Chapter 230

It is said that those who win the hearts of the people win the world; if Yangguangzhai had not built up a reputation, it would not have such pulling power within Guangwu Commandery.

At this moment, the night was already deep. Seeing that things were progressing well, Jiang Jinshi said to everyone:

"Since that's the case, everyone go and rest! There will be plenty to do in the coming period!"

"Don't worry, Big Brother! We definitely won't mess around; we have a plan in mind!" Luo Feng still had an excited look on his face.

In fact, it wasn't just him; everyone was basically the same, without the slightest bit of sleepiness.

Jiang Jinshi said helplessly: "The time we have is not abundant; we only have half a month!"

Upon hearing this, Ye Chang frowned, "With such a short time, it's not very possible to train elite soldiers!"

"You're wrong, it's completely impossible!" Jiang Jinshi didn't expect that in such a short time he could make 50,000 Ming Army soldiers comparable to the Zhenbei Army; that would simply be a fantasy.

"However, the discipline of these surrendered soldiers isn't too bad. Plus our current manpower, at least seventy percent are veteran soldiers; if we scatter the new recruits among them, they will be able to get used to it very quickly." Luo Feng had long had ideas about this.

"Can do! Just go and handle it that way!" Jiang Jinshi nodded, and only then did he order everyone to go back and rest.

Feng Chunsheng and Wang Hou deliberately stayed until the end; Jiang Jinshi sensed that the two seemed to have something to say.

After the others had mostly left, Feng Chunsheng cupped his hands and said: "Chief, I have found the black stones you asked me to keep an eye on!"

In fact, now that the banner had been set, the form of address for Jiang Jinshi should have been changed, but Feng Chunsheng still subconsciously called him Chief.

Of course, Jiang Jinshi didn't care about such small matters; hearing that there was news about "coal," he was incredibly happy.

"Where is it?"

"It's right within Guangwu Commandery, near Huangni City, but this old man has one thing he doesn't understand!" Feng Chunsheng was very puzzled, "This black stone is also called poison stone; it is a useless thing. Why is the Chief looking for it?"

"Of course, it's for heating! With it, the people of our Guangwu Commandery can have a warm winter!" Jiang Jinshi's face was full of joy; today was truly full of good news.

Upon hearing this, Feng Chunsheng was shocked and hurriedly waved his hands, saying: "No, no! This must absolutely not be done! That black stone can indeed burn, but it is poisonous! It will kill people, Chief!"

One must know that when the black stone was first discovered to be able to burn for heat, many commoners brought it home to replace firewood.

But without exception, they basically all died!

Afterwards, the black stone was called the stone of ill omen by the commoners, and no one was willing to touch it, fearing they would be tainted by the ill omen.

It was just that there were always poor commoners who couldn't withstand the cold and were forced to pick up the black stones and take them home; later, they discovered that picking up the black stones was fine, but burning them was not.

This was how the secret of the black stone's toxicity was discovered, and for everyone, it became a useless object.

If you burn it, you get poisoned; if you don't burn it, this stone really has no use.

Hearing this, Jiang Jinshi smiled mysteriously: "I have a way to remove the poison in the 'black stones' and turn it into a good thing for heating!"

"Really?"

Feng Chunsheng was somewhat incredulous, but when he thought about how the Chief could turn that poisonous salt stone into refined salt, perhaps he really did have a way?

"Of course!"

Jiang Jinshi was full of confidence; he only feared not having coal. Once he had coal, the rest of the matters would be easy to handle.

Even Li Xinyue's eyes were shining; from her perspective, coal mines were good things for making a lot of money.

"Didn't you just worry about not having work for the commoners to do? With this black stone mountain, I'm afraid there won't be enough manpower?" Jiang Jinshi was already thinking about how to utilize it.

"Then I will send people to dig some back tomorrow!" Feng Chunsheng was still very conservative, only saying to dig some back, rather than full-scale mining.

He still wanted to see the effect with his own eyes first; after all, this concerned the safety of the commoners and could not afford any mistakes.

Jiang Jinshi did not force it; this matter still needed to be planned out. Even Feng Chunsheng, who followed him, had doubts, so ordinary commoners would be even less likely to believe it, so he had to demonstrate it himself.

Gradually gaining everyone's trust was the only way this market could slowly be opened up.

Li Xinyue was also deep in thought about how to use this coal to gain the maximum profit; after all, this coal mine wasn't only found in Guangwu Commandery.

As long as Guangwu Commandery took the lead, the secret of the "black stone" would spread rapidly, causing all regions to mine it vigorously.

Therefore, Li Xinyue wanted to exploit the information gap and harvest a wave of the market first.

Once this secret was made public, it would inevitably trigger a price war, eventually gradually tending toward stability.

No matter how it was done, this could bring them a fortune.

Since Jiang Jinshi had a plan in mind, Feng Chunsheng didn't say anything more and left, thinking about the problem of managing the city.

Seeing this, Wang Hou stepped forward and said: "Big Brother, I have found all those things of Liu Xuecheng!"

"Oh? How much silver is there?" Jiang Jinshi hadn't forgotten that Liu Xuecheng had previously said he wanted to spend money to buy his life.

"700,000 taels of silver, 30,000 taels of gold, and some precious treasures that cannot be valued for the time being!" Wang Hou sighed endlessly; when he opened the other party's treasury, he was blinded by the sight.

"So little?" Jiang Jinshi frowned, secretly sighing that this Liu Xuecheng was not up to much!

Wang Hou was stunned: "Bi... Big Brother! Is this still little?"

Jiang Jinshi jokingly replied: "Do you know how much family wealth officials of the same rank as Liu Xuecheng in Jingcheng or Jiangnan have at the very least?"

"I don't know!" Wang Hou shook his head; he had never seen it, so how could he imagine it.

"Go and try again; perhaps it's more than just this much!" Jiang Jinshi didn't elaborate, but according to the history he understood, this one million taels indeed did not fit the status of Liu Xuecheng as a Commandery Governor.

Although it wouldn't be too much, after all, Beijiang was poor and couldn't compare to those wealthy places, but it should be more than one million taels of silver.

"Yes!"

Wang Hou turned and left, but his expression was very gloomy; who would have thought that Liu Xuecheng dared to hide some?

If he didn't pry the other party's mouth open, then why was he still sitting in this position?

"One million taels is actually not a small amount!" Li Xinyue yawned, clearly a bit sleepy.

"It's enough to pay the soldiers' wages for several months, but these corrupt officials have huge appetites!" Jiang Jinshi stood up: "Let's go! Let's get some rest!"

Feng Chunsheng walked in the cold wind; due to his physical condition, he walked very slowly, yet he was exceptionally determined.

He had full ambitions but had never been given a position of importance; he had already become disheartened, but fate played a joke on him again.

To meet his mentor at such an age was something worth being happy about; after all, it was what he had sought his whole life.

It was also sorrowful; he perhaps could not wait for such a long time to see the commoners of the world in peace and health.

After returning to his residence, Feng Chunsheng did not rest; he came to the desk and began to grind ink.

After pondering for a long time, he picked up his brush and wrote the "Proclamation of the Great Ming Righteous Army to the World"!