It took three days and two nights for the cavalry to climb out of the mountains and enter the Yilan Plain. The plain is about 300 square kilometers, and four or five rivers run through it, the largest of which is Lanyang Creek. Yilan City is located in the north of Lanyang Creek, and Suao Port City is in the south of Lanyang Creek, in the southeast corner of the plain, which is blocked by the mountains, which will not be visible.

Walter stopped his horse, stopped on the hillside, and pulled out the binoculars he had brought with him.

"Oh, what's that? Round Castle? ”

Guarding the Order skimmed the cavalry director's somewhat surprised tone and looked in his direction. In Lanyang Xinan, near the foot of the mountainous area, there are seven or eight circular and semicircular double-storey buildings in a row.

"It's not a military fort, it's just a private house." It was also the first time he had come to Yilan, but he knew that it was a Fujian tulou imitated by immigrants.

"But those dense shooting holes on the outer wall are purely for military service."

Order: "Clans in Fujian villages often fight with each other for farmland and water. In battle, a house like a defensive one can be a strong point of support. ”

The houses on the southern outskirts of Yilan are built in the style of tulou, which is related to the situation faced by the local area. The population structure of Yilan is divided into two large parts, the area around the city of Lanyang Xi Beizhou is mainly immigrants from Nanzhili, and Lanyang Xinan is mainly composed of recent Fujian immigrants.

In the south of Yilanzhou, in the north of Huadong Prefecture, is a vast mountainous area in which many unconquered alpine tribes are hidden. These tribesmen, who occasionally descend the mountains to raid, are fierce in battle, familiar with geography, and very difficult.

Yilanzhou, with the consent of the Taipei Prefecture, built these earthen buildings along the foot of the mountain. The difference between Yilan Tulou and the original Fujian Tulou is the roof, in order to resist the typhoon that will land every year, the span of Yilan Tulou has been reduced, and the roof is no longer tiles, but has been replaced with prefabricated slabs made of bamboo reinforced concrete. This kind of prefabricated slab cannot bear load, but only plays the role of shelter from wind and rain. In order to save costs, most of the newly built buildings in Taipei Prefecture use prefabricated bamboo slabs, and only the granary, the government office and the newly renovated Taipei Capital Administration Yuan use the strongest domes.

Walter put away the binoculars and tugged lightly on the reins. The horses snorted and walked down the winding mountain road, and the heavy nail horseshoe gave the horse's hooves a good grip.

"We have a lot of potential enemies. Tulou could not stop the artillery, but it was a good defense against lightly armed troops and pirates, and the Taipei government intends to promote this kind of architecture in the Taiwan Strait as well. ”

Walter: "The military pressure on Taipei is greater than on the mainland, they have too few land forces, and they have to expand. ”

Shou Order: "Since the beginning of this year, the local people can only give support in terms of arms and iron weapons, and they have to rely more on themselves. ”

Walter estimated for a moment, "Taipei needs at least one mobile army regiment, supplemented by a few reliable garrison battalions and fortress defense units, and the army needs to maintain more than 4,000 men." ”

"The Council is working on that."

"Will they be able to sustain their finances? The gold and copper mines were to be used for external payments, the profits from trade were mainly used to feed the navy, and the army could rely entirely on the land. ”

Shou Zhi smiled, "We'll find out soon." ”

Walking down the hillside, the official road on the plain is wider than in the middle of the mountain, and drainage channels have been dug on both sides and trees have been planted on the upper streets. The plains are vertical and horizontal, and the land is well cultivated. Some farmers are filling struvite into the soil in preparation for next year's planting. Struvite is a basal fertilizer that takes a long time to work.

All the work is well organized, and everywhere seems busy but not chaotic.

Yilan City is right in front of you, the state city is not big, and there is no city wall. The city is planned to be square, with a side length of 500 meters, and there are turrets at the four corners. The inhabitants are scattered in various villages, and the buildings in the city are mainly public buildings such as government offices, granaries, military barracks, hospitals, and some handicraft farms.

Governor Zhou Luqing led the city's civil and military officials to wait on the side of the road, and they wore official costumes unique to Taipei. Because of the special situation of Taipei Prefecture, the local official system here is different from the mainland, with strong Chinese elements.

Many of the officials at all levels came from mainland scholars, gentry or Ming officials. The Taipei government respected their habits, and officials wore different official uniforms and accessories according to their rank.

The original official uniform of the Ming Dynasty must no longer be used, and from an aesthetic point of view, Shou Xian also dislikes the huge complement on the official uniform of the Ming Dynasty, which is complicated and vulgar and has no aesthetic sense. Of course, Shou Xiang did not have the ability to make a new set of official uniforms according to the etiquette system, and he didn't want to consult the Confucian masters on this small issue, so he made a set of things himself.

The official uniforms are basically copied from the costumes of the Song Dynasty, and are divided into formal dresses and regular clothes. The deputy post in charge of civil affairs in Taipei Prefecture, which the Council called Kapitan, is temporarily vacant. Among the officials with the highest status are the mayor of Taipei, the governor of Yilan, and the governor of Taichung, and only these three positions in Taipei have crimson official uniforms, and the others are grassroots officials wearing cyan official uniforms.

Shou Xiang has no sense of the popular hat since the Sui and Tang dynasties, that is, the black gauze hat, so the official hats of Taipei Prefecture have all returned to the simple style of the Han Dynasty. The regular clothes are admired into the virtuous crown, the pro-people official dress is the sable crown, and the supervisor official dress is the badger crown.

When this official uniform was first introduced, the monotonous color also caused some criticism, after all, people have been used to wearing complements for hundreds of years. But he doesn't care about the order, he is very confident, no matter how ugly he is, he looks better than the money rat tail wearing a melon skin hat.

The official uniform without a complement is simple, concise, and the lines are not complicated, which looks more refreshing and clean, and more capable. The retro costumes are also a reminder to the officials that Taipei's style is very different from that of the mainland.

Standing in front of the orderly horse at this time was the governor in a scarlet official uniform, with a team of cyan petty officials. It is striking that all officials are armed with swords. This is the latest equipment, but also the latest requirements, the sword body comes from the local arsenal machine manufacturing.

Only Zhou Luqing's sword in Yilan was given by Shou Order, numbered Shou Shou Sword No. 8. Perhaps there are officials who themselves have swords of better quality, but on such occasions only national uniform products can be worn. This kind of ceremonial nature is more of a Chinese sword that is only used by civilian officials, and there is a different system of actual combat weapons for officers.

Zhou Luqing was deeply stunned when he saw the order.

"Lu Qing meets the lord of the country, General Angelis."

In the Federation, all public services have abolished kneeling services. If you don't want to manage the private occasion and the civil order, you can't manage it, just like on the way here, the foreman and the migrant workers bow down to him, which is not what the order thinks.

Shou ordered off the saddle and dismounted, and reached out to help the mayor of Yilan.

"Daef, hard work. Yilan has gone from a wasteland to what it is today, and to be honest, the progress has exceeded my expectations. It's all your credit. ”

"The lord of the country praises falsely, persuades the agriculture and mulberry, and it is my duty to build water power."

Shou Xian laughed, walked through the ranks of Yilan officials, and entered the city.

Yilan City faces the Pacific Ocean, and the defensive pressure is not mainly in the city, but in Suao Port, so the street planning in the city gives priority to the convenience of traffic, and there is no street fighting for the layout. The main road, one south and one north, is paved with stone and blue bricks, and there are drainage nullahs on both sides.

Zhou Luqing explained: "Yilan has too much rain during the southerly season, and in order to drain the water quickly, we have to dig the ditch wide and deep, and we don't have time to put on the roof. ”

Shou Xuan didn't care about changing the nullah to the culvert, after all, Yilan was too short to build the city, he was thinking about something else, "Lu Qing, you have served as a pro-people official in many places on the mainland, you should know that when many state capitals and cities were first built, the sewers were built well. However, over time, the land in the city became more expensive, and many people encroached on public roads and built indiscriminately on water canals, destroying the original functions. ”

"What the lord said is that I will take extra care to prevent this phenomenon."

The state offices and granaries in the center of the city were the strongest buildings and had a certain defensive function. Entering the main hall of the official office in order, Walter was not interested in the civil affairs of Yilanzhou, so he found a room to rest.

Zhou Luqing presented the statewide statistical report to Shou Order. There is almost no industry in Yilan, and now there is no mining, and the economic structure is relatively simple, that is, agriculture and fishing. Agriculture is fundamental, Yilan has reclaimed 350,000 mu of land, and there are still 100,000 mu of potential arable land. Some of the surrounding low hills and gentle slopes can also be opened up into tea plantations and mulberry gardens.

"There are more than 47,300 people in the state, and if there is no severe typhoon, I am confident that I will achieve food self-sufficiency next year," Zhou reported. ”

Shou Xian nodded slightly, 7 acres of land per capita, according to the level of the mainland, even if the average yield per mu of cultivated land is 1 stone, self-sufficiency is more than enough. The hydrothermal conditions of Yilan's land are not bad, but many of the land has just been reclaimed, the yield is meager, and the state is also very short of water buffalo and other animal power, so it is not easy to achieve self-sufficiency in a relatively short period of time.

"Just do it, the council will allocate immigrants according to the surplus grain situation in various places, and when the number of immigrants in Yilan reaches 100,000, I will change your official uniform to purple, and if you make some contributions to cash crops, you can go further."

Most of the time, there is no implicit promise of order, whether it is money, or power, or women. As a jinshi, Zhou Luqing should know very well that purple in the Song Dynasty meant entering the ranks of court officials and truly becoming a member of the court.

"Lu Qing thanked the lord for his grace."

"No thanks, you deserve it. I am also looking forward to you managing Yilan well and giving full play to your abilities on a bigger platform. ”

In addition to inspection and supervision, the orderly inspection also has to try to solve some practical problems, and after complimenting, he asked, "Tell me, what are the more urgent difficulties in Yilan now?" ”

Zhou Luqing said: "There are many difficulties, mainly the lack of materials, and I have submitted a report to the council. “

"Don't worry, I will urge the Taipei Council. However, the resources of Fucheng are also limited, and if they can't meet all the needs, I hope Yilan can understand. ”

"I understand," Zhou Luqing said hesitantly, "Yilan still has an idea, but Luqing doesn't know if it's suitable or not, and he hasn't reported it to the council yet." ”

"What do you think, say it."

"My lord, the reclamation of Yilan is currently progressing faster on the land north of Lanyang Creek, and the southern part of Lanyang Creek, especially in the southwest bordering Gaoshan Fan, is progressing more slowly. I don't have enough energy to do it all. I wonder if we can build a new county in the south of Lanyangxi, which will be in charge of the reclamation there and the development of the mountainous area. ”

Keeping the order and smiling, building a new county, unifying the power of affairs is one thing, and there is an additional official position with real power, which can probably solve the progress problem of some Yilan officials.

"The new administrative district needs to be approved by the Taipei government, but I personally don't think it's a problem. You report it upwards. ”

Zhou Luqing showed joy, "Yes, thank you to the lord." ”

The officials I recommended made achievements, and I was in a good mood to keep orderly. chatted with Zhou Luqing again.

Zhou Luqing talked about the gossip of his subordinates, "My country has a martial atmosphere, everyone in the officials wears swords, and the people also like to talk about military affairs." One of my subordinate officials intends to compile the records of the war in the 23rd History into a book and present it to the Fucheng National Defense Department as the basis for administering the army. ”

The National Defense Agency is a newly established institution of Taipei Prefecture that manages military and political affairs such as mobilization and local garrisons. Officials in Taipei are considered to be the same supervisory authority as the Department of Justice.

Shou Xuan frowned, "You told him not to waste his efforts." Military affairs are solid things, except for Sima Qian and Ban Gu, the 23rd history is all literati obscenity, they don't know what the war is, what the war is, floating words and false words, made up at will, and it is not credible. ”

"Lu Qing understands that studying and using troops are completely different, I have seen a lot of wars on the mainland, and I also vaguely feel that ancient history is not credible. But I just don't know how to say it to him. ”

Shouxu said: "I have been in the army for a long time, and I have fought many battles. Asking yourself what you do is an extremely blunt thing in the eyes of your cultural people, and it has nothing to do with those ancient art of war and strategy. Now don't believe my fast and sharp legends outside, most of them are completely inconsistent with reality. The description of the famous generals at that time in the ancient books is not as good as Erer. There are some useful things in the ancient books, but don't look at the achievements in those biographies. If there is a record of the battlefield environment in the book, especially the geography and roads of the soldiers, or the number of food and grass hoarded before the war, these are worthy of attention. ”

Zhou Luqing was surprised: "Lu Qing knows that some books in the Song Dynasty involve the key points mentioned by the lord, and there are very few in the previous generations. ”

"That is, only the description of the war that began in the Song Dynasty is slightly credible, and further on, you just look at the results, and the process has no reference value. There are also many things that are not credible, including the "Historical Records" and the "Book of Han", and many times even the results are nonsense. Taishi is open to the preface, and most of the content of the "Historical Records" is based on the ancient Six Classics, which he wrote, and the true and false readers can distinguish by themselves. Sima Qian at least has a frank attitude, and Ban Gu knowingly commits a lot of crimes. ”

"So I prefer the Northern and Southern Dynasties and the Song, Liao, Jin and Yuan in the history books, in the eyes of you Jinshi, the history of the Northern and Southern Dynasties and the Song, Liao, and Jin are rough and poorly written. But in my opinion, it's closer to the original, and there are records from both sides, and you will find a lot of interesting things when you compare them. ”

In fact, there are many black materials in the Tang Dynasty, and there are many in the Dunhuang documents, which have not yet been dug up. The Qin and Han dynasties didn't have much black material, but many valuable things about the war were also buried in the ground.

Keeping the order inadvertently showed off his mastery of history. The culture of the Ming Dynasty is already very developed, and you can read through the 23 histories, plus the main official histories of the country such as Zizhi Tongjian and Huiyao, Yaolu, and Huibian, as well as more authoritative private notes, even Zhou Luqing, a jinshi, is far behind. And these are done before the age of 20.

The topic was a little heavy, and Zhou Luqing was silent.

Shou Xiang said simply, "You advise your subordinates to abandon their old papers in the military, and specialize in roll call, watching drills, and checking posts." If he is really interested, you can recommend him to go to military school. ”

Note: The last dialogue between the preface and Zhou Luqing in this chapter is mainly from the author's feelings, and a small part including the title is the original words of Zeng Guofan. There are some differences in the wording, and it should not be difficult to discern them.