Chapter 72: Supporting the Troops and Respecting Themselves (3)

Zhao Kang didn't care what the squires and landlords here thought, and continued: "Everyone must have seen my Yulin Iron Works, right? I can produce one or two million catties of pig iron every day, but I, Zhao Kang, not only want to get rich myself, but also bring the people under my rule to get rich together. Therefore, I am going to sell the pig iron in my hand to everyone at a low price, and then you will transport it to other places to sell. Of course, I won't ask for a penny of what you have earned except for the taxes you should pay! Do you have any questions? ”

At this time, an old man with white hair who looked to be at least seventy or eighty stood up and asked, "May I ask Lord Futai, is there a specific amount of tax to be paid?" And if we buy this pig iron, what is the price? ”

Zhao Kang said: "The so-called tax is not only levied on the sale of steel, but also on the territory under my jurisdiction in the future, the purchase and sale of more than 10 taels of silver will be levied 5% commercial tax, which will be implemented from the beginning of the first month of next year." As for the price of pig iron, I will sell it to you at a price of two cents a catty, and after paying the commercial tax, I don't care how much money you sell it for a catty. And while you are in transit, as long as you are on the land under my rule, I will do my best to ensure the safety of all people's lives and property. If the amount of pig iron purchased is large, I can even ask the county police station to send someone to escort it. ”

Two pennies a pound! This price is definitely too low in this day and age. If you transport these pig iron to other provinces, you will definitely make money and earn cramps. Of course, it has to be transported safely to its destination. Even if Zhao Kang's territory is safe, there is no guarantee that other places are also safe. For example, Huguang, Henan, and Sichuan, where anti-thieves are making trouble. Moreover, the sale of pig iron was expressly prohibited by the imperial court.

But starve the faint-hearted, and support the bold. Shaanxi, especially in northern Shaanxi, has never lacked bold people.

A middle-aged man with a face full of flesh and a look who is not a good kind said: "Lord Futai, I am Xiong Shicai, a squire of Jiazhou, my family has a thin family business in Jiazhou, Shaanxi and Shandong, and there are a few big boats at home, if it is really according to what Lord Zhao said, a pound of pig iron only costs two pennies, then I want to buy two million catties, and I can still get four thousand taels of silver." ”

Zhao Kang saw that the business was finally opened, and said happily: "Chunmei, go get paper and pen to write down, this Jiazhou squire Xiong Shicai wants to buy two million catties of iron." ”

Chunmei said: "Okay, young master! "I ran down and got a pen and paper.

Zhao Kang turned around and said to Xiong Shicai: "Since you are the first customer who is willing to invest in the purchase, I will arrange for someone to transport the pig iron you want to Fugu by rail, and you can load the ship directly in Fugu, which is a discount for you!" If someone else asks to transport the pig iron to Fugu, they will have to pay the freight! ”

Xiong Shicai was overjoyed, and hurriedly knelt down and said, "Thank you for the grace of Lord Futai!" ”

With Xiong Shicai's lead, the rest will be easy to do, in less than an hour, basically one-third of the squires present will buy it, and the rest of the people are estimated to be obediently taking out the money after the first batch of people make money. Despite this, the pig iron piled up outside the city at the Yulin ironworks has been largely emptied.

In just a few days, more than 200,000 taels of silver arrived in his hand. Zhao Fugui, Chunmei, and Dongmei were all speechless, and thought in their hearts: Young master, the speed of making money is simply going to turn upside down!

With money, of course, the first thing is to pay the army. In the past, the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army under Zhao Kang were all directly distributed food, but after the problem of food and clothing was solved, who didn't want the silver spent in vain? Therefore, Zhao Kang decided to pay the army half of the grain and half of the silver in the future.

If you have money and food, of course, you must also have soldiers.

And the holy decree that Wang Jixiang brought to Zhao Kang clearly stated that he would transfer Xu Dingguo, the chief soldier of Shanxi, to his command. After finishing the pig iron transaction, Zhao Kang immediately ordered that Xu Dingguo must lead all the people in Shanxi Town under his command to report to Yulin within half a month and accept the reorganization. I was worried about the lack of soldiers, so the court sent it to the door.

Now in northern Shaanxi, because everyone can eat enough, and under Zhao Kang's flickering, everyone is full of hope for the future life, but no one wants to be a soldier.

"Eat his mother, drink his mother, and follow Lord Zhao to have surplus food!" It has become the mantra of the people of northern Shaanxi, as long as under the leadership of Zhao Kang, life can get better and better, and every household has surplus food, this kind of thinking has become the consensus of everyone under Zhao Kang's rule.

The small-scale peasant consciousness formed over the past 5,000 years made the people under the rule of Zhao Kang want to farm after they have food and clothing, and even if they have not been allocated land for the time being, they are willing to work in various mines and construction sites. Who doesn't want to live a peaceful and stable life? Why do you want to live that life of licking blood from the knife edge?

As for Rajandin? As Zhao Kang, who grew up under the red flag of the new century, he can't do that kind of thing.

Northern Shaanxi, where there was food and soldiers, was forced to make it difficult to recruit soldiers, and in order to ensure the supply of troops and reserves, Zhao Kang issued hard targets to all prefectures and counties, so that the governors and counties did not complain. Now that there are ready-made soldiers sent to the door, of course Zhao Kang will not refuse to come.

However, Zhao Kang's idea is good, but the reality is cruel. As soon as Zhao Kang's order reached Xu Dingguo, Xu Dabing's general soldier fell ill, and it is said that he was so sick that he was unconscious.

Zhao Kang had no choice but to order again, asking Zhou Yuji, deputy commander-in-chief of Shanxi, to temporarily take the position of Xu Dingguo and lead all the soldiers in Shanxi Town to come to Yulin to accept the reorganization. But at this time, Xu Dingguo's illness was cured again, and he refused to set off on the grounds that the remnants of the thieves were in a hurry to attack Taiyuan.

This time Zhao Kang was really angry, and finally found a source of soldiers, but he didn't obey the order, which Zhao Kang absolutely couldn't tolerate. When he sent Wang Fuchen and Wang Pingfan two garrisons from Shanxi, he brought the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army under his command to Taiyuan to arrest Xu Dingguo, who dared to disobey the holy decree.

However, as soon as the army crossed the Yellow River from Fugu and entered the territory of Baode Prefecture, news came from Taiyuan. Zhou Yuji, deputy commander-in-chief of Shanxi, led his troops to control Xu Dingguo, the commander-in-chief, and has now brought a total of more than 8,600 soldiers from Shanxi Town to Yulin to prepare for Zhao Kang's reorganization.

For this Zhou Yuji, Zhao Kang still understands that he can choose to die in battle when the Ming Dynasty is completely hopeless, regardless of his ability, this loyalty alone is worth reusing. Immediately, Zhao Kang ordered someone to go to pacify, and ordered Xu Dingguo to be beheaded directly without sending him to Yulin, and Zhou Yuji temporarily acted as the general soldier of Shanxi.