Inside the screen wall of Ye Can's old house stands a dark brick house, which was the former concierge. During the civil unrest, it was first set on fire. The roof and windows were burned out, but the brick walls could not be burned after all.
Bad, the shape of the house is still there, but only half of two sides are left.
Before Zhuang Ban settled in, this house was unattended. The bricks and tiles at this time were better than before, and the Ye family used fine green bricks. Therefore, the surrounding people came here every two days to pick up bricks and tiles to take home. Not only did the bricks of the house
If it needs to be demolished, the bricks on the courtyard wall should also be demolished.
At the city gate, Pang Yu had seen the peasants outside the city carrying out the whole thing. If the strong team didn't come again, they would probably be demolished.
After Zhuangban moved in, he set up a sentry at the door. The porter could at least block the wind, and he also placed two chairs inside so that he could take a break when visitors came.
Today, there were more than twenty people standing in the concierge. Pang Yu was sitting at the top, and the few people standing behind him were all Kuaiban's subordinates.
After Pang Yu acquired this large house, he felt that it was inconvenient for the county government office to handle matters, so sometimes even express business was handled here.
Pang Yu stared at the crowd below and asked, "Who are the blacksmiths?"
As soon as he finished speaking, a big man with a curly beard knelt down with a pop. He wailed loudly, "Please forgive me, sir. I told you that I only received Zhang Ru thirteen taels of silver. He insisted on giving it to me."
He hit a big knife, and the villain honestly fought it out, but he couldn't hold it anymore. It was because I didn't fight well, so I only accepted this small amount of money to rob and burn the Ye family. The villain really didn't dare to participate.
The villain is willing to hand over the money, but only begs the official to spare his life..." Pang Yu was stunned for a moment, but he didn't expect to find out who was an accomplice of the civil unrest in one sentence. He looked up at the empty roof of the Ye family's concierge, thinking that the meeting was called because of this.
The location was a bit special, which gave the blacksmith some bad associations.
Pang Yu coughed and said, "The matter between you and Zhang Ru has been known to the head of this class for a long time. You have not committed any serious evil deeds. Today, I told you honestly that if you help Zhang Ru make a big sword, my head of the class will help you."
I’ll take care of it.”
How could Pang Yu actually know about such a trivial matter? During the civil unrest, Huang Wending and his gang made many weapons, all of which were made by blacksmiths. The Tongcheng blacksmiths basically had a share. The county government had no intention of pursuing it. It was just Pang Yu's deception.
Come and let this blacksmith owe him a huge favor for no reason.
The bearded man didn't know what was going on, so he knelt down and thanked Pang Yu profusely. Seeing this, the blacksmiths behind him quickly knelt down and admitted their mistakes, and in the end they all owed Pang Yu a favor.
"All the master blacksmiths are invited."
Pang Yu waited for them to get up and said, "I invite you all to come here today to make weapons, but they are for my strong squad. They are mainly gun heads, broadswords, hook guns, big axes, and nails. What can you do?"
, if the quoted price is right, I will buy it from you.”
Several blacksmiths were silent and exchanged glances with each other. They were trying to determine whether it was another purchase from the Yamen, but from what Pang Yu said, it seemed that Zhuang Ban wanted a fair deal, otherwise why would they ask them to quote a price?
The bearded man owed Pang Yu a favor and was the first to bow and said, "I can make spears and broadswords, but I can't make hook spears. However, I can also make snake spears, meteor hammers, and moon swords..." Pang Yu quickly bowed his hand.
He had seen the weapons of Huang Wending and his group, which were all kinds of weird and weird, including even Fang Tian's painted halberds, most of which came from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Southern Zhili has been at peace in the mainland for a long time and has lost its military tradition. It has not fought a serious war since the early Ming Dynasty. Some guards can make weapons according to official specifications. Folk blacksmiths can basically only make commonly used self-defense weapons, mainly swords.
When it comes to the weapons used by the army, they take the fantasy route.
"The latter ones are not needed for the time being. I will order from this master when needed in the future. I don't know how to call this master yet."
The tall man with the beard had never seen an official be so polite. If something went wrong, there must be a monster. He quickly knelt down and said, "The villain Zhang Ji of Nancheng has a long life."
Pang Yu stood up and helped Zhang Manshou up, looked at the other blacksmiths and said, "First of all, my strong squad bought these weapons to defend Tongcheng and to protect the lives and wealth of everyone present. There is no room for perfunctory.
Secondly, I am dealing with you on a fair basis. You will earn what you deserve, and I will never be short of you. However, the weapons must be made according to my requirements in terms of shape, weight, and materials. They must not be skimped on, and they must be delivered on time.
Otherwise, I would not be able to bear with you in the past when you made weapons for the thieves to help them wreak havoc."
After several people agreed solemnly, Pang Yu said to Zhang Manshou, "Then, all the masters, please go to the back one by one and report the price to the gentleman who wrote the price. Master Zhang will go first."
Several blacksmiths stepped aside, and Pang Yu was not afraid of their discussion. There were many blacksmith shops inside and outside the county. Whether in rural areas or towns, there were many places that needed iron tools, so large market towns had blacksmith shops.
Pang Yu asked the remaining people, "Who are the firecrackers?"
Two people stood up below, and Pang Yu said politely to them, "I heard that your shop is already preparing firecrackers for the New Year. The finished goods and raw materials in your hands will be ordered by our team first, and they will be waiting for the blacksmith.
Once the iron nails are made, you can start making what I want."
One of them said carefully, "There is a batch of goods in the lower store that has been ordered to Kongcheng Town..." "Let him come directly to the team leader to ask for it."
The man was speechless. Although Pang Yu spoke politely, his tone left no room for negotiation. For supplies such as gunpowder, which were essential for defending the city, Pang Yu was always ready for military control, so naturally he would not discuss it with the store.
"Which ones are from the grain stores?"
There were only three people standing out below. Pang Yu glanced over and saw that the two shopkeepers run by Liu Xiucai and Fang Yinggan were not here.
Pang Yu suppressed the unhappiness in his heart, coughed and continued the business negotiation.
... When the merchant meeting was over, Jiang Fan was standing outside the gatehouse with two horsemen. The two horsemen each led a horse, with a robe and a waist knife placed on the horse's back. They all came from the county government office.
of.
Although Pang Yu had just finished competing with a group of businessmen, his spirit was not weak at all.
After seeing Jiang Fan and the others, Pang Yu smiled and said, "Are you going to arrange for the two of them to go to Qianshan to investigate?"
Jiang Fan responded quickly, "There are two of them, one was a former husband and the other was a helper at Lu Tingyi, both of them are good at riding horses.
My subordinates arranged for them to go as far as possible, and if they don't encounter a large group of bandits, they can walk to Huangmei and then return."
“Well arranged.”
Pang Yu went over and stood in front of the two horsemen, "This is the first time that the Tongcheng County Government has collected intelligence outside the county boundaries. When the bandits were raging, you two did not look back. You should be called Tongcheng's role models. You must pay more attention to this trip. Don't
Put yourself in danger."
A horseman's face turned red. He looked at Jiang Fan and then turned to Pang Yu and asked, "Assigned to the villain on errands, the villain will do it, but there are rogue bandits here. If he is killed by the rogue bandits, my home..." Pang Yu
He had a slight headache, but he still thought of the army too simply.
As a squad leader, he wants to run the strong squad like an army. What he lacks is not just money, food and equipment.
Jiang Fan was also secretly observing. Pang Yu guessed that the two horses had asked Jiang Fan this question. Of course, Jiang Fan couldn't solve it, so he took advantage of the opportunity of departure to let them ask it themselves.
Pang Yu knew that he couldn't shirk it at this time, and he had to accept it even if he paid for it, otherwise the newly united people would fall apart again.
Pang Yu looked at the two horses and said quickly, "If there is what you said, I will give your family fifty taels of silver at a time. From now on, as long as your parents are still alive, or until the children are minors, I will give you ten taels of silver every year."
The two horses fell quickly. After looking at each other, they said goodbye to Pang Yu and led the horses towards the south gate.
Pang Yu looked at the backs of the two people and asked Jiang Fan, "Has there been any conclusion about Liu Xiucai's broken building yesterday?"
Jiang Fan shook his head, "They came to the county government office early in the morning. Magistrate Yang discussed with them in the second hall. Later, Mr. Sun came out and said that Fang Yingqian and Liu Xiucai asked for 1,300 taels of silver. How could the county government get it?"
"That means it can't be demolished just yet. The quick team will store some tung oil at the South Gate and Xiangyang Gate. If there is indeed a warning signal approaching Tongcheng, they will burn the broken building immediately."
"Then what if Liu Xiucai asks us for compensation after the fire..." Pang Yu walked behind the screen wall with his hands behind his back, and said relaxedly, "Just don't admit that it was you who did it. We are soldiers, and Liu Xiucai encountered
We can’t tell clearly.”
Jiang Fan was stunned. He didn't expect to be so direct. When he saw Pang Yu walking towards the courtyard, he quickly chased after him.
"Head of the class, Mr. Sun also told me one more thing, saying that he would ask someone from the fast class to do it."
"What's the matter?"
"Let Kuaiban send people to monitor all Westerners living in Tongcheng."
"Western?"
Jiang Fan quickly explained, "Westerners are the name for people from Shanxi and Shaanxi. Mr. Sun said that it was proposed by the gentry yesterday."
(Note 1) “In ancient times, were map cannons also invented?
What a fucking mess this is."
Pang Yu touched his chin for a moment and then said thoughtfully, "It seems that Zhou Yueru is also from Qin."
...Note 1: The Westerners in the late Ming Dynasty mainly refer to Shaanxi, because the rogue bandits originated in Qin, and during the process of spreading, various places were on guard against the Qin people living in exile, and many Qin people suffered unreasonable disasters.
It was recorded at that time that "the invaders arose from the Qin Dynasty. Therefore, all Shaanxi people living far away, doing business and working as businessmen, are not immune to the suspicion of the world... Westerners are also the eyes of the world."
The city gate is on fire and the fish in the pond are in disaster...