Zhang Gou followed Han Caizhi and Zhu Ai to stay in Hecheng. For three days in a row, they were not summoned by Lin Fu.
In the past three days, Chen Kuili, Chen Zhi and others were also summoned to Hecheng one after another. There were almost thirty people, all of whom were from the work camp. In addition to Zhu Ai and other work officials, more of them were involved in the Hecheng war.
students in the training school.
On the fourth day, a large number of cadet officers came from other places. They all lived together and it was lively. It was not difficult to know that the people who came from as far away as Shanyang County, Huai'an Prefecture, and also from Daheng Island
Cadet Officer.
Currently, Hecheng, Chongcheng, Shanyang, and Dahengdao all have primary combat training schools. Hecheng is the largest, with 400 people selected from the labor camp for short-term training at one time. Chongcheng, Shanyang,
The primary combat training school on Daheng Island only has about a hundred people in its first phase.
Although there was no clear notification, so many student officers with the same nature gathered together, and everyone soon confirmed that this group of more than a hundred people had been selected as the outstanding ones in the junior combat training school.
Calculated in proportion, the combat training schools in Chongcheng, Shanyang, and Daheng Island selected the best candidates this time at a ratio of one out of five, while Hecheng only selected one out of fifteen.
This is not to blame for the Huaidong Military Division's discrimination against most of the cadet officers in Hecheng who came from the refugee army. People like Zhang Gou and others only spent two months studying intensively. The selection ratio is low, which is normal.
The cadet officers selected from Chongcheng, Shanyang, and Dahengdao were originally from the Huaidong Army, and had gone through at least two, or even three, periods of concentrated study for up to half a year. At least in terms of tactical learning,
They have a more solid foundation than the cadet officers at the Hecheng War Training Academy.
There are also quite a few people, such as Zhang Jiheng and others, who have served as sentry generals, deputy sentry generals and even battalion generals and battalion sentry officers in the army. They have also been transferred to Hecheng.
The formal order was never issued. Lin Fu also summoned the construction officials to inspect the mausoleum first, and Zhu Ai also followed him to build the mausoleum. Zhang Gou never knew the purpose of gathering these people.
, it is suspected that the Huaidong Army will expand its army again.
By April 26, more than 140 mid-level and senior officers had gathered in Hecheng. Based on the most basic staffing of captains and deputy sentries, this group of officers had at least twenty new battalions and a total of sixty sentries.
Twelve thousand soldiers and horses arrived.
Zhang Gou initially thought that Lin Fu decided to attack the She family, and many officers also thought so. Everyone gathered together to learn and summarize the gains and losses in the battle of Xiyehara, and some people first discussed attacking from the Shengsi defense line.
Mingzhou Prefecture’s plan comes.
Lin Fu went to inspect Jianling, Yandu and other places in the north. Qin Chengzu took up command in Hecheng and gathered military officers, led by Han Caizhi and Zhang Jiheng.
Both of them had access to the core secrets of the Huaidong Military Division, and soon everyone knew the real reason for this large-scale gathering of middle- and senior-level officers. The Military Division will formally add a military commander to the brigade, battalion, and sentry level armies.
After a short period of study, they will serve as the first batch of military commanders and be incorporated into the army at all levels.
On April 28, Lin Fucai returned to Hecheng from Yandu and formally signed an order to establish the military commander cadet team.
The cadet team is organized as a sentry team, headed by Qin Chengzu, the right commander of the army marching army. Han Caizhi, Zhang Jiheng and Zhang Gou are the deputy sentry generals of the cadet team. There are more than 140 people organized into eight study groups. Chen Zhi, Chen Kuili and others are the cadet team.
All soldiers are chief.
Zhang Jiheng, as the first general in the Eastern Expedition at the Battle of Kinohara, was a military attaché at the battalion command level. It was only natural that he be transferred in as the deputy sentry general of the cadet team.
Han Caizhi is a son of Shanglinli. During the Battle of Huaisi, he took great credit for the large-scale refugee army surrendering to Huaidong. Han Caizhi was already highly valued in the labor camp. This time, he was incorporated into the army and was given a prominent position.
Nothing surprising.
After the real order was issued, Zhang Gou was puzzled as to why he was given the same important position as Zhang Jiheng and Han Caizhi in the student team?
Huaidong's 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 what the military commander's specific responsibilities were in the army.
On the night of the 28th, Zhang Gou, with Han Caizhi and Zhang Jiheng, went to see Lin Fu in an uneasy mood.
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When he entered, Lin Fu was discussing matters with Sun Jingtang, Wang Chengfu, and Chen Lei. Zhu Ai and others were also present.
The sea defense embankments in the Jiangmen and Hecheng sections have been initially completed, and the work camp will be moved north on a large scale to be responsible for the construction of the sea defense embankments in the middle and northern sections. However, in the southern section, except for Hecheng and Jiangmen, the camps in the previous three sections
On this basis, the village will be formally established.
The construction of follow-up post roads, windbreaks and other projects in the southern section of the sea wall will be constructed by the village. The village's more important responsibility is to carry out large-scale farming in the hinterland of Hecheng grassland, and to accommodate as many as 90,000 workers and camp generals.
family members.
Zhu Ai, the construction official, and three other people were promoted to the post of village chief, and were under the control of the Hecheng and Jiangmen inspection departments respectively.
Zhang Gou, Han Caizhi, Zhang Jiheng and others had to wait for Qin Chengzu to come over, so they waited in the side hall. They could vaguely hear people talking about pasture farming.
Zhu Ai and the other three new village chiefs withdrew first and wanted to wait for the two inspectors Wang Chengfu and Chen Lei to finish talking before going back together.
Zhang Gou, Han Caizhi and Zhu Ai were also familiar with each other, so they asked about the farming affairs. Only then did they learn that Lin Fu was traveling north this time, and finally decided on the plan: three villages, plus Hecheng and Jiangmen, within two years.
Six hundred thousand acres of grain fields will be reclaimed, including the families of workers, campers, generals, and soldiers, and a total of 40,000 households will be resettled.
"The Lianghuai Salt and Iron Division has no objections?" Han Caizhi asked, "Hecheng has reclaimed 600,000 acres of grain fields in two years, and almost half of the land has been reclaimed. It is impossible for the Lianghuai Salt and Iron Division to not know at all.
! Besides, so many people are used to cultivate grain fields, and a large amount of land is occupied. How can we ensure the supply of eight million bales of fodder to Sheyang and Dafeng salt areas every year?"
Zhang Gou thought that Lin Fu had just returned to Chongzhou, but he did not go back to Chongcheng, so he took everyone north directly, probably to coordinate with the officials of the Lianghuai Salt and Iron Division.
Large-scale reclamation will inevitably affect the supply of fodder.
"Sheyang, Dafeng Saltworks will try to change the cooking method to the drying method to save the use of forage." Zhu Ai followed the north this time and knew the coordination between the Huaidong Military Division and the Lianghuai Salt and Iron Division. This kind of thing is naturally
It is confidential, but the transfer orders for Han Caizhi, Zhang Gou, and Zhang Jiheng have been issued, and it is clear that they are senior generals at the level of deputy brigade commander of the Huaidong Army Division. There is no need to hide things that Zhu Aineng knows from them. "These two salt fields are therefore
The resulting loss in official salt production will be subsidized by the purchase of sea salt from the Haidong region. This year, 30,000 shi of sea salt will be directly subsidized... The Salt and Iron Department's annual purchase of official salt from these two salt farms is only 120,000 shi. Let's take a look.
The subsidy gives them a quarter of the amount, and they don’t have to worry about collecting goods, so what else can they be dissatisfied about?”
"That's right. Even if the fodder produced by Hecheng Grassland is included, the boiling method can only produce 80,000 rock salt at most. With so much subsidy here, the officials of the two salt farms don't know how to get it from inside.
How much money can you make?" Han Caizhi said with emotion.
The sales price of official salt is extremely high, mainly because the salt tax accounts for nine out of ten. The Salt and Iron Department actually purchased 30,000 stones of salt from salt households, and the cost was only 30,000 to 40,000 taels of silver. Huaidong purchased sea salt from the Haidong area to make up for it.
To the Salt and Iron Department, the cost will not exceed 50,000 taels of silver. Even if it is doubled, it will only be 100,000 taels of silver.
The entire Hecheng Grassland, within the sea wall, has a measured land area of more than 7,000 square miles.
Integration and adjustment with Chongzhou can completely separate three counties. Even if the early reclamation costs are huge, based on Chongzhou's population density, two more counties can accommodate almost 100,000 households. This is definitely not the case.
An additional investment of one hundred thousand taels of silver every year can be measured.
"Is it time to close the gap next?" Zhang Gou asked.
"I'm afraid not, depending on your wishes, we have to wait until the sea wall is built," Zhu Ai said. "If we can negotiate a deal with the two salt field supervisors, we will also threaten to close the gap. Now that it has been negotiated,
There will be no changes for the time being.”
Zhu Ai and other three village chiefs have worked with Han Caizhi and Zhang Gou for half a year. They are very familiar with each other and often discuss these issues.
What Zhang Gou meant by "closing the gap" was to use the blockade formed by the sea embankment and Huaidong inspection departments to severely crack down on the flow of illegal salt from the Lianghuai salt area.
This will allow the Huaidong Military Division to gain more benefits from "salt and silver to protect grain".
It was only after Zhang Gou arrived in Chongzhou that he began to think about these deep-seated issues. Han Caizhi also studied political affairs seriously and systematically at Lin Fu's request in order to meet the requirements of a qualified senior general.
In comparison, Zhu Ai showed more talent in this area. In fact, Zhu Ai's level was much lower than that of Han Caizhi and Zhang Gou, and his access to secrets was limited, but in Huaidong political affairs
On the other hand, Han Caizhi and Zhang Gou wanted to ask Zhu Ai for advice.
Han Caizhi asked: "Currently, the official salt output of the Lianghuai Salt District is 250,000 shi per year. How much can it increase if the supply is tightened?"
"It won't be lower than this number." Zhu Ai stretched out four fingers and said, "I guess it won't be lower than this number."
"So high?" Han Caizhi said in surprise.
"After the salt tax is added to the official salt, 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 merchants secretly add at least double the private salt as a discount, so as not to lose money. Do you think
Are those salt merchants out of good intentions, and in order to make the people affordable to eat salt, they risk beheading and use private salt to trade in?" Zhu Ai asked with a smile, "When the Ma family was buried in the law, there were thousands of hectares of fertile land. Where did it come from?
Come?"
Han Caizhi smiled. When the Huaidong Army attacked the Ma family, they had six to seven hundred thousand taels of real gold and silver, as well as countless fertile fields and farms. Wasn't it profiting from private salt?
I don't know about the other things. Han Caizhi has carefully calculated the accounts of the labor camp.
Based on the 20,000 troops, the Huaidong Army can receive an additional 1,200 shi of salt from the Huaidong Army Commandery controlled by Liu Tingzhou every year, but this is far from enough for the Huaidong Army Commandery.
Based on the calculation of 60,000 soldiers and 5,000 livestock in the labor camp, 6,000 shi of salt alone would be used every year. If private salt was not used, these 6,000 shi of salt would be 120,000 taels of silver compared with the official price.
Naturally, the Huaidong Military Division would not waste money on this. They have their own salt drying fields 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 it.
However, Han Caizhi and Zhang Gou were not sure whether the real number of private salt in the Lianghuai Salt Farm was the number mentioned by Zhu Ai. After all, political affairs were not their specialty.
If this number is true, if this place can firmly control the outflow of private salt in the Lianghuai Salt District, 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 to discuss the appointment of military commanders.