Over the next three days, Zhu Daolin and seven civil and military officials, including Simeno, went to the flat wasteland 15 kilometers upstream three times to survey the three settlements to be built in the north and south of the river, determine the mileage of the two roads connecting the Tamsui estuary, and discuss the naming of each settlement and the scale of the first phase of construction.

Zhu Daolin, the largest settlement on the east bank of the Tamsui River, named it "Taipei County"; the west side of the Tamsui River until the foot of the Nanshan Mountain was a wide wilderness covered with reeds, and Zhu Daolin still named it "Luzhou Town"; the "Beitou" at the southern foot of the Moon Mountain was disdainfully abandoned by Zhu Daolin, and named the gentle area about 7 kilometers long from east to west and about 4 kilometers wide from north to south as the "Hot Spring Town" in the name of several hot springs at the foot of the southern foot of the Moon Mountain, and clearly defined the future positioning of the hot spring town -- the center of scientific research, culture, and education on the entire island of Taiwan.

The next evening, Zhu Daolin had a dinner with more than 10 confidants and civil and military officers who shouldered heavy responsibilities, and told everyone that there were still many affairs that he needed to deal with in Jinling, Longtan, Baoshan, and other places, and that there were still hundreds of thousands of disaster victims who lacked food and clothing and needed relief, and that he needed to go back to organize the immigrants and various tools that had been sent to Taiwan in the following six months, and asked everyone to work together and unite sincerely, carry out work in accordance with the established construction plan, and build a freshwater port and a defensive fortress as soon as possible.

Jiang Zhaohuan, Yang Dading, and Simeno, who were left behind by Zhu Daolin, surrounded a large map of Taiwan, listened to Zhu Daolin's briefing on the situation of the surrounding forces and possible conflicts, and once again conducted in-depth discussions on the security and defense of the Tamsui Port and the three settlements in depth.

Under Zhu Daolin's expectant gaze, Simeno quickly came to his senses. It was decided to divide the members of the instructor corps into five squads, which would be assigned to each unit of the Tamsui battalion to undertake defense duties, and at the same time, in strict accordance with the training program of the new army, the officers and men of each squad would be trained more rigorously.

Early the next morning, Zhu Daolin, dressed in casual summer clothes, appeared in front of the gate of the grain storage and transportation warehouse in the western suburbs of the capital of Guizhou Province.

Under the vigilant gaze of the two security guards, Zhu Daolin took out a few cards. Holding the business card in it, strode towards the young security guard at the door of the duty room.

The security captain took the business card suspiciously, and saw that the name of the sales section chief of the head office was on the business card, and his face became much kinder, and after listening to Zhu Daolin's polite request, he immediately brought Zhu Daolin into the duty room, and directly dialed the mobile phone of the sales section chief to report Zhu Daolin's name.

The sales section chief thought about it for a long time, and only then did he remember Zhu Daolin, who had bought stale grain from himself and packed it away in a container, from the image of "a tall man with long hair like a rock star" described by the security guard. Immediately instructed the security guard to ask Zhu Daolin to answer the phone.

Hearing Zhu Daolin say that he needed to buy thousands of tons of old rice, the sales section chief was embarrassed, but he didn't want to lose this big business, so he explained to Zhu Daolin:

"I'm sorry, Brother Zhu, the old rice has been sold out, you know that our Guizhou Province is a big wine-making province, and the food consumption is very large. Not to mention the aged rice suitable for sake brewing, there are now at most 100 tons left in stock. There is a lot of old corn, most of which are two years of inventory, if Brother Zhu is willing to ask for it, sell it to Brother Zhu at the lowest price for thousands of tons, how about it? ”

"Corn? May I ask Section Chief Liu, how much is a ton of this aged corn? Zhu Daolin thinks corn is also good. Guizhou Province and the surrounding provinces have many mountains and few lands, and there are not many rice fields, but there are quite a few corn growers on the slopes.

"No matter how low it is, it can't be lower than 1,300 yuan, and grain prices have generally risen in recent months, with wheat rising to 2,300 yuan/ton. Imports of U.S. corn have also risen to 2,100 yuan/ton, and we have local corn in stock, and if it weren't for the low purchase price in the previous two years and the storage time was slightly longer, the price of 1,300 yuan/ton would never be sold. ”

"I think my brother is an old friend and a big customer, so I offered this lowest price, and no matter how low it is, I can't be sure of it as a small section chief." Section Chief Liu's tone was quite sincere.

Zhu Daolin thought for a moment: "In this case, let me buy 10,000 tons first, and pick up the goods in batches after issuing the ticket, okay?" ”

"Not much, brother! There are only 7,600 tons in stock, even if you help you find a way from somewhere else, you can have more than 1,000 tons at most, there are a lot of soybeans, mung beans, and black beans in stock, and there is no problem with 10,000 tons. Section Chief Liu's abacus crackled.

"If it's convenient, I want to go to your company for an interview, and I want to buy a batch of ordinary flour."

"No problem! You give the phone to the security captain just now, and I'll ask him to drive you, haha! ”

At four o'clock in the afternoon, Duan Deming, who was full of alcohol, drove the Grand Cherokee out of the noisy and crowded provincial capital and turned onto the flat national highway westbound, where Zhu Daolin in the passenger seat was still counting a stack of bills of lading worth 16.9 million yuan of aged corn, aged flour and mung beans and black beans.

Duan Deming couldn't help but complain again: "You madman, I'm afraid your brain is really broken, I've never seen a fool who bought so much stale grain once...... That cunning to the point of baldness Section Chief Liu is not a good thing, it can be seen from his wine that he belongs to the sinister and cunning smiling tiger type, which coaxes your kid to be dizzy, now it's okay, you help him clear the warehouse, what can you do with nearly 10,000 tons of old corn? Even the most economical mountain people don't need to make wine, you can just ship it back and feed the pigs. ”

"Hey."

Zhu Daolin replied casually, sorted out the bills and put them in the newly bought canvas satchel, reached out and grabbed the cigarettes and the lighter under the dashboard, took out one and lit it, and pressed the power window:

"If you have the ability, you can also help me raise 10,000 tons of corn and soybeans and mung beans, and I will give you how much money."

"Don't look for me, do you know that the interlaced lines are like mountains?" Duan Deming responded disdainfully.

Zhu Daolin looked at Duan Deming: "But I still have to thank you, you helped me rent the warehouse so quickly, and asked someone to clean it and replace it with a big lock, I don't have to stay in a hotel next time." ”

Duan Deming wanted to ask Zhu Daolin why he bought so much food?

Why not buy it in the Yangtze River Delta, which is convenient and rich in transportation? But in the end, he still didn't ask, and turned to the business between them:

"There are more than 7,000 flintlock pistols in stock, at your request to make long barrels in the past two months, chain mail has also been shipped back 5,000 square meters, five kinds of helmets need you to see samples, two of the five models of steam engines, have begun to process the base and parts according to your requirements, the supporting boiler is entrusted to the professional old factory over there in Shancheng to produce, the initial production of 25 units per month, unified assembly at the end of the month, three months later, strive to double the output, you kid ready money."

"That's all it takes? Keep up the good work, boy! Go back and you count the totals, and within two weeks I'll transfer them to your account. Zhu Daolin casually threw most of the remaining cigarettes out of the window, raised the car window, leaned on the back of the chair and whistled leisurely.

Duan Deming had nothing to do about Zhu Daolin's contempt, and asked loudly in annoyance: "Why didn't you mention the single-shot rifle?" I've made more than 2,000 of them, including bayonets and accessory kits, and you'll have to give me 1,500 each, not a penny less! ”

Zhu Daolin was stunned: "Didn't you say that only the production of accessories was handed over to me to assemble by myself?" ”

Duan Deming sighed: "A group of old men in the factory can't be idle, they are more courageous than me, when I found out, 2,100 pieces have been made, the quality is better than the military, I have no choice but to collect them and hide them, and strictly order them to only make accessories and not assemble, not to produce gun butts, otherwise they will stop work and go home without a penny, so they will stop those old guys." ”

Zhu Daolin laughed: "I'll take it all away this time, so you won't be scared, haha!" By the way, what about the revolver? Last time I tested the gun, I asked you to build it, and you said that you would improve the shape and increase the length of the barrel to achieve a larger range, did the sample come out? ”

Duan Deming pursed his mouth: "What is this little gadget?" The samples have already been made, and there are two special revolvers for you, and I asked the best sixth-level workers in the factory to carefully process them from the best chrome steel, firing 7.62 pistol rounds, and even holding them decorated with polished antelope horns, which are very beautiful, and I am a little reluctant to give them to your grandson......"

"Let's go to the shooting range after drinking, and by the way, set down the long-barreled revolver that fires 11mm paper shell bullets, make you 2,000 at once, and concentrate on other things."

Zhu Daolin was overjoyed: "Then drive faster, don't drink when you go back, do you know that you are drunk and driving now?" ”

"Phew! If you're afraid of death, you get out of the car and walk back ......" (to be continued......