Iron Age

The Qing army was defeated, [-] troops bombed the camp, and the serial horse guards died in the battle hall. Three thousand cavalry were all killed under the joint attack of armored chariots and Ming cavalry. More than [-] Qing and Han troops were captured. Numerous weapons and weapons were seized, all eight return guns were burned, and a large amount of fodder was burned.

The vitality of the Qing army was severely injured. Although there were still tens of thousands of troops and horses, they had no food for camps and siege equipment, so they had to retreat to Yanzhou.

The troops of the Ming Dynasty were continuously transported to the front line through canals and railways, and 13 troops gathered on the front line of Xuzhou. Taking advantage of the new defeat of the Qing army, they crossed Xuecheng and advanced all the way to Qufu, regaining the hometown of saints. .The Qing army was no longer able to go south, and the Ming army did not dare to rush northward when encountering strong resistance in the Tai'an area. The two sides began negotiations, and the war temporarily came to an end.

Liu Ziguang handed over the suede Beaulieu boots. If it was a pair, he would be interested in wearing them. This stinky boot has been played with by the court officials all the time. The bloody long braided head wanted to please the Holy Majesty and Jiuqiantui. Even the boots of the Qing emperor were captured by our army, which shows the embarrassment of fleeing and the bravery of our army.

Yuan Chonghuan, the commander of the capital, personally wrote an eloquent memorial, praising the heroic deeds of the officers and soldiers of the Northern Jiangsu Metropolitan Commander who fought the enemy bravely and forced the Qing army back for hundreds of miles. , Independently resisted the [-] troops for a day, bought time for the reinforcements to arrive, paved the way for the final victory, and so on.

The boots of the emperor of the Qing Dynasty were packed in a brocade box, sent to the paddle steamer in the canal together with the memorial, and sent to Nanjing in an expedited 25 miles. Thousands of still intact heads were placed in the lime box, accompanied Several Eight Banners participated in the leadership, and the assistant leaders set off together. As for the [-] prisoners of war, they were sold at the price of [-] taels of silver per person according to the old rules. Brought to Xuzhou Mansion for sale.

The prefect of Xuzhou also posted a memorial, naturally bragging about how he had the foresight to send reinforcements to the iron factory early to help the iron factory defend the city, how heroic Long Jinwei Huang Zhen was, while thinking about the Holy One and Nine Thousand Years, while single Riding alone on a chain horse broke the spirit of the Qing army.

As for Yu Hualong's betrayal of the factory, everyone tacitly didn't mention it. Since it didn't succeed, let's pretend it never happened. Xuzhou government sent troops to help defend the city.The previous iron factory colluded with the Qing Dynasty to rebel, that was pure rumors, and the Xuzhou government must strictly investigate the rumor makers.

Gao Defen is a bit troublesome. Some relatives of soldiers from the Imperial Army saw that he had a head that looked like a bull general hanging on his horse's neck. When this word reached Niu Yong's ears, he naturally understood what was going on, and secretly told him that he must kill him He asked Gao Tai to avenge his younger brother, and frightened Gao Bing so that he did not dare to come within three miles of the Forbidden Army's camp.

During this period of time, Liu Ziguang’s 30 slave army had been stationed outside the north gate of the iron factory, living in tents of cow hair captured by the Qing army. A hundred people running to join in the fun is obviously the idea of ​​a lunatic. Someone proposed to become a water bandit in Weishan Lake, but only some of the 500 people had been sailors, and they were very unfamiliar with freshwater lake operations. Between the teeth of the local water bandits.

Factory owner Peng attached great importance to the armed forces of these 500 men and wanted to accept them as iron guards. It is no wonder that the original iron guards of the iron factory lost a lot, and the newly recruited slaves needed guards to repair the city walls and mine mines.These 500 people were originally slaves, and now they don't even need training as guards.

Liu Ziguang expressed his firm opposition. It is okay to be an iron guard, but the unity of command must be guaranteed, contracts must be signed, and commissions must be paid. Slave guards are determined not to do so.

Factory owner Peng was very surprised. Liu Ziguang’s conditions were very different: the [-] slave army could not accept foreign officers. The loss of their mental and physical health when they were slaves, as well as lost wages.

It sounded too much, but Liu Ziguang felt that it was not at all, and he was even a bit disadvantaged, because the mental damage caused to him by the slave life for the past two years cannot be measured in money.He dictated, Ding Libin wrote, and issued detailed compensation clauses, which showed his true character as an accountant to the extreme.

The specific compensation conditions are as follows: the original 120 three slaves had to take compulsory actions to restore their freedom in order to protect their own lives in the riots unilaterally caused by the iron factory. The standard compensation for silver, in view of the fact that these people have died, so the 4607 taels of silver should be handed over to the survivors as a fund.

The remaining 516 people, according to the length of time enslaved.The monthly compensation is 10 taels for mental injury and 10 taels for loss of work.Less than a month is calculated on the basis of 300 copper coins per day.

Among them, those who have been beaten by the guards and have whip wounds on their bodies can be compensated according to the standard of 1 tael of silver for each scar. Those who cause other physical injuries will be compensated according to the degree of disability, up to 1000 taels of silver, such as blindness, broken eyes, etc. leg.A small disability such as a broken toe should also be compensated for 50 taels of silver.

In addition, because the slaves worked hard in the iron factory and made great contributions to the construction of the iron factory, the iron factory should pay wages at the standard of 20 taels of silver per month.

Even reform-through-labour prisoners should be paid, Liu Ziguang justified his argument.

In addition, the slaves participated in the bloody battle with the Qing army to protect the two ladies and the iron factory, and paid the blood price. This should be rewarded with 50 taels of silver per person, or commission.

Liu Ziguang himself has made outstanding military exploits and helped the Iron Works get the limelight, so he should be given a personal reward of 500 taels of silver. Liu Ziguang recommended that the five outstanding leaders of the leadership level should also be given 300 taels of silver each.

Calculated in this way, most of the slaves have worked for two years, and the monthly compensation is 20 taels, and the salary is 20 taels. Multiplied by two years and 24 months, the average is 960 taels per person, and the total of 516 people is 49 taels of silver. Who doesn't have a few scars on his body? Each whip marks 360 tael, so that each person can get more than a dozen taels. Let's take an average of 1 taels per person, which is 15 taels, and add 7740 taels of war commission per person. Synthetic ordinary slaves are 50 plus 960 plus 15 per person: a total of 50 taels.

Fortunately, these 516** are all surviving elites, not many physically disabled, and the total disability compensation is 8450 taels.

The war reward for Liu Ziguang and other outstanding individuals is 2000 taels.

The iron factory needs to pay the slaves a total of 579270 taels of silver.

Looking at Ding Libin's specially capitalized numbers, although Factory Owner Peng was calm and introverted, he couldn't help but secretly gasped.

Five hundred and seventy-nine thousand two hundred and seventy taels is full of Kuping silver.

I want my life.

The iron factory experienced civil strife and foreign invasion, the houses and walls were largely destroyed, and a lot of weapons were consumed. A lot of money was needed to buy coal and repair houses and cities. Although the newly bought slaves did not need to pay wages, the 12 that had already been paid The 5000 taels of silver was not brought by the strong wind.

There is also a 10 taels of labor money paid to the forbidden soldiers.The iron factory's own casualty pension also costs 10,000+ taels. These few large expenses are enough to empty out the old bottom of the iron factory.

Kuyin originally had 100 million taels, but after paying slave money and military expenses, there are still 77 taels left, of which 5000 taels are loans from Rishengchang Bank. How is insatiable.

The two sides held a meeting on the wall of the north gate in an attitude of friendly negotiation. The slave army was not formally ordered by the iron factory, so they still wore various armors, but they still showed strong military quality. The 500 people were divided into five groups. For a centurion, the captain was elected, simple military regulations were drawn up, and the tents were set up meticulously.

Liu Ziguang was still wearing the armor of the Imperial Forest Army of the Qing Dynasty. He said that he was dressed warmly, sitting on the side of the negotiating table, posing as a general. Anthony brought twenty people as guards. Ding Libin is now the accountant and clerk of the slave army. Yes, the little one looks very pompous, sitting next to him with a brush and an abacus, waiting to help General Liu calculate the amount of silver at any time.

Factory owner Peng sat on the other side of the negotiating table covered with green felt, staring at the compensation bill issued by Liu Ziguang for a while.Liu Ziguang rapped his middle knuckles on the table in a carefree way, and took a breath of hot tea from time to time. He also knew that the price he charged was too high, he asked for the price all over the sky, and sat on the ground to pay back the money.There is still a bottom line, that is 500 taels of silver per person, he does not dare to be too tyrannical, after all, 500 manpower is still very weak, the iron guard still has a few thousand troops, and there are many officers and soldiers nearby, and strive for a win-win situation for everyone to be happy it's the best.

Factory owner Peng is still thinking about it. Standing behind him is Hu Xianjue. Captain Hu followed Liu Ziguang into the sphere of influence of the Qing Dynasty that day. , was chased and fled everywhere, and it was not until night that he disguised himself and sneaked into the Qing army camp. Liu Ziguang found the fire on the city wall. He was the one who set it off.

The owner of the factory Peng slammed the table, and the guards around him put their hands on the handle of the knife in shock, but they heard the owner of the factory say slowly: "The amount on the list is all agreed."

Before Liu Ziguang was happy, the old man went on to say: "However, the factory doesn't have so much cash at present. Even if there is, we have to buy bricks, tiles, coal and grain first. It's 57... let's take it as 58 taels. The old man owes you, each of you will pay 40 taels of silver in advance, and will be issued a full set of armor from the iron factory. What do you think, Xiao Liu?"

"Okay, the factory owner is indeed straightforward, but when will the remaining money be given?" Liu Ziguang asked.

"That's up to you." Factory owner Peng smiled mysteriously. "Come on, let's study the identity of 500 iron guards..."

After friendly and candid negotiations between the two parties, [-] slave troops were hired by the iron factory, paying attention to hiring rather than recruiting, and became a military group that was loyal to Liu Ziguang personally and responsible to the employer. The iron factory issued armor, war horses and weapons, and they were in charge of The scouts for scouting and some of the city's defenses are paid ten taels of silver per person per month. In case of war, there is another subsidy. The injured can give priority to chores in the iron factory.

Once the contract is signed, it lasts for three years, and the contract can be renewed when it is full. In order to ensure the fulfillment of the contract, the iron factory temporarily withholds a deposit of 200 taels of silver per person, which will be paid from the aforementioned compensation.

The contract was a roll of white silk with clauses written all over it, and at the end was affixed with the bright red seal of the iron factory. The owner of the factory also waved his pen and signed the name "Peng Jianguo".

This name is very modern, Liu Ziguang pressed his big seal while thinking, it was carved by the goldsmith in the team for him overnight, one side is the official defense of the slave army, and the other side is Liu Ziguang's private seal, now this one The army has its own name. The "Xiao Death Camp" is majestic and murderous.

The 516 slaves excitedly pressed their handprints on the white silk one by one, and each of them paid 25 taels of silver, money that would never be earned in this life, and it would be good to follow General Liu, with meat to eat and money to make.

Brand new armor was worn on the soldiers of the death camp, and the newly embroidered flag was fluttering in the wind. Three hundred infantry, one hundred cavalry, one hundred chariot soldiers, five centurions, five standard bearers, and one general, In the open space outside the north gate, he was inspected by the senior leaders of the iron factory.

During the inspection, Hu Xianjue said dissatisfiedly: "My lord, is it worth spending so much money for these 500 people? Even if you recruit 1 iron guards, you can't spend that much money."

The factory owner Peng smiled slightly: "Do you think I care about these 500 people? In today's Ming Dynasty, what is the most important thing? Talent!"