[Brothers, ask for a recommendation ticket first~~ Wow Ka Ka, thank you very much for the snow drift~~]

Lu Hong saw Qi Kaiyuan's expression standing outside the door and wanted to speak, and asked a little strangely: "Qi Kaiyuan, is there something wrong?" If you think you shouldn't say it, then you don't have to look for me at all, to do things in my place, you must have your own ideas, I told you a long time ago, you can come and reason with me at any time, except when you are asked to do things! ”

Lu Hong's requirements for his newly recruited subordinates are very clear, that is, absolute loyalty...... But it is not easy to do this, so he consciously focuses on this point in his usual words and deeds.

Hearing Lu Hong's words, Qi Kaiyuan figured out something, and immediately walked in, and said in awe after bowing: "Master Lu, it's Chen Xiaoyu kneeling outside the inn, I think you said Lu Ye, everyone should have a second chance, so come in and tell you!" ”

Lu Hong nodded affirmatively, this Qi Kaiyuan is the oldest among the four people he initially recruited, he is very reliable, and he is artificially stable, but these are both advantages and sometimes disadvantages, and it is inevitable that there are too many forward-looking thoughts when acting...... However, according to my own opinion, this guy is a good conductor, and although he doesn't expect too many surprises, he should be able to get things done...... This is enough for Lu Hong at present!

He stepped forward and patted Qi Kaiyuan's shoulder, and said with a smile: "Old Qi, you are right...... However, I also want to tell you another thing, everyone deserves a second chance, but it may take ten times as much effort to make up for that lost opportunity...... Chen Xiaoyu's matter, I don't care what the cause is, you will bring him over according to your wishes...... In the future, he will be counted in your group, and that is the opportunity you gave him! ”

Qi Kaiyuan's somewhat weathered face showed a hint of joy, when he came in to make this suggestion, he was naturally a little apprehensive, but Lu Hong's affirmation of his opinion made him feel full trust, which undoubtedly strengthened his confidence to follow, here, he really felt completely different from his experience in the past thirty years!

A few minutes later, Qi Kaiyuan came out of Lu Hong's house with Chen Xiaoyu, who was quite strong, and muttered to Chen Xiaoyu as he walked, and Chen Xiaoyu had already regretted it after hearing that his brother Chen Shuisheng suddenly earned back a big bag of rations for his family, but there was obviously no regret medicine in this world.

He ran to inquire with Wang Daosheng, Qi Kaiyuan, and Chen Shuisheng, however, these three seemed to have been adjusted overnight~ The tone was very tight, and he didn't reveal any news at all, although he had a very good reason when he left on his own that day, but this obviously could not change the opportunity he lost, however, he did have the strength to drill the camp, and today he saw Chen Shuisheng recruiting manpower, so he came over and knelt outside the inn.

After Qi Kaiyuan relayed Lu Hong's words, he regretted it and cherished his job of earning money to support his family, but obviously, he had completely lost the same running line with Wang Daosheng and the three of them, and Lu Hong arranged another job for him, going back and forth between the county seat and the prospecting site to deliver news...... It was a lot of hard work, but he was very happy, because today he could give a full meal to an old snack that had been hungry all winter!

As for the other few remaining laborers, Lu Hong directly asked them to report to the inn, and for the time being, let Lao Qin and Ye Yuanliang take them first, once Chen Xiaoyu brought back the news from the mountain, they prepared things according to the news and sent them into the mountain.

After everything seemed to be arranged, Lu Hong went to the yamen to report to Wu Dayu Wu County, this time Lao Wu was very on the road and asked the chief to pay 100 taels of silver to be regarded as a fund, and repeatedly told him to come back when he found an industry that could be mined, and he must pay attention to safety, and promised him some additional benefits...... Lao Wu has attached great importance to this cash cow recently.

Then he went to find the head of the money catcher, and through the head of the money to meet with the officer Liu of the horse infantry pond station, the benefits of the old man of the green camp who had been given to catch the thief obviously played a big role, plus the gift list of 50 taels of silver, and lent two Mauser M1871 single-shot rifles from the barracks.

Lu Hong's understanding of firearms is naturally far better than everyone in this era, this type of Mauser m1871 that Qian Fat Man and Liu Sentinel praised after he inspected it, he almost vomited blood, it turned out to be a copycat Mauser imitated by Anqing Ordnance, and when he was worried about the quality of this firearm, Liu Sentinel said: "Lu Gongzi, this gun of Anqing Bureau is definitely a good product, it has been used for almost 10 years, and there are basically few dumb fires and jams, you can rest assured, these two keeps can be played!" ”

For this Tangzhan officer, Lu Hong basically couldn't communicate with him about the topic of weapon maintenance, nodded politely, and carefully checked himself, the overall craftsmanship of the firearm looks pretty good, however, pull open the bolt rotating locking component, the gun chamber and components are all black dirt, and it can still maintain shooting, but there are a few brushes in this Anqing Ordnance Institute.

When Officer Liu heard that Lu Hong was going to go into the mountains to prospect for industry, he was also very interested, so he said that he would also insert a leg, so Lu Hong unceremoniously robbed another thousand rifle bullets.

On the afternoon of January 22nd, 12 miles away from Mengyin County, Huaguo Village, at the eastern foot of Mengshan Mountain, Baozheng Fangxi, who was in his fifties and whose head flowers had already turned white, was anxious to visit the county Yali from Master Lu, the origin of this official is really not small, came out with a vote of more than 20 people, and two county officials carefully accompanied, the horses before and after are seven or eight, this pomp, in addition to the official sedan chair, the other is the county master travel is also rare.

Lu Hong looked at Bao Zheng with a sad face, to be honest, he really didn't know the status of the village officials in this era, in his own era, the village officials were serious officials, and the interests of the upper and lower levels of the village were all dragged in their hands, but this Fang Xi's sad appearance and gray hair did not show the appearance of power in his hands at all......

After talking for a while, he figured out the situation of this Huaguo Village, most of the people in this Huaguo Village are surnamed Fang, almost all of them are related to each other, and this Fang Xi held the position of the chief of the guard, listening to the old drunkard Chen Da, it is really a thankless errand, especially in this famine year, there are many people in the village who have fled the famine, and this errand is even more difficult, and Fang Baozheng obviously thought that Lu Hong's trip was to urge the fateful Qing Shengli, so naturally his hair turned white again.

The reason why Lu Hong chose the first stop in Huaguo Village is because the traffic here is quite convenient, and the carriage transporting goods can go directly to the village, however, the situation in this village is a little ugly, and there are not a few brick houses in the whole village, let alone the rich man's compound.

This information made Lu Hong also secretly curse in his heart, the Manchu Qing Dynasty's heavy taxation and heavy taxation system fundamentally stifled the development prospects of the national industry, and the foundation of the small peasant economy that has been maintained for thousands of years - land, has been monopolized by generations of large landowners, of course, the biggest landlord in this dynasty is naturally the old woman in the palace and the entire Eight Banners magnates.

In this situation of land economy, this era has evolved into a situation where it is impossible to survive without land, and a large number of laborers are tied to the land with low output value, and what is even worse is that the Manchu court has no intention of changing this backward productive force, because the vested interests of this court are also completely tied to a large amount of misappropriated land resources...... However, it is obvious that he seems to be worrying about the sky again, and it is the right way to occupy this vein first.

"Fang Baozheng, I received the Guan Wen from the Wu County Order, and I want to go to Mengshan to investigate, do you have any villagers here who are familiar with mountain roads and bear hardships and stand hard work?" Lu Hong beckoned, and Yu Ping, a stunned official, put the notice of the county government in front of Fang Baozheng, and this guy was also dizzy when he touched it, and he lay on the table and looked at it for a while.

"Master Lu, there are quite a few villages that are familiar with mountain roads, I'm afraid they just can't go on a business trip...... There has been a food shortage for several months, and many people can't open the pot! Fang Baozheng had a difficult expression on his face, and the reason for saying it was really a little unacceptable.

Lu Hong frowned, he didn't expect that the situation of the people who didn't escape the famine here was also very bad, but this problem was already in his consideration, in this era, food is always hard currency, besides, his more than 20 strong labor food is guaranteed, and the accompanying carriage brought 3,000 catties of coarse and fine grain, and at that time, he promised 50 catties of coarse grain a month's compensation.

These 50 catties of coarse grain are counted as less than a piece of silver, but in the village in this season, it is enough for a family to drink porridge and drink the huge benefits of spring, without a meal, Fang Baozheng sent seven or eight men in the village, after careful selection, two of them got 25 catties of coarse grain in advance, and kowtowed excitedly.

And in the end, considering the need to open a temporary warehouse in Huaguo Village, Lu Hong rented two stone houses from Wang Baozheng's house, leaving the servants Yu Ping and Chen Da to squat here, these two Lu Hong want to come over It is pure decoration, there are two of them in this Huaguo Village, there will be a lot less trouble, as for the food and drink of the two of them, it is naturally solved by Wang Baozheng, this has long been the rule in the yamen, not to mention, he still paid the rent very generously.

After everything was arranged, Lu Hong called Wang Daosheng, Qi Kaiyuan, and Chen Shuisheng alone, and the two Mauser M1871 single-shot rifles were taken out.

Lu Hong asked the three of them to naturally not come in to see these two broken guns, their own business, it is definitely a high-value item, if once it enters the normal mining, the diamond vein in addition to the loose diamond, will also be accompanied by peridot, garnet and other gemstones, it can be said that the mining value is very amazing, which also means that the transportation link is also an extremely important link!

"Wang Daosheng, you should have learned military skills...... From tomorrow, everyone must participate in team training in the morning, I will personally grasp this matter, you are responsible for cooperating with them to supervise their training and evaluation, Qi Kaiyuan, Chen Shuisheng, the two of you are responsible for every point, annoying no reason not to participate, I will punish! Lu Hong calmly and solemnly issued his first military order.

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