Chapter 82 Ideas for making money

After returning from Jianning Acropolis, Yang Zhengshan recruited Yang Mingwu who stayed in Sanshan Fort.

"How is the situation over at Sanshan Fort?"

Yang Zhengshan asked in the government office study.

"Sir, the autumn harvest of Sanshan Castle is progressing quite smoothly, but this year's harvest is too low, and everyone is worried!" Yang Mingwu replied.

Yang Zhengshan nodded slightly, and he understood what everyone was worried about.

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

The first is to store a large amount of food to ensure the future rations of all military households in the four forts.

This problem was easily solved. Zhou Lan gave him three thousand taels of silver, and Yangjia Village had grain. He could buy grain from Yangjia Village. If the food in Yangjia Village was not enough, he could also buy grain from the villages around Yangjia Village.

The second question is to find a way for military households to make money so that they can make some income in the cold winter.

Linguan Fort relied on needlework to increase its income, but Yinghe Fort, Sanshan Fort and Xiangyuan Fort could not.

Because they only received so much needlework in Guancheng, Linguanbao alone could meet the market demand. If other villages also made cloth shoes, it would be difficult to sell them.

As for other cities, the distance is too far, it is inconvenient to travel, the market is too small, and the demand is not large. Even if we do this business, I am afraid that the profit will be so meager that it can be ignored.

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

The third problem is to recruit refugees. Recruiting refugees is not just about catching people. It also requires providing accommodation, food, and reclaiming wasteland for the refugees so that they can live and work in peace and contentment on their own territory.

This is a complex task that requires careful planning.

"Tomorrow you will set off to visit Anning County. I will give you two thousand taels of silver, and you can exchange all of it for food!" Yang Zhengshan said.

Yang Mingwu also knew the situation of each camp and the importance of food, so he naturally 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 or three cents of silver per load. At that time, he had just come to this world, and he went to Anning County to buy two loads of grain.

But this year?

"You should discuss it with the clan leader. You can't treat the clan members badly, but you can't make it too expensive either!"

He thought about it and decided that it would be better to leave this issue to Yang Zhengxiang.

Because he doesn't understand the food prices in Anning County now.

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

"I understand!"

Yang Mingwu responded and went down to clean up.

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

Twenty bullock carts are probably not enough, but Yang Zhengshan can only make up so many bullock carts at present.

On the third day, Zhao Yuan came to Yinghe Fort with 300 horses and 500 sets of armor.

Yang Zhengshan naturally warmly welcomed Zhao Yuan's arrival.

Especially looking at the three hundred energetic war horses, Yang Zhengshan's beard was fluttering with laughter.

"Brother Zhengshan, I personally selected these, all of them are fine war horses!"

Zhao Yuan patted the mane of a green and black war horse and pretended to be trustworthy.

Yang Zhengshan touched this war horse, and then touched that war horse. As Zhao Yuan said, these are all good horses.

"But I'm very curious about how Brother Zhengshan raised Hongyun so well." Zhao Yuan looked at the handsome Hongyun in the stable, his eyes filled with disbelief.

The four horses Zhou Lan gave to Yang Zhengshan were also hand-picked by him. At that time, Zhou Lan intended to recruit Yang Zhengshan and specially asked him to choose four high-quality war horses.

But the Hongyun in front of him was no longer a simple superior war horse, it could be called a thousand-mile horse.

Yang Zhengshan raised his head and looked at Hongyun. At this time, Hongyun was also looking at him with its big Kazilan eyes. Yang Zhengshan seemed to be able to see some emotions in his bright eyes.

"War horse!"

Suddenly, Yang Zhengshan's eyes lit up slightly.

He hadn't paid much attention to Hong Yun's difference before, but now that Hong Yun was placed with so many war horses, he really noticed Hong Yun's majesty.

He seemed to have found a way to make money.

Raise horses!

Raising horses with spiritual spring water can turn bad horses into good horses.

And a high-quality horse can be worth at least dozens of taels of silver. If it is a horse with a relatively rare bloodline, it can even be worth thousands of gold.

If he raises dozens of horses like Hongyun, he can earn at least several 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 make a fortune.

Naturally, if he wants to raise horses, he will not raise them for the yamen. Public and private matters must be clearly distinguished. He wants to build a horse farm in the name of the Yang family to raise horses.

Tunpu was poor, and he, the defensive officer, was also poor.

Now he only has less than one hundred taels of silver left in his hand. It is already considered good that he does not embezzle Tunpu's money. Should he still be allowed to use his own money to subsidize Tunpu?

And if he raises horses, he can also hire military households to help, which can be regarded as helping the military households generate income.

Kill two birds with one stone!

Yang Zhengshan thought secretly in his heart.

Zhao Yuan saw him in a daze and called out: "Brother Zhengshan! Brother Zhengshan!"

"Well, actually there's nothing special about him, he just needs to be taken care of more carefully!" Yang Zhengshan came back to his senses and replied perfunctorily.

Hongyun was able to develop like this because he was nourished by the spiritual spring water.

This is hard to explain.

Zhao Yuan did not get to the bottom of it.

At noon, Yang Zhengshan left Zhao Yuan to have a good meal. Of course, the hundreds of soldiers who came with Zhao Yuan also had a meal at Yinghe Fort.

After all the hard work, Yang Zhengshan couldn't just ignore a meal.

But after they were sent away, Yang Zhengshan had a headache for these horses again.

Three hundred war horses!

Where to put it is a problem, and eating, drinking and defecating every day is also a problem.

Taking care of war horses is a delicate job, and the rations for war horses are also a big expense.

War horses eat more than just fodder. They also need to get beans and snacks for them every now and then.

Raising a horse is no less expensive than raising a human being.

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

Lao Li knew how to raise horses and was very good at handling some tedious chores, so Yang Zhengshan directly appointed him as the horse breeder of Yinghe Fort.

"Sir, winter is coming soon, we need to reserve a lot of fodder in advance!"

Lao Li said after looking at the horses in the stable.

"Then reserve it, I'll give you money, and you hire the military households in the fort to harvest it!" Yang Zhengshan said cheerfully.

Although it has already entered autumn, after the heavy rain, the earth has become green again. On the mountains and down the mountains, the grass and trees have turned green, and it is still possible to harvest some fodder.

"Hey, I obey!" Lao Li responded with a smile.

When Lao Li got busy, Yang Zhengshan returned to the government office study.

The autumn harvest has come to an end, and when Yang Mingwu comes back, military training should be put on the agenda.

Yang Zhengshan was sitting in his study, thinking about how to conduct this military training.

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

The main reason is that without training together, he can't secretly add spiritual spring water to the soldiers.

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

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

Now he has armor and horses in his hands, and he can train infantry and cavalry.

But both infantry and cavalry must undergo basic training.

The basic training lasts for one month, and each fort and beacon tower will take turns coming to Yinghebao for training.

After the basic training, the best will be selected for enhanced training, that is, specialized skills training, focusing on riding, shooting, spearmanship, and swordsmanship, as well as practical training.

At the same time, refugees can also be recruited and resettled. When the second batch of soldiers completes basic training, the recruitment of refugees should be almost completed. In this way, the third and fourth batch of soldiers can be selected from the refugees for training.

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

Yang Zhengshan made a detailed training plan and assigned various tasks to everyone.

After busy writing and drawing all morning, 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, and Qinwu!" Yang Zhengshan ordered.

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

Although this kid can be messy sometimes, he is still very efficient in running errands.

As soon as Yang Zhengshan finished lunch, Yang Chengze and the other two arrived at the official office of Yinghe Fort.

"Chengze, you are responsible for recruiting refugees. Anyone who is willing to come to our camp, we will allocate wasteland, repair houses, and distribute six months of rations based on population!" Yang Zhengshan said the policy of recruiting refugees.

There are a lot of wastelands around each camp, mainly because no one is willing to open up wasteland.

Houses, forts, piers, and beacons can all be built.

As for food rations, this is what troubles Yang Zhengshan the most. After all, he is really short of food now, but when Yang Mingwu comes back, the food in his hands should be able to last for a while.

"I obey my orders!" Yang Chengze accepted the pamphlet handed over by Yang Zhengshan and responded.

"Chengxu, you are responsible for organizing the training. This is the training plan drawn up by the instructors I selected from Linguan Fort and me." Yang Zhengshan handed another booklet to Yang Chengxu.

Yang Chengxu grinned, showing two small tiger teeth, "Don't worry, sir, I will definitely do a good job!"

"Chengche, you are responsible for the inspection. You can go to Linguan Fort to select twenty people. During the training period, you will be responsible for inspecting the four forts, seven piers, and sixteen beacons." Yang Zhengshan said to Yang Chengche again.

Troop training is important, but defense tasks are also important. Troop training cannot make the defense everywhere slack.

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

Yang Zhengshan solemnly said: "Dispose according to military law in wartime! Make it clear to everyone in advance that if anyone still makes mistakes, they will be punished on the spot!"

Previously, he had cleaned up all the forts, piers and beacons within the jurisdiction of Yinghe Fort, and cleaned up all the dead bodies.

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

I believe that as long as he is not the kind of guy who is not stingy, he should not be in trouble.

"I understand!" Yang Chengche said.

Yang Zhengshan nodded and looked at Yang Qinwu again.

This kid is as old as Yang Minghao, but more mature than Yang Minghao.

"You select twenty men in the camp who can do heavy work and hire them at a price of fifteen cents per 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.