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 transferred 20 new troops to guard the mines.
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 sentry at Tietouyu now has 150 sergeants, 90 of whom are young men brought back from Mafang. Like the one at 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 sending messages to and from them.
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 is the original backlog of iron ore dwindling, but there is also a tendency that it will no longer be available. However, Sun Dashan has recently been busy with iron ore, furnaces, and drills, so the progress of land reclamation has been somewhat 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 be as large as 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 must not be too tired. In the future, the number of people will increase, and we will have to select some 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 you have more fields, you 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 will be rewarded with ten taels of silver each, so don’t let their hearts 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, general, 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 stance. After everyone drank the wine in their bowls, Zhang Cheng waved his hand 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. After that, his family's shop was 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, so she ran out of the shop and made 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 he was so weak, how could he get revenge? 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 also very agile. He gradually became a small leader, but in the end, he became a prisoner of Liu Quan in the official battle.
After a while, Zhao Liang, who heard the summons, rushed over in a hurry, knelt down in front of Zhang Cheng, and said: "Zhao Liang, officer of the Xiaoxiaoyu team, pays homage to the general."
Zhang Cheng looked at Zhao Liang below. At this moment, 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", then stood up, stood aside, and stood in an orderly manner.
"Is your ancestor 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 planning 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, if you have an order, Zhao Liang will do his best."
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. We still lack a director.
Man, if I want to ask you to go, do you dare to accept it?"
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 originally had the intention to kill a thief, but in the end he ended up committing thief himself, which was not what he wanted.
Fortunately, I met the general today. 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 to do it. No one dares to disobey!"
"Haha, it sounds like I'm going to want you to die!"
Zhang Cheng laughed and said, Zhao Liang knelt down on the ground with some embarrassment. Looking at his appearance, 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 your mind, so I won’t go into details. You must remember that the purpose of this grain store is to buy low and sell high, but as I said on the watchtower yesterday,
We still need to take into account the people's livelihood, and we must not push the military households into desperation, raise food prices, or make money that is 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!"