Chen Jie directly gave these merchants a peace of mind, assuring them that workers sent over by the White Tiger Hall would be diligent. If any of them were to slack or deceive, they could be dismissed, and White Tiger Hall would send someone new to take over.
The merchants, after initial reluctance, finally agreed to the condition, especially after White Tiger Hall further reduced their taxes by five percent.
After all, they were in need of workers themselves.
Chen Jie’s actions were meant to aid the Fishing Guild Disciples by lessening their family burdens.
It’s known that the Fishing Guild Disciples often face significant family pressures, with elderly to care for at the top and children at the bottom, with many families relying solely on the earnings of one working Guild Disciple. The burden to provide was immense.
Chen Jie’s initiative was essentially a guarantee to the Fishing Guild Disciples that as long as they achieved certain accomplishments within the guild, they would gain the opportunity to send family members to work in these designated shops.
Securing a decent pay, those among their families with the ability to work could earn money by working in the various shops.
It’s well known that these shops are usually stringent with their hiring, and relatives of the Fishing Guild stood no chance of securing these positions on their own. Thus, this was an indirect solution to solving the employment issue for the family members of Guild Disciples.
This significantly lightened the Disciples’ living pressures, enabling them to devote themselves to work within the Guild.
It was the Fishing Guild’s talent recruitment plan. After multiple consolidations and the attrition of great battles, the numbers within the Guild were merely twelve hundred and change, far from meeting Chen Jie’s goals.
Chen Jie decided to recruit an additional eight hundred to reach a total of two thousand members.
Besides, the recruitment for the local fisheries also rose in priority, with significant emphasis being placed on the nurturing of personnel and talent within the fisheries.
Furthermore, beyond these Disciples, the guild also aimed to recruit scholars and craftsmen as special talents into the Fishing Guild.
Scholars would serve as clerks, managing accounts or assisting Managers as advisors.
This policy excited all the youths of Mianshui County, igniting an enthusiastic rush to apply.
In seven days, over three thousand people applied to join the Fishing Guild, but Chen Jie ultimately only selected eight hundred. The rest, if they were special talents, would be recruited as such; if not, they would be arranged to join the reserve team of the Guild, where they could participate in various Guild activities.
If they performed well or if the Guild expanded, they could be chosen from the reserve team to join the main force.
The reserve team directly swelled to fifteen hundred, and each reserve member received a subsidy of three hundred cents per month.
With this, Chen Jie’s Fishing Guild had now expanded rapidly under his command to two thousand main force Disciples, fifteen hundred reserve Disciples, and an additional one to two hundred various talents such as scholars and craftsmen.
One could say that under Chen Jie’s leadership, the Fishing Guild expanded swiftly.
Throughout this whole process, Princess Zhao Ya participated in the planning. After grasping the logic behind these policies, the way Zhao Ya looked at Chen Jie was filled with shining stars.
This Chen Jiusi indeed had great talent; his methods of governing were extraordinarily adept. Zhao Ya felt that if Chen Jie’s methods were applied, the common people’s days would definitely improve tremendously.
She was now eager to return and talk to her father, the Ruyang King, about reforms.
However, only Chen Jie knew that her father lacked the resolve to implement reforms. The big gambling houses under the Ruyang King, those charging high-interest loans, or making money through such activities were all influential families. They would never allow the Ruyang King to touch their cake—impossible. Touch the cake, and you’re finished!
But to trick a Commandery Princess, he was still capable of that.
All the above were Chen Jie’s methods of soothing the common folk.
Next came a series of internal policies.
Firstly, for internal management, the system needed to be formalized and standardized to ensure fair rewards and punishments, with each subordinate performing their assigned duties.
For example, of the two thousand plus White Tiger Hall Disciples, five hundred were incorporated into the White Tiger Camp, while the rest were regular Disciples mainly responsible for street security and administrative tasks.
Next was Chen Jie’s welfare policy for his subordinates.
First, for all Fishing Guild Disciples, the monthly salary increased by ten percent, and there was a classification of levels for the Disciples, with a tiered wage increase corresponding to those levels.
For instance, new Disciples would receive eight maces of silver a month.
After a year, they could be promoted to official Disciple, receiving one tael of silver a month.
After another two years, they could advance to excellent Disciple, earning one tael and two maces a month.
And after a further two years of dedication, they could proceed to become elite Disciples, earning one tael four thousand silver a month, in addition to other benefits.
All the way to the Hall Masters of the various branches, everyone had a clear salary chart, with the fairest treatment in terms of money.
Secondly, there were the rewards for merits.
In this regard, Chen Jie’s rewards were exceedingly generous. In the past, there were only monetary rewards, but now he had included extra rewards, such as Cultivation Techniques, Elixirs, Weapons, and the like.
In this world, Martial Arts was held in the highest regard. While money was necessary for life, it was Martial Arts that promised a future.
And if one wished to practice Martial Arts, Cultivation Techniques, Elixirs, Weapons, and even guidance from experts were all very important.
These were things that ordinary Disciples would not even dare to dream about.
But Chen Jie gave them a chance to rise.
That was through the reward system of Cultivation Techniques, also known as the points exchange system.
From the day you join the White Tiger Hall, you would receive a points ledger that belonged uniquely to you within the hall.
Points could be accumulated through merits or over time—for example, a new Disciple could gain twelve points in a year.
Of course, merely accumulating points through time would not allow for a qualitative breakthrough. Hence, you would have to seek ways to make contributions to the Guild.