Chapter 20: Establishing the Divine Might Army
Three days later, Zhao Yulin hurried back to Yibin.
When he saw the injured brothers stunned, he only said four words after Lei Man and the others explained the situation: "Be yourself."
Zhao Yulin went to the county government to report. The county magistrate Chen Yun said that Zhang Bapi, the culprit of the dock incident, had been executed. He also raided Zhang Bapi's house. Zhang Bapi's minions had scattered. The matter was settled. The county government took out money to compensate the dead and injured workers.
Zhao Yulin knew that the matter was done and could not be changed, so he thanked the county magistrate and said that the bandits in Denggao Mountain were becoming more and more powerful. He wanted to establish the Yibin County Shenwei Army to arm the workers at the dock to maintain peace.
The county magistrate knew what he was thinking and knew that he must be trying to gather troops to protect himself.
However, this self-sufficient militia doesn't cost him a penny, and he can mobilize it for use in emergencies. Why not do it?
He agreed immediately.
Zhao Yulin went out of the city and asked Lu Youpeng to move all the dead brothers to the riverside west of the White Pagoda and build a cemetery to bury them. He wanted to watch his brothers every day and remember this bloody lesson.
Chen Xiaomin was still busy in the temporary hospital. They arrived a day earlier than Zhao Yulin and immediately started the intensive rescue work. Chen Zhongshun took out 20,000 taels of silver from the money he earned from selling wine in Chengdu and gave it to Lu Youpeng, telling him to just use it.
In the evening, Zhao Yulin and Lei Man were drinking. Lei Man said that it was a good thing that he had made arrangements to transfer his property when he left, otherwise, if Zhang Bapi found it, they would be convicted of tax evasion and embezzlement, and the wharf they had worked so hard to build would be destroyed by him.
Zhao Yulin was very grateful to have so many people to help him. He asked Chen Xian to go to Sanjiangkou in the south of the Yangtze River to buy land and build a fort. There was a state capital there, which was destroyed by a flood. He wanted to rebuild a new city there.
The next day, he and Chen Xian set out for the south bank of the Min River. Backed by Cuiping Mountain, it is surrounded by the Minjiang River, Jinsha River and Yangtze River on the left and right. It has a superior geographical location. The mountain stream can be cut in half to build a dam, and a waterwheel can be erected to repair a water mill, which can provide good power for the industrial workshop he planned.
Zhao Yulin decided to build his Cuiping New City here and make use of the damaged old city first.
Back at the dock, he summoned Lei Man, Lu Youpeng, Chen Xian and Chen Zhongshun to explain his intentions. Everyone knew how much damage the tragedy had caused and that they had to build their own stable territory.
Chen Zhongshun was talking about what he was doing. He planned to build a new winery in Jiangnan.
Zhao Yulin said that the brewing technology must be kept secret, so they had to go there to do it. Not only that, the iron workshop and the weapons workshop were all highly confidential, so they had to go to the mountain valley inside Sanjiangkou to do it safely.
He left Ma Jin and Qu Zhengxiang on the north bank, and the rest of the brothers went to the south bank. After everyone agreed, they acted quickly.
The next day, Zhao Yulin went to report to the county magistrate Chen Yun, suggesting that the old city should be restored in Sanjiangkou and a new handicraft industrial park should be built.
This would increase Yibin's fiscal and tax revenue. The county magistrate was very interested and immediately asked him to lead the way across the river to check it out.
Zhao Yulin said that his father-in-law's wine sold for a good price and needed to expand production, so they chose Sanjiangkou. They used Wugufeng Wine Shop as a starting point to raise funds to revive this town destroyed by the flood.
The county magistrate was very happy to hear this, and said that this place was a strategic location for three rivers, and the mountains were covered with dense green bamboos, so the new town should be called Cuiping Village.
Zhao Yulin thought to himself that this was exactly what he wanted, and he thanked him repeatedly.
The next day, the county magistrate called together the heads and shopkeepers of various industries for a meeting, and Zhao Yulin detailed his plan to rebuild Sanjiangkou. He asked everyone to work together to rebuild Sanjiangkou into a popular Cuiping new town.
However , although the county magistrate talked a lot with him, no one was really willing to take action, especially wine shop owners like Mr. Wang, who were even less willing to settle there. As the saying goes, those who sell ash flour cannot stand those who sell lime.
After everyone left, the county magistrate said that everything is difficult at the beginning, and Sanjiangkou was going to build a new camp, which would definitely require manpower. He gave all the refugees from Yibin to Zhao Yulin for resettlement, which was considered as the county's support. At the same time, the county hired the famous architect Liu Yuru as his advisor.
Zhao Yulin stood up to thank him and asked the county magistrate to believe that he would do a good job.
Ten days later, Zhao Yulin held a meeting at the renovated old county office in Sanjiangkou. He took out the method of making cement and asked Chen Xian to arrange to make cement using the traditional method. He also asked Liu Yuru to build it using the new method, starting with the construction of the wharf, and kicking off the construction of Cuiping New City.
As more and more people came from Jiangbei, Zhao Yulin was very busy. Chen Zhongshun found him and said that many wine merchants came to ask for wine, so he should brew a batch of Wugufeng first to make some money to subsidize the city repair.
Zhao Yulin agreed, and immediately started brewing wine after modifying the tools of the old distillery on the dock.
Three months later, the wharf was built and Chengyi Shaofang produced 10,000 kilograms of Wugufeng, making the Wugufeng brand famous. In addition, Zhao Yulin also secretly made 5,000 bottles of Jiuxiang Yulu and sold them to Chengdu, Chongqing and Lin'an, earning a large sum of money.
The Spring Festival is coming, but Sanjiangkou is still working hard. Xu Zhifu and Chen Yun, the county magistrate, came to inspect together. They both praised him for his good work. The new city is progressing rapidly and paying a large amount of taxes. It is really a blessing for Yibin and Xuzhou.
Zhao Yulin accompanied the two local bosses to his Bamboo Forest Beggar's Chicken for dinner. He said that he still had a lot to do and it all depended on the support of the adults.
Several officials had smiles on their faces and were full of promises.
The Wang family in the county town had a hard time. After rebuilding the distillery, Mr. Wang worked hard to make wine, then mixed it with water and sold it at a low price. Although he made a lot of money, the wine distributors had already discovered the problem. In addition, Wu Gufeng's reputation became famous, and the sales of Litchi Green dropped significantly compared with previous years.
Mr. Wang was so angry that he wanted to skin Zhao Yulin alive and tear out his bones to burn as firewood.
After Zhang Paopi was beheaded and his property was confiscated, his son Zhang Yanei actually took a few minions and some cash and went up the mountain to become a bandit. He became the third in command of the Denggao Mountains and started robbing and looting.
Without the Zhang family and the intervention of the Wang family, Zhao Yulin's father's business gradually got back on track and he finally lived a good life.
But he felt unhappy when he saw his third son working so hard at the booming construction site on the south bank of the river, all under the title of Chen family's son-in-law.
What's more, Zhao Yulin's labor cooperative bought cloth for the workers to make clothes, but they refused to buy cloth from his family. He was so angry that he was extremely furious.
Zhao Yulin was discussing water wheel drive with Chen Xian when Li Chuan came to report that Chen Xiaomin was injured. Zhao Yulin asked nervously what happened?
Li Chuan told him that Zhang Yanei, who climbed the mountain, was familiar with the soldiers guarding the city gate, and actually entered the city to kidnap the eldest daughter of the Chen family. Fortunately, Master Qu Zhengxiang was very good at kung fu, and recently increased the guards according to his request, so he drove away Zhang Yanei's men, but Qu Zhengxiang and Chen Xiaomin were both injured.
Zhao Yulin left Chen Xian behind and immediately went to the dock to take a boat across the river. He came to Chen Xiaomin's room, and the girl raised her injured left hand and cried for a hug.
Zhao Yulin went over and held Chen Xiaomin in his arms, stroking his hair without saying a word. Chen Xiaomin said that it was fortunate that there was increased defense, otherwise Master Qu would have been seriously injured. She wanted to kill Zhang Yanei.
Qu Zhengxiang came in and told him that he was fine, except that two masters from the escort agency were seriously injured.
This time they climbed the mountain with the intention of kidnapping them and demanding a ransom for the New Year.
Zhao Yulin said that it was difficult to prevent such sneaky acts. Since the New Year was coming soon, he told Chen Xiaomin to move to the south of the Yangtze River. It was easier to defend than to attack the mountains, so the bandits could not move for the time being. We would wait until we became stronger and then seize the opportunity to destroy them.
When Chen Xiaomin heard Zhao Yulin asking her to go to Jiangnan, she immediately became happy and said that she wanted to take Zhao Sihan with her as well.
Zhao Yulin told Chen Zhongshun to invite Mr. Zhang to Jiangnan and open Cuiping Academy there. Wouldn't that solve Xiaomin's problem of studying?
Chen Zhongshun agreed immediately. He was happy that Zhao Yulin was caring about his precious daughter.
Zhao Yulin suggested that we build the best academy in Jiangnan, use the new printing technology to print books and newspapers, and teach everyone to learn to read.
Zhang Yanei personally led the bandits into the city. He originally wanted to kidnap Chen Xiaomin and ask for a ransom to celebrate the New Year, but he was stopped and beaten. There were seven of them when they entered the city, and only two of them escaped, including him.
After catching the bandits, County Magistrate Chen Yun was furious and arrested several captains guarding the city gates one after another.
A kidnapping incident occurred in Yibin City, and everyone was in a panic. Prefect Xu was also embarrassed, so he ordered the judge Xu Chaolin to lead troops to suppress the bandits who had climbed the mountains.
Zhang Yanei fled in panic, and when he returned to Denggao Mountain and met the village chief You Mazi, he burst into tears and said that he had failed. You Mazi stepped forward and kicked Zhang Yanei, calling him a good-for-nothing and saying that he had lost five good brothers in one go.
You Mazi was still venting his anger on Zhang Yanei when the bandits at the foot of the mountain reported that the government troops were coming. You Mazi did not dare to be careless and immediately led the bandits to guard the mountain stronghold tightly, fearing that the government troops would break into it.
Xu Chaolin thought the bandits were a mob, so he led five hundred soldiers to the foot of Denggao Mountain and started to attack them.
Don’t underestimate the mountain, which is only a few hundred meters high. The bandits guarded the dangerous place with only bows and arrows, thunder and stones. The government army suffered more than twenty casualties but was unable to do anything to them.
As it was getting dark, Xu Chaolin stopped fighting and led the government troops back.
At Sanjiangkou, Zhao Yulin told Lei Man that the bandits in Jiangbei were getting stronger, and asked him to transfer 50 people back to help defend the docks and the Beggar Chicken Restaurant in Jiangbei. He and Liu Yuru went to plan the academy together, and asked the master to repair the original treasury in the old city to build Cuiping Academy.
Both Chen Xiaomin and Zhao Sihan said they were not in a hurry and they would just stay in the yamen to accompany their brother. Zhao Yulin knew that they were just looking for fun, and although they were not in a hurry, he was.
Climbing up the mountain, You Mazi grabbed Zhang Yanei and beat him up again, saying that it was his good idea that caused not only the loss of his brothers, but also the casualties of more than a dozen people, and also caused the government troops to destroy the two defense lines below, all of which were money.
Zhang Yanei failed to kidnap anyone, and knowing that he was being unreasonable, he had to endure it. In desperation, he thought of Wang Dehui and said that he could kidnap Wang Dehui, the second daughter of the Wang family, in exchange for money.
You Mazi kicked him twice again, cursing, "Tie your mother's feet. I won't tie them anymore."
Liu San knew that Zhang Yanei and Wang Dehui were having an affair, so he hurriedly told Zhang Yanei about this moral act. He used to live in Wang's house and was willing to go to the city with Zhang Yanei to help.
