Chapter Seventy-Nine: Xiurong Buys Land

Chen Yufeng asked, "What else is wrong with me?" Zhang Zhimu said: "What about you and Sister-in-law Xu." Isn't that leather vest of yours a gift? You think I don't know. ”

"That doesn't mean anything." Chen Yufeng said.

"Come on, Sister-in-law Xu, I care about your affairs, and my eyes are bright when I mention your sister-in-law Xu. I've been asking you about it. Zhang Zhimu said.

"What you say is true?" Chen Yufeng asked.

Zhang Zhimu knew that people like Chen Yufeng would not have soft hands when they went into battle to kill the enemy, but when they encountered this kind of thing, if no one broke it for them, the two of them would die, and no one would say it themselves. Zhang Zhimu and Huang Yukun both said that they were done, and their affairs were done. Just talk about things for Chen Yufeng and Sister-in-law Xu. Originally, Zhang Zhimu wanted to talk about Chen Yufeng in the future, but today, that's it, so he just said it.

Zhang Zhimu said: "I can still talk nonsense about this. Huang Yukun and I have agreed that when our business is done, we will discuss the business of the two of you. It's just that the two children have to talk about it. ”

Chen Yufeng said: "Not yet, I still have one thing on my mind." When you're free, you come with me to a place and talk about my thoughts. ”

Zhang Zhimu said, "Okay. Uncle Chen, you said, Li Jing, did they arrive a long time ago? It turned out that as soon as the fleet entered the Fen River, Li Jing took two people ashore, and the three of them rode horses to return to Yaogang to deliver letters. It is essential to get the family to prepare early.

Zhang Zhimu and they have been gone for more than two months, and the kiln gang is also very busy during this time.

According to Zhang Zhimu's request, Li Yunhe built another 100 muskets, and each of them was equipped with 100 rounds of ammunition and 100 shotguns. Then he began to build a steel spring carriage. Before leaving, Li Yunhe asked Zhang Zhimu how many steel spring carriages he needed to make, and Zhang Zhimu said: "The rebuilt steel spring carriage is ready to be made into commodities and sold out." Do as much as you can. However, it is important to ensure quality and also be cost-conscious. Minimize the cost of construction. And told him about the concept of the assembly line. He said: "Now, there is no condition to engage in any assembly line, you can engage in division of labor, for example, the casting is specialized in casting, the forging is specialized in forging, and the lathe is specialized in lathes." In this way, each job is fixed, and the workman will become more and more proficient, and practice makes perfect. Productivity will also increase. If there are not enough people, you can recruit again. Li Yunhe really arranged for everyone to work according to Zhang Zhimu's method, and the workers were also happy, because it was easy to make mistakes without worry. The drier you get, the better you get, and the faster you dries. Li Yunhe also adopted the method of rewarding a little piece according to what Zhang Zhimu said. As a result, the workers are more and more energetic, and even try to save rest time. In the end, it can almost average one car a day, and the quality is better, even the consistency that Zhang Zhimu said is better. The yard soon couldn't be put down, and there was no way, so I had to put the car up. The workers are building a carriage, Li Yunhe's side, according to Zhang Zhimu's sketch, began to develop a four-wheeled carriage for passengers, this kind of four-wheeled carriage is the back two wheels are larger than the front two, the front even a wheel that is load-bearing and has a guiding role, because it is load-bearing, the horse is directly liberated, no need to bear the load, as long as the forward pull and the left and right steering control direction can be, because it is a four-wheel, the ups and downs of the body when the horse steps will not let the car also rise and fall together, so that the car is more stable. Li Yunhe digested Zhang Zhimu's design principle, and added his own improvements, so that the spring of the car is softer, and it is a single reed. He also worked with Lu Wenchen to study and improve the carriage designed by Zhang Zhimu, so that the carriage was easy to make, and it was more convenient to get on and off the train. Li Yunhe rolled the drawn steel wire into a spring, tied it together with a cowhide rope, put several layers of quilts on it, tied it up, and breaded a whole piece of cowhide on top. Polished the cowhide until it was shiny, rubbed it with butter again, and wiped it with a cotton cloth. There are spring sofas as seats, and the outside of the car is painted with a layer of fuchsia paint. The inside of the car is painted milky white. A piece of Mongolian felt was placed in the footsteps of the carriage. The carriage windows have sliding windows made of thin wooden planks that can be easily opened and closed, and curtains are made of double silk. The whole car looks magnificent. During the test drive, the children had to get on the bus, and Li Yunhe said that they could only come up after washing their feet and putting on new socks. The children scrambled to run back. After the test car, the children said that they didn't want to get down, and Xiaohu said that they would sleep in the car at night. There was no way, Li Yunhe had to invite Huang Yukun to come, and the children reluctantly left the car. The people from Yaogang came to see the new carriage, and Huang Yukun said to Li Yunhe: "If my brother knows, you may not be very happy to make such a good car." ”

Zhang Zhimu: They came and went in the wind and rain outside, and the people in the kiln gang were not at ease, and they were thinking about them every day. Fortunately, Fan Chengkun came back and brought back a little news, every time Fan Chengkun went to Tongguan, he could bring back good news. The news of the establishment of a store in Xuzhou was reported to Tongguan and returned to Yaogang through Fan Chengkun.

Li Jing and the three of them only rest for a short time every day, and they want to rush back to the kiln as soon as possible so that the family can prepare early. When the three of them arrived at the kiln, they were all supported and dismounted. Seeing Li Jing come back, Huang Yukun's heart was about to jump out. When Li Jing took a breath and said, Zhang Zhimu's fleet had entered the Fen River and was about to arrive. Huang Yukun's heart calmed down. He knew that at least the least of them had returned safely. As for how much she got back, she didn't care. He was very confident that his brother would definitely bring back amazing news. But up and down the kiln, there was jubilation. Originally, Zhang Zhimu sent a message back to say that he invited a lot of people back in Jiangnan this time, and he was afraid that the house at home would not be enough, so he asked Huang Yukun to send someone to charter a better inn in Xiurong City first, don't be afraid of spending money. Mrs. Cai said beside her: "You don't need to pack any inn, during this time, Li Yunhe often sent people back to the courtyard of my dart bureau to see, and now no one has come to ask, just don't let my family show up there first, it's no big problem."

Here, Li Yunhe arranged for someone to go to the cave and open the entrance of the cave to allow the cave to be well ventilated. When the food comes back, it will be put there. Li Yunhe also contacted a lot of horses, and prepared that as soon as Zhang Zhimu and them arrived at the wharf, they would put all the rented horses on the steel spring carriage and go to the wharf to pull goods together.

Zhang Zhimu's fleet, puffing up the sails, went upstream. There are two stops on the way, one stop is Fenzhou and the other stop is Jinyang (Taiyuan Province). After the boat stopped, Zhang Zhimu sent people to contact local officials and donated 10,000 stone of rice to the victims. At this moment, the kiln gang people are famous. On the wharf is a sea of people to see the fleet of Yaogang, all of which are legendary, our Ming Dynasty has been in drought for many years, and this Yaogang merchant bought rice from Annan to relieve the difficulties of our Shanxi people, which is really amazing. This is not only a battle of righteousness and wealth, but also a hero, who is thousands of miles away and kills all the way back.

At this time, it was the time when the green and yellow crops were scarce, and Zhang Zhimu's rice really solved the big problem. Every governor personally went to the dock to thank him. Before arriving at Lingshui Wharf, Zhang Zhimu also sent someone to ride a horse to inform Xiurong Zhixian that he wanted to donate 10,000 stone of rice to his hometown fathers. After Xiurong Zhixian received the letter, he was overjoyed, and went to Lingshui Wharf overnight to meet the fleet. Shanxi is now in a severe shortage of grain, and someone suddenly donated 10,000 stone of grain, which is a big deal. When they arrived at the wharf, Zhang Zhimu and Xiurong Zhixian exchanged pleasantries for a while, and asked the mule and horse convoy brought by Zhixian to transport the grain away first. Zhixian doesn't know what to say, thank you. Before leaving, the magistrate told him that the king of Jin asked you to meet him when he returned.

Zhang Zhimu knew that getting these rice back would save a lot of people, and he was very relieved. Even the brethren who had returned with them on the ship felt that the expedition was worth it. Seeing Li Yunhe's tired face and emaciated, Zhang Zhimu was a little distressed, and he didn't know what to say, so he punched him in the past. Many people next to him are a little hot-eyed, and there are probably not many people who can make Mr. Zhang treat him like this.

When he saw Li Yunhe pulling two four-wheeled carriages, Zhang Zhimu circled around, and sat on the car again, feeling that Li Yunhe's car had far exceeded his imagination. Zhang Zhimu attached to Li Yunhe's ear and said, if you cut the ripe snow-white lambskin and make it into a chair cushion, it will look more classy. Li Yunhe said: "Yes, yes, I'll get it when I go back." Zhang Zhimu looked at the fifty steel spring carriages he had seen again, and the workmanship was more exquisite than before, and said: "Yunhe, you didn't disappoint me, the car is getting better and better." I saw the new gun you gave Fan Chengkun, and it is getting better and better. ”

Lu Chengxiang came over and said: "Now there are two large courtyards at the wharf, I think some goods, such as silk and the like, can be put here first, and the conditions here are better than returning to the kiln." Because there are ready-made rooms here. Zhang Zhimu said: "Mr. Lu is right, you divide a point, and those goods are arranged here." Don't live in the place where the goods are placed, let Fan Chengkun arrange the people on duty, and there can be no mistakes. I think it's better to arrange the car first, send the people to Xiurong first, and then we will arrange to transport the goods. ”

After the people are gone, the first thing is food. A lot of carriages were hired on the dock and sent directly to the cave where Li Yunhe and his people had already packed up. After transporting the grain, other goods were transported, and the goods were transported for more than two days. Zhang Zhimu said goodbye to Fan Chengkun, left the dock, and went straight to the kiln. When they arrived at Yaogang, Huang Yukun and others led the children and waited on the side of the road. After Zhang Zhimu kissed the children one by one, he learned from the experience of the last time and took the initiative to take out all the children's gifts. Like the big conch of the South China Sea that can blow loudly, all kinds of colorful shells, all kinds of toys everywhere. There are also silk bamboo flutes in the south of the Yangtze River, etc., and then simply say hello to Huang Yukun, and go to the cave. In front of the cave door, Li Yunhe had already led people to erect a tall watchtower with wooden poles. The cave was cleaned inside and out. The grain is stacked in a stack, and it is stacked very neatly. Huang Yukun said: "If you eat it yourself, you won't be able to finish it for a lifetime." Zhang Zhimu said: "Of course, with these grains, we are much more at ease." ”

Li Yunhe said that this place is warm in winter and cool in summer, and there is still ice in the cave below. When Zhang Zhimu heard this, he asked, "Where is it?" How much ice is there? Li Yunhe said that it was in the innermost part of the hole below, and there was a large piece, and it looked like it was about to melt. Zhang Zhimu said that no one should move this piece of ice, I have a lot of use.

When leaving the cave, Zhang Zhimu said to Liu Yun: "Most of our goods are here, and we must arrange competent people to guard here." Liu Yun said: "There is a squad here, ten musketeers, all wearing **, no one is allowed to enter the cave without permission, I have already arranged it." ”

On the way back, Huang Yukun said, "There is something waiting for you when you go back." The eldest brother Liu Mantang came to me and said that his son had brought a letter back and asked them to go to Zhangjiakou, and the house here wanted to be sold. Now seeing that we are doing well, he asks me if I can buy it, we don't want it, he is looking for someone else. I said I'll wait until you get back. He's been waiting for a reply. Zhang Zhimu said: "You can settle this matter, and you still have to wait for me." ”

As he spoke, he arrived at the door, and Liu Mantang was waiting at the door. Zhang Zhimu hurriedly let him into the house, and the two sides were polite. Liu Mantang said: "Presumably, the sister of the Huang family has already told you about this, I heard that you came back to ask for the letter." Zhang Zhimu said: "Brother Liu, if there is any difficulty, let's talk about it." Maybe I can help Big Brother. Yukun has lived with you as a neighbor for all these years, and you have helped her a lot, so if there is any difficulty, we will think of a way together, and we will get through it. Guilty of selling houses and land. Liu Mantang said: "Brother, you don't know, my family has more than 30 acres of land written on this document, when my grandfather was filing in the government when he was doing the paperwork, because it was a mountainous area, the land was too thin, and the tax was set at four acres and one acre. The tax of the Ming Dynasty is one mu and one bucket of grain. My family's land is four acres and a bucket of grain. In fact, my family has been cultivating wasteland, and now it actually has sixty or seventy acres. However, there was a major drought for several years. There is no tax or grain in the fields. The two families who rented my land had difficulty making ends meet, and they didn't pay any rent. They've been tenants for many years, and I can't say anything. Last year, I sold all my family's livestock and barely paid my taxes. I was expecting to get better this year, but there was a big drought, and last month another wave of locusts swept away all the crops. I can't help it this fall. My son sent a letter and said, don't plant this land, let's all go to Zhangjiakou. Zhang Zhimu asked: "In this year of catastrophe, can't the imperial court reduce some of it?" ”

"Ahem, I asked, but they said, 'When you had a good harvest, why didn't you pay more.'" Do you see that this is human talk? Zhang Zhimu smiled bitterly and said: "I really want to live with Brother Liu as a neighbor, since I say so, Brother Liu, how much do you want this house to sell." ”

"Do you think this is good, I know that the land is not worth much now, so we will calculate it according to the thirty-five pours on the title deed paper, and pour two taels of silver per penny. The houses on the gang are all mine, except for the Huang family's sister's. My family's land is north to the back of the kiln, west to the Xiaoling River, south to the loess ditch, and east to the foot of the mountain. This range is all my family's. For the rest, you see how much money you give. Zhang Zhimu said: "Brother Liu, it's easy to talk about money, I will never let my eldest brother suffer." You go back first, and we will discuss it again, and we will definitely give you a satisfactory answer. Zhang Zhimu asked Huang Yukun to take a bag of rice and something for the child to eat, and sent Liu Mantang out. Huang Yukun came back, there was no one else in the house at this time, Zhang Zhimu hugged Huang Yukun in his arms, and the two hugged tightly at once, without saying anything. After waiting for a while, Zhang Zhimu began to kiss Huang Yukun. The two kissed passionately for a while, and Huang Yukun pushed Zhang Zhimu away and said don't let people see it. Zhang Zhimu asked Huang Yukun at this time: "It's a good thing that we bought all this, you see how much money is appropriate for the Liu family." "It is said that this land is not worth much now, it is not worth this silver, and everyone knows that whoever has land in their hands will lose money, and there is no silver in the good land over there, not to mention that he is all hillside land here." Huang Yukun said.

Zhang Zhimu said: "For the sake of the old neighbors, let's not care, fortunately, now we are not short of silver." Cover it all up, and give him a hundred taels. So we can plan this place well and start construction. Huang Yukun said: "Okay, Brother Liu's family is going to faint." I'll go to those two houses and deliver some food. Tell them that we bought the land, so that they can rest assured that they will not lose it. Zhang Zhimu especially appreciates Huang Yukun's kindness and carefulness. Originally, after the business was finished, Zhang Zhimu still wanted to kiss Huang Yukun. But Huang Yukun pushed the door and left.