There are about 300 craftsmen sent from Daliang. In addition to the smelting and casting craftsmen, they are all prepared for building furnaces, dressing minerals, grinding and making... Because Yuanxian County is remote and has poor mountains and rivers, the people who come here usually have families and have no choice but to leave Daliang to earn food for their families.
The person leading the team was not the envoy, but an engineer from Hyogo. In order to quickly understand the situation of this group of craftsmen, Zhang Lu asked Chen Si to immediately lead his troops to greet them. Since there were more than 300 craftsmen, Chen Si ordered 500 people to go, and also brought the original 100 soldiers of Yuancheng with him. As Chen Si's maternal uncle, Zhang Lu followed Chen Si. To the outside world, he was only said to be Chen Si's retainer and was responsible for Chen Si's food and daily life. Yuan Wei and Mang Wei took charge of everything at home.
The craftsmen carried many tools and walked very slowly. They could only cover ten or twenty miles a day. The 600 soldiers led by Chen Si were all lightly armed and quickly advanced for more than a hundred miles. They arrived at Pishao, a sealed entrance only fifty miles away on the other side of Lizhi Road, and joined the craftsmen who had come over the mountains and ridges. The craftsmen walked fifty or sixty miles of mountain roads in three days, going up and down the mountain. They were so tired that their backs ached, and the equipment they carried was heavier than before. Suddenly they saw someone coming to greet them, and they were all overjoyed. After checking the festival talisman, it was confirmed that it was the craftsmen from Daliang and the coordinator sent by Yuancheng. They had a dinner together in Pishao, rested for a night, and headed back together the next day.
With the help of the soldiers, the craftsmen's burden was much lighter, they had smiles on their faces, and their steps became brisk. Those craftsmen with lively temperaments also made friends with many soldiers. Asked why he said Qin Yin? Those people replied, because we are Qin people! It made the craftsmen around him laugh.
The engineer is a silent person and doesn't talk much at ordinary times, but it's obvious that everyone admires him from the bottom of their hearts - the craftsmen said that his craftsmanship is very good and he can do a lot of things.
Zhang Lu was a retainer, and he usually followed the team without showing off. The people of Qin knew that he was the uncle of the county magistrate, but the people of Wei saw that he was stooped, with gray beard and hair, and his face was dusty, as if he could be blown down by a gust of wind, so some of them came to take care of him. Zhang Lu was sometimes in front, sometimes behind, chatting a few words with this person, chatting with that person, and more often than not, he would follow others while they were chatting.
Chen Si was naturally with the engineer. The engineer didn't like to talk, and Chen Si didn't bother him much. He only gave him a hand at critical moments. But the key things still have to be said, such as when to set off, how many days to travel, who is at home, how long you plan to live in Yuancheng, what is the prescribed quota, how to calculate merit and rewards, and when you will be punished. ,etc. If the engineer wants to be patient, he can explain these issues clearly in a few sentences.
After walking for another six days, we finally entered Yuancheng. The craftsmen were dispersed and arranged in the residences of officials or soldiers in Yuancheng. The county government was assigned ten people, the county captain's family was assigned five people, and the other families only had one or two people.
After settling the craftsmen, Chen Si led the craftsmen to find a location to set up the venue. There is very little flat land in the walled city, and all the flat places are full of people. This makes the engineers very dissatisfied: work, especially smelting, must be far away from the residents, and residents must be nearby to provide logistics. It is best not far from the mines. And preferably next to a river. It is almost difficult to meet these conditions with the small territory of Yuan City.
The engineer took out an atlas, which marked the mined areas around Yuancheng. These locations seemed to be very confidential. The engineer did not take any other craftsmen with him, only Chen Si was allowed to follow, and Chen Si was not allowed to bring other soldiers. Chen Si insisted on taking Zhang Lu with him. The engineer saw that he was an old man and it was Chen Si who insisted on taking Zhang Lu with him, so he had no objection. Several people were exploring everywhere, hoping to find a suitable location. Everywhere he went, the engineers sighed. Chen Si followed him and asked him why. He replied: "The mineral deposits here are mostly produced in Anyi. It is inconvenient to talk about Yuan City."
Zhang Lu suddenly said: "It is necessary to build a city outside the mountain. I will teach you to look at it."
The engineer seemed a little surprised and glanced at Zhang Lu suspiciously. Chen Si took it and said: "There are few people in the walled area, so we separated it slightly outside the mountain and built another city to serve as a horn!" When the engineer saw that Chen Si also said the same thing, he agreed to go out to the mountain to have a look tomorrow.
Zhang Lu sent people to Zuoyi overnight to explain to the Wei engineers that they were going to prospect for minerals, and asked Zuoyi to claim to the engineers that it was a city separated from Yuancheng - in fact, it was not a lie. Most of the residents of Zuoyi were indeed It came from Yuancheng. The next day, Chen Si led a hundred people and a dozen craftsmen out of the city and went straight to Zuoyi. Rest for one day at Taniguchi and arrive at Zuoyi the next day.
Hedong Lieutenant Li Bing made arrangements in Zuoyi according to Zhang Lu's arrangement. He first sent troops directly to the mouth of the valley to receive everyone. On the way to Zuoyi, the local sounds of Yuancheng can be heard everywhere along the way. Of course, there are also some Han and Qin sounds mixed in from time to time. After arriving in Zuoyi, the engineers and craftsmen were shocked by the city: Sushui River flowed under the city, with continuous farmland on both sides of the river, and livestock raised on the mountains in the distance. The city is very empty, obviously not many people have moved in yet, it is what a new city should look like. And here, it happens to be not too far from several known mining sites.
The engineer and other craftsmen were very satisfied. After only staying for one day, they returned to Yuancheng and brought all the craftsmen here - this is the new city built by Yuancheng, and naturally it is also a part of Yuancheng, and it is not far away from Yuancheng. Yuan, it was Yuan Ling Chen Si who asked them to come.
While Chen Silian was coaxing and deceiving the craftsmen to move to Zuoyi, the work of allocating farmland in Yuan County also began. None of the people in Yuan County have Qin Jue, they are all white. Each person has one hundred acres of land, strictly equal! Gu Yuanwei wanted to gather a crowd to resist, but was immediately reported by the villagers. The matter was quickly exposed, and more than a hundred members of his family were collectively beheaded! All others who resisted were convicted and sentenced to prison. Suddenly there were thousands more prisoners in Yuancheng. According to Qin law, not only one person is punished, but also the prisoner's family members are implicated to varying degrees depending on the severity of the crime. At least, his wife and children must be excommunicated as slaves; if the crime is serious enough, parents, brothers, and even All the cousins will be implicated. Therefore, the number of households involved reached more than 1,000. There were concubines, children, and servants in the county government, the post offices, and even the officials' houses. The food in the county was pounded and the clothes were sewn. The strong labor force will naturally have to build city walls, roads, and canals! For more than ten days, Yuancheng was in serious turmoil.
However, under the strong suppression, all unorganized resistance was ultimately ineffective. Moreover, the majority of the people found that only a few large households were harmed, and they themselves might benefit from it - after all, not many people in Yuancheng could have a hundred acres of farmland, and thirty or fifty acres would be enough to support their families! Those resistances lost the basis of public opinion and were eventually put down.
The craftsmen who settled in Yuancheng witnessed all this with their own eyes. While they were surprised, they also felt fear. But they feel comforted by the peaceful life under iron-fisted suppression. Since the Qin law actually came from the Wei law, but was strictly enforced, although the craftsmen were surprised by the strict enforcement of the law in Yuan City, they were not incomprehensible. Some even expressed their appreciation for such strict enforcement of the law! The addition of new servants certainly made their lives easier.
After the Wei New Year in Yuancheng, the craftsmen got up and headed to Zuoyi. Yuancheng specially arranged for more than a hundred concubines and servants to accompany the craftsmen. The craftsmen are naturally very satisfied with this! Not long after, five hundred prisoners from Yuancheng were also recruited to build houses and various working buildings for the craftsmen. Each process has special requirements for construction and extremely detailed technical parameters that are almost impossible for outsiders to get started with.
At this time, the people of Yuancheng who were newly allocated farmland began their spring plowing. Zuoyi, Anyi, and other counties... the entire Qin State was invested in the hope of the New Year, looking forward to the coming months. A good harvest!
Zhang Lu completed the two major tasks of conquering Yuancheng and accepting the craftsmen of Wei State, and returned to Anyi. Only when we arrived in Anyi did we know that it had been several days since Shangjun took back the soldiers' documents. Zhang Lu studied the document carefully and said to the envoy from Shangjun: "Although Shangjun is busy with spring plowing, I'm afraid it will be difficult for the soldiers to return home. I hope that the soldiers will be sent to the east of the river for the time being, and when they return in autumn, your county will have food." The soldiers will be protected from hunger."
The envoy said: "The governor of the county is sincerely afraid that when Hedong is first established, there will be a shortage of food. The soldiers in the county are willing to return, but they dare not eat the food from Hedong."
Zhang Lu said: "I pay my respects to Lord Wu'an. Hedong has just been established, and the autumn harvest will be small. However, there is still a solution to salt, and it can be sustained. We will never let the soldiers starve." With this guarantee from Zhang Lu, the envoy seemed very satisfied. , received the documents and returned to the county to resume his orders.
The main reason why Zhang Lu was unwilling to send the county soldiers back was because Anyi could not yet organize a garrison. Although Anyi has moved tens of thousands of households in more than a year, compared with the vast land of Anyi, it is still vast and sparsely populated. If you want to organize an army of 3,000 people, you still lack the strength. Moreover, after taking Yuancheng without bloodshed, Zhang Lu also set his sights on Xintian, Jiang and other vast areas of Jin, which are the grain-producing areas of Jin and are currently controlled by South Korea. If we can replicate the process of Yuancheng and take the Fen River without a fight, Hedong will be truly stable. Otherwise, the threat from the Fenshui direction will always exist.
Interestingly, Zhang Lu soon received a document from Xianyang, asking Zhang Lu to be open-minded to the Daliang net of Wei State and not allow them to exchange grain for salt, and allow them to continue to follow the old practice of exchanging local specialties for salt. Zheng Anping saw it and said: "Young Master may write a letter to prepare for the purpose of converting grain into salt. It is really a last resort."
Zhang Lu said: "In the past, you went to the prime minister's office to explain how to exchange grain for salt, and everyone had no objections. Why did you suddenly write a letter, hoping to benefit Daliang alone?"
After being reminded by Zhang Lu, Zheng Anping said: "The prince is in Liang, so he has to speak out!"
Zhang Lu said: "You said so." So he wrote a letter, saying that when Hedong was first established, there was a serious shortage of food. "Women and children were hungry and howling in the road, and I couldn't bear to see it. This minister is willing to release all the salt benefits. We need food to bring peace to the people!" We must rely on the policy of exchanging salt for food to survive the current crisis.