Traveling through the sword to engage in military industry

#143 - Puzzling location choice

Minister Jiang's hospitality was a world apart from what Hu Zi had experienced in both Peidu and Kuncheng. The wild vegetable soup with cornbread was simple, but plentiful, which made Hu Zi feel a sense of warmth.

Hu Zi felt that a cornbread feast without wild vegetables wasn't perfect! Minister Jiang's meal made Hu Zi feel like he was back in the Independent Regiment.

The night passed without incident.

"Good morning, Minister Jiang!"

"Good morning, Boss Ren!"

The next day, Ren Zhong, fully recharged, got up early, but he didn't expect Jiang Chongjing and Hu Zi to be up even earlier, already eating breakfast.

Ren Zhong was somewhat embarrassed. After exchanging greetings, he grabbed a cornbread and quickly ate two.

"Minister Jiang, let's go choose a location for the research institute today. I wonder if your schedule is convenient?" After finishing his meal, Ren Zhong didn't hesitate to make his request.

"Of course, it's convenient. These next few days, Boss Ren, your affairs take priority. I will do my best to provide the service that Chief and the others have entrusted to me," Jiang Chongjing said with a smile.

"Then I'll have to trouble Minister Jiang. It's just that the place we might go to today is a bit far. Once we go there, we won't be coming back. We plan to settle down there and start construction," Ren Zhong had already developed a decisive character and didn't want to waste any time, especially since construction was still favorable now, but it would be troublesome when the weather turned cold and the ground froze.

"No problem, we'll bring some dry food and water, and follow Boss Ren to select the location. I wonder where Boss Ren is planning to choose?" Jiang Chongjing asked.

"Ansai Haojiaping! It's a bit far from here, I estimate it's about 50 kilometers," Ren Zhong didn't keep it a secret and revealed the location he had already chosen in the main world.

"Haojiaping?" After hearing Ren Zhong's words, Jiang Chongjing didn't seem to recall the place in his memory. But that was also true, this place was 50 kilometers away from the border region's core area, so it wasn't just a little remote.

He didn't know why Ren Zhong didn't choose a location in the border region's core area, but instead wanted to run so far away.

However, Jiang Chongjing himself didn't care. His orders were to fully cooperate with Ren Zhong's work. He could choose a location anywhere in the border region's core area, let alone a remote place.

The group rode north along the mainland, urging their horses to trot for half a day, before Ren Zhong finally arrived at his chosen destination.

Jiang Chongjing realized that Ren Zhong wasn't just walking around aimlessly. He followed the Yan River north, and only stopped at the fork in the road to Anding. He looked left and right, but couldn't see anything special about this place that would attract Ren Zhong.

Here, two rivers converged. The Yan River and the Nan Gou River flowed together, and the long-term erosion of sediment had formed a river valley plain of about several hundred acres, so a small village had formed in the surrounding area. About dozens of cave dwellings had been dug out on the mountain, and the wheat seedlings planted in the fields were beginning to show green.

The Yan River, originally five or six hundred meters wide downstream, was only about 40 meters wide in Ansai. By the time Ren Zhong reached the chosen location, it flowed between two mountains, and the narrowest part looked only about 10 meters wide.

On the other side, the Nan Gou River flowed slowly, the water clear, forming a distinct contrast with the yellow Yan River.

"Minister Jiang, what do you think of this place?" Ren Zhong saw that everything was even more ideal than what he had seen in the main world. After all, there were no buildings in the river valley area, and the land was flat, and the mountains were bare. What others saw as desolate, Ren Zhong saw as a treasure land.

The Yan River and the Nan Gou River flowed through it, and the river valley was narrow, making it an ideal place for him to develop small hydropower. The Yan River had plenty of water, and damming it up by a dozen meters would ensure there was no shortage of electricity.

But these were not the main factors influencing Ren Zhong, after all, there were many places with water now, but here, there were also iron, manganese, and oil resources!

Such a place was rare.

Within a 30-kilometer radius, there was also a Zaolin coal mine, which gathered most of the raw materials that Ren Zhong urgently needed at this stage.

It was simply a uniquely blessed place.

In addition, it was also very safe here, far away from the core area of the border region, meaning that even if the Japanese devils came to bomb the border region, they would not choose such a seemingly desolate place.

Apart from some traces of planting crops, even from the sky, people couldn't see the houses, all of them lived in the earth cave dwellings on the mountain.

"Boss Ren, frankly speaking, I really can't see anything special about this place that would attract your esteemed presence, Boss Ren, but it doesn't matter. If there's anything you need me to do, just let me know," Jiang Chongjing looked around for a long time and couldn't see any good points, and replied with a wry smile.

"I want to requisition all the land within a few kilometers nearby and build a research institute here," Ren Zhong said, "For the relocated people, I will purchase their land at the official price, as well as the cave dwellings on the nearby mountains."

The confidentiality of the research institute must be ensured, so Ren Zhong could not allow the people to live together with the research institute here. Only in this way could the secrets of the research institute be easily kept.

The cultivated land here was barren, and there were barren mountains everywhere. There might not be a few hundred households within a few kilometers, and the value of one acre of land would not be too high. According to Ren Zhong's estimation, at most 2 silver dollars per acre would be the limit, and the people's cave dwellings could generally be dug out in just over 2 months, or half a month with more people. According to the current labor value, 5 silver dollars per person per month would be considered a high price.

So a cave dwelling would cost more than 10 silver dollars, and the people would still make a profit after relocating and digging a new one.

It was just that Jiang Chongjing had to coordinate with the border region to give these people new land to cultivate. There was no social security now, and after losing their land, the people would have no place to eat.

Merely exchanging a few hundred acres of land, Ren Zhong believed that this was not a problem.

"No problem, leave this matter to us. As for the purchase, Boss Ren is too polite. We will bear the cost of this relocation and resettlement," Jiang Chongjing was no stranger to these things, after all, he was in charge of the border region's military industry, and he had encountered many similar situations.

"Minister Jiang, this is not politeness. It is hard to leave one's homeland, and we should give some compensation to buy this place down. This will facilitate our subsequent development and construction. This will be the research institute's own land in the future." On this point, Ren Zhong was relatively insistent. After all, he had promised Fang Guangqi and the others that after this research institute was established, it would achieve autonomous management.

Then in terms of property rights, it was better to be clear.

"Alright, since Boss Ren insists, I have no objections," Jiang Chongjing said with a wry smile, feeling a little estranged from Ren Zhong's approach of not taking advantage of the border region at all.

First chapter