Liu Qi was stunned for a moment, and then a trace of surprise flashed in his eyes: "There are actually so many ways?"
At first, he thought that Han Zhen increased the salary and promoted the subordinate officials to facilitate the rectification of subordinate officials, but he did not expect that there was this layer of calculation hidden behind it.
No wonder there are so many subordinate officials in a small Linzi County government office.
At that time, he was still wondering why he hired so many subordinate officials. Wasn't he just eating public food in vain?
Now Liu Qi understands that these subordinate officials will be officials from various places in the future!
As expected of the county magistrate, he is really thoughtful and far-sighted!
Thinking of this, Liu Qi's admiration became even stronger.
At this moment, Xie Ding felt cold all over and his hands and feet were trembling.
He is a scholar, a scholar-bureaucrat in the words of Song Taizu, and a person with vested interests, so he feels the most deeply.
If Han Zhen really conquers the world, the status of literati will plummet.
By then, the scholarly reputation that the Fuyang Xie family had spent several generations building up would be in vain.
Previously, he looked down on Han Zhen, thinking that he was interested in the Fuyang Xie family's reputation among scholars and wanted to tie the Xie family into a chariot.
Now that I have figured this out, I turned around and saw that people didn't take him seriously at all.
Have an attitude of being happy with your gains and worry-free with your losses.
It's no wonder that he let Zhu'er come back easily.
How ridiculous!
Suppressing the thoughts surging in his heart, Xie Ding thought for a moment and said seriously: "Zhu'er, you will return to Linzi County in a few days!"
"ah?"
Liu Qi looked in disbelief.
After he came to his senses, he looked embarrassed and said hesitantly: "Uncle, I was driven back."
Naturally, he wanted to go back, but the key point was that he had no shame in going back.
Xie Ding asked: "Why did Han Zhen drive you away?"
Liu Qi replied dejectedly: "I...I don't want to hurt my family."
"The fact that you can take care of your family and not act out of passion shows that you have grown up."
Xie Ding looked pleased, then lowered his voice and said sternly: "Don't worry about your family. I will write a letter to your father to explain the pros and cons."
Liu Qi said in surprise: "Uncle also plans to defect to the county magistrate?"
"It's not really a defection, it's just leaving a way out for the Xie and Liu families." Xie Ding shook his head.
Although Liu Qi's words are conclusive, no matter what, Han Zhen now only occupies one county.
With this little power, it's simply impossible for Xie Ding's whole family to defect.
However, it was still worthy of his Xie family's bet.
"I understand."
Liu Qi nodded as if he understood.
"It's late at night, let's go to bed early."
After Xie Ding finished speaking, he stood up and left.
…
The next day.
Early in the morning, after Liu Qi greeted Xie Ding, he carried the dragon stick, mounted his war horse, and left the city happily.
Xie Ding asked him to go back in a few days, but he didn't want to stay in Qiancheng County for more than a day. It was too boring.
Where are the naughty people in the army?
Liu Qi found the exercises quite interesting in the eyes of other soldiers.
In Han Zhen's words, he is a born general.
The yamen guard on duty at the city gate was surprised and said, "Young yamen came back only yesterday, why are you going out again today?"
"Take a long trip."
Liu Qi smiled mysteriously, then hit his horse and ran wildly.
…
"Is this Bu Renjia?"
In the military camp, Han Zhen and Nie Dong were inspecting the goods.
I saw wooden boxes placed on top of the bullock cart. One of the wooden boxes was opened, revealing the armor inside.
In order to prevent rust, the armor's armor leaves were soaked in grease, which reflected bursts of cold light under the scorching sun.
"That's right!"
Nie Dong nodded, reached out and picked up a piece of shoulder armor from the wooden box, and showed it: "Please see, County Magistrate, these armor leaves are designed in a pagoda stacking style. Each layer can be retracted up and down, leaving room for additional armor leaves." It is also more convenient to wear when there is a gap. If there is an emergency, it can be worn by one person."
"I'll try."
Han Zhen took the shoulder armor and began to put it on.
The entire set of infantry armor consists of five parts: the neck, body armor, shoulder armor, and breastplate.
The difference from ordinary heavy armor is that the infantry armor is divided into two layers of inner and outer body armor, plus a layer of breastplate, which equals three layers of protection in front of the body.
If more armor pieces are attached, even the divine arm crossbow and armor-piercing cone cannot penetrate. Only blunt weapons such as copper hammers and heavy axes can be used to injure the soldiers in the armor.
Indeed, as Nie Dong said, walking armor is extremely convenient to wear.
Under his guidance, Han Zhen quickly finished dressing alone.
Putting down the collar on his pocket, his whole body was completely wrapped in thick iron armor, with only a pair of eyes exposed.
He was already tall and strong, and now that he was wearing walking armor, he looked like a murderous god, and he was intimidating.
After moving his hands and feet, he tried a series of actions such as jumping, running, and swinging a knife. He found that the armor was extremely cleverly designed and basically did not affect the combat.
Goulon!
Seeing Han Zhen wearing infantry armor and running like the wind back and forth in the military camp, Nie Dong and others couldn't help but swallow their saliva.
Wang He, who came to deliver the goods, was even more stunned.
It took a long time for Wang He to hold back the words: "County Magistrate Han... is really brave and unparalleled."
After running for a while, Han Zhen came back without red face and out of breath, and commented: "The design is good, but it is still a bit light. How much weight can you gain at most?"
A weight of more than fifty kilograms was nothing to Han Zhen's physique.
light?
Nie Dong twitched the corner of his mouth and answered truthfully: "It can gain up to ninety kilograms in weight. If you add more armor leaves, there will be no place to install it."
"Um."
Han Zhen nodded and took off his armor.
After opening the wooden boxes one by one and checking the hundred armors one by one, he smiled at Wang He and said, "Thank you for your hard work, Wang Duyu. The county has prepared food and wine. Why don't you rest for a night before leaving?"
Wang He was a little moved, but still politely declined: "I can't rest, I have to rush back as soon as possible to deliver the mission."
This time, Bu Renjia got a total of 80,000 guan. How could Luo Sha feel relieved about such a large sum? He ordered him to take the money and rush back to Yidu County immediately.
Hearing this, Han Zhen said: "That's the case, then I won't keep it. The money has been prepared. I'll just give it to Wangdu Yu."
The two of them walked all the way to the warehouse, and Han Zhen pointed to the two sacks placed in the corner.
Wang He immediately stepped forward, opened the brocade bag, dipped some white powder into it and put it into his mouth.
Feeling the sweetness on his tongue, Wang He nodded with a smile on his face.
Sugar!
Due to the large amount of this transaction, the copper coins were too conspicuous.
Therefore, Han Zhen negotiated with Luo Sha to settle the bill with sugar.
I thought Luo Sha would be reluctant, but who would have thought that Luo Sha agreed immediately.
Each tael of sugar is calculated as 40 guan, and 80,000 guan is equivalent to 125 kilograms.
The two brocade bags can be stored without attracting anyone's attention.
Speaking of which, Luo Sha's promise was straightforward. Thanks to Han Zhen's strict control over sugar output, only about ten kilograms of sugar were put on the market every month.
How to divide ten pounds into enough?
After being stimulated by these ten kilograms of white sugar, instead of falling, the price actually increased.
Luo Sha was not stupid either. The sugar he got from forty guans and one tael could be resold to Tokyo City and he would make at least another 20,000 to 30,000 guans.
Not long after, Wang He left with two bags of sugar.
Watching his leaving figure, Han Zhen raised a smile on his lips.
More than a hundred kilograms of white sugar, including losses, cost only a hundred guan. In exchange for a hundred pairs of infantry armor, it was really a huge profit.
Unfortunately, sugar, a luxury product with huge profits, cannot last long.
When the market becomes saturated, prices will plummet.
But before the collapse, Han Zhen will use sugar to earn enough supplies.
For example, the 120,000 shi of grain in the Yidu County granary...
At this moment, Nie Dong was sending people to move Bu Renjia into the arsenal.
Han Zhen walked over, looked for the treasurer in charge of the arsenal, and asked, "How many types of armor are there now?"
Nowadays, not only the water-powered forging workshop, but also several blacksmith shops in the county, plus the blacksmith shop in Xiaowang Village, are also continuously producing ordnance.
Although it is not as efficient as a hydraulic workshop, it adds up to a small amount.
The treasury official said, "Thank you to the county magistrate. Counting the 100 pairs of foot armor that have just been put into the treasury, there are a total of 342 pairs of horse and foot heavy armors, 800 pairs of full body light armors, and 1,600 pairs of half body armors." Deputy, one thousand two hundred pieces of leather armor."
The so-called light armor is just a name, it weighs about forty-five pounds.
The reason why it is called light armor is that it is only about ten kilograms lighter than the heavy armor.
After all, even the half-body armor weighs nearly twenty kilograms.
Han Zhen made some calculations in his mind. The hydraulic forging workshop was operating at full capacity and working day and night without stopping. In two months, it would be enough to produce another 300 sets of cavalry heavy armor, which would allow all the cavalry to be equipped with heavy armor.
During this period, Luo Sha was able to get another four to five hundred pairs of infantry armor. Having such a heavy armor of infantry was enough.
The remaining infantry should take a lightly-armed route to ensure mobility.
After all, the main point of fancy dress is the dexterity of one hand, which can be even more powerful when used with firearms.
Seeing the sun setting in the west, Han Zhen said hello to Nie Dong, mounted his horse and prepared to return to the county town.
As soon as they left the military camp, they saw the rapid sound of horse hooves coming from the official road.
Han Zhen looked over and raised his eyebrows.
The person coming is none other than Liu Qi!
He knew that Liu Qi would come back, but he didn't expect that he would come back so quickly, less than a day later.
"County Magistrate, I'm back!"
Seeing Han Zhen, Liu Qi immediately grinned and smiled happily.
When he rode up to him, Han Zhen smiled and asked, "Has everything been explained at home?"
The fact that Liu Qi can come back shows that Xie Ding has compromised.
"Um!"
Liu Qi nodded.
Han Zhen asked again: "Did your uncle ask you to bring a message or something?"
Liu Qi said truthfully: "That's not true."
"I understand. Just go back to the military camp."
"County Magistrate, I'm going then."
Liu Qi rushed into the military camp with an excited expression.
Looking at his back, Han Zhen couldn't help shaking his head and laughing.
Xie Ding, this old fox, really doesn't let go of eagles when he sees rabbits.
He asked Liu Qi to come back, but said nothing, indicating that he wanted to bet on himself but did not want to get involved too deeply.
If Han Zhen's uprising fails, he will have room for maneuver at that time, so as not to completely involve the Liu and Xie families.
Han Zhen could understand this.
Xie Ding represents not only himself, but also the hundreds of members of the Xie family, as well as the prestige accumulated over several generations, so he cannot help but be careless.
At least it's a good start.
(End of chapter)
