Madam, She Has a Tender Heart - Chapter 424

Chapter 424 Salt and Iron

Since the two important sources of income, salt and iron, will be available in the jurisdiction, Lu Bocheng feels much more relaxed.

There is no need to worry about insufficient military spending anymore.

 Make taking over Haizhou the next goal. I go out early and come back late every day to train in the military camp.

Since the excavation of the Xuzhou iron mines, many soldiers who retired from the army have found a place to resettle.

 In the past, for those who were homeless or unwilling to return to their hometowns, Lu Bocheng just built Zhuangzi on land in several states under his jurisdiction, settled them there, and let them work in the fields. After harvesting the grain, they would have enough food to satisfy their needs.

But these people have limited legs, feet, and hands, and they can’t do much work in the fields. I don’t have any money left.

 But now there are more choices. Mining, smelting and blacksmithing, as well as a series of auxiliary work, require a lot of manpower.

 Even if they lack arms and legs and have limited mobility, there are many jobs that they can do sitting down or that do not require strong hands and feet. There are many types of jobs for them to choose from.

　It includes three meals a day, clothing for all seasons, and a generous salary.

 Many soldiers who retired from the army came over one after another and found jobs. These people were better resettled in Xuzhou.

Lu Bocheng breathed a sigh of relief.

 The lives of the retired soldiers have been guaranteed, and the soldiers still in the army see this and are even more active in training.

After Lu Bocheng was busy training troops, Pei Shi often came to see Su Qingyu when he had something to do.

Su Qingyu often gives him some advice.

 The two of them discussed and arranged for a few iron officials to come out. In charge of the mining and smelting of iron ore, the sale of iron stone, and the casting and sale of ironware.

On the other side, Pei Shi’s recruitment list has also achieved certain results. Not only people from several states under Zhenhai’s jurisdiction came to apply, but also people from other state capitals came quickly after hearing the news.

During this period, Pei Shi and other officials were busy selecting and examining their qualifications.

Seeing Pei Ji always following Pei Shi, Su Qing thought that sometimes when she and Pei Shi communicated, Pei Ji could put forward a lot of suggestions that could be adopted. She felt very emotional. It was indeed a wealthy family, and she admired their care for their children. educate.

“Master Pei, your grandson is quite good. It is better to bring him out as soon as possible to serve you. Now several states have to replace a group of people, and there is a serious shortage of manpower.”

“Madam, you are too praised. I still need to learn more.” Pei Zhi raised his hands and said to Su Qingyu.

“Thank you, madam, for thinking highly of him. Now I am taking him with me to teach him personally and let him practice. I also know that you are short of people now, so I have written to contact some friends and relatives. I believe I will hear back soon.”

“Then Mr. Lao Pei has to worry about it. In addition to the knowledge of the people we recruit, we must also focus on their character. It would be better to be short of people than to recruit a bunch of incompetent and mediocre troublemakers. Then we will have to spend effort to clean up. “

“Madam, don’t worry, it will save you the trouble of lowering your official position.”

Soon, news spread that Xuzhou was spending a lot of money to recruit miners.

 Many people who could not survive came one after another. And blacksmiths with a keen sense of smell also came from all over.

 Lv Bocheng quickly ordered people to set up smelting workshops, ironworks workshops, etc. near the mining area. Smelting furnaces and forges were built, and a weapons workshop was also set up. Send special personnel to forge weapons.

Su Qingyu also gave Lu Bocheng the technology of frying pig iron to make steel. Lu Bocheng was overjoyed and gave it to his loyal men for testing. He also told the iron officials to be on guard and guard the weapons workshop, and to send loyal people to run it exclusively.

 After the iron stone was smelted, the weapons workshop began to create various long swords, spears, broadswords and other weapons.

 The pig iron ingots also began to be sold outside.

 Pei Shi ordered people to open a new street in Xuzhou, specializing in the forging and sales of various ironware. However, only farm tools, kitchen utensils and some hand tools are allowed to be made. Weapons are not allowed to be made. If found, they will be jailed.

 Nowadays, not only in Xuzhou, but also all over the country, iron is sold by government agencies, and weapons cannot be forged or sold privately. Folk craftsmen can only make farm tools, kitchen utensils and some small hand tools.

 And the number of pig iron ingots purchased each month is also limited.

 Furthermore, iron stone is not cheap. Once it is forged, the price will naturally be higher.

 So it is a common situation for ordinary people to be “unarmed”.

Sometimes when states and counties recruit troops for war and lack weapons, they go to people’s homes to collect old iron tools, take them back and forge them into weapons, but sometimes even a family can’t pay even half a pound. But now Xuzhou is no longer short of iron.

 And if there is only a small amount of something, the price is no longer expensive. The world is in chaos. How can we do well at home if we don’t keep some ironware at home?

If you can’t buy weapons, then stock up on iron weapons. Chopping knives, kitchen knives, hoes, shovels, and wooden bolts for latch doors were all replaced with iron bolts.

 Hold up more, you are right.

 In the future, when there is no money, the old iron will be taken to the blacksmith shop and people will recycle it. Although the price is not as good as the price when you bought it, you can still exchange money.

 So after the opening of Iron Street in Xuzhou, business was booming.

Xiang Shang will naturally not miss this opportunity.

He got Su Qingyu’s instructions and bought many idle shops in Xuzhou City, and was thinking about doing some business. There was news about the iron ore mine in Xuzhou. Before all parties received the news, his shop opened quietly.

 The fat water does not flow to outsiders’ fields. Moreover, when they open a shop, they pay taxes like everyone else. If others can make money, why don’t they themselves?

They originally had iron mines and iron workshops in the mountains, and they also had many craftsmen. I sent a letter to ask some experienced workers to come over.

 When the iron mine starts selling pig iron ingots, the craftsmen from the mountains will also arrive. As soon as the shop purchased the pig iron ingots, it started work immediately.

 There are various drawings drawn by Su Qingyu. The work is fast, the output is large, the shape is novel, the design is exquisite and easy to use, and the business is called a good one.

It’s not just Su Qingyu’s shop, anyone who runs an iron shop has never worried about business. Many are just family workshops with insufficient manpower and no time to fulfill orders. The orders were received softly.

 Many merchants from other places naturally sensed this wave of business opportunities and came to Xuzhou one after another to purchase various ironware and transport them back to other places for sale.

 They all make a lot of money.

Soon, many merchants came to Xuzhou to buy ironware. Sometimes, large caravans could be seen entering and leaving the city gate every day.

 Xuzhou, which had been silent for a long time, began to appear prosperous like the peaceful years.

And good news also came from Chuzhou.

Xu Tang arrived in Chuzhou and with lightning speed, controlled a number of officials in various counties and prefectures in Chuzhou. They were held separately and tortured to extract confessions, and soon someone was recruited.

As soon as the mouth is opened, it is like a mountain torrent, spreading thousands of miles.

Xu Tang didn’t stop for a moment, and immediately ordered people to control the homes of many officials and related personnel.

 Even thousands of taels of silver can be found from the servant’s house. Not to mention other officials with powerful positions. A large amount of gold and silver was found in the underground warehouse of Chuzhou Yamen and the home of the former governor of Chuzhou. From the warehouse, secret room and pond.

The yamen pile in Chuzhou can’t even be filled.

 Silver was transported from Chuzhou to Xuzhou in an endless stream. There were as many as more than 20 million taels.

Xu Tang ordered people to transport silver to Xuzhou, and at the same time beheaded dozens of officials, large and small, in Chuzhou.

 Officials from several other prefectures in Zhenhai remained silent and investigated themselves one after another.

Xu Tang’s move really frightened the officials from the other four states.

 Those who are so frightened that they submit their application will be allowed to stay as long as they are found to be free of corruption and have no problems during their term of office. However, some people saw hope from this serious investigation in Chuzhou.

 More and more conscientious.

The silver from Chuzhou arrived in Chuzhou, and all the soldiers in the army learned that they had obtained more than 20 million taels, which was very exciting.

 “Mighty! Mighty!”

 “We must win! We must win!”

“Sir, there is no shortage of military supplies. We can get ready.”

 (End of this chapter)