Sun Qian led his men and left Cherry Valley with satisfaction. Shopkeeper Bai ordered to set up camp on the spot. That night, he pondered in front of the campfire: "Liu Yan? How much profit can a commander-in-chief, commander of the flag, make, so Sun Qian's scheming The profound Yan Xiao is so aggressive that he is willing to fight Liu Yan to the end regardless of life and death!"
While shopkeeper Bai was thinking, a subordinate came over and reported: "General Bai, King Chuang has sent an order."
"explain."
"King Chuang ordered General Bai to go to Qingzhou and Jinan to spy on the Ming army's deployment in northern Shandong."
"Um?"
Shopkeeper Bai, also known as General Bai, glanced at his subordinates in confusion, then understood, and said with a smile: "It seems that King Chuang intends to enter Shandong from Henan, and attack Beizhili from the northeast of Shandong?"
Then General Bai stood up and said to the subordinates around him: "Okay, let's drive overnight to Qingzhou Mansion tonight."
It's October in the blink of an eye.
At this time, the autumn harvest has passed, and Dapanbao has ushered in the first harvest. The military households in the fort are in high spirits, and everyone is celebrating the harvest.
After an inventory by Zhao Min and several of his subordinates, it was found that although the harvest in Dapanbao military camp was not a good one this year, the more than 4,000 acres of cultivated land in the military camp before and after the construction of the water conservancy project had more or less harvested. Basically, All the military households in the world had food stored in their homes.
According to the policy formulated by Liu Yan, Liu Yan did not collect tenant rent this year after the autumn harvest, but next year, he will have to collect tenant rent from military households in accordance with regulations.
Although this year's harvest was not as good as expected due to the completion of sowing, every household has food and feels a lot more at ease. However, Liu Yan was still nervous. The food stocks of many military households in the fort were definitely not enough for a year. Liu Yan also wanted to store part of the food in case of emergencies.
Now that there is a salt drying plant and a soap workshop, the military households in the fort have some money in their hands, not much, but it can also enable the military households to buy some food from Liu Yan to satisfy their hunger.
Liu Yan left this matter to Chen Xun.
A few days later, on October 11th, Dapanbao was in full swing, and the military households in the surrounding Huoludun and Tunbao were jealous. Many people often ran to Dapanbao, hoping to find some. Doing odd jobs to support the family.
Later, many military households fled from various places one after another, followed by dozens of military households with more than 200 people.
Liu Yan accepted them all and settled the two hundred or so people in Dapanbao. All the young and strong people were brought to the military camp to open up wasteland and continue to expand the farming area of the military camp. The strong women and some elderly men were sent to the military camp. After working in the salt field, the remaining old and weak men and women were placed in the soap workshop.
The commanders and garrison officers in various places knew that Wang Wenzhen was protecting Liu Yan, so they could only eat Coptis chinensis in silence.
At this time, the monthly output of the soap workshop was more than 5,000 yuan, and the monthly income was more than 2,000 taels. The salt drying farm now has three salt drying ponds, which can produce more than 6,000 kilograms of sea salt every month, and earn tens of thousands of taels of silver. Wang Wenzhen allocated about 3,000 taels of silver, excluding labor and other expenses. Liu Yan made a profit from the drying salt every month. You can also earn more than 4,000 taels of silver from the salt farm.
Adding these two items together, Liu Yan's monthly income is more than 7,000 taels, which is already a very large income.
Now that Liu Yan had enough money in his hands, he started his next plan, which was to expand the Dun Army.
So Liu Yan summoned Zhao Min, Chen Xun, Wang Yue, Wang Bo, Zhang Yi, Miao Shao, and Xu Ming, six minor flag officials, as well as Tan Xiaoda, the director of the firearms manufacturing department, to the general flag office for a meeting with everyone. Discuss expansion.
"Mr. Zhao, please tell us about the current financial situation of our Dapanbao."
Zhao Min was responsible for the financial revenue and expenditure of Dapanbao, as well as military household registration and other civil affairs. But financial matters are not what Zhao Min is good at. What Zhao Min is best at is learning, and doing some literary work is most suitable.
But now Liu Yan lacks such literati, so he has to let Zhao Min take on the responsibility first, and then make adjustments when there are more talents under him in the future.
Zhao Min took out a form that had been prepared in advance and said: "I would like to report to Commander Jia, last month our Dapanbao had an income of 9,735 taels and an expenditure of 4,352 taels. Among them, the construction of The cost of labor, materials, etc. for the fort wall was 898 taels, the labor, materials, expenses, etc. for the soap workshop and salt drying field were 613 taels, and the firearms manufacturing department's various expenses were 1,250 taels. Nine taels, a total of 309 taels was spent on purchasing grain, cloth, cattle, and farm tools, and a total of 1,273 taels was spent on constructing water conservancy projects and reclaiming wasteland in military camps."
Zhao Min turned a page and then continued: "Currently, I have a total of 31,090 taels of silver in Dapanbao!"
"More than thirty thousand taels!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Chen Xun, six other flag officers, and Tan Xiaoda all stared wide-eyed. Although everyone knew that the soap workshop and salt drying field were very profitable, Dapanbao had to build a fort, and the military camp was a huge investment. Burden, no one could have imagined that Liu Yan could accumulate so much money!
Liu Yan looked at everyone's surprised expressions and said with a smile: "Don't be surprised, everyone. It's just more than 30,000 taels of silver. It's not a big deal."
Everyone looked at Liu Yan with strange expressions, as if they were saying: You said it was easy, just after a few good days, you don't care about more than 30,000 taels of silver?
Liu Yan said: "The purpose of calling you here today is not only to reveal your wealth to everyone, but also to discuss the expansion of the Dun Army."
Chen Xun, Wang Yue and the other six people suddenly became energetic. This was great news for them.
"Now that the output of the Firearms Supervision and Manufacturing Department has increased, we have a lot of weapons and blunderbuss stored in the arsenal of Dapanbao, so now let's talk about the specific matters of expansion."
Dapanbao originally had four teams of Chen Xun, Wang Yue, Wang Bo, and Zhang Yi, each with eighteen Dunjun troops. In addition, the Ye Bu Shu team led by Miao Shao and Xu Ming had ten people, making a total of eighty Dunjun troops. Two people.
Now according to Liu Yan's idea, each small flag officer is in charge of a banner of troops, and one banner of troops is responsible for three teams of pier troops. Each team of pier troops has twelve people, including one captain and eleven soldiers.
Among these twelve people, there are two sword and shield bearers, five gunsmiths, and five spearmen. The captain is the spearman, who takes command in the center of the small formation.
In this way, Chen Xun, Wang Yue, Wang Bo, and Zhang Yi each have thirty-six people, including the small flag officer himself, the number is thirty-seven.
As for the Ye Bu Shu team, Liu Yan also made some reforms. Miao Shao was promoted from the Ye Bu Shu team and formed a separate banner as Liu Yan's personal bodyguard.
Xu Ming was in charge of the Ye Bu Shu team, which was also expanded to a group of people.
According to Liu Yan's plan, the strength of Dapanbao's Dunjun army was expanded to 222 people, including 90 gunners, which greatly increased their firepower.
After everyone listened to Liu Yan's expansion plan, they immediately agreed. Then Liu Yan looked at Tan Xiaoda and asked: "With the current reserves of Dapanbao, can we equip the expanded troops at once?"
Tan Xiaoda said: "Commander Armor, don't worry, there will be no problem at all. Not only are the stocks of swords, guns and cannons sufficient, but my subordinates can also ensure that all soldiers are equipped with armor."
"good!"
Liu Yan said with a smile: "In that case, starting from tomorrow, you six small flag officers will begin to select young military personnel. The selection will be completed within ten days, and then training will begin."
Now Liu Yan has sorted out all the drill methods of the Dun Army, called it "Infantry Drill Code", and distributed it to the six small flag officers Chen Xun, Wang Yue, Wang Bo, Zhang Yi, Miao Shao, and Xu Ming, so that they can The six people trained according to the "Infantry Drill Code".
None of the six flag officers could read before, so Liu Yan specifically ordered Zhao Min to teach the six of them how to read.
At first, the six people were very resistant, but under Liu Yan's strong pressure, he supervised the six people to attend classes at Zhao Min's residence almost every night.
To put it in Liu Yan's words: "If there is a big war in the future, and I send you an order letter, what will you do if your eyes darken? Are you going to find your husband to learn and sell now?"
Chen Xun, Wang Yue, Wang Bo, Zhang Yi, Miao Shao, and Xu Ming were silenced and had no choice but to learn to read.
After a period of study, the six of them were able to read the "Infantry Drill Code" smoothly, and there was no problem in training their subordinates independently according to the drill code.
Early the next morning, Dapanbao was abuzz with excitement, and almost all the military households actively cooperated. Dunjun was a good place to go in Dapanbao, and there was military pay.
Moreover, Liu Yan was not like other Shangguan officials who would empty their pay or deduct military pay. The monthly military pay would be paid in full. In addition, the military pay at Dapanbao was high, so Liu Yan once again increased the amount. Yue's military salary is one tael of silver, while the flag officer's salary is three taels of silver. Now there is a captain level added to the Dun Army, and the monthly military salary is one to two to five.
Because of this, the recruitment of Dunjun by Chen Xun, Wang Yue, Wang Bo, Zhang Yi, Miao Shao, and Xu Ming went smoothly, and it took only two days to recruit all the personnel.
Then the six people conducted drills for the expanded Dunjun Army. The shouts in the simple school outside Dapanbao were loud, and all the bannermen and horses were practicing enthusiastically.
Liu Yan stood on the fort wall under construction and looked at the training scene on the school field outside, with a happy smile on his face: "Although there are only more than two hundred people, it is enough to dominate Wangjiazhuang. This is My army!"
"Captain A!"
Just as Liu Yan's heart was agitated, Zhao Min walked over quickly, saluted, and said: "Chief A, there is a businessman who calls himself Chu Yunfei visiting. He is waiting outside the general flag hall."
Liu Yan was a little surprised. It was not yet time to deliver the sea salt, so what was Chu Yunfei doing here now?
With doubts in his heart, Liu Yan returned to the flag hall, saw Chu Yunfei at the door, and greeted with a smile: "Shopkeeper Chu, let's go in and have tea."
Chu Yunfei said with a bitter expression: "Mr. Liu Qi, please find a quiet place. I have something important to discuss with Mr. Liu Qi."
Liu Yan frowned slightly and said, "That's good."
The two entered the general flag hall and went directly to Liu Yan's room. After the two sat down, Liu Yan said: "It's quiet enough here. If you have anything to do, can Shopkeeper Chu tell me?"
Chu Yunfei sighed and said, "That's it. I met Sun Qian two days ago."
"Go on."
"Sun Qian asked me to take care of myself and prepare to give up the sea salt distribution business of the salt drying farm, otherwise I will definitely be in trouble."
Liu Yan said: "With me here, your distribution business will not have any problems, don't worry."
Chu Yunfei said worriedly: "I thought so too, and there were twenty or thirty good players among me, so I didn't take Sun Qian's threat seriously. But the next day, I had more than a dozen His men were surrounded and killed, and it was Sun Qian who did it!"
Liu Yan frowned and said, "Is Sun Qian so powerful?"
"It wasn't the case before. My feeling is that Sun Qian's power suddenly became stronger. I really can't understand it."
Chu Yunfei sighed, stood up and said, "I came here today to give Mr. Liu Qi a heads up. In addition, I can't take on the Haiyan distribution business. Please forgive Mr. Liu Qi."
Liu Yan thought for a while, then walked to Chu Yunfei, patted Chu Yunfei on the shoulder and said: "In this way, shopkeeper Chu will go back and rest for a while. I will figure out Sun Qian's affairs and will send Sun Qian to him as soon as possible." Qian will take care of it. Let’s leave the Haiyan distribution business to Shopkeeper Chu, so don’t worry.”
