Young Marshal: Many children bring more blessings, marry a wife who is as powerful as the world

Chapter 36 The Advertisement Worked — A “Female Teacher” Finally Came to Apply!

At this moment, across the entire Daqing city, the number of workers employed under the Zhang family’s industries had reached 45,000!

And besides that there were also nearly 10,000 captured bandits turned into “reform-through-labor” convicts!

From among the workers, Zhang Xueming selected the most honest and hardworking strong laborers. He formed a 300-man Police and Patrol Brigade!

This police force was considered a secondary armed unit. Zhang Xueming didn’t equip them with Mosin-Nagant rifles. Instead, they were issued 200 Hanyang-made rifles and 100 spears, batons, rattan shields, and other gear.

Now with so many workers — all outsiders — gathered around Daqing, incidents of fighting and petty theft occasionally occurred!

Just a couple of days ago, two men even got into a deadly fight over a woman. That case turned into a murder.

Though the killing itself wasn’t too alarming, the coal mines in Daqing were short on manpower, so Zhang Xueming simply sentenced them to forced labor in the black coal mines — to work until death. However, what he really feared was someone burning down his newly built factories. That would be a disaster.

In chaotic times, harsh laws were necessary. This Police Brigade was not only responsible for maintaining factory operations, but also for supervising the labor convicts!

As production scaled up—The labor reform logging camp held 1,000 convicts, and the quarry had 3,000. As for the deadliest site, the underground coal mines, over 6,000 convicts were working there.

They produced 2,000 tons of raw coal per day. The coal output was impressive—but the casualties were equally visible. People died daily from exhaustion and illness in the mines.

Just ten days ago, a section of the coal mine collapsed, wiping out two entire convict work teams. Production temporarily fell below 1,000 tons.

More importantly, Zhang Xueming’s cavalry had continued to attack and dismantle bandit strongholds, so now, within a hundred miles of Daqing, all the bandit camps had been wiped out!

The area around Daqing had become a black hole for bandits. No matter how notorious, once a bandit entered, they never came out. Word quickly spread among the underworld.

People were saying: “Daqing is the Hall of Yama (King of Hell). Whoever goes there dies!”

But now, the lack of bandits was starting to trouble Zhang Xueming.

“Why aren’t any bandits coming to rob us anymore?”

“These convict laborers do the heaviest work, we don’t even need to pay them, and when they die, there’s no compensation!”

“If they won’t come to us, where else can I find such high-quality workers?”

He had even considered sending teams farther out to suppress more bandits. But the issue was a cavalry company had just over 100 men. Even though they were armed with “water-cooled machine guns” and had strong firepower,

attacking bandits hundreds of miles away without artillery support was not very efficient and could result in significant casualties. Not worth the cost.

“If only someone could send me some prisoners…”

Now, with an enhanced infantry regiment of 4,500 men under his command, Zhang Xueming figured even if he went up against a division of over 10,000 soldiers, he could still come out on top.

Across the entire Songjiang Prefecture, only if Russian troops and Japanese forces teamed up could they pose a threat to him. As Zhang Xueming pondered all this, Wang Yongjiang walked in, looking puzzled.

“Young Marshal, did you place job ads in the major newspapers?”

“Yeah, I did… Why?” Zhang Xueming asked, confused.

“Just now, a woman came to the hiring office to apply. She said she saw the newspaper ad and wants to be reimbursed 1,000 silver dollars for travel expenses!”

Zhang Xueming’s eyes widened.

After an entire month, finally, a sucker— no, a qualified young woman — showed up!

He immediately asked the most important question.

“What does she look like?”

“Like a celestial maiden reincarnated!”

“Then what are you waiting for? Quick, quick, quick! Take me to see her!”

Zhang Xueming rushed out in slippers, almost like a host running out barefoot to welcome a distinguished guest.

Behind him, Wang Yongjiang chuckled helplessly, “Sigh, the Young Marshal is great at everything, but… he really is too fond of women!”

…

Even before reaching the recruiting office outside Daqing city, Zhang Xueming saw her a beauty standing out in the crowd like a crane among chickens. She wore a slim-fitting peach-green qipao, stepped in bright red heels, and beside her feet sat a wicker-framed suitcase.

Her hair was styled like dark clouds, her eyes almond-shaped and cheeks pink like peaches —soft and elegant, with a willow-like figure. She stood gracefully, calm and composed.

Even just from a distance, she looked no less than a fairy descending from the heavens.

“Damn! A real beauty actually came to apply! She must be seriously broke!”

In fact, after placing the ad, Zhang Xueming had regretted it a bit. In these times, educated and talented women usually came from wealthy families. Poor families simply couldn’t afford to send girls to school.

His offered “high salary” might seem generous, but in the eyes of these rich girls, it probably meant nothing. And also Chinese people were generally conservative.

Even if some aristocratic families were eyeing Zhang Xueming, the son of the Northeast Warlord, and wanted to form a marriage alliance, they wouldn’t just boldly send their daughters to him. It would be better to play hard to get, and wait for him to come to them. So, Zhang Xueming was truly curious.

Why would such a clearly well-bred lady come all the way to the Northeast?

“Hello, I’m Zhang Xueming. Are you here for the job?”

“Yes.”

“The conditions from the newspaper ad?”

“I meet all of them.”

Zhang Xueming was stunned—he didn’t expect her to be so straightforward.

“Do you have any conditions of your own?”

At this, the young woman, so beautiful she barely seemed real, gently held her stomach and smiled apologetically.

“Sir… may I eat first?”