After returning from the school ground and walking to the mountain temple, Yang Yuan greeted him from a distance, walked closer and whispered: "That Chen Hongtao is here."
Liu Heng nodded.
Returning to the main hall of the Mountain Temple, Chen Hongtao was taken in.
When they met, Liu Heng said with a smile: "Have you thought about it clearly?"
Chen Hongtao clasped his fists and bowed his waist and said: "I am willing to be the steward of this iron farm for the boss."
"Bring the paperwork over and sign it for Manager Chen." Liu Heng looked at Zhao Yutu who was standing aside.
Zhao Yutu took out the employment documents that he had prepared, put them on the table, handed them to Chen Hongtao to sign and pledge, and took out an ingot of five taels of silver and handed them to Chen Hongtao.
After collecting the documents, Zhao Yutu stepped aside.
Liu Heng said with a smile: "I heard that Manager Chen still has his family living in a shack in Dongshan. We have some vacant houses in Hutou Village. Manager Chen might as well send his family to live in Hutou Village. It is not far from Dongshan and has free time." It’s also a convenient time to visit.”
Upon hearing this, Chen Hongtao's face darkened.
Knowing that this was to ask his family to come to Hutou Village as hostages, he then thought about it. They gave him an iron farm to take care of, so they had to leave some means to control him.
Immediately a wry smile appeared on his face.
Even if the head of Hutou Village in front of him didn't say anything, he would send his family to Hutou Village. Otherwise, one day the government would come to Dongshan to arrest people, and his whole family would be arrested. It would be better to stay in Hutou Village and be safe. The shack where the family lived had drafts from all sides, making it very difficult in winter. Although Hutou Village was an adobe house, it was much better than the shack.
Chen Hongtao felt bitter in his heart, knowing that he had no choice, and said: "Thank you very much, Master. I will send my family to Hutou Village when I get back."
"From now on, you can just call me Boss, not Big Boss." Liu Heng reminded, and then said to Yang Yuan, "Take a few people and go to Dongshan to bring Manager Chen's family to Hutou Village. From now on, we will be a family."
Chen Hongtao hurriedly said: "There's no need to trouble Brother Yang, Zhuo Jing and I can do it ourselves."
Yang Yuan on the side greeted: "Don't worry, Manager Chen, come with me! The carriage is already ready."
Chen Hongtao and Liu Heng said goodbye, followed Yang Yuan and left Hutou Village, and went to Dongshan to pick up his wife and children from Hutou Village.
………………
Dongshan is not very far from Hutou Village. After walking for more than ten miles from Hutou Village, you will see the rolling mountains, which is where Dongshan is.
Chen Hongtao and Huang Huai have been back to Dongshan for a while to clean up Chen Dafu's abandoned iron yard. Liu Heng came to Dongshan to see his iron yard in person this time.
Liu Heng was different from ordinary proprietors. He was a group of more than forty people, each with a musket and a sword on his shoulder. He was particularly eye-catching. Along the way up the mountain, he attracted countless eyes.
Most of the miners I saw along the way had dark complexions, their hair was stained with a lot of iron slag and cinders, their hair was messy, and they were mostly wearing brown robes.
However, all these miners are lean, have long hands and feet, and look like they are used to hard work.
Riding on horseback, Liu Heng said to Yang Yuan who was following him: "When the furnace is set up, recruit some brave miners, train them for a few months, have restraints, and stay in the iron yard as guards. These people have innocent identities." , it’s convenient to do things that are inconvenient for us to come forward.”
"I understand." Yang Yuan nodded.
Liu Heng said nothing more. This matter is not urgent. We will talk about it when the time comes.
"The proprietor is here."
At a corner of a mountain road, Chen Hongtao led thirty or forty people who were looking forward to it, and Huang Huai was among them.
From a distance, I saw Liu Heng and others riding horses, with Chen Hongtao in front and the others behind. After a loud shout, everyone knelt down and kowtowed.
Liu Heng stopped his horse, turned over, with a smile on his face, helped Chen Hongtao, Huang Huai and other middle-aged people up, and said with a smile: "Everyone, get up, I am a boss who has no airs. If you don't like others, don't kneel. There are only rules. As long as you abide by my rules and do your job, I won't be angry even if you leave with a high face when you see me. If you don't follow the rules, I will kick you out even if I kowtow every time we meet."
Chen Hongtao and Huang Huai smiled after hearing this, knowing that what the leader of Hutou Village said was true.
These people are all miners recruited by Chen Hongtao and Huang Huai. These people all know Liu Heng's identity, but if they can't find work anymore, they will starve and freeze to death in the winter, so they don't care who they work with. First of all To be able to live.
All the miners stood up and stood in a half circle.
Liu Heng looked at Chen Hongtao and said, "Where is the location of the furnace?"
This is his first time coming to Dongshan, and he still doesn’t know where the iron farm left by Chen Dafu is.
"Master, follow me." Chen Hongtao took the lead and led Liu Heng's horse, leading the way.
Huang Huai also wanted to lead the horse, but he was a step too slow and followed behind in annoyance.
Passing by a flat land, Huang Huai said flatteringly: "Look, proprietor, there is a stream over there that can wash away the iron sand. There are many open veins around it. The furnace site was chosen here, and there is some open space in front." , you can build houses and use them as residences and storehouses.”
This time Chen Hongtao did not compete with Huang Huai. He knew his weaknesses. He was not as good as Huang Huai, who had once been in charge of the furnace, such as setting up a furnace to make iron.
Huang Huai has been working in the mines since he was a teenager, and he has been in charge of the furnace. He knows almost every process like the back of his hand.
"According to the proprietor's instructions, we set up a big furnace, two battles and four, and prepare enough ore and fuel. If we have enough manpower, we can produce four thousand kilograms of iron every day."
Yang Yuan interjected: "How much iron can be produced in a year?"
Huang Huai knew Yang Yuan's identity and was one of the heads of Hutou Village. He said very respectfully: "It's not certain. The stove sometimes depends on the weather. It can't be turned on if it rains continuously, and it doesn't work on snowy days." If the work needs to be stopped and the furnace is normally turned on for more than half a year, there will always be millions of kilograms."
Millions of kilograms of iron were all turned into weapons and armor. Even if everyone in Hutou Village was fully equipped, they wouldn't need so much.
Liu Heng looked around and said, "The place is small, too small. We can only do this for the time being, and we can expand it later when it becomes stable."
Chen Hongtao and Huang Huai have already made a lot of preparations. They have built two rows of houses. The kitchens and huts are far apart. The accommodation and sanitary conditions are good. They have prepared a lot of ordinary square bricks and refractory bricks for the stove. There are many forging tools piled up in the house.
In terms of the preparation before setting up the stove, the two of them did a pretty good job.
"Hire more manpower, not just from Lingqiu, but from miners in neighboring counties." Liu Heng said, "It's easy for miners from the same place to stick together."
Just as he was talking, hundreds of people came from a distance, a dense mass of darkness, coming from the other side of the mountain road.
Looking at it from a distance, I felt that it was menacing and had bad intentions.
Liu Heng looked at Chen Hongtao and said with a smile: "You still have something up your sleeve. Are these the miners you are looking for in the ambush?"
"Proprietor, I'm afraid I'm here to cause trouble." Chen Hongtao's face turned pale.
"Let's go and have a look." Liu Heng looked at Chen Hongtao and said with a smile, "Don't be afraid, let's go over together and see what kind of monsters and monsters jump out."
Before coming to Dongshan, he predicted that this business would not go well, so Liu Heng specially brought a firecrackers team.
