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Chapter 310: The Eighth Year of Zhizheng
The night of the sixth year of Zhizheng in the late Yuan Dynasty was extremely quiet. Apart from the occasional noise made by the night watchman passing by, there was almost no other sound.

After Suning and Liu Yifei agreed on their goal, both of them were extremely eager to "have children" because the two people who depended on each other urgently needed children to consolidate their careers in this world.

The next day, Suning woke up feeling refreshed, but Zhu Yuanzhang appeared in front of him with panda eyes. He must have been thinking about Suning's problem last night all night.

"Mr. Su, I am willing to stay and work for you."

"Oh? That's great!" Suning patted Zhu Yuanzhang's shoulder happily.

At this time, Wu San brought three middle-aged men to the Su Mansion. When he saw Su Ning, he smiled and explained, "Mr. Su, these three are the accountants assigned by our master."

"Yeah! Very good!
I'm sure your boss has already told you that you'll be accompanying me out of town to hire young men over the next two days. You just need to register." These three people were the accountants that Suning had borrowed from Chen Boda last night.

"Yes! Mr. Su!"

“There are no other requirements, but you must ask clearly about their place of origin and whether they have a criminal record.

We at Longmen Escort Agency only hire workers with clean backgrounds and will not tolerate those who are hiding their true evils!"

"Yes!"

Then the group left the city in a mighty procession. In order to avoid unnecessary trouble, Suning asked Liu Yifei to change into men's clothes and wear a mask on her face.

The refugees outside the city were in great chaos. They were a group of homeless people who could riot at any time. Suning had to take precautions in advance. Although he had guns in his hands, it was still difficult to fight against the hungry and crazy refugees. Besides, he couldn't bear to be ruthless.

When they saw this group of refugees again, the identities of Suning and Liu Yifei had changed drastically. Looking at the starving refugees, they began to take things seriously.

At this moment, I feel that all words seem particularly pale, which makes Suning and Liu Yifei, two modern people from later generations, always have a perception that the world is cruel and treats all things as straw dogs.

Suning and his group were dressed in gorgeous clothes, which made it easy for the refugees to guess what they were doing. They all looked at Suning and his group with anticipation.

Zhu Yuanzhang quickly got into the role of an employee. He looked at Suning next to him, and at Suning's nod, he coughed twice nervously, and then began his first performance.

"Ahem! Fellow villagers, please be quiet. This is the owner of the Longmen Escort Agency in Chuzhou City. He's here today to hire some employees."

"Ah? Great! Take me!"

"You want me! You want me! I don't want wages! Just give me food to eat!"

Zhu Yuanzhang's words completely ignited the emotions of the refugees. They all tried their best to promote themselves, just wanting to leave this hell on earth as soon as possible.

No matter what heights Zhu Yuanzhang would reach in the future, at this time he was just a fledgling Zhu Chongba. He had never seen such a shocking scene. He was already nervous and was confused by the excited refugees.

Wu San, who was standing by, almost laughed out loud when he saw Zhu Yuanzhang's embarrassing moment. At first, he thought that Chen Boda only wanted him to help Suning for a few days, but today, from Chen Boda's tone, it seemed that he was ready to give himself to Suning. How could he not care about the affairs of Suning, the prospective boss?

"Mr. Su, how about letting me try?" Wu San looked at the frowning Su Ning with a forced smile.

"Well! I'm done!"

"Ah! Shut up!

I didn't ask you to speak. If anyone makes even a sound, we at Longmen Escort Agency will definitely not hire him." Wu San was like a Sichuan Opera face-changing master, able to switch between flattery and brutality at will.

The refugees, who were used to seeing this kind of talk, were very fond of Wu San's tricks. After hearing Wu San's stern shout, they dared not make a sound anymore.

Liu Yifei frowned in dislike when she saw Wu San's expression, which was noticed by Su Ning who was standing next to her. He then whispered to Liu Yifei, "Good and evil are only a thought away, but they are not absolutely impossible to blend.

Sissi, you'll get used to this kind of thing after you see it more often."

"Humph! I may never get used to it in my lifetime."

Seeing the stubborn Liu Yifei, Suning shook his head helplessly, then saw the lost Zhu Yuanzhang standing aside, realized that this was a good opportunity to "tame" her, and then looked at Zhu Yuanzhang with a smile.

"Chongba, you are still young.

There is still a lot to learn. Let’s see how Wu San solves this matter first.”

"Yes! Boss!"

"Dear fellow villagers, our Longmen Escort Agency only recruits young men between the ages of sixteen and twenty-five. The monthly salary is ten cents, and food and accommodation are provided."

"Ah? So good?" The refugees couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

Of course, there were also many refugees with disappointed expressions. Most of them were not of the right age. You have to know that the free food and accommodation and the monthly salary of ten cents were their lifeline.

Next, the three accountants were busy and soon hired 110 employees. Originally, the plan only required 100 people, but there were too many applicants so they hired 10 more people, which was enough to divide them into ten classes.

It is very risky to hire so many people for the first time. Generally, there will not be such an aggressive boss. However, Suning is not planning to make a profit from them. It just wants to train them to be professional soldiers, so it does not care about the huge investment at the beginning.

Suning looked at the 110 selected employees, all of whom showed expressions of surprise. Then he whispered something to Wu San, who then looked shocked.

"Mr. Su, are you sure?"

"Yeah! Tell them!"

“Everyone, the boss is merciful!

All employees who are hired can receive five kilograms of millet in advance to support their families."

"Wow! Merciful boss, you are such a kind-hearted person!" More than a hundred people and their families knelt down excitedly, and the refugees who were not selected felt even more uncomfortable.

"Ahem! Everyone, be quiet!
The boss also promised that any employee who has undergone training and performs well will be allowed to bring their family members to work at the Longmen Escort Agency in the future."

"Ah? Thank you, Boss!"

"Thank you, boss!"

Suning first brought these one hundred people to the yard of Dongcheng Wharf. Then the door of Longmen Escort Agency was already completed. Just then, Zhu Yuanzhang and his men brought people to hang up the plaque, which marked the opening of Longmen Escort Agency.

More than a hundred people mean more than a hundred mouths to feed. Fortunately, Chen Boda also thoughtfully sent three female cooks to Suning, and then Suning asked them to start cooking right away.

After more than a hundred people had eaten, Suning began his first speech, "Welcome to Longmen Escort Agency!

I am your club, Suning."

"Hello, boss!" More than a hundred people shouted excitedly.

"You will be divided into ten classes, each with eleven people, and you will choose an acting class leader.

After the training is completed, the acting squad leader will be officially appointed as the squad leader."

"Monitor?"

"Yes! Actually, it's similar to a sergeant in the army, but we're an escort agency here, so we call them squad leaders."

Zhu Yuanzhang, who was below, couldn't help but reveal a surprised expression when he heard Suning's arrangement. Although he couldn't tell what was wrong specifically, he always felt that his boss had big ambitions.

"In the coming days, I will train with you!
I hope you will all meet the standards in a month, and then you can bring your loved ones to work in the escort agency."

"Yes! Boss!" Hearing Suning's promise, the employees under him became excited.

Suning attached great importance to this first batch of more than 100 people. They were the seeds of his career, so Suning decided to train them personally, and the method he used was the military training of later generations.

Because Su Ning knew that Zhu Yuanzhang had great ambitions, he was not included in the team, but was only responsible for the miscellaneous affairs of the escort agency. Su Ning was still somewhat wary of him. It might take a long time for him to truly trust him. It was possible that Zhu Yuanzhang would have already fled far away by then.

During the one month of eating and training together, Suning and more than a hundred people became closer and closer. The ancients had excellent physical fitness and it was easy for them to meet Suning's various standards.

A month later, more than one hundred people were allowed to bring their families to work in the Longmen Escort Agency. Most of these people were the elderly, the weak, women and children. Suning did not intend to keep them idle, but arranged for them to make ready-made clothes and shoes, which were then sold in stores, and even taken to other cities by the escort agency for sale.

The movement of more than a hundred people was still quite big. Fortunately, Suning had met Chen Boda in advance, and then Chen Boda took Suning to explain many dignitaries in Chuzhou City. Under Suning's golden offensive, he was able to establish a preliminary relationship with them.

The leaders of Chuzhou City turned a blind eye to Suning's big move. As for whether Suning would rebel, they absolutely did not consider it, simply because the current Yuan Empire was still the behemoth that everyone knew it to be, and there were still five years before the Red Turban Rebellion led by Liu Futong and Han Shantong.

Chen Boda really took good care of Suning. Not only did he introduce Suning to the upper class of Chuzhou, he also introduced many businesses to Suning. Although they were all small escort businesses, they still touched Suning and his wife.

After the training of over a hundred people, each escort operation was assigned one or two squads, depending on the size of the mission. Their attentive and thoughtful service quickly earned the Longmen Escort Agency acceptance among Chuzhou merchants. Having established a foundation of trust with the city's dignitaries, the Longmen Escort Agency also began to venture into the grain and liquor business, effectively establishing a firm foothold in the city.

After gaining a foothold, Suning and Liu Yifei faced many problems and soon felt overwhelmed. Then they prepared to start training their employees. After all, only the talents they trained themselves are loyal.

After every day's training, Suning would open a one-hour literacy class and hire some unsuccessful scholars to teach more than a hundred people.

Of course, it is impossible to let scholars teach their employees to learn all kinds of nonsense, and the employees do not have the talent for it. They can only start with "Hundred Family Names" and "Three Character Classic", and then supplement them with some mathematical knowledge of this era. Only then will they consider teaching them to study books such as "The Analects of Confucius".

"Brother Su, you've been acting a bit too aggressively lately!

I heard that you have already started hiring teachers to teach your employees how to read and write."

“Haha, there’s nothing I can do!
There really aren't enough people, so we can only train them ourselves."

“Yes! It is necessary to train employees.

But there’s no need to teach them to read; I feel it’s a complete waste of time.”

“Haha, let’s not talk about this for now.

Last time, Brother Chen mentioned that Li Shanchang from Dingyuan was about to pass through Chuzhou? "I couldn't possibly tell Chen Boda about my plan right now, so I deliberately changed the subject.

"Yes! In a few days, Li Shanchang will go to Jiqing and will pass through our Chuzhou city.

I can introduce you to each other then."

"Haha, this is great!
On my way from Jiaozhou to Chuzhou, I've always heard that Li Shanchang is a great sage, so I've always admired him."

In fact, Suning really wanted to recruit Li Shanchang right now. Anyway, the Yuan Dynasty did not value literati and had not held imperial examinations for many years. I believe Li Shanchang would carefully consider Suning's recruitment.

But what Suning was worried about was that since he had not yet raised the anti-Yuan banner, many secret matters could not escape the eyes of people like Li Shanchang. If Li Shanchang went to report him, he would be in tears, so Suning would not take risks easily.

In the eighth year of Zhizheng, Liu Yifei gave birth to Suning's first son, which surprised Suning and Liu Yifei greatly. After nearly two years of hard work, they finally had a closer relative in this world.

"Suning, you haven't named our son yet!"

"Ah? Look at my brain, I forget everything when I get busy!"

"Haha, it's not too late to get up now!"

"Well! Xixi, how about we name our son Su Ming, and give all future children names with the character for sun."

"Ah? Su Ming? That's a great name!"

After two years of development, Longmen Escort Agency has spread its footprints to various cities around Jiqing, including Dingyuan, Haozhou, Hexian, Yangzhou, Hangzhou and other cities.

Due to the rapid expansion of Longmen Escort Agency, Suning now has a team of nearly two thousand people. Then, according to the organization of the army in later generations, three squads form a platoon, and three to four platoons form a company. The number of people in a company is about one hundred and twenty, and they are stationed in various branches of Longmen Escort Agency as companies.

In order to facilitate management, Suning also set up four camps, one of which was a water camp, which was specifically responsible for the ships of the Longmen Escort Agency. Now the water camp has two large ships of 3,000 tons and six small ships of 1,000 tons.

During these two years, Suning recruited Chang Yuchun, who came from a bandit family, and Yu Tingyu and his son. At that time, Yu Tingyu and his son had not yet joined Han Shantong in the rebellion, so it was an opportunity for the cunning Suning to take advantage of them.

Yu Tingyu was appointed as the commander of the water battalion, directly responsible for the water transportation from Chuzhou City to Jiqing Road, while his son Yu Tonghai became the company commander of the first battalion. Suning personally led the first battalion and was responsible for the Longmen Escort Agency near Chuzhou and Jiqing.

After the initial training, Chang Yuchun gradually adapted to the behavior of the Longmen Escort Agency and lost his previous rough air. He was then appointed as the battalion commander of the third battalion of the Longmen Escort Agency, and was usually in charge of the business from Haozhou to Dingyuan.

Zhu Yuanzhang was the one who troubled Suning the most. Although Suning had always been on guard against him and never asked him to return to Haozhou to recruit soldiers, it was because he was worried that he would become too powerful and difficult to control. However, he grew too fast and became too capable. In the end, Suning appointed him as the battalion commander of the second battalion of the Longmen Escort Agency, responsible for the business in the Yangzhou area.

Suning's Longmen Escort Agency developed rapidly. Fortunately, it was announced to the outside world that they were employees of the escort agency, and the institutional name was very different from the understanding at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, which always made others feel confused and did not attract official attention.

The most important thing is that Suning holds the idea of treating everyone equally, and usually tries to maintain good relations with the dignitaries in Chuzhou City and Jiqing Road, allowing these people to gradually lose themselves in its "sugar-coated bullets".

Such a large number of escort agency employees certainly need a large number of weapons and leather armor. Because Suning's "golden bullet" offensive is fierce, it is easy to obtain a large number of "scrapped weapons" from the Chuzhou treasury.

Even Chen Boda was shocked when he saw the development of Suning Longmen Escort Agency. Chen Boda was also an insightful man and easily noticed Suning's ambition.

However, the current situation was still firmly controlled by the court. For the sake of his family, Chen Boda did not confess to Suning immediately. Instead, he pretended to be confused and watched the changes in the situation, quietly watching how things developed.

Under Chen Boda's introduction, Suning and Li Shanchang met, but they were just friends. Suning did not invite Li Shanchang to join the Longmen Escort Agency.

This surprised Chen Boda a little, because in his impression, Suning should be the kind of person who is eager to seek talents, and should have invited Li Shanchang first.

As for why Suning did not invite Li Shanchang now, it could only be because Suning did not trust him. This also confirmed Chen Boda's initial judgment that Suning's ambition was definitely not small.

After a busy day, Suning just took a shower and saw Liu Yifei feeding her son and buying water. She couldn't help laughing out loud, "Xixi, our son has such a good appetite!"

"Haha, of course my son has a good appetite!"

"Boss, there is a Shandong man who calls himself Mao Gui who wants to see you." Wu San, who was now the steward of the Su Mansion, stood outside the door and reported to Su Ning.

"Oh? Mao Gui? Please come to the living room!"

"Yes! Boss!"

"Suning, is this Mao Gui very powerful?" After the housekeeper Wu San left, Liu Yifei looked at Suning curiously.

"Yes! In the original time and space, he will be Liu Futong's general. I just don't know why he came to us."

"Ah? Do you think Liu Futong has already started a rebellion and sent this Mao Gui to test us?"

"Hmm! This is hard to say.

I'll go to the living room to check out the situation first!"

When Suning came to the living room, he saw a burly man sitting there properly. When he saw Suning appear, he immediately stood up excitedly.

"Hello, Mr. Su! My name is Maogui!"

"Oh? Mao Gui?
I heard you are also from Shandong?"

"Yes! Mr. Su and I are from the same hometown." Mao Gui showed a dark red smile at this time.

"Haha, I heard there's a good man in Yingzhou named Liu Futong. I wonder if Brother Mao knows him?"

"Liu Futong? I don't know him!
I've never been to Yingzhou." Mao Gui was a little confused about Suning's question.

"Oh! I wonder what brings you here this time, Brother Mao?" Suning couldn't help but feel surprised when he heard Mao Gui's answer.

"Mr. Su, Shandong has been hit by disasters over the past two years, and many people are having trouble making ends meet.

Some time ago we heard that there was a hero from Shandong in Chuzhou City, who came to you with his brothers and their families.

I hope Mr. Su can take us brothers in."

"Haha, it seems that Brother Mao Gui is also a man of character. I am very happy to accept a hero like Brother Mao Gui."

"Thank you Mr. Su!"

"Brother Mao Gui, don't be happy yet. Our Longmen Escort Agency is different from other places. We are very particular about rules. Therefore, we have to inconvenience you brothers to undergo training first."

"Mr. Su, don't worry! We brothers all understand the truth!"

"Haha, that's good! I'll have Butler Wu take you to dinner later, and then settle the family."

"Thank you, boss!"

Looking at Mao Gui's back as he left, Suning was filled with excitement. He was a real general. If he could accept the rules of Longmen Escort Agency, he would definitely be Suning's right-hand man. Then he would not have to worry too much about Zhu Yuanzhang's "master-eating".

There were really many famous generals at the end of the Yuan Dynasty. Suning was drooling just thinking about it. It would be a pity if he didn't subdue a super general like Xu Da. So after his own power grows, Suning will arrange for Zhu Yuanzhang to return to Haozhou to recruit soldiers.

(End of this chapter)