When Hu Jin saw these two boxes of silver, he couldn't close his mouth happily, and said boldly: "Xu Qianhu is really rich, as soon as he makes a move, he will be 50,000 taels, okay!" I haven't forgotten my commander. You have made such a great contribution, what do you ask to say? ”

A soldier just goes straight and never beats around the bush.

"My lord, we have brought seven large ships this time, and we need a place to dock." Xu Tangyi replied, but we are located in the mainland, so I want to find a position in Shijiu Qianhu......"

"Understood, isn't it just a thousand households? Do you have a candidate? Report it. Hu Jin interrupted him and said directly.

"Thank you, Commander!" Xu Tangyi hurriedly knelt down and thanked him.

In Anton Wei, one acre and three points of land, Hu Jin is the emperor of the soil, Anton Wei has a total of five thousand households, and there is also a Ma Qishan Thousand Households, which is a guard of thousands of households, which is named Anton Wei, but in fact it is a thousand households directly under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War. Yang Zhenglei of the Thousand Households of Shijiu Thousand Households was very angry because of the forcible occupation of the land of the military households, and Hu Jin was thinking about removing him, and now Xu Tangyi made this request, which was exactly what he wanted.

The full name of Shijiu Qianhu is Shijiuzhai Qianhusuo, also known as Housuo, generally referred to as Shijiu. For Commander Hu, a thousand households is nothing. But here with Xu Tangyi and He Zhiyuan, that's a great thing. With this establishment, He Zhiyuan can recruit troops on his own, build warships, and make the operation of this thousand households prosperous.

After thanking him, Xu Tangyi asked again: "My lord, ...... the ships I brought?"

"I'll tell you about the stone mortar, you dock there first." With these 50,000 taels of silver, Hu Jin behaved very happily this time, and Xu Tangyi's problem was easily solved.

As for the question of candidates, he and He Zhiyuan have already discussed it, naturally it is Xu Detian, the deputy of Ma Qi Mountain, and the reasons are also very sufficient, in terms of military merits, there are Heishi Mountain to suppress bandits, Yangzhou to protect Zhou Daren, fight against the Japanese and so on. In terms of position, he is now a deputy thousand households, and it is natural for him to be promoted to a thousand households by half a level.

There are several candidates for the deputy thousand households, first of all, Ma Wu, Jiang Yuanqing, Zhou Zhi and other leaders in the first batch of veterans, and Song Fuchen in the second batch of veterans are all suitable candidates, which need to be discussed slowly after going back.

So, Xu Tangyi first reported the candidates for thousands of households to Hu Jin, and Hu Jin informed the Anton Health Department, and the rest was to report to the Ministry of War and go through the process of approval, and the matter was basically settled.

After coming out of Hu Jin's house, Xu Tangyi immediately returned to the port, drove the boat and continued northward, and came to the Shijiu Village, which was ninety miles away from Anton Wei. In history, Anton Wei has jurisdiction over five thousand households in the left and right, the front and left are stationed in Anton Wei, and the back is the stone mortar village ninety miles north of Anton Wei, which has its own special city.

The rest of the matter is much simpler, Xu Tangyi moored seven big ships at the Shijiu Wharf, and the current Shijiu Qianhu has already been notified, and he also knows that Xu Tangyi's status in Anton Wei has long been different from the past. Naturally, I don't dare to slack off, and everything is convenient.

According to the plan, Xu Tangyi first brought 800 craftsmen back to Hejia Town for temporary resettlement, and then officially resettled after officially taking over Shijiu Qianhuso. At the same time, a big cart was used to bring the 2.5 million taels of silver back to Hejia Town.

When Xu Tangyi returned to Hejia Town, He Zhiyuan and his soldiers had just returned to Hejia Town, because the Lu family smuggling gang had been cracked in one fell swoop, and Zhou Fulai's safety had been guaranteed, so Zhou Fulai left a small flag by his side as a guard, and the others returned to the Thousand Households of Ma Qishan together.

The first thing he did when he returned to Hejia Town was to discuss with Xu Tangyi and Xu Detian how to take over the affairs of Shijiu Qianhu. Xu Tangyi had already learned some information from the current thousand households, so he first said: "There are more than 880 soldiers in Shijiu Thousand Households, and there will be a shortage of one-third, and there are four hundred vacancies among the ten hundred households. At present, there are more than 20,000 acres of tuntian, more than 3,400 military households, and a population of nearly 20,000. Now there is a special city, a wharf, 17 sea boats, more than 30 small boats of various types, and a dock. However, the dock has not been silted up for a long time, and it can no longer be used, and it is basically abandoned. ”

When Xu Detian heard this, he was a little apprehensive in his heart, such a large house of a thousand households, I don't know a few big characters, can I manage it well? He said: "He Gongzi, my father asked me to manage such a big guard, I don't think I can do it." ”

In fact, Xu Tangyi also felt that the burden on his son's shoulders was very heavy, after all, he was only seventeen years old and had never studied. How can you manage such a large and thousands of households? Hearing his son say this, he looked at He Zhiyuan to ask for his opinion, the meaning was very clear, he needed his help, let him express his attitude.

Of course, He Zhiyuan would not completely let Xu Detian manage such a large thousand households, he had already thought of a plan, so he said slowly: "Brother Detian doesn't need to be so unconfident, in fact, if you want to manage it well, it's very simple." First of all, you first let the military households have enough to eat, and stop the military households from fleeing; The second is to recruit full soldiers and strengthen training; refurbishing and expanding the dockyard, building warships, training naval forces, and strengthening coastal defense; In addition, you can choose a deputy and a hundred veterans of Ma Qishan to bring over to enrich the military strength over there. ”

"Also, the silver brought back from Jiangnan this time will give you 500,000 taels for your use. With these, you, a thousand households, are much better. In short, your goal is to build the stone mortar into a strong sea fortress within two years, and train a sailor who can go to sea to fight the Japanese invaders. ”

Xu Tangyi waited for He Zhiyuan's words, and with all the silver, it was solved. It was he who hurriedly said to his son: "Don't hurry up and thank Gongzi He!" ”

Xu Detian hurriedly thanked him, and then said: "He Gongzi should go over there often to have a look, help me a lot, if there is anything wrong, you can criticize me." ”

Although He Zhiyuan is now unofficial and unemployed, he has a large amount of wealth in his hands, and his status is high, and his childhood playmate does not dare to make a mistake in front of him in private. This is how wealth determines status, and status determines generation.

Next, He Zhiyuan asked Xu Detian again: "You can choose a deputy position yourself, as long as the reason is sufficient, you don't need to think about anything else." ”

Xu Detian thought for a while and asked, "I really don't have to think about anything else, as long as I like it?" ”

"It's not what you like. It's a good reason, and it's convincing to say it, even if you choose a big soldier. He Zhiyuan corrected.

Xu Detian thought for a while and said: "I choose Song Fuchen!" ”

"Why?" He Zhiyuan and Xu Tangyi asked at the same time.

"First of all, he is literate, and in the future, he must be literate in the army, and literate soldiers learn things quickly, and in the future, they will be the world of firearms, and if they are illiterate, they can't even shoot artillery, how to fight. So I chose him as my deputy, and I could let him teach me to read and write when I was free. ”

"Well, that's a reason, and it's a good one. There is nothing unconvinced. He Zhiyuan said.

Xu Tangyi couldn't help nodding and said, "This kid Song Fuchen is not only literate, but also very thoughtful about things. This time he took a boat back from the sea to Antonwei and found an ability that others did not have. ”

"What ability?" He Zhiyuan asked.

Xu Tangyi praised: "After we got on the ship, we couldn't stand the bumps on the sea, and we couldn't stand on the deck, all of us were seasick and vomiting, but this kid stood on the deck and his feet were like roots, steady, not spitting or seasickness." The craftsmen who accompanied the ship said that he was not like a first-time person who went to sea, and that he was born to work with the sea. ”

"This is really a talent, I can let him lead the navy in the future." He Zhiyuan sighed.

After discussing the selection of the stone mortar, He Zhiyuan immediately began to solve the second important problem, that is, the placement of these 800 craftsmen. After these 800 craftsmen were brought to Hejia Town, in order to prevent them from escaping, they were temporarily placed in the military camp of the Thousand Households in the Ground Mountains.

He Zhiyuan asked the soldiers to bring Zuo Fengtu to him, and said to him: "Master Zuo, I heard Xu Qianhu say that this time the transportation of seven big ships performed well, the task was successfully completed, and most of your sins were forgiven, but then you have to continue to build the four big ships that were not built, so that your sins will be completely forgiven." In view of the hardships of your life, this time I will give you a small amount of wages, one or two or five pieces of silver per month. When the ship is finished, you can continue to work as craftsmen in these two places, and each of you may receive a monthly salary of four to ten taels of silver per month, depending on your ability. You can also bring your family and settle down here. Would you like to? ”

"We do! Thank you Gongzi He for giving us a chance to atone for our crimes. Zuo Fengtu heard He Zhiyuan say this, and quickly knelt down and kowtowed to thank him, and at the same time felt overjoyed. In the past, when they were in Nantousha, they were only paid three taels of silver per person. They already thought that it was a high salary, but they didn't expect to get at least five taels of silver in the future. He was wondering how he could get eight taels of silver with his qualifications and ability, right? Among the eight hundred are his two sons, and if they do a good job, they will be paid at least twenty taels of silver, so that they can bring their families here. These craftsmen just eat by their craft, they are not bound by the land, and they live the same everywhere.

He Zhiyuan asked again: "Master Zuo, the shipbuilding dock still needs you to guide the workers to start construction." So you have to prepare first and pick a few competent assistants. After a few days, we will go to the beach to see if the original dockyard can be renovated and expanded. ”

Speaking of shipbuilding, Zuo Fengtu's words increased, and he said to He Zhiyuan: "These seven big ships, all of them are large ships with more than 2,000 materials, the largest 5,000 material ship was taken away by Lu Shaowen, and the rest are 3,000 or 4,000 large ships, so if you want to continue shipbuilding, you need the dock to be large enough and the water deep enough." If you build a dock for small boats of less than 2,000 materials, it will be very troublesome to renovate. ”

He Zhiyuan doesn't know a lot about shipbuilding, but he knows what kind of unit the material is, even if the deadweight tonnage of a large ship of 5,000 materials is only about 1,500 tons, it will not be a big ship in later generations. But in this era, 5,000 materials are the largest warships, and they can all be used as flagships.