As soon as he got off the horse after arriving at the military marshal's mansion, before he could enter, Zhao Sihai hurried over and handed a secret letter to Zhou Shixiang.

Zhou Shixiang tore it open and looked at it, his face changed suddenly, and he looked at the southwest direction and was silent. After a while, he asked Zhao Sihai where the court came, and Zhao Hui said that the other party had been in Guangzhou for a few days, because the marshal was not there, so they went to Zhaoqing, and they had just returned from Zhaoqing in the morning, and they knew that Zhou Shixiang was back today, so they were accompanied by Song Xianggong and others to wait in the conference hall of the military marshal's mansion.

"Go to the council chamber."

Zhou Shixiang didn't say anything to Zhao Sihai about the content of the secret letter, and Zhao Sihai didn't ask, so he went to the conference hall with Zhou Shixiang. On the way, Zhou Shi asked him if the topographic map of Huizhou could be made, and Zhao Sihai said that it had been made, not only did he draw a paper map, but the Westerners from the military department also helped build a living map made of sand and rice grains. Judging from this living map, Huizhou can see where the plains, where the hills, where the mountains, where the official roads, where the cities, and where the rivers are all clearly visible.

Zhou Shixiang knew that this so-called living map was naturally a sand table, and the military department was equal to the staff headquarters of the Taiping Army.

Zhou Shixiang set the task of issuing orders, drafting military orders and documents for the military department, and also had the task of selecting marching roads and camping camps for the army, and building positions, and at the same time, he also had the right to recruit and command the security forces of each county in wartime, and even if anything happened to Zhou Shixiang, the commander, in wartime, the military department could exercise command of the entire Taiping Army on his behalf.

The selection of military personnel is not based on their military rank, but on the selection of personnel with good ability and character (loyalty), and the most basic condition is literacy. With good staff officers. It is also necessary to be good at organizing and using it, so that the role of the military department can be brought into play.

Zhou Shixiang believed that if a commander was surrounded by a large group of generals who fought separately and had no connection with each other, even if they were all brave and good at fighting. Everyone obeys him as a manager, but the more such people are, the smarter they are, the more self-righteous they become, and things will end up bad.

The formation of the military headquarters is to prevent this kind of thing from happening, and all towns of the Taiping Army must obey the leadership of the military headquarters at the command level and accept the unified command of the military department. And the leader of the military department is him Zhou Shixiang. In this way, even if he dies on the road of anti-Qing in the future, the Taiping army will not fall apart because of this. Only if the military headquarters is there, then the Taiping army can continue to fight on the road against the Qing Dynasty, but if one person dies, the whole army will be wiped out.

Zhao Sihai is not a suitable chief of staff, at least his ability Zhou Shixiang does not recognize. If you say who in the Taiping Army can hold the post of chief of staff. That was only Qin Zhisheng. It's a pity that Qin Zhisheng died in the battle of Shenwan, which made Zhou Shixiang lose a right-hand man and also lose one of the best chief of staff. Song Xianggong and Qin Zhisheng have been of great help to Zhou Shixiang along the way, and they can be called the civil and military heroes of the Taiping Army.

People cannot be resurrected after death, and before there is no good candidate for chief of staff, Zhou Shixiang can only put Zhao Sihai in this position, and just drive the ducks to the shelves. No matter what it is difficult for a strong man, it is always necessary to let Zhao Sihai's shelf of the general headquarters be set up and operational.

"You're going to reuse those Franc machines. Choose some shrewd and capable ones to learn how to make maps with them, maps are of great use to us, marching and fighting with maps in hand, even if you don't have a guide, you can run thousands of miles, so that your eyes will not be blind and the military aircraft will be delayed. ”

"Don't worry, I've arranged this."

Zhao Sihai knew the importance of the map, and he had already begun to set up the Drawing Department of the Military Department a few days ago, and had personally led a team to Huizhou before. When those Western officers were surveying and mapping, he also secretly asked people to follow along. The day before yesterday, after he heard that there was a retired official living in Foshan County, who was a former member of the Ming Military Department, he immediately sent someone to invite him, so that the Drawing Department could have more cartographic talents.

Since taking over the military department, Zhao Sihai has been trying to adapt himself to this position, and do a good job of the things that Zhou Shixiang handed over to him, although he doesn't understand a lot of things, and he doesn't understand why he wants to set up this military department between the towns, but he knows that his ability is limited, and if he can't understand something, don't think about it, since the marshal has ordered, it must be effective, it doesn't matter if he doesn't understand, but he can't do what he needs to do well.

"The military department must immediately start the transfer of grain and grass, and set up several granaries along the main official roads in Huizhou, we can't put all the food and drink on Hu Qili, and we don't panic when we have grain in our hands. The Jidu army is fierce, and we must be fully prepared. ”

"Lord Song's side has already begun to transfer grain, and the counties of Xingwen in Guangzhou Prefecture have organized some young and strong farmers to form a grain transportation team.

"The grain transport team must not only ensure that our Taiping army has food and drink, but also the people who transport the grain must also be fed, otherwise how can they have the strength to transport food for us. After the grain arrives, we should also reward these grain transportation teams, don't be reluctant to give up some money, the people often value this little money, understand? Try to mix as many horses and mule carts as possible, and find a way to build more wheelbarrows, which can be pushed by a single person, light, and it doesn't hurt if the road is not easy to walk. ”

Zhou Shixiang deliberately emphasized the need to transport more grain, because the transportation of grain and grass in this era basically relied on manpower, and a hundred catties of grain were transported to the front, and half of it could be considered efficient. The Jidu army left Beijing in October, and it would take at least February to wait until Guangdong, so Zhou Shixiang decided to lead the army to meet the Jidu army after the year. The battlefield is set in Huizhou, so from now on, the Taiping army and all the prefectures and counties surrounding the Taiping army must be mobilized to prepare for this war. The army has not been moved, and the grain and grass are moved first, and Zhou Shixiang still understands this truth.

The two of them went to the council hall as they spoke, and the blind man Li followed behind with a sledgehammer that he had placed beside the bed while he slept, and his posture was very proud, and the pair of leather boots that had been seized from Manchuria's Gushan Ezhen Galai Daoga slammed on the stone paved floor tiles, causing Zhou Shixiang to turn around and scold him for daring to stomp his feet hard, and pull off your boots.

The blind man Li pursed his lips aggrievedly, and he didn't dare to walk hard anymore, he was light, like a cat.

The council hall is the original Shang Ke Xi Palace, after Zhou Shixiang changed the Pingnan Wangfu to the military marshal's mansion, this council hall became the council hall of the Taiping Army.

Before people entered the chamber, they heard the sound of scolding from inside, faintly accompanied by Wang Zhangjun's voice, listening to the movement, it seemed that someone was scolding Wang Zhangjun, but Wang Zhangjun was making amends.

Wang Zhangjun is the right political participant of the political envoy department, and on the surface he is the second civil official in the Taiping Army after Song Xianggong, one level higher than Liao Ruixiang's Guangzhou prefect, and in later generations, he is a vice governor, and Liao Ruixiang is the mayor of the provincial capital. (To be continued.) )