Lu Bu: My wife comes from two thousand years later

The old village head, however, was not carried away by the excitement. He asked in confusion, "There's plenty of land outside Jinyang City. Why did you insist on buying the land in Juyangli? Even at such a high price?"

Zhang Mo made up a story, "I've been weak and sickly since I was a child. A few days ago, I had a dream in which an immortal said that this is my blessed land. Building a manor here will allow me to live a hundred years. That's why I want to buy this place."

When Lu Bu heard this, the corner of his mouth twitched. He wondered what was wrong with Amo's brain. It worked faster than a wheel and she could even think of something from a fairy's dream.

The old head of the village looked Zhang Mo up and down. The young man had full muscles on his cheeks, even a little baby fat, fair skin, clear eyes, and a tall and well-proportioned physique. How could he look frail and sickly?

Seeing the suspicion in the eyes of the old village chief, Zhang Mo said, "I have been coming to Juyangli regularly these days, and my illness has improved a lot. This shows that this place is indeed a blessed place for me."

The old village chief was skeptical, but the land exchange did help Juyangli overcome its difficulties. After the wasteland was reclaimed, the value of each family's fields tripled, and with the promised grain for next year, everyone would be able to have enough to eat.

After registering the number of changes made by each household, Zhang Mo returned to the city to buy food, farm tools, and oxen.

…………

The land exchange went smoothly. With the help of Wang Ding from the county government, the land deed was quickly obtained.

Zhang Mo originally wanted to register the mine with Wang Ding, but he said, "Everyone in Jinyang knows that I'm the third son of the Wang family. If I register it with my name, I'm afraid my father will know the next day. Don't worry, I grew up in Jinyang. Most of the officials in Jinyang are familiar with you. I have a huge network of connections, so no one would dare to take your mine."

In fact, not to mention Jinyang, there are many people in the entire Taiyuan County who have connections with the Wang family. With Wang Ding's guarantee, Zhang Mo was completely relieved and started to build the mining area and recruit workers.

The infrastructure construction was left to Wang Ding, and the job of recruiting workers had to be left to Lu Bu.

Lu Bu felt that this contract was too unfair. He had agreed to help her train her troops, but in the end he had to do all the work.

Recruiting miners? How do you recruit them? Is it the same as recruiting soldiers?

He had never recruited soldiers in his life, but he had done so in his dreams, but he had only given an order and his subordinates would help with the specific matters. Now that he was asked to go in person, he really had no idea where to start.

Lu Bu thought about it all night but couldn't come up with anything. He was too lazy to think too much, so he took Zhang Chang and others, transported several carts of food, and left the city in a mighty manner.

Due to last year's drought and war, many refugees have gathered outside Jinyang City in the past few months, most of whom have been recruited by Jinyang's wealthy gentry.

When Lu Bu arrived, someone was already recruiting people. When he asked, he found out that it was the steward of the Jinyang Changshi family, who was preparing to recruit some tenant farmers.

Everyone recruited their own people, and Lu Bu didn't ask too many questions. He asked Zhang Chang and others to go to various places to gather the refugees.

Hearing that someone was recruiting workers, the refugees quickly gathered together. A group of people looked at Lu Bu eagerly, and their originally lifeless eyes now glowed with a hint of brilliance.

"Young master, please recruit me. Although I am old, I can work as well as young people. I eat less than young people. Please recruit me..." begged an old man in his fifties.

"Sir, although I am a woman, I also have some strength. Please hire me. If there is no more work, my son will starve to death..." A woman in her thirties knelt down and kowtowed to Lu Bu.

Looking at this group of starving people, Lu Bu felt overwhelmed. How could such people mine?

While he was still hesitating, the butler had already picked out a few young and strong men.

Lu Bu felt anxious and stopped worrying about it. He looked down at the crowd and tried to pick out the healthy young men.

He drew a circle on the ground nearby and had all the young and strong men he picked stand in the circle. Although they were thin, they would be able to work after a few days of rest.

Lü Bu had dozens of young men lined up and were about to return home when he heard a refugee ask, "Sir, where are our families?"

"Family?" Lu Bu was puzzled. "The old and weak can't do the work, so what's the point of me coming here?"

The refugees were immediately furious. "Are you only recruiting young and strong men? Then won't my family and I starve to death outside the city?"

"Sir, at least take him and the others with you and give them something to eat first."

"At worst, the rent will be higher. If they stay here, they'll die."

Lu Bu frowned slightly. It seemed inappropriate to ignore the family, but he was recruiting miners and only needed young and strong men.

He looked at the housekeeper again. He brought his family with him, but he was recruiting tenant farmers. Women and the elderly were also able to work. Besides, the food the tenant farmers were eating now would be compensated by the gentry from the land rent next year. Could Amo withhold the miners' wages?

But if he doesn't take the old and weak, these young and strong people probably won't go with him, because Amo is waiting for people.

Lu Bu gritted his teeth and said, "Take them all!"

"Young Master is a good man, a very good man!"

"Young Master is a good man, he will surely become rich and powerful!"

After a round of gratitude and flattery, everyone hurried to call their family members over. Lu Bu asked Wei Xu to preside over the queue, and soon, a long queue formed next to the team of young and strong people.

Lu Bu looked at the team of old and weak people who were three or four times more numerous than the young and strong people, and frowned. Can Amo afford to support so many people now?

Lu Bu took a large group of people back, but not back to the city, but to the mining area. These people had to help build roads and factories first.

In front of the straw hut next to Juyangli, Zhang Mo looked at the people recruited by Lu Bu. She didn't say whether she was satisfied or not, and asked people to settle them down first.

"Amo, did I do something wrong? I recruited so many useless people for you." Lu Bu said with some annoyance.

If he can't even handle such a small matter, how can he expect to do big things?

Seeing Lu Bu's frustration, Zhang Mo laughed instead. After such a long time of contact, she found that he was completely different from the Lu Bu recorded in history books.

This Lu Bu is not greedy for profit, values ​​loyalty and trustworthiness, will reflect on his own mistakes, and has a good temper.

"What are you laughing at? Are you laughing at me being stupid?" Seeing her smiling face, Lu Bu said unhappily.

Zhang Mo quickly suppressed her smile and said, "No, no, I'm smiling because I'm very satisfied."

"Those old and weak ones are just a waste of food and are of no use at all. Why are you satisfied?"

Zhang Mo said seriously, "How can it be useless? As long as they are not too old or too young, everyone has his or her use."

Seeing his puzzled expression, Zhang Mo explained, "Although the old and weak are less powerful, they consume less food than the young and strong. I can support two or three old and weak people by supporting one young and strong person. And for light work like printing coal, drying it, and collecting coal, it's more costly to use the young and strong people than the old and weak. Take printing coal for example, two women can definitely print much faster than one young and strong person, but the money and food consumed to support them is about the same. So, isn't it more cost-effective to support two women?"

Lu Bu nodded.

"However, the labor force required for these jobs is limited after all. Next time I recruit, I'll try to choose those with fewer families. I don't have much money now and I'm worried I can't afford to support them. When the coal mine starts selling, I'll recruit soldiers for training. I won't consider the number of families, only physical fitness."

Lu Bu said, "It's like in the army, the soldiers fighting in the front are required to be physically strong, while the baggage soldiers have less strict requirements. As long as they have the physical strength and can keep up with the marching pace, they are fine."

Zhang Mo added, "Yes, this is actually the way to employ people. By placing the right people in the right positions and optimizing and rationally utilizing resources, we can maximize work efficiency at the lowest cost."

Lu Bu nodded in agreement, "Amo, how come you know so much at such a young age?"

Not only could she explain the reasons for Xiang Yu's failure in detail, she also knew many other things, such as brewing, mining, and papermaking.

Recently, she got a set of papermaking tools and placed them in her private residence, saying that she wanted to study the ratio of raw materials to make paper that is more suitable for writing. A room in the front yard was filled with large vats containing rice straw, stalks, tree bark, etc., and she soaked many vats of them.

Zhang Mo said, "Because my teacher is the great scholar Lu Zigan!"

"Lu Zigan is your teacher? Why would he accept female disciples?" Lu Bu was puzzled. Moreover, would Lu Zigan teach how to mine and make paper?

"Because I'm smart!"

This girl was showing off again. Looking at her beautiful smile, Lu Bu's eyes unconsciously revealed a doting look. He reached out and pinched her fair cheek. It was slightly cool to the touch, and her skin was firm and smooth, which felt really good.

"It hurts, it hurts, let go, let go quickly." Zhang Mo shouted.

Lu Bu reluctantly let go, and seeing her fair face flushed, he said a little embarrassedly, "I'll be gentler next time."

Next time? Zhang Mo glared at him angrily, covered her face, and ran away.

After more than three months of busy work, the infrastructure of the mining area was basically built. Lu Bu also helped recruit 300 miners from various places, and the coal mining business started in full swing.

In the early stage, the covering soil layer had to be dug away, so Zhang Mo didn't have to worry about anything else. When she had free time, she learned horse riding with Lu Bu and studied military books together. Lu Bu had practical experience, while Zhang Mo had theoretical foundation and many historical cases, so the two of them complemented each other when they talked.

But more often than not, Zhang Mo asked Lu Bu for advice, such as how cavalry fought, how the army formation should be arranged, infantry versus cavalry, cavalry versus cavalry. When the two were together, they often talked for most of the day.