were like pigs. Jiang Wei was unable to survive the demise of the Shu Han Dynasty. It was not Jiang Boyue's fault, and he could only sigh deeply in the end.
Zhang Yida is from Sichuan and Shu. He has been leaning toward the Big Ear side of the Three Kingdoms since he was a child. When he was a child, he often visited the Wuhou Temple and offered incense to many heroes of the Shu Han Dynasty.
He asked County Magistrate Wu: "Is there any temple or ancestral hall of Jiang Wei in your county? If so, I would like to go and pay incense to this great hero. I have grown up listening to his stories since I was a child."
County Magistrate Wu nodded hurriedly: "Yes, yes, tomorrow I will ask someone to take Mr. Zhang there to worship."
…
night.
Zhang Yida and Zhao Erya were lying on the bed. Zhao Erya frowned and said:
"Why is there only one bed arranged?"
Zhang Yida laughed dryly: "Maybe there is nothing we can do! You also have to understand that this is a poor county."