Zhao Shujiao was a serious man, and at this time he was neither in Zunyi nor in Guiyang, but he was inspecting the villages in the Yuliang River and the Nanming River between Guiyang and Zunyi. The villages were built according to the prescribed pattern, with roads, ditches, houses, barns, ponds, fields, etc., all in good order, and the hillsides and flat fields were full of busy people. By June, the wheat had been harvested, the corn had sprouted some tall and delicate seedlings, and the sweet potato vines had been moved to the middle of the corn seedlings.

The surrounding aborigines originally came to see these things with the attitude of watching jokes, and they thought that one side of the water and soil would raise the other side, and outsiders would come here to do some new tricks and it was destined to have no good results. But then they all put down their subordinates and asked every now and then, if nothing else, for the sake of the newly built houses, and each wanted to make their dark and low thatched hut spacious and bright. The soldiers originally explained that these people who had been prepared to live in but had not yet arrived, but later changed their tone and said that these houses might be sold or replaced, but the specific price and conditions needed to be decided by a company called Evergreen, and many men came to inquire twice in three days at the urging of their families.

On this day, many villagers visited the new type of village, and saw that the clean and bright houses were not inhabited, and everyone had the idea of moving in immediately. When Zhao Shujiao heard that some people wanted to see him, he felt very strange in his heart, and said in his heart that everyone wanted to be a soldier, but this matter must be agreed by the local government, after all, it is still a new thing for civilian households to directly transfer to military households, but he didn't think much about it, and asked his soldiers to bring people in.

A total of three people came in with the soldiers, and when they saw Zhao Shujiao about to kneel, Zhao Shujiao waved his hand because he was in a happy mood and said, "Don't stand up and speak politely, don't delay time if you have anything to say." ”

An old man wearing a turban and a thin cyan shirt in the leader said: "I have heard of General Zhao's prestige for a long time, and I am fortunate to see Sansheng today, we are here to ask about the sale of these houses and fields, disturb the general and ask the general for forgiveness!" ”

Zhao Shujiao said: "These houses and fields were built and arranged by my people, but because these are the assets of the official land belonging to the Great Iron Company, if you want to buy or rent, you must go to the people of the Great Iron Company. ”

The old man said, "We know the general's words, it is said that the people of the big iron company are guarding the warehouses in the city, and we have also gone to them but no one has paid attention, so I also ask the general to tell who to look for." ”

Zhao Shujiao said: "As far as I know, the Evergain Company's sales, leases and other things are only for the public and not for the private, that is to say, you have to wait for the notice from the Evergain Company first, and if the notice is not issued now, it may not be ready, you have to wait patiently." After the notice comes out, you go to the local government to sign up and apply, and then go to buy or rent under the leadership of the government if you meet the conditions, and then you go directly to the door now, those people are from the Evergain Company, but they are also responsible for guarding the warehouse, and it is your blessing that you are not arrested. ”

The old man suddenly realized: "I see, thank you General Zhao for reminding us, we still have a question that the evergain company wants someone?" ”

Zhao Shujiao said: "Of course, but there are only three kinds of people, one is a person with special strengths, the other is a person who is willing to learn new knowledge, and the third is a retired soldier." Each person does something different, you can go to the local government to sign up if you are eligible, and soon each prefecture and county will have officials who specialize in cooperating with Evergain to carry out affairs. ”

Everyone was very satisfied with Zhao Shujiao's explanation, and they were all thinking about what kind of preparations to make, and at this time, a soldier came to report that Gao Jingluo and Cai and Zhu, the two governors, had something to negotiate, and asked Zhao Shujiao to rush to Guiyang as soon as possible. Zhao Shujiao immediately said goodbye to everyone and led people to Guiyang, but fortunately, the village on the bank of the Nanming River was only dozens of miles away from Guiyang, and they arrived in less than an hour.

It was just noon when he arrived ten miles outside Guiyang City, Zhao Shujiao had a simple meal at the roadside post station and continued on the road, and along the way he heard that the official army and the rebels had fought yesterday, Zhao Shujiao thought that Gao Di and others summoned him must have something to do with yesterday's incident, but he wondered why he asked himself about this person who did not participate in the war.

It was already afternoon when they entered the camp, and the outpost soldiers had already reported the news of Zhao Shujiao's arrival, Gao Di and others were waiting in the camp, and they were very polite to make Zhao Shujiao feel very puzzled, until Gao Di and Cai Fuyi and others said that they needed Zhao Shujiao's people to go to the top of the mountain to repair the outpost empty-handed, and Zhao Shujiao knew that the politeness of his boss was not for no reason. Of course, Zhao Shujiao is still very satisfied with the newly recruited recruits who still have baby faces, he has always believed that fighting a war is temporary, peace is long-lasting, a person is a soldier to learn fighting and killing skills is the need of war, is temporary, and learning how to farm and repair houses is the real need for a long time.

Zhao Shujiao listened to the high rank and other civil officials finished speaking without saying a word, and turned to look at Zhang Jing'an and the other generals to see what they meant, Zhang Jing'an said: "It is my idea to let General Zhao build a post on the top of the mountain, because my soldiers can't complete such a task, and General Zhao can speak out if he has any difficulties, and everyone will discuss." He blinked.

Zhao Shujiao suddenly understood that he was Zhang Jing'an's shield, both of them were from Beijing, and they were brothers who shared weal and woe, and this brother should naturally help if he was in trouble. Zhao Shujiao thought for a while and said: "The difficulty is not very big, at most, people build a winding road to the top of each mountain, and then recruit a large number of bricklayers and stonemasons to burn bricks and chisel stones. The problem is that I am afraid that there is no point in doing this for ten or eight years, and I would like to ask if there is any other purpose for doing so than to prevent the enemy? ”

Zhang Jing'an deliberately said: "Naturally, this is the purpose, if it is to provide convenience for the locals to let them go up the mountain and walk, it is the matter of the magistrate and has nothing to do with us as soldiers." ”

Zhao Shujiao said: "In this case, it will be easy to do, I have an idea that can be convenient to guard against the enemy without so much trouble, are you interested in listening?" ”

Cai Fuyi and the others listened to the words of Zhao Shujiao and Zhang Jing'an, and also felt that their ideas were a little taken for granted, not to mention the cost of building a sentry post on the top of the steep mountain, not to mention that it would not be of much use in the future, and when they heard Zhao Shujiao say that he had a good idea, they asked: "What good idea does General Zhao have?" ”

Zhao Shujiao said: "Our aim is to continue to advance westward step by step, and the soldiers will occupy and defend the fortress forward, and then encroach on the rebels' base area step by step, and the biggest worry of this is that the enemy will take the opportunity to cut off the soldiers' retreat, so that the soldiers will shrink because of the danger they may face." In fact, although the enemy is a local, it is not a ghost or god after all, and it is impossible for them to transfer troops from the sky, and they must be mobilized through the road, and the biggest possibility of the enemy is not to transfer troops to attack and kill from the outside, but to hide among the people and take the opportunity to sneak attack, I think we should adjust the direction of prevention. ”

Zhu Xieyuan thought for a while and said: "There is a certain truth in General Zhao's words, our counterinsurgency is to occupy the territory first, and the second is to encircle and appease the people, so that the rebels will lose both their territory and the hearts of the people, and finally fail completely." If we focus our energies not on chasing the rebels but on converting the people, then the rebels will come to us in a hurry. ”

Cai Fuyi also nodded and said: "This is not bad, it is definitely better to defend in favorable terrain than to attack with your head up, but how is General Zhao going to do this?" If the soldiers want to go out without being cut off, they must have a support point, and if we don't fortify on the top of the mountain, do we fortify in the village in the recess of the mountain? When the enemy occupies the commanding heights of the mountain and blocks the road at several ends, isn't that a whole urn to catch turtles? ”

Zhao Shujiao said: "We should definitely fortify in the village, the main defense is the traitors hidden among the people, as for the situation that Lord Cai said that the enemy occupies the commanding heights and then blocks the road, it is possible, if we do not take precautions, this possibility is still very large." ”

Cai Fuyi said: "Then tell me how to prevent the rebels hidden among the people, and how to prevent our army from being blocked in the village." ”

Zhao Shujiao said: "Just one word for the people in the village, move!" We have now repaired a lot of villages, and all the people in them have moved out to change places, and the rebels will not be able to fish in troubled waters without the protection of the local people. As for how to prevent the enemy from intercepting and attacking from the outside, my method is only one word, dig! Except for the road that passed from the east, all the other roads leading to the outside were all dug up, and all the stone roads that were dug up were blocked, and my men were good at building the roads, and the roads were cut off by good hands, and as soon as the road was broken, the movement of the enemy coming was not ordinarily large, and the sentries at the various posts could hear it as long as they did not sleep to death. ”

Cai Fuyi asked very unconvinced: "When Mr. Zhao said this, I thought of two more questions, one is what if the people are unwilling to move?" If you forcibly move, you are not afraid of forcing the people to become bandits? The second is that the road is dug up and filled, and what should we do if we want to move forward in the future? ”

Zhao Shujiao said: "Those who do not want to move can not move, but two measures must be added: one is to stipulate that several households share a kitchen knife as the Mongols did in the past, and all the guillotine knives for grass, machetes for chopping wood, and waist knives worn on the body are all temporarily confiscated, and all knives that can be used as weapons are controlled. The second is to regard all young and strong people as traitors, and let them serve as conscripts to work in distant places to draw salaries, and make it clear that they will earn the old snacks at home by them, so that the danger can be minimized. The problem of road digging and filling is not a problem at all, as long as there is a need to dig up, it can be filled, and the fill can also be dug up. ”

Seeing that Cai Fuyi was no longer talking, Gao Di laughed and said: "I can't see that Mr. Zhao still has these schemes in his heart, and he compares us civil officials who make a living by coming up with ideas, it's really a real person who doesn't show his face." However, I have two questions I would like to ask Mr. Zhao, do you say that if you move out all the people in the recesses of the mountain in front of you, will there be so many places to house them? That's not a small number, it's tens of thousands. The second question is off-topic, when it comes to making suggestions, these general soldiers are all silent, why is General Zhao talking about it today? ”

Zhao Shujiao also laughed after listening to Gao Di's words and said: "Lord Gao's question makes sense, but these two questions belong to one question, and everything is because he is leaving." ”