Chapter 90 Literacy Class 2.0
Jinmao doesn't care about Shengxian.

He could just rob Wu County, but he couldn't control that place for the time being, and it was not as attractive as Yuzhang County.

Yuzhang County governed 21 counties and had more than households.

There is a large population and a lot of land, but few aristocratic families. The most famous surnames are Lei, Luo, and Xiong.

It is tailor-made for Jinmao, a dream place.

Let’s put it this way, as long as we occupy Yuzhang County, in the next two years, Jinmao’s strength will be able to double or even quadruple!
The prerequisite is that the iron supply from Wujun must keep up.

But whatever you fear will come true.

end of September.

News came from the Zhu family that the iron supply from Wu County had been cut off and was no longer supplied to Kuaiji County and Yuzhang County.

This is clearly a show of hostility!
The Zhu family said they would negotiate, but Jinmao didn't think so.

He immediately summoned Xi Zhicai: "Zhicai, the strategy we discussed last time will probably have to be used in Wujun."

It took the tanned Xizhi a second to react: "My lord, this is a different time, no strategy can be applied."

During this period, Xi Zhicai became much calmer and also learned good habits of working at the grassroots level from Jin Yun.

Whenever you are undecided about something, just go down and take a look with your own eyes. Anyway, you have Kan Ze to assist in government affairs, so a day or two won't be a problem.

"Then I'll trouble Zhicai to pay more attention to it."

Jin Mao said seriously: "Wu County has cut off its salt and iron supply, and the Zhu family's reputation is no longer worth it. We must solve this problem as soon as possible!"

"Yes!" Xi Zhicai hesitated whether to tell him what Xun You said in the letter.

"busy?"

In the end, Xi Zhicai still spoke.

Sure enough, as Xi Zhicai expected, Jin Mao’s focus was not on Sheng Xian at all.

"Xun You! Did Gongda write back to you? What did he write? Is he going to come to Kuaiji County for a visit?"

Speaking of the visit, Xi Zhicai's dead memory began to attack.

"My Lord, I think we should take Gongda's guess seriously. It is very likely to be true!"

"It's true, then." Jin Mao said indifferently, "As long as Wu Jun doesn't cut off my iron, I won't bother to care about Sheng Xian."

Immediately, Xi Zhicai grasped the key point: "This dynasty does not only produce iron in Wujun, why doesn't the lord go to Xuzhou to buy it?"

"You are such a genius!" Jin Mao slapped his forehead and said, "Why didn't I think of that?"

"Kan Ze! Kan Ze?"

"Mingsir." Kan Ze came out from the office room next door with a pair of panda eyes.

"Why do you look like this?" Jin Mao was very surprised.

Kan Ze glared at Xi Zhicai.

Jin Mao suddenly turned his head, Xi Zhicai didn't blush, and said, "Derun is a great talent, a county is no problem."

So it seems like you are just being lazy.

"All of Xi Zhicai's performance this month will be added to Derun's." Jin Mao stood up for Kan Ze: "The landlord hired the tenant and gave him a stutter, and you want to get rid of him with just one sentence?"

"My Lord, how could you do this? I heard that the ancient sages..."

Xi Zhicai has already developed a thick skin, and he is quite powerful in his excuses.

Jin Mao was not willing to be outdone, and seemed to be back to the days when he was bickering with Yu Fan.

Kan Ze, who was standing by, was envious, but humility was ingrained in him. He interrupted the two and said, "My Lord, I volunteered. You don't have to embarrass Zhicai."

"My lord, what do you want to tell me?"

Facing a true gentleman, Jin Mao was a little embarrassed and said: "Derun, I know you are busy, but this matter is very important..."

Kan Ze tilted his upper body slightly, exposing his ears just right, as if listening attentively.

Jin Mao could only make it short: "Please write a letter to Zhu Hao and Zhu Wenming for me, saying that it's okay to take a detour to Xuzhou to buy iron, and I'll pay for the travel expenses!"

The rapeseed oil has been squeezed out, and now there are less than a thousand barrels of oil left in the warehouse. Jinmao doesn’t know how long it can hold on, but the iron will not break.

"Yes." Kan Ze responded respectfully without saying a word the whole time.

"Look at him, then look at yourself!" Jin Mao pointed at Xi Zhicai and said, "There is a world of difference between them."

Xi Zhicai raised his head and said, "My lord, I have a plan that will get me iron without any effort."

"Then you should say so."

Seeing Xi Zhicai's look, Jin Mao understood immediately: "Oh, you kid."

"Please teach me, sir."

"Thank you, my lord, for your kindness!" Xi Zhicai was as happy as a kid in his twenties. It wasn't easy. It had been a long time since he was called sir.

"I have integrated the sixteen-word key points of the military strategy created by my lord into this plan. It will be done like this."

Jin Mao's eyes sparkled: "You are such a cunning boy!" At the same time, he sighed that the intelligence of the ancients should not be underestimated, as they had grasped the basics of guerrilla warfare so quickly.

"Someone, tell Liu Fang to come see me!"

Xi Zhicai’s strategy was simple. He let some soldiers act as pirates and constantly invade Wujun’s territory.

Wait until the main force is lured out, then attack and swallow them all in one breath.

In this way, both iron armor and weapons are available, and the time of forging is saved.

However, implementing this strategy requires building a large number of warships.

Jinmao is just worrying about the large number of idle people next year, so it would be better to send them to shipbuilding.

Even if these people don't understand technology, they are good at logging and transporting trees.

pity.

"Why can't you build a warship?"

Facing Jinmao's questioning, Liu Fang was helpless: "I'm just a blacksmith."

"You used to be a blacksmith, but now you are a blacksmith who specializes in creating weapons."

Jin Mao's logic is perfect: "Warships are also a kind of weapon, why don't you try it?"

“If we can’t create it, we can make it.”

"Yongning County still has ten Mengchong warships. You can try to imitate them and build one."

"Look, isn't this very simple?"

Liu Fang and Xi Zhicai were both speechless. This is called simple. They can only say that this is Jinmao.

In fact, there was a shipbuilding workshop in Kuaiji County, which was located in Qiantang County, and most ships could be built there.

Unfortunately, Qiantang County and Yuhang County are separated by only a river, so if warships were built, they would be easily discovered.

It just so happened that the warships built this time were not suitable to be seen in public, so Liu Fang had to find a solution.

Finally, Liu Fang couldn't resist the temptation and agreed to build the warship. However, he had a request: "I want to dismantle the warship to see the internal structure!"

"Okay, how many ships do you want to dismantle?"

"Ten!"

"You're such a waste!" Jin Mao spat on Liu Fang's face, "One ship! You can only dismantle one ship! If you can't rebuild it after dismantling it, you'll never be an official again in your life!"

Seeing that Liu Fang didn't care, Jin Mao threatened: "Believe it or not, I will let you forge iron and make weapons for the rest of your life? It's just the same thing every day!"

"Please rest assured, I will definitely build the warship!" For Liu Fang, a technology geek, nothing is more terrifying than assembly line work.

"More!" Jin Mao ordered, "Fix the other nine Mengchong warships first."

Liu Fang took the order and went out.

Jinmao has more important things to do.

The autumn harvest has ended. In the twelve counties of Kuaiji County, Jinmao has collected a total of 50,000 shi of grain.

It’s not that the output of the entire county is just this low, but that the only acres of farmland that Jinmao can cover is less than 100,000 acres.

There are simply too few talented people.

For the 500 skilled farmers who graduated from the first literacy class, the limit was for each of them to take care of 100 acres of land. However, Jinmao asked each of them to supervise 300 acres.

Just like how Jinmao instructed his subordinates earlier, there is no need to do it yourself.

Unfortunately, there are only a few such people, and less than one percent of them stand out among the five hundred people, that is, three people!
Others still have the mindset of old farmers and tend to do most of the work themselves.

Wushang, Taimo and Zhuji counties no longer need agricultural talent guidance, and Jinmao’s latest radiating range only extends to Zhang’an, Yongning and Shangyu.

Yuyao, Juzhang, Shanyin and Qiantang cannot be taken care of yet.

There are more serious problems to come.

What should we do with Yuzhang County?
Kuaiji County has a population of only more than 500,000, which has caused Jinmao indigestion. How should Yuzhang County, with a population of more than 1.6 million, be managed?
Talent! Talent! And damn talent!
Jinmao can't wait that long and must expand the training classes to allow more people to learn numbers and words.

"Kan Ze! Kan Ze!"

Professional matters should be left to professionals.

Kan Ze said: "Ming Gong, I have some good friends in Shanyin County, and I once helped them copy books..."

"trick!"

"I also know Qiantang County..."

"trick!"

"besides…"

Jin Mao was overjoyed: "Stop talking, I believe in your vision, bring them all! All of them!"

(End of this chapter)