Chapter 190 I want it

Wang An suddenly felt something blocking his chest, which made him feel very uncomfortable.

His eyes wandered over these veterans, their weather-beaten faces and broken limbs, and Wang An said inexplicably: "I want all of them, but I will take a group of them away from the grassland first. If the rest of the brothers trust me and are willing to follow me to the capital, you will all follow me for food in the future."

"I dare not say more, but if I have a mouthful of rice, I must have a mouthful of porridge. If I have a mouthful of meat, I must have a mouthful of soup!"

Everyone looked up at Wang An in surprise, even Man Gui showed a shocked expression.

"Brother Wang, are you serious?" Man Gui asked excitedly.

Although just now, he asked whether these seven or eight hundred people were enough, and seemed to want to stuff these people directly into Wang An.

But in fact, Man Gui knew in his heart that it was impossible, he just wanted to make the number as high as possible so that Wang An would ask for as many people as possible for the sake of face.

But he didn't expect that Wang An would actually drug these people, these disabled people, and old men!

Although Wang An's request was to follow him to the capital, Man Gui could express his full understanding.

After all, Wang An's base is in the capital, so it is certainly impossible for him to spend money to keep these old soldiers in Datong Prefecture for nothing.

Sun Zushou on the other side looked as if his soul had been greatly shocked. At the beginning, Wang An asked him to hire people just to temporarily gather people to go to the grassland, and they were basically temporary workers.

But I didn't expect that it would develop to the point where they would have to hire long-term workers?
However, having a long-term job is better than doing odd jobs, so Sun Zushou naturally did not say anything about it.

If Wang An regrets this reminder, he will become the sinner of his brothers.

Man Gui had just arrived at the scene and had only heard that Wang An was recruiting people, but he didn't know that he just wanted to recruit temporary workers at the beginning.

Otherwise, with his status as the general of Datong Prefecture, he would not have personally taken action for a small job.

As Man Gui asked the question, the seven or eight hundred veterans present all looked at Wang An in unison. Even the few blind men in the crowd turned their heads in the direction where the voice came from.

However, Wang An, who had just made such a bold statement, instantly regretted his words this time. However, looking at Man Gui's huge body that could almost crush him, and the hopeful eyes of more than 700 veterans present, Wang An finally swallowed the regret that was about to come out of his mouth.

The smile was uglier than crying, and he said, "A gentleman's word is as good as his bond. Although I am just a businessman, I am also honest!"

Upon hearing this, Man Gui patted Wang An's shoulder with a hand as big as a palm-leaf fan, almost breaking his bones.

"Good boy, I didn't misjudge you after all. From now on, you will be the one to provide Datong Prefecture with military funds!"

Wang An was overjoyed when he heard this. In the late Ming Dynasty, the imperial court spent 6 million taels of silver on military expenditures on the nine important border towns every year, although the bulk of it, nearly 4 million taels, was spent on Liaodong.

The other eight could only share the remaining two million, but Datong Prefecture was a relatively important town after all. Wang An estimated that Datong Prefecture’s annual military expenditure should be more than four hundred thousand.

Even if only 100,000 of it is actually used, it means that Wang An has at least 100,000 taels of business to do!

What's more, looking at Man Gui's current behavior, Wang An believes that Man Gui is not a conscienceless person, so this number should be even larger than he estimated.

Two hundred thousand taels?

Maybe, if we calculate according to this number, even if Wang An only made 20% of the profit, he would still get 40,000 taels! Don't look at the Huizhou merchants, Shanxi merchants, etc., who would take tens of millions of taels when their property was confiscated, but that was accumulated by their ancestors for generations.

Even if the Eight Imperial Merchants, who have not yet grown fully, come across a business with a profit of 40,000 taels, they will try their best to fight for it.

Wang An quickly took the opportunity to express his opinion, "Don't worry, Mr. Manchu. From now on, the supply of materials for Datong Prefecture will be handed over to me. I will guarantee the genuine goods and fair prices!"

In order to completely take down Man Gui, Wang An found a box to step on and solemnly announced: "For those who are willing to follow me, I promise you that each of you will receive at least one tael of silver in wages and food every month, and I guarantee that I will never default on your payment!"

"If I go back on my word, or fail to pay everyone's wages, I'll have the Mandarin come to Jincheng with a knife and chop off my head!"

The veterans were all overjoyed and almost couldn't control themselves with excitement.

The reason why these people were assigned to the old camp was either because they were too old or because they were physically disabled and could no longer fight on the battlefield.

Not only that, it is difficult for them to live a normal life. Even doing farm work is more difficult than ordinary people, not to mention that there is anyone willing to hire them.

Even for those among them who were in better physical condition, such as those who had only lost a hand or lost an eye, the shop owners were often only willing to pay them wages far below the market price.

Even so, it is difficult to find a job.

And Wang An actually gave them one or two taels of silver as food and work allowance, which was already more than the monthly income of many able-bodied shop assistants.

Moreover, Wang An took the initiative to ask Man Gui to act as his guarantor, and the veterans believed it without a doubt. In an instant, earth-shaking cheers broke out in front of the small cargo hold door!
Looking at this scene, Wang An noticed that Man Gui was secretly wiping the corners of his eyes, and he immediately felt amused.

At the same time, he also felt that the first-rank military officer in front of him no longer had that condescending attitude. Instead, he was more like a wandering hero who valued friendship and loyalty.

Wang An didn't know what he was thinking, and suddenly a bad joke popped out of his mouth, "Master Man, is there sand in your eyes?"

Man Gui glared and said, "No, how could it be possible!"

"Then why did I see you wiping your tears just now?"

"Brat, am I too kind to you?"

…………

Although Wang An had agreed to accept all the veterans, this time he needed people to help him transport goods to the grassland, so those who had lost their legs, were blind, or were too old to support themselves, Wang An asked them to stay in Datong Prefecture temporarily.

From the remaining people, about two hundred people in relatively good physical condition were selected to escort the caravan to Guihua City.

While Wang An was preparing, Sun Zushou was very considerate and borrowed mules and horses from merchants in Datong Prefecture for Wang An to use.

When Wang An took out the money to pay the rent, he was dissuaded by Sun Zushou.

He also said that Wang An was such a righteous man and he was just doing him a small favor, so how could he accept money?

(End of this chapter)