Chapter 29 Someone Came Looking

  Thank you everyone, to the friends in the comment section who mentioned archery, shooting arrows is not a skill that can be developed in one or two years, it's not a common technique. Also, I'll continue to ask for recommendations and collections, let's see if we can take it to the next level, thank you everyone

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  Finally arrived at the place where salt was produced, Li Meng used one or two silver coins per month to invite ten households of salt workers from Ling Mountain Salt Field. In the Ming Dynasty, there were civilian households, military households for the army, and craftsmen households for artisans. This salt field also had salt worker households, who boiled seawater to produce salt every day. Their days were the most tiring, and they didn't have much reward to take.

  One mace and two candareens was a price they didn't even dare to think about, the salt yard also knew the harm of salt smugglers, for this so-called poaching, actually snatching people's method, not daring to speak out.

  These ten salt workers toiled every day in the salt fields, but couldn't even get enough to eat. When they came under Li Meng's command, they were trembling with fear. Who would have thought that the notorious and intimidating salt workers outside were not only kind and gentle, but also generous? A few silver coins was a small fortune, and the thriving salt fields before Li Meng's eyes were the result of these workers' renewed enthusiasm for labor.

  It was the professional salt makers who, under their meticulous management and production, abandoned the primitive method of boiling seawater in pots to produce salt, replacing it with the more productive and better-quality salt pan solar evaporation method. Ironically, Lingshan Salt Field had nearly three hundred furnaces, and could also hire laborers from surrounding areas at any time, but its output was always pitifully low.

  They still need to collect salt from the people of the four villages and eight towns to guarantee their own supply, but Li Meng dug up ten furnace households from there, and in just one month or so, Li Meng's own sea salt production has already reached nearly a third of the current Ling Mountain Salt Field.

  Li Meng sometimes wondered how the person in charge of Ling Shan Saltworks could be so incompetent as to bring production to such a low level. From his perspective, all sorts of methods and approaches that seemed incredibly effective to others were being used by Li Meng with immediate success.

  This kind of wonder can only be explained by others as a divine possession.

  Li Meng himself knew that by driving out other salt smugglers and salt merchants, he could monopolize the private salt sales between Fengmeng Town and Lingshan Salt Field. In fact, it was similar to a modern exclusive agency, and it was also an exclusive agency for necessities. It's hard not to make money, and monopoly has the greatest profit.

  Digging out the household registration to operate salt fields and give generous rewards and trust, no more than emphasizing talent, using it freely, this is also a kind of compromise for professional managers.

  The highest status in the troops is a warrant officer, and his position in the financial escort company is squad leader. Li Meng doesn't have much professional knowledge of economics, maybe what's said above isn't entirely correct, but he comes from an era of information explosion, knowing how to think about problems from different angles, which might be the reason for Li Meng's success.

  Seeing Li Meng standing there, the people in the salt pan were all waving and greeting him. This dozens of acres of salt pans can't be operated by just ten households, and the elderly and idle laborers nearby are also recruited to come over, which also provides a lot of job opportunities, what a great thing.

  Li Meng nodded with a smile, watching the salt transport team running alongside him. The team had now expanded to sixty people, who only participated in about an hour of labor each day, and spent the rest of their time undergoing non-stop training, three drills and two lectures, five hundred times, which they had to complete every day.

  The so-called three exercises and two lectures, with one outdoor exercise session each in the morning, afternoon, and evening; and one lecture session each in the morning and afternoon. One hundred sit-ups, one hundred push-ups, one hundred single-bar arm pulls, one hundred double-bar arm supports, and one hundred horse-stance punches.

  Li Meng didn't have anything too complicated, it was just that the training subjects he came into contact with in the troops were all applied to these young men. Originally thought that people of this era couldn't do this, at first Li Meng even deliberately reduced the amount of exercise by 30%, who would have thought that slowly they could also complete everything.

  The previous two lectures were on political education and current events, but Li Meng didn't know what to say to the people below. The political education of that day was definitely not suitable for ancient people from several hundred years ago. In this era, there are some things that one knows oneself cannot be spoken recklessly, whether it is predicting the future or discussing state affairs, both are crimes punishable by death and extinction of the clan.

  However, there are ways to solve this problem. Wang Hai and Chen Liu Zi often go to Fengmeng Town and Jiaozhou City to gather information, and they can also learn about news from other places through loud announcements, which are the content of daily lectures.

  Li Meng always thought that the educational methods of the Red Army, Eighth Route Army and PLA could be used on these young people under him. In the end, he decided to use the method of "Recalling Bitterness and Thinking Sweetness". Everyone thinks about the hardships of the past (just a few months ago) and looks at today's life, further solidifying their determination to defend this cause.

  These classes were all taught by Li Meng himself, but Chen Liu and Zhao Nai misunderstood. These people who are closest to Li Meng every day after class secretly spread the word that we can now stand up straight, eat well, and have a good life thanks to whom? It's all thanks to Li Meng, so naturally we should sacrifice ourselves for him!

  People in this era are very simple-minded, whoever gives them benefits will naturally remember who is kind to them, let alone there are people preaching every day, these people are more and more loyal to Li Meng.

  Li Meng thought back to when he was just a small employee in a small company, and now he had such a large business. He felt an indescribable feeling in his heart, and as he was taking pride in it, he saw that among the neatly arranged bamboo poles on the other side, there was a young man whose pole was noticeably not in line with the rest of the team.

  Li Meng furrowed his brow, normally training with these people holding five-foot bamboo poles filled with sand in each node to ensure sufficient exercise strength, but this also requires high demands on the arms and mastering balance techniques. Li Meng himself was also slowly exploring, just as he was about to go over to instruct, he heard someone shouting from afar:

  "Xiao Meng, Xiao Meng~~~~~"

  After listening clearly, Li Meng immediately knew that it was Zhao Neng's mother who was shouting. Currently in the Xue family's thousand households, only she could be called like this in the hundred-house village. As for this old woman, Li Meng had always regarded her as half a mother, after all, she had taken care of herself for so many years. Every time he saw Madam Zhao, Li Meng thought of his own mother in modern times, and his attitude became more and more respectful and gentle.

  Li Meng waved his hand at the people on this side, turned around and walked towards the village. The old lady was standing at the entrance of the village. Li Meng ran up to her and said repeatedly:

  "Auntie, it's so cold today, don't catch a chill."