Over here, He Li rented a two-courtyard compound in Changliu Mountain First Alley. Since Gefeng itself was not large, the courtyards built by Jiang Jin were not very big either.
He paid the deposit and several months of rent, left behind two loyal servants, and left in a hurry.
Half a month after He Li's departure, Gefeng finally welcomed its first snow.
Watching the snowflakes dancing in the sky, Jiang Jin sighed. The construction team had no choice but to stop working, and the military barracks were only half built.
Fortunately, she had designed the barracks for a force of 5,000 soldiers. With her current number of troops, a half-finished barracks was more than enough to accommodate them.
It had actually gotten very cold over the past half month, but the workers were highly enthusiastic and had never stopped working.
Jiang Jin was not idle either. Worried that it might snow at any time, she had her people transport the iron ore mined from the mining area, the prepared coking coal, honeycomb briquettes, and burned charcoal back to Gefeng City over the past few days.
She put on the fox fur coat she had looted from Jiao Liang and went out. Upon arriving at the county office, she found that Zhou Sui and the others had already arrived.
My Lord, everyone stood up to greet her.
Jiang Jin nodded. After sitting down in the main seat, she spoke, Give the construction workers a day off today. We will assess the situation once the snow stops. If we can continue building the barracks, we will. If not, we will start digging tunnels.
Jiang Jin also wanted to give the workers occasional days off, but her schedule was simply too tight.
However, the workers had no complaints about this. They only earned wages when there was work to do, so they did not want to rest at all.
Mu Qing stroked his beard. My Lord, it is a good thing all the planted vegetables have been harvested and stored in the cellar, otherwise they would have definitely frozen and spoiled.
The cellar had been dug long ago, with its walls and floors paved with solid wood and bricks.
Speaking of the planted vegetables, he was in a delighted mood. It really was a bumper harvest. I never expected radishes and Chinese cabbage to have such high yields.
From five acres of land, they had harvested a total of 32,000 catties. This was a yield he would never have dared to imagine before. At this moment, he wished it was already the warm spring season so he could immediately plant dozens more acres.
Unfortunately, there was still too little arable land inside the city, simply not enough for planting. If they could plant hundreds of acres, this yield could feed more than just the entire city. If it could be promoted nationwide...
Thinking of this, he sighed inwardly. Where was the nation now? It was enough just to take good care of the citizens within the city.
He looked at Jiang Jin, and his cooled heart grew fiery again. There was no rush. Just as the Lord had said, now they had one city; in the future, they would have two, then three...
Is it true what you mentioned last time, that vegetables can be grown in wooden boxes? I had Mu Wei make quite a few wooden boxes, and I plan to move them indoors for planting.
Jiang Jin nodded. You can try it, but without sunlight, the yield probably will not be very good.
The weather in Gefeng was cold, but as long as enough firewood or charcoal was purchased and the indoor heated walls provided warmth, the temperature would not drop too low. Growing cold-resistant vegetables like radishes and Chinese cabbage was feasible, and Mu Qing had also saved vegetable seeds.
She currently lacked the conditions to cultivate greenhouse vegetables. Seeing Mu Qing's restless demeanor, she had casually mentioned trying to grow them indoors, not expecting him to take it to heart so seriously.
Jiang Jin thought for a moment and added, Did you not save a lot of seeds? You can divide them into small packets and sell them at the grocery store. This way, the commoners can also plant a little at home. It will keep them from having no vegetables to eat during the winter and will somewhat help solve our food problem.
Although she had harvested over 30,000 catties of vegetables, she had to support more than 2,000 soldiers. They would have to rely on these vegetables throughout the cold winter months.
Therefore, she did not intend to sell these vegetables, or if she did, it would only be in small quantities to let the citizens have a taste.
The best method, naturally, was to let them grow their own. After all, these vegetables could produce seeds, and she still had plenty in her spatial dimension.
Mu Qing's eyes brightened considerably. He thought this was a great idea. Since there was no land to farm right now anyway, he decided to spend a few days at the grocery store to teach the buying citizens how to grow vegetables.
He particularly wanted to teach Lichun and a few shop assistants. Once they learned, they could promote and teach others. Such excellent seeds could not be wasted.
After Yun Ci went to the weapons workshop, Jiang Jin transferred Lichun to the grocery store to be the manager.
Jiang Jin looked around at everyone and said, I plan to recruit soldiers again, and also build an underground granary.
After more than two months of rest and recovery, the physical fitness of the city's commoners had significantly improved.
The industrial zone had recruited many female workers, providing a source of income for women whose weaker constitutions prevented them from working on construction sites. This also gave the strong laborers in some families more choices.
Furthermore, with the construction team halting work, digging tunnels and building the underground granary would not require that many people.
And winter was the perfect time to temper the soldiers' willpower, making it an excellent time for military training.
Everyone had no objections to her words; it was indeed time to expand the army.
Zhou Sui hesitated for a moment before saying, My Lord, should we not establish our intelligence department?
Jiang Jin actually wanted to establish one, but unfortunately, she lacked the personnel and foundation. Worse still, because she had successfully conquered Gefeng, the surrounding counties had learned a lesson and began strictly inspecting Han civilians entering their cities, making it very difficult for her to arrange infiltrators.
I am afraid that will be difficult now, Yun Ci sighed, feeling regretful inside.
Previously, the State of Yan also had an intelligence department, but unfortunately, it was completely wiped out. Most of the intelligence personnel had been killed, and even if any survived, they could only eke out a living in hiding, not daring to show their faces.
Jiang Jin comforted them, There is no rush. We only have this small piece of territory; we will meet all changes with constancy.
She looked around at everyone and said, I want to start classes to teach everyone a set of simple characters and numbers, as well as arithmetic and related knowledge.
The writing of this era was extremely complex and difficult to write, and naturally hard to learn. Especially regarding numbers, the jumble of numerals made her dizzy.
Moreover, the written languages between different countries were not mutually intelligible, and some prominent families even had their own scripts. In a word: chaotic.
Xia Chanyi's eyes widened. My Lord, you mean a complete set of characters and numbers?
Jiang Jin nodded. Yes. I want to select a group of intelligent people and teach them personally. Once they have learned it, they can teach others. When the time comes, all of you should attend the classes together as well.
Dong Si asked curiously, My Lord, did you create this writing system yourself?
Jiang Jin had long prepared her excuse. You could say that. Back at the Yinshan Temple, I had the fortune to visit their scripture pavilion, and the books inside gave me great inspiration.
I then conceived the idea of simplifying the characters to make it easier for the general public to learn and master them quickly.
As the first person to bring simplified characters to this world, claiming she created them was not exactly wrong.
Everyone looked astonished. From ancient times to the present, anyone who could invent a writing system possessed world-shaking talent and was revered as a legend, praised through the ages!
And Jiang Jin was not even fourteen years old yet!
It took everyone quite a while to digest this information, feeling both shocked and emotionally complex.
Their Lord could secure the state with martial prowess, slay enemies with strategy, govern the country with literature, and invent characters with her brilliance.
After a long silence, Zhou Sui could not help but ask, My Lord, are the numbers the kind on the pocket watch?
They had never seen the Lord's pocket watch, but they had seen Yun Chengxuan's, considering that guy showed it off in front of them all day long.
The ones on it, which were supposedly called Arabic numerals, indeed looked much simpler than what they currently used.
Jiang Jin nodded, That is right.
Her gaze swept over the crowd as she dropped another bombshell. If possible, I want to give the citizens of the city the opportunity to learn how to read and write.
The crowd was stunned once again, especially Zhou Sui, Yun Ci, Yao Ji, and the others.
As the elites standing at the absolute pinnacle of the Yan Kingdom, they naturally understood the primary reason why those in power kept the commoners illiterate was to consolidate their rule.
Simply put, it was to maintain better control over the populace. Ignorance was the easiest thing to manipulate.
Therefore, regardless of the nation, educational resources were strictly monopolized by the government. Ordinary citizens had absolutely no access to the written word.
Yet now, Jiang Jin was actually saying she wanted the people under her jurisdiction to learn how to read and write!
Did she have any idea what the consequences of such an action would be?!
