Zhuo Zheng was suffering unspeakable misery.
When he was at the canned food workshop, he could still sleep well with a towel over his head.
However, in the dormitory of the soap workshop, he would be woken up as soon as he fell asleep when he heard people talking in their sleep and shouting from time to time.
In the middle of the night, when he was sleeping groggily, someone would suddenly get up and grope around the dormitory with a dull expression, or open the door and go out like a ghost.
He would wake up in shock every time.
The most important thing was that when he entered the soap workshop, his mind was filled with the thought of stirring the soap.
He had no idea how this thing turned into soap or what else was added inside.
Each process was done separately.
If he went near the workshop next to it, he would be chased away by the guards.
He had also discovered that the other two were spies.
Hence, the three of them formed an alliance and tried to find an opportunity to bribe the people in the soap workshop who could get in touch with the recipe.
Every day, when they were eating and resting or resting after work, they would approach those people.
Originally, they thought it would be very simple, but who knew that after approaching a few people none of them agreed.
Two of them even told them not to have such intentions, or they would expose them to the management.
Some even scolded them for not being content.
It made the three of them feel that there was something wrong with these people.
If they revealed the recipe, they would be paid hundreds of taels.
Wouldn't it be better to move to another place to live? Why were they so stubborn?
But these people didn't take the bait, so they had no choice but to continue waiting for an opportunity.
What they did not know was that Xiao Hanzheng had selected the people working in the main office several times and had inspected their character.
These people were either upright, or were content with what they had.
They were all locals in Heyang County, and would not betray the workshop for money.
Moreover, Xiao Hanzheng had come for a speech before the workshop officially started, and had asked everyone in the workshop to sign a confidentiality contract and stamped it with the official seal of the county government.
If anyone in the workshop sold out the recipe or shared the process they had learned, not only would they be fired, but they would also be directly sent to jail.
Furthermore, their family members and relatives working in the workshop would also be fired.
If their relatives didn't work in the workshop, but if he was hiring people in the future, he would definitely not hire all of their relatives within the five generations and he would announce their identities to the entire county.
Nowadays, most of the people in the village were related to each other by blood.
If one person committed a crime, it was equivalent to more than half of the village being harmed.
Not only would he have to go to jail, but he would also be hated by others when he returned to the village after he was released from prison.
How could he live on?
Especially now that they had just entered the workshop, they were all very cautious in their work, afraid that they would be fired if they were not careful.
How could they dare to betray the workshop?
Besides, ever since they came to the workshop, they had been eating and drinking to their heart's content every day.
The place they slept was much better than their own home.
There were even special toilets and bathing places.
This was a life that they had never dared to dream of in the past.
It was not worth it for them to go to jail for some money and be despised and ostracized by the village and those in their clan.
Moreover, if the recipe of the workshop was leaked, and someone else opened a soap workshop in other places, would the people here still be employed?
If they caused the workshop to close down, they would be sinners and would be despised by the people in the county and other villages.
They did not want to be sinners.
Therefore, although a hundred taels of silver was indeed tempting, these carefully selected people still suppressed their greed and did not relent.
There were two people who even sneaked to the manager, saying that there might be a problem with Zhuo Zheng and the other two, who had been trying to get the formula from them.
The manager naturally reported this to Xiao Hanzheng.
Shi Qingluo was also there when he came to report.
"It seems like the people you've chosen this time are all very reliable," Shi Qingluo said with a smile after he left.
Her little husband had always been good at using people and was very accurate in judging people.
If she were to do it, she would not be so good at it.
Xiao Hanzheng sneered, "They have been handpicked over and over again.
"But there are still too few people like that. The workshop has to slowly expand. We have to recruit people with good character and good management skills."
"Brother Zheng, previously how are the soldiers who retired from the battlefield be compensated?" Shi Qingluo asked after some thought.
"They will be given some silver as a settling-in allowance and then go back to their hometown to live on by themselves," Xiao Hanzheng replied.
"And the settling-in allowance also depends on whether upper management is corrupt or not. If you encounter a corrupt one, he might directly dismiss you by giving you a few hundred wen.
"Those who lose their arms or legs can't do heavy work when they return home, so their lives are very difficult.
"I've also heard that many people choose to end their lives directly in order not to be a burden to their families.
"The imperial court gives these people preferential treatment. They don't have to pay taxes, but in reality, it also depends on whether the magistrate is greedy or not.
"Take Heyang County for example. When the locals were under the previous county magistrate, not only did he not exempt these people from tax, but he also made them pay excessive taxes.
"That's what I've been doing recently. I'm going to re-register all the families who are paying taxes and return the taxes they've paid for the past two years. They won't have to pay taxes in the future.
"It's being carried out one village at a time, but there's limited manpower. Many of the roads are long and difficult to travel. The bailiffs in charge of this work will probably take two or three months to cover all the households in Heyang County."
Shi Qingluo smiled. "Then we'll hire more bailiffs. The workshop is rich now. We can afford it.
"And I think we can let the retired soldiers who are still able to work come to the workshop. No matter what the reason for these people joining the army is, it's an indisputable fact that they were injured while protecting their home and country. They should be treated with respect.
"If one of his hands is injured, the other hand can still be used. Both of his hands can also be used if one of his legs is injured. For example, you can sit down and stir the soap or watch the heat of the stew.
"It would be even better if they left the battlefield because they are old. They could be recruited into workshops to work, or organize a patrol team to maintain the security of the county.
"This way, you can solve the manpower crunch and provide them an option to support themselves.
"It's also good for our reputation.
"You can also submit a memorial to the emperor and have the imperial court do the same."
Xiao Hanzheng fell into deep thought after hearing her words, then pulled Shi Qingluo into his arms and hugged her tightly.
"My wifey is right, this idea is too good. This way, it's killing three birds with one stone."
He had once been in the army and fought in battlefields, so he had a different feeling for the army and the soldiers.
Previously, he had only been thinking of ways to improve the lives of retired soldiers, especially those who were injured.
Now, his wife's words had given him a wake-up call.
Recruiting these people to work was indeed equivalent to giving them an option to support themselves.
It was better to teach a man to fish than to give a man to fish.
Moreover, these people had been trained, and they were disciplined and not easy to buy over.
Now that such an opportunity was placed in front of him, he would definitely cherish it and would not bite the hand that fed him.
Of course, humanity was fragile, so he still had to handpick from these people.
Those with good character would be the manager and placed in important positions.
If he felt that they would not be able to keep things secret, they would be placed in an ordinary position that was enough to support the elderly and children at home.
Those with bad character would naturally have to be filtered out and wouldn't be recruited at all.