My eunuch godfather

Chapter 86 Hehai

In mid-May, at the Moshitu site in Yuhedu, Wanping County, there was a Danbagu farm under the name of Liminhao.

The cultivated tobacco seedlings have all been transplanted from the small fields to the main fields and are now in the root extension stage.

Standing by the roadside and looking into the distance, the leaves are mainly light green, gradually deepening in color.

Some of the farmers on the farm are applying fertilizer in the fields, and the wood ash used in the fertilizer also helps to control pests.

Due to frequent droughts in recent years, another group of farmers and short-term laborers employed on farms are dredging irrigation canals.

"This estate is the best managed."

Cheng Wenqing picked up the glass, took a big gulp of milk tea through the reed straw, and flipped through the notebook in his hand.

He introduced Liu Chunsheng to Zhang Kun outside the car window, saying, "Guanzhuang's name is Liu Chunsheng..."

In the distance, several horsemen galloped over and stopped a few dozen paces apart.

Xue Shenxing, the chief commander of Yuhe, dismounted and strode forward, only to be stopped by Zhang Kun's personal guards.

He knelt down and respectfully said to Zhang Kun, "This humble servant, Xue Shenxing, greets the Commander!"

After Zhang Kun returned to the capital, he handed over the 300,000 taels of silver received by the Nanjing Jinyun Trading Company to the palace.

Emperor Wanli was overjoyed and disregarded the fact that Zhang Kun had already been promoted three ranks within a year.

Zhang Kun's official rank was directly promoted from a fifth-rank commander of a thousand households to a fourth-rank commander of the Imperial Guard!

In addition, after Xu Bengao went south, Chen Jizong took over as the acting commander of the river engineering camp, and Zhang Kun took over as the acting camp officer.

Now that the silver has been handed over, the title of "acting officer" has been removed, and Zhang Kun has officially become the camp commander and supervisor of the river works camp.

Speaking of the river engineering camp, the dredging of the nine gates of the city moat is almost complete.

Zhang Kun is writing a project proposal to transfer the river engineering battalion to Zhangjiawan, Tongzhou, to dredge the Grand Canal.

During Zhang Kun's southward journey, the river engineering camp operated very well without any major mishaps, and the progress met expectations.

Chen Jizong was a hands-off manager; the credit mainly went to Yang Desheng, Ge Dajin, Sun Shoucheng, Zuo Liangyu, and others.

Zhang Kun also rewarded them for their contributions:

Yang Desheng succeeded Zhou Zhong as the garrison commander and was promoted to the rank of centurion of the Imperial Guard, a sixth-rank official.

Ge Dajin succeeded Xu Bengao's brother-in-law as the head of the guards, and was promoted to the sixth rank of Imperial Guard Trial Hundred-Household Officer.

Sun Shoucheng succeeded Zhang Guotai, the 35th brother of the cheapest family, as the grain manager. The same official position applies to him.

Zuo Liangyu's original rank was the same as above, and he, along with Cao Meng and Tang Sheng, who were promoted to general, served as centurions of the guard troops.

Today, the number of guards has increased from 250 to 300, and three additional centurions have been appointed.

Below the centurion were six sentry officers, including Chen Jishi and Wang Chenglin.

"I own several estates in Yuhedu,"

Zhang Kun raised his hand, gesturing for Xue Shenxing to stand up and reply, and smiled, "Thank you for taking care of me these past few days, Chief Manager Xue."

"I wouldn't dare!"

Xue Shenxing respectfully addressed Zhang Kun:

"The Commander-in-Chief's Limin ship bears many taxes and corvée labor for Yuhedu, saving countless lives. We have a duty to protect it!"

Many fields of the Danbagu estate were converted from civilian farmland by Zhang Kun into military farmland for the river engineering camp, which exempted them from many miscellaneous taxes and corvée labor.

However, out of consideration for stabilizing the area around the estate, Zhang Kun allowed the Limin ship to make up for some of the miscellaneous taxes and corvée labor.

After exchanging a few polite words with Xue Shenxing, Zhang Kun waved him away and instructed the manager of the Limin ship beside him:

"Invite the steward, manager, and farmers of this estate, along with their families, to Xingzikou. I wish to treat them to a meal."

On the way to Xingzikou market, Zhang Kun began to conceive of the Nanxiawa camp:

The river engineering camp was moved from the capital to Zhangjiawan, and the Nanxiawa camp was vacated, which was then converted into an "industrial park".

All the workshops of various businesses, such as Liminhao and Guangwenhao, were moved into the Nanxiawa camp.

In addition, Zhang Kun has sent people to Xiangshan'ao in Guangdong.

They planned to spend a large sum of money to hire several Europeans who knew how to make soda-lime glass and other similar products to set up workshops in the capital.

The Ming Dynasty hadn't yet developed the technology of soda-lime glass, yet Cheng Wenqing's milk tea glass cost tens of taels of silver each!

Speaking of businesses, Zhang Kun currently holds shares in too many, requiring the establishment of a "head office" for consolidation.

Its name is Hehai.

First, there's the business of selling barleycorns. Zhang Kun will transfer all his shares in Limin, Zhenjin, Qingxia, and Jinlu.

The Jin Yun ship was in trouble, but its eunuch godfather, several sworn brothers, and various powerful figures all had shares in it, making the relationships complicated.

It must be handled by Zhang Kun himself, not by the manager and steward of the Hehai.

Then there's Guangwenhao, which deals in printing and publishing; Hongmeihao, which deals in black tea; and Shaochunhao, which runs the Sun family's winery.

Fenggu, which monopolized the business in the southern part of the city, and Shengzhou and Tongji, which gave shares to Zhang Kun.

The daily operations of the Hehai were managed by Cheng Wenqing, Sun Jing, Xu Xin, Deng Wenqi, and Ma Ping.

Zhang Kun only needs to make major decisions, so he can devote more time and energy to other things.

......

A restaurant in Xingzikou Market.

The managers, owners, and villagers of Moshikou Farm followed the manager of Liminhao into the restaurant, looking rather timid.

For several months, Limin Ship has been distributing monthly rations on time, without any delays, deductions, or substandard goods.

During the Lunar New Year, they even distributed meat and oil, and each person received a piece of fabric for a garment!

Even now, the farmers still feel like they are dreaming, and are afraid of waking up from the dream.

Now, being suddenly summoned to the restaurant by the manager, who said he wanted to see the high-ranking official behind the Limin Company, he couldn't help but feel uneasy.

"Father, is it that Zhang, the centurion, from back then?"

The boy had grown several inches taller in just a few months. He looked at his father, Liu Chunsheng, with a nervous expression.

"What Zhang Baihu? Master Kun is now a fourth-rank Imperial Guard Commander."

Before Liu Chunsheng could reply, the foreman of the Limin ship, who was walking ahead, whispered a reminder to the boy, "You need to call for the commander!"

Upon entering the private room, the group knelt and bowed to Zhang Kun.

Just as the steward of the Limin was about to introduce Liu Chunsheng, Zhang Kun interrupted with a smile, looking at the young man and saying:

"I remember you and your son, especially you. You dared to ask questions for the sake of your fellow villagers, which was very righteous."

"Young man, you have no respect for a great man, showing disrespect to the Great Commander!"

The boy's face turned bright red, and he stammered apologetically to Zhang Kun, "Please forgive me, Commander."

After being tugged at by his father Liu Chunsheng, he realized what was happening and quickly knelt down again, kowtowing to Zhang Kun.

"Get up."

Zhang Kun gestured to the boy, then looked at Liu Chunsheng beside him and praised him:

"The manager says you manage the estate the best. Do you have any good methods?"

"Reporting to the Commander,"

Liu Chunsheng respectfully said to Zhang Kun:

"I don't have much of a way, I just need to listen to and observe how my master does it, and then teach it to everyone in the village repeatedly."

Learning knowledge and then explaining it to others is a very effective learning method.

Zhang Kun nodded and instructed the servant beside him, "Give him five taels of silver!"

After Liu Chunsheng and the boy received their reward and left, Zhang Kun walked to the top of the stairs and loudly addressed the farmers in the hall:

"I've invited everyone here today because you've all taken good care of the wild rice in the fields. I'm treating you all to a feast!"

Everyone continued to work hard, just like Liu Guanzhuang, and learned how to do it properly so that they could have a few more drinking sessions in the future!

The more tampons produced during the autumn harvest, the more grain and money everyone will earn!

After finishing speaking, Zhang Kun turned and went back into the private room. He saw Cheng Wenqing's smile was somewhat strange. "Why is Sister smiling like that?"

"Didn't you notice?"

Cheng Wenqing said to Zhang Kun with a mocking expression, "Is that a tomboy?"