Normal wages in ordinary times, bonuses for escort missions, the escort bureau covers medical treatment for injuries, supports the disabled for life, and provides pensions for those killed in action…
One by one, item by item, the clan elders listened until their eyes turned red.
If they were not too old, they would have wanted to enlist themselves.
“Han the Valiant, I know this is true, but this old man still wants to ask,” one elder asked with trembling hands, “Is it really true? Really such high wages?”
“Hahaha!”
Everyone laughed at the elder’s question.
“To help us build factories, Mr Jin gave me ten thousand taels of silver at once and said to add more if it wasn’t enough. Would he cheat an old man like you over a few hundred wen?”
Zhou Youda said with a smile, “Old Feng, rest assured. If the gentleman doesn’t keep his promises, you can come and tear down my Zhou family ancestral house, and I’ll accept it!”
“Hahaha, a few days ago Mr Jin brought dozens of cartloads of copper coins. I saw it with my own eyes!”
The Feng elder laughed and said, “This old man doesn’t distrust Mr Jin. I just can’t believe my own ears, can’t believe there is such a good job in the world!”
Seeing this, Han Feng could not help but recall a phrase Jin Feng had once said: it all depends on comparison with peers.
In fact, only after becoming an escort did one realise that wages were the most basic part.
The real quick money came from going on escort trips. A single trip to the capital and back could yield travel allowances worth several months’ wages.
If luck was good and they encountered a few bands of bandits, it was even better.
The escorts’ equipment and combat quality completely overwhelmed bandits. When bandits tried to rob them, it was basically like delivering money.
If their luck held, wiping out a group of bandits meant every escort in the team could make a small fortune.
Some bolder escorts now deliberately hid the Zhenyuan Escort Bureau flag and changed into ordinary clothes just to attract bandits to rob them.
“By the way, there’s one more thing. We also recruit female soldiers. If your family has daughters, they can sign up too.”
Han Feng added.
“What? Girls can join the army too?” The Feng elder was stunned.
“Old Feng, your brain really isn’t working well. At Old Crow Gully, didn’t you see the female escorts from the bureau?”
The Cai elder said, “Those girls shoot arrows accurately. From over a hundred paces away, one shot killed a crow in a tree!”
“Han the Valiant, my daughter also has a brand on her face, and… and she was…”
One elder could not continue.
He was not the only one. Almost all the elders present lowered their heads.
They all had daughters too. In the prisoner camp, their daughters had basically all been violated.
Now with brands on their faces, whether married or unmarried, they had become difficult to place.
In feudal times, concepts of chastity were still strong. Although everyone knew it was not the girls’ fault, many married girls had been despised and sent back to their natal homes because of this.
If rejected by their natal families too, the girls would have no way to live.
Unmarried girls faced even greater difficulties.
Great Kang already had more women than men, making marriage hard for girls. With brands on their faces and everyone knowing they had been violated, which family would still marry them?
So recently, around Xichuan, girls often attempted suicide.
Jin Feng had no solution for this, only asking Zhou Youda to send people to counsel them as much as possible.
Seeing the atmosphere grow heavy, Han Feng quickly said, “The brands don’t matter. Our gentleman is recruiting soldiers, not holding a beauty contest. The gentleman said all female soldiers receive the same treatment as male soldiers. If they don’t want to be soldiers, that’s fine too. Once the textile factory is built, women with brands on their faces will be hired preferentially.
Our gentleman said women can hold up half the sky. Even if they never marry, he can give the girls a way to live. When the elders go back, please persuade the girls not to take their lives lightly.”
“Understood!”
The elders wiped away tears and nodded one after another.
If possible, who would want their hard-raised daughters to take their own lives?
Afterwards, Han Feng explained a few other matters and let the elders return.
The elders did not hesitate. They treated this as the top priority, gathering their clansmen for meetings upon returning.
Previously, the common people around Xichuan did not know who Jin Feng was. Back at Old Crow Gully, Jin Feng could not produce so much cash at once and offered to pay part with grain and cloth. Many people did not trust him.
Later, Zhou Youda guaranteed it with his ancestral home and lands, and only then did the people hand over their war horses to Jin Feng.
A few days later, Jin Feng transferred silver from Jinchuan Chambers in nearby areas and his home in Xihewan, having Zhou Youda notify the people to collect it.
But when the people saw Jin Feng had silver, they stopped worrying and instead asked him to owe them for now.
Five taels of silver was not a small sum in Great Kang. Whether exchanged for grain or cloth, it amounted to a large pile.
They had lost their homes anyway. They could not carry sacks of grain and bolts of cloth everywhere, could they?
Silver was even worse. What if they lost it while carrying it?
This left Jin Feng amused yet exasperated, but he agreed to their request and issued them something like deposit notes.
With these notes, they could withdraw money anytime at the Jinchuan Chamber in Xichuan City, or directly request grain and cloth.
Some people, hearing this, even returned the grain and cloth they had already received to the Jinchuan Chamber, asking to exchange for notes.
In the end, most of the grain and cloth Jin Feng had used to buy horses came back to him.
Discovering this, Jin Feng immediately thought of starting a savings service.
However, offering savings would make the Jinchuan Chamber function like a bank, requiring approval.
Jin Feng asked the Ninth Princess for help, and she agreed, but up to now there had been no reply. Jin Feng felt embarrassed to press her.
Through this matter, the Jinchuan Chamber gained recognition from the prisoner camp people.
Added to the growing fame of the Black Armour Battle Team recently, many people now quickly made way when seeing escorts.
When the elders told the refugees that Jin Feng was recruiting soldiers with the same treatment as escorts, the entire Zhou Family Village boiled over.
Before the elders could finish speaking, many refugees turned and ran towards Great Python Slope.
The elders had said Jin Feng was only recruiting five thousand in total, men and women combined.
But there were tens of thousands of refugees. If they arrived late, the spots might be filled.
Although the kiln factory had started work, it employed only a few people. The vast majority were idle at home.
Missing this chance meant waiting several months for work.
They did not know if they could survive that long.
The other refugees came to their senses and followed.
At Great Python Slope, the soldier on duty in the watchtower saw a mass of people rushing madly towards them. Thinking enemies were coming, he immediately sounded the bronze gong.
From the nearby watchtower, an escort also fired two signal arrows.
Jin Feng was in the main tent discussing matters with the Ninth Princess. Hearing the alert, he immediately had Big Liu escort her to the carriage, while he took Zhang Liang and rushed up the watchtower.
