Chapter 30: The Miserable Craftsman

He Tengxiao wrote to He Shihu on the grounds that the Japanese invaded Yunguan Island, and invited himself to go out of Zhenyunguan Road to defend the sea frontier of the Great Zhao Empire. He Shihu also hoped that He Tengxiao would be able to leave Zhenyun Guam, and soon agreed that He Tengxiao would leave Zhenyun Guam, and approved 2,000 taels of silver for He Tengxiao to repair the military facilities on Yunyun Guam.

He Tengxiao suddenly invited himself out of Zhenyun Guam, and He Shihu's approval so quickly was completely beyond He Shizhong's expectations. He Shizhong also visited He Shihu a few years ago, hoping that He Shihu could let him out of Zhenyun Guam, but He Shihu was submissive at that time and did not express his position. He Shizhong only thought that He Shihu was thinking about it, but he didn't expect He Shihu to have a plan.

After getting the news that He Tengxiao left Zhenyun Guam, He Shizhong threw four sets of tea sets in a row.

Not long after, the Huang family in Jinzhou City also got the news that the He family ordered He Tengxiao to leave the town's Yunguam Island. The Huang family had just set foot in Yunguam Island on the front foot, and the He family stepped into Yunguam Island on the back foot to re-operate this long-abandoned desert island. This made Huang Yongtao have to suspect that Huang Jinjiang's abduction on Yunguam Island was the cause of the He family behind the scenes. However, Huang Yongtao will not be stupid enough to poke this matter out, the He family is powerful in Liaodong, and the center has the intention of weakening the He family, and the news that the people of the Huang family rashly landed on Yunguam Island is very likely to become a handle for political enemies to attack the Huang family. Huang Yongtao remembered the name He Tengxiao, and began to pay attention to He Tengxiao, who was an unknown hundred household officials two months ago.

No matter what the outside world thinks of He Tengxiao's departure from Zhenyun Guam, He Tengxiao's operation of Yunguam has become an established fact. No one can change that.

Zhang Yuyang dispatched all the craftsmen of Pingshan Fort and thousands of young men to Yunguam Island to repair the military facilities left behind by the Great Zhao Zhen Army. The restoration of Cloud Guam is proceeding in an orderly manner.

After He Tengxiao and a group of craftsmen inspected the topography of Yunguam Island, they held a banquet on the pier to entertain these craftsmen. Standing on the forty or fifty-meter-high pier, you can have a panoramic view of the entire Yunguam Island.

He Tengxiao prepared the banquet and motioned for these craftsmen to sit down and talk. These craftsmen looked at the table full of fish and meat, and stood still and did not dare to sit down. The household registration system of the empire was strict, and the three religions and nine streams of the Shinong, industrial, and commercial schools all had their own household registration, and it was difficult to change their household registration in later generations. If it is said that it is miserable to be born in a military family, it is even more tragic to be born in a craftsman's family than to be in a military family.

The artisans of the empire belonged to the lowly status, and the artisans had no personal freedom, but could only work in the government. The renovation of the imperial palace, the construction of water conservancy, and even the construction of the official yamen and so on had to recruit craftsmen. Moreover, these projects are only for food, and there is no wages, not only are there no wages, but the tools also need to be provided by the craftsmen. In a bad year, the official road doesn't even care about food.

Those who were born in the military can still win glory and wealth through military merits. The artisan household and its descendants can only spend their lives immersed in craftsmanship, without clothing, without food, and live a life of poverty. Therefore, the phenomenon of artisan household desertion is even more serious than that of military households, and the government has to forcibly fill the vacancies of artisan households from among the displaced people every year.

"Sit down." He Tengxiao got up and pulled these craftsmen into their seats, and these craftsmen only half of their butts were attached to the chairs.

"There will be a lot of places to bother you in the future, you are welcome, these drinks and dishes are specially organized by Teng Xiao for your positions, please use the wine and food." He Tengxiao made a gesture of please, signaling the craftsmen to use wine and food, and after He Tengxiao started the chopsticks, the craftsmen followed He Tengxiao to clamp the fish and meat on the table and devoured it.

These craftsmen were in rags and thin, and the cold sea breeze blew through the piers, and these craftsmen shivered with cold. He Tengxiao was sad for a while, sympathizing with their tragic fate.

"Do you have any suggestions for building the Yunguam Fortress?" Halfway through eating, He Tengxiao put down his chopsticks and asked.

"The small ones who built in the early years should be recruited to repair Juehua Island, and they have some experience in the construction of the island." After a few glasses of wine, the craftsmen were much bolder, and a craftsman in his fifties with a weathered face talked eloquently about the construction of Yunguam Island. He Tengxiao listened intently, clapping his hands from time to time. He Tengxiao has some understanding of this craftsman, and knows that he is Lu Fan, a famous craftsman who fled from Liaoyang to Gaizhou.

Lu Fan said excitedly, moved the wine and food on the table aside, and dipped his fingers in the wine on the table while talking.

He Tengxiao listened carefully to Lu Fan's speech, and Lu Fan's idea of the architectural layout of Yunguam Island was very much in line with He Tengxiao's intentions. He Tengxiao's management of Yun Guam is not simply to build Yun Guam into a fortified fortress. He Tengxiao also wanted to build a small wharf on Yunguam Island, firstly, to facilitate the smuggling of iron materials from Shi Yufeng, and secondly, to build Yunguam Island into a material transit center.

The supply of materials in Liaodong depends on the Guannai, and there are not a few merchants in the Guannai who go to Liaodong to do business every year. There are not many merchants who sell goods to all parts of eastern Liaoning through the West Liaoning Corridor, mainly because the cost of land is too high, there are too many centimeters of cards passing through, and there is no profit at all. Only a few powerful Jin merchants and Beijing chambers of commerce chose to take this land route. More merchants carried goods from Dengzhou and Laizhou to Liaodong, after all, the cost of sea was lower than that of land, and the number of centikas passed through was much less than that of land, and the goods were at least profitable after being sold.

After the sea ban, the Liaodong Peninsula was not spared, and there were only two ports in the entire Liaodong Peninsula, on the west coast of Fuzhou and Jinzhou. Gaizhou does not have a port of its own.

Although the island of Yunguam is small, it still has the potential to build a medium-sized port, and the completion of the port of Yunguam will fill the gap in the port of Gaizhou City. He Tengxiao aims to build the port of Yunguam into a treaty port and generate income for transshipment of seaborne goods. Otherwise, relying only on the meager salaries issued by the imperial court and the He family would not be able to support the operation of the two military fortresses of Pingshan Fort and Yunguam Island.

He Tengxiao's current goal is to build a strong army and protect himself in the war-torn map of Liaodong. If you want to build a strong army, you have to spend money, and an important reason for the continuous decline in the combat effectiveness of the Dazhao Zhen Army in recent years is the lack of food.

"The repair of the old military facilities on the island of Yunguam and the construction of the port will be left to you." He Tengxiao said, "Your honorarium for building Pingshan Fort is two taels of silver a month. ”

The craftsmen were very surprised, and looked at He Tengxiao with wide eyes in disbelief, in the past, the government recruited craftsmen as long as they had enough food, and these craftsmen were already satisfied. He Tengxiao opened his mouth and promised them two taels of silver a month, which they had never encountered in most of their artisan careers.

"Two taels of silver a month is just the foundation, if you do a good job, I can add some more honorarium to you." He Tengxiao's son Changqing held more than a dozen winter clothes, and two taels of silver were placed on each winter coat, "You wear these winter clothes to keep out the cold first, and I will advance your salary for a month, as long as you build Yunguam Island well, I He Tengxiao will not treat you badly." ”

The craftsmen were grateful to He Tengxiao, but He Tengxiao was not happy, but felt very sad