Chapter 3 Encounters with Refugees

Zhang Kai was worried and scared for several days, and he was very happy to see his friend being sent home safely. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info Jiang Hexing told him what had happened, but there were some things that he didn't say, so as not to worry him. Jiang Hexing asked Zhang Kai about the business situation here, and Zhang Kai gave a detailed introduction.

Although the Han Dynasty emphasized agriculture and suppressed business, the business atmosphere was still very strong, and the three brothers Zhang Kai, one of them was at home, and the two younger brothers were all selling horses, cattle and sheep in other places, and they all became quite rich households. The proverb at that time: to seek wealth from poverty, agriculture is not as good as work, industry is not as good as business, embroidery is not as good as relying on the city.

Hearing the proverbs of this era, Jiang Hexing's heart was surging, and he was penniless and had no ideas some time ago. Now with a little capital, it seems that it is a good choice to do business.

Thinking of this, he opened his mouth and said, "Brother Zhang, I have an idea, how about you refer to it." ”

"Brother, you are good at everything, but you are too polite to speak, and if you have anything to say, you can say it directly."

"In this way, I see that there are a lot of cattle and sheep here, and I want to make a kind of paper, so that I don't have to write on bamboo slips in the future, I can write directly on paper. If the paper is made well, our net worth is immeasurable, hehe. ”

"Paper, I haven't heard of this, but brother, I believe in you, I will do what you say."

"In this way, I will invest in the paper business, and you are responsible for the ground affairs, after all, you are familiar with people here, and there are many places to eat. I am responsible for production and sales, recruiting workers and dealing with people, as well as purchasing raw materials by you. How about we add five to one and one and a half? ”

"Brother, this can't be done, you pick me to make money, how can I be like this, I'll just help you."

It is easy to say that Zhang Kai did not agree to occupy half of the shares, and later Jiang Hexing gave in to let him occupy 30% of the shares, which also shows the significance of his shares. In this era, it is probably a family business, and there are very few cooperative businesses, and Jiang Hexing explained that Zhang Kai was willing to accept it for a long time.

Jianghexing arranged for Zhang Kai to exchange the gold for five baht for himself first, and then buy some suitable place for making parchment paper nearby, find carpenters and stonemasons, build factories, set up assembly line papermaking processes, etc., the two of them were very busy, and the money was spent like flowing water, and the factory slowly took on a look.

During this period, Jiang Hexing found a stonemason to make a few stone mills, grinding noodles every day, and no longer had to eat the unpalatable wheat rice. Zhang Kai became more and more respectful to Jiang Hexing, not only that his family now eats white noodles, but that this Jiang Hexing is like a fairy-like character, looking like a scholar, but he knows much more than ordinary scholars. A simple workshop, designed for him is unheard of before, and it is also called assembly line production, just listening to him talk about that truth, you know that this workshop will be able to make a lot of money in the future.

The weather is starting to get a little cooler, and the land grant deed and settlement procedures of Jianghexing have been sent by Liu County. Jiang Hexing planned to plant the land as soon as possible, and on this day, Jiang Hexing took Zhang Kai to his field to have a look. I haven't been busy these days, and I haven't looked at my land after receiving the title deed, and the winter wheat is about to be planted. 10 hectares of land, 500 acres, thinking of this, I feel that the lighter is really a good place, and its value is fully realized.

Jiang Hexing recently took the time to learn to ride a horse, and he didn't walk fast, and followed Zhang Kai slowly, for fear of some accident. The fields are a bit far from the village, and it didn't take much effort to ride a horse, and it was there in a while. Zhang Kai seemed to have discovered something, quickly whipped up, and ran over first, and Jiang Hexing slowly followed.

Jiang Hexing saw that although the fields were barren, there were many people, and there was a thatched house not far away, sparsely pulled land, and there seemed to be a lot of people on the whole land. Zhang Kai was arguing with someone about something, and Jiang Hexing rushed over. Jiang Hexing jumped off the horse, tied the horse to a nearby tree, and walked to Zhang Kai's side. He was listening to him say, "If you don't go, you have to go, this is my brother's field, what are you doing here?" ”

Jiang Hexing looked at the group of people and quarreled with Zhang Kai, it should not be said that he was reprimanded by Zhang Kai as a hunchbacked middle-aged man, who looked not young, the linen clothes on his body were dirty and torn, his hair was messy like weeds, his face was black and thin, his skin was covered with bones, and his eyes were very big, hollow and numb. There were quite a few people behind him, all of whom were about the same as him, ragged and dirty. A typical group of refugees, who just don't know how they got here.

Jiang Hexing pulled Zhang Kai aside, "Big brother, let me tell them, you can rest for a while", turned his head, and said to the middle-aged man, "Sir, why are you here?" ”

The man looked at Jiang Hexing and found that he had a pleasant face and no anger, and knew that this man should be easy to speak.

Hurriedly said, "Don't dare to call Mr., my surname is Zheng, and everyone calls me Zheng San." We are all from Qingzhou, this year suffered a catastrophe, first a drought, no harvest of grains, then replanting, green seedlings and locusts. There was nothing to eat at home, the price of food rose all the way, and the property sold was not enough to eat for a few days. We don't know what kind of place this is, anyway, we have to eat all the way, and we can't eat anything for a few days, and it's nothing when the adults are hungry, and the children cry every day when they're hungry. We have just arrived here for two or three days, looking at the mountains and rivers here, thinking that we can hunt and fish, and see if we can live a few more lives. ”

Speaking of this, it seems that when it comes to sadness, Zheng San cried in a low voice, and many people around him also cried.

Jiang Hexing was silent for a long time, Zheng San looked at him with a serious face, stopped crying, and didn't dare to speak again.

"How many people and how many households are there?"

"23 households, 117 people." Zheng San blurted out.

Jiang Hexing was a little surprised, knowing that Zheng San was a person with a heart. Then he called him aside, "I have a way, you people are organized by you, I will send food over in the next two days, but the first two days can only be corn porridge, even you are the same, you must be able to eat in the future, I will also provide clothes, but you must shave off all your hair and take a bath every day." Can you do any of this? ”

When Zheng San heard this, he knelt down, "The grace of life first, Zheng San swears to die!" Zheng San promised not to let anyone die and not let anyone starve to death. If it can't be done, Zheng San will commit suicide to apologize! ”

Whether this era is a promise or not, Jiang Hexing doesn't know, and he can see that what Zheng San said should be sincere, and he has the right to believe him once.

Before leaving, he explained to Zheng San that food was his weapon, and he had to grasp it well, if there was a mess, he would go to the village to find Zhang Kai who had quarreled with him just now.

Zhang Kai didn't know what was going on, and looked at Jiang Hexing to tell him briefly, it was inconvenient to say anything here. The two of them got on the horse and were just about to leave, when they turned their heads and saw Zheng San leading everyone to kneel on the ground and kowtow. Jiang Hexing clasped his fists and saluted, said nothing, beat his horse and whipped his horse, and returned to the village.

Zhang Kai didn't understand that Jianghexing not only couldn't grow the land, but also carried a big burden on himself, after all, refugees are a bottomless pit. Hearing Zhang Kai's doubts, Jiang Hexing said with a serious and serious face: "They are refugees, and now they are basically at a dead end, what I have done to them is not only to save them, but also to save myself, big brother." Have you ever thought that once they are hopeless, if we force them again, they can do anything. They have one life left now, living is their only truth, there is nothing right or wrong, there is no benevolence, righteousness, morality and immorality, anyway, whoever doesn't let them live, they may give you a desperate life. There is no reason for troubled times, big brother, they are so close to us, we are the most dangerous. ”

After hearing this, Zhang Kai broke out in a cold sweat. Fortunately, Jiang Hexing stopped his impulsive behavior today, otherwise, people would have no way out, but the danger is also their own.

The next day, Zhang Kai led a few people to drive the car and deliver food and clothes to Zheng San. Before leaving, Jiang Hexing also asked him to bring some noodles for those children, especially infants and toddlers.

The weather was cool, and the leaves were falling one by one. Jiang Hexing's parchment paper factory was built, and Jiang Hexing went to see it and was still very satisfied. Now there are no workers and no materials, so I bought a few sheepskins and tried to make some paper myself. However, it took about half a month from the beginning to the end of the paper, and Jiang Hexing began to think about where to recruit workers, and after thinking about it for a long time, he laughed, and he almost forgot about the next batch of people.

Jiang Hexing rode out of the paper mill on horseback alone and came to his field. I saw that the messy shacks were gone, although they were still shacks, at least they were arranged in an orderly manner, a bit like a barracks. Half a month since the last time I came here, the refugees don't look like refugees, they all look like villagers. Although the linen clothes do not fit a lot, they are also clean, except that everyone is bald. Zheng San saw Jiang Hexing coming, so he ran over from afar.

Jiang Hexing looked at Zheng San's bareheaded, panting, and said to Zheng San with a smile: "Zheng San, you are all bald, but anyone blames me?" ”

"How could that be, it's too late for everyone to be grateful. It's just that everyone doesn't understand why men, women, and children have to shave their heads, but after taking a bath every day, everyone understands that it turns out that we are cleaner and there will be no lice again. ”

"How many laborers are there, how many can farm, how many craftsmen are there?"

"There are 80 people who can work, and they can farm, and 15 people who have worked as craftsmen, and I know all of them."

"Zheng San, you are very dry, I am very satisfied. Do you know how to ride a horse? ”

"Yes, I used to be at home, riding horses, reading, archery, I learned them all."

"Oh, I didn't expect it, it seems that I neglected you before, I'm alone now, and I need someone to take care of a lot of things, would you like to help me?" Jiang He walked up and looked at Zheng San's reaction.

"Master, I'm willing to follow left and right." Zheng San did not hesitate and immediately knelt down.

"You get up first, it's time to plant here, tomorrow you go to Zhang Kai, put my money there for him, plant wheat in the field, ask me or Zhang Kai if you don't understand, try to make your own decisions." After planting the land, I found 30 young people to work in the paper mill with me. ”

After explaining the matter of the field, Jiang He traveled back to the village to visit Zhang Kai. Recently, the two of them have been very busy, and they haven't seen each other much, and they just walked to the door of Zhang Kai's house, and they haven't had time to go in. There was a person on the other side, and at first glance, a tall, red-faced man, I knew, I came with Jiang County Ling for the first time, and the county's Gong Cao Han number.

"Han Gongcao, why are you in such a hurry?"

"Oh, Mr. Jiang, great, I was looking for you, Liu County ordered me to invite you back to the county office as soon as possible, there is something important."

Jiang Hexing didn't dare to slack off, followed Han, and galloped fast until the county office.

The county government is much smaller than the Taishou Mansion, but the courtyard is very deep, probably the courtyard of the five entrances. Han Hao took Jiang Hexing directly to the West Flower Hall, and then went out to report by himself. After a while, Liu Qing came quickly.

Liu Qing looked at Jiang Hexing, his eyes narrowed into a slit, and he didn't speak, but laughed to himself, "Mr. Jiang, great joy, great joy!" ”

"Liu County Order, where does the joy come from?"

"The fire is coming, An Han Gong is very satisfied, Su Taishou, Benguan and Mr. Jiang all have heavy rewards, Su Taishou has already been sealed, and Benguan and Mr. Jiang are both rewarded with a hundred catties of gold."

"What hundred pounds of gold?" Jiang Hexing didn't expect that there was so much gold in the Western Han Dynasty, and he, a little person, also had such a heavy reward.

"In addition, the imperial court has allowed Mr. Jiang to run a school in order to promote friendship between the Han Dynasty and the Republic."

Jiang Hexing didn't expect that the school would have to be approved by the imperial court before it was approved, no wonder Su Wen didn't mention it last time. Now it seems that he still cares about it.

Jiang Hexing was very happy, and at night he lived in the county government and Liu County, and talked at night, and the two of them became real friends in previous years. In the previous paragraph, Jianghexing made a stone grinding and sent it to the county, and suggested that Liu County order the whole county to promote it. Liu Xianling didn't know why Jiang Hexing was so serious about the stonemason at first, but after eating the food made of noodles, he knew the power of this stone mill. Liu County Commander was grateful for the benefits that Jiang Hexing brought to himself, and Jiang Hexing also appreciated this county order, thinking that the officials were all bastards, and it seemed that there were still people who were willing to benefit the people.

The next day, Liu County ordered to send people to send Jiang Hexing back, and for safety all the way, he also sent people from the county government to protect the safety of his belongings.