At the beginning of October, the Wendeng camp had a two-day holiday, and all the soldiers were repaired, but they were not allowed to leave the range of the old and new forts in the Wendeng camp, and the soldiers poured into the old fort of the Wendeng camp to consume.

The new camp and bunker of Wendeng Camp brought thousands of people, and with the relocation of the cold weapon workshop, the number of workers began to increase, although many of the tun households did not have much income, but some basic daily necessities still had to be consumed. The old fort has become more and more prosperous, Zhou Hongmo himself opened a wine shop, a food shop and a hook column, there is a salt shop in Yuzhi County, Zheng Dianshi and the main book and others have also sent relatives to open the store. As soon as the Wendeng camp was on holiday, the food shops and Goolan and other places were overcrowded, and Zhou Shifa patrolled everywhere every day with the town to prevent the soldiers from making trouble.

Only half of the cavalry battalion was on vacation, a flag team surveyed the terrain on the roads from Wendeng to Laiyang, and Nie Hong, who stayed in Laiyang, kept sending back information that they had mastered Yu Dacheng's main activity location, and Yu Dacheng was quietly making weapons and preparing to start an incident in the New Year.

Chen Xin himself took a few of his own soldiers and returned to Mazi Erdun to check the latest accounts with Liu Min. Liu Minyou looked at the account book and let out a long breath, "I finally got all your iron armor together." ”

Chen Xin pouted and said: "There are only more than five hundred pairs, and now Tang Zuoxiang has a hydraulic drill pipe over there, how can Wang Huzi not make any progress." ”

"They did make a water hammer, and I plan to let them install it in the Wendeng camp, and the Baolong River will have enough water."

Chen Xin's equipment this year was complete, and these problems were left to Liu Minyou to solve slowly, he saw Liu Minyou with the musket on the table and asked, "This is the flintlock pistol that Tang Zuoxiang made out of them?" ”

Liu Minyou continued to look at Chen Xin's expenditure plan for next month, and said without raising his head: "It's this gun, it turns out that there is a kind of steel wheel ignition, and the firing rate is not high." It's new. ”

Chen Xin picked up a musket on Liu Minyou's table, pulled the hammer, the movement inside rang softly, he casually pulled the wrench, but he didn't pull it, the fingers gradually increased the force, and the flint on the hammer finally hit the fire sickle with a snap, sending out a spark.

Chen Xin touched the body of the gun with some joy and asked, "Has this gun been tested?" Still have questions? ”

"The training team sent people to test it, and the firing rate is still lower, only 50%, and if particle gunpowder is used as the primer, it will be lower."

Chen Xin looked at the hammer, turned the barrel over again, shook his head and said: "The striking power is not enough, the reed still has to be thick, this Tang Zuo is the same as the empty diameter, the pipe wall is still different, and he has to continue to improve, the training of young craftsmen should be accelerated, is the second phase of the teacher's crash course you teach good?" Okay, send some to teach the craftsmen, and give me some more. ”

As soon as Liu Min heard him say that the teachers were dissatisfied, he said angrily: "Don't think about it this time, I'd rather let them stay in Mazidun to teach workers and children to read and write." ”

Chen Xin smiled, ten of the fifteen teachers last time were taken away by him and became the army's instructors, "They also teach soldiers to read, and these soldiers can come to your school to be teachers when they are discharged from the army, isn't it." ”

"I'm not talking about the problem of teaching, the last time I went to Wendeng Camp, Huang Side was talking to the soldiers, it was all your heroic deeds, you didn't kill one of the sentinels in Liaodong, now you killed three, or Bayala, in the military department, the Confucianism is at least twenty or thirty people, Xiao Jiahua was rescued from the pile of dead, Tongtianliang fought with you for dozens of rounds, and was beheaded by you."

Chen Xin smiled without blushing: "This is just a way to control the army. ”

Liu Minyou stopped his pen and said to Chen Xin: "So what I'm worried about is not that there are no teachers in the school, but that Huang Side will come up with a red treasure book one day." ”

Chen Xin stood up and poured water, and said: "This is too much, but the red treasure book is not enough, I will go and talk to Huang Side, and the propaganda can't be too exaggerated, otherwise it will be the same as not doing it." ”

Liu Minyou naturally didn't believe that Chen Xin didn't know about it, but he couldn't verify it here, so he just said: "Huang Side is a little more utilitarian, and he sees the wind and the rudder, and he has been saying every day in my class that the people's livelihood is difficult, and the tunhu is hard, and now every time we meet, I say that the soldiers are hard, and the typical ass decides the head, you still don't let go too much." ”

Chen Xin picked up the gun on the table again, looked at it for a while and said: "During the war years, it is understandable that the status of soldiers was higher, and Prussia did not have such a stage, which is called an army with a country. ”

Liu Min asked dissatisfiedly: "What happened to Germany later?" Now the Dongjiang River has fled almost 6,000, the Tunbao in Wendeng Camp turned out to be more than 3,000 people, and we have nearly 10,000 people below, and the land is only more than 20,000 mu. In addition, most of your army are bachelors, and the land is given to them, who will plant it? ”

He paused for a moment and then continued: "And there is another one, if the soldiers have fields, they will have a way to retreat, not only live on monthly salary, but also go to the battlefield, will there be less desperate thoughts." ”

Chen Xin shook his head and said: "Their land is also under our control, and it is the same as the monthly salary." He pondered for a moment and said, "Since there is so little land, it is still mainly divided into households, but you have to set aside at least 5,000 acres, and if there are soldiers who are injured and retired, there is a place to resettle." In the future, those who have been given land in the tun households will have to help the wounded soldiers who have no labor force to do heavy work, and this will be one of the conditions for the distribution of their fields, and one for every five or ten households, so that I can pay a little pension every month and save cash. What does Brother Liu think of this? ”

Liu Minyou took the account book, leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes for a while, and agreed: "This is okay, but it is only limited to wounded soldiers, what about other normal retirements?" ”

"It's still early to retire normally, at least there won't be one in the next few years, how can it be so easy for him to retire as a soldier I trained with great difficulty, and I'll talk about it after a careful plan in the future."

Liu Min didn't ask Chen Xin's plan, and sighed: "We raise too many people, and there are few fields, even if one person has one catty a day, we also need 10,000 catties of grain, which is nearly 100 stones, more than 30,000 stones a year, Weihai and Wendeng 23,000 mu, one stone and two or three buckets per mu, at least this year, it will cost a few thousand taels of silver to buy grain." ”

"There is no shortage of silver this year, you just have to buy it, people are still raised, manpower is the resource with the longest production cycle, and it will always be more precious than others."

At this time, the door rang a few times, and Liu Minyou shouted, "Please come in." ”

As soon as the door opened, a woman in a white cotton dress walked in, and Chen Xin took a closer look, and it turned out to be Wang Daixi.

"Master Chen is also there." Wang Daixi saw Chen Xin and greeted him happily.

Chen Xin hadn't seen Wang Daixi for a while, and that yellow-haired girl-like girl was now also a beautiful girl, and she was also the female account room of Mazidun, which could help a little.

Chen Xin immediately asked Wang Daixi to sit down, and had a family meeting with her, Wang Daixi was actually only more than fifteen years old, he had been a tent in the past two years, he had done a lot of things, he had seen more people, and his temperament was much calmer, and he seemed very precocious.

After talking for a while, Wang Daixi got up to say goodbye, she had a lot of things in the account room, she put an account book in front of Liu Minyou and said: "Brother Liu, this is the materials and expenses of the copper coin workshop last month, you can take a look first." ”

Liu Minyou raised his head and agreed: "Okay, I'll take a look when I have time today." ”

"Well, don't worry, don't be tired, I've reviewed it a few times, you just take your time. Master Chen, I'm leaving. ”

After Wang Daixi went out, Chen Xin pointed to the door and said mysteriously to Liu Min: "She calls me an adult, just to draw a line with me, and to call you eldest brother, just to ......"

Liu Minyou said impatiently: "Go and go, if you come back, you will see your concubine Xiao Jiahua go, don't chew your tongue here, then you have to make fun of the little girl, it's only the second year of junior high school." ”

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In the main house of the Sanjin compound, Chen Xin was looking at a brief map, which marked the main mountains, rivers and post roads of Laiyang, and the light smoke from the incense burner next to it quickly dissolved in the air, and the house was filled with the aroma of agarwood, as if he was in a garden full of flowers.

A pair of soft wattles gently rested on Chen Xin's shoulder, Chen Xin didn't look back, smiled and gently patted the other party's left hand.

Zhao Xiang's voice sounded: "I still have to see this Laoshzi ghost draw a peach talisman, I don't know what it is." ”

Chen Xin put down the map in his hand, leaned comfortably on the fox skin pillow behind the chair, Zhao Xiang gently pressed his forehead, and said with concern: "I heard that the soldiers of your Wendeng camp are going crazy, I haven't seen you toss Qiu Ba so much, don't be tired with them." ”

"This is the army, naturally it is going to be tossed, you don't have to worry about me. Things have been going well at home lately? ”

Zhao Xiang pouted and said: "Everything else is fine, it's that Xiao Jiahua, who actually stole something to eat in the kitchen, was seen by the kitchen servant, caught and beaten." ”

Chen Xin almost forgot about Xiao Jiahua, and listened: "If it's really hard to manage, don't let her be a maid and find a reliable person to marry." It also saves you from looking at her upset. ”

Zhao Xiang snorted, "Now the people in the dun fort think that she has been your concubine, although some old dun households know what is going on, the new ones are hearsay, the more it is rumored, the more outrageous it is, who dares to marry her now." ”

"Didn't they all say that they were maids, what else is there to pass on?"

Zhao Xiang said dissatisfiedly: "It's not Song Wenxian's dog son, he bragged everywhere about him being detained in the governor's yamen at that time, and even told Xiao Jiahua together, and many people thought she was a concubine." ”

When Chen Xin heard about Song Wenxian's eldest son, he casually asked, "What is he bragging about?" ”

"Sun Guozhen was not very worried about the eyes of his subordinates at that time, and he went to see Xiao Jiahua once, Song Wenxian's dog son quietly said a word to Xiao Jiahua, and then Sun Guozhen left angrily, and Sun also believed Xiao Jiahua."

Chen Xin couldn't help but be interested, turned his head to look at Zhao Xiang and asked, "What did he say?" ”

He told Xiao Jiahua in advance that Sun Guozhen was the newly hired housekeeper, and Xiao Jiahua ran away with Sun Guozhen in a few words. You said that the Xiao family had to be annoying to do this. ”

Chen Xin laughed and said, "Mr. Song's eldest son is good, and he is really a tiger father without ......."

Zhao Xiang patted him lightly on the forehead, and Chen Xin quickly changed his words: "The mouse son will make holes." ”

Zhao Xiang was very dissatisfied with Song Wenxian's son, and he was angry when he said it, and he didn't help Chen Xin massage it, seeing that the smoke of the incense burner was very light, he went over to open the lid of the stove, and after observing it, he picked up a small tweezer on the table, took out the small piece of agarwood, threw it into a small clay jar, and then took out the mica plate, and below it was some charcoal with fire embers.

Chen Xin smiled: "You don't have to change it, I won't look at it for a while." ”

Zhao Xiang changed to a small shovel and replied gently: "If you don't see it, you will extinguish it again, this incense can refresh your mind." You have always been in the barracks a lot, don't be too tired yourself, have time to come back more, what's better at home than that Qiu Bawo. Again...... Besides, we should have had a child earlier. ”

Zhao Xiang's face turned red again, they had been close for nearly a year, and her stomach hadn't moved, so she hurriedly lowered her head and replaced the original charcoal fire with a shovel, and got a few more pieces from the stove, and then covered the mica sheet on it.

Now that Chen Xin's power is gradually growing, there are many people around him who want to get close to him, and she heard that people at the command level of Cheng Shanwei want to give his daughter as a concubine, so she is anxious to have a child. She is an eldest woman, and if the eldest son is also hers, her position will be very stable, and she will not be afraid of taking concubines at that time.

She paused and said: "Otherwise, after a while, you will take Ju Xiang, she was originally a wedding maid, sooner or later, it will be the same, if you want, you can also do it earlier." ”

Chen Xin looked at Zhao Xiang with a little surprise, he didn't expect that there would be such a good thing. After thinking about it for a while, I understood what Zhao Xiang meant, this little woman is the first to seize the power of the back house, and Ju Xiang must be on the same front with her, occupying the front position among the concubines first.

Zhao Xiang finally changed the agarwood and put the lid on again. He turned around and asked, "Little man, what do you think?" ”

"Well, no problem."