Zhao Xing saw that they were still shaking the folding fan in this weather, and couldn't help but look at the sky.

It's mid-November, and there are only a few light rains in Shandong, and there is not a single heavy snowfall. To the south of the Yellow River, it was snowing heavily, and the roads were completely closed by heavy snowfall.

"It's not snowing yet, I'm afraid there will still be a big drought next year," Zhao Xing said, looking up at the sky.

Zhang Yong had just returned from Liaodong and was deeply touched by the ice and snow in Liaodong, so he nodded and agreed: "Yes, it's not good to have too much snow, but it's not good to have no snow at all." This time, thanks to our close proximity to the sea, we did not go deep into the interior, and I heard that the stones in the mountains were frozen and cracked - it was cold! It's strange, you say the same sky, why is the climate completely different? We've got all the winter wheat green here. ”

Sooner or later, it will snow in winter, and the return of winter wheat means that if it snows, the winter wheat harvest will be ruined next year. Without this spring harvest, the summer would have been very difficult, and the famine would not have eased until after the autumn harvest.

At this time, the officers were still walking towards the boat in twos and threes, Zhao Xing retracted his eyes looking up at the sky, and asked, "What has been the recent movement in the imperial court?" ”

Zhang Yong replied: "The imperial court has issued an edict to expand the Mizhou regimental training, and at the same time, it is necessary to transfer the Mizhou regimental training to three commanders into the forbidden army. It's very strange that they directly and explicitly asked our Mizhou regiment to train five ships. ”

It is a good thing that the regimental training can skip the level of the box army and directly enter the forbidden army. If it is ordinary, it is estimated that many people will break the relationship between the head and the back door, because in these years, the forbidden army is equivalent to the white-collar workers of multinational enterprises in the Song Dynasty, and the income is more than one level higher than that of the box army and regimental training.

But the transfer of five ships made Zhao Xing a little reluctant, and the original ships of the Mizhou regiment were all hard sailing ships. These boats had already been sold to the locals at a discount by Zhao Xing. Several of the current ships are Zhao Xing's private property, and he is very reluctant to give them to the forbidden army.

Why did the imperial court need no more, no less, exactly five ships? It seems that in the Yingzhou incident. Zhao Xing dispatched five ships, is this a coincidence?

After taking a few quick breaths, Zhao Xing calmed down his mood and asked again, "Is there anything else?" ”

Zhang Yong's attitude seemed to be very difficult, he hesitated for a moment, and said, "That's it, you're about to see those people anyway." Let them tell you for themselves...... Well. The imperial court has issued an edict to set up Rizhao Town, which belongs to Ju County, and takes the meaning of the first light of sunrise. In addition, the imperial court allowed us to set up a water village in Wankou, and ordered the fishing village in Wankou to be upgraded to a place and named Linhai Town. ”

Linhai Town, the name is very uncreative.

The imperial court successively set up Rizhao Town and Linhai Town, and it seems that the imperial court is in full swing to prepare for the promotion of Mizhou Shiyi. Upgrade the town of Banqiao. In this way, the three places need a group of officials and officials, and this is a good opportunity for the equivalent of "generals" who have the treatment of court officials.

Zhao Xing saw Zhang Yong's embarrassed attitude, and his eyes rolled to understand the other party's difficulty. He blurted out: "Are those officers unwilling to leave the regimental training and enter the forbidden army...... That's a good thing. Why, they won't go? I understand. They saw that the Mizhou Navy had a lot of money, so they refused. ”

"Of course, after so many years of hard work, I see that I am going to make a fortune with the regimental training, but I have to enter the forbidden army, take the dead money every day, and it is possible to transfer to other places to guard, such as Hebei and Hedong...... Who is impatient to die? ”

"Get on the boat first, let's finalize today's matter", Zhao Xing urged, on the boat, Deng Yufu was already standing at the mouth of the gangplank, nodded slightly here, and signaled that everyone had arrived.

In Zhao Xing's luxuriously decorated cabin, there were not enough chairs in the cabin, so many officers sat on the ground, they stroked the soft Arabic carpet, and scolded softly while slugging: "It's really enjoyable to sign the judgment, and when Lao Tzu has money, he will also buy such a carpet, and if it is not spread elsewhere, it will be made in the bedroom." When I was interested, I grabbed a servant girl and rolled on the ground, but it was comfortable. ”

Zhao Xing took Zhang Yong and Deng Yufu into the cabin, and those people sat up slightly straighter to greet the three chiefs. Zhao Xing asked Zhang Yong to sit as chairman, but Zhang Yong postponed it, he took off his boots, also sat on the carpet, and asked while patting the carpet: "Liren, where did you buy this thing, is there anything sold in Banqiao Town, I will also buy one." ”

Zhao Xing glanced down at the carpet and quoted a price that made Zhang smack: "Fifteen hundred yuan." ”

The officers were silent. Zhao Xing sat down behind his desk, and several Israelis entered with account books, he cleared his throat and said: "Let me introduce the situation first, we have already traded with the Jinzhou Navy twice, and now the snow is covering the mountain, and the Jurchen Jiawen brothers still have 3,000 horses there, which are waiting to be sold." The Jinzhou navy had horses, furs, and some gold tools.

At the time of the second transaction, we had agreed that the goods would be temporarily transferred to a small island outside Jinzhou, which was uninhabited, and I named it Juehua Island. The sea water on this island freezes in winter, only there is an ocean current on the west side, which is not frozen, but the cliff on the west side is high, and it is not easy for boats to lean up. I made an agreement with the Jinzhou side: In the spring of next year, the Jinzhou Navy will think of building a wharf there. From now on, this will be our trading point.

Here's what I intended: My Mizhou Navy has two commanders, and all five of them are in command. On the 25th of every month, they go out to patrol the sea, and while training the navy, they sail to Kyaw Hua Island. Stay there for three days, then return after the transaction, still in five days, for a total of thirteen days. The next fleet happened to be on the 10th of each month, still five days of training, three days of landing on the island, and five days of return. Then, there will be a two-day holiday.

According to this plan, we need at least five fleets, one fleet to go to Juehua Island; A fleet of vessels is to maintain normal patrols near the mouth of the bay; The two fleets are stationed in Banqiao Town at all times, and they are always on standby; The other group is in the Bohai Sea, monitoring the coastal movements of Goryeo and Jurchen. Why monitor the Jurchen Coast...... Hehe, saying that I'm afraid that they will snitch you is lying to you, but in fact I don't want them to meddle in our business, and besides, I want to do business in both countries with our permission.

Why, you guys see money from here too? Well, I planned it like this: five fleets. Rotated semi-monthly. Five ships were dispatched each time to do the first phase of Jinzhou trade, the first phase of bay mouth patrol duty, the first phase of Goryeo Sea patrol, and the first phase of water village to stay. Do a holiday. Five shifts take turns, and one shift is exactly five and a half months.

As for the income from the operating area, I calculated it like this, one at a time a subordinate led the team, dispatched one-fifth of the people, and rotated five times. I need you to figure out how to distribute the proceeds. But I have one principle: every time I go to Haiti, the goods are profitable. We need to hand over two percent, and the part handed in, half of it is used to deal with the officials of the state and the government, half of it is reserved for the purpose of raising the army, and one percent is divided equally between me and the regimental training to make the adults.

In addition, there is the matter of summoning the utility to set off with the fleet. Who doesn't have three relatives and six reasons, and the utility follows us, and those relatives who don't have a boat to go to sea, they have to allow other relatives to get together. Take a kick. Therefore, with the amount of utility brought by the ship, and how many utility ships are brought each time, we need to negotiate an amount, how to distribute this amount, and we also need to negotiate a rule.

Finally, there is the transaction part: I have made an agreement with the Jinzhou Water Army. The Jinzhou side came forward by Xuanqi. On our part, we are happy people. I will send a person to be in charge of each fleet, and all transactions must be completed by him - the goods must be registered by him, and the price of the transaction can be negotiated by both parties. But in the end, the deal must be done in front of the palm.

In other words, the transaction between us can only be completed in the presence of the prayer and my palm. Otherwise, his goods are forbidden to be on board, and who dares to pull his goods out to sea - please be considerate, we are doing illegal business, and if there is a violation of the rules, it will be a scourge, and I will not allow him to go to the informant, and if he is not polite, he will be directly put into a sack and sink into the sea. ”

Twenty percent of the tax on goods at a time, which is heavier than the tax levied by the city's shipping department, but thinking that this is a smuggling business, in which the land is very profitable, and whoever takes the fleet out can also carry some private goods, the officers thought about it for a while, and immediately agreed to this amount, and then they discussed it enthusiastically.

After some haggling, all the interests are balanced. An internal spoils distribution agreement was reached. These include the allocation of cargo holds on board, the amount of money for utility ships, and the amount of dependents that can be carried on each ship...... Then came the selection of the deacons.

The people who are now involved in the distribution of the spoils may not always stay at their posts, and Zhao Xing and Zhang Yong are like this, so it is necessary to select a few people to preside over this work to ensure the long-term prosperity of the smuggling business of the Mizhou regimental training - of course, it also includes the inheritance and resale of the shares of the withdrawing personnel, and the corresponding system.

The agreement stipulates that if there is a transfer or promotion among the people present, his share must be given up, of course, not in vain, others must buy this share from him, but he also has the right to retain a certain amount of shares, which is discussed and decided by everyone; When the deacon hall members retire, they will receive a severance pay, and they will also receive a salary when they are in office, and this salary will be withdrawn from the profits of the trade, and the amount of withdrawal will be ......

After the agreement was reached, all the people were hungry, and Zhao Xing went on to talk about the most important point: "Okay, regarding the types of goods, we also need to make a charter - we are all Song people, and we must have a Song people's consciousness, some things can be smuggled, but some things can't, such as weapons, armor, nationality, drawings, and craftsmen."

In addition, there should be restrictions on food, so that they do not starve to death, and exchange the least amount of food for the maximum profit. Therefore, I think that whoever traffics in food, our navy will collect ten times the tax. Anyone who traffics more than a certain amount of money will be killed. Make another commandment. I want you to make a list of prohibitions - we are doing illegal work, so we can't allow others to make mistakes and go to the government to report them...... Rules are iron laws, and once the rules are set, they must be strictly followed, because once the rules are broken, no one here can guarantee their benefits. Therefore, those who break the rules are the mortal enemies of all of us, and there is only one way to deal with such people: the only death penalty. ”

Zhao Xing's last few words attracted everyone's unanimous agreement, and after the agreement was agreed, Zhao Xing talked about the matter: "There is an edict under the imperial court, and my Mizhou regiment will train three soldiers to command, all three of whom are in command, and five ships will be selected from among the people present. I know people don't want to go, but someone has to go...... Let's just vote, and we will choose from among those present, and we will compensate the chosen one thousand.

Well, it's urgent. It's freezing in Jinzhou. They are waiting for us to come over and transport the grain, and we will quickly select it, and the people behind are still waiting to go to sea. ”

Zhao Xing said, still Zhang Yong said: "Master Guan Jun and I need to rush back to Mizhou to deal with some things, and this cabin will be left to you today." Everyone has a lot to play, but in the end, you need to complete all the tasks you have been told. I still have something to do, so let's go first. ”

Leaving the noisy officers to elect three unlucky guys, Zhao Xing took Zhang Yong all the way back.

Zhang Yong was demoted to Beijing, he stayed in Mizhou for a period of time, and did nothing, but waited for Zhao Xingyi to come. made the Mizhou regimental training in full swing. As a martial artist, Zhang Yong originally had an inferiority complex when he saw a civil official, and he had also served small and low in front of Zhao Xing before, so he had no consciousness of a five-grade chief official in front of Zhao Xing, so he let Zhao Xing lead his nose. Anyway, he knew that Zhao Xing would not harm him, and he would make a lot of money by following Zhao Xing.

Speaking of which, he didn't lose anything by doing this, and it only took a few months of hard work to put more than 10,000 pieces into his pocket. In addition, the new atmosphere of Mizhou's group training also won him a lot of respect, so this guy just collected money, and the whole group training was pushed 625, like a rubber stamp.

Zhao Xing hurried home. Zhang Yong walked all the way and touched his chin on the horse. pondering what happened just now: "Leaving people, it seems that sea trade is very profitable." Do you say that I should also buy a ship, fill it with utility, five fleets, the current ship is not enough, far from enough, as a Mizhou group training, I can't help but worry about Mizhou. Ah, with a ship, there is no cargo to load, and you can earn more than young and old just by renting out space...... It's a pity that there were no sailors. ”

Zhao Xing shook his head on the horse and replied: "I can help you: Mizhou is going to send five ships into the forbidden army, and I am also worried about this matter, I plan to buy five hard sailing ships from Quanzhou to replenish the number, and as for the sailors, they are also temporarily hired from the Quanzhou wharf - yes, wet lease." This is called wet rent, and we rent it with people and boats, and we provide management. ”

Zhang Yong shook his head and said, "Rent a boat, preferably the kind of soft sailing boat that sails towards you, I see that kind of boat is extremely fast when the wind is downwind...... It's still the kind of boat that is pleasing to the eye. ”

"That's not good, it takes a lot of skill to operate a soft sailboat, the captain can do it without a sailman on a hard sailboat, the sail master of a soft sail needs to be trained for at least five years, or even fifteen years, and a ship needs more than one sailman. The boatmen on my boats have been trained with great effort, and this kind of person is not easy to find...... However, there are also boats in Quanzhou, and there are many idle sailors on the ships of the Domain. Well, hiring them for part-time jobs is also a solution. ”

After the foreign ships entered the Great Song Dynasty, they had to wait for the monsoon to go back, and during the waiting time, those foreign sailors happened to be fine, and they could be hired to work for a short time. These Fanlao enter Mizhou, as long as the sea trade is profitable, Zhao Xing will no longer prohibit the utility to go to the sea, and there will be many Mizhou idlers to learn sailing skills from Fanlao...... What that saying goes, demand, is more productive than ten universities.

After that, as long as Zhao Xing maintained the profits of maritime trade, Mizhou, a province with a large population, would spontaneously become his base for training sailors.

When he entered Mizhou City, Zhao Xing had already calculated properly, and he walked towards his house with confidence. The wives and concubines in the mansion had already received the news and greeted them at the door, and after Zhao Xing entered the mansion, Cheng Azhu took Zhao Xing's cloak reservedly, and Chen Yiyi unceremoniously threw herself into Zhao Xing's arms, coquettish. Liao Xiaoxiao was not qualified to come in front of her, so she had to stand beside Cheng Azhu and frequently flashed her eyes at Zhao Xing.

"Come and come, take a bath with me", Zhao Xing greeted affectionately.

"Boom!" Cheng Azhu scolded lightly: "It's not serious." ”

Yi Yi was pleased: "Really! ”

Sure enough, Cheng Azhu pulled Chen Yiyi over and saluted solemnly: "When the officials go home from the battle, the concubine will not be disturbed, just wait in the pavilion." ”

Liao Xiaoxiao hurriedly greeted him as he wished: "The slave is waiting for the father-in-law." ”

"Okay, okay", Zhao Xing snickered, hugged Xiaoxiao, and walked quickly to the bathroom. Lying in Bixia Pavilion, the lazy floor baking people wanted to sleep, Cheng Azhu knelt beside Zhao Xing, happily pouring tea and making up wine, Chen Yiyi held the account book and reported to Zhao Xing: "After Da Lang left, the small things have been disposed of, and now there are glass-burning people in Mizhou." According to the big man's plan, those women got married, and a few of them had their own friendships and were ready to go home sooner or later.

The textile machine transported from Hangzhou has been stored in the warehouse, and 300 looms have been assembled in the past few days. I'm going to divide those hired weavers into three groups. A group of 300 people do weaving, and among these 300 weavers, one weaves silkworms, one weaves cotton, and the other tries to spin wool.

I'm going to have the other two hundred people work on hides. We will get a steady stream of animal skins from Liao, which is a big job, and it is also an entry for them to process animal skins into clothes. I haven't figured out the use of the other 500 people yet, Lang Jun thinks if he wants them to make glass, or does he have other plans? ”

"Making glass is a man's business, but a woman's business. The five hundred let them spin the canvas. Ready-to-wear canvas will definitely sell well in the future, and there will be too many places to use it in the future, and ready-to-wear will be well done, and the workshop can accommodate 500 people. ”

Liao Xiaoxiao pouted beside her, she couldn't interject, she wanted to drum up some industry by herself, but what she was best at singing and dancing was, and she couldn't think of what she should do......

After Zhao Xing came back this time. The Mizhou regiment is rich, and it operates like a full-winding machine. Duzuoyuan was busy processing Mizhou stone, and those young people from Yingzhou who were abducted occupied the barren mountain that produced cold water stones, established a large kiln and began to calcinate lime.

Most of the Mizhou youth group training began to recruit friends to set up boats to go to sea, and conscientiously "patrol and practice" at sea. Their enthusiasm to participate in training is so strong. So much so that a dozen or even hundreds of people pooled their money to buy a big ship for themselves. and cry and shout to go to sea. Countless people went around the bend to climb relatives with Mizhou's group training, and countless veterans who had never married in their lives also had a Hun family in the blink of an eye, and there were countless "relatives" overnight after the original lonely group training......

And the women were mobilized. The next day, a new type of spinning machine was distributed to the weavers, the advanced spinning machine introduced to China by Huang Daopo in the late Southern Song Dynasty, which could increase the yield of a person by twenty-five times.

Then there was the old man, these Mizhou regiments were trained to eliminate the soldiers, that is, the "leftovers" called by the imperial court were pulled to Linhai Village, they each allocated a piece of sea field, with freshly fired lime and gypsum, built a cement salt pond of about 1,000 acres on the seaside, and many people also set up fences on the sea, and began to carry out net shrimp farming, or kelp farming under the guidance of people sent by Zhao Xing......

The work done by the old people was not physically heavy, but in this era, the salt tax was very heavy, and ordinary people took salt as a luxury. With the strong protection of the Mizhou regimental training, their income has gone up. Towards the end of the year, many lonely and helpless "leftovers" brought their newly married Hunjia family to visit Zhang Yong and Zhao Xing, and they were full of gratitude to these two people from the bottom of their hearts.

According to the regulations: half of the production of Yantian must be owned by the group training, which allows the children who cannot find work in the group training for a while to enjoy a benefit in vain. As a result, Zhao Xing's reputation in Mizhou was unprecedentedly high, not only was the group training fully grateful to him, but even the people of Mizhou were full of good feelings for the new group training envoys and judges. Of course, those former regimental trainers who were elected to the forbidden army were also full of chagrin at their departure from Mizhou, but they were not upset for long. Because Zhao Xing is a landlord who is very good at oppressing, he can't tolerate idlers in his eyes.

Soon, even the women and elders in the families of the regimental training were motivated, first of all the children, who were organized into special schools for preparatory exercises. The idlers who had nothing to do in the regimental training were whipped and driven by Zhao Xing, and the official roads from Linhai Village to Banqiao Town, Banqiao Town to Mizhou City, and Mizhou City to Dengzhou were renovated. Of course, Zhao Xing's salary is also very generous. But the hardships of those days are not something to envy.

Soon after, there were no idlers in the Mizhou regimental training, and when they entered the regimental training camp, even the old people and children shook a spindle yarn in their hands, and groups of children were made up and trained, walking in a queue on the playground, and in addition, there were bursts of drums from the camp.

Since his return, Zhao Xing has been camping headlong in the camp, practicing his musicians for eight hours a day, just like the modern 9-to-5 office man.

During his departure, Li Yuan and Chen Gongchuan came to Mizhou to see him, but because they couldn't wait for him to come back, they left early. When he left, he left behind the musician he had brought with him. After that, two more teams of musicians came from Vietnam and Japan. This makes Zhao Xing's singing and dancing team even larger.

Training singing and dancing, Liao Xiaoxiao is the best, the only regret is that Li Zhiyi ran away, after he got a generous Cheng Yi from Zhao Xing, he went to Jinan to find his brother Li Zhichun. When Zhao Xing came back, he gave the brothers ten horses and a horse boy, and Li Zhichun gave Xie there, but Li Zhiyi didn't even say a word back. It is said that this guy went out with a group of literati to enjoy the mountains and rivers in the winter. Fortunately, Li Zhichun promised to come to Michigan on Chinese New Year's Eve, and he could meet it at that time.

After these tasks were over, another three or five days passed, and on this day, Zhao Xing finally encountered a leisure day and planned to sleep lazy, but was woken up by Cheng Azhu in the early morning.

"Officials, officials, it's snowing heavily, wake up quickly", Cheng Azhu asked urgently.

"It's snowing", Zhao Xing stretched his waist and said, "It's cold and it's just time to sleep, and let me ......"

Cheng Azhu took a pair of new shoes and a pair of new socks in his hand, and shook Zhao Xing tightly: "Official, this is a new sock made by the slave family, try it quickly." ”

Chen Yiyi also stretched out his face from the side, holding a pair of new socks in his hand, and handed them over like a treasure: "Brother Xing, this is my share, can you try it?" ”

Zhao Xing woke up suddenly, his eyes swept away, and sure enough, he saw Liao Xiaoxiao also standing at the end of the bed, holding a pair of new shoes and socks in his hand, and winked at him frequently with a smile. Zhao Xing wiped his face and said, "Oh, I forgot, today is the winter solstice." ”

19th November of the Year of the Rabbit in the lunar calendar, Ding Mao Day of the Year of the Rabbit, Thursday of December 1087, Winter Solstice.

The winter solstice was a festival in the Han Dynasty, similar to the modern Spring Festival, when people only celebrated the winter solstice on the first day of the first lunar month. In modern times, Westerners have kept this holiday to this day and renamed it "Christmas".

According to the ancient rites, on the day of the winter solstice festival, women should offer shoes and socks to the head of the family, which is the meaning of "shoeing long" as the ancients said. It means that it is a year older. In the Song Dynasty, women's winter solstice "tribute socks" were used to celebrate the "Yiyang Jia Festival" and "welcome blessings and practice long".

The ancients believed that the winter solstice was the day when the yang energy began to move, and there was also an important festival on this day: the first master of Shi Cai.