In June of the ninth year of Chongzhen, it was said that there were many people on the Erlong Mountain near Wanghai Fort, which has always been a lonely earthen mountain, among them were carpenters, blacksmiths, stonemasons and plasterers and other people from all walks of life, they were constantly busy on the mountain, and after thousands of craftsmen for a month of construction, a considerable scale of buildings has appeared on the mountain one after another.

Hua Yan, who was dressed in a seven-grade green official uniform, was standing on the construction site, as if he was urging something to a group of craftsmen. A craftsman who looked like a small boss said with a bitter face: "My lord, the current construction period is already very tight, if you speed up the progress again, the villain really can't catch up!" ”

Hua Yan bluffed and said: "No, the construction will start later this month, you must complete it within ten days, if you can't complete it, you are the only one who asks!" ”

"Your Excellency!" The craftsman was so anxious that he almost knelt down for Hua Yan, and he said anxiously: "This can't be done, building a house and a workshop is a hundred-year plan, and the villain doesn't dare to be sloppy, it really can't be faster." ”

"It really can't be any faster?" Hua Yan also believed in the expression of this craftsman who was about to cry, he pondered for a while and asked slowly: "What if this official adds another five hundred people to you?" ”

"Add more people to the villain?" The craftsman thought for a moment and replied, "If you add another five hundred men to the villain, then you can give it a try." ”

"It's not about giving it a try, it's about meeting the deadline." Hua Zheng said solemnly: "This construction period is indeed very tight, but as long as you can ensure that the quality is completed on schedule, the official will call the shots and double your reward." ”

"Is that true?" As soon as he heard this last sentence, the craftsman's eyes suddenly flashed with light, and he hurriedly said: "If this is the case, the villain will fight to drop three catties of meat and build these houses and things before the end of the month." ”

"How can this official deceive you?" Hua Yan couldn't help but smile and said, "Okay, you guys hurry up and do something, and the official will take a look around." After saying that, Hua Yan began to patrol the mountain again

Erlongshan is not big or small, but it is enough to accommodate one or two thousand people to do things here. Pang Gang put the place where the coarse salt is refined here because it is easy to defend and difficult to attack and hidden, so Pang Gang also sent 500 soldiers to be stationed at the foot of the mountain, firmly surrounded Erlong Mountain, and never allowed anyone on Erlong Mountain to come down.

So far, Pang Gang has selected 500 homeless families and signed a contract with them, which stipulates that they must work on Erlong Mountain for at least ten years before they can come down, and if they violate the rules and sneak down the mountain, the garrison under the mountain will kill them on the spot.

Although there are many homeless people who are puzzled and worried about why General Dingyuan chose them to go up the mountain, there are also many people who have signed a contract on the basis of a generous honorarium, as long as they survive the ten years, they will be a little rich when they go down the mountain ten years later, and their children will have grown up Chengren, and with this money, they can also build a house in the city and talk about a satisfactory family affair.

In late June, when the houses and factories on Erlong Mountain were built, Pang Gang's salt factory on the beach behind Wanghai Fort had already dried the first batch of about 10,000 catties of coarse salt.

With Pang Gang's explanation, the homeless people were stunned one by one, none of them who had eaten coarse salt all their lives would never have imagined that it was such a simple thing to refine refined salt from coarse salt, until this time, some homeless people who had turned their brains quickly suddenly understood why the commander wanted to sign such a ten-year contract with them.

Refining refined salt is such a simple thing, if any of them secretly ran down the mountain to spread this technology to lead to the flood of refined salt, then the loss to the commander will be immeasurable, looking at the commander who is standing in the middle and is explaining the skills of refining coarse salt, some of the refugees looked helplessly at the foot of the mountain, alas, it seems that they really want to stay on this mountain for ten years, fortunately, there is a daughter-in-law and children with him, ten years should pass quickly

After staying on Erlong Mountain for three days, Pang Gang, who had a smell of sea salt on his body, went down the mountain with the first batch of refined refined salt, and handed over the refined salt to Lin Feng, who had been waiting at the foot of the mountain for a long time.

"Huge people are going to be developed this time!" This is the first thought that rises in the heart of Lin Feng, who has been promoted to the governor of Qingzhou Zhengbapin, how can he not know the huge price difference between refined salt and coarse salt when he has always been interested in money accounts, he knows very well in his heart that with this command of refining refined salt technology in hand, as long as there are no accidents, it will not take long for the adults to become the richest people in Jiangnan.

Looking at Lin Feng's somewhat sluggish expression, Pang Gang patted him on the shoulder with a smile and said, "Okay, don't be in a daze, you have to remember that your first task when you go to Zhejiang this time is to open up the situation, and you can make friends with the salt merchants there and let them act as our refined salt, but you have to remember that you must not reveal that these refined salts are made by us, otherwise there will be big trouble." ”

Lin Feng said respectfully: "Don't worry, the humble duty knows what to do, but what makes the humble official puzzled is why the adult wants to transport the refined salt to Zhejiang first and is indifferent to Jiangsu, which is close at hand?" ”

Pang Gang shook his head and said, "Jiangsu officials will send someone else, you only need to be in charge of the Zhejiang part." ”

"Yes, let's go."

There was no need for Pang Gang to explain it thoroughly, Lin Feng understood as soon as he heard it, any superior person would not put all his eggs in the same basket, and even if Pang Gang trusted him again, he would not hand over such a big matter as refined salt to him. There are still three holes in the cunning rabbit, not to mention the commander? It's not about trusting or not, it's just a mentality that a superior must have.

Sending Lin Feng away, Pang Gang instructed the garrison at the foot of the mountain to be vigilant and then rushed to Lingshanwei non-stop, since the refined salt has begun to be officially put into production, then his plan to increase troops must be carried out as soon as possible.

In Pang Gang's plan, Qingzhou's troops must have at least one to twenty thousand standing elite soldiers to have the strength to protect themselves in this troubled era and make others fearful, but now only Lingshanwei has more than 40,000 new military households among the three guards under his command, and the rest of Qianniuwei and Andongwei are now only an empty shell, still waiting for their own relief, and at this stage, they can't be expected to provide themselves with qualified soldiers.

Pang Gang calculated, when he led the troops to the capital Qinwang, he took almost all the soldiers and horses, including the baggage soldiers, the number of troops was about 3,300 people, after several fierce battles, this batch of soldiers still had more than 2,500 people, and during this time, Lingshanwei trained 3,000 new soldiers, that is to say, he now has about 5,500 troops in his hands.

The strength of 5,500 people seems to be a lot, but when Pang Gang used 2,000 of them to fill the defenders of the original Qingzhou City, which had just been removed, and the remaining 3,500 people went to Andong Wei, Lingshanwei, Qianniuwei and Erlongshan, Pang Gang found that he did not have a mobile team in his hands.

Even the dumbest officer knows how bad it can be to not have a mobile force at his disposal. In view of this, Pang Gang planned to grit his teeth and recruit another 3,000 young soldiers as standing soldiers.

He found Li Xian, who was in charge of the overall work of Lingshanwei at this time, and Pang Gang was not polite, and immediately asked: "Dian Li, now this official wants to recruit another three thousand young men from Lingshanwei, what do you think?" ”

Li Xian frowned when he heard this, and said with some embarrassment, "My lord, although there are more than 40,000 people in Lingshanwei now, many of them are old and weak, women and children. ”

Pang Gang pondered for a while and said: "Otherwise, let's let these newly recruited military households train in the fields first, as long as they can train them to a certain level within three months, so that it will not delay your plans to cultivate the fields and repair the canals, what do you think?" ”

Li Xian nodded after hearing this: "If this is the case, it is okay, if too many young and strong people are transferred to join the army, the villain does not dare to guarantee that he can complete the adult's tuntian plan." But my lord, according to the villain's opinion, now that Lingshanwei has begun to get on the right track, should you introduce some more homeless people to be placed in the two guards of Qianniuwei and Andongwei? Those two guards are 780,000 acres of wasted land. ”

Pang Gang smiled bitterly, in fact, even Li Xian, an old man, saw the problem, how could Pang Gang not know? It's just that now he is the commander of Qingzhou, and his every move is eye-catching, and as soon as he became the commander of Qingzhou, he gathered the displaced people everywhere, and if he was not careful, he would give people a hat of plotting against him. If he is detained with this hat, even if Emperor Chongzhen appreciates him again, I am afraid that he will immediately be dismissed and investigated. Even if Pang Gang doesn't want to be captured, but according to his current strength, there is no way to fight against the army of the imperial court, so he can't follow Li Zicheng and become a rogue.

This kind of result is not what Pang Gang wants, in later generations, rogues like Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong who will only destroy and not build will be despised by many people, and Pang Gang is no exception. In Pang Gang's view, those rogues who went to a place like locusts and destroyed a place were the biggest scourge of the Ming Dynasty, and they were also the objects that must be eliminated.

(To be continued)