Wei and Jin cooks

Mr. Ji was rich and took advantage of the Zhao family's reputation in Runan to purchase a large amount of grain directly from local gentry and grain merchants.

And as the summer harvest progresses, prices are pushed down again and again. "Except for Yingchuan, the harvest in Yuzhou this year is pretty good. New grain is coming soon, and grain prices will inevitably drop. What's the use of keeping old grain?"

Although it is not a big problem to keep old grain for three to five years, the taste will be greatly affected. The longer the grain is kept, the cheaper it will be.

Mr. Ji said: "Why don't you give me the old grain in your hands? My girl mainly uses it to do good deeds, and it doesn't necessarily need to be new grain."

Everyone readily agreed, and cart after cart of grain was transported into the manor from outside.

When the people in the manor saw these grain trucks coming in, their hearts gradually calmed down and they worked harder and harder.

The wheat in the fields decreases every day. The harvested wheat is pulled back to dry, and then the women and children thresh it at home.

In order to build houses, Zhuangzi assigned about 300 people to build houses and build roads. Even Zhao Ju went to the battle himself. In addition to teaching Zhao Erlang martial arts every day, he took everyone to lay the foundation.

When Mr. Ji came back from a tour in Runan, row after row of houses had been built in the manor. Fu Tinghan was now able to control the success rate of kiln firing to over 90%.

He no longer cares about the matter and lets Lu Kun take the long-term workers in Zhuangzi to bake bricks by himself. He hides in the house every day and does his own thing. Except for occasionally coming out to learn martial arts with Zhao Hanzhang, he basically doesn't go out.

Ji Yuan stood at the intersection and looked at the smoking brick kilns in the distance. He was surprised, "It's only been half a month, so many houses have been built?"

Zhao Ju took his people out to inspect other villages and happened to meet him halfway, so the two teams came back together. He glanced over there and said nonchalantly: "Can you build a house with the fired bricks faster?"

He said: "Now the brick kiln can produce 30,000 bricks a day."

"We have the bricks, but what about the glutinous rice soup? How much glutinous rice soup is needed to build so many houses?"

Lime mortar is needed to lay bricks, but lime mortar is very rough. The houses built cannot be very tall. Water will emerge on rainy days and it is not strong enough.

Only by adding glutinous rice soup to lime mortar can the wall be sealed and strong.

Zhao Ju said: "Sanniang asked Uncle Cheng to take the grain to the county town and Wubao to exchange for glutinous rice. There are so many people in the manor, so we won't waste it. But Sanniang also said that if we can find yellow clay with good stickiness, , that can replace the glutinous rice soup, Uncle Cheng is leading people to look for it, but he can't find it for a while."

Ji Yuan breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that they arranged things in an orderly manner.

He rode back to see Zhao Hanzhang.

Zhao Hanzhang had nothing to do and was practicing marksmanship in the yard with a long spear. The person who taught her was Yi Shichang Ji Ping.

He is a cavalryman, and his best skill is marksmanship. His gun was damaged during the attack, so he changed it to a broadsword. It was only when he arrived at the manor that he started thinking about shooting a gun again.

Zhao Hanzhang was very envious when he saw how powerful he was, so he wanted to learn from him.

When Ji Yuan arrived, she turned around and stabbed him directly in the face, shocking Ji Yuan.

Zhao Hanzhang took the gun back with a swish and threw it to Ji Ping. He took the handkerchief from Tinghe's hand and wiped his sweat. He stepped forward with a smile and said, "Mr. Ji is back."

Ji Yuan breathed a sigh of relief and stepped forward to salute, "Why do you think you want to practice martial arts?"

"Practice if you like it," Zhao Hanzhang invited Mr. Ji to the main hall and asked, "Is there any news outside recently?"

"The imperial court is still living abroad, and Luoyang has not yet been recaptured. More and more people have escaped from Luoyang recently," Ji Yuan said, "Since I said that buying food is a good deed, why doesn't Sanniang take the opportunity to gather some refugees?"

This is also a good deed.

Zhao Hanzhang readily agreed, "I think so too. Many of the fields under my name are not cultivated, or are not planted carefully, all due to the shortage of manpower."

Zhao Hanzhang had enough land, especially the land that Zhao Zhongyu exchanged for her. The tenants and long-term workers left behind did not pay much attention to it. In addition, in the past two years due to various reasons, the population had been severely lost, so a lot of land was abandoned.

So as long as she recruits people, she will have land for them to farm, and she only needs to ensure that they have food and housing while they work.

The refugees who were fleeing were just looking for a place to stay.

Zhao Hanzhang said: "Mr. Ji, I still have to leave this matter to you. You can bring the food and go to the city gate to recruit people."

She said: "I'm afraid people who leave their hometowns won't think about settling down and establishing a career outside. We can relax the conditions. All long-term workers and tenants we recruit will only sign for three years. After three years, if they want to leave, we will never stop them. On."

"What about the treatment?"

"Long-term workers are paid according to the market price, and we cover food and accommodation. For tenants, we will provide them with enough food in the first year, so we charge them 40% of the rent. After the second year, we only charge 20% of the rent."

Mr. Ji was surprised, "Sanniang, the rent is too low. The current rent in Runan is between 40% and 50%."

Zhao Hanzhang said: "It's not low. There is not much difference between the food and money in the hands of the villagers and in my hands. This manor is composed of villagers. Since I said I want to support them, I naturally have to leave enough space for them."

"But you still support Buqu, with only 20% of the rent, how can you afford to support them?"

“As long as we have enough fields and enough tenant farmers, we can naturally afford to raise them.”

Mr. Ji: "There are also weapons, horses, and armor. These all require money."

Zhao Hanzhang: "Although food prices have risen a lot, food is a basic necessity for survival. It is not possible to rely on basic survival resources to obtain war preparation materials."

She said: "War preparations should not come from selling food. From now on, we should keep the food for our own use as much as possible, and we will not sell it if we can. As for the money to buy war preparations..."

Zhao Hanzhang pondered for a moment and then said: "I'll find a way."

Ji Yuan looked at Zhao Hanzhang in surprise, "Sanniang is worthy of being the granddaughter of Master Lang. Master Lang also said that the money spent on music in the family should not be obtained from food."

When Zhao Hanzhang heard this, he became interested and asked hurriedly: "Where did grandfather's money come from?"

"There are shops, restaurants, and gardens that we operate," Ji Yuan said, "but most of the profitable shops, restaurants, and gardens are in Luoyang and Chang'an, so..."

Not to mention that Luoyang and Chang'an are now in war, even in peace, Zhao Hanzhang also gave up everything to Zhao Zhongyu.

When Zhao Hanzhang heard about the location, he immediately lost interest and said, "Let's find another way."

Ji Yuan became distressed, "But what solution do we have? Although Shangcai is not poor, he is not very rich either. Although you have a shop in the county, it is difficult to sell things without rich people. What's more, we have What good stuff?"

Zhao Hanzhang thought for a while, "What do you think of us selling bricks?"

Ji Yuan was stunned, "Huh?"

However, Zhao Hanzhang seemed to have opened up the two channels of Ren and Du. He clapped his hands and said: "Start with the younger ones. Accumulate a little and make a lot. Sell bricks first, and wait until Mr. Fu Dalang makes good things like glass before selling more expensive things."

See you tomorrow