Entrepreneurship in the Late Tang Dynasty

Chapter 76 Staff
Zhao Da slept until the sun was high in the sky.

After getting up, he pulled the Hu woman over and fussed with her for a while before finally asking her name.

It's not like I'm a good person; I've played this game five times already, and I still don't know the other person's name.

This Hu woman grew up in Sichuan. Although she had an exaggerated figure, like a magnificent Akhal-Teke horse from the Western Regions, she spoke in a gentle and soft voice.

Hu Ji told Zhao Da that her name was Mao Niang and that she had no other name.

Good, good, good, indeed it is excellent, wonderful!

Zhao Da glanced down and said he was impressed.

To be honest, Zhao Huai'an was quite satisfied with himself. He originally thought that this body was just good material for cattle and horses, but now he realized that he had underestimated it. With this talent, he was truly a master of fierce battles.

After all that commotion, Zhao Da became a wise man, letting Mao Niang lie on his chest like a large Persian cat drawing circles, while he thought about the future development of Baoyidu.

Baoyidu is indeed showing promising signs of development, with a strong brand presence and several investors and major clients. However, there are a few development bottlenecks that Zhao Da needs to address.

One issue is the lack of staff, scribes, and painters in the military.

To put it bluntly, the military is full of uneducated people; there are hardly any literate people, let alone intellectuals.

That won't work. Many people think that having a knife is enough for the military, but in reality, there is a lot of work in the military that requires people who are literate to carry it out.

Although Zhao Huai'an's team may seem to consist of only a thousand men, in actual military formations, this is the largest force stationed on a regular basis.

Those armies, numbering in the tens or even hundreds of thousands, were called "Xingying" in the Tang army's military system, and Xingying were formed by these independent camps.

So even though Zhao Huai'an is only a general now, leading hundreds of troops, he is still more powerful than a prefect in the local area.

While Baoyidu, as an independent commander, did not have the same number of subordinates as the military headquarters, he still had all the necessary staff.

The camp administration should have at least four core subordinate officers: the officer in charge of soldiers, the officer in charge of cavalry, the officer in charge of granaries, and the officer in charge of armor.
The Sibing was responsible for the recruitment, training, assessment, and allocation of soldiers; the Siqi was responsible for managing the donkeys and horses in the camp; and the Sicang was responsible for managing the army's provisions, sealing and managing them, marking and inspecting them to prevent waste.

The officer in charge of the armor and weapons in the camp was responsible for managing the condition of the armor and weapons. Whenever the camp was established, he would first inspect the equipment to see which items were damaged or missing. These checks had to be carried out regularly to prevent soldiers from stealing and selling military equipment.

Therefore, Wang Duo had previously discussed this situation with Zhao Huai'an, saying that Baoyidu should at least be equipped with these four departments so that the army could be well-organized.

In a typical well-established army, whenever the troops set up camp in a new location, the camp commander would lead four officers to inspect the entire camp, checking the soldiers, warhorses, armor, and provisions. Only by having a clear understanding of these four things could the commander control the combat effectiveness of the troops.

Unlike Zhao Da, who frequently takes his subordinates on team-building activities and drinking sessions.
In short, what Lao Wang said made Zhao Daman feel ashamed, so he decided to learn from his mistakes and recruit a full staff of a battalion.

This includes four officials, two assistant officials on the left and right, a judge in charge of military discipline and law, and a law enforcement officer. These two officials each need to be accompanied by scribes and eight servants from the city administration and other personnel.

In addition, the camp also needs two military clerks, one to manage the troops and the other to manage the finances and provisions. They are responsible for the documents and drafting of these two matters. In short, they have to manage everything related to these two matters.

In addition, there were five or six people in charge of overall management, including the chief secretary, the chief clerk, and the advisors who assisted Zhao Da.

In short, to set up a base of camps and headquarters, at least seventeen or eighteen experienced clerks and staff members are needed.

In addition, there was another important matter, which was that Zhao Da wanted to separate the army's treasury, one purpose being to pay the soldiers' wages, and the other being that he planned to set up a "charitable treasury".

During this period, after learning about the lending practices in the Tang Dynasty, Zhao Da decided to set up his own private treasury to attract savings.

The first batch of depositors must be the brothers of Bao Yidu. These soldiers are just wasting their money, so it's better to deposit it in the "Yiku" (righteous treasury) for lending and collecting interest.

The interest earned can then be used as a reward for the subordinates.

Making money is only one aspect of this; more importantly, Zhao Da needs to control the money bags of his subordinates so that the brothers' hearts will follow him.

However, this matter is not so easy to handle.

Ultimately, this is quite shameless; it's basically a scheme to trick employees into investing in the company, and then use the profits from those investments to pay their own salaries.

So Zhao Da was looking for an opportunity to get this matter done properly.

But no matter when it's held, it's essential to find a group of qualified money and grain clerks, and they can't be the same people as the original group in the camp.

After all, transferring money from one hand to the other is already a sensitive matter. If the same group of people were to handle it again, not only would his brothers not trust him, but even Zhao Da himself wouldn't trust himself.

But with the combined demand from both sides, it would amount to forty or fifty people. Where could Zhao Da, who already lacked experience, find so many skilled workers in such a short time?

So far, after several attempts, Zhao Dacai has barely managed to assemble a chief secretary Wang Duo, a chief clerk Zhang Guinian, and a judge Xue Hang; the rest are nowhere to be found.

So this matter has really troubled Zhao Da.

He has two ideas now. One is to wait until things settle down a bit more and then ask the big salt merchant, Lao Dong, to help him recruit a group of people in Chengdu, but this will definitely take time.

Another task was to recruit talented individuals from the Nanzhao army.

This was inspired by Zhao Jinzhong, who had surrendered yesterday. Zhao Da had always considered Nanzhao to be foreigners, but he forgot that Nanzhao's level of Sinicization was very high. Their core advisors not only had all the necessary qualifications, but some were even highly skilled individuals who had studied in Chang'an. In fact, Zhao Da suspected that many of the Nanzhao army's civil officials and advisors were kidnapped by the Nanzhao people, just like Old Zhang before. If he hadn't ambushed that Nanzhao army, wouldn't Zhang Guinian have also been kidnapped to Nanzhao?
Moreover, no one has taken any of these from Zhao Da.

Other warlords cared about money and goods, but Zhao Da cared about craftsmen and staff, which allowed him to pick up a bargain.

After thinking it over, Zhao Da felt increasingly that there was great potential for profit.

Alright, tomorrow I'll have Zhao Liu handle this matter. Have him go to each camp and see if there are any Tang people who have been abducted to Nanzhao and become staff members. Or even if they are Nanzhao people, as long as they can speak Tang, I'll take them.

At this moment, as Zhao Huai'an touched Mao Niang's smooth, beautiful back, he felt his mind race and his inspiration explode.

Although Na Maoniang and Zhao Da had only known each other for a short time, they had had seven or eight in-depth conversations and had become quite familiar. Now, she nestled affectionately against Zhao Da's chest and asked:

"Dalang, what are you thinking about so seriously?"

Zhao Da chuckled, slapped Mao Ji's peach-like breast, sending ripples of flesh through her flesh, and laughed:
"I was thinking, with your back like that, it would be a shame not to get cupping done."

After saying that, he ignored Mao Ji's bewildered little eyes and prepared to get up.

This world of gentle pleasures may be tempting, but I must not become addicted. I, Zhao Da, am here to build my career, not to chase after women.

But as soon as he sat up, Mao Niang pressed her full breasts against his back and said gently:
"This humble servant will help you dress, my lord."

As he spoke, he got up and helped Zhao Da put on his clothes. When he was about to put on Zhao Da's shoes, he suddenly stuck his head into the robe.

Zhao Da gasped, unable to resist pressing down on Mao Niang's head. After a long while, he finally exhaled.

At this moment, Zhao Da finally understood what a "demon" was and what "enjoyment" meant.

A moment later, Zhao Da, his anger gone, felt refreshed and energetic. He opened the tent, ready to greet the new day.

……

As usual, Zhao Da took a stroll around the camp. Along the way, he saw that each group had started cooking. When they saw Zhao Da, they all put down what they were doing and greeted him.

Zhao Da has an exceptionally good memory. He can call out the names of anyone he has heard of even once, and he will also ask his subordinates for their names without hesitation if he has never heard of them before.

Even in the late Tang Dynasty, where military men were known for their arrogance, Zhao Da's attitude was enough to excite his subordinates.

To put it bluntly, power has always been worshipped in every era.

Zhao Da would stop every now and then to chat with his brothers, and sometimes he would even try the meat broth in the pot, but he always refused when his brothers invited him to eat with them.

This wasn't because Zhao Da had become arrogant; rather, he knew that if he sat down now, wouldn't the other brothers also want to sit down? If he showed favoritism, he would not only spoil his own people but also make the other brothers uncomfortable. Why bother?

Zhao Daren hates doing things like the "trolley problem" the most. As long as it only makes some people happy but others unhappy, no matter what the overall benefit is, Zhao Daren is unwilling to do it.

Even if it were absolutely necessary to do it, Zhao Da would have someone else do it, while he would stand aside.

So at this moment, he waved his hand, greeted the officials and soldiers of Baoyidu, and then went to the Chengdu Tujiang Commandery next door.

That was his good brother Xianyu Yue's defense zone. This time, old Yue had fallen into such a big pit, Zhao Da still had to go and see.

……

Zhao Da led a group of thugs through an alley, where decapitated corpses littered the roadside.

Some of these corpses belonged to the Nanzhao army, while others belonged to the city's residents, but without exception, they were all headless, and it was obvious where they had gone.

Zhao Da was not a naive person who thought that just because he came from the future, he should have high moral standards and then condemned these soldiers as despicable.

That's just how times are; anyone who joins such an army will eventually end up like this.

Zhao Da cannot change those people, and even to restrain his own Bao Yidu, he needs to use both kindness and severity, combining firmness and gentleness.

Just as Zhao Da was about to ignore it, he suddenly saw a headless corpse tightly embracing the child's corpse beneath it in the deep alley. He suddenly stopped.

Fatty Dou, who was standing nearby, wasn't paying attention and almost bumped into something, but luckily he managed to steady himself. Only then did he ask:
"Dalang, what's wrong?"

Zhao Da looked at the scene in the alley and shook his head:

"It's nothing, I just think this place is dirty."

Dou Pangzi was puzzled. He looked at the dirt road under his feet and added:

"Isn't that how it is? But since you think it's dirty, then just sweep it up."

Zhao Da paused for a moment, then slowly nodded.

(End of this chapter)