Traveling through time and space and becoming a deposed prince, he just wants to survive!

The visitor was Cui Minghao, a member of the Boling Cui family's Southern Trade Department. The fact that the family had given him the responsibility of overseeing a large region showed his status within the family.

When the visiting card was delivered to Zhao Heng, he did not take it seriously at first. What could be the matter that people from the Cui family of Boling came to Chuzhou to find him?

At this time, one of Zhao Heng's retainers, named Kong Fanmiao, was in his thirties, not tall, dressed in Confucian robes, and often liked to wave a feather fan in his hand.

He had some friendship with the Cui family of Boling, who were descendants of the Kong family, and Zhao Heng also had a good relationship with them.

Seeing Zhao Heng casually placing Cui Minghao's visiting card on the table, Kong Fanmiao said:

"Why does the King of Chu look down upon the people of the Cui family of Boling?"

This made Zhao Heng stunned. My attitude was so obvious? I was just curious about the purpose of the Cui family's visit.

However, when Kong Fanmiao asked him this, he explained, "Mr. Kong has misunderstood. I'm just curious why the Cui family of Boling came from so far away to send me a visiting card."

Kong Fanmiao waved his feather fan, twirled the few whiskers on his chin, and raised a little finger.

"The Boling Cui family is a first-class, prominent clan. By the early Tang Dynasty, of the top five and seven surnames in the nation, two were surnamed Cui: the Boling Cui family and the Qinghe Cui family."

"The Boling Cui family is no ordinary clan. Throughout different dynasties, they have produced a number of exceptional individuals. These individuals have wielded considerable influence in politics and culture, and have also been dominant economically."

He didn't say much and his tone was calm, but Zhao Heng was stunned after hearing it. He thought to himself, "Wow, if such a family came to develop in Chuzhou, wouldn't that be a good thing?"

So he ordered someone to invite Cui Wenhao and also asked Kong Fanmiao to be present.

The three met and had a detailed discussion. Regarding the difficulties Cui Wenhao encountered in Chuzhou, Zhao Heng sought advice from Kong Fanmiao, who served as a background wall for Cui Wenhao in Chuzhou.

Zhao Heng had only one request, which was to hope that the Cui family could develop in Chuzhou.

Cui Wenhao was originally in charge of market trade in the Chuzhou area. Since the King of Chu invited him, there was no reason for him not to accept it.

"The King of Chu is so kind. On behalf of the Cui family, I will accept his kindness. It just so happens that a relative of mine is serving as the magistrate of Binzhou. We can develop together."

When Zhao Heng heard this, he thought to himself, this is a great thing. I was just about to make some personnel changes in Binzhou, and your Cui family's intervention is exactly what I want.

"Mr. Cui, this is what I think about this matter. I will write a letter to my father and ask him to transfer your relative directly to Chuzhou. There is a vacancy for the position of Tongzhi here, so please appoint him as Tongzhi first!"

Cui Wenhao was no fool. This was the King of Chu giving the Cui family the green light to come to Chu! If he still didn't know how to advance or retreat at this moment, his position as the leader would be in vain.

Immediately, Cui Wenhao promised Zhao Heng that if he needed money or supplies in Chuzhou in the future, he could just ask and the Cui family would do their best to meet their needs.

Zhao Heng was overjoyed to see that his plan had been perfected again. He drank a few more glasses of wine that night and even harmed a maid.

……

In order to prevent Pingshan's iron mine from being discovered by too many people, Jing County actually had 50,000 new troops.

Zhao Sheng did not ask these people to be brave and good at fighting, but only asked them to protect the security of the border from Jing County to Pingshan.

Even passing caravans would be carefully checked and their routes would be regulated, all under the pretext of ensuring their safety.

As for the supplies transported to Pingshan, they all first arrived in Jing County and were then delivered by special personnel from the new army.

The princess reported the new army to the prince. Initially, it was said that there were 10,000 soldiers, plus the existing palace soldiers, a total of 15,000 people. Considering the location on the border, the number was increased to 20,000.

Li Xin was a little confused at the time. Although Jing County was the border of Dingzhou County, it was only the border of the state and county, not the border of the enemy country. Was it necessary to arrange so many people there?

Later, when he saw the calligraphy that Zhao Hui brought, he felt that it would be helpful to have more manpower in reserve, as it would be of great use when the time comes.

Both the coal mine and the iron mine were controlled by Zhao Sheng for various reasons. The situation at the coal mine was slightly better, and the control over the flow of personnel was not strict. The iron mine basically prohibited outsiders from entering.

In this way, the new army expanded by another 30,000 people. However, these people were now dressed as workers, and if you didn't pay attention, you couldn't tell that they were new troops.

"Report to the regiment commander. The New Army's Third Battalion has carried 10,000 bags of ore as required. Requesting a break!"

A battalion commander of the new army reported his work to Shan Ning.

"Very good. Go and rest. You won't have to do anything else after your afternoon on guard duty."

Shan Ning was Zhao Long's former brother in the army. Due to the needs of the new army, Ma Biao, Wei Wu and Ma Yun were all arranged to serve as regiment commanders.

The new army members working in the iron mine took turns doing odd jobs, which they called physical training. They carried ore from deep wells when they had nothing to do, and sometimes they had to crush the ore.

As for trivial matters like adding coal to the blast furnace, there are sufficient reasons.

Although it was a bit dirty and tiring, and the work was different each time, his meals were also different. He had one day off every ten days and could drink a small amount of alcohol that night.

Ma Tun, who was with Ma Yun, was found to be unsuitable for working in a core agency after investigation. He is still in charge of public security in Shigang Village. Zhao Bing, who was with them, is not a bad person, but he is timid and also maintains public security in Shigang Village.

The only thing worth protecting in Shigang Village today is the cement kiln, which is now managed by Zhao Youfu.

Of course, there is another industry worth protecting, and that is the Youfu Biscuit Workshop.

Because it is a baked product, many people think that they can learn it in a few days. However, they end up stealing the secret recipe and still cannot make cookies.

Therefore, some people believe that the core technology is to add something like nymphs to make the cookies delicious.

No matter how people add the bean dregs, grains, animal protein and sugar, etc., and add yeast to bake the food, how can it be easily learned?

All core items are produced in the compound. In the eyes of outsiders, it is just a big warehouse full of children. What can they do?

Zhao Erniu has been loyal and responsible here, and Zhao Sheng is so anxious that he wants to find a woman for him to be his wife.

He is too honest. If he hadn't found someone as honest as him, the secrets in the compound would have been leaked long ago, and there would be no such good situation now.

Large-scale production is now all located in Luancheng, which has also diverted everyone's attention.

The incident in Shigang Village was just a minor one, but many people nearby knew that there were nymphs in the Youfu biscuits. The timid ones didn't dare to eat them, while the brave ones would just catch them and cook them.

Anyway, after the Youfu biscuits were made, people from Zhaojiazhuang came to transport them away. Most of them were stored in Luancheng, and some were sold directly to other places.

Nowadays, alcohol is rarely produced in the Zhenda compound because Dingzhou has built a wine-making workshop near Luancheng, close to the Tuohe River.

This winery is under the management of the Dingzhou Prince's Mansion, but everything fermented must be transported to Luancheng for secondary processing. Anyone who has secretly drunk alcohol knows that it tastes really bad without secondary processing.

Zhao Sheng still felt that he was short of manpower, so Zhao Long only brought Hu Yifei and Zhou Cang to Luancheng.

The safety of the workshop requires multi-faceted screening. Most of the personnel are former guards of the palace. Although Zhao Sheng feels that it is inappropriate, he has no choice.

But Zhao Sheng was under strict guard in Jing County. He would examine anyone who came there. He had to at least ensure that nothing would go wrong in the first five years, because he had bigger plans for the future.