"I'm afraid it's even more serious, I'm afraid that ordinary scrapers won't be able to make any waves here, maybe they will lead a lot of troops." Zhu Wu said.

Everyone discussed and discussed to no avail, Chao Gai said: "Don't discuss this issue, you will know after a while, each department performs its own duties, and firmly holds the Jeju army in its hands." ”

There is no result in the discussion, Chao Gai is an open-minded person, so he simply doesn't care about these, no matter who you send, if you get along, you will be safe, and if you can't get along, you will have to fight, and it's a big deal to be the prefect of Jeju.

Taking advantage of the fact that there was still a period of time, Chao Gai laid out in advance and completed the position of Wu Song's Dongping Prefecture Governor, and the strength of the army increased from 3,000 to 3,050 people, and the original soldiers of Dong Ping's cronies, the old and infirm were all eliminated, and the current 3,500 Ming soldiers are all in the prime of life, and the troops train every day, and even engage in joint training with the Jeju army, in fact, they are all a family.

Chao Gai Yuncheng set off, only brought Luo Yun and dozens of other guards, all the way north, first rushed to the Huanghua Salt Farm, just met Chai Jin, Chai Jin saw Chao Gai coming, and was surprised: "How come my brother has time to come to the salt farm, I haven't been here for more than half a year." ”

Chao Gai said: "Come and check how the production of the salt works is? ”

Chai Jin said: "This year, there is little rain and many sunny days, and the 30,000 acres of salt fields are a bumper harvest. There are also millions of salt bricks processed, but the goods are piled up so much that the caravan sales can't keep up with our production speed. ”

Chao Gai said: "There are countless horses, cattle and sheep on the grassland, and the market for salt bricks is very large, but the herdsmen on the grassland do not know enough about salt bricks, and most people still only recognize salt, and they don't like salt bricks for horses, cattle and sheep, and it would be good to wait for the market to open up." ”

Chao Gai and Luo Yun carefully inspected every link of the salt factory, and then went to Yanshan to see the big salt warehouse. Everything is still very good, as Chai Jin said, it seems that Chai Jin still has a hand in managing the convenience of production.

That night, Chao Gai feasted the generals in the salt field, more than ten soldiers and the salt field responsible for production were present, Chao Gai, Chai Jin, Shi Jin, Kong Yang were also present, before eating a small meeting in the study, Luo Yun was on guard outside, the meeting level was very high, and no records were allowed.

Chai Jin said: "Brother, what is so serious. ”

Chao Gai said: "Two serious problems, the first is the imminent invasion of Liao. ”

"This, Song Liao has been peaceful for decades, why did he suddenly invade again." Chai Jin asked puzzled.

"The information is so accurate that it's easy to explain why it's invading," Chao Gai said. The rise of the Jin State, and the Liao State in the Liaodong war, the Liao State of the national strength is very bad, these two agriculture is somewhat deserted, money and food supplies are not enough to support the battle with the Jin State, so they need to go south to fight grass valley, to compensate for their empty treasury. The second important issue is that Lord Lim, the prefect of Jeju, is about to be promoted to the household department as a waiter. ”

Shi Jin said: "From the prefect to the household department, the official position is still big." ”

Kong Yang said: "Although the household department is the majority of the shopkeeper's money and grain, the waiter is the deputy position, and there are at least three waiters in the household department, and the new waiter has no rights, and it is not as good as the prefect." ”

Chao Gai shook his head: "The situation is more complicated than this, I'm afraid there are some people who want to lay out for us, and if they want to deal with us, our strength in the court is very weak, and the only thing we can rely on is the swords and guns in our hands." I announce that the three secret orders of the military department will be implemented with immediate effect. ”

Everyone nodded yes, now that the rise and fall of honor and disgrace are tied to the Jeju army, it is not so easy to separate.

"The first secret order, Chai Jin." Chao Gai said.

Chai Jin said: "Chai Jin is here, if you have any orders, just command." ”

"Secretly stationed soldiers, develop your three hundred strong men in Chaijiazhuang into one thousand strong men, the training standard cannot be changed, the weapon can only be equipped with a whistle stick, but the simple knife and spear must be ready, once something happens, you can get started immediately, and the manpower will be recruited within twenty days, and I will provide weapons such as knives and guns."

Chai Jin said: "Guarantee to complete the task." ”

"The second secret order, Shi Jin." Chao Gai said.

Shi Jin stood up and said, "Yes." ”

"From now on, your division will develop into a mixed battalion, with an establishment of 3,000 men, including 500 cavalry and 2,500 infantry. Recruits could only be recruited from among the old workers of the salt works, and on the basis of not delaying production, they underwent rigorous military training, and in three months they trained an infantry team capable of fighting. ”

The cavalry division of the Shi Jin Department is ready-made, mainly infantry, and usually the salt workers train for more than 20 days a year, so it is not difficult to add more than 2,000 infantry.

Shi Jin said: "Guarantee to complete the task." ”

"Our soldiers must be quantity and quality, you have been performing well in the past few years, I hope you can seriously train the soldiers this time." Chao Gai said.

"Don't worry, I guarantee that the training is the same as Li Kui's soldiers, the soldiers who scream when they hear about the war." Shi Jin said.

Chao Gai looked at Kong Yang, and Kong Yang said, "Is our fleet also going to be reorganized?" ”

Chao Gai nodded: "It's going to be reorganized, officially named the Fourth Fleet, you are the captain of the fleet, the establishment is the same as the naval army in Shuibo Liangshan, the establishment of a thousand people, the warships are equipped with your Flying Eagle warships, a small number of centipede warships, but your warships here are all sails, because this is near the sea, and the Fourth Fleet does not carry out ocean-going escort missions, so it is not equipped with steam warships." ”

Kong Yang said: "Yes, obey the orders of the military department." ”

The Fourth Fleet has supplemented some warships, ten centipede warships, eight Flying Eagle warships, and each Flying Eagle warship is equipped with a 1,000-pound red-coated cannon, and there are also reserves of flowering shells. There is a lot behind in weapons.

In the end, Chao Gai said: "In addition to expanding the army, we should pay attention to the ideological dynamics of the soldiers, strengthen ideological education, and strictly guard against the infiltration of meticulous work. ”

Everyone nodded: "Understood, I'll be careful." ”

Chao Gai stayed in the salt field for three days, during which Chao Gai trained and ate with the soldiers during the day, watched sanda matches with the soldiers at night, and participated in bonfires together.

On the fourth day, Chao Gai was invited to Chai Jin's house, the backyard of Chaijiazhuang, Chao Gai simplified Chai Jin's strong man, and the training was also decent, standing straight, and his body was strong, much stronger than those so-called Jianghu people.

Chai Jin has been very rich recently, and he has made a lot of money in the salt farm, sea trade, and grain. Chai Jin said: "I have an idea, I don't know if it's feasible. ”

Chai Jin said: "If you have any good ideas, come out and see." ”

Chai Jin said: "In my village, recruiting 300 strong men is already the limit, and if you recruit again, you can only come from other villages." I want to follow my brother's development model in Jeju and train the strong men from dozens of nearby villages in the off-season, so that they can come in handy when something happens in the future. ”

Chao Gai said: "This method is good, but it is also dangerous, are you sure that the magistrate will approve of you doing this?" ”

Chai Jin said: "If you agree, you will definitely agree, but this guy will always find a way to charge a little more." We can change the method, more than a dozen villages around here are supplying rattan baskets, dustpans and other utensils to our caravans, we can gather the strong men in these villages to the salt field for militarized training in the name of technical training, and the expenses in the training should be borne by my Chai family. ”

Chao Gai said: "The cost of Zhuangding's training is still affordable, you can start preparing from now on, I have something to do tomorrow." ”

At this time in the Northern Song Dynasty, the Cangzhou area belonged to the border area, which was not as good as the Central Plains, and the life was relatively poor, and there was not enough food to eat in the past. In the past two years, the income and the new varieties of Tianwang rice introduced by Chai Jin, everyone can at least have a full meal. Life can't just be full of food, you have to have money to spend, Chai Jin gave them another way, rattan weaving.

In the era when there were no plastic products, the large basket for grain, the dustpan for processing grain, and other objects were made of rattan or fine grass. The development of overseas trade and transportation has a great demand for rattan packaging products, and it is difficult to meet the supply of farmers in Yuncheng alone. If you want to sell rattan products to the Chai family, you have to join the rattan association organized by the Chai family, which is a technical exchange guild, no membership fee, but there is regular technical training, so everyone is also very happy. This time, Chai Jin made a fuss about this, and it was feasible to recruit 1,800 militiamen to go to the dock for paramilitary training, and as for the specific details, it was not Chao Gai's business.

Bidding farewell to Chai Jin, Chao Gai led the team straight to the Jingcheng Mountains. Although today's Jingcheng Mountain is still subordinate to Zhending Mansion, it has actually been completely controlled by Chao Gai, and the two main roads into the mountain have built walls and turrets, and Bian Xiang's battalion has a total of 3,000 mountain soldiers. The Luda battalion was originally only five hundred, but after coming to the Jingcheng Mountains, Shan Shiqi was added as a deputy general, and now it is also a configuration of 1,000 people. Tens of thousands of refugee villages have been resettled in the mountains, most of whom are elderly and weak. Less than three floors of sturdy men work in iron and coal mines.

Before reaching the mountain pass, Chao Gai happened to meet Luda head-on, and the great monk held a Zen staff and rode a high-headed horse to block the way menacingly. Seeing that it was Chao Gai, Luda laughed: "Why is it brother, I thought the soldiers of the Zhending Mansion were here again." ”

Chao Gai said: "What caused you to be so angry. ”

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