Shangyuan Wharf Shipbuilding Workshop.

Zhu Daolin felt that the time had come, so he put forward the requirements for preparation: "Senior, although the Shangyuan Institute has been restored, everything has to start again, and there is an extreme lack of officers and soldiers with experience in water combat. ”

"Even if it is a child of a military family who is not registered, as long as he is physically strong and has experience in operating ships, the younger generation is willing to take it over."

Xu Hongji hesitated for a long time: "I took a lot of good things from you, and I don't want to give you anything, so let's do it, I will send 200 soldiers who have fought water battles from the Jiujiangwei upstream to you, if it is not enough, I can only recruit from the children of military households in various guards along the river." ”

"Thank you, senior! If we can have a little more, the two existing Galen ships of the younger generation still need a total of about 300 officers and men, and the recruits who are being recruited will not be able to get on the ship without more than half a year of training, and if they are forcibly put on it, they will add to the chaos, and if they want to form combat effectiveness as soon as possible, they can only rely on their seniors. "Where is Zhu Daolin so easy to dismiss.

Xu Hongji thought for a while: "After I go back later, I will issue an order, first transfer 200 veterans from Longjiangwei to you, and then send a few teams of people to the guards along the river, try to recruit the children of military households who have been fishing in the rivers and seas for many years, and strive to recruit another 300 people for you within a month, which is probably the largest amount that can be recruited in the near future." ”

Zhu Daolin was very grateful and invited Xu Hongji, Zhang Gongwei and all the generals to go to his home for lunch.

Xu Hongji was deeply touched by what he saw and heard in the morning, and was about to discuss with Zhu Daolin the plan to rebuild the Jiangnan Water Division, so he readily agreed to Zhu Daolin's invitation, Zhang Gongwei needed to implement the reconstruction of the Jiangnan Land Division and the three guards with Zhu Daolin, so he walked with Zhu Daolin without saying a word.

The rest of the generals realized that their army was likely to embark on a different path from now on, and none of them wanted to miss this opportunity, which was very likely to change their fate.

If you don't seize the opportunity tightly. Maybe he will be squeezed out of this decision-making circle that represents the supreme power of the Jiangnan Navy and the land army, so everyone responded enthusiastically and thanked Zhu Daolin loudly, Cheng Jizu, who originally called Zhu Daolin the nephew of Daolin, changed his name to Brother Daolin without blushing.

The luncheon at the main courtyard of Hushan was very rich, and the wine brewed in Ziyangguan, a new Taoist resort, is now famous. But today's guests don't seem to have time to taste the food and wine, and the feast ends in a hurry less than an hour, asking the host to serve tea and start the discussion as soon as possible.

Due to too many people, the elegant tea room behind the side of the main hall could not sit, so Zhu Daolin had to lead everyone to the large living room of the back study, where the generals surrounded the oval long table in the center of the living room that was four meters long and two meters wide, and they didn't know how to arrange their seats.

Xu Hongji and Zhang Gongwei came to attend the shareholders' meeting twice, and they were already familiar with the functions of the long table and the primary and secondary seats, so they did not need to be greeted by Zhu Daolin. He took the initiative to sit on the two leather high chairs at the top and bottom of the north position.

After the two coaches sat down, the other positions were easily solved, and the eighteen generals quickly divided into two groups, sitting on both sides of their own coaches in an orderly manner according to the size of their official positions, and several little maids served fragrant tea to each guest, and then quietly withdrew from the door, standing in the distance and waiting quietly.

Zhu Daolin has been standing at the door, waiting for the little maid to help his henchman Ye Liangchen over. He stepped forward quickly and helped Ye Liangchen into the hall. When he came to the specially set up seat in the north, he told everyone without concealing that Ye Liangchen was one of his masters, and I implored everyone to take care of him, and then no matter what everyone thought, I respectfully asked Ye Liangchen to sit down. Only then did he come to his place, get straight to the point and say his views and suggestions, and then ask everyone to speak freely.

As the discussion gradually deepened, the atmosphere became tense, and everyone forgot that there was a disabled person with a scar on his face and no leg sitting behind Zhu Daolin.

Xu Hongji saw that there were great differences in the steps and scale of the reorganized water division under his command. It was difficult to choose for a while, but it was not a way to argue like this, seeing that Zhu Daolin had not spoken again after proposing the goal, it was estimated that he already had his own set of ideas.

So Xu Hongji knocked on the table, looked around unhappily, turned to Zhu Daolin and smiled: "Daolin, tell me your plan, why do you put Jiujiangwei and Baoshan in the first place in your plan?" Longjiangwei, where the base camp of the water division is located, was instead put into the second stage of next year? ”

Zhu Daolin's answer was very direct: "Most people believe that Longjiangwei is the base camp of the naval division and the core of the Jiangnan naval division, and as long as Longjiangwei is restored, it will be able to effectively control the Jiujiangwei in the upper reaches and the Baoshan in the lower reaches of the sea, so they are inclined to restore Longjiangwei to the level of full officers and soldiers and full warships as soon as possible." ”

"But I don't know if you've thought about it? Even if we abandon all those messy sub-mother ships, fire dragon ships, chain ships, and net shuttle ships, and replace them with three new inland river clippers and transport ships of 50 tons, 80 tons and 150 tons, the total number of small and medium-sized patrol clippers and transport ships needed by Longjiangwei will not be less than 80, plus 8 new warships of 300 tons, and the shipbuilding cost that needs to be invested is as high as 2 million taels of silver. ”

When it comes to silver, the generals are empty-hearted.

The imperial court and the military department have absolutely no silver or two to allocate it, unless the commander Xu Hongji is willing to take it out of his own pocket, he can only concentrate all his strength to rebuild a guard, and Zhu Daolin cannot be expected to pay alone.

Zhu Daolin continued: "To change our thinking, what if we concentrate our efforts to take the lead in restoring Jiujiangwei? According to my suggestion, seize the time to train 5,000 officers and soldiers to form a naval division, and half a year later, launch a large-scale crackdown on bandits within the jurisdiction of Jiujiangwei, and encircle and suppress all the water bandits in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and along the Poyang Lake by attacking by land and water, and at least 3 million to 5 million taels of silver. ”

"Then Jiujiangwei can continue to set up a water gate at the mouth of the lake, hold high the banner of cracking down on water bandits and clearing trade routes, and collect a certain amount of escort fees from passing cargo ships, pay attention, not tolls, not customs duties, but escort fees!"

In this way, Jiujiangwei will be self-sufficient, and all problems will be solved...... Of course, if you don't even have the courage to suppress bandits, then there's nothing to talk about. ”

The generals immediately became excited, and they all knew that if they could organize forces to carry out the suppression of bandits, it would definitely be a great thing for the silver to roll in, not to mention anything else, just to say that those wealthy families around Poyang Lake who are also businessmen and bandits, if not fifty, there are forty, as long as they are ruthless, let alone loot 5 million taels of silver?

Even if the sacrifice is great, the one who dies is the small soldier under his command, and each person can give ten taels of silver to his family, and if the war dies is a homeless person who is recruited into the army, ten taels of pension silver are saved.

Coach Xu Hongji saw the generals looking at him with blazing eyes, and scolded Zhu Daolin in his heart for being a bastard who didn't care about killing and burying, but he had to admit that this was the best way so far, just exercise his authority to reorganize Jiujiangwei, write a fold and send it to the capital, write a copy in ten days and eight days and hand it over, you can set up a righteous archway for your own bandit suppression action, even if the court and the emperor can't make up their minds for a while and a half, they exaggerate a little more, and submit the twists and turns for half a year in a row, and they don't believe that the court and the emperor are not in a hurry.

Xu Hongji made a reluctant gesture, as if he was carrying a thousand pounds on his shoulders, which immediately caused a burst of cheers from the generals, Zhang Gongwei and his generals were very angry, and immediately got together and whispered.

As Zhu Daolin said, there are only 5,000 people left in the three guards, 12 thousand households, and men, and there are not as many guards as the 12 city gates in Nanjing, and the other more than 10,000 people are all people who are sent to serve the conscription every year, and they will be scattered after 40 days.

Zhu Daolin also did not disappoint Zhang Gongwei and the generals of the Lu Division, and after solving the big problem of the water division, he then proposed a huge plan to Zhang Gongwei:

"It's better to take the opportunity of recruiting soldiers this time, simply recruit enough 20,000 people, of which 10,000 will be transferred to the various guard posts of the Jiangnan Army Division, and if the seniors are interested, 5,000 people will be selected from them, and together with the 5,000 recruits of the Marine Battalion of the Shangyuan Qianhu Naval Division, they will receive a six-month musket and artillery training, and after half a year, these 5,000 officers and soldiers can bring back the muskets and artillery used during their training, so I also cover all the expenses."

The whole hall exclaimed, where did Zhang Gongwei not know that this was a great favor? Immediately stood up and hugged his fist to thank Zhu Daolin, and the generals under his command hurriedly stood up and thanked Zhu Daolin in unison. (To be continued......)