The wall foundations of the nine tulou have been laid, and a lot of labor is required to build the tulou, but Liu Jun is not lacking labor now. Of the more than 1,000 people he got from the county seat, except for a few hundred who were recruited into the Nine-headed Bird Team and were undergoing closed training, the rest were seven or eight hundred men, women, and children who were idle.

Liu Jun's workshop is still far away, and these people are all transferred to work on the construction site. Anyway, Liu Jun didn't let them work in vain, both men and women worked on the construction site, and there were many different jobs anyway, Liu Jun asked the old man to arrange a person who recorded the score.

For all the people who work on the construction site, the things they do every day, the time and the results are given points, one work point is worth one liter of rice, and earning ten points is a bucket of rice, which is equivalent to eight cents of silver according to the current price of rice. This is already the silver that those skilled craftsmen can earn in a day, and the average woman can earn four or five points a day, and a half-grown child can earn two or three points.

At the end of the day, if the whole family goes to work, they can earn more than ten or twenty liters of rice, a bucket of rice has more than ten catties, and almost twenty or thirty catties of rice a day, which is quite high. So as long as it doesn't rain, the newly displaced people will go into battle with their families to earn rice.

Lu Weizhang sent a scorer to be very fair, and he would not score indiscriminately. And Lu Weizhang is also very atmospheric, the day's work will be finished in the evening, and the rice with white flowers will be directly issued, although it is japonica rice that is cheaper than polished rice, but it is also rice. Two or three liters of rice a day for a family is enough, and a day of work is enough for several days.

However, the four-story tulou is not so fast to be built, and the tulou is still under construction, but not far away, more than a dozen rows of wooden houses have been built, and these wooden houses are all rows of one-story wooden houses, like collective dormitories. Each room is not big, but there is also a living room and four bedrooms, so it is no problem to live in a family.

Basically, the immigrants have been allocated their own new wooden houses, which are considered the property of the nine-headed bird, and the displaced people live in them as rental, but only pay a small monthly rent.

There are still public toilets and public baths, and there is also a large canteen, and the immigrants who work on the construction site do not have time to cook for themselves, so they eat in the large canteen every day, and the meals are cheap and affordable anyway.

In addition, a small courtyard has been newly built, but this is a school. Liu Jun paid for some old Xiucai to come over as a gentleman to teach the children here in Hutouguan to read and write, and the school did not charge money, but still managed the children for lunch at noon.

It's not just the homeless who send their young children to school, but the vendors and residents of Hutouguan also send their own children to study. It doesn't cost a lot of money to run a school a year, but it can make many people grateful, and Liu Jun is still very happy to do this kind of thing.

There is a street outside the original Hutouguan Yamen, many shops, and now there are hundreds of regimental exercises at once, and more than 1,000 families and workers, making it more and more lively here, and now everyone has begun to call this Hutou Fort or Hutou Town. When there are many people, there are business opportunities, and it also attracts many vendors to come here to sell or even open shops.

Liu Jun also took the opportunity to ask the craftsmen to build a row of new shops, all of which were wooden houses, extending the original street by dozens of steps, and adding many new shops. Liu Jun rented out these shops and warehouses, which can be regarded as a small profit.

Zhang Shan even proposed to Liu Jun to build an earthen wall outside the street and houses, and enclose the entire street and houses inside, so that this place would really become a tiger head fortress. Yacheng is the inner city on the inside, and the outer city on the outside, and the tiger head fort has two walls inside and outside, which is bound to be safer and more stable, and can also attract more merchants and people to set up shops and live here.

Liu Jun agrees with this plan, but it is temporarily listed as the second phase of the plan. Now it is important to build the perimeter first, and then to build the façade.

Zhao Shun has been busy with the affairs of the workshop all day these days, thinking about how to separate the various processes of bird gun manufacturing, and establish a bird gun manufacturing line according to Liu Jun's intentions.

Every day, he was busy until late when he got home, and his home was in the rows of wooden houses behind the street.

The house was made of wood, and the roof was also made of wood, and then it was covered with bark, and it was covered with a layer of thatch. The layout of each house is similar, and the entrance is a hall, which is not larger than the hall of an ordinary house, and some are small, but it can also put almost four tables of eight immortals. At the back of the hall is a small kitchen with an earthen stove and a water tank. On both sides of the hall, there are two rooms, each room is not large, and you can put a bed and a cabinet, but this is also due to the fact that some people have more families and live in separate rooms.

Compared to the previous shacks, such a wooden house is one underground and one heavenly.

Zhao Shun's wife also works on the construction site during the day, although the man now has five taels of silver and one stone of rice a month, but she does not just stay at home to enjoy, the same day to go to the construction site to pick soil, can also earn several points. My son has basically recovered after his illness last time, and he is alive again, and now he is also sent to the school to study, and Mr. Xiucai is taught in the school, and he also manages a meal at noon, saving the couple a lot of things.

"Eat more meat."

The dinner was made by Zhao Shun's wife, and there were vegetable shops on the street, with chicken, duck, fish, and various seasonal vegetables, and the price was fair. Today, Zhao Shun's wife bought a carp that was still alive, bought a pound of pork, made a very hearty dinner, and even gave her husband a pound of rice wine.

Both husband and wife served their sons and daughters with fish and meat, and they were both very relieved to see the three children happily eating.

"In charge, this day is really unimaginable." Zhao Shun's wife sighed.

"Yes, I met a nobleman." Zhao Shun picked up the bowl and took a sip of rice wine, smacking his tongue. He used to love to drink two sips, but unfortunately since he left Jinan, he has not tasted wine for a long time. Now he lives in this comfortable and clean wooden house, under the oil lamp, with braised carp and fried pork slices on the table, and drinking rice wine, it is like returning to the life of Jinan in the past.

Before I fled, I didn't think that kind of life was so good. But after going through more than half a year of displacement and suffering, he finally understood how beautiful that life was.

"Lord Liu is a great nobleman, in charge, you must help others do things well, don't let them down." Zhao Shun's wife said that she can still remember that night, when she sat in the low, sultry and humid shack, holding her son who was in a hot and unconscious state, she was really heartbroken and heartbroken at that time.

Now, it's a new life.

"Don't worry, in this life, we can't repay Lord Liu for his kindness to our family, and I will definitely help Lord Liu make this workshop a good one." Zhao Shun said sincerely.

Wang Qian came back with the night team, and the horse team was still pulling a few carriages.

Liu Jun hurriedly greeted him, "How is it, have you got it back?" ”

Wang Qian smiled and nodded, "There was no mistake, the goods were all in good condition, and all the rest was brought back." ”

Hearing this, Liu Jun breathed a sigh of relief, now that there is a deficit in the account, he is counting on this money to live. He was relieved that the silver had been safely brought back.

Boxes of gold and silver, as well as gold, silver, pearls, jade and other jewelry, as well as several large boxes of antiques, calligraphy and paintings, were all transported into Liu Jun's study.

"Gold and silver can be used directly, but these jewelry, antiques, calligraphy and paintings, you have to be careful." Zhang Shan reminded that the gold and silver had been recast by the bandits, and of course no trace could be found. But those jewelry, calligraphy and painting and other things, but they all have the original owner, these things are robbed by thieves and dirty, if they are not good, they will always cause some trouble.

"The jewelry is kept first, and I will take the gold to redeem first."

The Ming Dynasty is now basically universal silver, treasure banknotes and copper coins have long collapsed, a mess, and ordinary people are accustomed to using silver. Although gold is more valuable, it is not directly circulated and needs to be exchanged for silver first.

With so much gold, Liu Jun was not at ease, and finally planned to find his father-in-law directly.

Lu Weizhang's business is not small, and the most important business is the Qian Rice Store and the South Goods Store.

Qian Mi Dian is actually a money shop, but it is also engaged in the rice industry, so it is called Qian Mi Shop.

Since the time of Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty, the treasure money began to depreciate, and the government relaxed the ban on the use of silver, and since then the silver money has been in public circulation. Since then, the private money is huge, the copper money is of different weights, the fineness is different, and the price difference between the money, private money, and white money is large, and there are many changes, so the exchange industry has risen. There are many shops specializing in the exchange of copper coins, called money shops, or money shops, money shops, money shops, money tables, money stalls, etc., with different names, but different scales.

Later, the money shop became more and more operational, not only engaged in the exchange of copper coins, but also engaged in the exchange of gold and silver, and even sold rice, etc., and in addition to the exchange, they even began to store, lend, and even issue bank tickets.

The Lu family's money and rice shop is a money shop with a certain scale, which is also engaged in the rice industry.

Liu Jun, his father-in-law, was very relieved, and directly invited Lu Weizhang to come over, and then put a thousand taels of gold in front of him.

"This is a thousand taels of gold, I plan to exchange them for silver, I don't know what the price is in my uncle's shop now?"

Lu Weizhang was also very surprised when he saw a box of gold in front of him, and he was also very surprised by the brilliant golden light of that piece, and he was a little puzzled in his heart where Liu Jun got so many gold bars. But he didn't ask, and after picking up a gold bar and looking at it carefully for a long time, he nodded, "The color is good, this one is about ten taels." ”

"Now the gold to silver in the market is 1 to 13." Lu Weizhang first said the market price, and then said, "But the world is getting more and more chaotic, so gold is becoming more and more valuable." Decades ago, gold and silver were still one to seven, and then one to eight, but since Emperor Chongzhen ascended the throne, the price is getting higher and higher, last year it was still one to twelve, and this year it is already one to thirteen. And it can be estimated that it will definitely rise again in the future, and I estimate that it will rise to at least 1 to 15 in another two years, or even higher. ”

Prosperous antiques, troubled gold, Liu Jun also understands this truth. Just as copper coins have become less and less valuable over the years, and silver has been exchanged for copper coins more and more, gold is a precious metal that retains its value more than silver.

"One to thirteen, can you help me exchange this gold?" Liu Jun asked.

"It's a loss to exchange now, and it's worth more if you wait." Lu Weizhang kindly reminded.

"Wait for it to be used in a hurry."

Lu Weizhang didn't need where Liu Jun got the gold, nor did he ask him where he needed it urgently, and finally said, "That's it, although the market is one to thirteen now, it is often priceless." Since you want to redeem it, then I will give you a thousand taels of gold, and I will give you fourteen thousand taels of silver. But it will take three days, and I will have to gather the money. ”

"No problem." Liu Jun said with a smile, and the old man gave a preferential price.

"I still have some antique calligraphy and paintings here, can you help me make a deal, the price is negotiable." Liu Jun didn't bother the two masters about anything, and simply continued.

Lu Weizhang's eyes narrowed slightly, and he suddenly guessed the origin of this gold, first there were 1,000 taels of gold, and then there were antique calligraphy and paintings immediately, needless to say, it was definitely not robbed, it could only be obtained when he suppressed bandits before. Although these were thieves, Lu Weizhang didn't move, just smiled and nodded.

In the eyes of a real businessman, there is only goods and no dirt!