Chapter 82 The idea of ​​making money

After returning from Jianning Weicheng, Yang Zhengshan called back Yang Mingwu who was staying in Sanshanbao.

"What's the situation at Sanshanbao?"

In the government office study, Yang Zhengshan asked.

"My lord, the autumn harvest in Sanshan Fort is progressing smoothly, but this year's harvest is too low and everyone is worried!" Yang Mingwu replied.

Yang Zhengshan nodded slightly. He also understood what everyone was worried about.

In his opinion, there are three key issues he needs to solve at present.

First, store a large amount of grain to ensure future food supply for all military households in the four garrisons.

This problem was easy to solve. Zhou Lan gave him three thousand taels of silver. Yangjia Village had grain, so he could buy grain from Yangjia Village. If Yangjia Village did not have enough grain, he could also buy grain from the villages around Yangjia Village.

The second problem was to find a way for the military households to make money so that they could have some income during the cold winter.

Linguan Fort increased its income through needlework, but Yinghe Fort, Sanshan Fort and Xiangyuan Fort could not.

Because they only received so much needlework in the city, Linguan Fort alone could meet the market demand. If other garrisons also made cloth shoes, it would probably be difficult to sell them.

As for other cities, they are too far away, making travel inconvenient, the market is too small, and the demand is not large. Even if you do this business, I am afraid the profit will be so small that it can be ignored.

Yang Zhengshan currently has some ideas about this issue, but he still needs to think about it carefully.

The third problem is recruiting refugees. Recruiting refugees is not just about capturing them. It is also necessary to provide them with shelter, food, and reclaim wasteland so that they can live and work in peace and contentment in their own territory.

This is a complex task that requires gradual progress.

"You will set off for Anning County tomorrow. I will give you two thousand taels of silver, and you must exchange it all for food!" Yang Zhengshan said.

Yang Mingwu was also familiar with the conditions of each garrison and knew the importance of food, so naturally he had no objection to this.

"Sir, what's the price?"

Yang Zhengshan was silent.

Last year, the price of grain in Anning County was two taels and three cents of silver per load. At that time, he had just come to this world, and he went to Anning County specifically to buy two loads of grain.

But this year?
"Talk to the tribe leader. We can't mistreat the tribesmen, but we can't make it too expensive either!"

He thought about it and decided to leave this issue to Yang Zhengxiang.

Because he didn't know the grain prices in Anning County now.

The price of grain in Chongshan Pass has already increased a lot, and the price in Anning County will definitely increase as well. However, that is the selling price of the grain shops. As for the purchase price of grain merchants, it may not have increased too much.

"I understand!"

Yang Mingwu responded and went downstairs to clean up.

The next morning, Yang Mingwu left Yinghe Fort with fifty soldiers and twenty ox carts.

Twenty ox carts might not be enough, but this was all Yang Zhengshan could muster at the moment.

On the third day, Zhao Yuan arrived at Yinghe Fort with three hundred war horses and five hundred sets of armor.

Yang Zhengshan naturally warmly welcomed Zhao Yuan's arrival.

Especially when looking at the three hundred spirited war horses, Yang Zhengshan's beard fluttered with laughter.

"Brother Zhengshan, these are all selected by me personally. They are all top-quality war horses!"

Zhao Yuan patted the mane of a dark blue warhorse and acted as if he was very reliable.

Yang Zhengshan touched this warhorse, then touched that warhorse. As Zhao Yuan said, these were all top-quality warhorses.

"But I'm very curious about how Brother Zhengshan managed to raise Hongyun so well." Zhao Yuan looked at the handsome Hongyun in the stable, his eyes full of disbelief.

The four horses that Zhou Lan gave to Yang Zhengshan were also selected by him personally. At that time, Zhou Lan intended to recruit Yang Zhengshan, and specifically asked him to select four top-quality war horses.

But the Hongyun in front of him is no longer just a top-grade warhorse, it can be called a thousand-mile horse.

Yang Zhengshan looked up at Hongyun. At this time, Hongyun was also looking at him with her big, Caroline eyes. Her eyes were lively and Yang Zhengshan seemed to be able to see some emotions in them.

"Warhorse!"

Suddenly, Yang Zhengshan's eyes lit up.

He had not paid much attention to Hong Yun's difference before, but now that Hong Yun was placed together with so many war horses, he truly noticed Hong Yun's handsomeness.

He seemed to have found a way to make money.

Raise horses!

If you raise horses with magical spring water, a bad horse can become a good one.

A top-quality horse could be worth at least dozens of taels of silver. If it was a horse with a rare bloodline, it could even be worth thousands of gold.

If he raised dozens of horses like Hongyun, he could at least earn a few thousand taels of silver.

The most important thing is that this method of making money can serve as the foundation for the Yang family to become rich.

Of course, he didn't want to raise horses for the government office. He wanted to clearly distinguish between public and private affairs. He wanted to build a horse farm in the name of the Yang family to raise horses.

The garrison was poor, and so was he, the defending officer.

Now he has less than one hundred taels of silver left in his hand. It's already good enough that he doesn't covet the money from the garrison. Do you still want him to use his own money to subsidize the garrison?
And if he raises horses, he can also hire military households to help, which can also be regarded as helping the military households to generate income.

Kill two birds with one stone!

Yang Zhengshan thought secretly in his heart.

Seeing him in a daze, Zhao Yuan called out, "Brother Zhengshan! Brother Zhengshan!"

"Well, actually there's nothing special about it, it's just that I take better care of you!" Yang Zhengshan came back to his senses and replied perfunctorily.

Hongyun has grown into this shape thanks to the nourishment of the spiritual spring water.

This is hard to explain.

Zhao Yuan didn't ask any further questions.

At noon, Yang Zhengshan invited Zhao Yuan to stay and have a good meal. Of course, the more than one hundred soldiers who came with Zhao Yuan also had a meal at Yinghe Fort.

They had worked so hard to come here, Yang Zhengshan couldn't just ignore their meals. But after seeing them off, Yang Zhengshan started to worry about these horses again.

Three hundred war horses!
Where to put it is a problem, and eating, drinking, defecating and urinating every day is also a problem.

Taking care of a warhorse is a delicate job, and feeding a warhorse is also a considerable expense.

War horses don't just eat grass; they also need to be given bean feed as a snack every now and then.

It costs as much to keep a horse as it does to keep a person.

There was no other way, Yang Zhengshan could only call Lao Li back from Linguan Fort.

Old Li knows how to raise horses and is good at handling some tedious chores, so Yang Zhengshan directly appointed him as the horse-raising officer of Yinghe Fort.

"My Lord, winter is coming soon. We need to store a lot of fodder in advance!"

Old Li said after looking at the war horses in the stable.

"Then let's stockpile it. I'll give you money and you can hire soldiers in the garrison to harvest!" Yang Zhengshan said readily.

Although it is autumn now, the earth is green again after the heavy rain. The grass and trees on the mountains are green again, and it is still possible to harvest some fodder.

"Hehe, I'll obey your command!" Old Li responded with a smile.

Old Li became busy, and Yang Zhengshan returned to the study in the government office.

The autumn harvest is coming to an end, and when Yang Mingwu returns, it is time to put military training on the agenda.

Yang Zhengshan sat in his study thinking about how to conduct this military training.

Unlike in Linguan Fort, where he could gather the soldiers together for training, he could not do so in Yinghe Fort.

The main reason was that if they didn't train together, he wouldn't be able to secretly add spiritual spring water to the soldiers.

Without the nourishment of the spiritual spring water, the soldiers' training results would be much worse.

Therefore, Yang Zhengshan decided to train in rotation, in stages, and to select the best candidates for additional training.

Now he has weapons, armor and war horses, and can train both infantry and cavalry.

But both infantry and cavalry must undergo basic training.

The basic training lasts for one month, and each garrison and beacon tower takes turns to come to Yinghe Fort for training.

After the basic training, the best ones will be selected for intensive training, that is, special skills training, mainly focusing on horseback archery, spearmanship, and swordsmanship, and actual combat training.

At the same time, we can also recruit refugees and resettle them. When the second batch of soldiers completes basic training, the recruitment of refugees should be almost completed. Then we can select the third and fourth batches of soldiers from the refugees for training.

The entire training process lasts about three to four months and can be completed before the New Year.

Yang Zhengshan made a detailed training plan and assigned tasks to each person.

After a busy morning of writing and drawing, Yang Zhengshan began to assign tasks.

“Minghao, Minghao!”

Yang Zhengshan shouted in the study.

"father!"

Yang Minghao ran in quickly.

"Go and call Chengze, Chengxu, Chengche, Qinwu and others!" Yang Zhengshan ordered.

"Okay." Yang Minghao responded and ran away again.

Although this kid sometimes makes mistakes, he is still very efficient in running errands.

Yang Zhengshan had just finished lunch when Yang Chengze and three others arrived at the government office in Yinghe Fort.

"Chengze, you are responsible for recruiting refugees. We will allocate wasteland to anyone who is willing to come to our garrison, repair houses, and provide six months of food rations based on population!" Yang Zhengshan stated the policy of recruiting refugees.

There are a lot of wastelands around the various settlements, mainly because no one is willing to reclaim them.

It can be built in houses, garrisons, watchtowers and beacon towers.

As for rations, this is the most troublesome thing for Yang Zhengshan. After all, he is really short of food now. However, when Yang Mingwu comes back, the food he has should be able to sustain him for a while.

"I obey your command!" Yang Chengze replied as he took the booklet handed over by Yang Zhengshan.

"Chengxu, you are responsible for organizing the training. This is the instructor I selected from Linguan Fort and the training plan I developed." Yang Zhengshan handed another booklet to Yang Chengxu.

Yang Chengxu grinned, revealing two small canine teeth, "Don't worry, sir, I will definitely do it well!"

"Chengche, you will be responsible for the patrol. You can go to Linguan Fort to select twenty people. During the training period, you will be responsible for patrolling the four garrisons, seven watchtowers, and sixteen beacon towers." Yang Zhengshan said to Yang Chengche again.

Training is important, but garrison missions are also important. We cannot let the garrison in various places become lax because of training.

"Sir, what should be done if someone makes a mistake?" Yang Chengche asked.

Yang Zhengshan said solemnly: "Deal with them according to wartime military law! Make it clear to everyone in advance. If anyone else makes a mistake, they will be executed on the spot!"

Before that, he had cleared out all the garrisons, watchtowers and beacon towers within the jurisdiction of Yinghe Fort, and eliminated all those guys who were just sitting there doing nothing.

During this period, he first established his authority and then delivered water and food, accumulating a lot of prestige for himself.

I believe that as long as he is not that kind of reckless guy, he should not cause him any trouble.

"I understand!" Yang Chengche said.

Yang Zhengshan nodded and looked at Yang Qinwu again.

This boy is the same age as Yang Minghao, but more mature than Yang Minghao.

"Choose twenty men in the fort who can do heavy work and hire them at a price of fifteen cents a day!"

He wanted to find a way for the military households in the garrison to make money, and this matter should be put on the agenda.

"Yes!" Yang Qinwu replied.

After the tasks were assigned, everyone got busy.

(End of this chapter)