Jiang Zhen’s men were full of expectations for the school, but it would still take some time for the school to open. So the first batch of people to use this school were actually the accountants recruited by Jiang Zhen.

The next day, the 22 accountants were picked up by Jiang Ming before returning to Hexi village.

At first, these people were a little uneasy, afraid of being deceived, but after seeing the docks in Hexi Village, their uneasiness disappeared immediately. Although the docks looked empty, it’s really magnificent. It was all paved with green bricks! Not only that, the houses near the dock were all second-story buildings!

Although Zheng Baoning tried to avoid Song Li, he was still “educated” later by Song Li, who came to his family. He didn’t fully believe in Song Li’s words, but he was still a little worried in the end. However, along the way, he felt that he had not been cheated. On the contrary, he believed that Song Li had been cheated by Jiang Chengxiang.

For example, the leader of Jinzhen Escort Agency might be an ungrateful person who relied on the money of the family of his wife to develop . . . but the people who brought them clearly respected Jiang Zhen very much If Jiang Zhen was really the type of person Song Li described, how could he convince others?

“You will live here in the future, so each of you can choose a room to live in.” Jiang Ming led the way and brought these accountants to the two-story buildings facing south.

These houses were not very big, and they all were connected. When you entered the house, you would see the staircase with rooms on both sides. On the second floor, there were also rooms on both sides.

In such a house, sailors would live four people in one room. Except for the few leaders who lived in two-person rooms. But because there were not that many scholars, each of them could live in separate rooms.

Seeing this building, some of the recruits did not hesitate to live on the second floor while others, feeling that the upper level was not secure, preferred the ground floor.

Zheng Baoning chose the first floor. He thought it was very troublesome. Moreover, if he chose the second floor, he would have to go a long way to get to the chamber pot in winter, which would be too troublesome.

They all brought their beddings, so Jiang Ming first asked them to choose a room to put down their things, and then said, “Tomorrow, someone will come to teach you something. You will study for seven or eight days, and then you can go home. After that you have to go out with the boat.”

“We know!” Hearing his words, the new people nodded their heads together. Then someone asked, “What are we going to do? Where are you going to eat? “

“When it’s time for dinner, you can go to the meal point. Everyone gets one, free of charge,” Jiang Ming said again and then pointed to a large house not far away.

This big house was named as the canteen by Jiang Zhen.

Jiang Zhen built a lot of stoves inside and found some gers and women to cook. When it was time, the sailors on the dock and his men could go there to get food. Then they could eat on the tables and chairs prepared there, or they could take the meal back to their own house.

This. . . When they were not on the ship to work, the owner also provided food and accommodation? When Zheng Baoning heard this explanation, his eyes suddenly lit up. Everyone else was also very satisfied.

Two silver a month, including food and housing. This was a really good job. Moreover, for the days when they were learning things, they also seemed to be paid. Zheng Baoning was even more satisfied with his job.

But at that moment, Zhao Jinge was not satisfied with the work Jiang Zhen arranged for him. “I can’t. How can I teach people to read?” I don’t know every word. I . . .” Jiang Zhen had even asked him to teach the accountants he hired. But how could he do such a thing?

A year ago, he didn’t know how to read, but what about those people? There were even some people inside who have been studying since they were children!

Zhao Jinge was much more confident, but he didn’t think he could be considered a gentleman at all.

“Jinge, you don’t need to teach them how to read. You just need to teach them arithmetic and that numbers I taught you,” Jiang Zhen said, thinking that Arabic numerals were much easier to use than the Chinese numerals and could be written much quicker. After these accountants learn it, in the future when there would be 69 goods, wasn’t writing the number 69 be easier than writing it using Chinese characters?

This could also be regarded as a characteristic of their escort agency. . . Cough. At this time, didn’t some big business firms use some special code for their accounts?

“I’m a ger . . .” Zhao Jinge was still very upset.

“Apart from you, I am the only one who knows this . . . Forget it. I’ll teach them in the evening when I’m done with my daytime job.” Jiang Zhen sighed.

“How can you do that? You will be too tired!” Zhao Jinge said, and then clenched his teeth. “I’ll teach!” Jiang Zhen already worked very hard, so he must help him out to share some of the burden.

Jiang Zhen looked at Zhao Jinge and chuckled. Although Zhao Jinge was uneasy, the next day, he still went to the place that Jiang Zhen called the classroom.

The accountants were still waiting for the Jinzhen Escort Agency to pay their wages, but they did not dare to disobey, so all of them waited in the classroom since the early morning. When they saw Zhao Jinge come in, they all looked at him.

Zhao Jinge, who was already very nervous, became even more nervous. Because of nerves, he subconsciously stood straight and frowned slightly. He looked very cold and serious.

Zheng Baoning and others didn’t know Zhao Jinge, but they had seen Zhao Jinge and Jiang Zhen stand together. They all respected him as one of the leaders of the escort agency. Seeing this, Zhao Jinge finally relaxed a little.

“My name is Zhao Jinge. I will now teach you some secret code of out Jinzhen Escort Agency. After learning them, you will be able to do things better in the future.” Jiang Zhen taught him the numbers, but right then, he directly called it a code.

Code? Zheng Baoning and others were surprised and delighted. They had just arrived, but they were willing to teach them the code.

The students sitting below were very happy, so Zhao Jinge relaxed a little and took out a writing brush and wrote on the wall.

There was no blackboard and chalk at this time, and he would not be able to get them for a while, so Jiang Zhen didn’t bother about it and helped Zhao Jinge pasted a sheet paper on one side of the wall, so Zhao Jinge would be able to write on it for the others to see.

He wrote the numbers for one, two, three and its numeric equivalent, 1, 2, 3, on the wall, counting to twenty. After writing, he began to teach these people how to recognize them and copy.

These people all have some foundation, so it was not difficult for them to learn this. When they wrote down everything that was written down on the wall, Zhao Jingo wrote down the multiplication table and told them to memorize.

“One by one is one, two by one is two . . . Nine by nine is eighty-one. You should also write this down. After you write it down, you will be able to calculate things quickly. For example, in the previous question, nine people each were given eight silver, 72. The result can be calculated very quickly. “

In fact, in Daqi, there had been a multiplication table for a long time. But the order and restriction was much different from that memorized by Zhao Jinge. But even if many calculation methods had been made available, most people didn’t know these things.

These days, the schools basically only taught them how to read, but cannot teach them how to calculate things. Those accountants knew about it, but they still would not teach others their own housekeeping skills for no reason.

Some of these people recruited by Jiang Zhen have learned, but most of them have not. Zheng Baoning just heard his father say something like 3 and 7 is 21, but he never learned it thoroughly. Because of this, everyone was studying very hard now, especially the “secret code” written by Zhao Jinge.

When Jiang Zhen deliberately came to have a look, he found that Zhao Jinge was doing very well. He quietly glanced at Zhao Jinge and then went to see his ship with his daughter in his arms.

In a few days, he will go out again, so these days, he must spend some time with his daughter.

Zheng Baoning and others came to class after eating porridge in the canteen that morning. After two hours of studying, when it was about the time to eat, Zhao Jinge let them go to have their lunch.

“I don’t know what to eat at noon. The porridge in the morning was so thick and delicious!”

A man with the same family background as Zheng Baoning said to him that there had never been any money in his family and that he could read only because his grandfather could read and he had learned from his grandfather.

Zheng Baoning had been hungry for a long time, so he also could not help thinking about noon meal. After smelling the fragrance of food, he subconsciously swallowed his saliva.

In modern times, you can eat all kinds of meat even if you eat in the canteen. But these days, productivity was very, very low and meat was not easy to get.

At the beginning, Jiang Zhen had few people, so he could prepare meat for them to eat every day, but he might not be able to do so any longer. It was not that he was reluctant to spend money, but if they eat meat every day, they may buy up all the pigs nearby, and the price of pork would go up. Therefore, he would give meat dishes to the people under his command every fifth day of the month, but the quantity was not much.

Coincidentally, that day was the fifth day.

Jiang Zhen bought a pig, removed the bones, cut it into small pieces, and braised it. Everyone who went to eat would get a spoon.

After Zheng Baoning’s meal was served, those people put a spoonful of pork with a soup into his rice bowl. In addition, he also got a bowl of boiled lettuce.

Forget about this bag of food and accommodation, to be able to eat so well . . . Zheng Baoning couldn’t help getting excited.

Coincidentally, when Jiang Ming came to dinner, Zheng Baoning went up and said, “Jiang who is in charge of affairs, Jiang who is in charge of affairs, will we eat so well every day in the future?”

“No, only every fifth day is there meat to eat. But if you are willing to pay, the kitchen is willing to make delicious food for you,” Jiang Ming said.

Although you can’t eat meat every day, he can eat it every fifth day of the month, which already made Zheng Baoning very happy.

When they continued to study in the afternoon, he became even more energetic.

A few days later, the 22 accountants learned all the numbers taught by Zhao Jinge.

When Jiang Zhen learned of this, he especially gave them some simple arithmetic problems to do. Although they spent a little more time doing them, they did everything right.

If you want to calculate quicker, you need to practice slowly.

Jiang Zhen was relieved and then gave these people a day off.

“Tomorrow morning, I will send you to the county town, so you can go home for the night. But the day after that, I will pick you up in the morning at the docks, and you will follow me out on a trip.”

“Yes, boss!” the accountants responded in unison, and like the people under Jiang Zhen, they also called him boss.

After living in the dock for seven or eight days, they already have an understanding of the Jinzhen Escort Agency. For example, Jiang Zhen was very capable, and everyone was convinced of his ability . . . For example, Zhao Jinge, who taught them before, was not only a ger but also Jiang Zhen’s wife.

When he first learned about this, Zheng Baoning was still thinking that Jiang Zhen marrying into a rich family might be true. After all, Zhao Jinge was not very good looking, but soon he learned it was not the case.

There were many people from Hexi Village on the dock. According to them, the Zhao family used to be very poor, and they even needed Zhao Jinge, who was a ger, to work as a long-term worker to earn food. If it were not for Jiang Zhen, their family would never have had such a good life now.

“This Boss Jiang is really good.”

“He said that he would increase our salary if we do a good job, which should also be true.”

“Maybe I’ll be some boss under him in the future!”

 

. . .

 

When Zheng Baoning and others returned to Hecheng County the next day, they all talked one after another and were full of hope for their own future.

The same was true for Zheng Baoning.

Jiang Zhen advanced their wage of one or two silver to each of them, so their families did not have to go hungry . . .Zheng Baoning was happy when he was stopped by Song Li.

“Zheng Baoning, do you really want to die for the sake of money? Working for such an ungrateful man!” Song Li accused.

“Song Li, don’t talk nonsense. Boss Jiang is not ungrateful at all. It is clear that Jiang Chengxiang framed him.” Zheng Baoning frowned and defended Jiang Zhen. “If it wasn’t for the Jiang family that had done too much . . .”

“Zheng Baoning, I didn’t expect that you would be this type of person. For few silver, you are willing to act so indiscriminately!” Song Li looked at Zheng Baoning in disappointment. “I can’t believe you speak for someone like that . . . Do you think that a person like him will be nice to his men? If you work for him, you may lose your life! “

“Song Li, don’t talk nonsense.” Zheng Baoning was annoyed.

The two men quarreled and finally broke off.

Of course, Zheng Baoning did not listen to Song Li. The next day, he returned to Hexi Village, and a day later, he left Hecheng County with the fleet.

Hecheng County was located in Hexing Prefecture, so Jiang Zhen’s business was basically within the scope of Hexing Prefecture.

There were some pirates in Hexing Prefecture, but they were all small groups, so they would not dare to lay hands on Jiang Zhen’s fleet at all. Therefore, Jiang Zhen’s fleet was very safe.

Of course, in Hexing Prefecture, there were also some places where Jiang Zhen would encounter danger, such as Hongjiang salt land. However, no one will do business there, and Jiang Zhen would not take any business from there, so there was no need to worry.

This time, they only stayed outside for more than ten days.

Life on the ship was somewhat uncomfortable for Zheng Baoning and the others, but it was much easier and safer than they had first thought . . . They finally settled down completely and regarded themselves as part of the Jinzhen Escort Agency.

In the twinkling of an eye, it had been more than two months since the Zhao family moved to their new home, and Zhao Mingzhu, who was six months old, was soon able to sit up.

Many children like to be hugged, but Zhao Mingzhu liked to play by herself. At the moment, she was sitting in a big wooden basin and was playing with the rattle she was holding.

Zhao Liu’s and Ruo’er were watching over her from the side and talking to the people who came to the Zhao family.

“My family’s Mingzhu is very clever and smart. Jiang Zhen might not recognize her when he come back from business.”

“But it’s also because Jiang Zhen is close to her . . . Before I was afraid that Jiang Zhen would not like a his daughter, but on the contrary, Jiang Zhen loves Mingzhu very much . . . As long as he is at home, he wants to hold her all day. “

“My Jinge also became more and more promising . . .”

 

Edited by: Faro

Proofreader: XLB

 

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