The reason why the Tang clan was able to increase troops this time was because the royal family and the three major lords reached a unified opinion, and everyone decided to increase the troops together.

Empress Dowager Chen meant to directly increase the number of troops to one million, but Tang Qiong raised objections.

As we all know, now the Tang Gate Valve is short of money.

But the other two gate valves were not short of money, so they couldn't fully support Tang Qiong, so there was a compromise method of recuperating in three years and increasing the number of troops by one million in five years. The Tang Gate Valve made a compromise, and the royal family and the other two major gate valves also gave in a small step.

But in the first three years, each family had to increase their troops by 50,000. When the province is obtained, they are all new soldiers, neither equipment nor training can meet the requirements, and it is not strong enough to increase the number of troops to one million.

The Tang clan had no money to build equipment, so they first gathered enough people, and the special officials of the military department who checked the number of people finally came to the boundary of Shazhou on July 20.

His speed is really not fast, and it is estimated that he was troubled by the eighteenth prince halfway.

As for how Childe made things difficult for him, it is unknown.

This special official is a Lang Zhong of the Ministry of War, named Xun Heng, who is an official from the fifth grade, but he came this time to replace Tang Ning, the secretary of the Ministry of War, so in terms of etiquette, he must reflect a high standard.

Chen Mu naturally didn't want to offend Xun Heng in such a trivial matter, so he went out of the city for ten miles to greet him, beat gongs and drums to receive the Peacock Tower, sumptuous food entertainment, fragrant beauties as accompaniment, and took care of Xun Langzhong meticulously.

But Xun Heng doesn't seem to be smiling, and he is also very cold to the beauties around him, his speech and demeanor are a little arrogant, and he has a bit of an unruly literati temperament that is not close to dirty women. It seems that he may have been born as a secretary, and he is also a person who has participated in regular scientific examinations. I think I'm a rich man, so I'm a little proud.

However, this pride is not very annoying to Chen Mu, and Chen Mu also believes that in some ways, this pride can reflect the integrity of the literati.

The next day, the 16th Division assembled at the Jiaojun Field, and Chen Mu accompanied the special officials to inspect the 16th Division.

Xun Heng frowned and said: "The military appearance is quite loose, and it seems that training is neglected. ”

Chen Mudao: "Now Dunhuang City is under construction, most of these soldiers are engineers, and there is indeed a lack of training. ”

Xun Heng said coldly: "What my Liang wants is a soldier who can fight, not a soldier who can build a house." I also ask General Chen Mu to pay attention to it, I will come to inspect it next year, and I hope that by then the equipment will be qualified and the army will be neat. ”

Then Xun Heng took out the list that Chen Mu handed over to the Ministry of War and began to spot check and roll call.

Before the roll call, Chen Mu said to Xun Heng that the 800 Luhan troops of the First Regiment of the First Brigade were stationed in Hu Xuan Town at this time, and the distance was too far, so they were not in the queue.

Xun Heng said with a heavy face: "From the time I notified you to review, to the time I came here, if there is enough time, you can't pull the troops back?" Are you still sincere? ”

Chen Mu's face was ugly and he didn't speak.

Xun Heng continued: "I will truthfully report this matter to the Ministry of War, and let the Ministry of War make a decision when the time comes." ”

Then Tang Heng selected more than a dozen people, there was no problem at all, he ordered people to count the total number of people according to the queue, which was 9,231 people. If you count Lu Han's 800, there are 31 more people.

There are more than 30 people in the army of 10,000 people, which is nothing, and Xun Heng does not bother about this matter, so he collects the team and returns to the post house, preparing to leave the next day.

"Uncle, do you want to give him some gold and silver?" After returning to the study of the military department, Hanxiang handed over a ham.

"It's going to be delivered." Chen Mu took a bite, felt that it was too salty, and put it down again.

"How much should I send?" Hanxiang put away the ham, took a bite by himself, didn't bite, and took a knife and cut a slice.

"Give him 10,000 taels."

“…… So much? ”

Chen Mu waved his hand and said, "Some people are not greedy for small profits. And I don't know if he's greedy or not, so I can only use a lot of money to smash it. In addition, we can't give gifts with the reason of covering up the gap of 800 soldiers, otherwise he will easily refuse. We're going to find something else for him to do, and it's not big or small. ”

Hanxiang is silent.

Chen Mu paused for a moment and said, "Just say that you and Xiaohuan will transfer their military status, let him bother." ”

Han Xiang smiled, nodded, and then took Guo Yang, Xiaohuan and ten soldiers, carrying the box to see Xun Heng. To outsiders, the box contains a few pieces of Dunhuang specialty fabric.

In just an hour, Hanxiang came back and seemed to be in a good mood.

As soon as he walked into the study, Hanxiang said to Chen Mu: "That Xun Heng had a tough attitude at the beginning, saying that the shortage of 800 soldiers was a big deal, and he would definitely report it truthfully." I told him that I didn't come to him this time for this matter, but for me and Xiaohuan's military membership. At first, he was reluctant to talk about it, but after seeing the gift list, he said let's try it, if it can't be done, I will send you a gift back in the future. ”

Chen Mu said: "Everything is fine. ”

The next day, Xun Heng's convoy left Dunhuang, but Chen Mu did not send him off on the grounds of wrong temper. Just let Lang Guoyang, the second-level secretary of the division headquarters, take a few slightly disabled soldiers to send Xun Heng less than a mile outside the north gate.

In the eyes of outsiders, the worse his relationship with Chen Mu, the better.

Before parting, he also said some strange things to Guo Yang in front of his subordinates, which was quite belittling General Dunhuang.

Obviously, he and Chen Mu thought of going together.

Chen Mu is ready to start bidding for Dongcheng, and according to the original plan, he will give up one-fifth of the land.

This news caused a sensation in the city of Dunhuang.

Everyone knows the importance of land, so it is widely spread that some people went to Chang'an and Luoyang to seek help from the big chaebols, and wanted to smash a vote.

Hearing this news, Cao Su couldn't miss it.

Last time, he sent someone to disguise himself as a businessman, and he only got three alleys, which had already made him see a huge business opportunity, and now it is one-fifth of the new city ground, and he doesn't want to miss it. So he wrote to the Luoyang Qian chaebol to seek support.

For this reason, the Qian chaebol also sent people to Dunhuang to investigate, and found that there was indeed some money, and decided to fund Cao Sui to take this land.

"Last time it was a fake tender, this time it's real." Chen Mu said to Han Jianniang: "You don't have to take care of anyone this time, you can shoot as high as you can." Even if he is not bought by Cao Sui, it is impossible for someone who can come up with so much money to give up construction. In addition, I believe that Cao Su will not let that piece of land fall into the hands of others. There is hope for this auction. ”

Hanxiang reminded: "Uncle, aren't you planning to exchange land for the city wall?" ”

Chen Muyi smiled and said: "At first, I didn't expect to cause such a big reaction, since the big chaebols in Luoyang and Chang'an are willing to make a move, I think the money from selling this land is enough to build two city walls." I'm not going to negotiate with Cao anymore. If we can attract third-party forces to jointly build Dunhuang, it will be of great benefit to us. ”

The first is the latest.