Chapter 21: Action Squad

  "Ji Sheng, go and recruit some fishermen from nearby, the monthly pay is still one or two silver coins, don't look for them in Weihaiwei, recruit from other Wei or civilian households." Chen Xin said calmly to the scar-faced Jiang Ji Sheng.

  Scar is one of the earliest followers of Zhao Dongjia, having followed him for ten years. He is skilled in navigation and combat, and has survived this long, which is rare. Unlike Hei Pao's unwavering loyalty, Scar has some ambition for official position, and after hearing that Chen Xin became an official, he made up his mind to follow Chen Xin.

  Scar nodded and said respectfully: "Yes, sir. However, if two ships go out to sea, at least 70 or 80 people are needed."

  Chen Xin furrowed his brow and fell into deep thought. The sailors on the sea were different from the land army, they were much more unruly. If discipline was too strict, it was likely that the sailors would rebel against him. Therefore, he did not plan to send his own soldiers to be corrupted by the sailors. He had not even decided which ships to send, and if he sent two ships at a time, the freight alone would be nearly 100,000 taels. He could not afford it no matter what, adding to the 20,000 taels borrowed from the Zhao family, he could only use about 37,000 taels in total. After setting aside 7,000 taels for Weihai and a few thousand taels to be sent to Wen Ti-ren, he could only use about 25,000 taels.

  "Then recruit eighty people." Chen Xin considered that the training time for sailors was long, and in case of encountering a robbery, the loss would be great. It's better to leave some more personnel. His original duty was to patrol the sea, which was also acceptable, and not as eye-catching as the land army's war battalion.

  After Scar agreed, he was about to make arrangements. Chen Xin called out to him again, "Wang Zugui will be your deputy. The silver pay for you several old men is still the same as before, one hundred taels per trip at sea, but don't tell the new recruits."

  "I understand!"

  After sending away the pockmarked man, Chen Xin began to revise the military law. He and Zhu Guobin discussed it for several nights in a row and had almost completed it. The punishments were mainly fines, corporal punishment, labor, and military cudgel. The methods of prohibiting any entertainment and emotional expression in the new book "Ji Xiao Xin Shu" were abandoned by him. The beheading punishments that could be seen everywhere in the Ming military law were also basically cancelled, and only those who retreated from the battlefield, disobeyed orders on the battlefield, resisted military law with weapons and injured people, deserted, or killed comrades-in-arms would be beheaded.

  Chen Xin made a note on the paper, behind the military stick, to use a leather whip in summer, so as not to hurt people. At this time, a gunshot was heard from afar outside, Chen Xin knew it was Zhu Guobin's fire gun team training, they only had eight bird guns and ten gunmen, one person with one gun was not enough. Thinking of this, he walked out the door, brought Zhou Shifa and Nie Hong, and went to the workshop shed of Jiang Huajia.

  Inside the workshop, the fire was burning brightly. Tang Zuoxiang was busy hammering away at a steel pipe, pulling out a section of cold iron rod every now and then to prevent it from getting stuck together with the pipe. Chen Xin stood behind him for quite some time without disturbing him, until another craftsman noticed and reminded Tang Zuoxiang, who quickly called over another craftsman to take over and came over to greet Chen Xin.

  Chen Xin looked at him with a head full of sweat and said with concern: "Mr. Tang, you should take care of yourself while working, don't overwork."

  Tang Zuoxiang immediately knelt down and said: "Sir, please don't call me that. I am not worthy of being called 'Mr.'"

  Chen Xinman casually waved his hand and helped Tang Zuoxiang up, a title that could buy people's hearts without spending any silver. "Mr. Tang's skills are exquisite, this humble shed is so simple, Mr. Tang only used ten or so days to set up the shop and start work, worthy of being called 'master'."

  Tang Zuo was speechless, his heart moved but unable to express himself in words. "This... this... even a lowly person like me can't say anything, anyway, following Master Chen, my wife and children have eaten their fill for the first time, and Mr. Liu has been generous with the expenses for the shop's equipment, compared to before, it's just... it's just better."

  Chen Xin smiled and said that now there is almost no output, and it's not suitable for piecework wages. So he also set the treatment for these craftsmen according to their levels, with Tang Zuoxiang as a mid-level craftsman, getting 1.5 taels of silver per month, and the other four as low-level craftsmen, getting 1 tael of silver per month. These craftsmen are in the overlapping management area between him and Liu Min, they have to do both civil and military work.

  "You get me to do the work, all these are what should be done. If you can't even eat a full meal, how can you do any work? As long as the things are done well, apart from your monthly salary, there will also be bonuses. However, if the things are not done well, it will also deduct your monthly salary."

  Tang Zuoxiang nodded repeatedly: "Deserved it, deserved it."

  Chen Xin finished speaking and asked about his gun, Tang Zuoxiang's face was embarrassed, he wanted to speak but stopped several times.

  Chen Xin looked at him and estimated that there was some problem, slowed down his tone and asked: "Mr. Tang, is there something troubling you? You can tell me about it, if you need my help, just mention it."

  "Chen sir, the bird gun has been made for three days. This is a trivial matter that I am accustomed to doing. As long as there are enough materials, there will be no problem. However, the striped gun you gave me, the stock, plate hook, spring piece and bolt, were not difficult to make. I have finished them all. Only the pipe wall was too thick, it took a lot of time to make, after finishing the front part, the back part would cool down, several times the pipe wall did not close seamlessly, wasting a lot of materials, I really feel ashamed."

  Chen Xin had expected that making the fire lance wouldn't be easy, and he smiled to comfort Tang Zhen: "It's just this matter, Mr. Tang doesn't need to worry, trying a few more times will do, I'm not familiar with the manufacture of fire lances, but I have some suggestions for your reference."

  "Please instruct me, Lord Chen."

  "Mr. Tang would record the size of the hammer, the time for heating the iron, and the amount of material used before each forging process. Next time when he forged again, he could improve one by one according to these items. If the hammer was too small, he would use a bigger one; if one person was not enough, he would use two people. In this way, he could slowly make improvements and eventually get it done."

  Tang Zuoxiang hurriedly bowed his head and accepted the lesson, but then said: "However, I am illiterate..."

  Chen Xin turned his head to look at the two bodyguards behind him, and the two men shook their heads like a rattle drum. Chen Xin was helpless and thought for a moment before saying to Tang Zuoxiang: "I'll take care of this matter, Mr. Tang just focus on doing your own job."

  "Thank you, sir." Tang Zuoxiang knelt down and kowtowed again, choking with emotion: "I'm just a humble craftsman, I don't know any characters except my own name. Now Governor Chen has given us food to eat, and Mr. Liu is teaching our children to read, my whole family is eternally grateful."

  The several craftsmen next to him all knelt down, and Chen Xin comforted them with kind words, telling them to do their job well. After finishing speaking, he didn't disturb them again, as long as he was here, these people couldn't work at ease.

  After going out, I went to the construction site of Jianfang and took a look around. The five wells have been drilled, several small houses have already started laying tiles, and the main beams of the five barracks have been erected and are almost completed. Only the largest school is still excavating the foundation, and several people who are repairing the house are pouring water into it to find the level.

  Recently, due to the renovation of the house, there were too many outsiders, and the soldier training was moved to the back of the mountain in the east. The place became much quieter, with only occasional noisy sounds coming from the migrant worker kindergarten. Chen Xin walked over following the sound and heard Liu Minyou lecturing inside.

  "Snow White's stepmother disguised herself as an old hag and brought a basket of apples..."

  A child's voice asked: "Mr. Liu, what is an apple?"

  "This apple is a kind of fruit, sour and sweet."

  "Oh! Is it the papaya?" "Maybe."

  "But Snow White's stepmother poisoned an apple and gave it to Snow White."

  Chen Xin couldn't help but laugh, this Liu Min had really become a kindergarten teacher. Every afternoon, he would take an hour or so to teach the children to recognize characters, and tell stories during recess. Chen Xin shook his head and headed back to his own hut, just in time to see Song Wenxian also standing outside the kindergarten.

  This bad bookworm was also listening to the story, with a smile on his face. Seeing Chen Xin coming over, he came over and bowed: "Looking everywhere for Master Qianhu, finally found him."

  Song Wenxian immediately gave Chen Xin a look, and Chen Xin left two bodyguards behind. The two walked aside, and Song Wenxian said in a low voice: "Brother Chen, I've been out for over 20 days, it's time to go back."

  Chen Xindao said: "Yes, Mr. Song still has many things to attend to, and with the New Year approaching, he should also return to Dengzhou to visit his family."

  Before leaving, there are two things to do. First, please ask Brother Chen to write a letter to the imperial censor, and I will go to Beijing to deal with that matter after returning to Dengzhou for a few days. Second, that Han Bin, this person cannot be kept.

  "I will write the letter immediately, to Han Bin." Chen Xin said with a cold smile on his face. "Last time in Dengzhou, I wanted to get rid of him, but since we were on someone else's turf, I was afraid it would delay our journey. Now, even if Mr. Song doesn't say anything, I will still take care of this matter."

  Song Wenxian looked around and said to Chen Xin, "I still need more people for this matter. I only have one Wang Yong, and Han Bin has a few fellow villagers from his hometown following him in Dengzhou, those you saw on the boat, we should send a few more."

  "Should we take out those fellow countrymen at the same time?"

  "It's not necessary, those few people have never seen Zhong Dao Tai before, only Han Bin might be able to talk to Zhong Dao Tai."

  "I'll only pay for one Han Bin." Chen Xin said, turning his head to look at Zhou Shifa and Nie Hong. These two men were skilled in martial arts, originally trained in combat. Nie Hong was rough and burly, with a fierce glint in his eye at all times. In his hometown, he had been driven by usury to the death of his wife, killed the owner of the money house, and escaped to become a bandit. When Zhu Guobin recruited him, it was because he had a strong murderous aura, and thought he was suitable for wielding a long spear or long knife.

  Song Wenxian followed his gaze and reminded, "Han Bin's moves are not bad, one hit is not in fear of being counterattacked, it's best to let Zhu Guobin or Dai Zhenggang go."

  Chen Xin slightly shook his head: "Those two are skilled, but I don't plan to let them do this kind of thing. The people on the Fu ship couldn't be used either. Assassination doesn't necessarily require exceptional skill, what's more important is calmness and ruthlessness. These two have a killer aura, so let Lu Chuanzong, Zhang Dahui, and them go. I won't be able to make it, I'll instruct Lu Chuanzong and the others to follow your arrangements."

  Song Wenxian looked back and forth at the two of them, Nie Hong looked at Song Wenxian staring at him, coldly looking back, indeed with a fierce glow, only then did Song Wenxian slowly nod his head.

  Chen Xin said to Song Wenxian, "When you went to the capital, you stayed at Qin Lüfang's place. He has also gone out to sea many times and although he lost a hand, he can still protect you somewhat. However, this time when you return to Dengzhou, I'm afraid the boat won't be able to go, there aren't enough hands."

  "You attend to your own business, I'll take them by land, it's 320 miles from here to Dengzhou, there are some mountain roads, if we hurry, we can get there in seven or eight days."

  After settling the matter, Chen Xin took Song Wenxian back to the hut and wrote a letter to Yang Weiyuan. In the letter, he recalled his good relationship with Yang and expressed some of his intentions through Song Wenxian. He then severely exposed Zhong Daotai's evil deeds. Since Yang Weiyuan was also a very cunning person, Chen Xin carefully chose his words, hoping to make Yang think that he only had a personal grudge against Zhong Daotai. The two men deliberated and revised the letter twice, and Chen seemed to have returned to his old self when writing formal documents.

  After finishing writing, Song Wenxian read it again and put it on the table. After it was slightly dry, he folded it up neatly and then slowly looked around Chen Xin's thatched hut, saying: "Brother Chen has left Tianjin's gentle countryside to come to this poor and remote Weihaiwei to brave the wind and snow. With such perseverance and talent, you will surely become a great man in the future."

  The two of them were about to part ways, Chen Xin and Song Wenxian had been together for a long time, they shared similar tastes and smells. This person could be considered a true little villain, but he was always good to himself. Although he had ulterior motives, who doesn't have ulterior motives? Chen Xin sincerely said to Song Wenxian: "I've received much help from Mr. Song along the way, great kindness doesn't need to be thanked, we'll meet again another day."

  Song Wenxian saw Chen Xinyi on the boat and felt that this person was different from others, with a temperament different from others. Over the past few months, he has become more convinced of this understanding. After arriving in Weihai, he also practiced military training in his own way, and those porters had a strong military attitude in a short period of time.

  He thought back to the past few months, a hint of emotion on his face. "Brother Chen's place is in shambles and needs someone to help with the rebuilding, but thinking about it some more, I might be able to help you even more from afar. As Brother Chen would say, 'the future is long'."

  "Take care, Mr. Song."