When Tang Jiyao came to Huaiyuan to take up his post, he was accompanied by several old soldiers to serve him. At this time, he also took these old soldiers with him, packed up his bags, tied them on the horse, and rushed to the front office to find Xu Huai.
, Cheng Yi said goodbye and asked for a piece of paper from Xu Huai, thus completing the handover.
Seeing Tang Jiyao riding away on horseback, Cheng Yi didn't come back to his senses for a while, and asked Xu Huai in a daze: "Are these edicts true?"
Cheng Yi and Deng Gui were not stupid. The suppression of bandits was at an advanced stage. How could they still not see clearly whether Xu Huai was a fool?
The problem is, Cheng Yi is very aware of Xu Huai's acting style, which is so unique and unpredictable.
If he commits a crime and is not tolerated by the court, but has the audacity to forge an imperial edict, take over the Inspection Department, and then occupy Tongbai Mountain to become king and dominate, in Cheng Yi's view, this is something that Xu Huai is completely likely to do!
Furthermore, how many people has Xu Huai sent back to Tongbai Mountain in the past year?
As for the fact that Xu Huai was Wang Xiaocheng's son, Cheng Yi had also heard about it. This made him uneasy: This guy wouldn't want to rebel in Tongbai Mountain, would he?
"Why, if this edict is false, Old Cheng, you will follow Tang Jiyao's example and run away?" Xu Huai asked, looking sideways at Cheng Yi.
"I said Master Xu, don't scare me," Cheng Yi cried with a sad face, "I can't hear anything in this remote and remote place, and you suddenly came back with a hundred people and said you wanted to take over the inspection
Si, why do you think I have no idea at all? Besides, the Chihu people have not just captured Yanji, all the towns in Hebei are still there, and they have not heard of the fall of Taiyuan, so why is Bianliang in danger?"
"Tang Jiyao ignored him and left directly. If you have to worry about the edict being false, you can also learn from Tang Jiyao!" Xu Huai said with a smile.
Cheng Yi sighed and said: "Tang Jiyao is a military official in the capital deployment department. He walked out of Huaiyuan, went to Dong Zhizhou to explain to him, and then went straight back to Xiangyang. No matter how much shit is left on his butt here, he doesn't need to be wiped by him. I want to
If I run away, the best I can do is to escape back to Biyang City, but I know something is really going to happen. This little Tongbai Mountain can't withstand your big stick and you will stab it indiscriminately. In the end, you won't be able to go to Biyang?"
"The imperial edict is true, it is true that Bianliang is in danger, and the county in Huaiyuan was renamed Chushan is also true. If you are willing to stay as the chief registrar, I will tell you what is going on?" Xu Huai
said.
"Old Cheng, you had a pot of wine in the morning. You probably haven't drank yet today, so you're getting timid! I'll have a pot of wine with you, and I'll explain all these things to you in detail!" Zheng Tu hugged him
Cheng Yi said.
Xu Huai waved his hand and let Zheng Tu explain everything to Cheng Yi, so he would not have to waste words - otherwise, after all the big family members and elders came over, how many mouths would he have?
No matter what, Xu Huai would not let Cheng Yi leave and would tie him up with a rope to keep him.
Tongbai Mountain occupies such a large area that even if it is separated from Biyang, it is enough to form a Shangxian County. In Shangxian County, in addition to the magistrate or magistrate, the court will also appoint county magistrates, county lieutenants, chief registrars, etc.
The civil servants are in charge of county administration.
However, everything was in a hurry. At this juncture, the Ministry of Personnel had no way to find a few suitable and willing low-level officials to send to Huaiyuan. Hu Kai asked Xu Huai to directly find a few people to use them first, and then he would recommend them all.
It was easy for Xu Huai to use Xu Wujiang, Su Laochang and others to build the framework of the county government and the inspection department, and there was definitely no shortage of capable people in Tongbai Mountain.
However, don’t talk about Xu Wuqi, Xu Xinan, Guo Junpan, Pan Chenghu, etc.
Now, Xu Wujiang and Xu Wuliang both had meritorious service. Even if they did not pass the imperial examination, they could still be recommended for low-level official positions such as chief registrar and county lieutenant.
However, apart from Cheng Yi, there was no other person in Tongbai Mountain who was proficient in writing documents; even though Xu Huai knew that Cheng Yi was better at craftsmanship.
On the way back to Huaiyuan from Rolling Stone over Yuefu Mountain and Beiling, Xu Huai discussed the personnel arrangements for the county government with Xu Wujiang and Su Laochang.
Although the sparrow is small, it has all the internal organs. Huaiyuan is officially a county with a population of more than 100,000. There will definitely be no shortage of clerical work. In addition to the chief official and magistrate, the county magistrate, the county lieutenant, the chief minister, and the second official, the official
The sixth house of Hu, Li, Xing, Bing, and Gong is specifically responsible for prisons, grain and horses, land taxes, anti-smuggling and arrests, land construction, recruitment, etc. There are also three squads of yamen and sword archers who guard the city gates and patrol the streets.
, the jailer who guards the county jail.
Although Su Laochang was capable in handling matters, he was not familiar with the routine of the Chaoting Prefecture County Government Office.
Xu Huai holds great power in Huaiyuan and can do anything. However, if he does not want to be criticized in the future, the paperwork must be done properly, so he needs someone who is proficient in document writing and can be trusted by them.
Only if the person serves as county magistrate or chief registrar.
There is no one more suitable than Cheng Yi.
In addition to Cheng Yi, Su Laochang, Xu Wujiang, Zheng Tu and others will be specifically responsible for the six offices of the county government and other trivial matters; for a long time to come, Xu Huai and most of the staff will focus on the army and horses.
In terms of training and commanding troops for combat, there is not much energy to take care of county affairs.
There are two most urgent matters at present:
The first one was to recruit rural soldiers.
This is the responsibility of the barracks.
The traditional training of rural soldiers is mainly in the hands of the local clans, and the leaders of the rural soldiers are usually directly served by the core figures of the clans; the county government military room usually only needs to do some registration and registration affairs.
Work.
Naturally, Xu Huai this time wanted to completely smash the traditional rural soldier training model, directly recruit soldiers into the army, and even integrate the management of the military status of the existing 2,500 regular soldiers, merits, demerits, rewards and punishments, etc.
Barracks.
The number of troops under the direct jurisdiction of the Capital Deployment Department on South Beijing Road is only six to seven thousand forbidden troops. In the future, the Huaiyuan County Military Room will be directly responsible for the military registration and other matters of five thousand troops and horses, which is naturally much more important than imagined.
The military building will be equipped with left and right managers, headed by Xu Wukun and Fan Yong respectively.
The second task is to select a site at the foot of Dafu Mountain in the west of Queshan County to build the Metropolitan Inspection Division Camp, and to open a road from Huaiyuan directly across Beiling to the Metropolitan Inspection Division Camp; at the same time, it is more complicated, cumbersome and
What was a headache was the raising and distribution of food, food and soldiers' pay for the five thousand men and horses.
Until a suitable and trustworthy person is found, Su Laochang will be responsible for all the management of the workshop, household housing and official housing.
In addition, the former military soldiers of the Huaiyuan Inspection Department were directly transformed into sword archers and execution room jailers. Xu Wujiang also served as the county captain and execution room manager, and was actually responsible for the city defense, public security and execution jails of the new county.
Under the current situation, matters such as the ceremonial office, imperial examinations, education, and rituals are no longer important. Until there is a suitable candidate, Cheng Yi will take charge of them.
When setting up a county in Huaiyuan, the affairs of the post office were also a top priority, including not only the reception and placement of personnel, but also the communication with various government offices and the delivery of documents. Xu Huai intended for Zheng Tu to lead the post office.
In addition to Liufang, Xu Huai also planned to set up three supervisory offices at the Jinshagou Mine, the refinery of Zhufengtang, and the Shibaliwu Iron Mine, formerly owned by the Tang family and later actually controlled by Zhufengtang.
The entry into the county government office was handled by Xu Wuliang and others.
In today's world, except for soldiers,
In addition to the supply of rations and silver rewards, there is no fixed military pay in peacetime.
The vast majority of soldiers at the bottom want to make ends meet, but also hope that the generals will not deduct money. It is difficult for them to rely on their military income to support their families.
This makes soldiers' status in clans, states and counties lower and lower, and they are less valued.
If Xu Huai wants to change this, no matter how many great principles he talks about, is it possible for ordinary soldiers to listen?
How many people in the countryside know the justice of their family and country?
They can be brought together simply by the brotherhood of the countrymen, but how can we get everyone to grit their teeth and persevere in the war that may last for ten or even decades?
For now, the only effective method is to pay soldiers so that the recruited soldiers can support their families.
Although you can ask for various funds from the higher authorities when your troops are deployed and stationed in dangerous areas, there is still a huge gap in ensuring that soldiers' salaries are paid out on schedule.
Just relying on the land tax and population tax in Tongbai Mountain cannot make up for this huge gap.
After Huaiyuan is reorganized into the county, the commercial taxes on Tongbai Mountain Road will be merged into the tax collection, and Xu Huai can all use it to supplement military expenditure. At present, the annual tax revenue is 20,000 to 30,000 yuan.
However, as the war progressed, as long as a small group of red cavalry arrived along the cliffs of Huaiyuan, the number of business trips from Guangzhou to Tangzhou would drop sharply, and the commercial tax revenue from this area would no longer be expected.
At present, the relatively stable financial resources in Tongbai Mountain are the gold mine in Jinsagou, the Shibaliwu Iron Mine, and the smelting workshop of Zhufengtang. They can currently provide an additional 30,000 to 40,000 guan of money and grain every year.
.
As for the pastures at Yuhuangling and Xu's, they are not enough to graze military horses in the later period. New pastures in remote areas need to be opened. They are big gaps and holes that require a steady stream of money and grain from the county government. Don't expect them to generate any income.
.
On the way back to Huaiyuan, Su Laochang and the others had already estimated that apart from the construction work, if they wanted to raise only five thousand elite soldiers, especially such a large number of horses and soldiers to be incorporated into the army, in addition to the money, food, and armor provided by the imperial court, the prefectures and counties,
, in addition to weapons and equipment, they need to subsidize at least hundreds of thousands of dollars and grain every year to be enough.
More importantly, Xu Huai's real goal in the next step is to build Tongbai Mountain into a deep defense system.
In that case, in addition to the upcoming construction of the Metropolitan Inspection Department camp and the new county seat, it is also necessary to select a strategic location in Tongbai Mountain to build a second-level Inspection Department military village.
Yushan Station is the only way from Biyang to Tongbai Mountain in the east; the eastern section of Tongbai Mountain Road and Zhouqiao Station on the south bank of Huai River is the only way from Guangzhou to Tongbai Mountain in the west; and the Zhouqiao Station on the north bank of Huai River
Shimen Ridge is a barrier from the Huaibei Plain to the valley between the North Ridge of Tongbai Mountain and Dafu Mountain. It is necessary to set up a military stronghold, which can not only protect the hinterland to the west of Shimen Ridge, but also take into account the northward route from Zhouqiaoyi to the Huaihe River.
The post road of Queshan County.
In addition to the above three places, Yuhuangling needs to set up an inspection division military stronghold to protect the most densely populated military families and Jinshagou gold mine supervisors there; Huaiyuan Jiuzhai also needs to set up an inspection division military stronghold, in addition to taking care of the ten
Baliwu Iron Mine and smelting site; in addition, an inspection division military village will be set up in Mopanling.
These three military villages are located in the deep hinterland of Tongbai Mountain, and they are also located at key nodes.
This is because Xu Huai, with his limited troops, was unable to hold the passes at both ends of Tongbai Mountain Road and was forced to shrink into the hinterland of Tongbai Mountain. These three military strongholds will ensure that they can continue to control the majority of the territory in Tongbai Mountain.
Some areas, instead of being suffocated to death in some nook and cranny, there is no way to escape the death situation of running out of food and supplies...
