As the Year Ends, Looking to the Future

Chapter 151 As the Year Ends, Looking to the Future

This time, they bought about two hundred horses, and with the horses that Liangshan had acquired in bits and pieces before, equipping five hundred cavalrymen was no problem at all!

However, although Xu Ning was a general on horseback, he was not good at training cavalry. Song Jiang specially formed a team of three hundred soldiers for him to establish the Golden Spear Squad!

It's not about imitating Zhao Ji, but the hook-and-sickle spear will be a deadly weapon against cavalry on the battlefield in the future!

Looking back at history, Wanyan Zongbi's Iron Pagoda was invincible, but in the end it was defeated by Yue Fei's army's Ma Zha Dao!

However, although the Ma Zha Dao is useful, it is still a close-range weapon and is not as safe as the hook-and-sickle spear, which is a longer weapon. Therefore, Song Jiang still plans to use the hook-and-sickle spear first!

After establishing the Golden Spear Squad, Song Jiang then established the Artillery Battalion!

No one understood the importance of artillery better than Song Jiang. Even if you were a cavalryman who could sweep across the land, you would be helpless against fire (referring to artillery in the later stages; in the early stages, artillery was slow to fire and had poor accuracy, so cavalry was still needed for charging into battle!).

Gunpowder still needs improvement, but with Liu Huiniang around, there's absolutely no need to worry about technology!

By establishing the artillery battalion, Song Jiang wanted to tell the world that technological superiority meant battlefield superiority, and that his artillery would one day be renowned throughout the world!

Ling Zhen was also filled with excitement. He had thought he was just there to make up the numbers at Liangshan, but he never expected Song Jiang to praise him so highly. His initial anxiety gradually subsided.

He was by nature an easygoing person, and after witnessing the development of Liangshan, he had a hunch that perhaps Liangshan could really succeed?

After making the arrangements, Song Jiang told the newcomers to familiarize themselves with Liangshan first, while the veterans continued to train and hone their skills!

The new artisans quickly got to work, and Song Jiang gave them enough settling-in allowance and monthly wages. Most of the artisans brought their families with them when they came up the mountain!

The families were also properly taken care of; they could farm or do other odd jobs, and the children could go to school. The purpose of having schools was to cultivate the next generation!

At least from the perspective of future development, a talent gap is a very dangerous thing!

As for Wen Huanzhang, Song Jiang immediately assigned him an important task. Although it was not as powerful as Wu Yong's, it was not much different!

Therefore, Song Jiang specifically asked Wu Yong for his opinion and thoughts. After all, Wu Yong was the first brother to follow him and made indelible contributions to the development of Liangshan. Although Wen Huanzhang had extraordinary talent, he was entrusted with important responsibilities as soon as he arrived. Song Jiang was afraid that Wu Yong might have some thoughts about this. After all, this is not a game where whoever is capable can take the lead. Many factors need to be taken into account!

Wu Yong didn't have too many thoughts on this. He just wanted Liangshan to grow stronger and stronger. He would be even happier if there were people helping him by his side!

With this, Song Jiang felt at ease, and Wen Huanzhang was able to take charge of the affairs of Liangshan in a natural way!

Time flies, and the end of the year is just around the corner. Snowflakes have already begun to fall from the sky!

This is Song Jiang's first New Year since he traveled through time, so naturally he wants to have a good New Year.

Everyone had come together for a common ideal, and Song Jiang naturally wouldn't mistreat his brothers; he slaughtered pigs and sheep, and offered sacrifices to the gods.

Ancestor worship, bidding farewell to the old year and welcoming the new, and welcoming good fortune—the busy season begins as early as the Laba Festival!

After the 24th of the twelfth lunar month, things became even busier. Song Jiang got up early to prepare to go to the city and county. Just as he stepped out of his room, Yue He stepped forward and said, "Brother, Brother Zhang Shun and the others are back!"

Song Jiang was overjoyed. Zhang Shun and Ruan Xiaowu had gone to Liaodong to pick up Huangfu Duan and Duan Jingzhu. Now that they were back, Huangfu Duan and the others must have returned as well!

Sure enough, Huangfu Duan, Duan Jingzhu, Ruan Xiaowu, Zhang Shun, Shan Shiqi, and Ma Ling were all in the hall!

Seeing that everyone looked exhausted, it seemed that this trip to Liaodong was not easy!

"Brother, I've gotten that Jade Night Lion Horse back!" Duan Jingzhu said excitedly, though his face was a little pale.

Song Jiang, not wanting them to remain seated any longer, said, "You should rest for a while!"

Without any formalities, the group nodded and took their leave.

Song Jiang had a lot to say to them, but he wanted them to rest first, so he went back to Yuncheng with a few pieces of glass as planned!

The streets were bustling with activity and full of festive spirit. Every household had put up red charms. Whether rich or poor, since it was the New Year, everyone wanted to have a good one. Everything else could wait until after the New Year!

Families who usually can't bear to eat meat will go to the butcher shop to buy a few pounds of meat to enjoy at home. Some elderly people also prepare lucky money in advance, just waiting to give it to their children and grandchildren on New Year's Eve!

Looking at the happy smiles on the faces of the people, I thought about how living conditions would get better and better in future generations, but the festive atmosphere of the New Year would become weaker and weaker!

Many traditional things from our ancestors should not be lost. Thinking about the homes of every family in the 1990s, and then about the sense of distance created by reinforced concrete buildings, Song Jiang still felt a little sad. He only hoped that these traditions would still be valued in future generations, rather than becoming a useless thing!

Before they knew it, they had arrived at the county government office. With the end of the year approaching, there weren't many important matters to attend to in the county. Apart from requiring someone to be on duty and patrol each day, Shi Wenbin sent everyone else home. At this moment, Shi Wenbin was enjoying tea and chatting with his wife when he saw Song Jiang arrive. He happily said, "Gongming, come quickly!"

Why was Shi Wenbin so happy? It was because Prefect Yin of Jizhou wanted to upgrade Dancheng County to a county next year.

Yuncheng County was originally a mediocre county, but thanks to the series of things Song Jiang did, it might be promoted to a superior county next year!

Being promoted from a medium-sized county to an upper-sized county naturally brings many benefits!

The people of Yuncheng are the biggest beneficiaries. Of course, Shi Wenbin will definitely be promoted and ennobled, and it's not impossible that he will be appointed as a prefectural official in the next term.

Generally speaking, if such a county-level upgrade can be approved by the imperial court, the court will exempt the county from taxes for at least three years, while the prefecture will correspondingly exempt the county from one to two years of corvée labor and increase the annual quota of goods in the county's market by 30%.

Of course, there are many benefits to being promoted to county level, but it's not easy to get promoted. You need to have real achievements and someone to speak on your behalf. Otherwise, don't even think about it!

Song Jiang was unaware of these matters. If he had known, he would probably have been even happier, since the promotion to county level was closely related to his business. If he could truly achieve this, his business would undoubtedly grow bigger and bigger like a snowball!

However, now was not the time to let his imagination run wild. Seeing that Shi Wenbin and Madam Shi were both present, Song Jiang bowed and said, "Brother, sister-in-law!"

Shi Wenbin hadn't seen Song Jiang for a while. He wasn't curious about what Song Jiang was up to, but since Song Jiang had come, he still had to ask him!

"Gongming, no need for formalities. Your sister-in-law and I were just talking about you, and we didn't expect you to come!" Shi Wenbin said with a smile.

Without wasting any words, Song Jiang took out several glass artifacts and placed them on the table, which immediately made Shi Wenbin's eyes widen!

"What is this?" Shi Wenbin was filled with a thousand kinds of excitement, but as a person in a high position, he could not show too much joy!

Song Jiang picked up a glass statue and said, "I'll name him Soaring Through the Nine Heavens!" There was a person dressed in a Taoist robe with a sword on his back, a whisk in his hand, and a few auspicious clouds at his feet, as if he were in the sky!

The person in the Taoist robe had a lifelike face, and you could even see the beard under his chin clearly. He had a very ethereal and otherworldly air about him!

Emperor Huizong of Song, Zhao Ji, styled himself Emperor Daojun. During his more than 20 years on the throne, he not only built the Kenyue Mountain, but also the Wansui Mountain, and collected all the Daoist scriptures in the world. This invitation to travel to the Nine Heavens was the second congratulatory gift that Song Jiang came up with!

This Taoist figure was made based on the folk image of Lü Dongbin. It is about two feet tall and exquisitely crafted.

As the glass workshop's technology continued to improve and the artisans' skills became more and more proficient, the production of this glass was not difficult for Song Jiang. However, Song Jiang still intended to strive for excellence and make the glass products more and more refined!

"How about this as His Majesty's second gift?" Song Jiang asked, seeing Shi Wenbin carefully stroking the statue of Lü Dongbin.

"What is this made of?" Shi Wenbin asked!

Song Jiang replied without hesitation, "Heavenly Pure Glass!" It sounded very sophisticated, but it was actually just glass!

Of course, glass is nothing special in modern times, but it was quite precious in ancient times!

Shi Wenbin was filled with awe. Song Jiang had surprised him time and time again, and this time he had brought him another great surprise. He really didn't know what kind of surprise Song Jiang could bring him. Could it be that Song Jiang was truly a gift from heaven, destined to help him achieve great things?

"Gongming, you are really, really good!" Shi Wenbin had so much to say, but he didn't know how to express it!

"Brother, you and sister-in-law can take these two crystal glass cups to play with. There's also a cat's-eye glass bead here; you can take that too!"

These gifts are too valuable. If they were given to him by someone else, Shi Wenbin would never have accepted them. But they were given to him by Song Jiang. Judging from Song Jiang's attitude, he could have as many of these Tianjing Liuli as he wanted, so he accepted them without any guilt!

Besides, Song Jiang would never harm me, so I might as well accept it!

Shi Wenbin was overjoyed and wanted to invite Song Jiang to stay for dinner. He also wanted to tell Song Jiang about the matter of being promoted to county level, so that Song Jiang could make preparations!

Song Jiang hadn't expected that the prefect of Jizhou would want to promote the prefecture to county level. If it were to be promoted, it would be entirely beneficial to him. First of all, it would mean a 30% quota. Since Jizhou is a medium-sized county, the quota is not much. Everyone is fighting fiercely for the limited quota, and inevitably, they will have other ulterior motives. However, Shi Wenbin does not accept bribes, so they can only try to get things done elsewhere. They have spent a lot of money, but the results are not good!

Secondly, even if there are quotas, there are still many unknown risks during transportation, so the actual benefits are not high, which will dampen everyone's enthusiasm.

After being upgraded to a county, the three key aspects of production, sales, and taxation can be greatly improved, and this improvement can last for several years or even longer. This is an absolute temptation for wealthy merchants in the county. Merchants have always been driven by profit, and with such great benefits, how many outside merchants would be willing to come to Yuncheng to do business?

However, being promoted to county level isn't just talk; there are strict requirements. For a medium-sized county to be promoted to a county, the first requirement is that the county seat must have at least 5,000 households; the second is that there must have been no famine requiring the opening of granaries for relief for three consecutive years; and the third is that the number of households moving in within the past three years cannot exceed the number of newly born households in the county. (孳生: in Chinese, it originally means to reproduce, grow, or produce, and has no negative connotation.)

Dancheng County meets all these conditions. The next one is the economy. The economy is actually more difficult to drive than the population, but for Dancheng County, the economy is the simplest thing!

A restaurant alone has already boosted the economy significantly. Once the wine and glass products hit the market, it will undoubtedly cause a sensation. At that point, why would it fail to drive the economy?

Song Jiang also had an idea, but he didn't know whether he should tell Shi Wenbin. Now that they had finished eating and discussing their business, Song Jiang had to go to the restaurant, so he took his leave first!

The restaurant was doing better than usual, so Song Jiang specially asked Song Qing to introduce hot pot and mutton hot pot, and to cut the vegetables into thin slices and dip them in the hot pot sauce!

This hot pot was an instant hit when it was launched. In the freezing cold, eating a steaming hot pot and taking a sip of wine is incredibly satisfying and comfortable!

The two brothers hadn't seen each other for a while, so Song Qing found a private room and asked Tang Niu'er to bring out a hot pot, three plates of mutton slices, a plate of radish and a plate of cabbage, two dipping sauces, and a pot of wine!

Tang Niu'er had previously worked as a waiter in a restaurant, and he was very quick and efficient. Song Qing knew that he was loyal to Song Jiang and intended to promote him. Once he became familiar with the restaurant, he arranged for him to be a junior manager. If he did well, he would be promoted!

Business was so good that even after Song Qing combined the shops next door, there were still often no seats available. In addition, since Song Jiang would be doing other businesses in the future, Song Qing planned to open two more branches!

Song Jiang had no objection to this. The bigger the business, the more money they would make. The plunder of primitive capital accumulation was much faster than robbery!

Especially when a market becomes a monopoly, business will only flourish and grow stronger. There are countless examples of this, and it's completely different from any other situation!

Song Qing has no worries about money. With Song Jiang backing him up, Song Qing can go out and explore with peace of mind. If he really can't make money, Song Jiang can send the Liangshan army to attack the prefectures and plunder them. Of course, this is a last resort, and Song Jiang doesn't want to do it unless absolutely necessary!

After the two brothers talked for a long time and finalized many things, Song Jiang told Song Qing to take his father to Liangshan for the New Year and then left Yuncheng first!

Another brother, Song Jiang and Song Jiang had not seen each other for a long time, but their relationship was very close and would not become estranged due to the long period of no contact!

At Chao Gai's home in Dongxi Village, Chao Gai also returned to the village to collect rent!

Chao Gai was ten years older than Song Jiang. He had no father, no mother, no wife, and no children, so he lived a very carefree and happy life.

The last time the two met was when they were defending Yuncheng against the attack of Qingyun Mountain. After that, Chao Gai was busy with many things and was not often in Dongxi Village, while Song Jiang was also traveling around. Therefore, they never had time to meet!

At the end of the year, Chao Gai would not go out again. As the original benefactor of Liangshan, Song Jiang would always be grateful to Chao Gai!

Chao Gai would still send people to deliver iron, grain and silver every month. Although this was only a drop in the bucket for Liangshan at the time, Song Jiang always remembered this kindness!

In fact, Song Jiang had already considered Chao Gai as a member of Liangshan. Although Chao Gai was not often at Liangshan, it was because he was the head of the village and could not attract too much attention. Thinking and walking, he finally arrived at Dongxi Village!