Chapter 7 Soap Production

  The next morning, before 6 o'clock, Huo Shan opened his eyes on time!

  As his mind gradually cleared, he soon felt a strange sensation coming from the right side of his body. He couldn't help but turn his head in surprise to see that it was Xiaotou who was sleeping soundly on the edge of the bed. Looking at her rosy little face, Huo Shan's face involuntarily revealed a gentle smile.

  He put on his own clothes, carefully laid Xiao Yutou's soft body on the bed, covered her with a quilt, and then quietly opened the door and walked out.

  "Master, Madam and Fu Bo came over last night!" said Huo Lei, who had just finished his morning exercise and rushed over as soon as he saw him walk out of the room.

  "Got it, Leizi!"

  He lowered his head and thought for a moment, then Huo Shan took out the pocket watch he had already prepared, looked at the time on it, and smiled as he turned around and walked towards the barracks not far away.

  "Go, Leizi! A new day has begun. Help me wake up those lazy bums! Anyone who can't get up within ten minutes will have to run around the playground ten times for me!" Huo Shan said viciously.

  "Yes, young master!"

  Looking at Lei Zi's excited figure, Huo Shan couldn't help but shake his head and thought to himself: "It seems that this guy is also a restless master!"

  Time flies so fast, and before I knew it, a week has passed!

  Although the time was short, the high-intensity training had already made these guys somewhat like soldiers. Immediately afterwards, Huo Shan adjusted his own training plan, except for one morning of physical and team training, the afternoons and evenings became study time, with each literate person bringing five illiterates, through Huo Shan's own created Chinese pinyin and dictionary, learning the simplified characters he had compiled.

  For a week, Huo Shan stayed in this secret military camp behind his family's mountain, eating and living with these future subordinates, firmly controlling the thoughts of these officers and soldiers through his own insights that surpassed the times. He could feel that he was becoming more and more respected among them. At this time, Huo Shan couldn't help but feel grateful to the great Chairman Mao of later generations! Because in the ideological education of the army, he borrowed the supreme magic weapon of the People's Liberation Army in later generations, the "Bitterness Movement", and within a few days, he firmly grasped this new-style army that he had personally trained.

  The sky outside had completely darkened, and Huo Shan, who had finished his classes early, unexpectedly returned home today.

  "This is what we produced? Looks pretty good!" Hoshan said with satisfaction, shaking the orange-yellow solid in his hand.

  "Hehe, it's all produced according to young master's instructions, this old slave doesn't dare take credit!"

  "Has our patent been applied for?"

  "We've already asked someone in every European country, the US might be a day late, we don't have enough manpower over there!" Fu Bo said respectfully.

  "There are two grades, ten products that can be produced at full capacity tomorrow. With the current output of our factory, we can produce 200,000 bars of soap of different grades every month. According to the young master's pricing, ordinary soap is 20 cents, and high-quality soap is between 500 cents and 1 or 2 taels of silver. This way, we can earn 50,000 taels of silver per month!" The old man said excitedly.

  "50,000 taels? That's a lot!" The woman said with a surprised face after hearing his words. Originally, she didn't pay much attention to her son playing with this little thing, and she didn't expect it to be so profitable.

  "Yes, we have already produced 5,000 pieces in the form of a handicraft workshop and tried to sell them in Taiwan. The result is that they are in short supply!"

  Looking at the excited expression on Fu Bo's face, Huo Shan couldn't help but smile slightly. The hot sale of soap was within his expectation, so there wasn't much surprise on his face.

  "Fu Bo, since the soap is selling so well, go to the foreign firm and order more machines. Try to increase our monthly production of soap to 2 million bars!" Huo Shan, influenced by the grand industrial scenes of later generations, gave Fu Bo a new order without much consideration.

  "What?"

  Seeing the shocked expressions on his mother and grandfather's faces, Huo Shan chuckled and asked: "What's wrong?"

  "Master, isn't this a bit too much? Producing so many, can we sell them all?" The old man asked anxiously.

  "Right! Mountain! Doing business is no joke, you must be careful!"

  "Haha, mother, Fu Bo, I've thought of this long ago! Now the entire Qing dynasty has 400 million people, although most are poor and don't have much money, but there are tens of millions of wealthy landlords, plus their families, that's several hundred million people. And Taiwan is so close to Southeast Asia, which is a huge market, foreigners have a lot of money. So now we're not thinking about controlling production, but rather finding ways to quickly buy machines, seize the time to expand production, and occupy the market first. You know soap is a consumable, after a few months it's used up and needs to be bought again, so I think even 20 million blocks per month is far from enough!"

  Watching her son talk confidently, the woman in her heart still had some difficulty believing it, but more of it was relief.

  "Ah, he's old, he's old! Madam, the young master is a business genius, a rare talent in this world!" The old man couldn't help but say with a tinge of emotion.

  "Nowhere, Mr. Fu is overpraising me, I'm still young and far inferior to your decades of experience in business!" Huo Dashi said with a slightly red face. He was a family member who knew his own affairs, if he didn't have the experience and insight from his past life, in this closed era he would just be an ordinary person.

  "Young master, you're too modest. Madam, I think we should do as the young master suggests!" It's clear that Mr. Huo's words earlier had a profound impact on him!

  "Alright then, let's do it as Shan'er said! How much silver to spend and what machine to buy, you discuss with Shan'er!" The woman made her final decision.

  "Yes, ma'am! That old slave will take his leave first! Tomorrow morning I'll go send a telegram!"

  After seeing the old man close the door, the woman's gaze became fixed, and it seemed as if she had made up her mind about something.

  "Mountain child, after all these years, your mother has never mentioned your father in front of you. Now that I see how sensible you are, I won't hide it from you either!" The woman said slowly after looking at him.

  Looking at the desolate and bewildered expression on his mother's face, Huo Shan also felt a little apprehensive and expectant. Since crossing over, he had never seen the father of this body, and added to that was the fear of hurting his mother, so he didn't dare ask.

  "Your father's name is Shi Hong, and he is the son of Shi Dakai, the Wing King of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom!"

  "What?" At this point, even with the composure cultivated through two lifetimes of training on Mount Huo, he couldn't help but jump up in surprise and exclaim out loud.

  "Sit down and listen carefully!" The woman said with a slightly dissatisfied tone, looking at her son's restless appearance.

  He smiled wryly and slowly sat down, his expression constantly changing. "I never thought I'd be connected to the most outstanding military genius of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. This is indeed a twist of fate!" Ho Shan thought to himself.

  "In the year your mother and father got married, not long after, a civil war broke out in Tianjing, the Eastern King was killed, the political situation was chaotic, although the Winged King tried his best to stabilize the imperial court, but due to the suspicion of the Heavenly King, he was forced to make a decision under duress, and finally decided to leave for Anqing, leaving Tianjing. Because at that time, the Qing army continued to attack, within a few years, the Taiping Kingdom suffered defeat after defeat, the situation turned sharply downward! The Winged King had already felt that things were not going well, so he secretly sent your father to start transferring the gold and silver in the national treasury, and quietly transported them to Taiwan through the Yangtze River waterway, with a view to making a comeback. At that time, your mother also followed your father to Taiwan, changed her name and surname, and settled down here. Not many years later, the Winged King was defeated and killed in Sichuan, and those who knew where this batch of treasure was hidden were all killed in battle. After the Taiping Kingdom was destroyed, more than a decade passed, your father also died a year after you were born due to an old wound relapse!"

  After listening, Huo Shan felt a bit dizzy. The treasure of Shi Da Kai in the later generations was actually hot for a while. When he was in school, he had carefully studied this treasure and didn't expect it to have been transported to Taiwan long ago.

  "No wonder Liu Xiang and Chiang Guangdao, the two big warlords of Sichuan in later generations, got nothing!" He Shan thought to himself with some excitement.

  After calming down her somewhat excited emotions, the woman continued: "Today, I'm giving you all this because I want you to inherit the family business. I don't ask you to avenge your father's grievances, I just hope you can live in peace and safety. But seeing what you've been doing in the backyard these days, I won't ask what you're up to. Today, I brought all the property deeds of our Ho family here. From now on, this household will be yours to manage, and I'll support you from behind!"

  Looking at the thick account books on the table, Huo Shan's eyes involuntarily turned red, and he was deeply moved. He choked with sobs and said: "Thank you, Mother! I will definitely make the Huo family's business flourish!" "Hmm! Mother believes in you! Alright, take these account books back to your room and look at them yourself, Mother needs to rest now!"

  "The child said goodbye and told his mother to rest early!"

  As she watched her son hurry away with the account book, the woman felt a sense of relief in her heart. Her son's excellence had already alleviated her worries. "It seems that I should find several more marriage matches for my son; the Ho family's population is indeed too sparse!" The woman thought to herself.