Chapter 36: Sheep Eats Man, Bandits, Revolution and Utopia

  Sheep eating people, bandits, revolution and utopia

  He Shicheng is now in charge of recruitment work and has become a key figure. Housekeeper Luo Guangqun went to Tai'an for Yao Feng's naturalization, and he has become Yao Feng's number one confidant.

  He Shicheng heard this and immediately laughed foolishly: "I don't believe it, boss, how can sheep eat people? Sheep eat grass!"

  Luo Guanqun is not around, Wang Gui is now the cashier of the outer account room, feeling quite proud of himself. Upon hearing this, he immediately retorted: "You don't understand! If the master says it's eaten, then it's definitely been eaten! Even if the master said a sheep ate a tiger, I think that's possible too. No matter what, when you're starving, who cares about picking and choosing?"

  Zhou Di Si is now the warehouse logistics manager, and all non-sellable items brought by Yao Fan Yun are under his control. Seeing He Shi Cheng and Wang Gui arguing, Zhou Di Si decided not to help either of them. He saw clearly that one was the boss's confidant, and the other was busy flattering the boss, so he didn't want to get involved and cause trouble for himself.

  The decision made by Master Zhou on the fourth day was almost instantaneous: "Don't interrupt Master Dong, listen carefully, Master Dong is a man of great wisdom, and his words are all full of great wisdom."

  Yao Fan didn't expect that one sentence would trigger a big flattery war, so he quickly continued the story by borrowing Zhou Si's words: "There was once England, also known as the British Empire, with its full name being the Great Britain Empire."

  He Shi-cheng chimed in, "I've heard of this foreign country before. So the master is saying that foreigners' sheep eat people? I believe it now, our Qing dynasty's sheep really don't eat people."

  The words drew a wave of disdainful glances from the crowd, He Shicheng shrank his neck and looked at Yao Fang's face with dissatisfaction, scared to speak again.

  Yao Fan continued: "In 1840, the British sent over a hundred warships and several thousand troops to fight against our Qing Dynasty. They used cannons to blast open the gates of the Qing Dynasty. After we were defeated by the British, we had no choice but to sign the Treaty of Nanjing, also known as the Unequal Treaty. This treaty opened up the ports of Guangzhou, Xiamen, Fuzhou, Ningbo, and Shanghai to foreigners, allowing them to conduct business freely without having to go through designated Chinese trading houses. Foreigners were also allowed to build houses in these five ports and sell their goods, including opium, within our Qing Dynasty. We had to pay the British 21 million silver dollars, which is equivalent to about 18 million taels of white silver. The treaty also stipulated that Hong Kong Island would be ceded to Britain, and that foreigners who committed crimes would be dealt with by their own people, without interference from Chinese officials."

  Li Haoniu held back his mouth, and his breathing became coarser. He Xiesheng saw him dazed, so he poked him and asked him to open the teapot lid for himself to pour water in.

  "What I want to say is that this story of a sheep eating people happened in Britain..."

  "I told you so..." He Shicheng interrupted again.

  "Either you don't want to listen and get out, or stop interrupting me."

  He Shicheng quickly shut his mouth.

  It is said that Britain's specialty is wool, and the woolen blankets and tweed they make from it sell extremely well all over the world, earning them a lot of money. However, we all know that raising sheep requires grass to eat, and with more sheep, there isn't enough grass, so what can be done? As a result, Britain's landlords enclosed all the farmland, drove away all the farmers who tilled the land, and only planted grass on it, not grain, specifically for raising sheep to make money. The landlords only left a small portion of land to plant grain, anyway, enough for them to eat themselves. The British emperor himself was also a big landlord, of course, and also enclosed land like other landlords.

  Afterwards, tens of thousands of British peasants were driven out of their homes, and vagrants roamed the country everywhere. Some starved to death, some became beggars, and others simply went up into the mountains and became bandits.

  Li Haoniu listened intently and asked: "What happened to those beggars and robbers later?"

  Yao Fandao said: "Later, the beggar starved to death and the bandit was killed by government soldiers."

  Li Haoniu held the teapot and said indignantly: "All crows under the sky are black, they're all *."

  Yao Fan was delighted to hear that and hurriedly encouraged him, saying: "Well said, this is the truth. People with money and power will never care about the lives of the poor. If they show a little bit of kindness one day, it's definitely because they have no other choice, not because they have a good heart."

  Li Haoniu listened to Yao Fan's words, his eyes wide open and staring at Yao Fan as if he was seeing him for the first time.

  Wang Gui said with a smug expression: "As expected, the sheep is eating people. I knew the master wouldn't speak nonsense." As he spoke, he glanced at He Shicheng again.

  Yao Fan saw that everyone's acceptance of Western stories was not bad, and he didn't know if it was because of the tea or the story itself, but in any case, no one had dozed off. He was delighted and continued: "There is a strong thief in this story of mine, who do you think it is?"

  Wang Gui naturally said: "It's those beggars who have fallen into the grass!"

  "No! It's the British emperors and landlords! They first used banditry to drive peasants to desperation, so peasants had no choice but to take up arms! So these peasants are not bandits, they're revolutionaries!"

  The meaning of revolution is to change one's fate! These peasants are not willing to end up with a dead-end destiny, so they want to change their own fate, that's what revolution is all about! In short, it's just to survive!

  "Think about it, if that's the case, then who is more just, the revolutionary or the robber? Who has taken over the moral high ground?"

  Wang Gui listened to Yao Fan's words, which were the exact opposite, and hastily made a gesture of sudden realization, saying: "The East House is really knowledgeable, it turns out that the British Emperor is a real thief! No wonder he sent hundreds of pirate ships and bandits to attack my Great Qing! He's really a dog-killing talent!"

  On the fourth day of the week, he felt dizzy and confused, but also felt a burning sensation in his heart. He said: "Can fate be changed? Isn't fate determined by heaven?"

  Wang Guidao said: "Didn't you hear what the master said? Those revolutionary peasants were all killed by the government soldiers, so life is just life, it can't be changed."

  As soon as this was said, the class leaders below all started discussing and commenting in a flurry of voices. In fact, they had already been quietly discussing and lamenting earlier that the lives of British tenant farmers were truly bitter, and lamenting that British landlords were cruel and unjust.

  Yao Fan was thrilled to see the discussion develop to this point.

  "My fate can't be changed, I'll tell you later, but one thing is certain: the method of changing fate used by those British farmers, oh, that revolutionary method won't work."

  Li Haoniu opened his eyes wide and asked: "Then how can it be correct?"

  "They want to change their own fate, so they take up arms and do things like robbing the rich to help the poor, wanting to survive in this way, turning a life of desperation into one of hope. But they don't know that revolution means first changing the fate of the enemy - the British emperor and the landlords. If they don't change the fate of the British emperor and the landlords, their own fate will never be changed!"

  Li Haoniu was shocked and speechless upon hearing Yao Fan's words.

  Yao Wengdao: "I heard this story of a sheep eating people from a book called 'Utopia', when I was abroad, I asked the British about it, they said it's true, and it's even recorded in their history books."

  This book called "Utopia" was written by an Englishman named More. He said that private ownership is the root of all evil. In his book, he wrote: He sailed on the sea and discovered an island called Utopia, where there were no emperors or landlords, everything belonged to everyone in common, not belonging to anyone, and anyone could take it away for use. Whoever wanted to eat something could go get it and eat as much as they wanted, but never took more than they needed.

  However, according to the rules there, everyone has to go and participate in labor, only three hours a day are allowed, not less, nor more. Everyone can choose their own life, either going down to work or learning a skill to do a job.

  The children there, every family sends them together to school, learning knowledge and morality.

  There is no poor or rich person there, everyone lives the same day.

  The people there despise gold and silver, they make golden toilet seats and shackles for prisoners.

  There is no money there, because everyone can get the food and clothing they need.

  There are no thieves and robbers there, because if you can get things by leading them, why steal and rob.

  The houses there are drawn by lottery every ten years and everyone takes turns living in them. There are no locks on the doors, and people can come and go freely.

  ……”

  Yao Fan told this utopian story while observing everyone's reaction.

  Indeed, many people are indulging in the illusory world depicted by Yao Fen.

  Li Jun, the class leader of the entire woodworking class, clicked his tongue and said: "If I could be reborn on that utopian island in my next life, then no matter how much suffering I endure in this life, it would all be worth it."

  Li Haoniu still looked like he was shocked and speechless.

  Wang Guidao said: "If I were to encounter such an island, I would definitely settle down."

  He Shicheng and Wang Guida reached a rare consensus: "I'm the same, I'll definitely settle down to have children and become a local this lifetime."

  "If I were to go in the past, I would also bring my parents over and our whole family could live a good life."

  "Alright, that's it for tonight. It's getting late, let's disperse and get back to work tomorrow!"

  The crowd of people who had drunk their fill of fragrant tea and satisfied their craving for foreign stories dispersed contentedly, each returning to their own dormitory to sleep. Third Sister saw that the crowd had dispersed, so she came in to tidy up the room. He Shicheng saw Third Sister come in and tactfully went out.

  Third sister saw people run away, then opened her big eyes and asked Yao Fang: "Big brother, is the island you said really exist? Is that where they speak foreign language? Did that British writer say where the island is?"

  Yao Feng smiled and patted San Jie's head: "Little devil, you can still hear so clearly from the wall corner?"

  Third sister's face was red like a ripe persimmon: "Big brother, your voice is clear and loud, this house is only separated by a curtain, I can hear it clearly in the next room. Big brother, you've read so many books! You know so many things! You understand so much reason!"

  Yao Feng smiled and said: "Don't learn from Wang Gui that little fart, I can't stand people blowing conch shells at me all day."

  "Too much is too much! Why can't brother bear others telling the truth? I'm not a sycophant!" After that, San spread out the new Guangxi bamboo mat on the kang and stormed out without looking back.

  Yao Weng smiled and was about to fall asleep, but heard someone knocking on the window outside. A voice said: "Master Yao, I'm Li Haoniu. I'd like to ask you something."