A Journey Through the Worlds of Film and Television.

Chapter 133 A Special Gift from Ding Baiying

12

After Lu Cheng arrived in Haizhou, the first thing he changed was the food for the Haizhou soldiers, so that every soldier could eat well and wear warm clothes. Naturally, they would be willing to follow you and even risk their lives for you.

With this foundation, it would be easy to recruit, select, and train soldiers. All of this already had a mature model, so Lu Cheng didn't have to worry too much.

In order to ensure that all the soldiers had enough to eat, Lu Cheng continued to spend money and began to transport grain from the interior to Haizhou. He also transported grain from various places through some grain merchants in Haizhou City.

The area under the jurisdiction of Haizhou Wei is very large, with Bohai Sea to its southwest, so sea transportation is also very convenient.

During the Ming Dynasty, a strict maritime ban was implemented for a long period of time. However, the high profits from sea transportation could not be stopped, and smuggling trade along the coast was still quite popular.

By the end of the Ming Dynasty, the maritime ban policy had long been abolished. As long as you are willing to pay, even at great risk, those merchants will transport the materials you want to you.

When Lu Cheng contacted some merchants and learned that these merchants could transport goods directly from Jiangnan, Lu Cheng had an idea.

Today, Lu Cheng is already a powerful general who controls a region, owns territories, and has troops, which is enough to protect some of his businesses.

Among the several small inventions that time travelers must have, Lu Cheng first chose soap and glass.

As for perfume and distilled liquor, a large amount of alcohol is needed. In this era when there is not enough food, Lu Cheng is not ready to engage in distilled liquor for the time being. Perfume also cannot do without alcohol, so it is naturally put on hold for the time being.

So, Lu Cheng's logistics manager Lao Ma received another strange order, which was to collect a batch of shells and lard, and to leave some high-quality wood ash in the kitchen, etc.

After collecting all the things, Lu Cheng personally found some craftsmen and began to teach them how to make soap.

The process of making soap is actually very simple. First, calcine the shells on charcoal, and then pound the calcined shells into powder, the main ingredient of which is quicklime.

Then add water to the wood ash and filter it to get a solution. Add shell powder and let it settle overnight for later use.

Afterwards, pour the upper liquid after precipitation into lard at room temperature, add a small amount of fine salt, and stir continuously in the same direction to promote saponification reaction.

Once the liquid solidifies into a paste, it can be placed in a mold and cooled into shape.

The whole process does not require much technical content, but it does require more attention to some details, such as filtering the solution as clear as possible to avoid the soap being ugly in color. Also, pay attention to adjusting the proportions to achieve the best cleaning effect of the soap.

In fact, animal fats such as butter, mutton tallow, lard and vegetable oils can all be used to make soap, but the effects of the soaps made are slightly different.

The process of making glass is a little more complicated, but Lu Cheng has also specially studied the detailed process.

It is winter now, and I have nothing to do. It is a good opportunity to direct the craftsmen to make more attempts and train a group of skilled craftsmen.

Of course, these craftsmen were selected from the families of their soldiers, and the production workshop also had a strict confidentiality system to prevent the production methods from being spread.

All tasks are proceeding in an orderly manner, and Lu Cheng always has endless things to do.

In order to reduce the burden as much as possible, Lu Cheng has never stopped recruiting talents.

Before, Lu Cheng was just a small centurion and did not have much reputation, so it was difficult for him to attract any talents.

Today, Lu Cheng is already a fourth-rank military general and a guerrilla general. He is in charge of a region and can already attract some talents.

At least in the entire Haizhouwei, Lu Cheng has already gained a certain appeal.

Moreover, as the news of Lu Cheng's deep penetration into the Later Jin Dynasty and killing two traitors spread, many storytellers began to actively spread Lu Cheng's story.

This image of a lone hero is extremely popular among the people in the underworld.

Not long after Lu Cheng arrived in Haizhou, some chivalrous men from the martial arts world came to him and wanted to follow him.

In response to this situation, Lu Cheng specifically asked Ding Xiu to take the lead in setting up a Hero Hall. All the heroes who came to join the hall, as long as their martial arts skills reached a certain standard or they had a skill, could be retained and either join the army, the logistics department, the intelligence department, the caravan, etc.

To this end, Lu Cheng also bought a restaurant in Haizhou City and renamed it Yingxiong Restaurant to entertain chivalrous men and various talents who came from afar.

Anyone who can pass the assessment and demonstrate personal ability will be issued a reserve talent badge and will receive discounts on accommodation and meals in the Hero Building.

As for establishing a talent recruitment hall, it was not something Lu Cheng could do. Those who dared to establish a talent recruitment hall here were either local lords, some heroes, or the imperial court.

If Lu Cheng dared to set up a talent recruitment hall, he would probably recruit the Jinyiwei first before recruiting any talented people.

There's nothing wrong with the Heroes Hall. They're all gangsters anyway and the higher-ups won't look down on them.

Originally, Lu Cheng thought that he could only recruit some martial artists, but a month later, Ding Xiu gave Lu Cheng a surprise.

"Sir, a group of veterans and descendants of the Qi Family Army have come to the Hero Hall. There are thirty-two of them in total. I have tested them and they are all quite good at martial arts. Do you want to meet them?"

"Oh? Since you said that the Kung Fu is pretty good, I must go and take a look."

When Lu Cheng arrived at the reception room of the Heroes Hall, he saw more than thirty men waiting in the hall.

Ding Xiu immediately introduced him to everyone: "Everyone, this is our guerrilla general, Lord Lu."

Those people immediately bowed and saluted: "We are here to see General Lu."

"Everyone, don't be so polite. I heard that some of you have served in the army under Qi Shaobao?"

"Your Excellency, we all came from Dengzhou. We old guys all fought with General Qi in the past. These young ones are also descendants of our Qi Family Army.

In fact, we came to seek refuge with you this time because, on the one hand, we admire your reputation. We heard that you went deep into the capital of the Later Jin Dynasty and killed traitors. We all admired you. On the other hand, it was also because the girl from the Ding family wrote us a letter. "

"You all know Miss Ding Baiying?"

"Of course, we are from the same hometown as the Ding family, and we watched the girl from the Ding family grow up. The girl has a high talent for martial arts, and is one of the best among the younger generation. But her parents passed away early, and the girl went out to make a living early, and she hasn't been back home for several years.

Not long ago, Ding girl wrote us a letter, telling us about Lord Lu and suggesting that we come to join the army. We also happened to have heard about Lord Lu's story, so we brought some young people from the same hometown with us. "

"I see. Please take a seat."

Among this group of people, the oldest ones were around 50 years old and had fought in the war with General Qi. After all, Qi Jiguang passed away only thirty years ago.

The other young men were also descendants of Qi's army. They had learned how to use swords, guns, sticks and clubs, and some of them had even inherited some simple military tactics. They were definitely good soldiers and could even be trained to become middle and lower-level officers.

Lu Cheng had never expected that Ding Baiying could give him such a great gift. It seemed that all the letters he had written during this period were not in vain.

"You all came to join me because you think highly of me. Let me put it this way. My army is still lacking a spear and stick instructor who is responsible for teaching soldiers combat skills and combat experience. You all go to the army first and get familiar with my training mode.

After that, veterans can stay in the army and serve as instructors of the spear gang. Young people can choose to join the army and start as ordinary soldiers. As long as they can perform well in training, they can be promoted to small flags. If they can make meritorious contributions in the future, they can be promoted to general flags or centurions. What do you think? "

"Since we have come here to seek refuge, we will naturally follow your orders."

Lu Cheng nodded in satisfaction: "Well, now it's time for dinner, everyone put down your weapons first. Let's go to the Hero Building for dinner, how about it?"

"It's up to you, my Lord."

It seems that these descendants of Qi's army should have undergone certain military training in their daily lives, and have no problems with discipline and obedience. They should be able to quickly integrate into the military camp and stand out.

Afterwards, Lu Cheng personally led this group of people to the Hero Building and gave them a good treat.

After settling them down, Lu Cheng immediately wrote another letter to Ding Baiying, expressing his gratitude and enclosing a specially selected hairpin as a gift.