From the Red Mansion, you can travel through the world of martial arts

Chapter 357 Personal Soldiers
"Do I have to pay for this ice?"

Jia Wei was used to having everything he wanted, so when he came into the house and saw the ice jar emitting cold air he thought it was natural, but he never thought about where the ice came from... He was quite like a person who didn't manage the household and didn't know how expensive firewood, rice, oil and salt were.

Qingwen laughed and said, "Master, what are you talking about? What things in the mansion are not bought with money? Could it be that they fell from the sky?"

Jia Wei slapped her on the butt.

Qingwen let out an "ah" and covered her back with her hands while pouting.

Jia Wei asked again: "How much can this ice be sold for?"

Baochai smiled and said, "You can't buy it with just a few hundred coins. It's only early summer now, and the ice cellars in the big mansions in the capital city are still full of ice, so the price is not high. By the end of summer, you won't be able to buy even one and a half ounces of silver for a foot of ice in the ice room."

Jia Wei calculated that a block of ice weighing 1.5 feet weighed about 100 jin, and what did five taels of silver mean? This was probably the price for buying a well-dressed maid from a broker.

A hundred pounds of ice can be exchanged for a young girl?
Jia Wei was shocked!
Seeing that he was interested, Baochai gave a detailed introduction: "Families like ours would take ice from the glaciers starting in winter and store it in ice cellars for use during the hot summer season next year."

"We can store about 10,000 blocks of ice at a time, but in the hot summer, most of the ice is difficult to use, and only 30% is usable."

Therefore, even in the Marquis's Mansion, ice was not readily available. As the housekeeper, Baochai had to set an example and take the lead in frugality.

Miaoyu, like Jia Wei, has always been concerned with her own enjoyment and does not understand these worldly affairs.

Of course, Jia Wei was not interested in the expense of ice cubes. What he wanted was to make money from ice cubes.

He knew how to make ice from nitrate. It was easier than soap or glass...

When saltpeter is dissolved in water, it absorbs a large amount of heat, causing the water to cool down to the point of freezing. All you need is your hands.

Afterwards, you can use the cooling crystallization method or the evaporation crystallization method to take out the saltpeter and reuse it... Jia Wei felt that his dead chemical knowledge was attacking him again.

If we make ice cubes and sell them, we can get 100 catties and 5 taels of silver. The profit is more than 100 times. We can also sell them at half the price, making small profits but quick turnover, and crush those ice houses in the same industry...

Obviously, this will become a highly profitable, monopolistic business. All kinds of corruption and bribery to make money are nothing compared to this.

Of course, if the business gets bigger, there will be people who are jealous, but since he is in charge of the Jinyiwei, he will definitely be the only one who can grab other people's property...

Jia Wei was in a good mood, but nothing had happened yet, and he didn't tell Baochai about it.

After sleeping for two quarters of an hour, smelling the cool fragrance of Baochai's body, he got up and was just cutting a piece of iced watermelon to eat when Ding Baiying came in to report:
"Master, eighty personal soldiers have been selected. There are disciples from the eight branches of the Jia family, but most of them are servants of the Jia family and the sons of serfs from the farms below."

Jia Wei didn't react much. After all, he was a personal soldier. To him, it made no difference whether the son was the master's or the servant's son. Maybe the servant's son would be stronger because he worked every day.

"Let's go and have a look!"

The two of them left Baochai's courtyard and went to a corner of the garden in the east. This was originally the residence of Ningguo Duke's personal soldiers, with an armory, a martial arts arena and a stable.

Jia Wei looked around for a while and ordered, "Order people to separate the East Garden from the mansion, and prohibit personal soldiers from entering the mansion without orders."

"Yes, I'll ask someone to do it right away." Ding Baiying said immediately.

Jia Wei nodded. These personal soldiers were all men in their 18s and 19s, full of vigor and vitality. If they were not on guard, it would be common for them to hook up with that girl. Jia Wei certainly would not allow such a thing to happen. He was the only one who could mess around in the mansion!
After entering the East Garden, Jia Wei was still somewhat expectant.

Although he now holds three military positions, the Dragon Guards are a group of second-generation soldiers who are not capable of taking on important tasks. The Embroidered Uniform Guards are the emperor's personal army, and the Beijing Camp has a sound system.

The twelve battalions each had their own lieutenant general and were supervised by the Ministry of War, which was equivalent to the mutual supervision among the three forces of civil officials, military honors, and eunuchs.

The Beijing Army is so sensitive that under normal circumstances, it would not allow one person to hold the position of Jiedushi all year round. In this way, without the imperial edict and the tiger seal, no one can mobilize troops and do what they want...

But it was different for the personal soldiers. Their food, wages and pensions were all provided by Jia Wei. They were completely private armed forces. After a little management, Jia Wei would lead them into the palace to kill the emperor, and these people would follow him.

But when he arrived at the martial arts arena, Jia Wei was dumbfounded. He saw dozens of men of varying heights, weights, and statures piled up in the open space. The formation was even worse than the military training of high school students in his previous life...

"This is the Marquis, why don't you show your respect to him!" Tiezhu, the leader, shouted.

Tiezhu is a close follower that Jia Wei brought from Jinling. Now that Jia Wei is forming his own personal army, of course he will be the leader.

Dozens of men knelt down in confusion, some bowed their hands, some kowtowed, and shouted sporadically.

Jia Wei looked down at the crowd, and seeing his sullen face, the people below only felt a great pressure, and the scene became quiet for a while.

"To be my personal soldier, you will receive four taels of silver per month and twenty shi of rice per year. Ten people form a team, and the team leader will receive five taels of silver per month and twenty-five shi of rice per year!"

Jia Wei never plays tricks. In his previous life, he hated leaders who would talk about the company's vision and culture. Now that he is the boss, he gets straight to the point and talks about treatment.

As expected, as soon as these words were spoken, the audience became agitated.

Most of these people were slaves for generations, and the highest monthly salary they received was no more than 500 coins. After becoming Jia Wei's personal soldiers, their monthly salary would increase more than ten times. Who wouldn't be crazy about that?
Even though some of them were regular disciples of the Eighth Branch of the Jia Family, they were also excited by this treatment. After all, they were all here to serve as personal soldiers, and most of them came from families that could not afford to make ends meet.

This group of people paid more attention to the "bantou" that Jia Wei mentioned, and couldn't help thinking, how can these lowly servants compare with their upright Jia family members? The "bantou" should also be a member of the Jia family!
Some people who were usually idle and lazy started to make a noise and shouted, "Second Uncle, how can you be the leader of this team?"

"Someone, fight them out!"

Jia Wei waved his hand, and Tie Zhu directly pulled the man out from the crowd. Seeing the man being dragged out, everyone was silent for a moment!
"From now on, anyone who tries to seek kinship or friendship will be kicked out!"

Jia Wei was an expert at killing chickens to scare monkeys and establish his authority, and then he continued: "I don't care what your previous status was. Once you come here, you are my personal soldiers. I will treat you all equally and choose those with the best performance as the squad leader. No matter if you were a master or a servant before, you all have a chance!"

After these words were spoken, although the scene remained quiet, the atmosphere became noticeably agitated.

"But, even though you are here, you are not yet my personal soldiers! You will start training today and be assessed at the end of the month. The best will be selected as my personal soldiers, and the worst will be eliminated immediately, without any food or salary!"

After Jia Wei finished speaking, he turned around and left without any hesitation.

Ding Baiying was already waiting in the back, and Jia Wei ordered: "Prepare the list of personnel and the list of armor and weapons, and report them to the clan office to avoid gossip."

"Yes."

(End of this chapter)