Chapter 14 Market "Gypsies"

Many years later, whenever Zhang Deli recalled the original scene, he couldn't help but sigh. He still has lingering fears. "I am a farmer in H Township, J County, in the southern mountainous area of ​​Zhejiang. We are close to Yongkang and Yiwu in the Jinhua area. There is less land and more people. It has always been a place for businessmen. The firecrackers and stoves made by people there are very famous, and they have been for hundreds of years.However, at that time, the management of J County was relatively strict, and the firecrackers and heaters made by the farmers had to be sold to the team, and the supply and marketing cooperatives would buy them uniformly, and they could not sell them privately. "

From 1978, 25-year-old Zhang Deli, his cousin, and five vigorous fellow villagers started their adventure career. "In order to transport firecrackers out of the countryside, we have used our brains. In winter, we wrap firecrackers all over our body, wrap some tightly around our body, hands, and legs, and then put on an oversized military coat, dangling We left the village. In summer, it became more troublesome. At that time, a neighboring commune had a fair every three days. The brigade allowed each household to bring two chickens and ducks to exchange for some salt and cloth. We hid the firecrackers at the bottom of the basket. , spread a layer of chicken manure.

"However, the firecrackers that can be brought out this time are not enough, so we had to 'smuggle' them in the middle of the night. One night, the earthen firecrackers suddenly ignited spontaneously, not far from the village at that time, and the people on the bicycles were frightened and ran all the way.Fortunately, the firepower of the soil medicine in the firecrackers is not strong, otherwise one and a half lives would have to be castrated. " After the firecrackers have been shipped out, we have to find a way to sell them.Zhang Deli and the others went to Yongkang County, where the management is relatively loose, and set up a stall in a village near the county seat.After more than a year, because the quality of their firecrackers is really good, people from far and near come to buy them, and a little famous firecracker market has formed. The business is very prosperous.

There are benefits to being famous, but bad things come with it. The cadres of the brigade heard that there was a firecracker fair run by people from J County in Yongkang, so it was okay, and they immediately held a meeting and decided to arrest them.Fortunately, Zhang Deli has a family member who works as a government official in the brigade, and he leaked the news late at night, and the businessmen immediately dispersed.Although the person was not arrested, the market in Yongkang could not continue. After the spring, Zhang Deli and his team of firecracker dealers moved to Lanxi. At this time, Zhang Deli was registered as a "smuggler" in the commune, unable to go home, and Kuoer, who smuggled firecrackers, had to let others do it.In fact, the most basic division of labor has already appeared in the trafficker team. Some people go back to their hometown to buy firecrackers one by one, and some special people find ways to smuggle them out, and some special people are responsible for sending firecrackers to Lanxi. He is the leader of selling at a stall.

"Just to put it bluntly, we already had a little sense of advertising at that time. In order to attract farmers from four villages and eight townships, we drew a lot of red paper by ourselves, and posted it in each team and club, with types, prices and placements on them. The location of the stall. When we hear that someone is getting a wife, we will send someone to sell it door-to-door, and the more you buy, the cheaper it will be.” But the good times didn't last long. In 1980, Lanxi couldn't stay any longer. There was a policy above that all markets that had not been approved by the government were to be closed.Zhang Deli's wandering career began again.

"We went as far north as Fujian, but escaped back in less than a month. There is an old district, and the control is tighter, so business can't be done. " It was in such wanderings that Zhang Deli became the first generation of marketers in rural Zhejiang. "Later, we gained experience. In order not to cause trouble for ourselves, our booths were placed at the intersections of several public roads, and no one could control them. This method was learned from Chairman Mao. Back then, the old man fought guerrillas and built base areas. It is to choose the place where several provinces meet.

"Every time we go to a place, we first visit the local industrial and commercial cadres, and they acquiesce, so there are fewer accidents. "In order to win the support of the local team association, we sometimes pay a little money to the team, whether it is a stall fee or a management fee, in order to win some local favor." Although Zhang Deli has already "tried out all the tricks", he always feels like a boat he can't help himself, sinking and floating in the torrent with many hidden reefs and many whirlpools, and a huge sense of panic makes him exhausted from time to time.

One day in 1981, his team of dealers was expelled again, although the local villagers had accepted them—with these firecracker dealers, the village was not only lively, but other cloth dealers and small department store dealers also came to the factory to buy and sell things After all, it is much more convenient.The cadres of the industry and commerce office also sympathized with them very much. These traffickers neither cause trouble nor cause trouble, and they pay a little money every month, so there is nothing bad about it.But this time a working group was dispatched from above, and the tone of the document seemed to be very strict, so there was no way to keep it.

No one explained anything to Zhang Deli. What he did was "illegal" in the first place. Keeping him is out of face, not out of principle. Let him go. Anyway, it's not the first time. Zhang Deli wanted to cry but had no tears.In a rage, he carried five boxes of unsold firecrackers and ran into the wilderness. In Jiangnan at this time, the rice had just been harvested, and the ground had not yet been plowed, and piles of straw stood blankly on the open ground.The wind blows everywhere without direction. Crackling, crackling noise. The sky is high and the earth is wide, but he has nowhere to go, full of pain, who can he tell?

Standing in the strong wind in the field, the man Zhang Deli swamped like rain. Zhang Deli's silent cry is actually the voice of the times that has been suppressed for a long time. If there is such a space, it can give these farmers who run the market a place to put their stalls and a space to shout loudly.There, they can no longer be frightened, and no longer be chased around... Zhang Deli and others are willing to go to it for thousands of miles. But, this world, where is it? So, at this time, "God's will" descended on an unknown small county in the central Zhejiang basin.

So, at this time, Yiwu appeared.