Chapter 53: Housing and Livelihood
"My Lord, are you going to build new houses for everyone?"

In the study, Old Li looked at the planning map drawn by Yang Zhengshan and his eyes almost popped out.

"Yes, rebuild everything!"

Yang Zhengshan nodded casually, then looked at Yang Chengche and the others and said, "Build in small flag units. Tell your men that the first one to finish will be rewarded with three dou of grain per household, the second one will be rewarded with two dou of grain per household, and the third one will be rewarded with one dou of grain. The last one will be fined one month's food wages!"

Competition brings motivation, and rewards bring more enthusiasm.

While the house is being built, it is a good opportunity to motivate everyone and save them from being so listless all day long.

"As for you, the first place will be rewarded with three taels of silver, the second place will be rewarded with two taels, the third place will be rewarded with one tael, and the last place will be rewarded with one tael."

Yang Zhengshan grinned at Yang Chengche, Yang Chengxu and others and said, "The last one will do my laundry for a month!"

Before Yang Chengche and the others could react, Yang Minghao behind them shouted in surprise.

"This is good, this is good, it can do a month's worth of laundry, hahaha~~"

Yang Minghao did not hold any position here, nor was he a soldier of Linguan Fort. He was just Yang Zhengshan's son and was responsible for taking care of Yang Zhengshan.

On weekdays, Yang Minghao helps Yang Zhengshan with the cleaning.

Now that he heard that someone was going to help Yang Zhengshan wash his clothes for a month, he was naturally cheering.

"Let's compete. Who's afraid of who? First place will definitely be mine!"

"It's too early to talk now. Let's wait and see."

"Hehe, you must be the ones doing the laundry!"

"Let me tell you, my dad's socks are really smelly! Haha~~"

A group of young men are ready to do something big.

Yang Zhengshan glared at Yang Minghao and said, "This kid actually said my socks are smelly. Wait and see how I'm going to deal with you."

"Old Li, go select ten women who can cook. During the period of building the house, all meals will be provided by the government!" Yang Zhengshan ordered again.

Yang Zhengshan wouldn't care about a little food.

But the military households would be very concerned about this. They don’t have much food to begin with, and they would definitely be reluctant to eat their fill on normal days.

Building a house requires a lot of effort, and it is not possible without enough food, so Yang Zhengshan directly provided meals to everyone in the fort.

Moreover, cooking together makes it easier for him to add spiritual spring water.

The health of these refugees is too poor, and Yang Zhengshan also wants to take the opportunity to strengthen their physical fitness to prevent anyone from getting sick.

After the house was built and the soldiers began training, Yang Zhengshan no longer provided spiritual spring water to everyone. He only provided spiritual spring water to the soldiers receiving training.

"Do we have enough food?" Old Li was a little worried.

At this time, he felt that Yang Zhengshan, the captain, was a little unreliable and didn't know how to save money at all. It was fine for him to just build houses, but he also had to provide meals for everyone.

"Don't worry, the food issue will be solved." Yang Zhengshan said.

Not to mention the ten carts of food he brought, even if the food was not enough, he could ask Zhou Lan for more.

Zhou Lan promised him that she would give him enough food.

In this way, under Yang Zhengshan's mobilization, the originally lifeless Linguan Fort became active again.

When everyone heard that Yang Zhengshan was going to build a new house for them, they all felt more favorable towards him.

When they heard that the government would provide meals during the construction period, they became extremely excited.

For these refugees, nothing is more important than filling their stomachs.

Finally, after hearing about the reward and punishment system, everyone’s motivation increased several times.

Yang Chengze, Yang Chengche and others just gave a call, and everyone in the garrison began to move, regardless of gender, age or status, all went out.

Even children of seven or eight years old ran out to move stones and dig soil.

At first Yang Zhengshan was a little worried, fearing that these people would disobey discipline and cause trouble. However, after observing for a day, he found that this group of people were really docile.

Perhaps it was because they needed Linguan Fort as a place to settle down, or perhaps it was because Yang Zhengshan's decision made them find new hope.

Anyway, they were all very active in their work, and Yang Chengche and others were also very responsible. Soon, houses were built one after another.

Yang Zhengshan focused his energy on other things.

It is said that if you live by the mountain, you can eat from the mountain; if you live by the water, you can eat from the water

Linguan Fort is located in the mountains, surrounded by low hills and an unnamed river flowing under the hills, so it can be said that there are both mountains and water.

But in fact, there are few tall trees on the hills around Linguan Fort. Most of them are shrubs and weeds, and there are no fish or shrimps to catch in the small river at the foot of the mountain.

The land is barren and there are no other natural resources to collect. This is the current situation of Linguan Fort.

If you want to change the current situation of Lingguan Fort, you cannot limit your vision to Lingguan Fort.

After considering for a few days, Yang Zhengshan took Yang Minghao back to Chongshanguan City.

If you ask who are the most numerous people in the city, they are definitely soldiers.

Let’s not talk about the soldiers of the five battalions of the Zhenbiao, but just look at the military households in the garrisons around the Guancheng. Whenever these military households want to buy something, they will come to the Guancheng.

Although the military households were poor, they were not without any money.

What Yang Zhengshan wants to do is to make money from them.

It’s not that Yang Zhengshan doesn’t want to do some high-end business, but he dares not and cannot do high-end business now.

For example, salt, iron, medicinal materials, furs, etc., these are industries that Yang Zhengshan cannot interfere with.

The water in the city gate is so deep that he doesn't even have the qualifications to fish in troubled waters, let alone stir up trouble.

So Yang Zhengshan set his sights on businesses that had low profits and were not eye-catching.

He was not doing it for himself. He wanted to find a job that paid for the military households in Linguan Fort so that they would not have to guard that barren piece of land.

The two walked along the street and came to the door of a shop called Baifu Grain Shop.

There was a shopkeeper in his forties and three assistants in their twenties in the shop.

"What do you two guests want?"

When Yang Zhengshan and Yang Minghao came in, a waiter immediately came forward to greet them.

"We're not buying anything. I'm here to see Shopkeeper Lu!" Yang Zhengshan said.

The waiter looked Yang Zhengshan up and down and asked, "May I ask your name? What can I do for you, my boss?"

"An Ning Yang Zhengshan, I am familiar with Master Lu!" Yang Zhengshan replied.

This grain shop belongs to the Lu family.

When they parted ways before, Song An told him that if he needed help with anything, he could come to Baifu Grain Store to find Manager Lu.

Shopkeeper Lu behind the counter heard what Yang Zhengshan said and hurried out to greet him.

"It turns out to be Lord Yang. I am so sorry for my disrespect!"

After some polite exchanges, Manager Lu invited Yang Zhengshan into the back hall.

"I have something I'd like to ask Shopkeeper Lu for help with. I wonder if Shopkeeper Lu knows the owner of a cloth shop or an embroidery studio." Yang Zhengshan went straight to the point.

Shopkeeper Lu thought for a moment and said, "I know some shopkeepers who run cloth shops, but they are all small cloth shops!"

He had been running a grain shop in Guancheng for more than ten years, so naturally he had some familiar shopkeepers.

However, he didn't know that these small cloth village talismans did not meet Yang Zhengshan's requirements.

"I don't need a too big cloth shop. A small one is better for me!" Yang Zhengshan said with a smile.

"I'm familiar with the Luo's Cloth Shop across the street. Why don't we go take a look together?" Shopkeeper Lu said, pointing to a shop diagonally opposite.

When Yang Zhengshan looked, he saw a shop with a sign that read "Luo's Cloth Shop".

It looks similar to Liang Sanye's Liang's Cloth Shop, but it's a pity that Liang Sanye is in Anning County, otherwise he could have found Liang Sanye to do this business.

Then the two of them went to Luo’s Cloth Shop.

(End of this chapter)