Chapter 62

Chapter Sixty-Two: Thriving Industries

The events that followed were just as Zhang Yao had predicted. In the face of the drought, the counties under the jurisdiction of Dengzhou all encouraged donations, and indeed, a portion of the money and grain was used to dig wells and repair ditches. However, very little of this aid actually reached the common people. The various levels of government took their cut first, and the gentry and clerks colluded to divide up another portion. The amount of money and grain actually used for drought relief was pitifully small. In some places, even the meager water from the wells was monopolized by the landlords.

In March of the first year of the Chongzhen era, Zhu Youjian exonerated some officials who had been wronged by the eunuch faction. In April, he appointed Yuan Chonghuan, who had just returned home, as the Minister of War and Commander-in-Chief of the Jizhou and Liaodong regions. Yuan Chonghuan, who had just returned home and hadn't even settled in, set out northward again, embarking on a path that would lead to his downfall.

As the weather gradually grew warmer, the school in Zhangjia Village was finally completed. This school, which covered nearly a hundred acres, was a significant achievement for Wen Bajin. After this project, he had gathered over three hundred skilled craftsmen under his command. With the mastery of cement usage, the construction speed had greatly increased. If not for Chen Xie's high standards for the school's construction quality, the project could have been completed much earlier.

As Chen Xie's assets continued to grow, his household troops also gradually expanded. Wang Qian, as the top lackey, was responsible for the daily training of the household troops and for recruiting some decent young men to join the ranks.

Wang Qian's first batch of recruits had very high requirements. The first requirement was height, which had to be at least 1.68 meters. This standard was set by Chen Xie, who even provided a tape measure and taught Wang Qian how to use it. The second requirement was a clean background, with at least two local households vouching for the recruit. This meant that if you wanted to join Chen Xie's household troops, you needed two households to vouch for you, and if any problems arose, Chen Xie would hold these households accountable. The third requirement was age, between sixteen and twenty years old. The fourth requirement was good health, including passing some physical tests such as push-ups and sit-ups. Those who met all four requirements and could read and write were given priority.

These were very strict conditions, but when Wang Qian set up his recruitment stand at the city gate, proclaiming that the divine doctor was recruiting household troops, it took less than half an hour for a queue to form that stretched for a mile. Wang Qian, along with ten of his subordinates, all dressed in peculiar short-haired divine doctor uniforms, looked strange but imposing.

To put it simply, they wore police helmets, security uniforms, utility belts, and high-top boots. Other equipment, such as aluminum water bottles, Skybrand crossbows, and military knives strapped to their legs, were things the common people of the Ming dynasty had never seen before. This was not even their full equipment; Chen Xie had not yet revealed his flintlock guns, nor did he want others to know he possessed them.

After several months of rigorous training, these deserters from Liaodong had become a disciplined and elite force. There was no choice but to become elite, as they were well-fed and well-nourished, and their bodies had become as strong as oxen. They trained diligently, with only four days off each month, and the rest of the time was spent in intense drills. For many of these men, who had been soldiers all their lives, this was the first time they had experienced such rigorous training.

Some of them had thought about running away, but they couldn't bear to give up the good food and the two taels of silver they received each month. After the recruitment was over, they were promised three days off to enjoy the city of Dengzhou. However, they had to return to Zhangjia Village within the specified time, or they would be kicked out of the household troops.

To put it bluntly, in Dengzhou City, any young man who was not from a wealthy family and was of the right age would jump at the chance to join the divine doctor's household troops. Seeing these men dressed in such imposing uniforms, standing there, was a real morale booster. Strangely, no one found their unusual attire unattractive. Even the officials, upon seeing them, did not think it was a big deal. A group of rough men in long robes would have been a bigger issue.

The recruitment event, which was originally scheduled for one day, lasted for three days due to the overwhelming number of applicants. Not only did locals come to apply, but some refugees from Liaodong also came to try their luck. Wang Qian was initially inclined to recruit some of these refugees, as many of them had seen combat and were physically fit.

However, Chen Xie directly rejected this suggestion. The only exception was for those who could read and write, meet the age, height, and health requirements, and could have their conditions relaxed slightly. Wang Qian couldn't understand why Chen Xie was so keen on recruiting literate men. In this era, being literate placed one a step above the common people, and these men could easily find work if they were willing to work hard. With a meal to eat, who would want to join the household troops and live a life of danger?

But Chen Xie insisted, and Wang Qian had to comply. After all, the first rule in Chen Xie's household troops was to follow orders, and this rule was very clear: obey! During military operations, subordinates must absolutely obey their superiors!

To Wang Qian's surprise, after three days of recruitment, they had enlisted 120 men, all of whom could read and write, to varying degrees. This experience left Wang Qian thoroughly convinced. He didn't realize how famous the divine doctor had become in Dengzhou. With the hundreds of mouths in Zhangjia Village spreading the word, every local person envied the chance to become one of the divine doctor's subordinates.

Just look at the winter wheat in the fields. In other places, a good harvest was a hundred or so pounds per acre, but in Zhangjia Village, the wheat yield was at least two hundred pounds per acre, and in some good fields, it approached three hundred pounds.

Putting aside the recruitment, the divine doctor Chen Xie's attention had shifted again. He had immersed himself in Wang Tietou's shop, which could no longer be called a blacksmith's shop; it was more like a workshop.

Since the Qingming Festival, Wang Tietou's business had exploded. Chen Xie had invested in the business with bearings and steel, taking 60% of the shares, and Wang Tietou had no objections, walking around with a spring in his step. The workshop's scale had expanded dramatically in just a few months.

Wang Tietou's first flagship product was a coal stove, which every household in Zhangjia Village used. It was free, and they even received a kettle for boiling water. The only cost was the labor to either collect coal slag for road paving or to transport coal from a nearby mine. Of course, outsiders who wanted to use the coal stoves had to pay. The main customers were not farmers but urban residents, who found that using coal stoves was much cheaper than buying firewood. This industry had disrupted the livelihoods of those who sold firewood, but they quickly joined the ranks of coal miners.

The second product was the wheelbarrow, which, after Chen Xie's improvements, quickly became popular in Zhangjia Village and then spread throughout the counties under Dengzhou's jurisdiction. Equipped with bearings, the wheelbarrows had a much higher load capacity, and the iron axles and iron-rimmed wheels ensured durability. While ordinary people couldn't afford them, landlords, traveling merchants, and salt smugglers could. At ten taels of silver each, they were worth the investment. With these wheelbarrows, the efficiency of earning money increased significantly. While others could make one trip, these wheelbarrows could make two trips and carry 50% more cargo.

As a result, the wheelbarrows, widely used by Dengzhou merchants, quickly spread to Lai Prefecture and even further to Jinan. Some clever craftsmen tried to replicate them but failed, as the bearings were an insurmountable challenge. Unable to replicate them, they had to buy them in Dengzhou and resell them. Some merchants did just that.

Due to the high demand, anyone who wanted to buy a wheelbarrow now had to place an order in advance and wait in line.

Speaking of the coal mine owner, Yao Laoliu, he was initially just a kiln worker whom Wen Bajin had brought in to make red bricks. Seizing the opportunity, he led a group of fellow villagers and, with Chen Xie's support, opened a coal mine. Initially, the purpose was to provide coal for brick firing, but it quickly grew beyond that.

Now, Yao Laoliu's kiln not only produced red bricks but also tiles, and he owned a coal mine. In less than a year, he had risen to the middle class. Wen Bajin, Yao Laoliu, and Zhang Tietou had become the idols and role models for countless craftsmen.

Returning to the main topic, what was Chen Xie busy with now? Accustomed to planning ahead, Chen Xie had identified a very practical problem that, while not immediately apparent, would inevitably arise in the future. What was the problem? The answer was logistics!

With the advent of modern warfare, logistics had become increasingly important. Especially for the army Chen Xie planned to build, which would primarily use rifled Minie rifles, the consumption of resources could be imagined. This was a very special army, and the gunpowder and bullets it would consume had to be produced and carried by itself.

Chen Xie did not want to create an army that ate only two meals a day and trained only once every ten to fifteen days. On the battlefield, an army that ate poorly and lacked training would only serve to boost morale through sheer numbers. In reality, the Ming dynasty relied on elite household troops, while ordinary soldiers were used to wave flags and serve as cannon fodder.

Based on the principles of modern army building, Chen Xie had to create a logistics support team to ensure that his army could operate independently for one to two months, even without any external supplies.

To achieve this, high-quality transportation was essential. While wheelbarrows were good, they were not Chen Xie's ideal transport. He had his eye on four-wheeled carts with shock-absorbing steel plates. He handed all the blueprints to Zhang Tietou, regardless of whether he understood them, and had him lead a team to develop and manufacture them.