In the summer of the 19th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty, Wang Xijue and Wang Jiaping, scholars of the Cabinet University, went to Runing Mansion to investigate the case of Liu Qichang, the prefect, and his subordinate officials colluding with Haoqiang to embezzle disaster relief grain funds and embezzle peasant land. Chongwang Zhu Yijue was well aware of the righteousness and took the initiative to donate 50,000 acres of fertile land to compensate the landless people, winning praise from the government and the public. When Emperor Wanli learned of this, he allocated 50,000 taels of silver and a number of jewels and utensils to reward him, and called on the vassal kings to follow suit, which is a digression.

Under the guidance of Su Hao, Zhu Changjin, the son of King Chong, recruited miners to open a mine on the 50,000 acres of barren mountains exchanged for fertile land, and sure enough, he found a large coal mine and a large iron mine. Chongwangfu immediately built a large iron-smelting factory outside the city of Runing, and the quality of the steel produced by the factory exceeded that of the best Suzhou steel on the market, and it was included in the procurement list of the Ministry of War, which was specially used to make high-quality weapons.

This year, the agricultural production of Runing Province also achieved fruitful results. On the one hand, it was because of the defeat of those gambling houses and money houses that drank the blood and sweat of the peasants, which made the peasants glow with enthusiasm for production, and on the other hand, because Su Hao arranged for people to sell phosphate fertilizer from Jiangxi and improved the local production conditions, the crops in all prefectures and counties of the province were growing very gratifyingly, and according to the estimation of some old farmers in the past, the summer grain of that year was expected to increase by more than 30 percent.

In this jubilant atmosphere, Su Hao took the officers and soldiers of the survey battalion, but he was about to embark on the journey again.

Su Hao originally thought that he would be able to return to the capital after completing Runing's mission, but unexpectedly, an old friend of his came from the capital, Chen Dao of the Ministry of War, and brought him an order from the Ministry of War.

"Chen Langzhong, why are you again?" Su Hao saw Chen Dao in the dust, and he didn't know whether to be happy or depressed.

"Hehe, Guerrilla Su, Brother Fool is here to congratulate you." Chen Dao's fat face was full of enthusiasm, and people couldn't say anything more to him.

"What's the matter, the military department has promoted me again?" When Su Hao heard Chen Dao call him, he knew that he had been promoted again. From garrison to guerrilla, it can be regarded as a step up. He didn't know why the Ministry of War favored him so much, obviously this time the matter of Runing's investigation had nothing to do with the Ministry of War, but it did not prevent the Ministry of War from giving him another level of promotion. If he is promoted at this rate, I am afraid that he will be able to become a general soldier before he is 20 years old.

Chen Dao handed over a copy of the confession to Su Hao, and it was indeed written that because of the merit of so-and-so, Su Hao was specially promoted to the rank of guerrilla, Yunyun. The credit mentioned above is basically nothing. Su Hao accepted the confession document and symbolically bowed to the north. expressed his gratitude to the Ministry of War, and then said with a smile: "Chen Langzhong came all the way to Runing, I'm afraid he didn't send this farewell specifically for me, right?" ”

Chen Dao pretended to sink his face and said, "Why not?" When the foolish brother heard that Gaizhi was promoted, he couldn't help but be overjoyed, and specially asked the military department for this messenger to send a letter to Gaizhi. ”

Su Hao said: "The errand of the junior brother here has been completed, and the new prefect of Runing has also taken office. The younger brother had already planned to return to Beijing. This kind of paperwork can be sent over when the younger brother returns to the capital, so why bother Brother Chen to make a trip? ”

Chen Dao said: "Well...... The main thing is that things have changed a little, and the military department means. If you don't rush back to Beijing, you still have some other errands to do. ”

"What errand?" Su Hao asked, Chen Dao's words did not surprise Su Hao, starting from the first time he saw Chen Dao. Su Hao knew that there was a demon moth in the military department again. This time, he was promoted in a good manner, which was obviously purposeful.

Chen Daodao: "Previously, the Ministry of War appointed it to be a garrison, and let you train the survey battalion. The original intention was to be able to do the survey of the nine sides and draw a detailed combat map of the nine sides after training the soldiers. It has been more than half a year since the Ministry of War led the troops to Runing, and you reported to the Ministry of War that the training of the soldiers had been completed, so the Ministry of War meant to let the Ministry of War lead the troops north on the same day and start surveying as soon as possible. ”

"So that's ......" Su Hao nodded, if Chen Dao didn't say it, he really forgot that his army was actually a surveying and mapping unit specially established by the Ministry of War, and the purpose of the army was to survey geography and draw operational maps for the army. In the past six months or so, while assisting Su Hao in investigating the case, the survey battalion has not relaxed its training, and now the soldiers' surveying and mapping skills are relatively proficient, and it is time to go to the border areas to carry out surveying and mapping.

Thinking of this, Su Hao put away his smile and said: "Where is the responsibility, Su Hao doesn't dare to slack off, I don't know where the Ministry of War asked my department to go to do surveying and mapping first?" ”

"From west to east, town by town." Chen Dao said lightly, "What Wang Shangshu means is that the first stop of the Kanyu camp is to choose Ningxia Wei. ”

"Su Hao obeys!" Su Hao bowed and said.

When the news spread, the sergeants of the survey camp did not complain. Since he came out to be a soldier, he naturally went wherever he should go, and there was nothing to find fault with. The treatment of the survey battalion is much better than that of other teams, and the officers are also very protective of the soldiers, so what are the soldiers not satisfied with?

As for the town of Ningxia they were about to go, all the soldiers had only heard of it but had never been there, and in their imagination, it should be the legendary Saiwai Border Pass. For several days, some soldiers with some culture could be heard in the battalion reciting poems such as "The scenery is strange in autumn" or "Poor and uncertain bones by the river", which made people quite enthusiastic about it.

In the entire survey camp, the only one who has been to Ningxia Town is the veteran Xu Guangzu. Hearing that the Ministry of War was going to transfer the public opinion camp to Ningxia, Xu Guangzu's brows furrowed slightly, showing a thoughtful look.

"Uncle Xu, did you really fight in Ningxiawei?" Su Hao asked casually. For this place in Ningxia, Su Hao in this life has naturally never been there, but Su Hao in the previous life is very familiar, of course, he is only familiar with Ningxia a few hundred years later, and the current Ningxia is just a guard house with almost no residents.

"That's still fake, when I was in Ningxiawei, I fought with the Tatars for three days and three nights." Xu Guangzu said proudly.

"Is that place dangerous?" Su Hao asked again.

Xu Guangzu shook his head and said, "That place, the main reason is that I am afraid of the Tatars attacking. However, in recent years, the Tatars have also submitted to the imperial court, but they have not heard of any war. Occasionally, some Tatars break in and grab something to eat, and there will be no direct clash with the defenders, so there should be no danger. ”

"But why do I think you have something in mind?" Su Hao said.

"You're still a jing!" Xu Guangzu reprimanded, "Why do you say that I have any thoughts, Lao'er? ”

Su Hao smiled: "Uncle Xu, you don't hide it from me, your eyebrows are usually straight, but when you have something in your heart, your eyebrows are curved, can I still not see it?" ”

"Do I have curved eyebrows now?" Xu Guangzu hurriedly covered up, desperately stretching the muscles on his forehead, trying to straighten his eyebrows. When he saw the teasing smile on Su Hao's face, he knew that he had fallen for Su Hao again, how could there be any difference between straight and curved eyebrows, Su Hao was clearly cheating himself.

"I just think it's a little strange about the arrangement of the military department." Xu Guangzu explained, in fact, even if Su Hao didn't cheat him like this, he still wanted to communicate his thoughts with Su Hao.

"What's so strange?" Su Hao asked, he didn't understand military affairs, so he naturally didn't think as thoroughly as Xu Guangzu.

Xu Guangzu said: "Think about it, Daming Jiubian, which place is the most important?" ”

Su Hao thought for a while and said, "It should be Jizhen, as well as Xuanda, these are the gateways of the Jingshi, and they are the most important." ”

"If you are Wang Yiyu and you have a team that can draw maps, which place should you draw a map first?" Xu Guangzu asked.

Su Hao said: "Of course, the most important place to paint first, who knows when you can use it?" ”

"That's right, but the order Chen Dao brought was to let us go to Ningxia Town first, isn't it strange?" Xu Guangzu said.

When Xu Guangzu asked the first question, Su Hao understood what Xu Guangzu meant. Chen Dao's explanation to him was that he was painting from west to east, so he went to Ningxia Town first. However, the military arrangement will not be so arbitrary. No one knew when the war would break out, and for the Ministry of War, if it wanted to prioritize the drawing of the map, it should first choose the border towns around Beijing and then extend outward. Now the Ministry of War has asked the Kanyu Battalion to go to Ningxia first, which is a bit abnormal.

If something is abnormal, it must be a demon, Xu Guangzu understands this truth, and Su Hao also understands it.

"You mean, there might be something going on in Ningxia?" Su Hao asked.

Xu Guangzu nodded and said, "Chen Dao specially went to Runing to give the order, obviously to accompany us to Ningxia, which means that something must have happened in Ningxia." We can't stupidly let people sell it and don't know it, we must take precautions and prepare in advance. ”

"I can't disobey, can I?" Su Hao said.

Xu Guangzu said: "Who made you disobey?" If something really happens in Ningxia, it is incumbent on us as soldiers to charge into battle. I mean, we need to be prepared for any situation. ”

"I see." Su Hao nodded and said, "Since we are going to the border town, we must be prepared for war." Maybe the military department has received some information that the Tatars are trying to disadvantage our borders. I immediately wrote a letter back to Beijing, asking Xu Guangqi and them to quickly transport a batch of guns and artillery, and if there is really a war at that time, we will not be passive if we have effective firearms in our hands. ”

"That's exactly what the old man meant." Xu Guangzu said.

Su Hao understood the mystery of this, and also tried to verify it from Chen Dao. Chen Dao just pretended to be at a loss at all, as if he didn't know what Su Hao was talking about, so angry that Su Hao's teeth itched, and he really wanted to find a chance to pit Chen Dao for a good time. However, there is one thing that does make Xu Guangzu accurate, that is, Chen Dao said that he intended to go to Ningxia Town with the Kanyu Camp, and his reason was naturally the same as when he tricked Su Hao into going to Zunyi, saying that it was difficult to come out and play once. The more mysterious he was, the more Su Hao believed that there must be a reason for this.

At the end of summer, the survey battalion reorganized its soldiers and horses and set off for the northwest border. (To be continued......)