"Where do you not meet in life, I originally felt familiar when I saw the list of visitors, but I didn't expect that it was really an old friend."

After a few years, Chen Kai never expected that when he saw the swordsman named Yu Youhan again, he was the governor of Guangdong. The young swordsman in his memory has become more and more mature after several years of training, and he can see Chen Kai, even if Chen Kai has confirmed the identity of the deceased, he still has enough etiquette, and he does not dare to be rude.

I have not seen each other for six years, and the situation in the world has been turned upside down several times in the past six years, and today, it is no longer what it used to be. Chen Jinnan, who played a trick in Hangzhou officialdom and rescued a felony like Wang Jiang, was in front of him, and he was already a world-famous figure. The fact that he didn't know Chen Jinnan was just an embellishment of his glorious past, which was an indescribable feeling for Yu Youhan, who had assassinated traitors and Qing court officials in the name of Chen Jinnan in Jiangxi.

In the hearty laughter, Chen Kai held up this old acquaintance with both hands. After greeting and reminiscing, the topic returned to the purpose of Yu Youhan's trip.

In the past few years, his people have always been in Ji'an Mansion to assist Zou Nan of the Heaven and Earth Society and Liu Jing, the leader of the Ganxi Righteous Army, in the struggle against the Qing Dynasty. Escorting, defending, assassinating, and rescuing, he is also a well-known No. 1 hero in Ji'an Mansion, but anyone who knows some inside information regards him as an ancient warrior who is dedicated to the world and wants to leave, but he doesn't know that he is actually not here at all, and what he seeks is really just a heart, a righteous cause.

This time, there are inevitably several dangers on the road. Finally rushed to Guangzhou City, Yu Youhan saw that he was talking about business, so he took out the secret letter that he had been holding in his arms all the way and did not dare to leave Sumeru and handed it to Chen Kai's case.

This records the development status of the Tiandihui in Ji'an, Linjiang, Yuanzhou and Ruizhou. Especially in Ji'an Mansion, a large number of people gathered in the mountainous areas here, and heaven and earth would develop an anti-Qing rebel army in it.

"I'll send someone to try to send it back. You go back to the post station to rest first, and in a few days I may need you to go on a long trip. ”

After sending Yu Youhan away, Chen Kai returned to his unfinished work. Under the operation of Guo Zhiqi, the southwestern part of Guangdong was largely settled, including Zhou Jintang, Deng Yao, Gao Jinku and other generals who led their troops into Guangxi to enrich Guangxi's defense, and Chen Kai would give certain weapons, money and food as subsidies in batches.

In terms of the prefectures and counties, the officials basically stayed in place, and Chen Kai did not plan to move them for the time being, leaving them to the normal transfer of promotions, demotions, and flat transfers in the future to completely complete the digestion work, but he was not in a hurry for a while. Zhou Tengfeng, as the highest-ranking official of the civil official group in western Guangdong, also sent a report yesterday to report on the specific situation of the three prefectures of Gao, Lian, and Lei. In the text, there is no half-word sycophancy, but this report from a subordinate to a superior can already explain the problem of attitude.

The Council is being established, and the defense of the three provinces is also being handed over. In contrast, the embargo and no-sail policy against the Spaniards was the first to be enforced, and any sea ships bound for Manila, or sent by Manila to trade, had already entered the Ming army's strike range, unlike the previous time when some illegal sea ships were turned a blind eye to the difficult attack on friendly forces.

Guo Zhiqi is fulfilling his promise, and Chen Kai naturally has no intention of breaking the appointment. With an order, the Ming army group in the north of Zhaoqing Mansion launched frequent raids on the Qing army in Wuzhou Prefecture, and the pressure increased sharply. At the same time, the Ming army on the southern Jiangxi side was not idle, and continued to advance the Line of Actual Control to the north, forcing the Qing army in Chen's Ji'an Mansion to continue to increase troops into the combat zone.

Wuzhou and Ji'an, which are all under the jurisdiction of Hong Chengchou's southwest Jingluo Yamen. Especially in Ji'an, it was not a retreat after Nangan fell into the hands of the Ming army.

Not to mention that the terrain is not superior, the heaven and earth of Ji'an Mansion will also have great power among the people. According to past reports and Yu Youhan's description, the anti-Qing rebel army there already had a certain scale, and the Qing army repeatedly attacked and suppressed, which was indeed weakened, but the army was stationed and exploited the locality, and gave them a lot of manpower and material resources to supplement. On the contrary, with the continuous loss of population, the restoration of people's livelihood in Ji'an Province, which was originally led by Cai Shiying, the former governor of Jiangxi, has long been lost, and the difficulty of the Qing army to collect grain on the spot is also increasing, so it has to mobilize more and more grain and grass from other prefectures and counties, and even provinces.

The pressure on the Qing army in two places will inevitably attract some troops, so that they have no time to take care of other things. This is to fulfill the promise, but not all, Chen Kai really can't do it all at once at this stage.

Outside the city of Guangzhou, the military camps that had been vacated earlier due to the relocation to Fujian have been re-filled. The barracks were occupied by the fourth and fifth towns of Fubiao, which had only come from Gaozhou in the past two days. These two main armies of Zhang Yue and Guo Dengdi's headquarters hurriedly arrived from Gaozhou Mansion, and they had already changed to the banner of Fubiao.

The expansion is still in progress, and the uniforms of officers and non-commissioned officers are all changed when they enter the camp, and the tattered ones on their original bodies are all collected and disposed of to prevent the breeding of bacteria. However, those military uniforms were still sewn according to the standard size of the original military uniform making workshop, and it was inevitable that there would be some misfits, so the yamen specially mobilized a group of tailors to resize the officers and non-commissioned officers in the barracks.

The training has not yet officially begun, but it is basically an old pawn here, and the basic orders and prohibitions and the use of weapons are needless to say, and there is a little basis that can save a lot of time.

It is also because the formal training has not yet begun, and the officers and non-commissioned officers seem to have a lot of leisure. In the past few days, it is not that there is nothing to do, you must be familiar with the military law of the Zheng group, and you must also know that the supervisors and supervisors in the army are not as easy to talk as the commanders in their original town and camp. Whether it was the surnamed lord of the Min Kingdom who was far away in Fujian, or the Governor Chen who was only separated by a city wall from them, they all attached great importance to the law in the army. is their respective handsome, and there are also repeated orders along the way, which one dares not to pay attention to it.

"Yesterday, when I went to help carry the training equipment, I saw that it was amazing. In this hot weather, a group of soldiers who were taller and stronger than Ni were wearing iron armor, and they were practicing in the camp not far away, and the big knife they wielded was cut down at once, not to mention the horses, and I am afraid that even the cattle would have to be in a different place. ”

"Listen to him blow, how can it be so exaggerated?"

"I don't think it's necessarily Qian Gouzi boasting, what kind of character Chen Fujun is, that's a character who can wrestle with Old Inspector Hong. His subordinates are warriors of a hundred battles, and they are not even afraid of real tartars. Otherwise, why do we have to go to Guangzhou to listen to Hou's dispatch, or do we want to follow such a character to have a wife? ”

Shi Chang can't say that he is martial arts, but his qualifications are extremely old, and when he followed Guo Dengdi into the camp, although he didn't have the opportunity to meet Hong Chengchou, he didn't hear other acquaintances who broke into the camp talk about the viciousness and ruthlessness of the Hong butcher.

"However, I looked at the training gear, and it was all wooden spears and bird guns. Especially the birds, at first glance, they look like used old goods......"

"Are you worried about weapons? You must know that the one sitting in the city is Chen Fujun! ”

As he spoke, Shi Chang gave a thumbs up, and then said mysteriously: "I heard Mr. Cao say that when the country surnamed Ye first started his army, he commanded thousands of troops, but ten people may not get a handful. Later, Chen Fujun went, and after a few months of hard work, he had everything, such as helmets and armor, spears and birds, and even the Hongyi cannon was tossed out. If it weren't for the fact that those recruits who had just entered the camp were really unbearable, they would have beaten the Tartars to the ground a long time ago, and they would still be arrogant until now? ”

The manufacture of weapons and equipment was Chen Kai's promotion when he first joined the Zheng Group. Years later, this is no longer the most important thing, just an embellishment, but those old things are still spread outside, and they are like legends in word of mouth.

However, legends are legends, and Chen Kai knows his own affairs. The capital injection of Foshan Manufacturing Bureau has gradually begun to have an effect, and with the continuous production and use of hydraulic machinery, the production capacity is rapidly increasing. However, the time is still short, especially when it comes to the need for such a large army to change its equipment and further expand the army, and it is still not immediately satisfied.

In the official room of the governor's yamen, Ding Youyi, who was in charge of the Foshan Manufacturing Bureau and had the title of left senator of the Guangdong political envoy, came to report on the work with a large number of documents.

"Well, the front line is still in use, and the production of bird guns really can't be completely stopped." His fingers tapped on the table rhythmically, and his thoughts continued to follow the rhythm: "The spear and sword shield can be lowered appropriately, and those new firearms must be driven out as quickly as possible." ”

"Please rest assured that Fujun will do his best to supervise and complete the task with quality and quantity."

Cold weapons, with the forging ability of the hydraulic workshop, as long as the raw materials are continuous, the pile-up is not even a matter of time. However, the new type of firecracker is different from the bird's gun that was used in the original army, and it is necessary to further train the craftsmen, and only when the craftsmen are proficient can they increase production. This undoubtedly takes time, and now, in addition to meeting the weapons and equipment of the towns and local garrisons, the Foshan Manufacturing Bureau also needs to meet the needs of the five towns and two associations of Fubiao that are different from other departments.

"It will take two months at the earliest, but I'm afraid that the situation may not be able to last that long."

In the meantime, Ding Youyi has completed the report and returned to the Foshan Manufacturing Bureau. His family all live in an old house in Guangzhou, his parents are in the hall, and his wife has to serve her in-laws and raise children. Since Chen Kai decided to prepare for the next big war as soon as possible, he has been very busy, and the people below are on holiday as usual, and he directly exempts his own. This time he returned to Guangzhou City to make a report, he also entered the city and went straight to the governor's yamen, and when he left the governor's yamen, he went straight to the wharf, and there were three times when he passed the door and did not enter.

Among the officials who were born as Confucian scholars and doctors, there are those who only know empty talk, and there is never a shortage of people who are honest and capable of doing things. In his past and present lives, Chen Kai has worked hard in the workplace and officialdom for many years, and he knows the truth that nothing can be generalized. In this case, Ding Youyi is an example.

"The king of Chu has a thin waist, and he starves to death in the city. What is good at the top will be very bad at the bottom. In the final analysis, it is still the official who is diligent, so the people below are naturally diligent. ”

Smiling and alleviating his earlier worries about the production of weapons, Chen Kai returned to work. However, this kind of relief is not the cure for the root cause, and as time goes by, the sense of urgency deepens and deepens, especially after four days, a letter that was quickly delivered to the case by Guo Zhiqi has exacerbated such emotions.