In the big house.
Under the dim oil lamp, ten people sat around the dining table, eating noodles in a hurry.
At first, Chef Shen and the two little maids refused to sit down. After Han Zhang's persuasion, they reluctantly sat down at the table.
After eating two bites of noodles, I picked up the green onions on the table and took a bite. They were especially sweet.
Since Duke Huan of Qi defeated the mountain warriors and brought back green onions, green onions have become an indispensable vegetable for the people of Lu.
Especially when eating pasta, some people will feel uncomfortable if they don't take a few bites of green onions.
Of course, not all Lu people like to eat raw green onions. For example, Han Zhen and a few women cannot accept it.
Seeing the two little maids holding bowls bigger than their faces and devouring the food, Mrs. Han Zhang gently advised: "Eat slowly, don't choke."
The little maid just nodded, but her speed of eating noodles did not slow down.
Han Zhen couldn't help but ask: "Don't you usually have enough to eat?"
Fang Sansan puffed up his cheeks, tried hard to swallow the noodles in his mouth, and replied: "Wang Yuanwai said that when people are full, they will become lazy and not work hard, so they don't let us eat enough."
Han Zhen was speechless.
What nonsense did Wang Yuanwai say in order to save money?
If you don't even have enough to eat, how can you find the strength to work?
After eating, Monkey and Xiaochong came to Han Zhen's side.
Han Zhen asked: "What's wrong?"
The monkey said: "Brother Han, we want to pick up our family tomorrow."
They killed officials and rebelled today, fearing that their families would be implicated.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
Only then did Han Zhen remember that the two of them still had family members.
Chongzi scratched his head and said with a smile: "I...I forgot."
At noon, he was imprisoned. After being rescued by Han Zhen, he went to kill the king again, but he forgot about it.
It wasn't until they had eaten and drank that the two of them remembered.
Han Zhen ordered: "Get up early tomorrow and catch the bullock cart to pick up your family."
Their home is more than twenty miles away from Xiaowang Village, and it's all on a mountain road. It's dark now, and it's not safe to walk such a long distance at night.
This time is no different than in later generations, where wild beasts are rampant in the mountains, and one has to always be wary of bandits and robbers.
After making arrangements, Han Zhen ordered: "I'm tired today, so go to bed early."
Ma Sangou and others nodded and returned to the front courtyard to rest.
There were many rooms in the house, and Han Zhen asked them to choose a place to live. In the end, these hard-working people chose the opposite room.
Carrying a bag of soybeans to the cowshed, Han Zhen mixed the beans with hay and poured them into the trough.
The war horse immediately lowered his head and started chewing.
War horses need to be raised intensively, and it is best to feed them a meal of miscellaneous grains at night so that they can gain weight.
After the war horse had eaten and drank enough, Han Zhen picked up a pig hyena brush and brushed its fur carefully.
Brushing can not only clean dirt and bugs from horses, but also enhance the relationship between people and horses.
After serving the horses, he walked back to the main room in the backyard.
After walking into the study and lighting the oil lamp, Han Zhen sat on a chair, took out pen, ink, paper and inkstone, and wrote a line of simplified Chinese characters on the paper.
[Three-year Development Plan of Xiaowang Village]
The development of Xiaowang Village was inevitable, and he had to leave a way out for himself.
It would be good to be successfully recruited, but if the government has no intention of recruiting him, then he will take advantage of the opportunity to enclose the land and become the king and live his own happy life.
If the court pressed hard, he might even raise a rebellion.
As a time traveler from later generations, Han Zhen had no respect for the imperial power.
The prince and general Xiang Ning have the guts!
You, the Zhao family, deserve this emperor, but I, Han Zhen, cannot?
If you want to develop a region, it depends on its population and economy.
With a large population, even if you are just cultivating the fields, you can reap enough demographic dividends.
At the same time, if you want to raise an army, you also need a sufficient population base to support it.
Regarding the current population, Han Zhen's idea is to win over those who have escaped from the mountains.
Linzi County was originally a Shang County and governed 22 villages with a total of more than 5,600 households.
However, due to various exorbitant taxes and corvées in recent years, many farmers abandoned their land every year and took their families to hide in the mountains as fugitives.
Today, there are only more than 3,200 households left in Linzi County, which led to the downgrade from upper county to middle county in the rating the year before last.
Han Zhen made a rough calculation and found that there were at least tens of thousands of people fleeing the mountains.
Of course, with so many people, he would definitely not be able to eat in one bite, so he would have to take his time.
First attract a small group of fugitives, and when these fugitives are better off, those in the mountains will naturally come to join us.
The abandoned fields in the village were prepared by Han Zhen to recruit runaway households.
It is expected that within one year, Han Zhen will make the population of Xiaowang Village exceed 5,000.
After the population is solved, it’s the economy.
The economic construction of a region cannot be a one-time deal. It requires a long-term pillar industry, and then use this industry as the core to drive the development of other industries.
Only in this way can a virtuous cycle be created.
So the question is, what industry should be the core?
Han Zhen clasped his fingers and began searching in his mind for a guide to making money for time travellers.
Soap?
Not to mention that it was already available in the Northern Song Dynasty. These days, animal fats are not enough for people to eat. How can there be any leftover for making homemade soap?
cement?
Even if this thing is baked, it is still regarded as a strategic material. No one is stupid enough to sell it.
Glass?
This is possible. The profit ranges from dozens to hundreds of times. It is a real huge profit industry, but it is also the most difficult.
The craftsmanship is pretty good, mainly due to the materials.
Firing glass requires soda ash!
Moreover, the temperature of the kiln is also a major difficulty. It needs a high temperature of 1,700 degrees. Otherwise, the temperature is not enough and the sand will not melt completely, which will lead to the impurity of the finished product.
Thinking of this, glass was also rejected by Han Zhen. Even if glass was to be manufactured, it would have to wait until there was a certain industrial base.
After thinking hard for a while, Han Zhen finally decided to focus on the most profitable and relatively simple thing at the moment.
Salt!
But he doesn't plan to take the low-end route.
During the Northern Song Dynasty, the salt production industry was very developed. There were well salt in the middle of Sichuan, mineral salt in the two lakes, and sea salt along the coast, and the output was extremely high.
This has led to illicit salt dealers everywhere, and even many officials have begun selling illicit salt. It would be difficult for him to get involved.
Therefore, Han Zhen plans to take the high-end route and manufacture refined salt.
Coarse salt and refined salt are not distinguished by particle size. Strictly speaking, all salt in ancient times was coarse salt.
Only salt that has been chemically purified and removed from impurities is considered refined salt.
Many people may not know that it was not until the 1980s in our country that refined salt was truly popularized by all the people.
Prior to this, a considerable number of people still used unrefined coarse salt.
Coarse salt that has not been chemically purified contains elements such as magnesium, calcium, and potassium, and tastes bitter and astringent.
These elements cannot be removed by physical purification alone.
Therefore, even the tribute salt eaten by Song Huizong today still has a bitter taste, but the magnesium and calcium content in the tribute salt are less, and the bitterness is not so obvious.
Therefore, there is no need to worry about selling the snow-white salt with fine particles and no bitter smell.
Salt is a consumable product and is a long-term transaction.
In addition to refined salt, you can also get some purified white sugar, which is even more profitable than refined salt.
Regarding this, he remembered that there were many coal mines in Qingzhou. If he could find open-pit coal mines, he could also make briquettes and iron sheet stoves, which would be a long-term industry.
Before he knew it, the moon was in the sky, and Han Zhen had already filled several pieces of paper.
"Dong dong~"
There was a knock on the door.
Immediately afterwards, Han Zhang's soft voice came from outside the door: "Uncle, are you asleep?"
Hearing this, Han Zhen stood up, opened the door, and asked, "Sister-in-law, why aren't you sleeping yet?"
"Can't sleep."
Mrs. Han Zhang sighed slightly.
First, his uncle was framed, and then he rebelled by killing officials, killing landlords and occupying villages...
She was a little woman who suddenly encountered so many things in one day, and now she was in a strange environment, where she could not sleep.
"Sister-in-law, please come in first and sit down."
Han Zhen turned sideways and led Mrs. Han Zhang to sit down at the desk, and then said apologetically: "Sister-in-law, I'm really sorry. If it weren't for me, I wouldn't have caused you to be so worried."
Mrs. Han Zhang hurriedly explained: "Uncle, please don't blame yourself, I don't mean that. I just... feel depressed and panicked."
Han Zhen understood Han Zhang's mood very well.
She was originally an honest and law-abiding peasant woman, but she suddenly became a member of the gangsters who killed officials and rebelled. Fear, uneasiness, anxiety and confusion about the future suddenly accumulated in her heart.
"Sister-in-law!"
Han Zhen stared at Mrs. Han Zhang in front of him and said seriously: "When I promised my eldest brother to take good care of you, I will definitely do it. Don't worry, I will take care of everything!"
Mrs. Han Zhang was flustered by Han Zhen's scorching gaze. She quickly turned her head and hummed softly.
She found that her brother-in-law seemed to have changed a bit in the past few days, but she couldn't tell what exactly had changed. She just felt that he had a different temperament than before.
His eyes became more aggressive, and he didn't dare to look at her before...
For a moment, the atmosphere in the study was somewhat silent.
At this time, Mrs. Han Zhang suddenly found several pieces of paper on the desk that were full of writing. The ink on the paper was still wet, so it was obvious that she had just written on it.
Thinking of this, she couldn't help but wonder: "When did uncle learn to write?"
Han Zhen casually made up a reason and excused himself: "I recently learned it from Li Xiucai in the county."
Han Zhen could write calligraphy before time travel, but only to the extent that he could understand what he wrote.
"It's also good to know some words."
Mrs. Han Zhang stood up slowly and warned, "I'm going back to sleep, and uncle should go to bed early. Don't let it be too late."
"Um!"
After sending Mrs. Han Zhang out of the room, Han Zhen put away the papers on the table and then went to the inner room to sleep.
