In the meeting hall of Diaotou Valley, Sun Dashan also reported to Zhang Cheng the situation in Tietou Valley.
After adjustments, he added 20 of the 30 young men who originally guarded the miners to his own command, and also replaced 20 new troops to guard the miners.
In fact, since Sun Dashan took over Tietou Valley, he has given the miners new clothes, fed them every day, and paid them some wages on a daily basis. Although it is not much, it has stopped them from escaping. Instead, they work harder when mining.
In this way, the outpost in Tietouyu now has 150 sergeants, 90 of whom are young men brought back from Mafang. Like the one in Diaotouyu, the core is still old-fashioned.
However, there were no qualified cavalry here, so Sun Dashan just selected ten sergeants who could ride horses to temporarily serve as cavalry for the purpose of conveying messages.
The good news here is that through the efforts of the craftsmen sent by Zhang Chengxin, the original iron-making furnace has been demolished and rebuilt, but the new furnace is easy to use. It not only saves more charcoal and coal, but also greatly improves the efficiency.
Now, not only the original backlog of iron ore is decreasing day by day, but there is also a tendency that it will not be available for trips. However, Sun Dashan has been busy with iron ore, furnaces, and drills recently, so the progress of land reclamation has been a bit slow.
Zhang Cheng was very satisfied after listening to his introduction. The three villages here were an unexpected surprise, but he didn't expect them to reach the scale they are today. If they develop well in the future, these three villages alone can hide two soldiers. There are more than a thousand people, and they are self-sufficient.
"Sun Dashan, you have to pay more attention to the iron mine. The miners should not be too tired. In the future, the number of people will increase, and some will be selected to serve as miners. As for land reclamation, we must not stop it. If we can open up as much land as possible in the west valley, we will do our best. Open more,
Land fertility is also limited. If there are more fields, we can rotate planting to recuperate the soil fertility. Plant millet one year and alfalfa the next year, which can be used to feed horses.
Also, the craftsmen who renovated the furnace were each rewarded with ten taels of silver, so their hearts must not be chilled. "
After Zhang Cheng finished speaking, he picked up the wine bowl, glanced at everyone on the table, and then said to everyone: "Everyone, this is just the starting stage for us. Although we have built a good foundation, we are far from the point where we can be complacent. .
From now on, you can only work harder and be more attentive. As long as you work hard, I will lead you to gain greater wealth. But if you want to keep the wealth and official position you have earned through hard work, you must become stronger.
I will lead you and others to become strong together, strong enough to protect our wealth and our family. "
After saying that, Zhang Cheng stood up with the wine bowl. All the generals stood up. Chen Zhong was the first to shout: "Chen Zhong is willing to follow the general and swear allegiance to the general to the death. There will be no second intention!"
Then Liu Quan, Sun Dashan, Zhao Shihu, Ma Huijun and others also expressed their opinions. After everyone drank the wine in their bowls, Zhang Cheng waved and told everyone to sit down.
He said: "Shihu, I will go with you to Muzhaojian tomorrow. We will talk about the situation there in detail tomorrow. Tonight is just drinking. Ah, you will not come back until you are drunk, let's drink!"
…………
The next day, after breakfast, Zhang Cheng called Liu Quan and said, "Liu Quan, go and ask Zhao Liang to come see me."
It turned out that during the banquet last night, Zhang Cheng asked Zhao Shihu about Zhao Liang.
He was originally the son of a dried fruit shop owner in Yanqing Prefecture. When he was purchasing goods, his father was robbed and killed by nearby bandits. Since then, his family's shop has been squeezed by his peers.
At that time, he was still young and unable to help the family, and the business gradually became deserted. His mother finally couldn't stand it anymore and ran out of the shop, making a living by sewing and mending for others.
Unexpectedly, five years ago, his mother suffered a serious illness, but could not be treated, and finally passed away. Zhao Liang has been living on the streets since then, and at first he wanted to seek revenge on the bandit leader.
But how could he avenge himself with so little power? Three years ago, when he fainted from hunger in the wilderness, he was brought back to Muzhajian by bandits on the road, and he followed Zhao Shihu from then on.
Zhao Liang had some rough knowledge of writing, could calculate some small accounts, and was very agile. He gradually became a small leader. However, in the official battle, he became Liu Quan's prisoner.
After a while, Zhao Liang, who heard the summons, ran over in a hurry, knelt down in front of Zhang Cheng, and said: "Zhao Liang, officer of Xiaoxiaoyu Squadron, pays homage to the general."
Zhang Cheng looked at Zhao Liang below. At this time, he took a closer look. He didn't look tall and powerful, but he also looked very strong. His skin was slightly white, and his appearance was very pleasing to the eye. He looked like he was in his twenties. .
He said: "Zhao Liang, get up and answer the question."
Zhao Liang said "yes", stood up, stood aside, and stood in a dignified manner.
"Your ancestor was in business?"
"Back to General, my ancestors did some small business and were barely able to make ends meet."
"Well, you can read and calculate accounts?"
"Back to the general, I know some rough words, but not much. I can only calculate some small accounts."
Zhang Cheng looked at him and said: "Zhao Liang, I am going to send you a new mission, can you do it?"
Zhao Liang seemed to have a premonition of something. He stepped in front of Zhang Cheng, knelt down and clasped his fists, saying, "General, Zhao Liang will do his best as long as he is ordered to do so."
Zhang Cheng nodded slightly with satisfaction and said: "It's not a fatal mission. I, the general, plan to open several grain shops in Huailai City, Baoan Prefecture City, and Acropolis City. We still lack a director. Man, if I want to ask you to go, do you dare to agree?"
Zhao Liang, who was kneeling on the ground, looked a little excited. He had already vaguely guessed what Zhang Cheng meant, but when Zhang Cheng said it outright and his guess came true, he was still excited.
His body was slightly trembling, he put his hands on the ground, touched his head to the ground, and said excitedly: "General, Zhao Liang had the intention to kill a thief, but in the end he committed suicide, which was not what he wanted.
Fortunately, he met the general. Zhao Liang made up his mind to follow the general to the death. In this life, he is willing to ride in front and behind the horse for the general to drive him. He will never lose his heart. The general only has orders, and he will work hard and do not dare to disobey! "
"Haha, it sounds like I'm going to kill you!"
Zhang Cheng laughed and said, Zhao Liang knelt down on the ground with some embarrassment. Looking at him, Zhang Cheng said again: "Zhao Liang, get up. In this village, you can choose a few smart people you like." , let’s open this food store in the next few days,
As for how to buy and sell, I think you already have a plan in mind, so I won’t go into details here. You must remember that the purpose of this grain store is to buy low and sell high, but as I said yesterday on the watchtower,
We still have to take people's livelihood into consideration, don't push military households to a dead end, don't drive up food prices, and don't make money that's evil. "
Finally, Zhang Cheng asked in a deep voice: "Zhao Liang, do you understand what I just said?"
"Please rest assured, general, Zhao Liang understands the general's intentions and will never damage the general's reputation!"
