After dinner, Han Zhen called the monkey to the study.
"How are you feeling during this time?"
"After I became familiar with it, I suddenly felt at ease."
The monkey scratched his head, a little embarrassed.
When he first started managing, he was extremely nervous. He tensed up every day and wished he could stare at it twelve hours a day.
As time went by, when he gradually became familiar with management and promoted several stewards and supervisors, he suddenly discovered that it didn't matter if he was there or not, and he suddenly felt at ease.
Even if he is away for a whole day, the lime kiln can still operate normally.
"I've said before, don't think of this job as too difficult. Just like Xiaowang Village, when I'm not around, won't the villagers stop farming? Stop eating?"
Han Zhen imparted his experience without hesitation: "Monkey, remember one thing, don't take yourself and others too seriously. The world will still function without anyone, even if Emperor Zhao dies tomorrow, it will still be the same. When another emperor succeeds to the throne, the people should farm and work hard."
Hearing this, the monkey blinked his eyes with a thoughtful expression.
He could say this to the monkey, but he would not say it to Masangou, Xiaochong and Gusong.
Because Ma Sangou and the others don’t understand.
After a moment, Monkey frowned and said, "I seem to understand a little bit, but also a little bit not."
"You don't have to think about it deliberately, you will understand it gradually."
Han Zhen smiled slightly, and then ordered: "You should know the workers at the lime kiln. Promote someone to take your place."
"good!"
The monkey nodded without asking why.
Brother Han asked him to leave the lime kiln. He must have other errands for him.
"Just go ahead and help me bring Gu Si and Shitou over."
Watching the monkey leave, Han Zhen habitually tapped the table with his fingers.
The monkey's first stage of experience has ended, and he will continue to stay in the lime kiln of hundreds of people, with no room for growth.
Next, Han Zhen was going to hand over the more than 2,000 prisoners of war to his management.
Managing hundreds of people is not the same concept as managing thousands of people. This is a big test.
Even talents need to accumulate experience and grow little by little.
Han Zhen has given him the stage, and it depends on him how far he can grow in the end.
While meditating, Gu Si and Stone came.
"Brother Han."
The two looked confused, not knowing why Han Zhen had called them.
Han Zhen greeted: "What are you doing standing there in a daze? Sit down."
After the two sat down, Han Zhen turned his eyes to Gu Song and asked, "Are you willing to do business?"
Gu Siong has a quick mind and is relatively clever, but compared to monkeys, his temperament is a little out of the ordinary.
If you let him stay in one place, he won't be able to stay.
This kind of temperament is more suitable for businessmen, traveling around the world and dealing with all kinds of people.
"Brother Han, I am willing!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Gu Song nodded hurriedly.
Seeing this, Han Zhen arranged: "In that case, you will go to the county town with me tomorrow, and then follow Yuan Wai Zhu to learn how to do business."
He couldn't always hand over the sales channels to outsiders. He just couldn't do it before and didn't have the right time.
Even if Chang Zhixian and Zhu Ji leave in the future, Gu Siong will be able to take over Zhu Ji's position and keep the business going.
"Thank you, Brother Han."
Gu Si smiled and said thank you.
"My brother, what are you grateful for?"
Han Zhen waved his hand and then turned his gaze to the stone.
Shitou has the lowest sense of presence among the five of them. At best, he has a good-natured nature, but at worst, he is not very smart. He is usually taciturn and can't beat a fart with three sticks.
Often after Han Zhen explained something, he would just go about it without saying a word.
He was a little beggar at first, stupid and stupid, and was often beaten and scolded by the gangsters in the West City for fun. Han Zhen saw that he was really pitiful, so he took him in.
In the past two years, my brain has improved a lot.
Shitou was the nickname given to him by Han Zhen. An old monk in the temple at that time also gave him a nice name.
Bi Mengyu.
From a miscellaneous poem by Huang Tingjian: After all, a few people really have a deer, but they don’t know that they dream of being a fish all day long.
As for Shitou, Han Zhen really didn't know what to do with him for a while.
After thinking for a moment, Han Zhen simply asked: "Shitou, what do you want to do?"
"I...I want to make iron."
Shitou held it in for a long time, and finally said this.
"Blacksmithing?"
Han Zhen was stunned.
Gu Song on the side explained: "Second Brother Han, during this period, Shitou has been running to Blacksmith Yuan. He squatted at the door of the blacksmith shop and watched them forge weapons. He spent the entire day watching them."
Hearing this, Han Zhen smiled and said, "Okay, since you like blacksmithing, you can become an apprentice in the blacksmith shop tomorrow."
"hey-hey."
Shitou smiled innocently.
Han Zhen didn't expect the stone to do anything. After all, it was a kind-hearted act to take him in in the first place.
In this world, it is rare to be able to live peacefully and do a job you like.
After the two of them left, the sky outside the window had turned completely dark.
Han Zhen lit the oil lamp and wrote the management regulations of the salt factory for a while, then got up and left the study.
It's time to teach the soldiers.
Ten words a day is unbeatable.
…
…
The next day.
After handing over the prisoners of war to monkey management, Han Zhen rode his war horse and took Gu Siong all the way to the mountain stronghold.
"Nie Dong, choose four teams to follow me to the county seat."
When they heard that they were going to the county seat, these soldiers rushed to the front and were extremely active.
Their little thoughts, Han Zhenmen Qinger.
Everyone was extremely poor before, so naturally they would not have other ideas. Now that I have money on hand, I start to think about other things.
Compared with Xiaowang Village, the county town is much more prosperous.
There are restaurants, brothels...
Finally, Nie Dong asked Zhang He to lead four teams and follow Han Zhen to the county seat.
With Zhang He here, these soldiers can be restrained.
The purpose of this trip was mainly to requisition food. Since there were three to four thousand more mouths in Xiaowang Village, food consumption has increased dramatically.
The bulk of them are the soldiers in the military camp!
In order to ensure the intensity of training, Han Zhen spent a lot of money from the beginning, eating three meals a day.
As long as it was not wasted, the soldiers could eat as much as they could.
And eat one meal of meat every three days. When there is no meat, make sure to have tofu in every meal to provide a stable protein intake.
Time is still short and nothing can be seen yet.
In less than two months, the trained soldiers with full food and pay will begin to show their combat effectiveness.
As for these four teams of veterans, they were not there to protect themselves, but to take over the defense of the three teams in the county.
He did not fully trust Chang Yukun and always kept a cautious eye on him.
On the way, I happened to encounter a team delivering coal.
However, Zhu Ji did not come in person. The leader was one of his servants.
When I arrived outside the county town, I saw a group of people doing construction in the upper reaches of the Xiaodong River in the distance.
Once the hydraulic forging workshop is built, the manufacturing speed of ordnance will increase by several levels.
Currently, the only thing that gives Han Zhen a headache is the war horse.
Today, he only has thirty-seven horses in his hands.
Eighteen of them were brought by Nie Dong and other Western troops, and the remaining nineteen were war horses captured by the bandits in Heishan Village during the battle a few days ago.
These thirty-seven war horses were treated like treasures.
The reason why there are hundreds of war horses in Heishan Village is that Master Xu has been slowly accumulating them by sending them one by two over many years.
In fact, there was no shortage of horses in the Northern Song Dynasty. Since the implementation of the horse policy, the number of horses has increased exponentially.
During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty, there were more than 16,000 soldiers raising horses and about 200,000 military horses.
This was also the reason why Zhenzong of Song Dynasty dared to go to the Northern Expedition.
During the Shenzong period, due to the party struggle between the new party and the old party, Ma Zheng was abolished and eventually completely ruined.
The perfect system built since the Taizu period also collapsed.
Although the horse administration is still continuing, it is no longer as professional as it was in the early days. Those horses supported by the common people simply cannot meet the needs of war horses.
After all, it was difficult for the common people to feed themselves, so how could they have the extra energy to raise horses.
If you don’t even have enough to eat, how can you have enough food to feed the horses?
Therefore, the horses raised by the people today are basically inferior horses, which can only be used to pull carts, ride short distances, and plow fields with great effort.
What the Northern Song Dynasty really lacked was good horses capable of fighting!
There are only four horse prisons on the entire Jingdong East Road, with more than 2,000 horses maintained.
Other channels are unavailable, so we can only try to bribe the horse supervisor officials to see if we can get war horses.
A thousand cavalry!
All it takes is one thousand cavalry, five thousand infantry, plus black powder.
Han Zhen is confident to conquer the entire Shandong!
"County magistrate!"
The soldiers guarding the city saw them from a distance and waved happily.
Arriving at the city gate, Han Zhen ordered: "Zhang He, change defenses!"
"Got the order!"
Zhang He responded with cupped fists and immediately ordered his subordinates to take over the positions of the three teams.
Looking at the soldiers who had come down from the defense, Han Zhen ordered: "You have worked hard these days. I will allow you a half-day holiday. We must gather in front of the county government office before midnight. Those who fail to do so will be punished by military law!"
"Got the order!"
The soldiers all smiled happily when they heard that they had a half-day holiday.
After they dispersed in twos and threes, arm in arm, Han Zhen rode to the county government office.
"County magistrate!"
The yamen servant on duty in front of the yamen saw him and hurriedly bowed and saluted.
"Um!"
Han Zhen nodded with a smile, turned over and dismounted.
A servant immediately stepped forward, took the reins of the horse, and led the horse to the stable.
Another government official came in to report.
Stepping into the county government office, Han Zhen found that there were many new faces in the county government office.
It seems that Changzhi County has moved very quickly and has already started to rectify the subordinate officials.
After these new subordinates became familiar with the errands, the good life of the old fritters came to an end.
Changzhi County welcomed him out of the lobby and said solemnly: "Han Erlang came just in time. The county is preparing to send people to Xiaowang Village to look for you."
Seeing this, Han Zhen's heart sank: "What happened?"
Chang Zhixian greeted: "Let's talk after we come in."
After leaving Gu Si in the lobby, Han Zhen walked into the study with Chang Zhixian.
After the two of them sat down, Fu Bo brought a cup of tea, then turned and walked out, closing the study door with his backhand.
"This is the letter sent by the prefectural magistrate Liu Mi today. Please read it."
Chang Zhixian said, taking out a letter from his sleeve and handing it over.
Han Zhen took the letter, unfolded it and read it word by word.
After a while, Han Zhen put down the letter with a strange look on his face.
(End of chapter)
