Chapter 83: Food Price Charcoal

Yangjiacun.

When Yang Mingwu returned with fifty soldiers, it was inevitable that it attracted countless attention and discussions.

Many villagers looked at Yang Mingwu and greeted him enthusiastically.

"Mingwu, are these all your subordinates?"

"I heard that you are already a deputy commander? Is that true?"

"Uncle Zhengshan is okay!"

"You must remember Uncle Zhengshan's support. We must not forget our roots!"

Listening to the villagers' concerned and envious words, Yang Mingwu smiled with his mouth wide open.

He finally walked out from the crowd of enthusiastic villagers and came in front of Yang Zhengxiang.

"Clan leader!"

"Not bad, you've become stronger!" Yang Zhengxiang stroked his long beard and looked him up and down.

Compared with the original Yang Mingwu, the current Yang Mingwu is more sturdy and tougher, but the premise is that one ignores the silly expression on his face.

"How has the clan leader been doing lately?" Yang Mingwu was also looking at Yang Zhengxiang.

Yang Zhengxiang is already old, and even though he is a warrior, he cannot hide the fact that he is aging.

But he was in good spirits, and his cloudy eyes were shining, as if full of infinite energy.

"Okay, I'm fine now!" Yang Zhengxiang laughed.

As the Yang family grew and prospered, he, as the patriarch, became a well-known figure in the entire Anning County.

Especially after Yang Zhengshan was promoted, many people came to visit him, hoping to use his connections to find a future under Yang Zhengshan.

With so many people praising and admiring him, Yang Zhengxiang seemed to have a second spring, and he was full of energy and vitality every day.

Yang Mingwu also laughed, but his eyes quickly moved behind Yang Zhengxiang.

"Dad, Mom! I am an unfilial child. I kowtow to you!"

Yang Mingwu spoke awkwardly, but he knelt honestly in front of his parents and kowtowed three times.

"Get up, get up!" The old couple looked at their eldest son, feeling both happy and distressed.

He was happy that his son had made progress, but he was also sad that his son had to go to the battlefield and fight against the brutal Hu tribe.

"Dad!" Yang Mingwu laughed and his eyes fell on the woman behind his father. The woman was holding a little kid of three or four years old in her hands. That was his wife and child.

"The boss!"

"father!"

When the family gets together, there is a lot to talk about.

Yang Zhengxiang naturally would not disturb other people's reunion, so after meeting Yang Mingwu, he let Yang Mingwu go home first.

As for the soldiers brought back by Yang Mingwu, he made proper arrangements for them.

After a night's rest, Yang Mingwu came to Yang Zhengxiang's house again.

"Patriarch, this is a letter from the adults!"

Yang Zhengxiang took the letter and after reading it, his brows slightly frowned.

"Is the drought in Chongshan Town very serious?"

Yang Zhengshan had written to him before, saying that Chongshan Town was hit by a severe drought and that grain prices might increase this year, and he specifically told him not to let the tribesmen sell the grain at a low price.

"Well, many places have completely lost their production, and the better ones are only 30% to 40% of what they were in previous years!" Yang Mingwu said honestly.

Yang Zhengxiang nodded, stroked his beard and thought for a while, "The grain price in Anning County has also increased a lot. I can decide on behalf of the tribesmen and sell the grain to you at the price of previous years!"

He was talking about you, not Yinghe Fort.

"No need, the adults have already said that we cannot let the tribesmen suffer losses!" Yang Mingwu shook his head.

"The price is too high. Will it cause trouble for Zhengshan?" Yang Zhengxiang was worried.

“Trouble will come if the price is too low!” Yang Mingwu said with a smile.

He is naive, but he is not stupid.

The price of grain in Chongshan Town is bound to rise. If Yang Zhengshan brings back a batch of low-priced grain at this time, then if other people also come to Yang Zhengshan to buy grain, how should the price be calculated?

It would be fine if it was other people, but what about officials from Jianning Guard?

The grain they bought was not necessarily for the soldiers, but might just be for making money.

Therefore, if Yang Zhengshan really bought the grain at a low price, not only would he not get any benefit, but he might even get into trouble.

Yang Zhengxiang thought about it again and said, "Then let's charge four taels of silver per load!"

"Okay!" Yang Mingwu agreed readily.

Before coming back, he had been to Anning County. Now the price of grain in Anning County is about four taels of silver per load.

In fact, the price for purchasing grain from Yangjia Village is a bit high.

But then again, it's the autumn harvest season now, which is when there's the most grain, and it should also be the time when grain prices are the lowest in the year. If we wait until after the New Year, grain prices will definitely go up.

The villagers of Yangjia Village only need to keep the grain until after the New Year, and they will definitely be able to sell it for four taels, or even more than five taels.

After agreeing on the price of grain, Yang Zhengxiang immediately called the villagers together to start selling grain.

After Yang Mingwu handed the silver to Yang Zhengxiang, he went to Yang Zhengshan's house.

"The master told you to pack up and come back with us to Yinghe Fort in two days!" Yang Mingwu said to Yang Mingcheng.

Yang Zhengshan had already decided to bring all his family members to Yinghe Fort. Now that Yang Mingwu has returned, they can go back to Yinghe Fort together.

"Really!" Yang Mingcheng was overjoyed.

If letters had not been sent back from Chongshan Town frequently, he would have thought that his biological father Yang Zhengshan had forgotten about their entire family.

Yang Zhengshan has been away from home for more than half a year. He really wants to see Yang Zhengshan again and wants to stay with Yang Zhengshan.

"Yes! The master has always been thinking about you!" Yang Mingwu said with a smile. "Then I will go and prepare it now!" Yang Mingcheng was a little impatient.

……

Outside Yinghe Fort.

Yang Zhengshan was directing a dozen young men to dig mud and build a charcoal kiln in front of the river beach.

There was also a pile of firewood cut from the mountain next to it.

The charcoal kiln they built was a triangular one with a side length of about two meters. It was more than one meter deep into the ground, with the front end slightly higher than the back end, and a flue and exhaust holes dug at the back.

After the charcoal kiln was built, Yang Zhengshan directed people to start baking the kiln.

"Dad, can we really make charcoal like this?" Yang Minghao couldn't help but ask as he looked at the charcoal kiln that was already burning.

That’s right, what Yang Zhengshan has to do is burn charcoal.

The winter in Chongshan Town is long and cold, and the people there have a great demand for firewood and charcoal.

Especially those officials and their families would buy a large amount of charcoal before winter, and the price of charcoal was not cheap.

Yang Zhengshan had seen videos about burning charcoal in his previous life and even thought about giving it a try. Unfortunately, he was busy with work at the time and had no time to try it.

Now he wanted to find a job for the military households in the garrison, and burning charcoal was undoubtedly the most suitable job.

The market is large enough, the cost is low enough, and the key is that there are large amounts of mountains and forests around Yinghebao.

If he were in Linguanbao, Yang Zhengshan would definitely not burn charcoal, because there was not a large amount of wood available around Linguanbao.

Yinghe Fort is different. To the west of Yinghe Fort are continuous mountains and forests, and the thing that is least in short supply is wood.

In addition to Yinghe Fort, the timber resources around Sanshan Fort are also abundant.

With abundant timber resources, the cost of burning charcoal is nothing more than the labor cost.

Compared to the front-line workshop in Linguanbao, the profit from burning charcoal will be greater.

"It should be possible!" Yang Zhengshan was a little lacking in confidence.

After all, he had never actually burned one, he had just watched some related videos.

After the kiln-baking started, Yang Zhengshan arranged two people to watch the fire and left first.

It takes two days to bake the kiln, and whether charcoal can be produced will be known after two days.

After returning to Yinghe Fort, Yang Zhengshan went to take a look at the military households’ residential area behind the government office.

After the autumn harvest, he mobilized all the military households in the entire garrison.

Burning charcoal is just a small matter, twenty people are enough, the real big thing is the construction within the tunbu.

Although the houses in Yinghe Fort were much better than those in the previous Linguan Fort, Yang Zhengshan was still not satisfied.

And next he would have to recruit refugees, resettle them, and build some houses for them.

Therefore, large-scale construction is now underway in Yinghebao, Sanshanbao and Xiangyuanbao.

Build houses, stables, pig pens, chicken coops and more.

Simply put, Yang Zhengshan wanted to renovate all three garrisons.

Not only the three garrisons, but after the garrisons are renovated, he will also renovate all the piers and beacon towers.

Looking at the busy military households, Yang Zhengshan nodded with satisfaction.

"Old Li!"

"grown ups!"

Old Li, who was building a stable with a group of boys, heard the call and hurried to Yang Zhengshan.

"Get two pigs to give everyone a snack today!" Yang Zhengshan ordered.

"Your Excellency is merciful!" Old Li immediately smiled.

If everyone else has more food, then he will follow suit.

Naturally, he was happy to eat free pork.

“By the way, notify everyone that no one is allowed to raise pigs, chickens or ducks privately in the garrison!” Yang Zhengshan said, thinking of the smelly environment in the garrison.

For military households, raising pigs and chickens at home is a very normal thing.

But Yang Zhengshan had to stop it.

The garrison was so small that the houses of each military household were lined up together in a very compact arrangement.

Military households are not like farmers in the village. Farmers have a large yard, and there are also some vacant plots of land between neighbors. They can raise pigs and chickens without worrying about stink to their neighbors.

The situation was different for the military households in the garrison. Their yards were very small. One family raised two pigs, and another raised a few chickens, making the entire garrison stink.

"Then why not raise them together?" Old Li was no fool. When he was in Linguan Fort, Yang Zhengshan built a pigpen and a chicken coop and hired soldiers to raise the chickens. It should be the same here.

Yang Zhengshan nodded, "I'll leave this matter to you as well."

After arranging matters in the garrison, Yang Zhengshan returned to the government office.

"Sir, the first batch of soldiers to receive training has been confirmed. Would you like to take a look?" Yang Chengxu handed a roster to Yang Zhengshan.

Yang Zhengshan did not take the roster, but said: "It's up to you! When do you plan to start training?"

"I will send someone to notify all the garrisons tomorrow and start training in three days!" Yang Chengxu said.

"Well! Have you found a cook to take care of the meals?"

"They've all been found, twelve in total, and we can start work anytime!" Yang Chengxu smiled, revealing his two little fangs.

The soldiers receiving training were provided with meals by the government. There were as many as 200 soldiers in the first batch, and cooking alone was not a trivial matter.

"Are there enough tents?" Yang Zhengshan asked again.

"That's enough. There are thirty tents in the warehouse, and we can also clean up a dozen houses in the fort. It's enough to accommodate two hundred people!"

Yang Zhengshan nodded slightly, "Then go get busy!"

(End of this chapter)