New Year, in the traditional Chinese culture is a very important festival, is a tradition, but also a yearning for a better life of will, to the New Year, whether rich or poor, are to work hard to buy a place, new clothes, buy New Year's goods, a happy New Year, the New Year, even the creditor will not be annoying to collect debts.

Many creditors will choose to desperately collect debts before the New Year, so many places have the "New Year's Pass" talk, the New Year's Pass is like a pass, as long as the New Year is over, the "Pass" will also pass.

However, it is difficult for some people to feel the joyful atmosphere of the New Year, such as people who are doing business abroad or displaced people, Zhao Sanqiang is better, because he is the former, he is a person who has left home to do business, although he can't reunite with his family, but there is no need to worry about food and clothing, at least, in front of that large number of refugees, this Zhao family child still has a sense of superiority.

Huangba County is a county of Hanzhong Prefecture in Shaanxi, located at the junction of Shaanxi and Sichuan, in the past, because of the important geographical location, many tourists, businessmen gathered, it is a prosperous place, but since the outbreak of the uprising, the refugees and displaced people here are increasing day by day, and there are many people inside and outside the city, the reason is very simple, these refugees want to find an opportunity to enter the "land of abundance" Sichuan to beg for a living, but they are rejected by the officers and soldiers guarding the pass, so they stay here.

Troubles and burial of corpses have become the most headache for Huangba officials: once people are hungry and crazy, they can do anything, and hunger has become the biggest cause of trouble, in addition, people starve to death every day, these need to be buried in time to avoid epidemics, for those homeless people, if they want to live, the best thing is to be favored by the owner, either as coolies or slaves, when a group of homeless people see Zhao Sanqiang riding a horse, looking at a group of homeless people like picking animals, they know that the opportunity has come, One by one, they tried to keep their chests up and appear stronger.

Pick the shot. There is a chance to live, and if you don't, you will continue to starve until you starve to death or be killed.

Zhao Sanqiang said loudly: "My master has some farm tools that are broken, and now I want to hire a few blacksmiths to repair them, are there any blacksmiths who can repair them?" ”

It turned out that this time the blacksmith was going to repair the farm tools, many people lowered their heads in frustration, and continued to bask in the sun with their tired bodies, and some people hesitated for a moment and raised their hands: "This master." The small one is a blacksmith, and I will fix it. ”

"Me too"

"I'm the best at my craft."

After one person stood up, several more people stood up one after another to sign up, for them, as long as they have a bite to eat, let alone performing arts, they can sell themselves.

One, two, three, four, five, yes, five. Zhao Sanqiang nodded, pointed to the five people and said, "Okay, just the five of you, follow me." ”

Five craftsmen were taken to a workshop on the outskirts of the city. Each of them drank two bowls of porridge with pickles, which was considered to be a little better work, and then each of them got one or two broken farm tools and began to repair them, and several blacksmiths were a little strange: the tools seemed to be broken on purpose. This kind of farm tool, you don't need to hire five blacksmiths at once, what's even more bizarre. There were several sets of repair tools prepared at once.

It doesn't feel like tinkering with farm tools, it's like a skill game.

But now is "milk is the mother", a few craftsmen neither dare to ask the reason, nor dare to talk about wages, anyway, what to do, just give a bite to eat, work hard, then the guests are satisfied, ask for a favor, and then reward a few steamed buns to take back to the family to chew, then satisfied.

In less than an hour, all those farm tools were repaired, Zhao Sanqiang took a look at it casually, and each person was rewarded with 200 yuan to pay the wages, and then asked people to take out a plate of big buns and put them on the table, and then took out a five-tael silver ingot from his arms and put it on the table with a "snap", and said lightly: "There is one more thing, that is, when we encountered bandits in business, a few knives were broken, which one can repair weapons, as long as it is repaired, these buns and this ingot of silver will belong to whom." ”

Bun!

As soon as the bun came out, the eyes of the five craftsmen widened, and their saliva flowed, for everyone, they had eaten the bark and grass roots, and they had eaten everything that could be imported, and the taste of this meat bun had not been tasted for a long time, and the fragrant meat was really hungry to death.

But these people don't dare to move, can repair farm tools and can repair weapons are two different things, an apprentice can repair farm tools, but a skilled craftsman does not dare to repair weapons lightly, the main reason is that the requirements are too high, can be repaired can also be built, these craftsmen are high-level in the blacksmith.

Zhao Sanqiang was a little weak, and said: "Since no one will, then forget it, come and send off guests." ”

One of the craftsmen, who was nearly fifty years old, looked at the silver on the table, and then looked at the more than ten big meat buns on the plate, swallowed his saliva, gritted his teeth, and suddenly said, "This master, let me try it." ”

"Oh" Zhao Sanqiang was overjoyed, but said quietly on his face: "Okay, you can try it." ”

The old craftsman whispered, "If I can repair it, this bun and silver are mine?" ”

"That's right, as long as you have the ability, this bun and the silver are all yours." Zhao Sanqiang said with a straight face, and after speaking, he beckoned, and soon someone took the old craftsman to another room and let him work.

After the four craftsmen with average craftsmanship left, Zhao Sanqiang exhaled a long breath and said to himself: "Life is hard, I just ran out to find someone every year, and after looking for a few days, I finally have a reliable one, I hope this is a bit of a real skill, and my uncle can really toss."

"Ah Chao" Just when Zhao Sanqiang said bad things about Lu Haoshan behind his back, the majestic Lu Qianhu seemed to have a long sneeze in the study of Qianhu.

"My lord, it doesn't matter if you're resting, is it?"

"Yes, sir, you need to take care of yourself." Lu Haoshan sneezed, and the three craftsmen who were sitting in the study were a little cramped, and hurriedly greeted.

Lu Haoshan rubbed his nose, smiled a little embarrassedly, and said kindly: "The official is fine, the three craftsmen can introduce themselves." ”

The three people sitting in the study were representatives of a group of craftsmen, and they were waiting with some anxiety for the arrangement of the thousand households.

The three craftsmen glanced at each other, and the old man with an old man with a little white beard said with some restraint: "If you go back to the adult, the little one is called Zheng Kang, and everyone calls me Old Man Zheng, an old carpenter. ”

"Little Lu Dahua is a mason." Lu Haoshan saw that it was a middle-aged man sitting in the middle who was a little thin and thin.

The last one, with a tall body and strong upper arms, needless to say, this is the representative of the blacksmith, introduced by himself, surnamed Ji and Hong, and is an old blacksmith with more than twenty years of experience.

"Master Zheng," Lu Hao said suddenly.

This craftsman is also divided into high and low, ordinary ones are called small craftsmen, ordinary ones are called craftsmen, and those with old qualifications and good craftsmanship are called master craftsmen, Lu Haoshan is commensurate with master craftsmen, which is a kind of respect.

As soon as Lu Haoshan opened his mouth, he called Zheng Kang's name, which startled him, and hurriedly responded: "Adult, small one." ”

"I now order you to be the leader of the carpentry team, you pick three carpenters with good skills as assistants to stay, and the rest let them go back to the hundred households first."

The carpenter mainly makes some furniture and equipment, because the smelting technology of the Ming Dynasty is not mature, and the mining of iron ore is also limited, so that the carpenter has more work, in Lu Haoshan's plan, the carpenter does not occupy an important role, and it is enough for him to pick a few people with good craftsmanship to stay.

Old man Zheng hurriedly retreated.

After the old man Zheng went down, Lu Haoshan took out a copy of the drawings he drew and handed it to Lu Dahua on the side, Lu Dahua took it and took a look, the painting on the paper was a thing like a stove, tall, and it looked weird, fortunately, it was not difficult to understand, all kinds of sizes were marked very carefully, and any requirements were also listed on it, which could be said to be clear at a glance.

"Master Lu, how about it, can you make this thing?"

Lu Dahua thought for a while, nodded and said, "If you go back to Lord Qianhu, this thing looks a bit complicated, but if you think about it, it should be fine." ”

No problem, Lu Haoshan took out the pattern, is the blast furnace for ironmaking, this design is very popular in later generations, increase the temperature in the furnace, so as to better separate the impurities in the iron ore, improve the quality of iron, only good materials, in order to create better quality firearms, Lu Haoshan first to solve, is the material problem.

The design is backward, it can be improved slowly, but the backward material is difficult to overcome, take the musket as an example, there are many defects in the material, playing and fighting, either there are cracks or trachoma, the frequency of updates is too fast, it is simply a waste.

"That's good" Lu Haoshan took back the drawings, nodded and said, "Okay, Master Lu, you also go and pick a few helpers to stay here, and let them go back if they do the rest." ”

"Yes, Senho-sama." Lu Dahua also breathed a long sigh of relief.

Fortunately, he didn't disappoint Lord Qianhu, if he disappointed Lord Qianhu, maybe those three guys who complained about the crime would be his role model, thinking of the current miserable situation of those three informants, Lu Dahua was afraid for a while.

That's not right, people outside say that this Qianhu is ruthless, but looking at his smile, he doesn't have any, it's not like ah, is there a misunderstanding? Forget it, I'm just a small craftsman, and try to mix these things as little as possible, so as not to get burned.

Solving two problems in a row, Lu Haoshan was in a good mood, and turned his head to look at the last craftsman, blacksmith Ji Hong, there were no outsiders at this time, Lu Haoshan said straight to the point: "Master Ji, this official asks you, there are many damaged and worn muskets in this thousand households, can you repair them?" ”

It's a pity that this Ji Hong didn't follow the same path as the first two craftsmen, and when he heard Lu Haoshan's question, he hurriedly responded: "Back to the words of the adults, the small ones will repair farm tools, and the swords will also be repaired, but the muskets, the small ones are really powerless, and these will only be repaired by those top masters of the Ordnance Bureau." ”

Won't fix it?

Lu Haoshan was a little disappointed, and continued to ask, "Then will you build those muskets?" ”

What the? Crafting a musket? Ji Hong was taken aback, and hurriedly responded: "No, no, this musket is an important military material, ordinary people can't build it, if you build it privately, then you will have a lawsuit." (To be continued......)