Chapter 6

The caravan arrived at the power center of Blackwood Town, the Town Hall.

According to the system of the Ming Song Dynasty, a township is the most basic administrative unit, equipped with a Town Hall, managed by a Ninth Rank Primary Town Head or Village Head.

Under it, various "Heads" are set up, with Ninth Rank Secondary official status, in charge of taxes, public security, agriculture, animal husbandry, and water conservancy.

However, a private government office overseas like Blackwood Town is adapted to local conditions; in addition to the Town Head filled by Chief Manager Zhang Yan, there are more than twenty various officials and heads underneath, which is very bloated.

The caravan members entered the Town Hall, whose regulations were comparable to those of a county government office in the imperial court.

In the main hall, they saw Zhang Yan, who was wearing a Ninth Rank Primary black official uniform, and two Stewards wearing Ninth Rank Secondary black patches and brown official uniforms.

Zhang Yan was a big man, seven feet tall, with a square face, thick eyebrows, and a temperament that was imposing without being angry.

Although he was already over seventy, he still looked like a man in his prime, and his speech was gentle and approachable, like a high-ranking official in the imperial court who was both civil and military.

As soon as they met, he opened his mouth and called Zhang Jiujiang out, "Which one is the newly appointed Steward of Luan Ya, Zhang Jiujiang?"

Zhang Jiujiang swallowed his saliva, lowered his head, stepped out from the crowd, raised his hand and said: "Chief Manager, I am Zhang Jiujiang."

"Isolated islands overseas, difficult to bathe in imperial grace, in order to awe the barbarians of the outer dynasty, there are other titles.

Steward Zhang can be called 'Official Head,' call me Town Head."

"Yes, yes, I have met the Town Head." Zhang Jiujiang said, following the trend.

Seeing that he was obedient, Zhang Yan's expression became even gentler, and he ordered the attendants on the side: "Go and bring the attire of Official Head Jiujiang.

Xihui, Jiujiang's elder brother is the new top scholar in our clan, he must also be a young talent without a doubt.

Is there any important position in the town that is short of people?"

Guan Xihui, who was sitting on the lower right with a three-goat beard and a master-like appearance, twisted his beard and answered in a difficult way:

"There are already twenty-seven Official Heads in the town, and the vacancies are full."

This made Zhang Jiujiang's heart sink.

Fortunately, Zhang Yan seemed to value him highly, and pondered:

"Ordinary people are fine.

But a talent like Jiujiang should not be idle, there must be a 'position' to look good.

If it really doesn't work, just dismantle a vacancy and let him do it.

Well, the town has been prosperous in the past two years, didn't it build an East Market? Just dismantle it from the vacancy of Official Head Bajin, and let Official Head Jiujiang manage it.

Official Head Jiujiang, what do you think?"

The temple is small and the demon wind is big, the pond is shallow and there are many turtles.

As soon as Zhang Gui heard Zhang Yan's tone, he knew he was setting a trap, but he had no way to remind his friend at this time.

What's more, Zhang Jiujiang was no longer a loser student in the study, but an Official Head of Blackwood Town; blocking someone's future is like killing their parents.

Even if he could block it, could he stop it?

Sure enough, Zhang Jiujiang agreed with a look of joy: "I will listen to the Town Head's decision."

"Since that's the case, Xihui, you take Official Head Jiujiang to take office."

A strange smile appeared on the corner of Guan Xihui's mouth, "Yes."

He took Zhang Jiujiang, who had changed his clothes, and left.

The remaining members of the caravan were mostly old hands, and only Zhang Gui was a newcomer.

Zhang Yan actually noticed him too, but just asked a lukewarm question, and then casually assigned him to Zhang Jiujiang, who had just taken office.

Then someone explained to Zhang Gui:

Blackwood Town was built with the core industry of mining iron ore and imitating weapons and armor.

For decades, it has insisted on bartering in addition to self-production and self-marketing, and has slowly become an overseas trade center with weapon circulation as a link.

And the Pingyang Zhang Family is the master here, even a small clerk like Zhang Gui is a cut above others and does not need to sell his labor.

This kind of inside story was something Zhang Gui could not know when he was on the mainland, which made him look at Zhang Yan, who single-handedly created the foundation of Blackwood Town, with higher regard, and he felt that he should be more careful when dealing with him.

The old brother who gave him pre-job education finished speaking, and gave Zhang Gui a few flower papers with secret seals and said proudly:

"The big trading firms on the shore all have their own flying notes, which can be exchanged for gold and silver; these are the flying notes of our Blackwood Town.

In the town, as long as it is an official transaction, you must use these flying notes for everything.

If you want to leave the town, you can exchange them for gold and silver at the Note Exchange without losing a penny.

These ten taels of silver notes are the rule money for you to 'press your waist.'

In the future, in addition to the example money given by the trading firm, there are three taels of hard-earned money given by the town every month.

You can receive it for one day if you follow the Town Head for one day, you kid must remember this favor."...

The economic systems of the nations of the Dongsheng Continent are "Gold Standardism," supplemented by silver and copper as general equivalents for small and medium-sized trade.

In a normal year, one tael of pure gold can be exchanged for twenty-eight to thirty-two taels of pure silver.

One tael of pure silver can be exchanged for about one hundred copper coins of zinc-copper.

One copper coin can buy two fist-sized, fluffy big steamed buns, or a fragrant and hot sesame fire-baked cake...

Half an hour later, Zhang Gui was assigned a tiled house on the west side of a courtyard as his residence.

After settling down and getting a half-day vacation, Zhang Gui took the silver money he exchanged at the Note Exchange.

He spent three copper coins to buy two steamed buns and two sesame cakes, and walked on the street while eating, recalling that when he exchanged money at the Note Exchange just now, the merchants next to him took a stack of silver notes and exchanged them for a plate of gold ingots, and no one asked half a sentence more.

He looked at Blackwood Town's economic strength, public security environment, and Zhang Yan's control again with higher regard.

Dragons and pythons hide in the wild; such figures might be fine if they don't encounter opportunities to rise, but once the wind and clouds meet, it might be a time for fish and dragons to dance.

"Damn it, it really is a chaotic world where wind and clouds rise.

Ming Song has only had a faint-hearted emperor harming the world for more than ten years, and there are so many awesome people ready to go.

I finally became an adult and grasped a huge opportunity, but I encountered a small-sized dragon and python on an overseas wild island.

Isn't this Zhang Yan the same as me, hanging the name of a bastard of a bureaucratic capitalist family, but actually from the proletariat working masses?

He doesn't look like a member of the transmigrator crowd either.

How did he engage in currency reform overseas and use this to carry out financial kidnapping of his subordinates?

Is this reasonable? This is unreasonable!"

He took a hard bite of the sesame cake and strode back to the courtyard where he lived.

The market intelligence collection was almost done, and it was time to plan his future actions based on the newly acquired intelligence.

The courtyard where Zhang Gui lived was located on Duofu Street in Blackwood Town, which was a street for Zhang family clerks.

The house specifications were similar, all square courtyards.

Surrounded by four tiled houses in the east, south, west, and north directions.

There was a water well in the small courtyard, and a jujube tree was planted in the courtyard where Zhang Gui lived.

The canopy covered the entire courtyard, and it was hard to see the sky even at noon.

The other clerks in the courtyard were all working, only Zhang Gui returned home, lit the stove, and roasted the sweet potatoes and potatoes he had just bought.

With firelight in the cold house, there was heat.

He sat on a small stool, stretched comfortably, tried to stick his tongue into the stove fire.

Just as the tip of his tongue touched the flame, the stove fire turned into a stream of flowing fire and drilled into Zhang Gui's belly, and the stove went out with a "whoosh."

A wisp of blue smoke rose from the surface of the coke and slowly dissipated.