The weather is getting colder and colder, and the last batch of "grain and grass" collected by the Han military government is finally in place. In this terrible cold snap, tens of thousands of people climbed on straw sandals with bare feet, risking their lives to rush back and forth on the muddy official road, wave after wave to deliver life-sustaining food to the millions of displaced people in front, this transportation activity organized by the government created a small historical miracle, in fact, China may not have such a conscious and desperate people in the past 5,000 years. At this time, the Han officers who followed the surveillance and command had long since lost their use of whips or anything else to persecute the people, and these young men who had been recruited from the exiles were desperately scolding the old man, and it could be said that they would never give up their duties as long as they had a breath left.

Later, according to official statistics, during the entire Great Migration, the food, wood blocks, and building materials that these successive men transported to the front could have rebuilt a half-Great Wall if calculated by weight, and one and a third of the way around the Earth's equator if calculated by the length of the continuous movement of the procession. Correspondingly, the price they paid was the endless "Ten Tombs" and "Hundred Tombs" on both sides of the official road, from this time on, the nearby people called this road "Huangquan Road", and in the following two hundred years, the ancestral hall and the Yin Mansion next to this road have been the most prosperous in China.

The perseverance and wisdom of the Chinese nation in this critical moment are simply indescribable, the extreme lack of fuel and building materials has given birth to countless unpretentious folk technology, these very energy-saving and heat-sending "warm houses" and "provincial firewood stove" technology has even been transmitted to Gyeonggi Zhili, by the vast number of northern people to emulate and accept, in addition, those hard-working and kind women have also created a breathtaking food culture - those bark grass roots, black beans, barley, Cake crumbs and other things are studied day and night by women, through grinding, sun exposure, wind and shade, pickling, dry steaming, wet cooking, stir-frying and other means to concoct delicacies that can be served, especially interesting times, these disdainful dishes after hundreds of years of development, actually become the traditional cuisine of the Chinese nation, some wonderful dishes have even become the signature of the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, ironically, when the people of later generations of these delicacies have completely forgotten the blood and tears and helplessness of the ancestors.

Less than a quarter of the babies of those who migrated north that year survived.

In charge of the task of the relocation of displaced people is the Han army Wang Dahai Department and Lin Feng Zhongjun cavalry Sun Sike Department, Lin Feng gave them the command is not to provoke the Qing court Liaodong garrison without authorization, originally this is a very conservative military order, but the so-called people are not as good as the sky, in the later days they achieved extremely embarrassing results for the Han army high-level embarrassment.

After more than two months of training, the 10,000 recruits in Beijing basically have basic combat effectiveness, and after discussion, Lin Feng decided to take advantage of the arrival of the severe cold to replenish this batch of recruits to the garrisons in various places - since the last war, all the units of the Han army now stationed in various places have not been greatly deficient, and the most serious situation is the department of Zhao Liangdong of the garrison Datong, as a strategic place, his troops are only more than 6,000, and the most serious thing is that his troops have no artillery establishment; The troops on the Texas front were a little better, and Liu Laosi temporarily took over the ** Shengsu Department that was transferred to the navy, with a total strength of about 13,000 people. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Lin Feng issued an order for ** Sheng, Shi Lang and the transfer and officially promoted Zhao Liangdong and Sun Sike to military-level generals, where Zhao Liangdong's troops will be replenished and the fortress artillery troops will be increased, and Sun Sike will be transferred back from the Liaodong front to take over the vacancy of ** Sheng.

With the dusty Sun Sike returning to Beijing, it was this laughable result. Some time ago, he cooperated with Wang Dahai's troops to come to Shanhaiguan, and the cavalry went out on alert, warning the Qing soldiers stationed in Shanhaiguan with an offensive posture not to talk nonsense, because the Qing army in Shanhaiguan was less than 2,000, and the strength was indeed too weak, so the two sides were at peace for more than a month, but when a few heavy snows fell, Sun Sike's cavalry on routine patrol suddenly found that the Qing army in Shanhaiguan had all withdrawn cleanly overnight, except for a few dragon flags left on the city tower, and even the cannons installed at the head of the city were dismantled. When the news was transmitted back to the camp, Wang Dahai and Sun Sike were naturally surprised, thinking that the Qing army on the opposite side was playing some tricks, so out of prudence, the two organized a small-scale reconnaissance feint, but the final result was that the Han army occupied Shanhaiguan without a single soldier.

After this surprising battle report arrived in Beijing, Lin Feng was indeed taken aback - according to Chen Menglei's intelligence department, the current Manchu Liaodong regime is not very weak, although the troops are insufficient, but after such a large number of months of war preparations, they still have the strength to fight, and now they unexpectedly suddenly abandon Shanhaiguan, a bridgehead of great strategic significance, which is really a little confusing.

Just when Lin Feng was carefully interrogating Sun Sike, Chen Menglei came to the Marshal's Mansion with Zhou Peigong with a dossier, and after a hasty salute, he couldn't wait to report, "Dashuai, I quickly passed on our detailed work in Liaodong the day before yesterday, and the news has come just now!" ”

"Oh?! What do you say?! ”

"Dashuai, there are bits and pieces of news from a few detailed works over there, I just pulled Pei Gong to sort it out, according to our opinion, the Qing army's retreat this time may be a last resort." Chen Menglei was beaming with joy on his face, it seemed that this news should be very beneficial to the Han army.

"The first reason for this is the heavy snow - the commander doesn't know it, now the snow on the ground in Liaodong has accumulated extremely thick, and it is very inconvenient to move back and forth and transport military supplies, and Shanhaiguan is hanging under the might of our Han army, and the Qing court's strength in Fengtian is insufficient, and it is difficult to support it......"

"This seems to make some sense, but they have a strong city, and they retreat because of the bad roads, it's really a bit unreasonable, right?!" Lin Feng said with a smile.

"Of course, it's not just that," Chen Menglei and Zhou Peigong looked at each other and smiled, "In addition, there is another important news - the tenants in the Liaojin area have recently risen up and formed several bandits, almost severing the connection between Shanhaiguan and Fengtian......"

"What did you say?!" Lin Feng was stunned, stood up suddenly, took the battle report from Chen Menglei's hand, and muttered, "Just kidding, how is it possible?!" ……”

"The marshal doesn't know, this matter is indeed not accidental, if the reason is investigated, it is also related to the rebellion of the three feudatories!" Chen Menglei smiled, "The three feudal clans are all from big families in Liaodong, and they have followed the Tatars in the past few decades, and they have bought houses and fields on a large scale, so there is a saying in Liaodong that there are 'Wu, Shang, Geng, and Zu Four Pillars Optimus',—— the other three surnames here are the three feudatories, and the other 'ancestor' is Wu Sangui's cousin, the former Ming ancestor Dashou lineage......

Lin Feng immediately reacted and blurted out, "What do you mean...... After their rebellion this time, the Qing court carried out a great purge in Liaodong?......"

"Dashuai Mingjian!" Chen Menglei arched his hand and smiled, "Since Wu Sangui joined the army, Kangxi immediately killed Wu Yingxiong, the prince of Pingxi, who stayed in Beijing as a hostage, in addition to this, he also ordered to seize all the estates of the three feudal domains, and kill his relatives who lived in the land of the Qing court - the marshal didn't know, just such a holy decree, the officials of the Qing court outside the customs could knock on the bones and suck the marrow and make a fortune, in addition to Wu Sangui's relatives were killed cleanly, those tenants who cultivated their family's fields were also ruined and mourn......ed."

"I see, ......I see," Lin Feng nodded.

"In addition to that, there's another piece of good news!!" Chen Menglei said excitedly, "According to the detailed return, there is also a big fork in the deep mountains and old forests of the Heilongjiang generation in the hometown of the Manchurian people - I don't know when, a group of Rakshasa ghosts suddenly came to the extreme north, and now all the military strength of the Qing court in Liaodong has been dragged down......"

"!" Lin Feng's color changed, and he pointed at Chen Menglei's nose and reprimanded, "What kind of good news is this?!" ......" knew that he was wrong as soon as the words came out, and turned to look at Chen Menglei who was stunned, he smiled apologetically and explained, "This...... Ben Shuai means that the old Mao Zi is more hateful than the Tartar - to be honest, I wish the Tartar would beat them away! ”

"Oh, of course, my subordinates feel the same way!" Chen Menglei gently and skillfully avoided it, and said, "I heard that those Rakshasa ghosts have red eyebrows and green eyes, and at a glance they don't look like humans and almost animals, and their temperament is even more vicious, as if they even eat people......"

"Hehe, it's true that it's brutal, but cannibalism or something is nonsense," Lin Feng laughed, "But it's not your fault—Ze Zhen probably doesn't know where they came from, right?!" ”

"Hehe, the lord despises me too much," Chen Menglei and Zhou Peigong laughed, "There are many records left in the former Ming Dynasty, in the past, the Mongols beat them to the ground, conquered their people and established a Golden Horde state, but later disappeared from the world, this Rakshasa country is called 'Oros', it is said to border Europa, its lord is called 'Tsar', there are a large number of musketeers and Cossack cavalry under his command, but it is also elite and brave - now there is a spy archive of the former dynasty Jinyi Wei in the file of the Ministry of Rites, It seems that the above also said that this Oros was still at war with Europa, a country called Sweden......"

Lin Feng was dumbfounded, looking at Chen Menglei like an alien, it was incredible, in his impression, intellectuals in this era should be very ignorant of foreign countries, why did this Chen Menglei and Zhou Peigong look proficient? Thinking about this, he said tentatively, "Zezhen is really erudite—I don't think other readers should know much about these things, right?!" ”

"How can there be such a thing-" Chen Menglei snorted, "In the past, the Ming Dynasty took Mongolia as its national enemy, and its Jinyi Wei set up a special yamen to detect Mongolian intelligence. Where there are people in the world who are aspiring to serve the country, who dares not to carefully deduce it?! ”

"Oh my God...... Jinyiwei is still doing this? ……”

"Of course!" Chen Menglei looked at his lord with amazement, "Although there are many brutal officials in Jinyiwei, this matter is related to the fortunes of the Heavenly Empire, as the eyes and ears of the country, it has spent countless amounts of national funds, how can it be a human queen?!" ——In the early years, Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty ordered the officials of Jinyi to go to Nanyang seven times, in order to explore the national conditions of foreign countries!"

"Hey...... I've only seen it for a long time today, it turns out that this Jinyiwei is still the 'CIA' of Daming?! Lin Feng exclaimed, "Amazing, amazing!" ”

"'CIA'? …… That's a good name......" Chen Menglei muttered.

"Alas......" Lin Feng sighed, and he really admired the emperors of the Manchu Qing Dynasty to the extreme, these people really used the methods of fooling the people to the extreme, and forcibly pulled a civilized and positive country back to the form of primitive tribes. It's really lucky - if you wait for that turtle to make the "Siku Quanshu", all the people you can find will be those ostriches who live with their heads covered.

Zhou Peigong, who had been silent next to him, smiled slightly, and looked at Chen Menglei with disgust, "Zezhen, why are you pulling the topic farther and farther?!" Turning his head, he bowed to Lin Feng and said, "My lord, the last general thinks that at this time, the king of my front, the Dahai Division, should be aggressive and slowly enter the land of Liaodong!" ”

"This ...... I'm afraid not," Lin Feng groaned slightly, and asked Sun Sike, "Sike, how is Wang Dahai's military baggage?" ”

"Great handsome Mingjian! When the last general returned, there were still many of Lao Wang's soldiers who had not received cotton clothes and shoes, and now the road was full of snow, and I was afraid that the march would be unfavorable! ”

"Yes, now there is a chance, but the time is not good!" Lin Feng sighed and said, "Forget it, this time there is a fire in front of the Liaodong Tartar and smoke in the back, I forgive him for not being able to set off any prodigal son, let's wait for the beginning of spring next year before marching in a big way, right?!" ”

Zhou Peigong smiled and added, "The marshal is wise - but General Wang can't be idle - we have to do our best to integrate and support the rebels of the Liaojin generation to attack and harass the Qing army this winter, and we can also send a small force to slowly encroach on the border cities in eastern Liao, so that it is impossible for the Tartars to accumulate strength calmly!" ”

"Good! Just do it according to Pei Gong's opinion! Lin Feng immediately gave the order, "Ze Zhen will send more spies to Liaodong from now on—don't care about money, buy, espionage, assassinate or something, anyway, it's best to bring down the remnants of the Qing court's yamen - you should hurry back and arrange it!" ”

After that, he said to Sun Sike, "Sike, you hand over the cavalry of the Chinese army in hand, and immediately go to the front line in Texas to take up the post - Lao Yang has been gone for so long, I am afraid that the morale of the army is a little sluggish now, you still have to rectify it well, you remember, if you don't do a good job, this commander will take you down at any time!" ”

After the two of them were ordered to leave, Lin Feng chuckled and said to Zhou Pei, "Pei Gong, how are the preparations for the marriage?!" ”

Zhou Peigong sighed in his heart, since Lin Feng was going to marry Mongolia, he understood that there was no hope of fighting alone in this life, and the lord did not hesitate to use the honor of the Mongolian princess to envelop himself, which naturally meant that he wanted to stay next to him for the rest of his life to be a strategist, thinking of this, he smiled bitterly and arched his hand, "The last general will listen to the lord's orders!" Only now did he change his name to call Lin Feng "the lord".

"Hehe, Pei Gong doesn't need to worry too much," Lin Feng walked down the hall and patted Zhou Pei Gong on the shoulder, "Pei Gong is resourceful and loyal, and I have another important use on my side - this matter is extraordinary, if you do it well, it is worth a million lions!" ”

"Oh?! ......" Zhou Peigong was taken aback, "I don't know what the lord has sent?!" ”

"I'm going to carry out the restructuring of the whole army-" Lin Feng said word by word, "I want to standardize the tens of thousands of troops of the Han Dynasty this winter!" ”

"That'...... What is ...... 'standardization'?! Zhou Peigong was puzzled.

"To put it simply, I don't want the generals under my command to have private soldiers - according to the current method, each army is independent, and most of them have their own set of training and personnel, and sooner or later they will become their private troops, and if the general of the unified army has a different heart, the consequences are too serious!" Lin Feng smiled, "So I'm going to re-establish a system - from now on, all officers above the company level in the Han army must be appointed by the central government, and the establishment, organization, and even supply of all troops must try to achieve the same standard." ”

"Oh?! Dashuai Mingjian!! Zhou Peigong said in surprise, Da Shuai even said such things to himself, and made it clear that he wanted to participate in this central secret, which naturally made him very excited, and he was indeed very interested in this work, "I don't know what the lord will do in the end?!" ”

"Hehe, I have prepared a new set of official rank system, this Pei Gong, you are calm and concerned about the overall situation, I am ready to make you the 'Chief of Staff of the Han Army'!"

"That'...... What is ...... 'Chief of General Staff of the Han Army'?! ”

"The so-called chief of the general staff, simply put, is mainly to praise military affairs and formulate strategic plans - this 'strategy'...... For example, now we are fighting Liaodong instead of Shandong, this thing is strategy, and your task is to look at the overall situation and strategize for me to win a thousand miles! ”

"Ah...... How can the last general be virtuous? The lord ......" Zhou Peigong was overjoyed, and immediately knelt on the ground and resigned again and again.

"Hey, hey, it's here again," Lin Feng helped him up with a wry smile, "But before that, you have to help me work out the military system of our Han army!" ”

"The lord has an order, and his subordinates go to the soup and fire, and they will not give up !!"

"It's still not necessary to go to the soup, although I'm a little tired, it's not that serious!" Lin Feng said solemnly, "First of all, the 'military rank' system - I read the history books of the Han Dynasty surnamed Liu during this time and decided to imitate their military system......"

"This ...... I'm afraid it's not appropriate......" Zhou Peigong was stunned and said, how can the system of thousands of years ago be made accessible now?!

Lin Feng waved his hand and continued, "I have decided to divide the officers and men of the whole army into three major classes, namely: generals, colonels, and lieutenants, and each of them is further subdivided into three levels: upper, middle, and lower!" ”

"Han Dynasty...... Is there such a system?! Zhou Peigong said in disbelief, he has read history books, and this set of things is really unheard of.

"Tsk...... Look, you're lacking in knowledge here, aren't you?! Lin Feng raised his fingers and explained one by one, "First of all, the general, this general is divided into three levels: general, lieutenant general, and major general, this major general is called 'Zhonglang General', the lieutenant general is called 'Che Cavalry General', and the Admiral is called 'Hussar General' - of course, I am relatively simple here, and the specific details need to be subdivided, for example, the name of the navy can be changed to 'General Fubo' and 'General Zhenhai' or something......

Zhou Peigong was dumbfounded, this thing was plausible, although the name was the same, it felt like it was very different from what was said in the history books.

"This school officer should imitate the military system of the Han Dynasty, for example, the colonel can be called 'Town Military Academy', the lieutenant colonel can be called 'Fenwei School', the major can be called 'Thief School', and the same is true for lieutenants, captains can be called 'loyal and brave captains', and lieutenants can be called 'brave captains' or something...... Anyway, that's probably it, Peigong, what do you think?! ”

"That'...... Dare to ask the lord, what is the position of this 'second lieutenant'? What is the position of the 'Admiral'? Zhou Peigong thought for a while and frowned.

"Oh, this second lieutenant is the platoon commander, the lieutenant is the deputy company commander, and the captain is naturally the company commander - once pushed, the current army commanders can award the rank of major general 'lieutenant general'!"

"The lord's thoughts, of course, are not wrong, but ...... The subordinates thought that this did not seem to be like the military system of the original Han Dynasty......" Zhou Peigong hesitated slightly, and finally said bluntly, "If the lord wants to reform the system, then the direct management is changed, why bother looking for so many names?!" ”

Lin Feng smiled bitterly in his heart, this kind of restructuring method is clear, you have to seize power from the generals, if there is no glossy reason, I am afraid it will be difficult to convince the public, and I don't know if this Zhou Peigong really doesn't know or pretends to be tempted, but of course this can't be announced, his face turned pale at the moment, and he said seriously, "I said Pei Gong, don't you know that ?—— Benshuai has no other merits after being with me for so long, that is, he has always acted in accordance with the teachings of the saints, and he never dares to forget the word etiquette, so this restructuring, Naturally, you have to do it according to the ancestral family law! ”

“……”

"You just said that it is different from the method of the ancestors, that is normal, you said that this has been thousands of years, and many systems have been lost, so Ben Shuai has to find a way to make up for it by himself," Lin Feng reprimanded, "But this root, it is still born from the essence of the Han Dynasty - you don't have to think nonsense here!" ”

“…… The handsome man is wise and wise, and he is really extraordinary," Zhou Peigong was really startled when he saw Lin Feng say it so harshly, he secretly wiped a handful of sweat, and immediately echoed, "My subordinates think about it carefully, and feel that it should be the same - since the Five Hu Chaos in China, Hu Feng has been victorious, and later there were Mongols stealing the Central Plains and the Eight Banners Rebellion, and the ancient rites of our Han Dynasty have been lost, and now we are playing the banner of 'driving out the Tartars and restoring the Han family', which should have restored the customs of our Han Dynasty and revitalized the etiquette of the Han family- The subordinates were confused for a while, but they thought about it, please forgive the lord! ”

"Not bad, tsk...... Pei Gong, your consciousness is very high, this theory is very important, once you think wrong, it is 'wrong route', it is to destroy the family and the country, and it will definitely not be able to turn over forever, you have to pay more attention! Lin Feng patted him on the shoulder affectionately, "Then I'll continue to say - this military rank system is also quite complicated, but the benefits are obvious, we now have to make different military uniforms according to the rank of the officer, and then we have to wear a logo to prove it, so that it is easy for soldiers on the battlefield to command, and at the same time, it is not easy to break up......

"Oh, according to the marshal's idea, I'm afraid that every officer and sergeant must know about this system!"

"Of course, after the military rank is determined, the second step is to carry out 'officer rotation training',—— this so-called officer rotation training is to let all our officers above the rank of second lieutenant leave the army in batches and receive training and teaching in Beijing's martial arts, to establish the concept of absolute obedience, to unify the ideology, to unify the system, to unify the technique and tactics, in short...... In short, all of them have to obey the orders of Ben Shuai! ”

“…… Martial arts?! ”

"Yes, I will personally serve as a martial arts sacrifice wine, and in the future, all the officers of our Han Dynasty will be the protégés of Ben Shuai!" Lin Feng said unashamedly, turned his head and patted Zhou Peigong on the shoulder, "Of course, Peigong is my minister, and if you run a martial arts school in the future, you will also have to teach the way of using soldiers!" ”

"Thank you for the promotion!! The subordinates are grateful! Zhou Peigong hurriedly knelt down and thanked him.

"No, while the officers are being trained in rotation, we will immediately rectify the non-commissioned officers - you see, now our troops are simply a rabble, the Chinese army of this commander is musketeers and cavalry, and outside of Zhao Guangyuan's department, the other troops are organized according to their own - isn't this nonsense? You said that our army is called the Han Army, if the troops are all according to the ideas of officers at all levels, then what am I, the commander of the Han Army?! ”

"The lord is far-sighted, this ...... Seeing the ...... His subordinates admired him so much......" Zhou Peigong suddenly felt that his head was covered with sweat, but he didn't dare to wipe it at the moment.

"So, you have to pay more attention to this matter, and go down there to talk to those experienced officers and come up with a practical unified organization!" Seeing Zhou Peigong looking at himself blankly, Lin Feng explained, "Okay, I'll give you an example here, for example, now each army of our Han army is 8,000 people per army, then this branch of the army has to be well arranged, I mean that our Han army will only need musketeers, artillerymen, pikemen and cavalry in the future, so what is the ratio of 8,000 people in an army?" How many musketeers? How many guns? How many cavalry?! ……”

"Lord!" Zhou Peigong interrupted him and frowned, "My subordinates think that this cavalry is still good to use intensively!" ”

"Of course—that's a good idea!" Lin Feng said with a smile, "So three stinkers are worth one Zhuge Liang, isn't your opinion just now better than Ben Shuai's idea?" - You can discuss this matter with your experienced people and come up with a big strategy for me! ”

"That's great!" Zhou Peigong let out a long breath, his spirits were uplifted, the handsome entrusted such a heavy task to himself, and he really trusted him, he was a scholar, and he could do such a field today, and he would not live up to his ambitions in the past.

"Pei Gong, in addition to these, there are many details - such as how many Mr. Lang Zhong who knows how to heal wounds is needed for an army, how many heavy men are needed, how many vehicles, mules and horses are needed, and in addition, what do we need to issue a soldier in addition to weapons? How many clothes? What armor? Do you have to send straw sandal leggings or something? ……”

"In short, this matter is extremely complicated and difficult to do, Pei Gong, you have a long way to go!!" Lin Feng sighed with emotion and patted Zhou Peigong's shoulder heavily, "We are all old brothers who have worked hard together from Linji County, I will tell you a few words of confidantry: It's not that I refuse to let you lead the army - you are a scholar, and you have never had a military thing in your life, history has a clear view, the fact that Zhao Kuo of Changping in the past is a regret for the ages, Sun Tzu said: Soldiers, the major affairs of the country, the way of survival, must not be overlooked, this marshal uses your prudence today, but also is responsible for you yourself, and is responsible for the officers and soldiers of the Han Dynasty- You're good at strategizing and weaving plans rather than hand-to-hand combat, so Ben Shuai must also make the best use of your talents - you can only play your greatest talent if you stay in the center of my big man! ”

"The lord knows that people make good use of it, which is really a blessing for his subordinates!" Zhou Peigong's expression was extremely solemn, and he agreed solemnly. "Please rest assured, the lord has the grace of knowing me, and his subordinates will definitely repay him with a national soldier, and there is no resentment!"

"I'm relieved when you say that!" Lin Feng smiled and said, "Pei Gong has always won my heart, and he will be reused in the future - you remember, this time I will try my best to select talents for you in the imperial examination, and in the future, your subordinates will be called 'staff officers', and they will be awarded military ranks according to the affairs they are responsible for!" - And this staff system of praising military affairs, I will also implement it to the brigade level! In the future, the daily management and supply lifeline of our Han army will be handed over to you, and you must not be lax! Hehe......"

"Understood," Zhou Peigong smiled, "My subordinates thought it was ...... Can this yamen under his command be called the 'General Staff'?! ”

Lin Feng's laughter stopped abruptly, he looked at Zhou Peigong in a daze, and was speechless for a long time.