The South Bank Department is at the entrance of the village of Zujiachang Village, there is a big school field at the door, the same sits in the north and faces south, the same is the big mansion with three entrances inside and outside, and the door is the same as a big drum used to let the people cry out for grievances, the only difference with the Provincial Department is that the scale is not so large, there is only one instrument door, and the matching rooms on both sides of the lobby add up to only twelve.

The courtyard was brightly lit, and Chen Chongtong, who rushed back first, was very busy.

Han Xiufeng didn't want to make trouble for him, so he followed his family straight into the inner house and rested in a small study first. Datou, Chen Hu and other brothers of the old Taiyong battalion suddenly became busy, first unloading the foreign guns, gunpowder and lead to the warehouse, and then moving the luggage. Cuihua and Ren Yu'er helped clean up the house and help make the sheets and bedding.

Wang Qianli and Cui Hao didn't bring their families, but they didn't have much luggage, so they found two rooms to put down their luggage, made their own beds, and rushed to the study to listen to it.

Unexpectedly, as soon as I walked into the study, I saw Ji Da running with two resumes to report.

Han Xiufeng took his resume and took a look at it under the candle, and then returned it to him: "No, even if the official has been tired all the way, he has already rested." If there is any official business, let them come to the lobby tomorrow to talk about it. ”

"Yes!"

As soon as Ji Da took the resume and left, Wang Qianli asked curiously: "Fourth master, who?" ”

"An alternate thousand and a general, it's so late, what's there to see." Han Xiufeng took a sip of tea from his cup, and said lightly: "Qianli, you go out and tell Chen Chongtong, one of the original miscellaneous servants will be dismissed, and you will eat dry food tonight, and you don't need to buy any banquet or cook food." ”

"Okay, I'll go."

Seeing that Wang Qianli was about to get up and go to pass the word, Cui Hao couldn't help but remind: "Master Han, it's not appropriate to do this, right?" Besides, you are new to the river, what is the situation in Heying, you have to find someone to ask, don't you ask how to rectify it next? ”

"Brother Dezhong, are you saying that you should meet those two military attachés?"

"The students thought it would be better to see each other."

Looking at Cui Hao's cautious appearance, Han Xiufeng couldn't help but smile and said, "Brother Dezhong, it seems that you are not very familiar with the situation in the Green Camp. Let's put it this way, I never expected the camp to be well organized, and since I can't count on it, why delay that effort, so I don't see it. ”

"If you don't reorganize the river camp, where will the soldiers come from? Dong Weng, the students know that there must not be 1,500 soldiers in the river camp, but even if those Qiu Ba eat empty salaries, as long as they make up a lot of money, they can make up five or six hundred people, and it is better to have five or six hundred people than none at all. ”

"Don't say that they can raise five or six hundred at most, even if they can raise fifteen hundred soldiers, I won't ask for one." Thinking that since he asked this, Han Xiufeng simply put down the teacup and said, "What we want is a soldier who dares to fight with his life, not a head." So in the next month, I have to let you and Qianli suffer a little bit, take Chen Hu and them to Shili and Baxiang to recruit young people, don't be treacherous and slippery, as long as your net worth is innocent and honest. ”

"Start anew and re-recruit and train, don't want any of the original soldiers?"

"What do you think?"

"What about the original military attachés such as the capital division, garrison, thousand generals, and generals?"

"Don't."

"Dong Weng, the students know that it is good to re-recruit from scratch, after all, the people recruited by themselves are easy to use, but the original officers and soldiers can be dismissed if they want to, and they can be dismissed if they want to. Especially those military attachés, no matter what, they are all court officials! ”

"Not using them doesn't mean that we have to be dismissed and dismissed, the battle in Jinghai is in full swing, and Seng Lingqin and Shengbao have asked the imperial court to send them reinforcements for three days, and we can take this opportunity to send the original group of Qiu Ba to serve under Lord Shengbao. It's naturally good to go honestly, if you don't want to go honestly, then disobey the military order! ”

Cui Hao was taken aback, he didn't expect the owner of the year to be so ruthless, and he waited for a while before he cautiously asked, "Dong Weng, can the imperial court agree?" ”

"What did the emperor order me to do in Gu'an, doesn't the emperor know what the situation is in Heying? To tell you the truth, I told the emperor during the audience that the original military attachés and soldiers can use them, and if they can't use them, they won't keep any of them! Han Xiufeng smiled, and continued: "As for sending the original officials and servants of the South Shore Hall to the North Shore Hall, and letting Chen Chongtong dismiss the miscellaneous servants outside, one is that I am different from the previous South Bank Tongzhi, I only care about the training of the soldiers, regardless of the local taxes, money, food, and criminal lawsuits. The second is because we don't have much food in the first place, so we have to use the money and food that we are not rich to use on the blade, and we don't have so much money to feed the idlers. ”

"But you can't afford to have a few people around you!"

"Although I am a civilian official, but I am doing the errand of a military attaché, from now on, this south bank hall yamen is the Chinese army tent of the river camp, the military orders issued, the military law is practiced, there is no need for so many people to serve." Han Xiufeng thought for a while, and then said: "It's too late today, so I can only let the house-sister and the eldest family live in the yamen, and let Jueming go to the village to rent a few houses early tomorrow morning, and let all the female relatives move out." ”

"What about the students, do you want to move?"

"You and Qianli don't need it, when the original Qiu Ba is sent to Jinghai to quell the chaos, I will go to Lord Wu and ask Lord Wu to ask the imperial court to appoint you with an errand to help with the camp affairs. When I get the official document to help me handle the camp affairs, you can justifiably help me handle the food and salary of the river camp with Chen Chongtong. ”

Although the assistant camp is not a serious court official, but at least it is a serious errand, if the river camp is trained, if he can win one or two battles in the future, the emperor will be happy, and he will definitely reward an official and a half-job. The more Cui Hao thought about it, the more excited he became, and hurriedly got up and said, "Master Xie Han to carry it, Master Xie Han to carry it!" ”

"My own person, what is there to be thankful for," Han Xiufeng said with a smile while motioning for him to sit down: "I told you in the carriage that it is difficult to make a fortune here, but it is easy to make a contribution, but you have to suffer a little hardship and suffer a little grievance." ”

"Students are not afraid of hardship, and students are not aggrieved!"

As soon as Cui Hao's voice fell, Wang Qianli came back after passing the word, and said with a smile as soon as he entered the door: "Fourth master, the military attachés who went to the Provincial Department with Chen Chongtong to greet you just now chased after them, one brought his resume, and the other didn't, I want to ask the Ji family brothers to help inform me, I look at it should have come with silver, I knew you wouldn't see them, so I took the lead and sent them back." ”

"Those who brought silver seemed to have eaten a lot of empty wages, but now they know that they are afraid."

"This is when you meet you, if you are someone else, you will definitely not have good fruit to eat, even if you can avoid a board, you will have to bleed heavily, don't think about it without three or five thousand taels of silver."

"Three or five thousand taels, you can afford them too much." Han Xiufeng smiled, thought about it and asked, "Is there anything else?" ”

"By the way, there really is, Gu'an County Cheng actually asked his family to go to the city to set up a banquet, and came with a lantern and a food box to ask to see. I saw that the garrison office on the opposite side sent more than a dozen soldiers to guard outside the yamen, so I took the lead and helped you reward those soldiers with the wine and food he sent. ”

"This master is good, he eats other people's soft mouths, I don't want to take advantage of him."

As an official, Cui Hao is the first time to see him.

Wang Qianli's friends actually helped Master Han to be so many masters, Cui Hao couldn't believe it, seeing Wang Qianli sitting down with a big grin, and talking about when he went to Shuntianfu to ask for money and food, he realized that Wang Qianli's relationship with Master Han was not ordinary, and he could really help Master Han be half the master.

"There is no hurry to find Shuntianfu for money and food, the top priority is to recruit soldiers." Han Xiufeng touched his chin and said in a deep voice: "We are new to the city, we are not familiar with the place, we can't rely on us alone, and the matter of recruiting soldiers depends on the place." ”

"Looking for the main hall of a nearby state or county?" Wang Qianli asked subconsciously.

"It's useless to look for them, even if they do, they will only help post a few notices, send some officials to ten miles and eight towns to beat gongs and help shout a few voices, the people can't hide, who will want to come to be a soldier. Otherwise, when the original Qiu Ba is sent to Jinghai, we will go to visit the respected gentry nearby, and when the time comes, we will prepare some small gifts to give enough face to the people, and they should help with this. ”

Thinking that Master Han relied on the help of the gentry to raise more than a thousand villagers in Taizhou, Wang Qianli couldn't help but say: "How could I not have thought of such a simple thing!" ”

"You're a fan of the authorities." Han Xiufeng untied the bag of dry food at hand, took out the fire he bought at noon, and beckoned the two of them to eat tea while beckoning: "The people of Zhili are fierce, the people are martial, this soldier should not be so difficult to recruit, the key is how to bring these 1,500 soldiers after recruiting." Chen Hu and Ji Daji are naturally trustworthy, but they can only school two thousand generals at most, and even if we can pull a few more, we can't let them all lead the troops. ”

"Why not?" Wang Qianli asked puzzled.

"Don't we have more than 40 foreign guns, if we let them all lead the troops, who will use those foreign guns?" Han Xiufeng asked rhetorically, and then said, "Others don't know, but you do." Even if the food and salary are abundant, let alone half a year, even if I am given a year, I will not be able to train 1,500 soldiers who can really go into battle to kill thieves, and only those who have been in battle and seen blood can barely be regarded as elite soldiers. If you want to train a soldier who can barely fight in such a short period of time, you still have to rely on firearms. Therefore, I plan to ask Chen Chongtong to procure dozens of shotguns and set up a firearms battalion along with the foreign guns he brought from Shanghai. ”

"Also, let a group of farmers go into battle to win the battle, and now you can really only rely on firearms." Wang Qianli thought so.

"Then we know ourselves and know each other in order to win all battles, we can't be blind when we first arrive, the terrain on both sides of the Yongding River and the thieves in nearby states and counties have to be quickly figured out. Among these old brothers who came together, Chen Hu was the most clever, and I was going to recruit some young men who were familiar with the situation in nearby states and counties, and set up a scout team for Chen Hu to lead. Pick dozens more honest and reliable, form a pro-guard team, and let the big head lead it. ”

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PS: I wish you all dear brothers and sisters a happy new year, good health and all the best in the new year! At the same time, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the friends in Wuhan for their great contribution to preventing the spread of the epidemic, and to the medical staff who are still fighting on the front line of the fight against the coronavirus during the Spring Festival.

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