Chapter 74 Doing something you know you can’t do

With these five hundred young and strong imperial horse guards, Zhu Zaigui was so happy that his teeth were about to show.

Because these five hundred imperial horse prison soldiers not only came by themselves, but also were equipped with horses and a full set of weapons and equipment.

It can be said that with the military strength of these 500 troops, as long as they do not rebel, they can walk around Beijing with ease.

"Teng Xiang, from today on, these 500 Shunyi Industrial Park guards will be under your command, and you will also be stationed in Shunyi Industrial Park."

Zhu Zaigui called Teng Xiang over and assigned him this task.

When Teng Xiang heard that Zhu Zaigui had entrusted him with such an important task, he excitedly bowed to Zhu Zaigui and said, "Your Majesty, I will not let you down! I will lead the guards to protect Shunyi Industrial Park."

Zhu Zaigui hummed, "Get up. Shunyi Industrial Park is isolated in the suburbs of Beijing. Although it is very close to the capital, it is also very close to the Tartars outside the Great Wall. With such a large industry, it is inevitable that it will attract attention. Therefore, in Shunyi Industrial Park, I have decided to implement military management for everything."

"Whether it is the five hundred guards or the workers in the industrial park, they must all be strictly managed in a military manner. Anyone who disobeys the management will be punished by military law!"

"You have to know that we are in the food business. People who can afford our Yiran and Bingxin candies are either rich or noble. So food safety always comes first!"

"The best way to ensure food safety is through military management. Therefore, the duties of these 500 guards are not just as simple as guarding. They also have to take the lead and improve the obedience and management awareness of the workers in the industrial park, so that they can carry out orders."

Zhu Zaigui now wants to train and build his own strength, and the banner he can use is food safety.

As long as Zhu Zaigui firmly grasps the importance of food safety in managing the Shunyi Industrial Park, even if someone sees something fishy and wants to submit a petition to secretly harm him, Huang Jin, as a senior partner, will involuntarily lend his support to Emperor Jiajing.

Therefore, Zhu Zaigui was just taking advantage of the situation and trying his best to build a highly qualified combat team within the scope of the rules in the shortest possible time in case of emergency.

Teng Xiang bowed and said, "Don't worry, my lord. This is what I do. As long as my lord needs me, I will go through fire and water without hesitation!"

Zhu Zaiqi nodded in satisfaction and continued, "Let's put the recruitment on the agenda. We will start by recruiting 3,000 people, mainly from Shunyi, Huairou, Miyun and other nearby counties and cities. They should not be over 25 years old. Unless you have special skills that can relax the age limit, no one will be accepted."

"My industrial park is for making money, not for charity. If you recruit some messy, trembling old guys, I will break your legs immediately. Do you understand?"

Zhu Zaigui once again emphasized the recruitment rules of Shunyi Industrial Park. Originally, Zhu Zaigui did not intend to set such a strict age limit.

However, thinking of the Gengxu Rebellion that might break out next year, Zhu Zaigui had no choice but to stick to the conditions and only wanted some people from nearby counties and prefectures such as Shunyi, Huairou, and Miyun.

These people were born and raised nearby, so they naturally have a deep attachment to their hometown. When they encounter foreign enemies, they have no choice but to take up arms to defend their homes.

That was why Zhu Zaigui emphasized that only people nearby should be recruited, in order to completely tie his interests to those people. When danger came, he could also use their sense of responsibility to protect their homes and loved ones and lead them to fight back.

If we recruit people from other places, it will be difficult to guarantee that there won’t be an embarrassing situation where everyone runs away when disaster strikes.

After all, they come here to work and earn money, not to risk their lives. So instead of hoping to inspire outsiders to defend their homeland, it is better to recruit local people directly.

Moreover, most of these locals also have experience and awareness of corvée labor in Jizhen, so they are naturally more handy to use. When Teng Xiang heard Zhu Zaigui say that he wanted to recruit 3,000 people, he couldn't help but look up and said carefully: "Your Majesty, isn't 3,000 a bit too many? It seems that our industrial park can only accommodate more than 2,000 people now."

Zhu Zaiqi waved his hand and said, "Then speed up the construction of the workers' dormitories. The people we recruit now will work in two shifts, with a new wave of workers every ten days, so that they all have the opportunity to become familiar with their positions. In this way, when the other large workshops are built, they can also start working in time."

"Besides, I will also launch new products before the end of the year, and by then I will need a large number of new workers. These three thousand people will definitely not be enough, and I will have to recruit more. So don't worry about the problem of too many people. I can afford it!"

Zhu Zaigui had money in his pocket at this time, so he was very confident. When Teng Xiang heard what Zhu Zaigui said, he quickly replied, "Yes, I obey your command!"

Zhu Zaigui then sent Teng Xiang away and asked him to immediately devote himself to the recruitment and management work of the Shunyi Industrial Park.

At the same time, Zhu Zaigui called Li Fang over and asked Li Fang to start arranging the supervision work in Shunyi Industrial Park, with the focus on supervising Teng Xiang's work execution.

This time, Zhu Zaigui would never waste time giving anyone the opportunity to relax. After all, time was too tight. At most, it would only be a year before Altan launched a surprise attack on the outskirts of Beijing.

Therefore, during this year, Zhu Zaigui must ensure that no one relaxes their guard. At the beginning of next spring, Zhu Zaigui will continue to expand the scale of recruitment and strive to increase the number of workers under militarized management in the Shunyi Industrial Park to 5,000!

With this strong foundation of 5,000 people, although they cannot confront Altan's army head-on, as long as they are used properly, they can still prevent Altan's army from burning, killing and looting so freely in the suburbs of Beijing.

It is even possible to delay the pace of Altan's army, buy time for the loyal troops in Henan, Shandong, Shanxi and other places, and thus turn the tide of the war.

Therefore, in the next period of time, Zhu Zaigui can no longer be as leisurely as in the previous six months. He also has to work hard to point out the direction for the positive development of Shunyi Industrial Park.

The first direction to be pointed out is to expand the sales area of Yiran Sugar and Bingxin Sugar to include all of Northern Zhili, and to use the canal in Tianjin to further open up the southern market.

As long as this area is developed, the scale of Shunyi Industrial Park can be expanded naturally, thereby binding more forces so that these people will have to contribute to the defense of Shunyi Industrial Park when disaster strikes!

Otherwise, their interests would vanish with the arrival of Andada's army.

It can be said that what Zhu Zaigui was going to play next was an open conspiracy, using huge commercial interests as a bond to bind the common interests of the majority of people and force them to contribute even if they didn't want to.

In this way, Zhu Zaigui's chances of winning will increase.

Of course, the risk would be even greater, after all, a tall tree attracts the wind. A prince could have unleashed such a powerful force in such a short period of time, so it was inevitable that he would be targeted and suspected by the emperor.

But there is no time to worry about all that now, just keep calm first.

Although Zhu Zaigui could also choose to be more prudent and watch from the sidelines, he could never allow Altan's army to burn, kill, and loot ordinary people in the suburbs of Beijing and plunder the Ming imperial tombs.

Therefore, sometimes Zhu Zaigui had to make decisions even if they were irrational. Otherwise, how would he be different from those hypocrites in the court who only calculated their own interests?

(End of this chapter)

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