Chapter 28 Wen's Consortium
Chapter 28 Wen's Consortium
At Shao's house, Wenxiu drank the tea brewed by Zhang Siwen for the first time, and looked at this big fool in surprise.
Shao Quanzhong looked apologetic and said, "The whole village is a big military camp. I didn't hire any maids or servants. We are the only two rough guys living in the house. It must be inconvenient for the young lady to live here..."
Wenxiu deliberately set out in the afternoon this time and planned to stay in the town. In fact, it was Mr. Wengui's idea.
This was to allow time for Mr. Wen to fully communicate with Shao Quanzhong about the matter of marrying into the wife's family.
In Guo Wengui's opinion, a country bumpkin militia leader who was born as a yamen runner had the opportunity to take over the Wen family and take advantage of the status of a Jinshi. It would be such a great advantage, so wouldn't he agree to it without hesitation?
Maybe Shao Quanzhong stayed up all night and discussed all the details of marrying into the wife's family with him.
It turned out that when Yang Yong lived here, he had a lot of wives, concubines and maids, and there was no shortage of guest rooms in the house, so it was normal to keep guests at night.
Unexpectedly, after Shao Quanzhong took over the village, he shared the joys and sorrows with the soldiers and did not seek special treatment. Now there are no women in the village, and it is indeed inconvenient to live there.
Fortunately, Guo Wengui has already revealed his intention just now, so it doesn’t matter if we can’t live there.
"Then I will go back now. I trust you, Brother Shao, and you will definitely be able to train the soldiers well.
However, I heard that in two months, Lord Qiao, the Lianghuai Salt Transport Commissioner, will check your training results, Brother Shao, you must be prepared. "
Shao Quanzhong trains his troops in preparation for a tough battle. He invests real money and his own skills, so he is not afraid to watch.
But he still followed his heel and said, "Thank you Miss Wen for your reminder. I will escort you back to the city."
"No need, no need. The city is not far away. I will go back with Uncle Gui. This is the sweet-scented osmanthus cake I made myself. I will leave it for you, Brother Shao, to enjoy slowly."
Shao Quanzhong sent Wenxiu all the way out of the village, and until Wenxiu got on the donkey cart, he never mentioned the matter of marrying into the wife's family.
Guo Wengui whipped the donkey cart and it moved slowly. The old man was so angry that he said, "This little Shao has become so arrogant after becoming a militia leader.
We are polite on the surface, but not sincere at all. We really failed the master's trust in us. He didn't even think about how he got the sixth rank?
Without his wife to help him, he is nothing."
Wenxiu's faint voice came from the car, "Uncle Gui, you are too kind. Brother Shao is our family's benefactor.
The reason why my uncle was willing to temporarily entrust the power of the clan leader to a woman like me was because he was afraid of him.
Regardless of whether the marriage is successful or not, we still have to continue to take the lead in supporting him. He is also the backer who supports Daddy's lineage in the Wen family. We are each other's backers."
After a long time, another sigh was heard from inside the car, "The name of a son-in-law doesn't sound good, it's normal for Brother Shao to think carefully about it, give him some more time.
When you get back, give me the account book of our newly built Wenfuji Trading Company. I want to take a closer look.
Mr. Le handed over the logistical supplies of the militia to Wen Fu Ji, probably because of our relationship with Brother Shao.
This is a deal worth tens of thousands of silver coins. I just saw the new military uniforms inside today. I was still not careful enough.
Starting tomorrow, I will have to personally check the quality of each of the goods we supply at each workshop.
New orders for compressed black powder are needed to ensure the safety of the workshop.
We should send people to Shanghai to contact the church to purchase blackboards, chalk, quill pens and ink. There should be no delay and they should set off immediately tomorrow.
By the way, the telescopes and pocket watches that were urgently added later also had to be purchased from foreign companies in Shanghai.
They ordered thirty small boats to transport both soldiers and grain, and gave fifty taels of silver for each.
The money is enough, so we need to build it as quickly as possible. We can ask the workshop in Xiaba to hire more craftsmen to speed up the process.
I would rather earn less than delay Brother Shao's important matter.
Those orders were subcontracted to the workshops of our Wen family. If Brother Shao becomes powerful, the Wen family will soon become wealthy and become the largest family in Taizhou again.
After seeing Brother Shao training his soldiers today, I have more confidence. Our Wen family may become the largest family in Jianghuai in the future. Who knows...
That's right, Uncle Gui. All these grain, vegetables, bedding, furs, ironware, weapons, ammunition, ships, and general merchandise orders are paid from the militia logistics fund managed by Mr. Wu. Mr. Wu feels guilty towards our Wen family and refuses to accept ice and charcoal directly, so we will send his share every month in the name of visiting relatives, and no less."
Wen Gui agreed repeatedly and sighed, "Miss, you are a lady from a wealthy family, and it is really difficult for you to worry about these things all day long."
As the sky gradually darkened, Wenxiu's eyes gleamed in the darkness inside the donkey cart tent. Through the gaps in the curtains, she watched as the dim, warm lights of the houses on the roadside lit up.
Under every light, whether rich or poor, every family is happily reunited, except the Wen family, which is left with only an orphan and a widowed mother.
Two lines of tears flowed down the corners of her eyes, and Wenxiu did not wipe them away.
Thinking back to the good old days when I was a child, crouching on my father's lap, with his holding my hand and personally teaching me how to write, count and read, my originally frail eyes now reveal a firmness.
"They thought that since my father was gone, our lineage would be bullied and exterminated. They were thinking the wrong thing to do.
Although my father was never promoted because he was too honest and incompetent to be an official, he was a successful candidate in the imperial examinations and was truly well-versed in poetry and literature.
I want to show them that I, who was taught by my father, am just as good as a man!"
…………
The next morning, before the time for morning exercises, Shao Quanzhong led Song Laosan and seven personal soldiers to the dock on the Jichuan River.
Zhang Siwen set out earlier and took two of his personal soldiers to Jingjiang to pick up the three brothers Shao Quanxiao, Shao Quanren and Shao Quanyi.
Tian Xing chased him to the dock and asked, "Second brother, are you going to distribute the foreign guns you bought?"
Shao Quanzhong shook his head and said, "Let's talk about it when I come back. That's a precious thing, and you don't know how to use it, so don't break it."
Theoretically, Tian Xing is only the captain of the marching team now, but Shao Quanzhong still gave him the decision-making power of the militia when he is away.
The status of his three sworn brothers in his heart is unshakable, regardless of their positions.
Shao Quanzhong has too many things to do personally, so he has to sort them out according to first come first served.
From the perspective of operations research, things can be divided into important and urgent, important but not urgent, urgent but not important, and neither urgent nor important.
If you want to accomplish great things, you must be able to grasp the key points, only do important and urgent things yourself, and delegate other things to others. You cannot try to do everything at once.
Shao Quanzhong has never studied operations research, but he is naturally able to understand the principles in this area.
Although military training is important, it is not as important and urgent as returning to Jiangyan's hometown to select the children of fellow villagers for training.
After all, Taizhou is actually very safe.
The Taiping Army had to capture Yangzhou and Tongzhou before they could attack Taizhou. The Nian Army was blocked by Yancheng in the north and Yangzhou in the west, so the situation was not critical.
As a "prophet", Shao Quanzhong even knew that until the Taiping Army and the Nian Rebellion were destroyed, they had never attacked Taizhou, a Feng Shui treasure land.
As for some bandits, Yang Yong could deal with them. His own team could defeat them with or without guns.
Song Laosan held up the boat and the team of nine set off.
This boat belonged to Song Laosan. He brought it with him when he joined the army and became part of the militia. After all, he was considered a founding father of the "Shao clique" with a say.
An hour and a half later, the boat arrived in Jiangyan and docked at Luzhuang Pier, the hometown of Shao Quanzhong and Song Laosan.
Luzhuang is a small village. As soon as the nine people got ashore, they felt that the atmosphere in the village was not right, and they seemed to hear faint crying sounds.
They came to the house of Song Laosan's brother, Song Laoer, the head of the village, and knocked on the door. Song Ersao opened the door and saw her third brother and Shao Quanzhong, whom she hadn't seen for a long time, coming back with seven strong men. Her third brother was also carrying a foreign rifle. She immediately burst into tears.
"Come, come, come, sit in the main room. I'll make you my specialty fish soup. Your second brother was beaten and is lying in the dark."
(End of this chapter)