Seeing Jiang Jin, the man's face broke into a wide smile. "My lady, I was introduced by Mei Sheng's cousin. He mentioned you were looking to buy people?"
Jiang Jin suddenly understood; no wonder he looked familiar. He shared a slight resemblance with Mei Sheng.
The man's name was Mei Ren, a clansman and older cousin of Mei Sheng. He was also a merchant, specializing heavily in the slave trade.
He had bumped into Mei Sheng, who had just sold off all his goods, on the road. Upon learning that a lady heading north was still buying people, he immediately ordered his caravan to speed up without a second word.
Only a fool would turn down business. He knew better than anyone how difficult the slave market was right now, which was why he had rushed all the way to catch up. Fortunately, he made it.
Jiang Jin looked at the hundred or so slaves Mei Ren had brought, her eyelids twitching uncontrollably.
Mei Ren? "Nobody"? Seriously, how did the Mei family come up with these names?
She didn't let her thoughts show on her face, smiling as warmly as a spring breeze. "Yes, I am buying. How many people do you have in total here? It looks like they aren't all young, able-bodied men."
She had considered directly recruiting refugees or displaced people, but if it were just a group of young, strong men, she wouldn't dare take them, nor did she want to.
For refugees traveling with their families, if you recruited their strong men, the entire family would basically have to follow you. Otherwise, how would the elderly, weak, women, and children survive?
She was recruiting soldiers and strong laborers, not making enemies or tearing families apart.
And right now, she didn't even have her own territory settled. She couldn't possibly drag along such a large, dependent crowd; it would completely drag her forces down.
But buying people was different. She could buy exactly the kind of people she wanted, in whatever quantity she desired.
Moreover, the people she bought were entirely under her command. If she told them to be soldiers, they became soldiers; whatever she ordered, they would do.
Most importantly, she had money. To her, this amount of money was truly nothing. There was absolutely no need to overcomplicate a simple matter.
Mei Ren's eyes crinkled into a smile. "I brought 106 people in total this time. Among them, over thirty are skilled craftsmen. They're even more useful than ordinary laborers."
Jiang Jin's interest was piqued. "Tell me more."
Mei Ren didn't waste words. He took several sheets of paper that a servant beside him had prepared in advance and handed them to Jiang Jin. "Their information is all written here. Please take a look, my lady."
Jiang Jin took the papers and read through them slowly. Upon reading, she indeed found that these were all talented individuals: there were masons for building houses, potters, blacksmiths, bricklayers, cooks...
Page by page, she noted a total of 39 skilled workers, 21 of whom were in their prime. For example, the five blacksmiths were all between the ages of 20 and 35.
Jiang Jin was very satisfied and began to negotiate the price.
Skilled workers were much more expensive. Even the older ones commanded a high price; after all, age meant experience, and they could teach even more apprentices.
The 106 people ended up costing 170 strings of cash, which was 170,000 copper coins, weighing over a thousand catties.
Fortunately, Jiang Jin had silver. Paying with silver was much simpler. It must be said that in this era, both copper coins and gold and silver were extremely valuable.
Mei Ren was thrilled, feeling he had found a wealthy, regular client. He eagerly tried to build a rapport: "My lady, where are you heading? If I get more slaves, will you still want them?"
These slaves were newly acquired by Mei Ren. He was just planning to try his luck in the Han cities, never expecting to so coincidentally find a buyer on the road.
Business was tough nowadays, and even if he went into the city, he might not be able to sell them. If he had a regular buyer, he wouldn't have to worry so much.
Jiang Jin was also delighted. Right now, she lacked everything except money.
She pointed north. "I will continue heading north. If nothing unexpected happens, I will settle in Gefeng. If you have slaves, grain, cloth, or cotton, I'll take it all."
Joy spread across Mei Ren's face. "Will you take any amount?"
If that were the case, he could consider teaming up with his clansmen to travel together. They could look out for each other on the road, ensuring better safety. If they moved quickly, they could pull off another massive deal before the new year.
Jiang Jin nodded. "Yes, I'll take as much as you have."
Overjoyed, Mei Ren smiled and thanked her. The two chatted for a little while longer before he departed with his guards.
On the other side, Dong Si, along with Luo Qingci and the others, had finished tallying all the people brought down from the mountain. They registered everyone's previous occupations for Jiang Jin to easily review.
Having suddenly acquired so many people, Jiang Jin was no longer in a hurry to leave. She had Zhou Sui find a temporary campsite nearby.
Once the group was settled, Dong Si began addressing the new recruits, instilling the concept of absolute loyalty into them.
Meanwhile, Jiang Jin, Zhou Sui, and a few others began making major adjustments to the personnel assignments.
After the tally, they found they could add 58 male soldiers. Combined with the previous fifty or so, the total of over a hundred men was just enough to form a company.
The soldiers who had been trained earliest were directly promoted to squad leaders. Yao Ji was temporarily appointed as the company commander, with Xie Nanxiao as the deputy commander.
Yun Yu, Qiu Wu, and Lu Ping were made platoon leaders.
As for the female soldiers, aside from the newly purchased ones, some of the women brought down from the bandit lair also expressed a willingness to serve. This made a total of 28. Added to the previous 18, they were divided into four squads, tentatively forming a reinforced platoon.
Aside from Shuangjiang as a squad leader, three others who had trained the longest and performed exceptionally well were chosen as squad leaders, with Xia Chanyi as the platoon leader.
Although the number of soldiers was far from enough for a battalion, Jiang Jin still appointed Zhou Sui as the battalion commander. As for the numbers, they would gradually increase over time.
She had only been in this world for a short twenty days. There was no rush.
Jiang Jin looked around at everyone. "We currently have over 200 horses in total. Excluding the ones pulling carts, we have more than enough to mount an entire company. Therefore, we must strengthen our training in mounted archery."
"Our numbers are small, so we must be elite. My requirement is not only that their individual combat skills be strong, but their coordinated warfare and mounted archery must also be comprehensively developed."
Zhou Sui and the others understood this principle well, their morale high: "Understood!"
Once the personnel were assigned, issues regarding clothing and hygiene were handled immediately without Jiang Jin needing to issue orders; everyone was already familiar with the drill and got straight to work.
As for the fine linen to make clothes, they simply used what had been seized from the mountain. There was more than enough to make two sets for everyone.
Aside from the soldiers, many people—both men and women—were added to the logistics team, greatly increasing their working efficiency.
Dong Si possessed a natural talent for management. He divided everyone, skilled or unskilled, into groups: horse breeders, carriage drivers, tailors, kitchen staff...
In short, every little detail was arranged flawlessly, sparing Jiang Jin from having to worry about a thing.
Looking at her orderly ranks, Jiang Jin smiled in comfort.
At this moment, Dong Si came over to report. "My lady, the grain brought down from the mountain has all been tallied. We have a total of 230 shi, as well as a good amount of wheat bran and forage for the livestock."
"There are over 100 bolts of cloth, about 40 strings of copper coins, and a small amount of gold and silver vessels. Oh, right, there are also over 20 sets of farming tools and around 50 weapons."
Jiang Jin nodded. Weapons were hard to come by; even with money, they couldn't always be bought. Getting over 50 was quite good. Added to the weapons from the nearly 170 men who had ambushed her, this group of bandits had contributed over 220 weapons to her arsenal.
Dong Si continued, "There should also be over a thousand catties of vegetables grown by the bandits. It's enough to feed us for a few days, though unfortunately, with the current weather, they won't keep for long."
Jiang Jin's forces now numbered around 300, which meant a considerable consumption of food.
To be honest, Jiang Jin felt it had been quite a while since she had eaten fresh vegetables. "It's fine, we'll eat the ones that can be stored later. By the way, the oxen and donkeys can also be used to pull carts."
Dong Si smiled. "Understood."
At that moment, Li Su walked over somewhat hesitantly, bringing Li Mai along.
Jiang Jin could tell from their expressions that something was up. "What's wrong?" she asked.
