“Starting tomorrow, all female workers will begin the day with a quarter-hour run before heading to their shifts. They will also finish work one hour early in rotating batches to train at the range with crossbows, heavy crossbows, and catapults!”
Jin Feng turned to Tang Dongdong. “In half a month I want to hold a sports meet for the textile mill. Events will include loaded cross-country, crossbow shooting, heavy crossbow operation, and catapult handling. I will put up two hundred taels of silver as prizes. Go back and discuss the exact reward structure with the workshop foremen.”
“Understood!”
Tang Dongdong nodded.
“Village head, Third Grandfather, Old Shan, the three of you will have to work hard as well. Speed up construction at the saltworks on Double Camel Peak and the drying sheds at Tieguan Mountain!”
Jin Feng looked at the three village elders.
“Feng my lad, we want to hurry too, but it keeps raining lately, and we’re short of hands!” the old village head said helplessly.
“If we lack hands, recruit more at once!”
Jin Feng thought for a moment and turned to Xiao Yu. “Spread the word that Xihe Bay is hiring workers to build houses. Finding people shouldn’t be difficult.”
“Do we take female workers?” Xiao Yu asked.
“Anyone who can build, male or female, we take them all!” Jin Feng said. “Pay by piece rate.”
“Good!” Xiao Yu nodded and wrote it down.
The three village elders brightened at once.
People from Sichuan and Shu have always been diligent and capable. Female workers might lack a little strength compared to men, but there are so many of them.
Two women can easily outwork one man.
“Very well, everyone go and get busy! Xiaobei, Man Cang, Brother Liang, you three stay behind.”
“Right!”
Tang Dongdong, the village head, and the others left the command room one by one.
“Brother Liang, send more men westward and keep a constant watch on movements from the Tubo side.”
Jin Feng continued giving orders. “Also, inform Old Zheng to speed up new recruit training and greatly expand female troop recruitment!”
“Yes, sir!” Zhang Liang acknowledged and strode out quickly.
“Man Cang, how many crossbows do we still have in storage?” Jin Feng asked.
The escort bureau was growing ever larger, and hand crossbows were standard issue. One of Man Cang’s daily tasks was leading a group of female apprentices in making them.
“Nine hundred and sixty-two!” Man Cang answered without hesitation.
“Still not even a thousand…” Jin Feng considered for a moment. “The weather has been poor lately, so soap drying takes longer. I’ll have Feifei transfer some workers from the soap factory to help. Give them the less critical parts to process. Speed everything up. We need at least three thousand in reserve!”
“Got it!” Man Cang nodded.
Crossbow production had become an assembly-line process. All parts were now standardised and could be mass-produced.
If they worked flat out, the pace would be very fast.
“Once the crossbows are finished, hurry and produce another batch of spinning machines. The textile mill will probably expand massively by the end of the year.”
Jin Feng clapped Man Cang on the shoulder. “Time is tight and the tasks are heavy. The iron workshop will have to work hard for a while.”
“Don’t worry, sir. We’ll complete the mission!” Man Cang shouted.
“Good. Off you go.”
Now only Jin Feng and Tang Xiaobei remained in the room.
Jin Feng was about to speak when he saw Tang Xiaobei give a mischievous smile. “My husband, you’ve finally taken Feifei, haven’t you?”
“How did you know?” Jin Feng frowned slightly. “Have you planted spies at Tieguan Mountain?”
It had only happened this morning. For Tang Xiaobei to know already, those spies worked frighteningly fast.
“What are you thinking?” Tang Xiaobei pouted. “Planting spies is Xiao Yu’s job. I’m so busy running the Jinchuan Chamber of Commerce I barely have time to breathe. Why would I bother with Xiao Yu’s affairs?”
“Then how do you know I took Feifei?”
“Before, you always called her Zuo Feifei. Now you’ve switched to just Feifei, and your face has that lovesick look. If I still couldn’t guess, I’d be an idiot.”
Tang Xiaobei rolled her eyes at him. “You took her, fine. Why are you so nervous?”
“Am I nervous?” Jin Feng felt a twinge of guilt but refused to admit it. “Nervous about what?”
“Exactly. It’s no big deal. Why act so tense?”
Tang Xiaobei winked at him. “Husband, next time you go to Tieguan Mountain, take me with you, all right? I always thought Feifei had a lovely figure, but I never had the chance to…”
“Hooligan!”
Jin Feng swatted her backside and walked off.
“Husband, where are you going?”
“The glass workshop!”
“Wait for me!”
Tang Xiaobei hurried after him.
After the glass workshop was established, Tang Xiaobei had visited only once. The moment she stepped inside, her eyes nearly popped out.
“Why are there so many?”
Her voice actually shook.
Before her stood basket upon basket of glass beads in every colour.
Sunlight through the windows made them sparkle with countless hues.
The green ones gentle and warm, the purple ones dreamy, the white ones pure and holy…
Tang Xiaobei’s breathing grew heavier without her noticing.
Women are born to love shiny things. To Jin Feng these glass beads were utterly ordinary, but to Tang Xiaobei each one was a huge gemstone.
A mountain of gold!
She stepped forward, carefully picked one up, held it in her palm, and examined it against the light.
Old Tian and his mates tipped another basket of freshly made beads into the large bin with a loud clatter.
“Be careful!”
Tang Xiaobei’s heart leaped. She almost jumped in pain.
She ran over, gently gathered the beads that had fallen to the floor, cradling them in her skirt, then placed them back into the bin one by one as though they were eggs.
“There’s no need to be so gentle. Glass beads are very sturdy.”
Jin Feng walked up, scooped up the beads she was holding, and tossed them back into the bin with a crash.
“Husband, be gentle!”
Tang Xiaobei wrung her hands in distress. “That’s all money!”
“Old Tian, all of you step outside for a bit.”
Jin Feng waved the workers away.
“Yes, sir!” The labourers left the workshop.
“I brought you here because I want to discuss something. Do you think the grain merchants will accept these beads in exchange for rice?” Jin Feng asked.
In the era he had once lived in, glass beads were far too common and cheap.
He knew from history that Hu merchants had once traded a few glass beads for an entire mansion in prosperous Chang’an, yet he still lacked a clear idea of their true value here.
He had no idea how much one bead was actually worth.
“They’ll definitely accept!”
Tang Xiaobei picked up a peanut-sized glass bead from the bin. “Take this single bead to the capital and say you want a whole shipload of rice in exchange. The grain merchants will fight each other to trade with you!”
“Are they really that valuable?” Jin Feng asked.
“Of course they are!” Tang Xiaobei said. “Back when I was still at Spring Breeze Tower, the old madam who trained me told me that years ago in the capital a distinguished guest brought a soybean-sized glass bead to the finest brothel, Golden Moon Pavilion. He stayed two months, slept with every girl there, and when he left he took the two most famous courtesans with him. Golden Moon Pavilion even gave him a fat purse of silver for the road.”
