Chapter 80: Cement and the Bed Crossbow

Wei Hongye continued: "The clothes made were distributed to the displaced people, and after everyone wore them, the response was not bad. Several other cobblers began to try their hand at making leather armor and boots, and it was estimated that after some time they would bear fruit. ”

Wei Hongye finished introducing the things he was responsible for and drank tea. Cui Zhaorong continued: "Let me say a few words, I have organized some women to start feeding chickens, ducks, and pigs, and I have also selected a dozen experienced men from the homeless people to start raising large livestock, and now I have more than 20 cows, more than a dozen horses, and more than a dozen donkeys. ”

Du Dalei stopped fighting with Na Zhe and shouted happily: "Great, you will be able to eat meat after a while!" Think about the taste of braised pork, and you will drool in your dreams! ”

Boris asked Cui Zhaorong: "Steward Cui, is Yantian like this now?" ”

"Very good, more than 100,000 catties of salt have been produced, and the salt pans have also expanded a lot, and when the weather is warm, more salt will come out, and then we will be rich!"

Everyone was very excited, and Zhao Zizhong said: "You should reward the meritorious personnel, Boris, tomorrow you go to Yantian to find out the situation, draw up a list of rewards, and publish it as soon as possible to mobilize the enthusiasm of the displaced people." ”

Boris agreed, Hu Shuiyang stood up and asked, "Mr. Zhao, I have led people to build more than 50 wooden houses, and it is estimated that another six or seven hundred people will be enough to live, do you need to continue to build them?" ”

Zhao Zi thought about it again, "Let's stop first, there is such a big thing in the Cui family, and the next batch of displaced people don't know when they will arrive." ”

"What about the hundreds of people who built houses?"

Cui Zhaorong said with a smile: "It's okay, spring will start soon, these hundreds of people are going to prepare for spring ploughing, leveling the land, and plowing the land, all of which require a large number of people, and I am too few to have a few hundred people!" ”

Hu Shuiyang was a little worried, "Then what am I doing?" I grew up in the city, but I didn't know how to farm. ”

Zhao Zizhong said: "You come to the escort team and help me train them." After the assessment tomorrow, I asked Fan Jinchun to take fifty guards to the Cui family's manor, and An Dalang is not there, and there is a shortage of manpower. ”

Fan Jinchun also stood up, "Mr. Zhao, you let me lead the team?" Can I do it? ”

"There's no problem, you go to the Cui family manor and let An Dalang train them, and I left four guards to let these people help An Dalang, divide these fifty people into four groups, and train them in the Mandarin Duck Formation. You can't relax, you know? ”

Fan Jinchun agreed to come down and sat back in his place. Na Zhe raised his hand and spoke: "Boss, I have an idea, the Cui family has a lot of people this time, most of them have a certain degree of literary accomplishment, and these people can be mobilized to teach the children, so that they don't have nothing to do for a day, and they will be bored after staying for a while." ”

Zhao Zizhong said: "Your idea is good, wait a few days, I will discuss it with Mrs. Cui, I guess she can agree." Another thing is that we have to set up a night school as soon as possible, everyone will work hard, and in the evening we will teach the guards, craftsmen, and homeless people some cultural knowledge and improve their literacy. ”

Du Dalei hurriedly said: "Boss, most of these people are illiterate, this task is difficult enough!" ”

Wei Hongye said confidently: "I have a way, I can tell them, whoever can know a thousand words, the monthly money will rise consistently." They're definitely going to work hard. ”

Everyone nodded and said that this method was good. Zhao Zizhong concluded: "Let's stop here today, everyone go back and have a good rest, and tomorrow we will implement our own things one by one and end the meeting!" ”

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Early the next morning, after the guards came back from running, Fan Jinchun said to everyone: "Any of you who wants to go to Mingzhou will come to line up outside my room for a while, enter the house one by one to sign up, and the people who sign up after breakfast will be assessed, and the first fifty people will be selected and disbanded!" ”

The guards went back to wash up in twos and threes, Fan Jinchun returned to his room, moved a table to the door, prepared paper and pencils, and waited for the guards to sign up.

After a while, a long line formed outside the door. Fan Jinchun began to ask the guards to come in one by one to sign up. After more than an hour, all those who signed up were recorded. He counted eighty-three people in total.

Fan Jinchun took the list to the cafeteria to eat, and when he entered the cafeteria, he saw Zhao Zizhong and Du Dalei eating breakfast. He walked over and handed the list to Zhao Zizhong.

"Mr. Zhao, there are a total of eighty-three people who have signed up, take a look."

Zhao Zi looked through it for a while and returned the list to Fan Jinchun. "In a while, you will preside over the assessment, pick out fifty people, and then take them to Cui's house immediately, the boat will be waiting at the dock, and when you arrive at Cui's house, if you lack any equipment, find An Dalang and ask him to find Cui Daoshu to solve it."

Fan Jinchun was a little apprehensive and asked, "Mr. Zhao, can I do it?" It's better for you to preside, I'll learn from you. ”

Zhao Zizhong encouraged him: "You must be fine, believe in yourself." This time you're going to test one, trail running with weights, and pick out the top 50. There's no need to work on complicated projects, and the sooner the better. ”

After the meal, Fan Jinchun left in a hurry. Zhao Zizhong said to Du Dalei: "The two of us will first go to see the imitation of the bed crossbow, and then go to Lao Wei's kiln factory to have a look." Finally go to the * workshop. ”

The two went out of the cafeteria, found Hu Shuiyang, and asked him to send an escort to lead the two to the bow and crossbow workshop. Hu Shuiyang called a person and asked him to lead the two to the bow and crossbow workshop.

The guards led them out of the camp and into the valley. After walking for about five minutes, we came to a small hill. The terrain is relatively gentle, with a few wooden houses on the hillside, and the open space outside is filled with raw materials such as wood. There were more than a dozen people busy.

Du Dalei walked a few steps quickly and shouted loudly: "Wang Laoshuan, you old thing, I'm back!" How's the bed crossbow being made? ”

A craftsman in his forties stopped working and walked over to greet the two with a smile. Du Dalei introduced: "Boss, he is Wang Laoshuo, who has built a bed crossbow before, and he is a craftsman dug by Cui Daoshu from the Southern Tang Dynasty. ”

Zhao Zi said gently: "Master Wang doesn't have to be polite, you can tell us about the imitation of the bed crossbow." ”

Wang Laozhuan said as he walked with the two of them: "We have made three bed crossbows these days, but due to the shortage of materials, the range is a little short, and the desired effect cannot be achieved. ”

Du Dalei asked curiously: "The range is short, how many can it have?" ”

Wang Laozhuan replied: "According to the standard you set, it can reach about 300 meters, and it can't go any further." ”

Zhao Zi nodded emphatically, it was already good. He said to Wang Laoshuan: "Master Wang, you have done a good job, and we will solve the raw materials as soon as possible." If you can imitate a bed crossbow with a range of about 500 meters, I will reward you with 500 yuan and 10 acres of land each. ”

Wang Laozhuan was excited, and he shouted loudly: "Everyone stop first, come here!" I have something to say. ”

A dozen craftsmen stopped what they were doing and gathered around. Wang Laozhuan announced Zhao Zizhong's reward, and the craftsmen were very excited, and they all said that they would work hard to imitate a qualified bed crossbow as soon as possible and get the reward as soon as possible.

Zhao Zizhong and Du Dalei exchanged with the craftsmen for a while, wrote down the list of urgently needed raw materials, and left the bed crossbow workshop.

The two of them walked out of the valley, and on the way they ran into a team of guards conducting an assessment. The guards all carried a large bag with some sand in it, which weighed about forty pounds. With great difficulty, they moved their legs and ran towards the beach.

Zhao Zizhong saw Zhai Xiaoshan standing on the side of the road, shouting loudly, cheering for the guards. Zhao Zizhong walked over and patted him on the shoulder.

Zhai Xiaoshan looked back and saw Zhao Zizhong, and smiled shyly. Zhao Zizhong asked, "How is it?" It feels good to be the captain, right? ”

Zhai Xiaoshan was a little embarrassed, thought for a while and replied, "Big Chief, I'm still a little unaccustomed. I just want to follow you and listen to your command. ”

Zhao Zizhong smiled and said, "That's not good, you have to take this responsibility." In the future, there will be more and more members of the escort team, and I will be able to do it alone. It is necessary to train a group of qualified captains to share the command power. You have to work hard and become a great general in the future, I am optimistic about you. ”

Zhai Xiaoshan's eyes lit up, and he said with hope: "Leader, you say I can be a general?" I never dreamed of it! If my father and mother knew about it underground, they would be happy, and I could glorify my ancestors! ”

Zhao Zizhong looked at him solemnly, "You still have to read and write, you can't be an illiterate general, you will study with us at night in the future, and you must be a general who is both civil and military." ”

Zhai Xiaoshan ran with the escort team, and the two continued to move forward, walking for more than half an hour, and came to the site of the kiln factory.

There are already seven kilns on the hillside that are smoking, and many people are busy building new mantou kilns. The two walked up the hill and saw Wei Hongye discussing something with a few craftsmen.

Zhao Zizhong walked over and saw a craftsman holding a square object, and said to everyone: "This thing was made of cement a few days ago, and none of us paid attention to it, and after four days, it became extremely its own, like a stone." ”

Several craftsmen leaned over to touch the cement blocks, some of them couldn't believe it. Wei Hongye said: "These are all true, cement is such a magic. We should also keep experimenting to find out the best recipe, and in the future we will need a lot of cement to build a house, build an iron-making furnace, and build a brick kiln. ”

Several craftsmen were excited, repeatedly inspecting the cement blocks. Zhao Zizhong and Du Dalei walked over, "Old Wei, did you get the cement out so quickly?" It's worth celebrating. ”

Wei Hongye turned around and saw the two coming, and said: "The original cement has no technical content, it is ground into powder with limestone and clay, and then put it in the kiln for calcination. Then it can be mass-produced. ”