"You want to rent a house in Gefeng?" Jiang Jin was quite surprised.
Gefeng was currently surrounded by packs of wolves and could be besieged at any moment. With He Li's experience, he should be very well aware of this.
Back then, he had left in a hurry as soon as he cleared his goods. Now he actually planned to reside in Gefeng permanently?
He Li nodded. "I would like to rent a courtyard, as well as a shop. I wonder if that is possible?"
He had spent the entire afternoon wandering around Gefeng yesterday. He saw the grocery stores, the residential areas, and the commercial districts. Seeing the relaxed smiles of the commoners here deeply moved him, prompting the thought of moving to Gefeng.
It was said there was also an industrial zone, but unfortunately, he couldn't go in to take a look.
He actually wanted to buy a house, but Dong Si had told him that all properties in Gefeng County were currently only for rent, not for sale.
Jiang Jin glanced at him and asked, "Has something happened in Daqing Commandery?"
He Li froze for a moment, then smiled bitterly. This woman was indeed sharp.
The current situation in Daqing Commandery was indeed not very good. Two county towns had already been occupied by the Jiaoren, and the sphere of influence of the General of the Left was gradually shrinking.
He did not know how much longer the General of the Left could hold out, nor how much longer Daqing could endure. He was very worried and anxious.
That was why he took the risk to come to Gefeng to sell the goods on hand. If Daqing truly fell, he could flee with his family at any time.
After arriving in Gefeng and seeing the changes and all sorts of novelties here, for some reason, the idea of settling down in Gefeng suddenly sprouted in his mind.
He had tossed and turned all night, thinking about it. The scene of Jiang Jin killing the 'bandit' with a single slash appeared in his mind time and time again.
Eventually, he made up his mind. Rather than fleeing to the uncertain south, it was better to come to Gefeng. Jiang Jin gave him a very reassuring feeling.
He briefly explained the situation in Daqing, looking somewhat ashamed. "I am ashamed. We humble commoners only wish to survive."
Jiang Jin expressed her understanding. "It is human nature."
She pondered for a moment and said, "Since you are frank, I won't hide it from you. Our Gefeng is poor, and currently, there are not many people coming here to do business."
Saying 'not many' was actually being conservative; there were simply no businessmen coming to Gefeng at all.
However, there were a few residents in the city who had rented small storefronts to do some small business.
The commercial district was divided into three zones. The first consisted of large shops with backyards; the medical clinic, grocery store, and inn were in this area.
Then there were small storefronts, the kind that could not be lived in. The rent was naturally much cheaper, allowing some commoners with insufficient funds to run a small business.
There was also another type, which were small stalls provided for those who only traded occasionally.
Jiang Jin continued, "Especially for the larger shops, there are still many vacancies, so there is no need for you to rent one in advance. Wasting several months of rent is not worth it."
Seeing that the weather was about to turn cold, it was impossible for He Li to move to Gefeng before the new year. He would have to wait until the weather warmed up and the ice and snow melted after the new year, which would take at least a few months.
He Li felt a complexity of emotions. He had never seen a leader like Jiang Jin before, which further strengthened his resolve to come to Gefeng.
He lowered his head in deep thought, and after a moment, he bowed to Jiang Jin. "Thank you for your consideration, my lady. Then I will hold off on renting the shop for now. However, I still want to rent a courtyard first. I will have a loyal servant stay here to manage it."
Jiang Jin did not try to persuade him otherwise. For He Li, this little bit of rent was nothing, but it could give him peace of mind.
Leaving the matter directly to Dong Si to handle, Jiang Jin went to the industrial zone.
Feng Qingzhu was very excited to see her. "My Lord, I never thought cotton could be processed like this."
Over the past month or so, Jiang Jin had found another opportunity to bring out some supplies. Among them, she brought out 2,000 shi of grain and all the cotton she had.
Unfortunately, there was not much cotton. Even after bringing it all out, there was only about 400 jin.
A cotton quilt was made for each person in the leadership team, and the rest was all used to make padded cotton clothes.
Looking at the several cotton quilts that had already been fluffed, a smile appeared on Jiang Jin's face.
The traditional tools for fluffing cotton were actually very simple: a large wooden bow, a wooden mallet, and a grinding disc.
She had people make a few more sets of these tools, explained the techniques to the workers, and let them try it out themselves. She did not expect them to produce results in just a few days.
"Not bad. It's going to get cold soon, so you need to speed up the production of the soldiers' clothing, including the cotton-padded clothes," Jiang Jin affirmed.
Hearing Jiang Jin's praise, Feng Qingzhu unconsciously straightened her back. Ever since the industrial zone was completed, Jiang Jin had transferred her out of the county office.
She was put in charge of the entire industrial zone. The burden on her shoulders was quite heavy, but she was very happy doing it.
"Understood. The female workers were a bit slow these past few days as they just started, but their speed has improved a lot now. I guarantee that the clothing for the military department will be ready before winter arrives."
Her current task was making clothes, primarily winter uniforms for the soldiers, so she had recruited exclusively female workers. Even the job of fluffing cotton was given to women.
While the two were talking, they saw Liqiu hurrying over to find her. "My Lord, Craftsman Ma says he has something to discuss with you."
Jiang Jin's eyes lit up. Ma Jin was previously from the brick kiln. Seeing that he worked methodically and thought clearly, Jiang Jin had transferred him to make cement.
Now that he suddenly came looking for her, it seemed there was progress with the cement.
Sure enough, when Jiang Jin returned to the county office, Ma Jin handed her a bag of gray powdery substance.
Jiang Jin took a look. It was about seventy percent similar to the cement of modern times. She looked up and asked, "Have you tested it?"
Ma Jin's face was flushed with excitement. "I have tested it. Would My Lord like to go and see?"
He had experimented with this thing called cement many times, but all previous attempts had failed. This time, the product had come out yesterday.
However, he was not sure if it was right, so he conducted an experiment according to the requirements. Today, when the cement hardened, he finally knew that he had most likely succeeded!
For such an important matter, Jiang Jin naturally had to go and take a look.
The cement factory was built not far from the Hongshulin brick kiln. By now, this place had formed a large industrial park.
Inside, besides various kilns and factory buildings, there were also dormitories and kitchens for the workers.
Seeing Jiang Jin, Zhao Feng hurriedly called out, "My Lord."
Jiang Jin nodded. "Do not slack off on the daily training."
Zhao Feng replied, "Yes, My Lord."
He had been assigned to take charge of the security at Hongshulin. Besides the daily patrols and guard duties, he would also lead the off-duty soldiers in training on regular days.
The cement workshop was built at the very back of the park. Jiang Jin soon saw a small patch of ground in front of the factory building that had been paved with a mixture of cement, sand, and gravel.
Before she could do anything, Ma Jin picked up an iron hammer and smashed it down heavily.
Seeing that a strike of the hammer only splattered a small amount of cement dust, her eyes filled with a smile. It really was a success!
"Good, you have done very well. Start large-scale production tomorrow. I will assign more people to you."
The two most difficult processes in making cement were, first, calcination at a high temperature of 1500 degrees. She now had coking coal, and once the cement kiln was built, this problem would be easily solved.
The other was grinding. At this time, there were no cement grinding machines, so she had the craftsmen build several water-powered grinding mills.
Ma Jin's face was full of excitement as he replied, "Yes, My Lord."
