Recently, because Lu Ji stood out in the first imperial examination and became the youngest person to top the list in Chu State, Lu Kang was in a good mood and was obviously much happier than before.
If it weren't for the fact that the medical school did regular physical examinations for these veterans, Bai Tu would have been worried that he was having a comeback...
"I have also considered this matter. Firstly, I still need all the prominent families to carry forward their spirit. Secondly... I want to form a special land reclamation army in Chu State and select soldiers from the second-line army;
The war will be mainly voluntary, and the soldiers will focus on training in farming and other skills. The families of the generals can move with the army, and sufficient compensation and rewards will be given. When a development mission occurs, the pioneering legion will be given priority to serve as a stabilizing force and pioneer after immigration.
"
Bai Tu proposed the establishment of a special legion for "land reclamation" after expansion...
In addition, we must actively publicize it among the people. Bai Tu planned to discuss carefully with Xia Houjuan in the evening about encouraging the development of opera repertoire.
However, it is true that the current population is not overloaded, and with productivity increasing significantly, the desire for civilian immigration is definitely a shortcoming of the Chu State's propaganda and enlightenment.
"Absolutely! The soldiers of the Chu Kingdom are enough to carry their glory." Lu Bu had not intervened before, but when Bai Tu mentioned the new army, the Privy Council was naturally the first to express its stance.
From the period of Yangzhou Prefecture and General Prefecture, the Chu army emphasized a sense of honor and mission. In terms of ideological quality, Lu Bu was very confident. From the King of Chu to the people of Chu, they were also "confident" in them.
Ordinary people may not be aware enough, but the Chu army cannot be aware enough.
From "Killing a person is like killing my father" to the "Shrine of Protectors of the People" outside Jinling City, the relationship between the military and the people of Chu has surpassed the times.
Really compared with other princes, the gap is even greater than the gap in military equipment!
Of course, compensation and rewards will definitely follow, and Bai Tu also emphasized that issues such as support for the elderly must also be considered, and warriors with low migration costs and willing to join will be given priority.
In addition, in the world of Cheng Ji, the "land pioneering army" is actually a clever way to use the rules of Cheng Ji...
Because although ordinary Ji Zao soldiers have problems with their sense of belonging, military discipline, and morale declining after leaving the place of origin, they can completely make up for it with enough training.
It is much easier to mobilize Ji Zao soldiers than to mobilize real generals to migrate voluntarily. In other words, as long as there are enough generals willing to migrate!
At the same time, although Ji Zao soldiers need to replenish their manpower every year, they can still use the manpower of branches of aristocratic families who have migrated there, as well as naturalized local indigenous people - it's just that because the sources of soldiers are mixed, the level of training will continue to decline.
However, it is mainly focused on land reclamation, and the impact is completely acceptable.
But in this case, the degree of exemption from corvee for the pioneers needs to be considered...
Huang Chengyan also said at this time: "If it is a land reclamation army, I think there should be many people in the original Jingzhou army who are qualified and willing to try."
But not everyone’s army is so valuable!
In the Central Plains and the northern places where wars have been fought for a long time, many generals are forcibly recruited and even used as consumables. Even in Yizhou and the previous Jingzhou, the treatment of grassroots generals is not good.
Although most of the original Jingzhou Army has become a second-line army, they have been flattered by the actual treatment and the military service and retirement system that encourages starting a family.
More importantly, the generals of the Jingzhou army have not been allocated enough land in Jingzhou, and many of them have not started families. This is especially serious among the grassroots generals. This is caused by the historical problems left over from Jingzhou, which makes their love for Jingzhou inconsistent.
Not strong!
Huang Chengyan also understood that the Jingzhou gentry would not be able to suppress the Yangzhou gentry in the political situation of Chu State in the short term. It would be good if they could not be suppressed too miserably by the opponent.
For things like dividing the cake, if the Jingzhou nobles want to have the same share, they must put in more effort - after all, Yangzhou, especially Jiangdong, also contributed the most to the establishment of the Chu State.
"Cultivate a dedicated wasteland reclamation corps... The veteran seconded the suggestion." Lu Kang also agreed.
Will the land reclamation army seize the shares of the wealthy families?
There is indeed this tendency, but as mentioned before, under the combination of fists, the aristocratic families of the Chu State were restrained from developing into clans, and instead chose to develop together with the Chu State in another form.
As human beings, the desire for fame and fortune will not disappear, but the form of competition can be controlled - provided it develops quickly enough.
Moreover, you must know that the noble clan and the "land reclamation legion" are not mutually exclusive. You can completely encourage the children of the clan to actively participate in the land reclamation legion, indirectly increasing their influence on the land reclamation legion.
Of course, since land reclamation is in the form of a legion, the influence of family background on generals will be much weaker - if he does not even realize that he is "first of all a general of the Chu army, and secondly of a noble family background", then his awareness of Chu studies is obviously not good.
In place!
And the land reclamation army must also focus on catching Chu Xue's awakening...
"The Navy may discover more unopened lands in the future, and we should prepare early. The land reclamation corps is not only for Ganzhou, but also exists as a long-term national policy." Bai Tu emphasized in particular.
When Yizhou was first developed, there were still many refugees who could be used by disaster victims. Now that Danzhou is being developed, the problem is still not acute.
But in the future, when Gan Ning really sets foot in the "Golden State", there will be a real shortage of people - Baitu will not just plunder and leave, let alone capture Kunlun slaves as labor force.
Fortunately, Chu State still has time to prepare...
In Bai Tu's mind, Danzhou was far from comparable to the "legendary" fertile Golden State.
But if you want to go to the Golden State, you have to at least wait for the large-scale Zhenqi machine technology to mature, that is, after the "Pan Zhenqi Project" has achieved initial results, and then go directly to the armored ship to explore...
Although Columbus's Santa Maria was only a wooden sailing ship in history and was no better than Chu in terms of technology, the Chu navy's ship had a fatal weakness - a serious lack of oil immersion time.
If you have to sail on the sea for a long time, a boat made of new wood will easily rot. Soaking it in tung oil for a few years can extend the life of the boat.
The Chu State's oil-pressing technology was quite advanced, but how many years had it only begun to build ships?
The time for soaking in tung oil is seriously insufficient. The first batch of sea-going ships have basically been decommissioned. Now Gan Ning's fleet has three generations of sea-going ships, but the time for soaking in tung oil is only two years. For safety reasons, the remaining service period will not exceed five years.
It's just that Baitu was eager to develop, so he luxuriously built short-term ships as consumables.
Even if the first batch of lumber begins to be soaked in oil, now that we are starting to build ships, the time for oil soaking is not very sufficient...
Therefore, the current navigation technology may be enough to attempt a circumnavigation, but there is a risk of the ship breaking down midway!
Moreover, the first batch of wood that Gan Ning started soaking in oil has almost been used. The second batch of wood is more abundant, but it only lasts for two years...
Bai Tu has basically placed his hopes for a long voyage on the ironclad ship. At least the ironclad ship must be used as the flagship to feel safe!
Including the "land reclamation corps" matter, a consensus was easily reached during the palace discussion. As for the next specific development plan, we still need to wait for the results of the geological survey.
As for the candidates for governor, the academicians of the palace have also nominated many, but who to choose, Bai Tu still has to make a decision at the court meeting of the six ministries and one academy...