"This is also my negligence," Chen Zhi sighed, "Because many of the recipes for that poisonous gas fire were matched by the Dao Chief, it made him feel responsible, and now when the details of the situation outside the city gradually came, of course he was dissatisfied, and it was inevitable that he would be unhappy with the Yang family brothers." ”

"This thing, in the final analysis, is from the hand of Taishou, and these thoughts of other people are unacceptable." Su Liao said meaningfully, "In addition, whether it is outside the paper mill recently, or around Chenzhuang, there are many sneaky inquiries, no matter what you know, they are all spies sent by other forces, and they want to understand the reality of our side, especially a few workshops, they are even more difficult to grasp, sweep a batch, and soon another batch will come, going forward and successing, it is overwhelming." ”

"It's so normal!" Chen Zhi was not surprised, "There is such a thing as a fire fence, it is strange that other forces don't care, they will definitely try their best to figure it out, just blocking it, they can't stop them at all." ”

Su Liao turned to sorrow and said: "This is exactly what his subordinates are worried about, the fire is too powerful, and all parties will be suspicious at the moment, and many will attribute it to ghosts and gods, but as time goes by, the truth will definitely be gradually discovered, and when the time comes, the eyes of all parties will be concentrated, and when the time comes, it will really be impossible to prevent it!" ”

"This is all a natural phenomenon, just arrange it, try to ensure that the relevant news is not leaked," Chen Zhi nodded, and then said: "There are a lot of things involved in this fire, which is quite complicated, and different people are in charge, and those who can access it are also strictly controlled, and it will not be leaked easily, if this kind of thing is taken by the frontier tribes, it will be a lot of trouble, but there is no reason to prevent thieves all day long, so we still have to look forward and update new equipment as soon as possible." ”

New devices?

Su Liao's heart suddenly sudden, and he couldn't help but shake his thoughts.

He had already seen the power of the fire and the single-tip cannon, which was amazing, but what other equipment could surpass it?

"No matter how powerful the single-tip cannon is, in fact, the lethality is very limited, at most it plays a frightening role," Chen Zhi saw Su Liao's doubts, "I have emphasized more than once that it is their fear that makes the enemy retreat, whether it is outside this Dai County, or outside the city, or even outside the Daibei Territory, it is the first time to see the single tip cannon and the fire, and it is inevitable to be caught off guard and retreat, this kind of panic spreads among the crowd, causing a morale breakdown, but everything can be one or two, it can scare them once or twice, But once the enemy gets used to it, or is familiar with the effect of the fire, then the degree of frightening will be greatly reduced, so the real weapon must have real lethality! ”

He narrowed his eyes, as if he was telling Su Liao, and as if he was saying to himself: "Only real killing, unavoidable huge impact, can ignore the momentary incentive!" ”

Saying this, Chen Zhi stood and watched for a while, and when Chen Zi also came over, the three of them moved away together and went to the city to meet the Yang brothers who had just arrived.

The mine is also a long time away from the city, and there are horse-drawn carriages along the way, and you can see a lot of farmers coming out to farm, because of the big battle besieging Daijun, the Xianbei people chose to sneak attack and rush forward, in order not to arouse Chen Zhi's vigilance, there was no damage to the crops along the way, plus just experienced summer planting, many fields looked bare, so the loss was not large, these farmers, many of them looked relieved.

However, looking at it, Chen Zhi still asked: "How is the statistics on crop damage?" ”

Chen Zi replied: "I have a general understanding, about 10% of the crops have been damaged, and it will not have much impact on the next year's harvest." ”

"It's still damaged." Chen Zhi nodded, thought about it, and said to Chen Duo, who was waiting outside the car and walking with the car, "Tell me to go down, and the tenant farmers under the name of the Chen family will have their land rent reduced by half this year." ”

"No!" Chen Duo was stunned for a moment, and he had the heart to say something, but in the end he just answered the order.

But Chen Zi couldn't help but say: "Our Chen people, recently come a lot, Chen Zhuang expansion and cost a lot of money and grain, nearly half of it, are borrowed from the Yang family, just waiting for next year, the year after next year to return, now the field rent is reduced by half, this involves too wide, now there are more and more people, even if they belong to different lines, but in the first few years, they have to rely on family wealth to support, which is also a lot of expenses, and now suddenly let the field rent be halved, I'm afraid I can't survive!" ”

Now the Daijun Chen family is beginning to see the beginning, which is based on Chen Zhi as the source, Pengcheng Chen as the backbone, Xiapi Chen as the supplement, and the two Chen converge.

At first, it was only Chen Zhi who proposed the construction, and then the Chen family sent craftsmen and helpers to the Xiapi Chen, which was the first batch of backbones, and then the Pengcheng Chen family sent the population, as the foundation of Chen Zhuang, the Xiapi Chen family sent a few elites to assist in management, but there were not many people to attract, after all, the Chen family is located in Xuzhou, the hinterland of the Central Plains, extending in all directions, even if it has experienced natural and man-made disasters, the living environment is not comparable to the land of Youzhou.

Therefore, those who are really willing to come over are distant relatives who really have no way out at home, as well as some people with relatively low status, many of whom are even like Chen Ju, although they are children of the Chen family, but because of their family's downfall and no background support, they have become family members and the like.

In order to support Chen Zhi, the Pengcheng Chen family has set up a rule, these clansmen who have become family members, as long as they are willing to go to Daijun, then the family will help a part of themselves, but as long as they can make achievements on Chen Zhi's side, or stay for a period of time, they can restore their original hometown.

There was such a temptation that even the war could not stop them.

Of course, some of these people who went north did suffer along the way, and there was no trace of them, but the current situation in Hebei is erosive, don't say that they, even if they are high-ranking officials and nobles, they are hugged from front to back, and there are many servants and guards, they are also likely to fall into the wave of displaced people, and they don't care about Pengcheng.

In this case, the number of Chen family members who have arrived recently is decreasing more and more, but the gathering is more than a small number, and it is also an objective number now, according to Chen Duo's statistics, the Chen family currently living in Chen Zhuang, together with tenant farmers, dependents, and servants, has a trend of more than 3,000 people!

"The daily consumption of so many people is the accumulation of a large amount of money and food, even if a system has been gradually established that can allow the Daijun Chen family to be self-sufficient, but whether it is the construction of the dock fort or the arrangement of personnel, it costs money every moment, and the compensation originally received from the Zheng family has been almost consumed, and now with the Liu family's supplement, I am afraid it will not last too long, if it is not replenished from other aspects as soon as possible, I am afraid that I will have to borrow money from outside."

Chen Zi's words made Chen Zhi nod silently.

At this time, it is not a troubled time, even if the situation in the north is complicated, but further south of Jizhou, the general order still exists, so borrowing money from many people, it is inevitable that they will be controlled by others, out of consideration for the independence of interest groups, Chen Zi or Su Liao, they are not willing to have too many foreign debts, at least they can't recognize one.

Chen Zi said again: "Now, with the completion of the two battles, it is normal for the number of people in the clan to go north to rebound, and there are often letters from the family, no matter what the origin or branch, they will find the main branch of the Chen family, and after some discussion, they will write a letter to us, which is nothing more than to let us arrange it, but these people often have no ability, otherwise when they are in Pengcheng, they will already be able to make a fortune, where do they still use thousands of miles to come here?" The only thing that these people can praise is their guts, but this guts can't be exerted for a while, and if they settle down, they can only consume rice and grain in the first half a month, and they should always save more money and food for emergencies. ”

"I can understand your concerns," Chen Zhi was silent for a moment, and made a decision, "But the accumulation of money and grain, the general saying is to open source and reduce expenditure, and simple throttling is often not effective, and it will fall into a vicious circle of demolishing the west wall and making up the east wall, so the key is open source, I have already made arrangements in this regard, the harvest of the mine, according to the practice of the north, half of it will be attributed to the government, and half will be used as the remuneration for the Chen family's help, of course, the part that is reported to the imperial court is also concealed from the three percent according to the custom!" This can also subsidize the family. ”

Su Liao said with a smile: "To report to the imperial court, you have to take the line of Youzhou, because our county can't directly negotiate with the imperial court, so of course we have to hide more, because there are not many, it is equivalent to being an enemy!" ”

Xinhan's salt and iron franchise and mining bureaucracy were intended to not only collect money, but also to maintain stability, but this effect was almost ineffective in the north, because Wang Jun's family was dominant, and most of the income from the limited mines in Youzhou was intercepted by Wang Jun.

Not to mention, the discovery of this mineral deposit is completely Chen Zhi's use of his own advantages, with hundreds of thousands of years of experience, together with the ability of the sign, this mineral deposit, I don't know how long it will be buried, let alone at this time, almost out of nowhere.

In this case, in order not to be taken by the imperial court, Chen Zhi must report if he has a mine, but the reported money must be controlled, otherwise all of them will become Wang Jun's assets.

"Actually, I'm about to report to Tai Shou about this mine." After Su Liao finished speaking, the words changed, "Youzhou has already sent someone to inquire about the mine, and conveyed Wang Jun's meaning, saying that they intend to take over the business, I don't know how to reply?" ”

If you hand it over, you will definitely not hand it over, as long as Chen Zhi does not leave Daijun, and Wang Jun still dominates Youzhou, it is almost a certainty that the two sides will fight again, but at the moment they are just not ready, and at the same time operate and recover, where can they hand it over? I believe that Wang Jun also knows that it is impossible, but how to refuse also needs a rhetoric.

Chen Zhi said unhurriedly: "Let's just say that this mineral deposit still needs to be explored, if the Youzhou Prefecture has the heart to help, send me some craftsmen over." ”