"Originally, because of the matter of the deposed Crown Prince, His Majesty was suspicious of my General of the North Commandery Residence. However, because I fully defended His Majesty's reputation in my letters, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. His Majesty has already issued an imperial decree promoting me to the position of Vice General of the Southern Circuit."
Qin Sang was unfamiliar with military ranks:
"Is it a high-ranking official?"
Lin Qi smiled and said:
"Third-in-command of the Southern Army, in charge of five thousand troops."
A look of pleasant surprise appeared in Qin Sang's eyes:
"Five thousand? You only have three hundred men under you now, right? That's a jump of several ranks at once."
Lin Qi nodded with a bitter smile:
"Indeed. I never imagined that one could be promoted in the Southern Army without relying on military merit."
Qin Sang comforted him:
"Don't overthink it. You should know that when you were slaying Tartars in the Northwest, it was to save the people. This epidemic prevention work is also saving the people."
"Furthermore, based on your military merit in the Northwest Army, even if you were transferred to the Southern Army, you should have been a Vice General at the very least. Now, His Majesty's promotion is merely returning to you what was rightfully yours."
Hearing Qin Sang say this, Lin Qi felt much better:
"Sister-in-law is right. I was being narrow-minded."
A trace of worry rose in Qin Sang's heart:
"The higher the position, the greater the responsibility. You don't originally belong to the Southern Army, so this kind of promotion is like being dropped in from above. I'm afraid someone will try to trip you up. You must be careful."
A strange light flashed in Lin Qi's eyes:
"Sister-in-law, are you really just a village woman?"
Qin Sang became alert and laughed heartily:
"Don't let your imagination run wild. If I'm not a village woman, could I be some fallen noble lady?"
Lin Qi hurriedly explained:
"I'm just surprised that Sister-in-law is so different from the village women I've seen. Those I know wouldn't say things like 'the higher the position, the greater the responsibility.'"
Qin Sang smiled casually:
"The reason I know is simply because many people in Tianjia Village and the coal mine are now relying on me for their livelihoods. Sometimes I even want to throw in the towel; the pressure is just too much."
This venting of grievances successfully dispelled Lin Qi's surprise:
"That's true."
"Sister-in-law's reminder is very useful. In fact, the Southern Army has already started to trip me up."
Qin Sang was stunned:
"So soon?"
Lin Qi nodded:
"The Commander of the Southern Army has ordered me to lead troops to wipe out the bandits on Qingfeng Mountain."
Qin Sang recalled the secret plot by the Southern Army she had overheard before. She thought that once those people were beheaded, the matter would be over. She hadn't expected it to continue, and that the person leading the team would be replaced by Lin Qi:
"You... haven't you even taken up your post yet?"
Lin Qi nodded:
"They said Songbai Town is close to Qingfeng Mountain and told me to suppress the bandits first. They said that taking up the post after gaining military merit from suppressing bandits would make my promotion more convincing to others."
Qin Sang said indignantly:
"I've seen shamelessness, but never anything this shameless. Aren't they just planning for you to die in action while suppressing bandits? What about you? Can you choose not to go?"
Lin Qi smiled bitterly:
"The Ministry of War has issued the order. Not going would be defying an imperial decree."
Qin Sang's face darkened. The Lin family's political enemies were quite powerful, even able to command the Ministry of War:
"Then how many people do you plan to take? I've heard... heard that the bandits on Qingfeng Mountain are extremely fierce. A group of Rebel Soldiers who came to Songbai Town before all died by their blades."
"The Ministry of War is letting you take only these two or three hundred subordinates? That doesn't make sense, does it?"
"Aren't they afraid your father will cause trouble? You're currently in the Emperor's good graces because of the epidemic prevention; aren't they worried about that either?"
Hearing this series of questions that hit the nail on the head, Lin Qi's admiration for Qin Sang deepened:
"Naturally, it's more than just two or three hundred people. There are also three other small squads nearby. Added together, it's exactly a thousand men, with me as the vanguard."
Qin Sang understood. They planned to have Lin Qi do the killing while others reaped the rewards.
In the end, Lin Qi would likely die in battle, the credit for suppressing the bandits would go to others, they would take the captured riches, and in the process, they could promote one of their own from the Southern Army.
What a perfect plan to achieve multiple goals at once; the Southern Army's brains were indeed sharp.
From Lin Qi's expression, Qin Sang realized he had likely guessed these outcomes himself. There was no need for her to remind him further and risk appearing too out of character. She restrained herself for a moment before calming her emotions and asking:
"Then when do you leave?"
"Provisionally in three days. We'll set out as soon as the other squads arrive."
Qin Sang calculated in her head; there should be enough time:
"Then you must be careful not to be backstabbed."
After chatting about a few other things and settling the payment, Qin Sang bought a shop in Songbai Town.
Many shops in the town had reopened now, but business was poor. Some shop owners had been killed by Rebel Soldiers, and their properties were listed for sale or lease. Qin Sang didn't spend much to buy a courtyard with two side rooms for storage, a well, and a rain shed, all for only eighty taels.
This shop would be Qin Sang's private property, and any business conducted there would pay separate rent. If the others were interested in buying shops later, Qin Sang could move on to other businesses.
After getting the keys, Qin Sang left Da Zhuang and Hei Zi there while she took the others to Chen Family Village.
Qin Sang had only personally supervised the coal mine for the first three days to ensure it was on the right track before handing it over to the villagers.
Tian Yougen understood all the procedures and workflows. This past month was mainly for production, drying, and stockpiling. Since it was the village's business, it wasn't good for Qin Sang to take total control; she would only handle the general direction and business dealings in the future.
A month's worth of stockpiling had produced over ten thousand pieces of Honeycomb Coal, filling the walled courtyard in Chen Family Village.
Qin Sang mentioned that the coal briquettes could now be delivered and also suggested giving the coal miners twenty briquettes each month as a benefit.
"Da Zhuangs Mother, isn't this treatment a bit too good? We're already giving a catty of rice every day, which is great. If we give coal briquettes too, will we still make a profit?"
"True, mining coal is hard work, but giving away so much before we've even made any money... how about we wait a while?"
Qin Sang had already expected the villagers to disagree:
"Everyone, listen to my explanation. I proposed this benefit for two reasons. First, those who come to mine coal are the strong laborers of each family. Since they're mining, they certainly can't go to chop wood."
"Even if others in the family do it, they won't be as efficient as the men. The wood gathered will likely only be enough for cooking and boiling water. As the weather gets colder, I'm afraid these families might freeze to death without enough fuel."
Some villagers agreed with this, while others did not:
"Can't women chop wood just as well? We've lived through winters before, and people freezing to death is a common occurrence. We're running a business; if we want to do good deeds, we should wait until we've made money."
Many others nodded. Qin Sang smiled and said:
"Of course, that's only one consideration. The other main reason is that, as you said, this is a business. Only when people know how good the coal briquettes are will they buy them, right?"
"Why give away twenty pieces? You should have realized by now that daily usage is about three briquettes. Twenty pieces will only last five or six days. Once those people get used to a warm house all night and hot water available anytime, will they still be willing to go back to the days of having to start a fire just to cook or having to climb the mountain to chop wood in heavy snow?"
"It is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but hard to go from luxury back to frugality."
"Once you're used to eating rice porridge, unless you're so poor you can't even afford food, would you still be able to stomach coarse grain porridge?"
"What will they do when they want to keep using coal briquettes?"
"They'll have to buy them at the market price."
"Furthermore, the benefits of the coal briquettes will only spread quickly if people are using them. Word of mouth will let more people know, and we'll have more customers."
"So, now do you think we should give away these coal briquettes?"