The platoon commanders took the team out, stopped at different planned locations, and distributed tools for the soldiers to start building the rammed earth wall. Building the city wall is also very simple, that is, according to Yang Peng's plan, dig soil from the outside of the city wall, and then fill the soil into the planned city wall location. Where the earth is dug out, it becomes a moat. When the time comes, water will be brought in from the Hai River, and the moat will become a moat. The earth piled up on the city wall is compacted with stone piers to form a rammed earth city wall, which is the inner foundation of the brick city wall.

The heaviest part of the work of building the walls was rammed earth, which had to be compacted with each layer of soil. During the operation, a large stone mill is led by more than a dozen people with ropes from different directions. Everyone shouted in unison, pulled the stone mill and waved the stone mill, and then pulled the rope to make the stone mill smash heavily on the soil of the city wall, compacting the soft soil layer. Repeat this step again and again until all the soil is compacted and compacted.

The work of rammed earth is very laborious and physically demanding. After the rammed earth city wall was built, the matter of wrapping bricks and building pheasant moats was handed over to the masons. The amount of city wall projects planned by Yang Peng is not small. The circumference of the wall is 10,000 kilometers, it is a square, and each side is 750 meters. The walls are five meters high and three meters wide, and a horse face is built every twenty meters.

The so-called horse face is a pier protruding outward on the city wall, so that the soldiers on the city wall can attack the enemy who climbs the wall from the side. This Ming Dynasty defensive design idea is similar to the fortress of later generations, with the aim of forming multi-directional crossfire. Yang Peng absorbed the advantages of the fortress when designing, and designed the horse face as a triangle that protruded from the outside, so that the firepower on the city wall could cross to attack the enemy who climbed the horse face.

In this way, the entire city wall of Hope Zhuang New City requires more than 50,000 earthworks, and each soldier has to do more than 20 earthworks of rammed earth city walls on average, carrying stones on his shoulders and grinding and tamping, and it takes four or five months to be busy. However, the food given by Yang Peng includes vegetables, meat, and meat, which is fully nutritious. Doing physical work with adequate nutrition and adequate rest is good for the body. Speaking of which, although the two thousand family members recruited by Li Zhi were healthy, they were not strong enough by the standards of soldiers. Building rammed earth walls can help these soldiers build up their muscles and become qualified soldiers as soon as possible.

In addition to the arrangement of soldiers, Yang Peng also has to arrange officer candidates. The head of the Xuanfeng Regiment was personally served by Zhang Xiang, which made it easier for Yang Peng to control the army. Cheng Shijie and Duan Zhixian were the two captains of the original soldier team, and now the two naturally serve as the two battalion commanders of the selection regiment. There are also two battalion commander positions, one of which Yang Peng decided to let Zhan Jinguo occupy. In this troubled world, being a general of the army is more promising than managing a salt factory, and Yang Peng has the heart to leave the good position of battalion commander to his brother. And if Yang Peng has the troops to occupy the Jin State, it will also be a deterrent to others, and it will make Yang Peng's position as the head of the family more stable. Zhan Jinguo has been training in the position of the head of the salt factory for several months, and has a certain management ability, and now he has been transferred to the position of battalion commander to continue to hone his training.

After making up his mind, Li Zhi rode to the textile factory to find Zhan Jinguo. Yang Peng entered the factory and saw Zhan Jinguo walking around the factory with an assistant. Yang Peng called Zhan Jinguo, and he saw Yang Peng and ran over with his assistant.

"Big brother, are you here?" "I haven't been here these days, how is the salt factory doing?" Li Xing clapped his hands proudly and said, "I'll wait for you to ask me!" Under my management, the output of the salt plant has increased by half this month, and the output of salt is more than 31,000 quintals a month. In addition, I organized excellent salt workers to teach other yarn workers their experience, and this month's seawater consumption was reduced by seven quintals! ”

Tilting his head, Zhan Jinguo said, "Big brother, you want to give me a reward of silver miles!" Yang Peng chirped: "Are you embarrassed to talk about such a small number as seven quintals?" Zhan Jinguo was dissatisfied and said: "How much is also saving!" I don't have the guidance of the immortals on the beach, so I can only engage in this kind of petty fight! After saying this, Zhan Jinguo pulled his assistant to the front and said loudly: "Big brother, I want to recommend my assistant to you."

Yang Peng glanced at the assistant: "Oh? "Big brother, I'm afraid you've forgotten it. His name is Zheng Hui, and he is our fellow countryman. He learned the training of the salt factory in two months, and the management of the factory was clear, and it was his credit that he was able to produce more than half of the salt this month. Then Zheng Hui was pushed to the front by Zhan Jinguo, a little nervous, and said: "I have seen the head of the family", so he knelt down and saluted Yang Peng.

Yang Peng also put on a stand in front of his subordinates, and waited for him to finish saluting before saying, "No courtesy!" You're doing a good job, you're doing a good job of helping Zhan Jinguo! When Zheng Hui heard this, he stood up, his face was happy, and he stood aside and stopped talking. After praising Zheng Hui, Yang Peng Zhengse said to Li Xing: "Zhan Jinguo, I'm going to adjust your position!" Let you change positions! ”

Zhan Jinguo blinked and thought about it, but felt that Yang Peng's subordinates did not have a bigger position than the head of the salt factory, and muttered: "Big brother, what position do you want to change for me?" Isn't my manager doing a good job? Yang Peng patted Zhan Jinguo on the shoulder and said, "I want you to be a general and be the battalion commander of the Xuanfeng Regiment." ”

Zhan Jinguo's eyes lit up and asked, "Be a battalion commander?" How many people are in charge? Yang Peng said: "Now it is in charge of 500 people. However, being a battalion commander is different from being a factory manager, being a battalion commander is a general, and he must be responsible for the soldiers' daily life, food, labor, training, and all actions! More power. After a pause, Yang Peng said again: "And in the future, the selection of the forward regiment will be expanded, and then your battalion commander will become the regiment commander." ”

Zhan Jinguo rolled his eyes and said with a smile: "Okay! Sounds great! Yang Peng said: "To be a general, you can take a vote with you wherever you go." Commanding the soldiers to charge into battle is very different from being the head of a salt factory! ”

Zhan Jinguo thought for a while, and said with some concern: "But I won't lead troops to fight?" Li Zhi said slowly: "I can't learn, I can learn little by little in training and practice." My new army had flintlock muskets, and the way of fighting was completely different from what it used to be, and no one had any experience. You learn things very quickly, and you can get started in a few months. ”

Zhan Jinguo said loudly: "Okay, then I'll go and be the battalion commander for my eldest brother!" Yang Peng nodded and said no more. The position of the last battalion commander of the selection regiment, Yang Peng was left to Liu Zhiliang. Liu Zhiliang manages the soap workshop very well and is a rare management talent. He and Yang Peng are cronies, and Yang Peng is more relieved to hand over the troops to him.

Liu Zhiliang went to be the battalion commander, and the soap workshop needed a general manager, Yang Peng thought about it and simply let Li Yousheng take charge of the soap workshop. Now Yang Peng's career is getting bigger and bigger, and almost the people who fought with Yang Peng at the beginning have been accepted into the industry, and now everyone recognizes Yang Peng as the boss, but Li Yousheng is not recognized by Yang Peng. However, Li Yousheng is shrewd, and he is not in good health before the age of forty, and he can still do management. The most critical thing in the soap factory is that the secret recipe cannot be leaked, and Li Yousheng, as the first batch of beggars to be taken in by Yang Peng, is extremely unlikely to leak the formula, and is a reliable candidate.

Seeing that the juniors have made a fortune with Yang Peng, Li Yousheng, an old guy, is also a little greedy. Yang Peng asked him to be the manager, and he immediately agreed with joy in his stomach. As for the candidate for the head of the salt factory, Yang Peng chose Zheng Yuan, who was also the first batch of beggars. Although Zheng Yuan was a little shy before, it was caused by a depressed life. After working as an assistant in the past few months, his mental outlook is very different, and he is very serious in his work, and he can be regarded as an excellent manager.

was suddenly promoted from assistant to head of the salt factory, and Zheng Yuan was overjoyed. That night, Zheng Yuan knocked on the door of the cloth village and bought six feet of purple silk, and then went home. Zheng Yuan only gets off work every day at midnight and comes home late, and his wife Qu is used to eating by herself. On this day, Qu was sitting on the bed spinning, but she saw Zheng Yuan mysteriously walking into the house with her hands behind her back, she covered her mouth and smiled: "Why are you tiptoeing like a thief!" ”

After her husband was promoted to assistant in the salt factory, he had five taels of money a month, and the economic conditions of Zheng Yuan's family were much better all of a sudden. Not to mention anything else, Qu has the confidence to eat some eggs and pork every day. The woman's family has a small amount of food, even if she eats some meat for a meal, she doesn't need five dollars of silver, and Qu's family can afford it now. has been married to Zheng Yuan for ten years, and he has not given up when he has become a beggar, and Qu only sighs that the hard days have finally come to an end. Now that the family conditions are good, she has a status in front of other women, and she speaks louder. She is in a good mood, and her whole person is much richer. Qu used to look like she was in her thirties, but now she looked like she was only twenty-eight years old.

is in a good mood, her attitude towards her husband is better, although Zheng Yuan is tiptoeing, Qu only treats her husband as a joke with herself, and still talks to Zheng Yuan with a smile. If it was before, Qu Shili would not have bothered to pay attention to Zheng Yuan. Hearing Qu's inquiry, Zheng Yuan smiled, sat on the bed with his hands behind his back, and said, "Lady, I've been thinking about it recently, we should go buy a house!" Qu stopped the spinning machine and asked, "Buy a house?" ”

Zheng Yuan said: "Yes, buy a house!" Buy a detached two-storey house! When Qu heard Zheng Yuan's words, a trace of excitement flashed in his eyes, women have a natural desire for the security of owning their own house, and Qu didn't want to rent a house for the rest of his life. But after thinking about it, she said hesitantly: "Husband, although your monthly money has increased in the past few months, but it has only been a few months, and we have only saved more than 20 taels of silver, where is there enough to buy a house in TJ City?" I hope that the two-story house in the city will be at least sixty or seventy miles! ”

Zheng Yuan shook his head and said, "If the money is not enough, the head of the family can lend it to us." But we don't buy a house in Cangzhou, we buy a house in Hope Village! Qu Shi was stunned when he heard Zheng Yuan's words, and muttered, "Hope Zhuang's house?" The hope Zhuang of Yang Peng's official? "Exactly!" Zheng Yuan said loudly: "Now that the owner has expanded Hope Village to the size of a county seat, it is necessary to gradually move the salt factory and soap workshop there. The owner of the city had to build thousands of two-story houses and sell them to the workers. I'm now the head of the salt factory, so of course I'm going to take the lead in buying a big one! We bought one with six rooms. ”

Listening to her husband's more and more mysteries, Qu couldn't react a little, and interrupted: "You are the head of the factory? Aren't you an assistant in workshop 3? How did you become a manager? Zheng Yuan laughed, and then said slowly: "Zhan Jinguo was transferred to the first battalion of the Hope Zhuang Xuanfeng Regiment as the battalion commander, so I made up for the vacancy and became the head of the salt factory." Hearing Zheng Yuan's words, Qu Shi was stunned, and only reacted after half a sound. Looking at Zheng Yuan, Qu asked, "The head of the factory, how much money is there in a month?" "Fifteen taels! Hey. ”

When Qu heard Zheng Yuan's words, he looked at Zheng Yuan happily, the corners of his mouth opened little by little, and finally he grinned exaggeratedly upwards and laughed loudly. The more she thought about it, the happier she became, and she stood up on the bed excitedly, waving her arms with her hands, and laughing and saying, "Fifteen taels? Rich, rich! Fifteen taels of silver a month, my family is going to live a good life! It's time for a good life! ”

When he was excited, he knocked down the spinning machine on the bed, and Qu didn't know it. Zheng Yuanren let his wife jump on the bed, sat at the end of the bed and did not speak. After dancing for a minute or two, Qu Shi calmed down, looked at Zheng Yuan and said, "Why are you unhappy?" Zheng Yuanyun said lightly: "The business of the head of the family is getting bigger and bigger, since I have kept up with the head of the family, sooner or later there will be a time for development, which is also a matter of course!" ”

Qu looked at the indifferent Zheng Yuan with some admiration, and said, "Husband, you are getting more and more powerful!" "That's nature!" Zheng Yuan smiled, then took out the six-foot purple silk from behind him, and said with a smile: "The purple silk I bought just now, make you a skirt!" Qu Shi looked at the purple silk in Zheng Yuan's hand, covered his eyes with his hands in surprise, and only looked at the six-foot thin and silky purple silk from his fingers. After getting used to the hard days, Qu never thought that he could wear silk clothes, but he didn't dare to take the purple silk for a while.

Zheng Yuan pulled Qu's hand over, put the purple silk on her hand, and said with a smile: "You can sew it yourself, or find a tailor to do it." Anyway, now that we are rich, we don't have to live in a tight way! Qu Shi took the purple silk in his hand and looked at it in a daze for a long time, his eyes changed from surprise to excitement, then to joy, and finally calmed down. After being silent for a while, she suddenly said, "Husband, I have it!" ”

Zheng Yuan was stunned, didn't react for a long time, and asked, "What do you have?" Qu's face turned red and said, "I have a child!" Zheng Yuan's face was full of excitement when he heard this, and he asked loudly, "Are you pregnant?" Qu nodded with a blushing face, then lowered his head and stopped talking.

In the past, Zheng Yuan's family had no money, and the husband and wife were afraid that they would not be able to afford to starve to death after giving birth to a child, so they did not dare to share a house. It wasn't until Zheng Yuan entered Yang Peng's soap workshop that he had two taels of monthly money a month to work, and Zheng Yuan and Qu's family shared a room. Half a year later, Qu became pregnant. Zheng Yuan's face gradually became full of excitement. Wife pregnant! He is about to have children and offspring, and he, the male of the Zheng family, has also taken on the responsibility of passing on the ancestry. is in his thirties, and he is finally no longer the honest and pitiful Zheng Yuan, he wants to be a father!

The good news came one after another, Zheng Yuan felt that his breathing was a little short! He grabbed his wife's head, put his mouth on her cheek, and kissed her fiercely.

After busy with the new army and the layout of the city wall, Yang Peng used the money he had collected in the past few months to start building in the new city wall. Masons and carpenters in Cangzhou and Yingzhou have found something to do all year long. There are now two groups of masons in Hope Village: one group was hired by Yang Peng to make the barracks of the Xuanfeng Regiment, and Tao Youmao's group; The other group had come a few days earlier to help more than a hundred craftsmen and blacksmiths repair the dilapidated houses.

The second group of masons and carpenters, numbering more than 400 men, had already finished repairing the houses of the gunsmiths. Now Yang Peng has hired all of them to build factories and villas inside the newly built city wall. Not only did he hire this group of craftsmen, but Li Zhi also sent people to various prefectures and counties near Cangzhou to find more than 1,000 masons and carpenters, and hired more than 600 people who moved bricks and timber, all of whom came to Hope Zhuang to repair the house.

More than 2,000 construction workers gathered in Hope Village at once, and all kinds of materials were moved in and out, so it was not lively! The craftsmen who built the house and the team that repaired the city wall turned Hope Village into a huge construction site, both inside and out. Only Yang Peng, who has such a big industry, can afford to hire so many craftsmen. In addition, the more than one million taels of silver obtained from the Khitan people also gave Yang Peng confidence.

Although the city wall has not been built, Yang Peng's plan for the "Hope Village" within the city wall has been designed. In the future, not only will the barracks of the Xuanfeng Regiment be within the city walls, but also the salt factory, soap factory, and cement factory will also be inside the city walls, and Li Zhi will also plan 7,000 pieces of residential land inside the city walls—5,000 of which are left vacant for sale, and the other 2,000 pieces of residential land will now be used to build "villas."

These villas were built as family homes for workers and soldiers. Hope Village is more than 60 miles away from Cangzhou City, and this distance takes a day to walk in this era. Since Yang Peng built the factory and workshop in Hope Village, it was impossible for the workers to continue to live in Cangzhou, so they naturally had to move their families to Hope Village. In addition, the soldiers of the new army have such a high monthly income, and they are going to get married and start a family one by one, so they naturally need to have a residence in Hope Village at that time.

To meet these needs, Yang Peng designed three types of villas. The first kind of small villa is for the majority of ordinary workers and soldiers, covering an area of 55 square meters, with two floors above and below, that is, a usable area of 110 square meters, with a main hall, a kitchen, a latrine, and four bedrooms, enough for a family to live in. Yang Peng planned to build 2,000 such houses and sell or rent them to workers and soldiers.

The cost of building this kind of house Yang Peng is thirty taels of silver, counting the sharing of the cost of repairing the city wall, the cost is forty taels of silver, and Yang Peng prices fifty taels of silver for the sale of this kind of house - Yang Peng has two thousand soldiers to protect Hope Village, of course, he has to earn a little money from the property. In any case, this kind of house is cheaper than the house in Cangzhou City.

When the workers and soldiers bought a house, they could borrow money from Yang Peng if they did not have enough savings, and the repayment would be slowly deducted from the monthly money in the future. If you rent, this kind of house is very cheap for two dollars and seven cents of silver a month. Of course, bachelors or families with financial difficulties can share a villa with several families, which is cheaper.

If the workers have a house in Cangzhou City, and sell the house in Cangzhou City to buy this kind of villa in Hope Village, it is estimated that there will be a lot left. If you are renting a house in Cangzhou City, it is more cost-effective to transfer to Hope Village to rent this small villa. In addition to the 2,000 small villas built by masons, Yang Peng also reserved more than 4,000 blank plots of 55 square meters in the city. If the workers and soldiers did not like the small villas provided by Yang Peng, they could also buy their own land and build their own houses. This kind of land is worth twenty taels of silver, and after buying the land, you can hire a mason and carpenter to build any kind of house.

The second type of villa is for managers and officers, covering an area of 80 square meters, with a total of 160 square meters of usable area on the upper and lower floors, with a main hall, a dining room, a kitchen, a latrine, and five bedrooms, which is enough for three generations to live in the same house. Yang Peng wants to build a hundred sets of this house, all of which will be built in the west of the city.

This kind of villa is priced at seventy taels. If you don't have enough money, you can also borrow money from Yang Peng. If it is rented, the rent is four cents a month. If you buy a land to build yourself, the price of the land is thirty taels. The last type of villa is for high-ranking executives and high-ranking military officers, such as people like Zhao Jinxi and Zhan Jinguo. This luxury villa occupies an area of 140 square meters and is surrounded by a two-meter-high fence surrounded by a courtyard of forty square meters. The usable area of the building is 200 square meters. It has one more toilet, a study and a bedroom than the intermediate villa.

This kind of house is all planned in the best place of feng shui in the west of the city, the price is one hundred and thirty taels, and the rent is seven yuan a month. If you buy a plot of land and cover it yourself, the plot is fifty taels of silver. In addition to the more than 2,000 villas to be built, Yang Peng also planned more than 5,000 blank residential lands. In the future, these plots of land can not only be supplied to soldiers and workers, but can also be sold to merchants who do large and small businesses in Hope Village, once the families of workers and soldiers move into Hope Village, there will be a huge demand for all walks of life, which will attract all kinds of merchants, street vendors and service personnel to settle in Fanjiazhuang, and then the blank land will be useful.

Of course, I hope that there is still a kind of house in the end, which is Yang Peng's official hall. After Yang Peng's expansion, the original Hope Village has been surrounded by the new Hope Village wall. After the demolition of the old wall, the old hope village became a part of the new hope village. The original Hope Village was too small, including the official hall of Hanjing. Yang Peng rebuilt a four-hall mansion in the middle of New Hope Village as a new official hall.

The new official hall will be the heart of New Hope Village in the future, and in addition to the simple shack for themselves, the first thing the craftsmen want to build is this new official hall. Masons Ge Lao Er and Zhong Min are Yang Peng's men who found masons from Yingzhou to repair villas in Hope Village. On the first day of coming to Hope Village, Ge Lao Er was shocked by Lord Yang Peng's "cement". This black thing seems to be inconspicuous, but the effect is very sharp. Mix sand in a ratio of 1:5 and mix it with water to form a slimy thing, which is very effective for brickbuilding and painting walls. After drying, the cement is so hard that it cannot be broken with a lever or a stick, and it is as hard as a natural stone, firmly bonded to the bricks.

The effect is much better than that of Sanhe soil. It is said that the head of the Yang family is unusual, with various new things such as soap and Yang family refined salt, but seeing this cement, Ge Lao Er really realized the magic of the Yang family. Before the start of work the next day, Ge Lao Er and Zhong Min went to the cement workshop to get a wooden barrel of cement, and then used it on the construction site. Ge Lao Er looked at the cement in the barrel along the way, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt that this thing was wonderful, thinking that it would completely replace Sanhe soil in the future.

Ge Lao Er pondered that this cement will definitely be recognized by the market in the future, or it will not be long before it will be transmitted to various counties. I just don't know the price of this cement, the mason abandoned the Sanhe soil and used cement to repair the house, is it a loss? If cement is more expensive than Sanhe soil, the owner of the house likes to use cement, and the extra cost of using cement must be subsidized by the owner of the house, so that the mason will not make much money. If the cement is cheaper than the triple soil, the masons will take the order at the original price, and the masons will be able to earn the difference between the cement and the triple clay in their own pockets!

Originally, it took a few taels of silver to build a courtyard. If the cement is slightly cheaper than the triad, but the effect is better than the triad, the mason can make a lot of money. Ge Lao Er is now helping others repair houses for a month to earn one or two taels of silver, if the cement is cheap, it is impossible to say that he will double his income.

Ge Lao Er thought about it, and couldn't help but ask Zhong Min: "How much does Lord Yang Peng's cement sell for?" Zhong Min walked in front of Ge Lao Er, but he didn't think about it so much, and replied casually: "I haven't heard that Lord Yang Peng sells cement." Now Hope Village is a city wall and a brick and a 'villa', the amount of cement is so large, I'm afraid there is no extra to sell! ”

Ge Lao Er pondered in his heart, a little relieved, and asked again: "Do you say that this cement will be cheaper than Sanhe soil!" Zhong Min looked at Ge Lao Er and said, "This cement looks black and not slippery, not like a very expensive thing." But that's not necessarily, this is the house built by the Yang family, the Yang family! Maybe it's for the good quality of the house and the good use of materials, not necessarily to save money than Sanhe soil! Ge Lao Er had something in his heart, and couldn't help but say, "No! To figure this out, let's go back to the cement workshop and ask? ”

If you want to know what happens next, let's see the next breakdown.