Chapter 28: The Recruitment of the Rebel Army

  To counter recruitment with food recruitment

  He Shicheng held the bowl of thick porridge in front of his chest, following behind Yao Fang, and carefully asked: "Master, why do you need to post a recruitment notice? You're offering one or two taels of silver per month, and providing food and lodging. This is such a good deal that everyone will be fighting for it. With just one order from you, I can go back to the village and recruit thirty workers for you. The only thing is, what kind of people do you want? Do you want those who are literate or those who are skilled in martial arts?"

  Yao Weng smiled but did not speak.

  Here is the translation:

  Zhou Fourth, who was particularly quick to assemble bicycles, also followed behind him. He carefully held a recruitment paper written by Yao Fang in his hand, and after hearing He Shicheng's words, he hastily said: "Yes, with food and lodging provided, plus one or two silver coins, what kind of helper can't be recruited? If the master needs it, I'll go back to the village to call people. Not just thirty people, even fifty have." Zhou Fourth was originally a newly recruited young servant at the Early Sail Commercial Company, with only food and lodging provided but no monthly salary. Now, because he had learned to ride a bicycle and followed Yao Fang, he earned two silver coins per month as his wages. According to the rules here, after taking six silver coins for the first three months' wages in one breath last night, he was excited all night without sleep, repeatedly reminding himself that since he had encountered a good master, he must work hard.

  Yao Fandao said: "Didn't I ask Tuohe to help me buy a piece of land? There will be many houses built on this land, so naturally we need to hire many workers."

  He Shicheng said with a smile, "So you're looking for carpenters and bricklayers, why bother with food and lodging? Good craftsmen earn 30 or 40 taels of silver per day, what's the point of providing for their living expenses?"

  "It's not just about recruiting workers, I want to establish my own engineering team. After buying this land, there will be many places that need construction in the future. Besides, I don't necessarily only recruit thirty people, if there are suitable ones, I can also find more."

  At the age of 24, he was quite shrewd: "Building a house is not easy, but if the landlord hires workers so early, it's not cost-effective. I think anyone who builds a house usually buys bricks, tiles and wood in advance, waits until all the materials are ready, and then finds workers to start construction, which can save a lot of expenses."

  He Shicheng echoed: "Yes, yes, this preparation of materials, it's normal to be busy for two or three years."

  "Now that there is a great drought, I have summoned many people early on, so they can have food to eat and not starve to death."

  He Shicheng suddenly realized in his fourth week "The heart of Dongjia Bodhisattva!"

  In fact, Yao Fan wrote this recruitment notice just as a cover, simply to serve as a confession, which means to clarify that he is looking for partners, not gathering people to buy their hearts and rebel. This recruitment can be written or not written, but Yao Fan always felt that writing it was better than not writing it.

  Yao Fan arrived at the street head of Jianye Street where a plaque was erected, found an empty mud wall next to it, and ordered He Shicheng and Zhou Di to post the recruitment notice. Then he let He Shicheng and Zhou Di take turns standing in front of the notice and reading it out loud.

  Beyond Yao's expectation, a crowd of people gathered here in a short while, including several beggars squatting under the archway asking for food.

  But these thin, dry and smelly beggars just stood around watching, barefoot in the mud, holding each other but not speaking. The rest of the people were the same, whispering to each other, but no one consulted Yao Fan.

  Just as Yao Fan felt that this road of recruiting soldiers was not going to work and he was disheartened, a tall but emaciated beggar stood up and weakly said: "Master, I know a few big characters, and I still have some strength in my body. I don't know if Master will take me? I don't want wages, as long as Master feeds me enough." After thinking for a moment, he weakly added: "I don't eat much, one meal a day from the master is fine, just a steamed bun is enough."

  Yao Weng looked like he was starving to death.

  A short, crippled beggar beside him pulled at his sleeve and said in a weak voice, "Hai Niu, this must be the human traffickers who are going to sell you into slavery on a farm in Guandong, where you'll have to do hard labor for two or three years until you die."

  Although the voice of that short beggar was weak with illness, there were no car engine noises on the streets at this time, and Yao Fan heard it clearly.

  "That fellow, my name is Yao Fan, I am the boss of a local shipping company. This is a genuine recruitment, no deception involved. I only want free men, not those zombie-like slaves. Everyone who works for me are free men, they can leave whenever they want, and I won't make it difficult for them."

  Through the open collar of this dark and thin man, Yao Fan could clearly count every rib under his thin skin.

  The man stood there, as if he would collapse at any moment, his two skull-like eyes staring fixedly at Yao Fang, as if guessing the truth and falsehood in his words.

  Whether it was the pangs of hunger or the desire to find a way out, or whether he was moved by Yao Fang's recruitment, this man suddenly rushed out and gave Yao Fang a long bow.

  "I, Li Haoniu, am willing to be a partner of the big boss!"

  Yao Feng was delighted and thought to himself, "Today is finally the day." He ignored the foul odor on Li Haoniu's body, went forward and helped him up: "Then I'll take you. Go squat by the wall and wait for me to gather thirty people before we leave together."

  The rest of the beggars saw that Li Haoniu did not listen to advice, and on the spot, someone shook his head and sighed, many were whispering, probably thinking that Yao Fan was a human trafficker.

  Seeing more and more onlookers, but no one signed up, Yao Fang stood at the station, unable to recruit anyone. On the fourth day of the week, he noticed that Yao Fang was getting annoyed, so he plucked up his courage, leaned in close, and whispered two sentences to Yao Fang.

  Yao Fan listened to Zhou Di's whisper and understood that nowadays, no matter what kind of business or workshop, when recruiting people, they would emphasize the importance of having a clean family background and native place, and most of the time, it was through introductions from fellow villagers or relatives. Moreover, Yao Fan's recruitment conditions this time were extremely good, so logically speaking, there was no need to come out onto the streets to recruit people, which clearly indicated that it was a scam. These ordinary people may not have had an education, but that didn't mean they lacked common sense and wisdom, who would still be willing to fall for it?

  "Shi Cheng, go back and tell the people at home to prepare a hundred catties of fine white flour to make buns for me! Also, cook three large pots of millet porridge! It should be thick, so that when you insert chopsticks, it won't collapse! Then chop up the salted vegetables and stir-fry them with lard until they're crispy. I want them to float on top of the hot porridge like oil flowers!"

  When he finished speaking, the people gathered here couldn't help but swallow their saliva one by one, and those beggars were like wild grass blown by the wind.

  He Shicheng shouted loudly: "Yes, I'll go and do it now!"

  Yao Fan's eyes rolled, and he said with a smile: "Actually, being a shopkeeper is not that easy. You need to run around the five lakes and four seas with goods, sell your labor in the wind and rain every day, and work very hard. This boss of mine has no other skills, except for letting everyone eat their fill, plus one or two silver coins per month, which is really all I can give. If you folks don't look down on this hard job and disdain the meager monthly pay of one or two silver coins, then I have nothing more to say."

  Yao Fan's words were a retreat in advance, on the surface saying that working hard is tiring, but actually dispelling many onlookers' worries. Poor people these days are not afraid of hardship, as long as they can eat their fill, no matter how hard it is, it's worth it.

  The poor fear being cheated the most!

  Yao Fan's hard work in dyeing is not just about the meager monthly salary of one or two silver coins, but also about touching people's hearts.

  Many people thought at the time: "Damn it! Afraid of hardship? Only those rich and noble old men would be afraid of hard work, I'm just a poor man with a worthless life, how can I be afraid of hardship? Not to mention having one or two silver coins, even if there's no silver coin, being able to eat a full meal is also worth it."

  Then those beggars came up in a swarm, kowtowing and bowing, indicating that they wanted to be partners.

  Yao Fan didn't have any requirements for Li Hainiu, the first to sign up. After all, it was a pioneering step in breaking the ice, and being able to stand out was already an achievement. However, since they had now entered a buyer's market, they had to be more selective.

  Yao Feng endured the stench and selected nine younger beggars from among them, so with Li Haoniu added to their number, there were now ten beggars.

  Some old beggars who were not selected suddenly began to regret and whispered to Yao Fang, wanting Yao Fang to take them away.

  Yao Fan secretly sighed and defended himself in his heart: "Sorry, my compatriots, I'm going to rebel, but those who are too old are really useless."

  At this time, Yao Fan's recruitment notice had spread throughout the small fishing port of Qingdao Kou. More and more people gathered around, and some young people who were initially interested in signing up hesitated when they saw that all those recruited so far were beggars. Everyone thought to themselves: "I'm a decent person from a good family, how can I join forces with beggars?"

  Yao Fan was so clever, how could he not see the thoughts of the crowd? So he simply said: "Since everyone still has concerns, my recruitment today will end here. Those who are willing to come can register at my Yao Fan's mansion on Taiping Street."

  After that, Yao Fan and Zhou Si brought back ten stinky beggars in tattered clothes to their home. Yao Fan led the way at the front, as if he was a leader of the beggars or a human trafficker.

  Upon arriving at the gate, Yao Feng ordered: "Li Haoniu, you were the first to sign up and have made contributions. I choose you as the leader of these ten people."

  Hai Niu said in a low voice: "Hai Niu thanks Dongjia for his appreciation."

  "However, you haven't taken a bath yet and really stink. I have women at home, if they get suffocated by the smell, it would be troublesome."

  After finishing, Yao Fan led the way with a hearty laugh, relieving the awkwardness: "You just wait at the door, I'll have the apprentices bring out steamed buns and rice porridge, let you eat your fill first. After eating, we'll take you to bathe and change clothes. Since you're coming here to be an apprentice, no matter what, you must dress properly, or else it would be embarrassing for me."

  Li Haoniu was overjoyed: "We'll listen to the orders of the East House, and we'll wait at the foot of the wall by the gate."

  Yao Feng ordered the six apprentices in the house to set up a broken wooden table at the door, put out a few long benches, and let Su Sanjie send out the already prepared buns, millet porridge, and pickles.