bullyxtreme Chapter 16 Lu Ji Carriage and Horse Shop
Chapter 16 Lu Ji Carriage and Horse Shop
March of the 47th year of the Wanli reign was a season filled with the smell of dust and decay for Jinan Prefecture in Shandong.
Although it was late spring, the lingering effects of the Little Ice Age had not subsided. A sudden cold snap from the north scraped across the land of Qi and Lu like a dull knife, whipping up clouds of yellow sand. The bark of the elm trees lining the official roads had long since been stripped bare, revealing pale, cracked wood in the wind. Occasionally, one could see a few starving corpses lying by the roadside, their bodies curled up like shrimp – the final posture left by extreme hunger and cold.
South of Jinan city, ten miles of shops.
This place was originally a barren wasteland eroded by salt and alkali, where even stray dogs wouldn't dare to tread. But now, a strange commotion has risen from this desolate land.
More than 500 ragged, emaciated refugees are being driven by an unseen force to perform some kind of incomprehensible "ritual" on the desolate beach. Most of them are refugees who have just fled back from Liaodong. Having experienced the ravages of war, long journeys, and hunger, their eyes were originally filled only with numbness and waiting for death.
But now, that numbness has been replaced by awe and longing.
On a small earthen platform in the middle of the desolate beach, Lu Yan stood with his hands behind his back. He did not wear the scholar's square-shaped turban, but instead wore a neat blue cloth outfit with the cuffs tightly tied and a leather belt around his waist. This attire might be considered somewhat "undignified" by the Ming Dynasty scholars who favored loose robes and wide sleeves, but in the chaos of the times, it exuded a sharp and ruthless aura.
Standing beside him was his cousin Zhao Changying, who stood like an iron tower, gripping his staff. And next to Zhao Changying was Hu Jingshui, who was hunched over.
"Old Hu, let's begin." Lu Yan's voice wasn't loud, but it was carried to everyone's ears by the biting north wind.
Hu Jingshui took a deep breath and stepped forward. He cleared his throat, his voice hoarse yet carrying a professional sternness: "Listen up! The boss is kind and has given us a way to make a living. But we at 'Lu's' don't support idlers or useless people! According to the roster approved yesterday, those whose names are called, step forward!"
"Group A! One hundred and eighty able-bodied men, line up on the left! Corporal, step forward and form the ranks!"
As Hu Jingshui shouted, a commotion began to stir on the left side of the crowd. One hundred and eighty men, though thin, were broad-shouldered. Most of them were deserters from the Liaodong border army or farmers. Although they were swaying from hunger, a fierce glint remained in their eyes.
"Group B! Twenty-two artisans, line up in the center!"
This time, those who came out were rather scattered. There were blacksmiths, carpenters, and even two coopers who had previously built carts in Shenyangwei. Most of them carried broken tools in their hands, which were the last possessions they had to survive.
"Group C! 336 women, children, the elderly, and the infirm, line up on the right!"
This group was the largest and most chaotic. The sounds of women crying and children wailing filled the air.
"Shut up!" Zhao Changying abruptly slammed his baton down, the iron-clad end striking the frozen ground with a dull thud. "Anyone who makes another sound will have their mixed-grain steamed buns for tonight confiscated!"
The words "mixed flour buns" seemed to possess a magical power, instantly silencing the noise. In those years of starvation, a bite to eat was more effective than an imperial edict.
Lu Yan looked at the three distinct groups of people below the stage with a cold expression.
In his past life, during that turbulent overseas engineering project, he had seen far too many refugees like this. If you simply give them handouts, they become a bottomless pit, a source of chaos; but if you reshape them using the mindset of engineering management, they become the cheapest and most durable human resource.
"Look closely at that sign." Lu Yan raised his hand and pointed to a huge wooden sign that had just been erected at the entrance of the camp.
It was carved overnight by someone hired by Fan Fu. No paint was applied; only five large, ink-stained characters remained, exuding a chilling aura in the wind.
Lu's Carriage and Horse Shop
"From today onwards, you are no longer refugees." Lu Yan's voice was as cold as iron. "You are Lu's employees. Group A is the transportation team, responsible for physical labor, pulling carts and carrying bags; Group B is the engineering team, responsible for building and repairing vehicles; Group C is the logistics team, responsible for cooking, washing clothes, weaving straw bags, and feeding livestock."
"Group A provides three meals a day for each person, and if they have one dry meal, they will receive 300 cash at the end of the month! Group B is paid by piecework, the more you work, the more you earn! Group C eats according to work points, the more work you do, the more food coupons you receive!"
These words immediately caused an uproar in the audience.
"Meals provided? And wages too?" A bearded man stared wide-eyed in disbelief. "Sir, you're not kidding us, are you?"
"Trying to coax you?" Lu Yan sneered. "Changying, distribute the cutlery!"
Zhao Changying waved his hand, and a dozen servants carried up a large basket. The basket contained not silver, but rough but sturdy wooden bowls, each with a number burned onto it.
"This is your livelihood, and it's your life." Lu Yan pointed to the wooden bowls. "As long as you're alive, you're in the bowl; if you lose the bowl, you're out."
Seeing the men holding the wooden bowls with such excitement, as if they were family heirlooms, Hu Jingshui, standing behind Lu Yan, couldn't help but shudder.
He leaned closer to Lu Yan, lowered his voice, and said anxiously, "Master, these rules are well-established. But this account... I spent all night calculating it last night. These 538 mouths, even if they only drink thin gruel every meal, mixed with wild vegetables and bran, will still consume three shi of grain a day. Add to that the cost of purchasing carts, tools, and fodder for the livestock... The little we got from the Fan family, plus the silver you won at the Sarhu gambling den, adds up to a maximum of two thousand taels. At this rate of spending, with only expenses and no income, we won't last more than three months!"
"Three months?" Lu Yan turned his head and looked at the old accountant with a bitter face. "Old Hu, you were just maintaining the status quo in Huizhou before. Now we are starting a business. In the early stages of starting a business, burning money is to build up 'barriers'."
"Barrier?" Hu Jingshui looked blank, clearly not understanding the word.
"It's about having the ability to do things that others can't, only we can do." Lu Yan pointed to the carpenters in Group B who were hammering away.
There, several oddly shaped wheelbarrows were already taking shape. Unlike the wheelbarrows commonly seen in the Ming Dynasty, Lu Yan had the craftsmen increase the diameter of the wheels, wrap them in multiple layers of oil-soaked linen to reduce vibration, and designed balance bars and load-bearing bands on both sides of the frame.
"Old Hu, you only see five hundred mouths to feed." Lu Yan's gaze swept across the wasteland and landed on the Grand Canal in the north, which meandered like a dead snake. "But what I see are five hundred tireless machines. As long as these machines are running, I can squeeze oil out of even rocks."
He patted Hu Jingshui on the shoulder: "Don't worry. Tomorrow morning, the entire Team A will assemble. I'm going to show you what it means to 'pick up money'."
The wind ruffled Lu Yan's clothes. On this chaotic afternoon, the first "monster" in the Ming Dynasty with the rudiments of a modern enterprise, a tight organization, and a logistical system, was born in the muddy ground outside Jinan.
It not only has to survive, but it also has to survive more fiercely than anyone else.