The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

Zhou Mansion.

Zhou Hexuan brought less than ten servants from Tianjin, and the rest were recruited locally in Chongqing. These servants were contacted by an intermediary company, and each had more than two good people as guarantees. Their credibility and loyalty were far higher than those in the workplace of later generations.

This has been the case in China since ancient times, and even sometimes you need a sponsor to become an apprentice. When Zhou Hexuan first traveled through time and rented a house, he was asked by the landlord to provide a guarantor. It was fine without a guarantor, but he had to pay a certain amount of deposit.

Kong Yaohua is 52 years old and a native of Dazhu County, Sichuan. When he was a child, his family owned more than ten acres of thin farmland. When he was twenty-eight years old, he suffered a military disaster. A deflected artillery shell fell into his home. His parents, wife, children, younger brother and sister-in-law all died in the explosion. Kong Yaohua happened to be out of town at that time, so he survived.

The days that followed were difficult, and there were countless levies and miscellaneous taxes. He was unable to cultivate more than ten acres of land by himself, and he had no money to hire long-term and short-term laborers to help him. Coupled with the serious illness, he eventually had to sell his property and beg for food.

Kong Yaohua served as a soldier, a beggar, and a day laborer. In the past two years, he finally settled down in Chongqing and was hired by a landlord in Jiangbei to work as a long-term laborer.

Unexpectedly, the landowner died of illness soon, and the young masters were all prodigal sons. The old lady tried her best to hold on and refused to separate the family. The sons were having a hard time eating, drinking, whoring, gambling, and one of them actually stole the deed to the family's land to pay off his gambling debts.

The prominent and wealthy local gentry family fell apart in this way. Kong Yaohua also lost his long-term labor job and could only come to Chongqing to work part-time to make a living.

Last year I heard that the great businessman Zhang Mouzhi had built a mansion for his son-in-law on the bank of the Yangtze River and was recruiting honest servants. Kong Yaohua immediately spent all his savings and gave money to a matchmaker (agent) to help with the operation, and he got his wish and became the gardener of the Zhou Mansion.

Kong Yaohua is responsible for watering flowers, plants and trees every day, and pruning and tending branches every now and then. He feels that this kind of life is so happy. Although it is also very tiring, it is much easier than working as a long-term and short-term laborer before. Moreover, the owner is kind-hearted. Not only does he give him a salary of three yuan a month, he also provides food and accommodation, and occasionally he can see meat and fish. .

Kong Yaohua has been blaming himself recently. More than ten of the trees newly planted by Zhou Mansion last year died in his hands. Although he fetched water from the Yangtze River for watering every day, the summer sun was too harsh and these small trees were burned to death.

Kong Yaohua felt that he had done a big mistake. His master was so kind to him, so why did he kill the little tree? This is simply ungrateful!

early morning.

Kong Yaohua got up early and prepared to go to the river to fetch water. He smelled the aroma coming from the kitchen, couldn't help turning his head and sniffed a few times, and his heart suddenly felt happy: Today he is making pancakes again, and it's Bashi!

There are two kitchens in Zhou Mansion, one for the master and one for the servants.

On normal days, the servants' breakfast consists of porridge and pickles, but every weekend they can eat fried cakes or noodles. In Kong Yaohua's view, this is an extremely luxurious treatment. The Zhou family's fried cakes are heavily oiled, and there is some minced meat in the noodles. They are simply the most delicious food in the world.

"Good morning, Lao Kong!" the concierge, Old Man He, said hello.

Kong Yaohua greeted quickly: "Good morning, Master!"

There are also two gatehouses in Zhou Mansion, one facing the mountain and one facing the river. The concierge He in front of him came from Tianjin with his master. He was a "senior" among the servants. Kong Yaohua would never dare to offend him.

After exiting the big iron gate, Kong Yaohua carried a wooden bucket to the riverside, where he saw several fishing boats docked on the pier.

Because the owner of the Zhou family is generous and kind, people from nearby often come to sell local products, and fishermen often come to sell their catch.

Those catches are also divided into two categories, the most delicious saury, yellow catfish and other categories, which are specially provided to the master, wife and young master. The Zhou family was also willing to spend money to buy some of the remaining small fish and shrimps sold by the fishermen and use them as meat and fish to feed the servants.

Kong Yaohua was already very familiar with those fishermen, and he joked while fetching water: "Mei Laokan, if you don't go fishing and casting nets, why do you come to Zhoujia Pier to set up an empty gantry array?"

"Don't worry, we are discussing business." Mei Laokan said angrily.

"What's the matter?" Kong Yaohua asked casually.

A fisherman nicknamed "Windmill" said: "The end of the Red Sun is coming, and everyone in the world will die. Only by joining the 'Confucius and Mencius' can we be safe. A few of us are discussing one day to join the 'Confucius and Mencius'." '."

"I just don't believe in the nonsense of Confucius and Mencius," another fisherman nicknamed "Fake Experience" said, "Liu Shenxian is just a melon. I only joined his religion after my brain was broken."

Fengchaoche immediately retorted: "Yes, Liu Shenxian is a melon, and you are the smart one by pretending to be sophisticated. Nowadays, many people want to join the religion, but if you pretend to be sophisticated, I won't be able to kill you when the Hongyang Tribulation comes!"

Mei Laokan suddenly asked Kong Yaohua: "Old Kong, has Mr. Zhou become a religious believer?"

"What kind of religion do you want to join? I've never heard of it." Kong Yaohua said with a smile.

Fengchaoche said happily: "Mr. Zhou is also a god. I heard that he is Liu Shenxian's uncle. He doesn't need to join the religion at all."

Kong Yaohua became more and more curious and asked in detail: "What on earth are you talking about? I can't even understand."

The fishermen immediately began to tell each other one by one, and soon told everything about the situation.

It turns out that since Liu Congyun returned to Chongqing, a saying quickly spread in the city: from birth to destruction, the universe has experienced three tribulations: Qing Yang, Red Yang and White Yang. The troubled times of the Republic of China were at the end of the Red Sun Tribulation, known as the "End Tribulation of the Second Period", which was the largest disaster in human history. At that time, except for the believers of "Confucius and Mencius", all other mortals will be destroyed along with the old world. Sichuan's successive wars and famines, as well as this year's severe drought, are all manifestations of the "Red Sun Tribulation." If there is no expert intervention, the drought will last at least a hundred years, and the affected areas will spread from Sichuan to the whole of China, and even worldwide.

Typical cult eschatology!

This is the trick played by Liu Congyun. Since he fell out with Liu Xiang, many of his branches in Sichuan have collapsed, and it is difficult for believers to go their separate ways and reunite. In order to make a comeback, Liu Congyun borrowed the theories of a certain sect in North China, vigorously promoted eschatology, and threatened and lured Sichuan people into joining the religion.

Anyone who wants to join the religion should contribute money according to their own situation. If you really don’t have money, if you have a skill, such as being able to fight, write, steal, etc., you can use it according to your ability.

Luo Zezhou, the polished warlord, was the first to respond, donating millions of his family property in a high-profile manner, and asked Liu Congyun for a "life-preserving talisman". It is said that this talisman can protect the lives of the whole family, including the servants at home, and they can survive the red sun tribulation safely.

Luo Zezhou regarded wealth as his life, so it was naturally impossible for him to donate so much money. This was all discussed between him and Liu Congyun. To paraphrase a line from "Let the Bullets Fly": "The wealthy gentry's money will be returned in full, and the common people's money will be divided into 30 to 70 percent!"

Through intimidation and deception through eschatology, Liu Congyun was able to not only amass money, but also quickly restore the strength of his sect.

The more troubled the times, the more superstitious people become and the less they can withstand being frightened.

When Liu Xiang's army had Liu Shenxian, Liu Wenhui invited a Wan Shenxian. The two warlords fought fiercely, and the fighting skills of the two gods were also very exciting.

Warlords like Yang Sen, who were not afraid of ghosts and gods, bluntly said that they had suffered unprecedented humiliation in their lives because they were forced to kowtow to Liu Congyun. But the actual situation is that because of the boy's joke, Yang Sen sent people to kill all the dogs in the territory. Yang Sen's nickname was Zihui, also known as Yang Zihui. He originally liked raising dogs.

Sheep are called sheep in Sichuan dialect. One day he heard a child pointing to the sheep being chased by dogs and saying: "Sheep will (Yang Zihui) be bitten to death by dogs." Yang Sen felt that it was very unlucky and vaguely uneasy, so This started the great cause of dog slaughter.

This is true for all warlords, let alone the common people?

At this moment, after listening to the fishermen's eschatology, Kong Yaohua was frightened and said to himself: "They say Mr. Zhou is also a god. Can he protect me when the end comes?"

"Of course you can," Fengchenche said enviously, "Mr. Zhou is a master, and you servants will enjoy the blessings. Even if Sichuan dies, you will not die."

"That's good, that's good." Kong Yaohua still had lingering fear.

Mei Laokan suddenly had a new idea. He said: "Mr. Zhou is very powerful, even more fierce than Liu Shenxian. Why don't we go to him and ask for a life-saving charm?"

"Yes, this method is necessary," Fengchaoche was immediately overjoyed, "Mr. Zhou is kind-hearted, and his life-preserving talisman must be free of charge. Come on, come on, let's go find Mr. Zhou together."

Early in the morning, Zhou Hexuan, who had just woken up, looked confused when facing the fishermen who came to ask for amulets.

What the hell?