flstandardbreds Chapter 151
Chapter 151
It just so happens that Fang Hong is also a woman, and if the two of them were together, they could perfectly solve each other's problems.
"You should talk to Shen Qing about this. Why are you telling me?"
Zhou Chu asked, somewhat puzzled.
“Miss Shen is very obedient to you, sir. Moreover, given the relationship between you and Miss Shen, I should naturally ask you first before going to Miss Shen.”
Fang Hong had recovered by this time, and his face was no longer so red.
"As long as she agrees, I naturally have no objection."
Zhou Chu smiled.
Upon hearing this, Fang Hong immediately perked up. After bidding farewell to Zhou Chu, he headed straight for Yun Gui Fang.
Yun Gui Cloth Shop is now the largest cloth shop in the entire capital, so large that it almost monopolizes nearly half of the cloth in the capital, and its throughput of raw silk is far beyond that of ordinary cloth shops.
Correspondingly, Yun Gui Cloth Shop has three to four thousand weavers and laborers. Moreover, Yun Gui Cloth Shop is very generous to its weavers and laborers. Their monthly wages are nearly twice that of other cloth shops, and they eat much better than other cloth shops. They basically eat white flour steamed buns every meal. Although the food is not meat every meal, it is still rich in oil.
The head manager of Yun Gui Cloth Shop was an experienced old eunuch named Hong Si, whom Zhou Chu had specially borrowed from the Princess's residence. Hong Si had no family, was quite old, and had no ambition. Zhou Chu paid him very well, so he settled down and worked at the cloth shop, thinking that it would be a good place to retire in the cloth shop in the future.
At this moment, Hong Si was inspecting the cloth shop when he overheard two laborers gloating over Zhou Chu's demotion. His expression immediately changed.
"You two, you're done working from today onwards. Pack your bags and go home."
Hong Si said angrily.
"Please spare us, shopkeeper! We didn't mean to be lazy!"
The two hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed to Hong Si, their faces full of pleading.
They thought Hong Si fired them because they were lazy. When Zhou Chu established Yun Gui Cloth Shop, he deliberately downplayed his relationship with Yun Gui Fang and Yun Gui Cloth Shop. At that time, Zhou Chu knew that he would join the Embroidered Uniform Guard in the future. The identity of the Embroidered Uniform Guard was not a good advantage for Yun Gui Fang. Therefore, apart from Hong Si and a few others, most of the weavers and laborers in the cloth shop did not know that Zhou Chu was one of the owners of the cloth shop.
Hong Si was so angry at the two men's outrageous words that he trembled all over.
"You two bastards, you really don't know what's good for you. Since you don't know why we fired you, we'll let you die knowing why."
As Hong Si spoke, he looked at the steward beside him.
"Go and call all the weavers and laborers over. We have something to tell them."
Upon hearing this, the manager dared not be negligent. Hong Si held absolute power in the cloth shop, and the entire shop operated smoothly under his management. His managers knew very well that this head manager rarely gave collective speeches, so his current actions must mean that something important was about to be announced.
Soon, thousands of workers in the cloth shop gathered in front of Hong Si.
“Those two scoundrels dared to talk about Lord Zhou Hengqi, and their words were very disrespectful. Today, I’ll tell you, anyone in this world can talk about Lord Zhou, but you two are not allowed, because Lord Zhou is the owner of my cloth shop.”
Hong Si said with unusual seriousness.
Upon hearing this, the thousands of workers below erupted in uproar, and the two men who had spoken earlier turned deathly pale.
"When we first established the cloth shop, we told Lord Zhou that we could just pay you the same monthly wages as other cloth shops. But Lord Zhou said no, our cloth shop is not just for making money, but also to provide a place for refugees near the capital to settle down and live a good life."
As Hong Si said this, he recalled the expression on Zhou Chu's face when he said those words. Hong Si remembered it very clearly. When he heard those words, he felt extremely ashamed and felt that he had lived in vain for so many years.
"So our cloth shop's monthly wages far exceed those of other cloth shops, and you all eat white flour steamed buns, with plenty of oil and vegetables in every meal. Doesn't Lord Zhou want to make more money? Everyone does! But Lord Zhou has sacrificed a lot for you."
Hong Si said excitedly.
Upon hearing this, the workers glared angrily at the two laborers who had spoken ill of Zhou Chu, wishing they could tear them apart.
"There's something else you might not know. Back then, I saw a blueprint at Lord Zhou's place. It was a blueprint for a spinning machine that we'd never seen before. Once this spinning machine was made, the spinning efficiency could be increased by more than forty times. I urged Lord Zhou to expedite the making of this spinning machine. Guess what Lord Zhou said?"
Hong Si paused after saying this.
"Lord Zhou said that if this spinning machine were made, countless weavers would lose their livelihood. Not to mention anything else, just in our cloth shop, if we used this kind of spinning machine, it would be a lot if a hundred of you weavers could stay. Lord Zhou couldn't bear to let you lose your jobs, so he never thought of making that spinning machine."
Hong Si became more and more excited as he spoke.
"Therefore, everyone in the capital can talk about the Lord, but you are the only ones who cannot. Besides, how many of the officials that Lord Zhou arrested are good people? Haven't you seen enough of the true colors of those corrupt officials every day?"
Hong Si spoke up for Zhou Chuming, feeling indignant.
After Hong Si finished speaking, the workers below fell into a brief silence. Then, everyone looked at the two laborers who had spoken ill of Zhou Chu, and they all rubbed their hands together in anticipation.
This scene terrified the two men. If these people really attacked, would they still be alive?
"Get lost now."
Hong Si felt disgusted by the two of them and said with a face full of impatience.
The two were immediately relieved and ran away as fast as they could.
After this incident, all the workers at Yun Gui Cloth Shop were deeply grateful to Zhou Chu. Many even returned home and began to worship Zhou Chu's longevity tablet, hoping that Lord Zhou would live a long and healthy life.
Zhou Chu took advantage of his free time to come to the training ground every day to train the eight hundred new recruits.
These new recruits were outstanding in physical fitness and martial arts skills among their peers. Zhou Chu mainly combined the special forces training methods of later generations with the training methods in the military training records, and trained these people intensively, pushing them to the brink of death every day.
However, in return, there is plenty of meat to eat, which will form the foundation for Zhou Chu's future, so he naturally needs to train hard.
After about a month of training, these people are quite different from before in terms of both military discipline and mental outlook.
At this point, they were absolutely obedient to Zhou Chu and Yun Jin's orders and would never raise any questions. Thus, they had completed their basic training.
"I will be heading to Suzhou Prefecture soon. You will come with me. The journey to Jiangnan is destined to be extremely dangerous. We may encounter many bandits who will try to ambush us. This is the time to test your training results. Only those who can make it to Jiangnan alive will be qualified to become my soldiers. I will give you a number then."
Zhou Chu looked at the eight hundred spirited new recruits in front of him and said.
Upon hearing this, everyone became excited. After a month of training, they all felt incredibly strong. Compared to this month of training, their previous training seemed like child's play.
How could they not be excited upon hearing that war was about to break out?