Since the start of the Italian expedition to the west, Jiang Anyi has regained his fighting spirit and become busy.

The matter of the Western Expedition must be approved by the court before it can be implemented, so Jiang Anyi did not tell Fang Shishu first, but Xin Fei couldn't hide it. For her husband's decision, Xin Fei must support it, Huazhou Longwei is under her command, and Qin Ziyan, the state commander, is her old department, and there is no obstacle to giving orders. This time the Western Regions invaded Huazhou Longwei was reprimanded, and Qin Ziyan recognized a fact, if he wanted to make meritorious contributions, he had to follow the right person.

For decades, Huazhou Longwei has an understanding of the Western Regions and the Gobi, and all kinds of collected materials are piled up in the house, and the old paper piles are reused, which is a comfort for the Longwei, and the efforts of several generations have not been put to waste.

Jiang Anyi asked the court to upgrade the 100 engineering department to the 100 engineering department, and the order was issued as an official rank from the six products, which was quickly approved by the political affairs hall. Tu Yonghe went to the Ministry of Industry in Beijing, and Li Laigao took over the acting order of the Hundred Industries Administration. Although the sparrow is small, there are many officials of the Hundred Industries Department, in addition to the signing order, there are also two people in Cheng (Zheng Qipin), three people in the Fu (Zheng Eight Pin), five people in Shi (from the eighth product), three people in the supervisor (Zheng Jiupin), three people in the pawn (from the ninth product), and ten people in Zhanggu (Liuwai Guan). Jiang Jingluo's envoy spoke, and these official positions were promoted from among the craftsmen of the Hundred Industries Department.

In one acre and three points of land in Huazhou, Jiang Jingluo's words are like a holy decree, the original promise to improve the thunderbolt car meritorious rewards, the stone memory of the meritorious service are fulfilled one by one, a tall stone tablet is erected in the open space not far from the west city gate, which is engraved with the merits of improving the thunderbolt car, and the names of the craftsmen who participated in the improvement are impressively on it. This makes the craftsmen of the Hundred Industries Department feel proud, since ancient times, craftsmen are just pariahs, how have they ever had such courtesy, walking on the street with their heads held high, and their families also feel honored. There is an endless stream of people who come to watch the stele, and it is inevitable that there are praises and disapprovals, but this stele stands there, which brings great pride to the craftsmen of Huazhou, and greatly stimulates the development of all walks of life.

There was a temporary vacancy in the Hundred Industries Bureau, and one of the three government officials was appointed, Sun Sida, who improved the thunderbolt, and the other officials appointed one government history, two supervisors, one pawn, and five zhanggu. Ten craftsmen were appointed as officials at once, and there was nothing that happened in ancient times, and those craftsmen who were not optimistic about the Hundred Workers Department cried and shouted to enter. After Li came to Ming Jiang Anyi, Jiang Anyi decided to buy a five-entry house at the south gate, set up the yamen of the Hundred Industries Administration there, and surrounded ten acres of land outside the south gate as the test base of the Hundred Industries Administration. Eighty new craftsmen were recruited, and the previous 120 craftsmen totaled 200 people, and ordinary craftsmen were given six taels of money every year, and the festival reward was calculated separately.

Fang Thorn Shi strongly supported this matter, and the annual cost of two hundred craftsmen plus the festival reward would not exceed three thousand taels, but the benefits brought by these craftsmen to Huazhou were immeasurable, and the improved thunderbolt was the key to driving away the Western Regions coalition forces. Fang Shishu now agrees with Jiang Anyi's proposal of attaching equal importance to the people and the industry and commerce, and wants to give house to house, land to land, money to allocate money, and vigorously support it.

To tell the truth, the six taels of Yulu is not attractive to craftsmen, and craftsmen with exquisite craftsmanship in Huazhou can save at least twenty taels a year, but as soon as the official document for recruiting people is posted, the craftsmen who applied for the recruitment will almost break through the door of the Hundred Workers Department, and even workers from other states

The craftsman came with his bags on his back. Jiang Anyi secretly confessed to Li Laigao, asking him to focus on improving ordnance, studying the methods of building cities, roads, and villages, and Li Laigao received the order.

Jiang Anyong and others led the army back to the Anxi camp, escorted back more than 500 defeated soldiers and horse thieves in the Western Regions, and Jiang Anyi decided to go to the Anxi Protectorate. If you want to march to the Western Regions, you must not avoid Guan Pingzhong, although it has not yet been played to the court, but some preparations in the early stage must be started.

Before coming, Jiang Anyi thought about how to talk to Guan Pingzhong, Guan Pingzhong was already the governor of Anxi, and he was the marquis of Baocheng, and if he wanted to go up, he would only have the position of Taiwei, and this position was already clearly Zhu Zipu. When he was promoted to the Marquis of Pingshan, he had no ambition, and it was estimated that Guan Pingzhong was almost the same as himself, he was fifty-four years old this year, and he would return to Beijing or return home for retirement after a few years in the position of the governor of Anxi.

Zhang Keji also believed that Guan Pingzhong had no intention of going west, and in order to prevent Guan Pingzhong from pulling back, Zhang Keji proposed to lure him into profit and give Guan Pingzhong 10% of the profits from the gold mine, which was estimated to be about 2,000 taels of gold per year, or about 40,000 taels of silver. In addition, a portion of the profit was also allocated to the generals of the Anxi battalion, and for the sake of money, the soldiers of the Anxi battalion should actively cooperate.

The camp in the west of the town is located in the Matai grassland, and the abandoned Matai County has been rebuilt into a military city, which is more than 160 miles away from Huiye Mansion. When the Western Regions Coalition invaded, the military city was destroyed, and after recovering the lost territory, Guan Pingzhong returned to the garrison with his soldiers and horses and rebuilt the camp. Jiang Anyi came to the camp in the west of the town with the reward materials, and saw a hot scene, countless light horsemen riding and shooting on horseback, infantry arranging neatly in a phalanx to drill formations, and countless soldiers and servants in the city repairing houses and leveling roads together.

The Shuaifu has been renovated, and I learned that Jiang Jing's envoy came to Guan Pingzhong and greeted the generals in front of the door. After asking about the recruitment situation, Guan Pingzhong said with a smile: "Thank you Lord Jiang and Lord Fang for their strong support, the conditions are generous, and the people who come to enlist in the army are continuous, and there are more than 36,000 new recruits in the battalion, plus 13,000 people recruited from the tun army, government soldiers, and regimental training, there are more than 126,000 soldiers and soldiers, and more than 48,000 light cavalry can be equipped." At present, there is a lot of recruitment, and it should not be long before 160,000 people are recruited. ”

Rong Mi's army was trapped in Hecheng County, although the people left, the equipment and horses remained, and Guanghecheng got more than 14,000 war horses, plus captured elsewhere, the horses in the Anxi camp were as many as 50,000, and there was a shortage of horses before, and now there is a shortage of people.

Jiang Anyi asked Jiang Anyong and others about the situation of the thieves in the Gobi, there were no brothers in the Shuai Mansion, and Jiang Anyong reported truthfully. Knowing that there are many horse thieves on the Gobi and cruising uncertainly, Jiang Anyi said: "The horse thieves on the Gobi are a hidden danger, and the caravans have been looted by horse thieves for more than 30%. ”

The relationship between Guan Pingzhong and Jiang Anyi was originally good, and the recruitment of troops was strongly supported by Jiang Anyi, Jiang Anyi proposed to eliminate the horse thieves, of course, he could not refute face, so he should let his subordinates train the troops, not to mention that this time Jiang Anyong not only captured the prisoners and could use them as labor, but also seized a batch of gold and silver equipment, which was generally cost-effective.

After eating, only Jiang Anyi and Guan Pingzhong were left in the study, and Jiang Anyi told Guan Pingzhong that he intended to go west and build two military villages in the Gobi as the frontier. As expected

, Guan Pingzhong's face was embarrassed, and he was speechless for a long time.

Jiang Anyi made a killer move, stood up and pointed to the map hanging on the wall and said: "Brother Guan, it's not a secret, Jiang built a military village in the Gobi, in addition to protecting the trade route and exterminating horse thieves, there is another layer of intention, Jiang's subordinates found gold mines here." ”

Guan Pingzhong's eyes lit up, and he quickly got up and came to the map, and said: "This place is not far from the Jingmen Pass, Guan seems to have been, it should be a dry riverbed, I remember leading the army to pass by here a few times, but I didn't expect there to be a gold mine." Anyi, have you ever sent someone to check how much stock? If there are large reserves, it is worth sending troops to garrison. ”

The matter of the gold mine could not be hidden from Long Wei, Jiang Anyi asked Xinfei to send Long Wei to take the miners to investigate, and had found the mine ten miles away from Zhang Keji's mark, according to the miners' estimates, this mine is a rich mine, at least able to produce more than one million taels of gold, if the manpower is enough, there will be 20,000 taels per year. Jiang Anyi promised to give Long Wei Yicheng as a hush money to hide it from the court, and the gold obtained was used for military salaries, the purchase of ordnance, and the relief of the people. The gold mine is outside the territory of Zheng State, Jiang Anyi's approach cannot be blamed even if the court learns about it, Huazhou Longwei Mansion has an extra 40,000 taels of silver every year out of thin air, who is not happy, and it is revealed to the court that the court will reward a few hundred taels of silver at most.

Hearing Jiang Anyi talk about the reserves of the gold mine, Guan Pingzhong immediately became eager, and said, "This is to send troops to garrison immediately." His eyes were burning, and he looked at Jiang Anyi with anticipation.

Jiang Anyi smiled and said: "Outside the three passes, it is not the country, but the business travel has to pass through the Gobi, if you can set up a military village at a key location, you can not only protect the safety of business travel and increase business taxes, but also get an early warning effect. ”

The gold mine was no longer mentioned in the words, but Guan Pingzhong understood it and praised: "The strategy makes it thoughtful, and Guan is taught." Guan will go to the court with adults, my lord, where do you think you want to go to Gaozhai, and how many people are needed to garrison? ”

Jiang Anyi had done his homework in advance, and his fingers were pointed in two places: "These two places are more than 26 miles away from Sanguan, fifty miles apart from each other, there is a water source, it is an oasis, and it is turned into a market by horse thieves. If the army can seize the two garrisons, they will be horns for each other, and they can attack and retreat and defend, they will wedge into the Gobi with two nails, and once something happens, the light cavalry reinforcements in the pass can also arrive day and night. ”

The supplies and security needed to build a military village in the Gobi are major matters, Guan Pingzhong was not dazzled by the gold, and seriously discussed with Jiang Anyi for a long time, the location of these two military villages is well chosen, occupying the oasis can radiate a radius of more than 400 miles, connecting with the three passes, and the gold mine is placed within the scope of protection, and only three or five hundred people will be stationed in the mining area to open the mine.

In the end, the two agreed to jointly establish two military towns in the court, each with a garrison of 5,000 troops, which would be changed every six months, to exterminate horse thieves, protect the safety of the caravan, prevent the attack of the Western Regions, and so on. These are things on the surface, Jiang Anyi and Guan Pingzhong reached an agreement on the gold mine, the gold ore output was given to Guan Pingzhong as a red, and one percent was used to deal with the generals in the army, and the garrison army received double salaries, and the proceeds from the extermination of horse thieves were disposed of by themselves, and the captured prisoners were sent to the mines to work as coolies, but they were paid according to the person.

Soon, a letter jointly played by the Huazhou Jingluo Mansion, the Anbei Metropolitan Protectorate, and the Huazhou Thorn History Mansion was sent to the Yamen of the Ministry of War.