The female prisoner was fierce

First and foremost, there's food.

There are still more than two thousand bushels of grain in the warehouse, which sounds like a lot, but it can't feed nearly five hundred mouths every day.

Based on a daily intake of 1 jin per person, 24000 jin of grain would only be enough to feed 500 people for 48 days.

Even excluding the elderly and children who eat less, they can only last for a maximum of 60 days, or two months!

But this is the ideal solution!

Because of the large amount of training, the actual food consumption was much higher than the ideal plan.

We can only last a maximum of 30 days!!

In addition, other supplies in the village are also running low!

There were only a few bolts of cloth left, a dozen or so cotton quilts, and most of the iron had been used up by Zhao Tiechui's blacksmith. They were even running out of salt for cooking.

These supplies cannot be grown on the mountainside.

After all, it's only the size of five football fields, and it's winter, so you can't find anything there.

We have no choice but to go down the mountain to buy them!

But purchasing requires money.

The only money Xiao Jianyang had at his disposal was the thousand-odd taels of silver that had been found in the storeroom.

This amount of money would be enough to support several hundred people for several months in peaceful times.

But in today's chaotic world with alarming inflation, it can only buy enough supplies for a maximum of two months.

"So, where exactly did Liu Xiuqing hide the money?"

Xiao Jianyang rubbed his temples.

In those five days, he practically turned the entire village upside down.

Liu Xiuqing's bedroom, his concubine's room, his office hut, and even the open space behind the outhouse were all dug up to a depth of three feet.

But apart from the more than one thousand taels of silver in the warehouse, not a single copper coin was found.

Judging from Liu Xiuqing's situation, it's absolutely impossible for him to be that poor; he must have some hidden wealth.

but!

Where is that secret stash of money?

I have absolutely no clue!

"Lord Xiao."

Lin Qingxue, who had been standing beside him, watched him frown for a long time before finally speaking up:

"Should I go and interrogate the elderly and infirm left behind in those villages?"

Xiao Jianyang shook his head:

"It's no use. I've already questioned those old and weak people. They can't even get into Liu Xiuqing's courtyard normally, let alone know where the money is hidden."

He paused for a moment, then said:

"And even if we find Liu Xiuqing's slush fund, it won't be enough."

Lin Qingxue was stunned for a moment:

"not enough?"

Xiao Jianyang raised his eyes and looked at her:

"How long do you think you can last with this little bit of savings?"

Lin Qingxue remained silent, but the worry in her eyes deepened.

Xiao Jianyang's expression was serious as he continued, word by word:

"Therefore, we need a stable source of income, not a one-time windfall, but the kind that brings in money every month."

Lin Qingxue, standing beside him, thought for a moment and immediately said:

"Lord Xiao, it is winter now and the river is frozen. It is impossible to transport goods by water."

"There are some animal hides in the mountain stronghold, but the quantity is too small and they don't fetch a good price."

"As for the rest..."

She paused:

"Most of the sisters who are still alive have some assets or old friends. If we think of a way, we should be able to pool our resources."

Actually, she herself didn't believe that.

As the situation in the capital worsened, almost all the families of the female prisoners perished under the blade!

Xiao Jianyang didn't respond, but instead quickly began to think in his mind.

In ancient times, when there was no industrial base, there were only three ways to make money quickly!

The first rule is robbery.

They went up the mountain to become bandits, and down the mountain to rob wealthy families.

This path brings in money quickly, but it has endless troubles and the income is extremely unstable.

In addition, these days, caravans or wealthy merchants were always accompanied by a large number of bodyguards.

High risk, low return, and unsustainable; it's unnecessary.

The second is mining.

There are minerals in the mountains; they can be mined and sold for money.

But it's winter now, and the ground is frozen solid. Even if you know where there's a mine, you can't mine it because of the terrible production efficiency of this era.

The third option is to stick to the old methods.

Spirits, soap, glassmaking, salt production.

Although the method is old, it requires the least investment, yields the fastest results, and has the highest profit.

After careful consideration, Xiao Jianyang finally decided to start with glassmaking!

This thing is cheap to produce but ridiculously expensive, making it perfect for quickly accumulating wealth and power in the early stages.

The raw materials for making glass are very simple.

Quartz sand, limestone, pure alkali.

Quartz sand is just sand, and it's everywhere on riverbanks.

There is no shortage of limestone in the mountains.

The only problem is soda ash, which needs to be extracted from salt lakes or wood ash. Although troublesome, it is not impossible.

As long as we can produce the first batch of glass and sell it in Youzhou City, we can earn our initial capital.

With money, you can buy salt, iron, and cloth.

With supplies, Xiao Family Village was able to truly gain a foothold.

With this in mind, Xiao Jianyang immediately made up his mind.

"Lin Qingxue".

"exist."

"Go find Zhao Tiechui and have him build me a small kiln, the kind that can fire at temperatures above 1,000 degrees Celsius."

Lin Qingxue was stunned for a moment:

"A thousand degrees?"

"Lord Xiao, what is 1000 degrees?"

Xiao Jianyang:

"..."

The other party didn't understand the specific concept of this number, so I could only explain:

"It's a kiln that can heat iron until it's very red-hot, or even molten iron."

"I'll finish drawing the blueprints later. Give them to him and let him prepare the materials first."

Lin Qingxue:

"This…"

"Yes, Lord Xiao, I'll go right away."

Although she didn't understand, she had gotten used to it after spending several days together.

Don't ask too many questions, just do it.

Just as he was about to turn and leave, Xiao Jianyang added:

"Also, send someone to the riverbank to carry back sand, the finer the better."

"And limestone, you know, that white, easily broken stone, crushed and ground into powder, that's also needed."

Lin Qingxue:

"Yes."

Write everything down and leave the house quickly.

Xiao Jianyang then picked up a brush and a sheet of white paper and began to write and draw.

It describes the glass-making process and recipe, and draws a structural diagram of a simple kiln.

Because the information is already in my mind, I hardly need to think, so the progress is very fast.

However, just as it was about to be completed.

dong dong dong~~

Suddenly, urgent knocking came from the door, followed by Xiao Tao's voice from outside.

"Lord Xiao, are you inside?"

Xiao Jianyang frowned and put down his pen and paper:

"Come in."

"yes!"

Sweating profusely, Xiao Tao rushed into the house, her face showing obvious panic.

"What happened?"

Xiao Jianyang was puzzled.

"Lord Xiao, a lot of Northern Di people have come down from the mountain!"

Xiao Tao said in a hurried voice and with a serious expression:

"It was a large contingent of Northern Di cavalry, at least fifty or sixty men, all on horseback, chasing after a dozen or so Dawu soldiers."

"It's right down the mountain, less than two miles from here, and it's running this way!"...