Chapter 27: Can't Take Care of So Many Anymore

  County government back yard.

  Zhou Jian was writing a reply letter to Cai Yan when Hu San excitedly rushed in.

  "Hu San, you're so excited, is there some good news?"

  Zhou Jian put down his brush and asked with great interest.

  "Hu Sanli opened his big mouth and laughed: "Sir, what a great joy! I found many iron stones near Xinxiang Pavilion. The locals said that the government had dug up iron stones before, but only dug up the upper layer, thinking there was nothing below, so they stopped digging. I also heard from the locals that there might be more iron stones below, so I tried to dig a few meters down and indeed found some."

  "Is this really true?"

  Zhou Jian was suddenly invigorated, and the iron rock was actually an iron ore.

  Who would have thought that there was still an iron mine within our county's borders? This is truly a great joy.

  "The humble one does not dare deceive Your Excellency."

  Zhou Jian asked: "What is the purity of the iron ore? Can it be refined into wrought iron?"

  Hu San said: "The purity is not very good, it's about 40% or so. Refining iron is not a problem, but it's a bit of trouble. Moreover, the iron ore is buried underground, and digging for iron ore requires a large number of people. At least two hundred people are needed to dig out two thousand catties of iron ore every day."

  "Alright, as long as we can refine the fine iron, it's settled. Labor is not a problem. You go find Zhou Wu, recruit some able-bodied men from the refugees, offer them higher wages, and hire them to dig for iron ore. I'm sure you'll be able to gather many workers."

  "Hu San hurriedly responded with a 'yes', and then said: "Your Excellency, there's another matter. Recently, I've recruited eighteen skilled craftsmen and promised them ten mu of good land and 500 taels of silver per month. How should we handle this?"

  Zhou Jian said, "You can handle these things on your own. If you need money, go find Zhou Wu; if you need land, find Chen Fang. From now on, don't bother telling me about these trivial matters. Just let me know how many iron armors have been polished."

  Hu San muttered to himself, "How dare I take charge of such a big thing?" But he didn't dare say it out loud, and hastily agreed.

  "Go, by next New Year's Day, no matter what, you must polish one thousand iron armors."

  "Yes, sir."

  Hu San puffed out his chest and belly, responded with a loud "yes", and ran out excitedly.

  As long as there are skilled craftsmen and enough iron and stone, it's no problem to polish a thousand sets of iron armor before the first month of next year.

  In Anhui Province, there are no skilled craftsmen and no good iron, many things Zhou Jian can't take charge of, a clever woman also finds it difficult to cook without rice, doing things naturally becomes restricted.

  Nowadays, all big and small matters in our county are handled by Zhou Jian, so there is no more restriction.

  When Hu San first arrived, he was still a bit nervous. These days have passed, and when he wants money, there is money; when he wants people, there are people; when he wants fields, there are fields. He is doing things with great fanfare, and it's hard to avoid his spirits soaring, his confidence overflowing, and his enthusiasm at its peak.

  Being able to become a blacksmith to this extent is something I never thought possible.

  Hu San had just left, and Chen Fang came again to report on the recruitment of talents. In recent days, he had indeed recruited some skilled craftsmen, but they all had families and homes, and it was not easy to let them leave their own homes.

  But this is not a problem.

  In a chaotic world where human rights are ignored, Zhou Jian has a way to make these people surrender.

  In a large mansion in the south of the city, dozens of craftsmen were busy at work, with all sorts of wood piled up everywhere around them.

  When Zhou Jian followed Chen Fang into the house, a man in his thirties hastily came up to greet them.

  Chen Fang pointed and said, "This is the county magistrate."

  Hanzi hastily bowed down and said, "I am Mao Si, at your service, sir."

  Zhou Jian waved his hand and ordered Mao Si to stand up. He took a glance around and asked, "How many craftsmen are there here?"

  "Your Honor, there are twelve carpenters, seven bamboo craftsmen, five stonemasons and three leather workers."

  "What can you do?"

  Mao Si scratched his head and replied: "A small man will make a gun."

  Zhou Jian's spirit lifted, and he said: "Do you have a good gun? Bring it here for me to see."

  Mao Si responded with a sound and immediately ran to one side, took a wooden gun over, the gun handle was already done, only missing the gun head.

  Zhou Jian took the gun, grasped it with both hands and exerted a bit of force, bending it into an arc shape without breaking it. Its toughness was extremely good. Mao Si's tongue was tied in knots as he thought to himself that this county magistrate had incredible strength, so fierce and powerful.

  "What's the point of greasing the gun?"

  Zhou Jian nodded in satisfaction and asked again.

  The gun barrel had obvious oil stains and felt a bit slippery in hand, making it hard to grip tightly.

  "The master said: 'You don't know, although the hardwood is hard, its toughness is not enough, it's easy to break. Therefore, it needs to be soaked in oil and dried at least five times to prevent breaking.'"

  Zhou Jian was stunned, he had always used finished guns before, and didn't know about this.

  It's no wonder people say that three men traveling together will always have something to discuss; even a small wooden spear has profound knowledge.

  "Good work will be rewarded."

  Zhou Jian encouraged him with a sentence, and for those who did things seriously, he was never stingy with rewards.

  Mao Si showed respect and obedience, slightly stiff.

  "Who is in charge here?"

  Mao Si was speechless, and Chen Fang replied: "Your Honor, Mao Si will take responsibility for now."

  Zhou Jian nodded, looked around and saw that some craftsmen were making guns, others were making wooden shields. Several stone masons were grinding hard stones into sharp blades, which were then installed on the finished gun handles.

  As for several tanners, they were drumming up a few pieces of raw cowhide.

  Apart from the tasks assigned to the carpenter, other craftsmen had nothing arranged for them to do and just tinkered around according to their interests.

  Zhou Jian's interest increased, he took a stone knife that had been polished by a stonemason and tried it out. The polishing was quite sharp, although the hardness was much lower than iron tools, it could only be used for appreciation, but being able to reach this level was already very good.

  He also took a leather armor made by a deputy craftsman, although the protective parts only had a few vital points and were not as strong as iron armor, but the weight was much lighter than iron armor. When worn on the body to fight with people, it can at least block a few knives.

  Unless you encounter a fierce warrior like Zhou Jian or Dian Wei, any armor will be cut in two with just one slash.

  Zhou Jian suddenly remembered something and asked Mao Si, "Can you make a trebuchet?"

  Mao Si did not understand and asked: "This, what is this 'stone-throwing cart' that you, sir, are talking about? I have never heard of it."

  "It's that kind of device that can throw big rocks onto the city walls from hundreds of steps away."

  "Is it the stone-throwing chariot you're referring to, sir?"

  Zhou Jian nodded, he didn't remember whether it was a catapult or a trebuchet, as long as it was something. However, he had only heard of the name, and as for the specific shape and manufacture, he had no idea.

  In this era, productivity was extremely backward. Wanting to throw a boulder weighing over 100 kg from hundreds of steps away to the top of a city wall several zhang high is absolutely not as easy as saying it, first and foremost, power is an issue.

  Later generations have gunpowder and petroleum, all of which can produce tremendous thrust.

  No matter how hard Zhou Jian thought, he couldn't figure out how the ancient catapults solved the problem of power, and yet they could throw hundreds of kilograms of heavy stones over a hundred steps away to the top of the city wall several zhang high.

  Mao Si scratched his head and said: "This, I've just heard people say it before, don't know how to do it."

  Zhou Jian didn't expect him to make a trebuchet immediately, so he stopped asking and went to Hu San's ironwork house to take a look.

  The world has been at peace for a long time. Although peasant uprisings have continued to emerge since the Emperor's accession, none of them have made it to the stage and were easily extinguished.

  From the central government to local governments, military preparations have been neglected for a long time. Many soldiers are old, weak, sick or disabled, and lack training. In the armories of local counties, it is almost impossible to find a complete set of armor. Once the Yellow Turban Rebellion breaks out, the imperial court will inevitably be caught off guard.

  Zhou Jian must make early preparations in order to gain an advantage in the impending chaotic era.

  Hu San's enthusiasm was high, but the results were disappointing. Although there were twenty skilled blacksmiths, they were not familiar with polishing fish-scale armor and had to learn on the job. After half a month, only thirty sets of iron armor had been polished.

  "Sir, if there aren't enough iron armor, leather armor can be used as a substitute."

  Zhou Jian swept him a glance and asked: "How about recruiting blacksmiths in the name of the government?"

  "This..."

  Chen Fang was shocked and hastily said: "Sir, this matter is absolutely impermissible. If we proceed, I fear it will invite disaster!"

  Zhou Jian's expression solidified, and he fell silent.

  By order of the government office, it was naturally possible to recruit many blacksmiths, after all, individual strength is still not comparable to that of the government.

  But this also causes trouble.

  It is easy to leak news and cause suspicion in the imperial court by recruiting craftsmen in the name of the government office to make military equipment.

  Although there have been continuous natural and man-made disasters in these two years, it is still a prosperous and peaceful world in the eyes of people all over the world.

  A mere county magistrate, actually recruiting craftsmen to massively manufacture military equipment, what is he trying to do, does he want to rebel?

  If the imperial court finds out about it, then we're done for.

  Zhou Jian deeply understood the pros and cons, but now he really couldn't care about that much anymore. He said in a low voice: "Can't take care of so many things, there's less than a year left, do a good job of keeping secrets, select 100 people from Jiang Qin's 200 water bandits to strictly guard, as long as we can deceive the imperial court for half a year, when the world is in chaos, even if the imperial court finds out, they won't have time to investigate."

  Chen Fang did not know where Zhou Jian's confidence came from and thought that in less than a year, the world would be in chaos.

  His lips moved slightly, but in the end he didn't say anything.

  Although Zhou Jian was not yet twenty years old, he was resolute and unwavering. Once he made a decision, he never changed his mind.

  Jiang Qin's 290 Jiangshui bandits are loyal and trustworthy, taking out 100 people to be in charge of guarding, should not have any problems.

  Chen Fang turned over several ideas in his mind and immediately went to make arrangements.

  Recruitment of robust men went relatively smoothly, and by June, a total of 1,000 robust men had been recruited from the refugees, all of whom were under the age of 30 and full of vitality.

  As for the refugees, more than 20,000 people were properly settled.

  Originally, there weren't so many refugees in our county, but after the government's notice was posted, refugees from surrounding counties who were starving and homeless all came to hear the news. The government provided them with rations, allocated land, and properly settled them.

  Cheng Kang was beaten by Zhou Jian and didn't dare to slack off again. He worked hard, barely doing his best.

  Settling the refugees, Cheng Kang ran around and negotiated with the wealthy households, patching together over 500 mu of land from east to west.

  Zhou Jian did not treat him unfairly and privately gave him a sum of money to win his heart.

  Refugees from other counties are still arriving in succession, but our county can no longer accommodate them.

  Settling refugees costs money and grain, and the consumption is absolutely a considerable amount, Zhou Jian can't afford it either.

  One thousand robust men were divided into twenty teams, with twenty attendants each responsible for training a team.

  Jiang Qin's two hundred water bandits were divided into one hundred people responsible for guarding Hu San's Da Mo Bing Qi Tie Jia Zhuang, and the remaining one hundred people were divided into twenty teams of newly recruited Hanzi to serve as Shi Chang, competing in seconds to practice.

  Zhou Jian's busy feet didn't touch the ground, running east and west every day, and whenever he had time, he would instruct his followers to train new soldiers.

  That day, after finally managing to steal a leisurely half-day, Dian Wei burst in excitedly.

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