Chapter 227: Yangzhou Castle

According to the agreement, the kiln gang people came to the grain yard on time in the afternoon, and the owner of the yard and a group of people from the shopkeeper were already waiting here. Everyone got the paperwork according to the agreement and sent someone to the government to do the formalities together. The men on both sides were counting the money at the same time.

Zhang Zhimu said to the owner of this freight yard: "Owner, I have a reluctant request, I don't know if I should talk about it or not?" ”

The proprietor said: "Please don't be polite, please speak!" ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "I hope that the original shopkeeper of this freight yard can stay, I don't know if it can?" Because from the moment I entered this yard, I was very satisfied with the management here, there was no very messy place, all the items were stacked in an orderly manner, I think the shopkeeper here must be a very responsible person. ”

The proprietor is worried about the problem of the personnel in these freight yards, Zhang Zhimu asked, of course he will be a favor, and said: "Zhang Dongjia has good eyesight, and he deserves to be a famous big proprietor all over the world." The shopkeeper you said is the shopkeeper of our family for many years, if he himself is willing to go to your kiln, we have no opinion, people go to a higher place, we hope he can take a step further. ”

The shopkeeper's surname is Jiang, his name is Jiang Feng, and he is also worried, this yard is sold, and the owner will no longer support himself in vain, and the new owner will generally use his own people. When he heard that Zhang Zhimu wanted to keep him, he was naturally overjoyed, not to mention that he was working for an owner like Yaogang, which he never dreamed of, but he said: "I thank Zhang Dongjia for taking a look at me, I can stay, but I have one condition?" ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "Please speak! ”

Jiang Feng said: "Zhang Dongjia also saw it, our guys here are very dedicated to doing things, I check every day, it is difficult to find faults, I hope Zhang Dongjia can keep them all, they are already familiar with things here, it is difficult for them to find a new job." I can't leave such a good job behind and think only about my own business. ”

"Okay, it's up to you. If I say anything to you, I'm not wrong. I also tell you that we kiln gang people have a saying to our brothers: 'Don't give up, don't give up!' You don't have to learn, you already have the spirit of our kiln people. Zhang Zhimu said.

Jiang Feng hurriedly saluted and said, "I thank the owner for all the guys, and we will repay you with loyalty." ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "But you are responsible for the management here, but we will send a new accounting room, because our management and bookkeeping methods are different from your past, we have our rules, I hope you can understand." You are directly in charge of Li Mao and Li Gongzi here. In the future, you can just listen to his arrangement. Our salaries may be higher than before, so go back and tell the brothers that we will be a family from now on, and we will try to make life better. ”

Jiang Feng never thought that there would be such an owner, and he would try his best to make the guys' lives better. All this felt like a dream to him.

The original proprietor carried the silver and left without looking back.

Jiang Feng led Zhang Zhimu and others in the newly bought freight yard, walking around, seeing the guys, Jiang Feng would tell them that they were all stayed, and the news quickly spread throughout the freight yard, and the guys in the freight yard no longer had to be sad.

Li Mao's people and the people left behind by Lu Chengxiang took over the accounts here. Zhang Zhimu said to the original accounting staff: "Don't be nervous, you will also be one of our kiln people in the future." When our Mr. Lu comes back, he will arrange for you to take a class to learn the bookkeeping methods of our kiln people, and in the future, you will be responsible for the accounts here. Now you have to cooperate in taking account of the accounts. ”

These bookkeepers know which owner takes over the account first, and they don't know whether they can use them again, so they have no choice but to behave well and see if they can enjoy a bite of food.

After Zhang Zhimu, Chen Yufeng and others went around for a while, they returned to the living room, and Zhang Zhimu said: "It seems that Huai'an also needs to set up a branch here." In the future, when we have more steamships, the grain from Guangzhou and Quanzhou will be transported frequently, and the silver settled here is indispensable. I look at the affairs here and Yangzhou, Li Gongzi will take care of them. Fortunately, it is not far from Yangzhou, and the waterway is also convenient. ”

Li Mao nodded and said, "No problem, but the talents here still need to be matched by Mr. Lu, and our one has just opened, and the personnel are barely enough." ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "This matter is easy to do, Mr. Lu will come back in a few days and discuss it with him." I think we're still going to discuss your Yangzhou affairs. Tell me when you will start working there! ”

Li Mao said: "I think about it these days, I still insist on building a circle-style shopping mall, because Yangzhou is a north-south traffic artery, but also a distribution center for goods, we build a shopping mall, you can call customers from all over the world, we can sell our own goods, but also operate the goods of the eight directions." That is, it can be wholesale in bulk or retail. The circle building that was built is usually a shopping mall and a store, and when something happens, as soon as the door is closed, it is a castle. ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "I also considered Li Mao's suggestion, and we agreed with his suggestion that we should also build a shopping mall of the same scale in Yaogang and operate it in the same way." In this way, the north and the south echo, business will be better. ”

Ouyang He also said: "I look very good at the circle building designed by Li Gongzi, the square circle building faces the canal in the west, and the west gate is the water gate, and the boat can drive directly into the castle through the water gate, and the circle tower is surrounded by river water on all sides." The other three gates are also separated by a drawbridge, which is an independent castle outside the city of Yangzhou. ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "I suggest that your circle building should be built with four or five floors, all of which are made of reinforced concrete, and the windows above the second floor should be opened with glass windows, and steel windows should be installed outside the windows, and steel window railings should also be installed on the windows." When there is an emergency, the window is a shooting hole, and in the future, it is good to have electric lights, and it can be opened at night. ”

Li Mao asked with a smile: "Mr. Zhang, I have heard you talk about electric lights many times, what is electric lights, is they the same as carbon arc lights?" ”

Zhang Zhimu smiled and replied: "Don't worry, when I go back this time, I will get the electric light, and you will know when the time comes." ”

Chen Yufeng said: "Since everyone agrees with Li Mao's suggestion, I think we should start preparing." I don't think it's going to be needed. Let's go back and let Lu Bingyi help look at the drawings, and we should prepare reinforced concrete. ”

Li Mao said: "This is my big thing, after the big thing is over, I am telling you about the matter of going to Jiangxi and Huguang this time." ”

As soon as Li Mao finished talking about their trip to Huguang, Jiangxi, Chen Yufeng said: "It seems that we have formed a bond with Zhang Xianzhong and Zuo Liangyu. But no matter who we provoke, we must first ensure that we do not suffer losses. ”

Zhang Zhimu was a lot more relieved when he heard that he could find the location of the tin and manganese ore mines, and he still didn't pay much attention to offending these two people, and said: "As long as we are fine, the next time we go, we can send steam warships from Huai'an into the sea, and then from the sea to the Yangtze River, if our steam warships are there, no one is afraid." ”

Ouyang He said: "After we go back, we will complain to the emperor first, otherwise they will tell the emperor that we are attacking the official army." ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "This is a solution, but the emperor probably also knows Zuo Liangyu's virtues, but people support their own troops, and the emperor can't help it." Maybe we destroyed Zuo Liangyu's majesty, and the emperor was still happy. ”

Chen Yufeng said: "I'm just worried that once our relationship with the imperial court is tense, you will be in danger in Yangzhou. Therefore, your castle should be prepared as soon as possible, and the materials you can buy here should be prepared as soon as possible. Personnel should also be prepared. ”

Li Mao said: "The 40 people I stayed in the kiln gang for training are just for the purpose of Yangzhou when there is something to do, they will train in the kiln for a few days, and they can be used as cadres when they come back." What's more, there is still too much silver in Yangzhou now, and we still have some on Wuluo Island, so it's better for you all to bring it back this time, and it's already a lot to leave 500,000 here. Last time, more than 10,000 horses and goods, plus this time, we have too much silver in Yangzhou, so it is not safe. ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "Okay, after you buy summer grain here, just leave 500,000 taels of silver, and if it is not enough, you can go to Wuluo Island to get it." In the future, you can leave 200,000 yuan in the branch here in Huai'an, and if it is not enough, you can wear and change with each other. In the future, you will have to take care of the area of Quanzhou, Huai'an and Wuluo Island in Xuzhou. You're close to here. ”

Ouyang He said: "The forty people you left in the kiln for strict training are of good quality, and many of them are literate and study seriously. It's right to come back and be a cadre, and we don't spend less time working on them. ”

Li Mao said: "I can see that after they came back, they must have learned a lot of things. It's good to have these backbones, do business when you have nothing to do, and rush forward when you have something. ”

In order to bring back the silver from Yangzhou, they also had to get the summer grain that Li Mao and their purchases had to go to Huai'an, and the flat-bottomed steamship returned to Yangzhou with Li Mao. Under Yang Yulin's stubbornness, Zhang Zhimu had no choice but to take Yang Yulin back to Yangzhou and hand over the affairs of Huai'an to Chen Yufeng and Ouyang He. In fact, Huai'an has Liu Yun and them, and Chen Yufeng can't worry a lot.

Zhang Zhimu accompanied Yang Yulin to continue purchasing, Yang Yulin didn't know why she had such a big desire to purchase, as if it was never enough. Zhang Zhimu whispered in Yang Yulin's ear: "When you buy something, it's like being in bed, it's never enough." ”

Yang Yulin rolled her eyes angrily, and saw that someone was following behind, and it was not easy to have a seizure. I could only grit my teeth and say, "Look at when you beg for mercy!" ”

After waiting in Yangzhou for two days, Li Mao bought more than 200 ships of grain, but Li Mao did not let them unload the goods, waiting to return to Huai'an together. After Li Mao bought two more boats of tea seed oil, he and Zhang Zhimu took these more than 200 boats to Huai'an.

At this time, Lu Chengxiang had already returned to Huai'an. As soon as he looked at Lu Chengxiang's face, he knew that something good was going on.

Lu Chengxiang said to Zhang Zhimu: "King Zhou said that this time the grain will definitely not let us lose." When you arrive in Kaifeng, there will be the emperor's reward. The affairs of Xuzhou have been prepared by the Lord, and they have grabbed 90,000 stones of wheat, and I have asked them to load the ship and prepare to go with us. The ore that Mr. Zhang asked for was 5,000 stones of graphite, 5,000 stones of zeolite, and 10,000 stones of apatite. I'll have them ship back five ships of each ore this time. We have to bring our grain back first, and we use too many ships. ”

The 200 boats that came from Yangzhou this time only loaded 400 stone in the canal, and now if the wind is favorable, the water is deep enough to carry 600 stones, and the boatmen are willing to load more, and they all want to earn a little more, and these boats can carry an extra 40,000 stone of grain. Then if you hire another 200 ships in Huai'an, each ship can hold 120,000 stone of grain with 600 stones, so that most of the grain will be transported back, because the 100,000 stone grain for the king of Kaifeng Zhou has been transported. In fact, the last time the shallow boat was loaded with 800 stone of grain, but last time Zhang Zhimu and everyone saw that it was too reluctant and unsafe. To be on the safe side, this time each ship did not exceed six hundred stones.

After deciding these things, Zhang Zhimu and Lu Chengxiang went to Kaifeng first, because there was still an opening ceremony for the Kaifeng branch, and King Zhou also had things to do. Chen Yufeng, who was left here, could move forward after loading the grain, and when they arrived in Kaifeng, they would make peace with Zhang Zhimu.

Zhang Zhimu took a flat-bottomed steamboat to go first this time, because the section from Huai'an to Kaifeng happened to be downwind, and the grain ship did not need to be dragged by a steamboat.

During this time, everyone in Kaifeng Branch, from the manager to the employees, took great pains to rebuild the store very well, and even Lu Chengxiang, who has always been picky, couldn't stop saying yes. Seeing that Zhang Zhimu and Lu Chengxiang had arrived, Wang Jingyu, the manager of the Kaifeng branch, asked: "Are we going to open on a certain day?" ”

Lu Chengxiang said: "The sooner the better, we will go back to the kiln immediately after we finish our work here." ”

Leaving Lu Chengxiang and Wang Jingyu to arrange the opening of the business, Yang Yulin and Yang Yulin, accompanied by Li Jing, came to the palace to meet King Zhou. Of course, when she arrived at the palace, Yang Yulin went directly to see Princess Anping with her things.

King Zhou couldn't be happier when he saw Zhang Zhimu.

However, King Zhou did not forget to do business first and read out the holy decree. Because Zhang Zhimu's kiln gang people defeated Li Zicheng's water army and exterminated the water bandits in Wuluo Lake, the emperor rewarded the kiln gang people and postponed the original tax halving for five years.

After King Zhou read it out and Zhang Zhimu thanked him, the two looked at each other, and they both understood that the emperor had nothing to reward, so this was also a gesture, so that Zhang Zhimu understood that the emperor knew what he did.

After doing this, King Zhou said: "My son's affairs have been arranged, there are more than a dozen people who go to study with him, there are five people who attend classes together, and the other Zhang Dongjia will arrange a house for them in Yaogang, and my son can have a place to go when he is not willing to stay in school." Don't worry, during this period of time, I will ask them to change their words and not to call them their original names. His identity is the son of a wealthy merchant in Kaifeng, and these people are also retinues. ”

Zhang Zhimu actually felt that it was still a bit eye-catching to bring some entourage, but it was not easy for King Zhou to do this, if he didn't have these entourage, King Zhou would not be able to stand it. Zhang Zhimu said: "In the past few days, our branch has an opening ceremony, and after finishing our grain ship, we should go back to Yaogang." When the time comes, the prince, Ou is not right, the prince will come with us. I told people he was the son of a good friend of mine. He will be aggrieved and call me uncle. ”

King Zhou said: "It's all no problem, it's his blessing to have an uncle like you." I want to tell you about that batch of food. I know that you have bought some grain from Guangzhou and Quanzhou, and you have also bought some grain in Yangzhou, so I will pay you a little more grain according to the price of grain you bought in Yangzhou, what do you think? ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "This matter will be done according to King Zhou's instructions." If there is a problem with the opening silver, there is no need to force it. A little less is no problem. ”

King Zhou said: "This is already very sorry for you, Zhang Dongjia, if we go out to buy grain, we can't buy it at this price." How many people in Kaifeng are buying grain outside, but they are all bought back at a high price, and the people of Kaifeng heard that the people of Yaogang suddenly brought 100,000 stone of grain, and the city was full of joy. ”

Zhang Zhimu also knew that in order to go out to grab grain, Li Mao sent people to the grain-producing area early to squat and guard, so that he could grab the grain, otherwise it would be difficult to buy so much grain. However, Zhang Zhimu felt that leaving these grains in Kaifeng, although he didn't earn much, it was worth it to leave a good impression in the hearts of Kaifeng people again. This made Zhang Zhimu think that when he returned to Shanxi, he would also use grain to buy people's hearts. In this way, it not only saved the victims but also won the hearts and minds of the people, which is a great thing that kills several birds with one stone.

The opening ceremony of Kaifeng division of labor company was very grand, and people from all walks of life in Kaifeng sent people to give gifts. King Zhou was even more face-saving, and also sent someone to send a plaque. On the plaque, there are two words "righteous business". This made the whole branch feel very honored.

After two days of feasting, the opening ceremony was over.

Zhang Zhimu still admires the ability of this branch manager Wang Jingyu, this person has a flexible mind, speaks decently, and does things steadily, and is a material that is in charge of his own affairs.

Soon, a clipper sent by Chen Yufeng arrived and informed Zhang Zhimu that the grain ship of the brigade was about to come down.

Zhang Zhimu and others brought King Zhou's prince to the ship together, and Princess Anping also sent everyone to the ship. After Yang Yulin arrived in Kaifeng and entered the palace, she has been with Princess Anping and has not been separated. This time I was reluctant to go to the boat, in fact, Princess Anping also came to send her younger brother, but she couldn't speak in front of outsiders, and when Yang Yulin invited him to her warehouse, her sister and brother spoke.

When the mighty fleet appeared on the Yellow River, Zhang Zhimu and their steamship set sail. Yang Yulin and Princess Anping on the dock held back their tears and waved goodbye.

Zhang Zhimu: They quickly returned to the fleet. After Kaifeng turned westward, there were several sections of the headwind, which used to require a slender man to pull the fiber, but now with a steamship, a string of boats can be towed forward at once, and those who saw the steamship for the first time were eye-opening this time. When the boat crossed the Kaiyuan New River in Sanmenxia, the advantages of the steam ship could be seen even more, in the past, the slender man pulled it over one by one, but the steam boat could drag a string of boats over at a time. The boat that passed first arrived at Tongguan Wharf first. Coincidentally, the two modified steam ships and flat-bottomed boats in Yaogang were also in Tongguan, because they arrived at Tongguan after their trial voyages, and they did not dare to cross Sanmenxia because they did not understand the situation in the lower reaches of Sanmenxia. They heard that their fleets had arrived at Sanmenxia and were crossing the Kaiyuan New River in batches. They also rushed here to participate in the consignment of ships to cross the Kaiyuan New River. With the addition of their two ships, the speed of crossing the ship is much faster.

Zhang Zhimu and others were even more happy to see that two more steamships were put into use.

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Calculus formulas, tables of chemical elements; Conquer Japan in the east and attack Mayi in the south; Penicillin, syringe. --Progress of "Memories of the Southern Song Dynasty".