It's the eighth day of the seventh month in a blink of an eye.

Liu Yan led people to transport back 500 catties of iron from the Qianqian households in Xiahe Village, as well as a large amount of leather and charcoal, which were all materials specially approved by the defending officer Zhang Hailin when he heard about the achievements of Dapanbao.

For this reason, Liu Yan was very grateful, and specially prepared some gifts to visit, wanting to thank the defense officer Zhang Hailin.

After meeting him, Liu Yan found that Zhang Hailin was indeed sick, and the time was not short. But Zhang Hailin's condition does not seem to be as serious as rumored outside, Liu Yan saw that Zhang Hailin's face was still very haggard, but his condition had improved, and it could be seen from Zhang Hailin's spirit that he was very energetic and confident.

After Liu Yan respectfully presented the gift list, he said a lot of words of thanks, Zhang Hailin took the gift list with a smile, just looked at it briefly, put it aside, and then sincerely encouraged Liu Yan, let Liu Yan just let go and go to Tuntian, he is very optimistic about the development of Dapanbao, if there is any difficulty, just come to find yourself, you can also go to Wang Weizhen, the manager of Wangjiazhuang, and he also said hello to Wang Weizhen.

Liu Yan naturally expressed his loyalty again when he heard this, and to be honest, he was still very moved by Zhang Hailin's strong support. Although Zhang Hailin is also for his own political achievements, Liu Yan will naturally remember the people who can support him when Dapanbao was created.

Liu Yan said goodbye to Zhang Hailin, came out of the Qianhu official hall, and beckoned everyone to carry the supplies back to Dapanbao.

All the iron materials and other materials transported back were all stored in the warehouse, and registered by Zhao Min one by one, Liu Yan called Tan Xiaoda to count, and instructed that while building armor, the fire gun should also continue to build, if there is not enough manpower to bring it up, Liu Yan can come forward to recruit some more.

Of course, the armor of Dapanbao is not heavy armor, nor is it the gorgeous Ming armor cotton armor of Jingying, but a simple cuirass, plus helmets, arm guards, two gears and other parts. But this is enough, now Liu Yan does not have much family background, just equip this kind of armor, and iterate it later.

Tan Xiao laughed and said, "It's really not enough now, so it's better to recruit some more." ”

Liu Yan nodded and agreed, and then called Chen Xun, wanting Chen Xun to go to Wangjiazhuang and recruit some craftsmen to come over.

Chen Xun agreed, and then said: "My lord, the wages of the craftsmen who built the fort and the military households who participated in the construction have not been paid this month, have you sent them together?" ”

"Okay, send it all down, and it must be distributed in time every month."

"My lord, there are not many glutinous rice and other materials needed to build the fort wall, Wang Bo has already brought people to buy them, and his subordinates approved three hundred taels of silver for Wang Bo yesterday."

Now Liu Yan has kept a part of the funds in his hands, about five hundred taels, which is used for emergency use. The rest of the silver is placed in Chen Xun's place, and if you want to make it, you need Chen Xun to nod your head, and keep an account with Zhao Min, and report it to yourself within two days.

Liu Yan also agreed, and then asked, "Are there any other expenses?" ”

"Yes."

Chen Xun said one by one: "There are also expenses for purchasing grain from the military household, raising cattle, buying soybean oil, paying for the rest of the chimneys to send grass and wood ashes, etc., a total of seven hundred and ninety-eight taels of silver. ”

Liu Yan's eyes widened suddenly, and he exclaimed, "How much! ”

Chen Xun smiled bitterly and said, "That's it!" It cost more than 400 taels of silver just to buy the grain of the army's household registration, after all, in addition to food, there was also a lot of meat and wine. In addition, the breeding of ploughing cattle also costs a lot of silver, and soybean feed should be added to the feed. ”

Liu Yan sighed, it seemed that he had a lot of silver in his hand, and he had a balance of a few hundred taels of silver left last month, and he earned more than three thousand taels of silver by selling soap this month.

But their own expenses are also huge, at this time the number of people in the soap workshop has reached about 30 people, each labor money has risen to six yuan of silver, Chen Jiang's is one tael, just to pay the wages to the people, it will cost 20 taels of silver, counting soybean oil, plant ash, rosin and other material costs, the monthly soap workshop expenditure is also more than 200 taels of silver, this is the cost.

In addition, dozens of craftsmen who built the fort wall, Tan Xiaoda and others in the weapons workshop, also have to spend more than two hundred taels of silver every month, these are all labor costs, not counting the cost of materials, that is the big head, there is no one thousand eight hundred taels of silver every month can not be taken, after all, whether it is iron or glutinous rice, the price is already ridiculously high.

Another point, now the more than 80 dun soldiers in Dapanbao also have to pay military salaries, and the salaries of Miao Shao, Xu Ming and the ten soldiers who do not collect at night are even higher, this is the rule set by Liu Yan, only by achieving sufficient food and salaries, can the combat effectiveness of the army be guaranteed.

According to the rules set by Liu Yan, each dun army was paid a military salary of eight yuan of silver per month, and Chen Xun, Wang Yue, Zhang Yi, and Wang Bo, four small flag officials, were paid a military salary of one or two silver dollars per month, which was also considered a "high salary" in the entire Lingshanwei. Because of this, the dunjun training every day is full of energy, even if they are tired, they will never be lazy, for fear of being removed by Liu Yan.

Liu Yan and Chen Xun calculated, and now the monthly expenses of Dapanbao will cost more than 1,400 taels of silver!

"I can't help but spend money."

This expenditure can still be sustained, but Liu Yan has a strong sense of crisis. Now there is only one source of income for the soap workshop, and if there is a problem with the sale of soap, the big panbao will go bankrupt within two months, and everything that he has worked so hard to accumulate will be in vain.

So Liu Yan made up his mind that he had to open up another way to make money.

"How much silver is left?"

Chen Xun said: "There are more than 1,900 taels of silver here under my subordinates. ”

Liu Yan nodded, plus the five hundred taels of silver he had here, two thousand four or five hundred taels was enough.

So Liu Yan said: "Early tomorrow morning, you will gather some women in the fort, at least thirty people, all of them will be pulled to the salt drying field by the sea, and the abandoned salt drying field will be cleaned up for me as soon as possible!" ”

Chen Xun was taken aback when he heard this, both of them were in Liu Yan's house at this time, although there was no third person, but Chen Xun still lowered his voice and said: "Chief A can't help it, that salt field was originally opened up by Lingshan Wei Dai Baihu, even Dai Baihu can't stop Shangguan from exploiting it, so he has to abandon it, how can we take it over!" ”

Liu Yan looked at Chen Xun's nervous expression and said with a smile: "Dai Baihu can't keep the salt drying field, but I'm sure to keep it!" ”

"Let me say something to Chief A, don't be too careful, now we have enough soap workshops, three or four thousand taels of silver per month, isn't this enough for our Dapanbao expenses? Why did Chief A bother to get involved in the salt farm? ”

Liu Yan shook his head and said, "You remember: you can't put all your eggs in one basket, understand?" Besides, the salt drying field is a place to make money, how can I let it go to waste! ”

"As for the trouble......

Liu Yan smiled and said, "Now the more than eighty dun troops in our Dapan Fort are not vegetarians, and ordinary small troubles can be stopped. As for those officials in the guard, I have my own way to deal with it! ”

Liu Yan also thought about these things, it was nothing more than that Dai Baihu's Shangguan heard the news, or came over to fight the autumn breeze, or directly reached out to snatch it.

It's okay to say that Liu Yan is ready to bring in Wang Weizhen, the officer of the management team, and also occupy a share of the salt drying field, so that he can block some of the trouble, and those Shangguan who fight the autumn wind can also deal with it.

The trouble is those who directly reach out to snatch, Liu Yan has already thought about it, if he encounters this kind of blind Shangguan, Liu Yan now has some silver in his hand, and there are dozens of obedient dun soldiers, those Shangguan who want to take advantage of it should also weigh it, and the two sides will have an opportunity to negotiate.

Liu Yan won't tell Chen Xun about these things, but just asked Chen Xun to mobilize people early tomorrow morning to clean up the salt drying field as soon as possible.

Chen Xun received the order, but he was still embarrassed and said: "Captain Jia, the salt drying field is very large, and our twenty or thirty women are not enough." ”

Liu Yan nodded and said, "Let's clean up two or three salt pools first, let's resume production as soon as possible, and take your time in the rest of the place." ”

"Yes, my subordinates will do it tomorrow."

Early the next morning, Chen Xun first got up early in the morning and rushed to Juntun, explained the affairs of Juntun, and then rushed back to Dapanbao, dispatched thirty strong women, asked everyone to take the corresponding tools, and then rushed to the salt drying field by the sea.

Liu Yan then rushed over, at this time Chen Xun and others had already started the cleaning work, only to see that everyone was concentrated in the two salt pools, and was struggling to clean up the sand and silt accumulated in the pools, Chen Xun was also sweating profusely.

Liu Yan took a general look, and then said to Chen Xun: "Over there is the canal that attracts seawater, and when cleaning it, it is necessary to ensure that the outside is high and the inside is low, and it is reinforced with a bamboo tube." ”

Reinforcement of the aqueduct with a bamboo tube is a method that Liu Yan came up with with reference to the technology of later generations, which can not only prevent the sand on the beach from refilling the canal, but also ensure the smooth flow of seawater into the salt pool, and can also add a mechanism to a section of the bamboo tube, using a wooden board as a baffle, when it is necessary to stop the water inflow, the baffle is put down and inserted into the bamboo tube, which can play the role of a sluice.

After hearing this, Chen Xun suddenly opened his mouth, and immediately separated several women to go over and clean the aqueduct at the same time.

Then Liu Yan looked at the cleaning tools in everyone's hands and shook his head, they were all farming tools, and even wooden basins brought from home, using such tools to clean up the sand and silt on the beach, which was very unlucky.

So Liu Yan asked Chen Xun and the others to do this today, and then Liu Yan returned to Dapanbao and called Zhang Yi and asked him to take someone to Wangjiazhuang to buy a batch of tools for panning sand, as well as various equipment and tools needed for the salt drying field.

Zhang Yi heard that these things were going to be used to reopen the salt drying plant, and his face was also solemn.

"You remember, don't buy these things in the shops opened by Mrs. Xu, if you can't buy them in Wangjiazhuang, take people to the Qianqian Households in Xiahezhai, and buy them separately in several shops, don't be asked anything by others, understand?"

Zhang Yi nodded and said, "Don't worry, Chief A, his subordinates understand that they will never leak the news." ”

"From the team of dun troops under you, select reliable people to go, and give everyone a lecture before leaving, whoever leaks the news, will drive me out of Dapan Fort!"

"Understood!"

Then Liu Yan gave Zhang Yi three hundred taels of silver, and after Zhang Yi went to Zhao Min to keep the account, he was ready to go.

Liu Yan returned to the house, and during this time, he had to keep an eye on all matters by himself, although he didn't have to do it himself, but he was also quite tired.

Lying on the bed, Liu Yan thought about the next plan, but after calculating it, he was still stuck in a bottleneck by a problem: "There are not enough people!" ”

Although the population of Dapanbao has caught up with Wangjiazhuang, there is no need to farm in Wangjiazhuang, and the people there have their own livelihood, or farming, or selling, etc.

This is not the case on the side of Dapanbao, the military tun, the soap workshop, the weapons workshop, and the soon-to-be-launched salt drying field, these all require a large number of manpower, don't look at the current Dapanbao has more than 400 manpower, but remove the elderly, children, that is, more than 300 people, and half of them women, can only do what they can in the soap workshop and salt drying field.

Thinking of this, Liu Yan couldn't help but sigh and said, "It seems that we have to find a way to poach people from elsewhere!" ”