Flowers in full bloom

Chapter 548: A Pragmatic Boss

Sir Yan, you take a few people to the Ministry of War and ask Sir Huang for half of the prisoners. Be careful to pick those who have served long sentences and are strong. Also bring the bamboo signs I prepared. After the personnel are decided, give them directly.

Lord Hu, take a few people to check the wheat seeds again to make sure there are no mistakes. You also need to soak the wheat seeds, etc. Pay attention to the time and don't miss any."

Zhang Tianci was also a man of action, and he issued a series of orders. The people whose names were called nodded one after another, and took their own people to do their work separately.

The anxious Minister Zhang, chewing two buns, had already boarded his own carriage and urged Hua Lei, "Doctor Hua, lead the way.

By the way, do you have any useful subordinates? If so, bring them along too." Hua Lei immediately called Gao Tiedan, Xiao Yuanzi, and Xiao Huzi, and asked them to follow behind her.

"Zhang Hua, the rest of the people, follow up and form the civilians into a team. Hurry up and go directly to the north gate." Minister Zhang ordered.

A group of 70 or 80 people went to Diwozi Village together. The county government had notified everyone to return to Diwozi three days ago. At this time, there were more than 20,000 people standing in Diwozi Village.

Lord Zhang started his speech, which was nothing more than introducing himself first, then expressing the need to recruit 12,000 people who knew how to farm, and then explaining the benefits such as monthly silver and subsidies.

After he finished shouting, he began to select people, asking those who were willing to farm to stand on the left. These people had been in Mobei for different lengths of time, but they all came to earn money.

So when they heard Minister Zhang calling for farming, and the silver was exactly the same as what the prefecture said, they all stood on the left. They were originally farmers, and everyone knew how to farm.

When Master Zhang saw this, he was overjoyed. This meant that he could now select people. So he stated his first requirement: people between the ages of 20 and 42 should line up.

Then, nearly two-thirds of the people came out. Then, Master Zhang announced his second request: those whose homes were more than ten days away from here should come out.

Then another group of people stepped out. After Minister Zhang listed seven or eight conditions in a row, he stopped picking and choosing when he saw that the number of people was about the same.

Hua Lei was watching from the side and secretly admired that Lord Zhang was indeed quite capable, although some of his requirements seemed to have nothing to do with farming at all.

But he picked out the youngest and strongest ones, those whose homes were closest to the Mobei town, those who could drive ox carts, and those who were particularly good at farming.

In addition, those who live far from home and need to go home for the Spring Festival are eliminated. This can avoid the possibility that these people will go home after a few months and may not come back to help with the land reclamation after the Spring Festival.

What Hua Lei admired most was Minister Zhang's humanity. His last question was to the people he had chosen, asking them whether there were any of their fathers, sons, brothers, relatives, etc. among the people he had not chosen.

For this problem, more than 300 people were not selected. So he put these 300 people into his team.

In this way, it is very humane and the stability of the land reclamation team is also enhanced. The people have a natural fear of the government and officials.

In addition, many people left their hometowns and moved to the unfamiliar Mobei, even if they were only three days away from home, and they wanted to be with their relatives and friends.

Moreover, it is more stable and more efficient for the father and son to farm together than to let the son farm while the father builds the state capital.

After all the personnel had been selected, Minister Zhang roughly checked the hands and feet of these people, asking them to jump a few times with their hands raised, bend over a few times, and clap their hands a few times.

He actually found a few people with lame legs and weak backs, so he eliminated them and told them to go to the Ministry of Works, where they could still get paid.

While being humane, he also sticks to his own standards and protects his own interests. Hualei really admires him.

After all the personnel were selected, Minister Zhang immediately asked them to divide into small teams, with each team having 200 people. He also specifically reminded them that if they wished, fathers, sons, brothers, relatives, and people from the same village could all be grouped in the same team.

After a commotion, the team was divided into 60 teams, numbered from 1 to 60. Then, the staff who came from the capital were asked to be the captain of a team, and they would be in charge of the land reclamation of these people.

Soon, Gao Tiedan, Xiao Yuanzi and the other two immediately became the captains of three of the teams. Afterwards, the teams were divided into ten groups of twenty people each.

Each group was asked to elect a team leader, and all the groups were almost formed. After the team leader and the team were determined, Minister Zhang asked his aide Zhang Hua to carry a few large bamboo baskets from the carriage.

Hualei leaned over to take a look. Wow, they were all bamboo tiles similar to the mahjong tiles in her previous life, but half the size. She looked at the other bamboo baskets, and they were also in different shapes.

There are square, round, and triangular ones. The bamboo sign is very rough, and the edges are not polished at all. It is a bit prickly when held in the hand.

Let the captains of each team take a bamboo basket and distribute bamboo signs to their team members. After each team member has a bamboo sign in his hand.

Minister Zhang took a cloth bag from Zhang Hua and took out a handful of charcoal pencils. Hua Lei took a look and thought, hey, these seem to be things from his own shop.

Minister Zhang asked the team leaders and officials who could read to each take a charcoal pencil and help number the bamboo signs in each team member's hand from one to two hundred.

Hua Lei walked slowly in the line with a charcoal pencil in her hand. All the people lined up in a long queue and Hua Lei just had to follow the numbers in order.

After all the numbering was completed, Minister Zhang asked Zhang Hua to take out red lacquer and draw a circle on each bamboo sign with a brush.

Originally, I wanted to write the word "household", but it was too troublesome, so I simply drew a circle. From then on, these people were considered people of the Ministry of Household.

It doesn't matter if the people can't read, you just need to follow your team leader to open up new land. As for the sign in your hand, it only confirms that you will be the pioneers in the future.

Once Lord Li from the Ministry of Works arrives, no matter how unhappy, unconvinced, or unwilling they are, there is nothing they can do and they can’t snatch it away.

Hua Lei was drawing circles with a red pen. She didn't think it was unnecessary. Instead, she was full of admiration for her boss.

I heard that the reason why Minister Zhang came to the small town in Mobei today was because he stayed in Leyang Prefecture for four days, just to ask the governor of Leyang Prefecture to find someone to help make these bamboo signs in different shapes.