Lord of the House

Zhang Gou stayed in Hecheng with Han Caizhi and Zhu Ai for three days without being summoned by Lin Fu.

In the past three days, Chen Kuili, Chen Zhu and others have also been summoned to Hecheng one after another. There are about 30 people, all of whom were from labor camps. In addition to Zhu Ai and other workers, there are more students from the Crane City War Training School.

On the fourth day, a large number of cadet officers came from other places. Everyone lived together, and it was lively and lively, and it was not difficult to know that the furthest came from Shanyang County, Huaian Prefecture, and there were also cadet officers from Daheng Island.

At present, there are four primary war training schools in Hecheng, Chongcheng, Shanyang and Dahengdao. Hecheng has the largest scale. At one time, 400 people were mobilized from the labor camp for short-term study. Chongcheng, Shanyang, The first phase of the primary war training school on Daheng Island was only about 100 people.

Although there was no clear notification, so many cadet officers of the same nature gathered together, and soon everyone confirmed that their group of more than 100 people was selected as the leader of the junior war training school.

In terms of proportions, the war training schools in Chongcheng, Shanyang, and Dahengdao have chosen one out of five for the outstanding players selected this time, and Hecheng only chooses one out of fifteen.

This can't be blamed for the Huaidong Military Division's discrimination against Hecheng's cadet officers. Most of them were from the refugee army. Like Zhang Gou and others, the time they spent on intensive study was only two months, and the selection ratio was low, which was normal.

The cadet officers selected from Chongcheng, Shanyang, and Dahengdao were originally from the Huaidong Army, and they have gone through at least two or even three periods of intensive study, and the longest period is half a year. At least in terms of tactical learning, they have a more solid foundation than the cadet officers of the Crane City War Training Academy.

There are also quite a few people, such as Zhang Jiheng and others, who have already served in the army as sentry generals, deputy sentry generals, and even battalion generals and battalion sentry officers. They have also been dispatched to Hecheng.

The official order has not been issued. Lin Fu also called the construction officials to inspect the tomb first, and Zhu Ai also went to the tomb first. Zhang Gou has never been clear about the purpose of this group of people. , It is suspected that the Huaidong Army will expand its army again.

By April 26, more than 140 middle and senior officers had assembled in Crane City. Based on the most basic staffing of commanders and subordinates, this group of officers has at least 20 battalions and 60 sentries with a total of 12,000 troops.

At first Zhang Gou thought that Lin Fu had decided to fight the extravagant family, and many officers also thought the same. When everyone gathered together, while learning and summarizing the experience gained and lost in the battle of Xiyeyuan, some people first discussed the plan of attacking Mingzhou Prefecture from the Shengsi line of defense.

Lin Fu went to the north to inspect Jianling, Yandu and other places. Qin Chengzu was sitting in Hecheng, and Han Caizhi and Zhang Jiheng were the leaders in the assembly of officers.

Both of them were able to access the core secrets of the Huaidong Military Division, and soon everyone knew the real reason for the large-scale gathering of middle and senior officers. The military commander will officially add the post of military commander to the brigade, battalion, and sentry corps. These officers will be incorporated into the military at all levels as the first batch of military commanders after a short-term study.

On April 28th, Lin Fucai returned to Hecheng from Yandu and officially signed the order to establish a military commander and cadet team.

The cadet team is organized as a sentinel team, headed by the military division marching right Sima Qin Chengzu, Han Caizhi, Zhang Jiheng, Zhang Gou as deputy sentry generals of the cadet team, more than 140 people make up eight study groups, with Chen Zhu, Chen Kuili and others as the cadet team All died.

Zhang Jiheng, as the first general of the Eastern Expedition in the Battle of Xiyeyuan, is a military attache at the first level of the battalion command. It is normal for him to be transferred in as a deputy sentry general of the student team.

Han Caizhi was a son of Shanglinli. During the Huaisi battle, the refugee army was able to surrender to Huaidong on a large scale, and he took great credit. Han Caizhi was very valued in the labor camp, and it is not surprising that he was recruited into the army and reused this time.

After the real order was given, Zhang Gou wondered why he was mentioned in the same important position as Zhang Jiheng and Han Caizhi in the student team?

The Huaidong military system was very different from the current military system. The military commander was also newly established, not to mention Zhang Gou. Even Han Caizhi and Zhang Jiheng did not know exactly what the military commander was responsible for in the army.

On the night of the 28th, Zhang Gou went to see Lin Fu together with Han Caizhi and Zhang Jiheng with an uneasy mood.

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When entering, Lin Fu was looking to discuss matters with Sun Jingtang, Wang Chengfu, and Chen Lei, and Zhu Ai and others were also present.

The Hanhai dikes in the Jiangmen and Hecheng sections have been initially completed, and the labor camp will be relocated to the north on a large scale, responsible for the construction of the Hanhai dikes in the middle and northern sections. However, in addition to Hecheng and Jiangmen in the southern section, on the basis of the camps of the previous three sections, a village will be officially established.

Tunzhai will be responsible for the construction of the follow-up post road and windbreak forest in the southern section of the seawall. The more important duty of the village is to carry out large-scale farms in the hinterland of the Hecheng pasture, and to resettle the family members of as many as 90,000 workers and generals.

Three people, including Zhu Ai, an engineer and construction officer, were promoted to be the head of the colony, and they belonged to the two inspection divisions of Hecheng and Jiangmen respectively.

Zhang Gou, Han Caizhi, Zhang Jiheng and the others had to wait for Qin Chengzu to come over, and waited in the side hall first, and could vaguely hear the matter of planting the pasture in the room.

Zhu Ai and the other three newly appointed colonists retired first, waiting for Wang Chengfu and Chen Lei to finish their conversation before returning together.

Zhang Gou, Han Caizhi, and Zhu Ai were also familiar with each other, so they asked about the village planting, and only after knowing that Lin Fu was going north, did the plan finally finalize: three village villages plus Hecheng and Jiangmen, within two years To reclaim 600,000 mu of grain fields, including the family members of the generals in the labor camp, a total of 40,000 households will be resettled.

"Is there any opinion from the Lianghuai Salt and Iron Company?" Han Caizhi asked, "Hecheng has reclaimed 600,000 mu of grain fields in two years, and almost half of the land will be reclaimed. It is impossible for the Lianghuai Salt and Iron Company to not know at all. Besides, so many people are used to reclaim grain fields and occupy a lot of land. How can we guarantee the supply of 8 million bales of forage every year to the Sheyang and Dafeng salt areas?”

Zhang Gou thought to himself that Lin Fu had just returned to Chongzhou, and he did not go back to Chongcheng, so he took everyone north, probably to coordinate with the officials of the Lianghuai Salt and Iron Division.

Large-scale reclamation will inevitably affect the supply of forage.

"Sheyang and Dafeng salt fields will try to change the cooking method to drying method to save the use of forage," Zhu Ai followed the north this time, knowing the coordination between the Huaidong Military Division and the Lianghuai Salt and Iron Division, this kind of thing is naturally Confidential, but Han Caizhi, Zhang Gou, and Zhang Jiheng have been ordered, and it has been made clear that they are senior generals at the level of deputy brigade commander of the Huaidong Army Division. The resulting loss of official salt production will be subsidized by the purchase of sea salt from the Haidong area. This year, 30,000 shi of sea salt will be directly subsidized... The salt and iron company buys only 120,000 shi of official salt from these two salt farms every year. Let's take a look The subsidy gives them a quarter of the amount, and they are less cumbersome to collect and transport, so what else can they be dissatisfied with?"

"That's true. Even if the forage from the Hecheng pasture is included, the cooking method can only produce 80,000 stone salt at most. This is so much subsidized at one time, and the officials of the two salt farms don't know how to get it from the inside. How much money do you earn?" Han Caizhi said with emotion.

The sales price of official salt is extremely high, mainly because the salt tax accounts for eighty-nine percent of the total. The Salt and Iron Company actually purchased 30,000 shi of table salt from the salt households at a cost of only 30,000 to 40,000 taels of silver. Huaidong purchased sea salt from the Haidong area to supplement the salt and iron company, and the cost would not exceed 50,000 taels of silver. Even if it was doubled, it would be 100,000 taels of silver.

And the entire Crane City pasture, within the seawall, measures a land area of ​​more than 7,000 square miles.

Integration and adjustment with Chongzhou can completely separate three counties. Even if the cost of reclamation in the early stage is huge, based on the population density of Chongzhou, if two more counties are located, almost 100,000 households can be resettled.

"Should we close the hole next?" Zhang Gou asked.

"I'm afraid it won't, depending on what the lord means, why do we have to wait until the seawall is completed," Zhu Ai said, "Being able to negotiate a deal with the two salt field supervisory institutes is also a threat to close the gap. Now that we have negotiated, Nothing will change for now.”

Zhu Ai and the other three village chiefs worked with Han Caizhi and Zhang Gou for half a year. They were very familiar with each other and often discussed these issues.

Zhang Gou's "closing the gap" is to use the blockade formed by defending the seawall and the Huaidong inspection divisions to severely crack down on the flow of illicit salt from the Lianghuai salt area.

This will enable Huaidong Military Division to obtain more benefits from the "salt and silver food protection".

Zhang Gou didn't start thinking about these deep-seated issues until he arrived in Chongzhou. Han Caizhi was also at Lin Fu's request. In order to meet the requirements of a qualified senior general, he should study political affairs seriously and systematically.

In contrast, Zhu Ai showed more of his talent in this area. In fact, Zhu Ai's level is much lower than that of Han Caizhi and Zhang Gou, and his access to secrets is limited, but in Huaidong's political affairs, Han Caizhi and Zhang Gou have to ask Zhu Ai for advice.

Han Caizhi asked: "Now the official salt production in the Lianghuai Salt District can reach 250,000 stone per year. If the opening is tightened, how much can it increase?"

"It will not be lower than this number." Zhu Ai stretched out four fingers and said, "I estimate that it will not be lower than this number."

"So high?" Han Caizhi said in surprise ~www.wuxiamtl.com~ After the official salt has been taxed, it should not be less than 200 yuan per catty, and the price of Huaidong salt is only about 100 yuan per year. The salt merchant secretly added at least double the private salt to trade off, so as not to lose money. Do you think those salt traders risked beheading their heads because of their good intentions and brought in smuggled salt in order to make salt affordable for the people? Zhu Ai asked with a smile, "When the Ma family fell under the law, where did the fertile fields come from for thousands of hectares?" "

Han Caizhi smiled. When the Huaidong Army attacked the Ma family, there were 600,000 to 700,000 to 700,000 taels of real gold and silver, and there were countless fertile fields and farms. Didn't they profit from private salt?

The rest is not clear, Han Caizhi has carefully calculated the accounts of the labor camp.

The Huaidong Army can obtain an additional 1,200 shi of salt from the Huaidong Army Commander controlled by Liu Tingzhou every year based on the 20,000 troops, but this is far from enough for the Huaidong Army Division.

Calculated on the basis of 60,000 soldiers and 5,000 animals in the labor camp, only 6,000 shi of salt are used every year. If private salt was not used, the 6,000 stone salt would be 120,000 taels compared to the official price.

Naturally, the Huaidong Military Division will not spend money on this, and has its own salt drying field on Changshan Island and Daheng Island. The actual cost of drying salt, compared with the official price, is less than one-twentieth. This, Han Caizhi, Zhang Gou and others all know.

However, Han Caizhi and Zhang Gou were not sure whether the real number of private salts in the Lianghuai Salt Works was what Zhu Ai said. After all, political affairs are not their expertise.

If this is true, if this side can firmly control the outflow of private salt from the Lianghuai salt area, it is possible to raise 100,000 elite soldiers.

Han Caizhi, Zhang Gou, and Zhu Ai were talking when Qin Chengzu walked in. When Qin Chengzu came, Lin Fu would not let Qin Chengzu wait there, so he called them in together and talked about setting up military commanders. My QT room is open! More vulgar official QT room number [9167] Click to enter