The project in Shanglin Village has basically ended, more than a month faster than originally estimated, for this, Qin Bai is quite bold, and he also rewarded Chen Bai with a full thousand taels of silver.

Chen Bai must be quite happy about this extra money, which is actually no different from picking up in vain. Due to the recovery of the miners abandoned by several families, plus the new people who joined the mountain gate, Chen Bai's manpower was nearly three times more than the original estimate, reaching more than 1,400, not counting the many old people and women who were doing some auxiliary logistics work such as cooking and laundry. So, of course, it's a lot faster.

However, the good treatment also brought some "sequelae", and many of the 400 coolies brought by Chen Bai also asked to stay. This can't blame them for "changing their minds", these coolies work hard to live for a winter, and some of them are not as good as those cooks who cook rice.

Chen Bai didn't care, there were as many coolies as there were in the market, so in the end, there were more than 270 people who decided to stay. And after leaving this batch of coolies, Qin Bai decided that he would not recruit people on such a large scale in a short period of time. The staff is already bloated, and the pressure to support these people is too great.

When there are many people, management becomes complicated. So Qin Bai arranged a lot of work, no matter whether it was useful or not, first of all, let these people not be idle. But now there is a lot of work to be done, such as building houses, roads, and clearing wasteland. And this busyness does work, at least so far, there hasn't been a lot of chaos.

……

At this time, Qin Bai came to Xiaohongling. Looking at the busy training and production of matches everywhere in the village, Qin Bai laughed at himself and smiled beside him: "Dare, I don't know how many of us are now." ”

At this time, Qin Bai's direct subordinates had swelled to more than four thousand, and those who could stay in Xiaohongling were not only the 300 people who were the core, but also more than 400 teenagers between the ages of 7 and 14. It's not that I don't want to arrange more people, but I really can't live anymore.

In addition, the opening of the mountain gate this time, other people's gains are also not small. Tie Sheng accepted more than 100 people, Da Mao and Xiao Wei also accepted 70 or 80 people, and the monk was even more exaggerated, I heard that there were 2 or 300 more. And these people are also Yongsheng people in name, so if they are not careful, Yongsheng has several "sub-venues".

However, with the increase in numbers, there is already a deficit in the finances. Dong Chuan reported on the side: "Second Brother Bai, although the newcomers only take 30%, it is indispensable for people to eat and chew, and the subsidies for each family are indispensable. It costs 228 yuan per person per month, and if you count 5,000 people, that is 14,000 taels. The cost needs three thousand taels, and other bits and pieces will not be less than one thousand taels. The largest expenditure was on matchsticks and matchboxes, which were spent by more than 6,000 taels last month and may double this month. And I've done so much that even the place to stack it is almost gone. Can it be slow? Limit to one amount per month? ”

Qin Bai shook his head: "If the quantity is limited, many people will have no work to do, and people's hearts will be chaotic." But you have a point. The total amount is limited to 10,000 taels, and it will basically not exceed this number in the future. ”

Due to the large number of people who received this time, their whole family will be able to enjoy the benefits of making matchsticks and matchboxes. In addition, the redundant old and weak women and children also arranged to make matchsticks and matchboxes, so Qin Bai had to ensure that each of them basically had no less than three yuan per month.

"But Second Brother Bai! If it's 10,000 taels, if we have to use up those matchsticks and matchboxes, we will have to sell at least 20,000 boxes a month? Otherwise, it will pile up more and more? ”

"The more you pile up, the more you have to do it. I'll take care of the sale, you just have to listen to the arrangement. ”

"Oh." Dong Chuan nodded reluctantly.

Qin Bai was willing to burn all the extra parts, and he had to continue to maintain such benefits. And after this conversation with Huang Jun, Qin Bai had a new consideration. We must not underestimate the people of the world, let alone those "natives", there is not much time left for ourselves, if you are pessimistic, you should only have half a year. Of course, it won't come too early. After all, the transportation and communication conditions in this era were too poor, and it was almost the same time when they came.

Since this is the case, Qin Bai is ready to let go completely. So he commanded: "Big jackal, seven babies, you pick another 200 people, and make up 500 people." These people will train me to the death in the future, and I will be responsible for fighting outside, and I don't have to go to the match workshop. And I've already mentioned it to the shopkeeper Yu of the source to find me a few more blacksmiths. When they come, let's find a way to make a few firecrackers. ”

"Firecrackers don't work. It's inconvenient to use, and it's easy to fry. And you can only hit once or twice when you do. Cao Dacai objected.

Shi Zhu objected to another angle: "Second Brother Bai, if we have a firecracker, wouldn't we be charged with a crime to the government?" ”

Qin Bai said: "We have armor, bows and arrows, are we still afraid of multiple firearms?" Anyway, it won't be wasted if you make a few sticks. If you need other weapons? Our Jingjiazhuang is here to strike a lot of iron. Our blacksmiths make ironclad firearms! "As a traverser, there are no foreign guns and cannons, so you have to make your own earthen guns and cannons?

Since Qin Bai said so, Cao Dacai and they agreed to come down. Qin Bai continued to order: "The few boats of sulfur just sent are no longer short of raw materials, let's start to do it." Ignore other places and sell them in several counties in Dengzhou. Every month, a hundred people come out of here to escort the caravan to Dengzhou Mansion. Once a month, let's do our own business. ”

Dengzhou Mansion is a coastal area of the Jiaodong Peninsula, which is more remote than Laizhou Mansion. If you sell in that direction, you don't have to worry about it. To be honest, when the news from Dengzhou Mansion spreads, the news from Jingjiazhuang has already spread. And it can also be trained by the way, as a marching camp training for their own troops.

Qin Bai thought in his heart that he would increase the sales volume to 5,000 boxes per month. If you add the 1.2 million catties of ore in Shanglin Village, it is barely enough. However, it is better to keep more money around you, and the next time you start fighting, you will not be so lucky, and you will not always have zero casualties. And you also need to store more supplies, enough food for half a year, and other things, which need to be bought with money.

In fact, Qin Bai's biggest headache was the retreat, and the only thing he could think of was his hometown in Jiangnan. However, now the only thing left around is the jar of ashes of my mother, and the rest is only childhood memories, and even the house deed and some other documents that I brought with me at that time were taken away by my eldest brother Mrs. Qin.

Especially if there was no one to discuss, it would be in vain to ask Qin Gao, but he only had a little impression left. I only remember a remote courtyard outside Nanjing. If you look for it yourself, you may also find some clues, and if you arrange someone to go? That's a lot of difficulty.

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