The bearded people of Kanto have their own way of living, and most of them farm at home when they are busy farming, and they usually go out to rob and kidnap tickets, so they are very taboo to expose their real names and origins, and they come and go with fake names and nicknames.

Guo Changfeng's situation here is roughly the same, there are also different places, the red soil cliff this place only began to be inhabited and opened up in 1877, most of them are refugees who fled from Shandong, in Jiangsu and Zhejiang can be worth a county of more than 600 households, even if they want to go out to rob, then they don't know which family's grain and silver to rob.

They've done it before.

Guo Changfeng has been operating in the Red Clay Cliff for a long time, but there are no enemies around, and the imperial court will not come to encircle and suppress them, and the defense of the village is very lax, far less than Niujiabao has a solid city wall, only a ring of tall wooden fences.

Song Biao led the team into the village to check it, and saw that the more than 200 beards here were of different ages, from 50 years old to 145 years old, and he was also emotional. really saw Guo Changfeng's family background clearly, Song Biao realized that he was probably a little too exalted of this Fourth Master Guo, to be honest, he really didn't have much strength at all, and if he really wanted to fight, he was afraid that the machine gun would be astigmatized with a sweep.

Guo Changfeng knew that his team said that there were more than 200 people, half of whom were old, weak, sick and disabled who could not fight a tough battle, so he immediately took Song Biao to the warehouse to check the color of the goods at the bottom of their red clay cliff village.

This handful is scattered like grains of sand, and there are many fingernail-sized gold bills, as well as a half-pound of dog's head gold, which can be regarded as a rare big gold, and can be regarded as a treasure in the red clay cliff village.

Song Biao's hand of broken gold particles mellow, golden, very dazzling, pinched in his hand for a while, he scattered the gold back into the box, and Guo Changfeng who accompanied him said: "So, it is a good thing to have a gold mine, you can make gold by yourself, where did the miners find it?" ”

Guo Changfeng said: "The miners are basically the barren people who were caught from North Korea, their broken places have been famine again and again, every year there are people who run to us here to reclaim wasteland, and in recent years, there is still Xiao Yueben's support in the back, the trouble is too great, I will take them all in this anger, and the land is also occupied, the women have robbed our wives, and the men have thrown the mines to mine for gold." I have dozens of brothers over there watching the scene, and I can't be ruthless, but I said that I gave me a message a few days ago, saying that we are not doing well, and they want to join hands with us to operate, and they will transport the gold back and sell us some foreign yuan and yuan or something, I think that the yuan is a fucking paper ticket, and exchange that thing for our gold, isn't this a clear robbery? But we can't afford to offend, so I don't object, I just said that I want to discuss it with the brothers, and I'll hurry up and find you to come over and make decisions for our Kanto people. ”

Speaking of this, he continued to add: "Master Biao, we have discussed it with the brothers, and we will take our gold mine and follow you into the gang, and it can't be cheap, do you think this is the reason?" ”

Song Biao nodded slightly, and did not blame Guo Changfeng for not explaining to him clearly in advance, and said, "Okay, from today onwards, you will continue to manage the gold mines here under my banner." How much gold can be earned by this mine every year, we will use it locally. ”

Guo Changfeng was overjoyed, but said, "Master Biao, you are too polite." ”

Song Biao replied: "What's polite, it's all our Kanto family, one side of the water and soil supports the other side, and this gold also has to support our fellow villagers." ”

Guo Changfeng smiled, very happy in his heart, and always felt that he had made a wise decision.

After walking in the stockade of the red clay cliff, and roughly finding out Guo Siye's family background, Song Biao had a number in his heart, if he wanted to say that there were more than 200 people in the family background of this brother, there were only about 100 people who could really draw out to fight, and a small half of them were guarding the gold mine, and a team of more than 30 people guarded more than 200 North Korean miners.

Their guns were originally bought with gold, but the 30 old guns were actually the legendary Migne rifles, and they only bought some Murata 18 rifles from Yu himself last year, all of which were old goods that were eliminated by the army, and they were originally bought with 60 guns, and the Manchurian army sent more than 100 guns after that.

In the evening, there was a banquet, the brothers were outside, Song Biao and Guo Changfeng were making trouble in the room, and the people below gave two large pots of fried peanuts, all of which were big and full.

Guo Changfeng couldn't wait to bring it to Song Biao, and said with a smile: "Master Biao, the land in our red clay cliff area is not good, it is all sandy loam, and it is not easy to plant anything else, that is, it is really peanuts and potatoes." Especially planting peanuts, as soon as the harvest is harvested this year, it will fall off the mud when you shake it, unlike the black soil at the mouth of the Hunjiang River, which is sticky and sticky to the peanuts. Let's just pick it up here, and when you collect it, you can just pull and shake it. We also raise peanuts in this place, and the ones grown are good particles, big and fragrant, can you taste them? ”

Song Biao happily grabbed a handful in his hand, peeled a few and tasted it, sure enough, it tasted very fragrant, and praised: "It's really good, let's really take this bite." ”

Guo Changfeng said with a smile: "In the future, I will plant a few loads of land for you every year, and fry peanuts for you, do you say?" ”

Song Biao snorted and said, "Okay, why not, the peanuts here are indeed very fragrant." In fact, if you want to talk about the place of the red clay cliff, I have a lot of ideas, I look around, you have a lot of mountain goods here, and there is a lot of land, but no one grows it, and the road is not passable. Having said that, it takes a lot of effort to reclaim all this large area of barren forests into fields, so let's get some money together to repair the road first, and then set up a big horse farm here to raise thousands of good horses. With horsepower, we can go to the county town to sell horses and goods. We can sell the wild goods and medicinal materials here, and then slowly reclaim the wasteland, plant peanuts and the like, and exchange peanuts for food. In the future, we will take out the money in the gold mine, get a few more private schools, and invite some gentlemen to teach the children to read and write. If you say that if you pass like this, it will definitely be prosperous. ”

Guo Changfeng praised: "It's still Biao Ye who is well-informed, if we build a horse farm in this place, it will be really easy to do, the mountains and mountains are all good horse materials, how to raise them." ”

Song Biao said: "Then let's do it." Fourth master, I originally wanted you to be a battalion commander for me, but now I come to your laterite cliff to take a look, I think you don't want to go to my side to toss, just be the captain of a patrol brigade in the later, and in the future, the entire town mayor or something, take care of the entire later, and make a good living here. ”

Guo Changfeng was skeptical and didn't know how to answer.

Song Biao comforted him and said: "Fourth master, you believe my words, as an official, for the benefit of one party, the red clay cliff is not even in charge of the imperial court, then you will be in charge, if I can do an errand in the court in the future, I will continue to keep you in charge here." If this place of Red Clay Cliff is well managed, you can earn it, I will also have a harvest, and I can raise horses here, arm my cavalry troops, and then manage a patrol brigade for me, and be optimistic about this foundation, which is always a good thing. ”

Hearing this, Guo Changfeng smiled and said: "Okay, then it's all up to your arrangement, seriously, if you really let me leave the Red Clay Cliff, we are still reluctant to do it!" ”

Song Biao bowed slightly, pondered for a moment and then added: "Anyway, you have a spectrum in your heart, and I also have a spectrum in my heart, and I will never treat you badly." ”

Guo Changfeng immediately said: "Master Biao, don't worry, I know in my heart that it is my brothers, do you want to send some artillery heads to the reconnaissance company?" ”

Song Biao waved his hand and said, "The old people and children are all scattered, I estimate that if you rectify it a little bit, there will only be one hundred and fifty or sixty people left, which is basically enough for the level of a patrol squadron." Your patrol brigade has to be responsible for several things, first of all, you must keep two patrol squadrons, one looking at the red soil cliffs, the other looking at the gold mines, and you have to make up a horse breeding team, and then reclaim some forest farms, adding up to more than 1,000 people, and it is too late to recruit new people, so what else do you want to do with people? ”

Guo Changfeng was even more satisfied when he heard that he could manage more than a thousand people, and immediately said: "That's okay, just have Biao Ye's words, or Biao Ye, you are well-informed, have many ideas, and have many methods, we really can't compare, admire, admire!" ”

Song Biao smiled, changed the topic and continued to talk about the situation of the Red Clay Cliff.

He really took a fancy to this land, and he can indeed do a career, this place turned over to North Korea, and there may be a big incident in the future, so we have to take precautions in advance, manage well in advance, and more people are the last word.

That night, a banquet was held in the red clay cliff village, and Song Biao got to know the people on Guo Siye's side roughly, and the next time, accompanied by Guo Changfeng and these new brothers, Song Biao went to the gold mine to check again, and then returned to Niujiabao to continue to be personally responsible for recruiting recruits.

Song Biao's plan was to recruit 8,500 additional troops in the first batch to fill the strength of the three main infantry regiments, and to fill up a division command battalion, cavalry battalion, and artillery battalion.

Song Biao actually only had 3,000 people in front of him, although Xue Changqing had a lot of manpower, most of them were horsemen recruited from outside, and the infantry regiments of Zhao Tingzhu, Zhang Yahu, and Chen Wu only had more than 600 people each.

His Manchurian infantry division adopted a similar organizational characteristics to the Chinese army, each battalion should have a full strength of 1,200 men, and each regiment had a reserve battalion in addition to the three main battalions, so the actual full strength of one of his infantry regiments should be close to 5,200 men.

According to Song Biao's plan, the Manchurian Infantry Division should have a cavalry brigade, an artillery regiment, a baggage regiment, an engineer regiment, and a division headquarters command battalion on the basis of four infantry regiments.

His army was extremely vacant, and the recruitment of 8,500 men was only a prelude to a major expansion.

In order to effectively recruit as many soldiers as possible who meet the standards, Song Biao was personally responsible for recruiting troops in Hunjiang and Tonghua, Zhang Yahu went to Liaoyuan, Huinan and Meihekou to recruit troops, Chen Wu returned to Shenyang and Fushun to recruit troops, Yang Tiesheng and Yuan Huichun Ma Gang's second master Chang Wanchun returned to Huichun, Mudanjiang, and Shuangchengzi to recruit troops, and Zhao Tingzhu went to Harbin and Changchun alone to recruit new soldiers.

Everyone has to go out with their troops, not only to recruit troops, but also to cooperate with the Russian army along the way to defeat those overly active bandit armies, and in this regard, the Russian Far Eastern Army will give full cooperation, fighting bandits while recruiting troops.

Song Biao considered personally leading the team to defeat the largest bandits first, and after some calculation, he decided to give these capable subordinates some opportunities to lead the troops to fight alone, and their teams were generally able to fight hard battles, received a certain degree of military training, cooperated with a small group of Russian troops, were well-armed and equipped, and went out with a few machine guns, there was no reason why they couldn't win the bandit armament.

What's more, there are a lot of horse gang brothers in his army, these people started running horse gangs at the age of sixteen or seventeen, they are well-informed and well-informed, and it is still very easy to find a bandit nest, unlike the Russian army, which is a group of blind and deaf people in the Kwantung region.

The capable subordinates all went out, and Song Biao became a loner, leaving only two companies of Li Fugui and Li Dayun, an infantry regiment and a cavalry regiment of the Russian army, personally sitting in Tonghua County, and leaving a security team of more than 100 people in Niujiabao, Balichuan, and Hongtu Cliff.

In the years of war and chaos, as long as you have money, guns and food, it is not easy to recruit troops and buy horses. Qing Zhengaxe abolished the martial arts in the 27th year of Guangxu, and the number of places for the imperial examination was greatly reduced in the 31st year of Guangxu, and it is basically a well-known thing that the imperial examination will be officially abolished this year.

Song Biao recruited three young talents in the Tonghua and Hunjiang areas alone, but they all fled from Shenyang and Liaozhong, and they happened to have no food and clothing, and they met the conditions for recruiting troops from the Manchurian infantry division, so they came to take refuge together.

In these years, being able to read and write is talent, and seeing that they basically have no material to be soldiers, Song Biao left several of them in the division headquarters to do clerical work.

At the end of April, the first batch of 8,500 recruits had been successfully completed, and Yang Tiesheng and Zhang Yahu defeated a number of bandit forces supported by the army, which could be regarded as a decent explanation to the Russian army.

During this time, Song Biao also completed the first transaction with Yue Jun, exchanging more than 20,000 Mosin Nagant M1896 rifles and fourteen Maxim machine guns from Yue Jun, including a large amount of ammunition.

The army was more interested in the three-one-year artillery in Song Biao's hands, and the transaction of artillery was more rapid, and they even traded the captured second-hand materials such as lunch boxes, military boots, and tents of the Yue army, because after the continuous loss of the fifth and eighth divisions, the army was forced to re-mobilize in the country, and urgently recruited more than 70,000 troops to reinforce the Manchurian army. Even the rifle is using the oldest Murata Type 18.

In April 1905, Tonghua City was almost a secret transit point in the Russo-Russian War, and Song Biao, with the help of Major Turgenier and others, bought the Russian army's war booty at a low price, and traded a large number of military materials with Yue himself in Tonghua City.

Among the many transportation routes of the Russian army, the Hunjiang line was the first to be stabilized, and it has never been so calm and smooth throughout the war, and a large number of military supplies purchased from the United States and Germany, including 4,000 Winchester M1897 lever-type shotguns, and more than 100 German-made Makqin machine guns, passed through Tonghua County.

Out of the importance and reward of Song Biao's Manchurian infantry division, the materials promised by the Russian Far East Army also arrived in batches as planned, of course, if Song Biao did not invite his Russian friends to step up dredging in the middle, whether these materials could all arrive before the end of the war is really a question.

Song Biao also asked Yang Tiesheng and the commander of the cavalry battalion Chang Wanchun to buy a batch of firearms and ammunition in Vladivostok, especially ammunition for shotguns and grenades.

Although the army traded a batch of Russian 76mm howitzer shells to Song Biao, the number was still very limited, although the army exchanged a part of the Russian artillery to him, the part that remained in the army needed a large number of shells as support.

Song Biao naturally wanted to buy artillery shells, but it was really too expensive, so he could only endure it for now, he stubbornly believed that he would never return to the frontal battlefield, so he did not make preparations in this regard, and some of the shells were just used for prevention and occasional training.

There are always surprises in the development of events, and when Song Biao "stubbornly believes" ten times, one of them will definitely be wrong, because there is nothing in this world that people can really predict and control.