There is one of the biggest advantages of these years, the big projects are to mobilize the people to work without wages, especially the water conservancy construction of drinking roads, canals, etc., the people understand that the repair of water conservancy is also for the sake of the people, so no one mentions the matter of wages, at most just give food.

There are three rivers in Dongping Mansion that flood every year, and they have been repaired before, but the money and food are insufficient, and there is no way to eradicate the scourge at one time.

Chao Gai transferred Tao Zongwang back, and Chao Gai called Tao Zongwang to the office in the military department.

Chao Gai said: "You are a few years older than me, so let's call you Lao Tao." ”

"It's so kind, isn't it a matter of repairing water conservancy in Dongping Mansion?" Tao Zongwang asked.

Chao Gai shook his head: "The water conservancy projects in Dongping Mansion are all small rivers, and they can be repaired with Dongping Mansion's own strength, so sending you over is just a friendship to help, after all, Lord Cheng and my father-in-law." I'm looking for you for another big project, a very huge project. ”

Tao Zongwang said: "How big? ”

"Build roads, wide roads, at least more than 1,000 miles. That is, from Anping Port in the south of Heilong Island, through Baiyu Port, then to the Fierce Cattle Grassland, and then to Black Dragon City. This road stretches for more than 1,000 miles, and there are dozens of rivers that pass through, so you can see if it's a big project. Chao Gai said and handed the rough drawings to Tao Zongwang.

Tao Zongwang didn't speak for a long time, and Chao Gai thought he was scared.

Tao Zongwang said: "There is no problem in opening mountains and building roads, as long as I am given enough manpower, but the population on this Black Dragon Island is very small, and they are all immigrants, I am afraid it will be difficult to recruit people to work." ”

"I don't need to requisition the people, I'm going to use a different model. Although it saves money to recruit people to work, the organizational discipline is not strong, and I plan to upgrade your engineer battalion to an engineer corps. Chao Gai said.

Tao Zongwang scratched his head: "What is the Corps." ”

"That's the name, according to the current establishment, a battalion in Jeju is 500 people, overseas is 1,000 people, an engineering corps must be at least about 10,000 people, the army is also called engineering soldiers, the age is over 18 years old, under 40 years old elite soldiers, among which there are a large number of craftsmen and surveyors of all kinds."

Tao Zongwang gasped, he was in charge of the 10,000-person engineering corps, this is quite remarkable, there is green smoke on his ancestral grave? But the list is also heavy.

Tao Zongwang said: "Can I do such a big thing for the engineering corps." ”

Chao Gai said: "What's not to do, the engineering corps is mainly engaged in engineering, building bridges, roads, and cities, and will not fight unless it is absolutely necessary." Within the engineering corps, craftsmen and technicians can be listed, and these people are the backbone of the corps, and the military headquarters will not call them up. Ordinary engineers may be drawn to join the infantry or cavalry. In the future, the army will not directly recruit soldiers, and if you want to be our soldiers, you must work in the engineering corps for a few years. ”

Tao Zongwang rubbed his hands: "As long as you don't let me lead troops to fight, I'm good at building bridges and roads." ”

Chao Gai said: "This matter is still being planned, don't tell the outside world first, you go to Dongping Mansion first, and assist Governor Cheng to clean up the river well." ”

"Yes." Tao Zongwang turned and left.

Tao Zongwang went to Dongpyeong to repair the water conservancy, and Chao Gai stayed in Yuncheng to start the summer training, many battalions of soldiers were sent out, and in order to maintain the overall number of the Jeju army, a new battalion had to be established. Wang Jin set up a cavalry and commanded 300 cavalry. Yang Zhi asked him to lead an infantry battalion with 500 soldiers as archers. Yang Zhi has always given people the feeling of knives and guns, but in fact, Yang Zhi's bow and arrows are also very powerful, on par with Tang Bin, and the archers are still more than rubbed.

Chao Gai's personal soldiers, Luo Yun commanded 300 cavalry, Wang Jin's 300 cavalry, Niugao's 300 cavalry, Shibao's 300 cavalry, Qinming's 300 cavalry, and Huangxin's 300 cavalry.

Pang Wanchun's 500 infantry, Yang Zhi's 500 infantry, Li Kui's 500 infantry, and Mi Sheng's 500 infantry.

The water army Ruan Xiao 2 has a thousand water army, and Ruan Xiao has 5 troops and 1,000 water army.

Due to the Jeju horse market, the Jeju army has a large number of horses, so it has six cavalry battalions and four infantry battalions. It can be said that the soldiers are strong and strong, as the so-called winter training Sanjiu, summer training Sanfu, summer training Sanfu, summer training is hot, but it is also a good time to train soldiers, in the morning when the weather is not too hot, the soldiers in the barracks are carrying out strict training, and at noon when the weather is hot, they will carry out other training.

On this day, Shi Bao led 300 cavalry to conduct charge and fight training in the morning, and came to the edge of Shuibo Liang Mountain when it was hot at noon.

Shi Bao said: "All of them, get off the horse and change the armor." ”

"Yes."

The cavalry dismounted one after another, took off the solid steel armor, and replaced it with cork armor, there were no life jackets in this era, so the cavalry should use cork armor, cork armor, and thick cork armor when taking a war ship, wearing this armor can play the role of a life jacket.

As soon as the cavalry finished changing their armor, the centipede ship of the navy arrived, fifteen centipede boats, carrying three hundred soldiers to quickly assault on the water, the centipede boat used the sail to power the speed when the wind was downwind, and the pedal water wheel was used to power the wind, and the same ran fast, the speed could reach one hour and forty miles per hour, and only the sailors needed to step on it in turn, and they could reach any corner of Shuibo Liangshan in a few hours.

Shi Bao stood at the bow of the boat, enjoying the blowing of the wind, and Ruan Xiaowu next to him smiled.

Shi Bao said: "Captain Ruan, I remember that there are still a few bird ships in your fleet?" ”

Ruan Xiaowu said with a smile: "The water in the water is shallow, and there are many small ports, and the bird ship has a deep draft, and many places cannot be visited, which is far less convenient than the centipede ship, and the most important thing is that the centipede ship is now also equipped with tiger squat guns, and the power of the cannon is great, and there is no fear when encountering other big ships, so it gradually sends the bird ship to other fleets." ”

Shi Bao nodded, indicating understanding. This water is hundreds of miles longitudinal and horizontal, it looks like a vast smoke wave, but it is actually a big puddle, there are not many deep places, and the water depth in most areas is only one meter or two meters, which is indeed not suitable for large ships to sail.

With the sound of the password, fifteen centipede ships landed on an unnamed island where the "enemy" was hiding, Shi Bao led the soldiers to fight on foot, rushed to the island under the cover of archers and shield soldiers, and then fought hand-to-hand with the enemy, and finally won the victory.

In the evening, Shi Bao led the troops back to the shore, and then returned to the barracks on horseback, which is today's training. Because considering that there are many rivers in the Jining area, the soldiers must be able to take a boat, not get seasick, and be able to carry out a simple landing operation after arriving at the destination.

In addition to training in battalions, cavalry and infantry training is also carried out at intervals, and generals and soldiers in the army are gradually familiar with large-scale operations, coordinated operations, and so on.

In the coordinated combat training, Yang Zhi and Qin Ming, who were born in Jiangmen, both came up with a lot of good ideas, and Chao Gai also learned a lot of things, after all, Chao Gai still has insufficient experience in leading troops on a large scale.

On the first day of June, the sky is clear in Rizhao Port, lanterns are hung on the wharf, the lion dance team is noisy, Hu Cheng and Liu Liang are both big shopkeepers, receiving more than 30 caravan customers, these people are the customers of the medium-sized fortune ship during the Spring Festival, 30,000 yuan a ship, the price can not be said to be cheap, so everyone still attaches great importance to it.

These fifty ships were to form a joint caravan and be escorted by the Jeju military and naval divisions, which was made clear when the ship was purchased.

The crowd said, "Why hasn't the ship arrived yet?" ”

Hu Cheng said mysteriously: "Today's ship is something you have never seen in your life, and you will know when you board the ship in a while." ”

As he was talking, a few small black dots appeared where the sea and the sky met, and soon a huge fleet appeared, almost sixty large ships, and the most surprising thing was that the boats were against the wind today, and they were all very fast when they sailed over, and such a large ship could not get out of this speed by rowing. If you look closely, there is a tall chimney on every ship, and everyone is talking about it, and they don't understand what the situation is.

"Why do you have a big chimney on board?" Someone asked.

Another said: "How can such a big ship have dozens or hundreds of sailors, and the sailors can't light a fire when they eat, this is the kitchen chimney." ”

There are also humanitarians: "Maybe it's warm." ”

Everyone laughed, what kind of warmth is this big summer.

Hu Cheng and Liu Liang just don't say it, everyone is also in a hurry.

Soon the fleet docked, and everyone was surprised to find that this medium-sized lucky ship was really big, towering like a hill, and the hull of the three or four stories high made people only look up.

Hu Cheng said: "Everyone gets on their own boat, there are sailors on board, let's go to sea to feel the speed of the ship first, and you can also take a good look on the boat." ”

Which big shopkeeper also came out with a dozen people, each on their own boat, and there were numbers on the hull, which was easy to find. It is only when you climb up that you feel high, and the length of tens of meters also looks very long.

The first thing everyone did when they got on the ship was to go straight to the big chimney to have a look, and when they went into the cabin, they found that it was a stove, and the huge stove had many tubes, and the tubes were linked to the machine, and the machine roared and the ship could sail quickly.

When the ship enters the port, it is a headwind, and when it leaves the port, it is a tailwind, more than a dozen sails are raised, the whole big ship looks more powerful, the steam matches the sails, the ship rushes to the wide sea like an arrow, the ship runs very smoothly, and the shaking is very small. The bosses and shopkeepers have inspected and accepted the cabin, etc., and found that it is much better than expected, and more importantly, there is such a machine, which can make the ship sail as usual when there is no wind or headwind, this is a baby, everyone is very happy, but they are worried, happy that their own ship runs fast, and they are worried that such a good machine must be very expensive.

The big fleet ran dozens of miles at sea and came back, and everyone asked Hu Cheng if he wanted to raise the price, but Hu Cheng said that if the price would not increase, you only have the right to use the machine, not the ownership.

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