Hanzhong, Xixiang.

Yang Sichang was exhausted, and in just a few days after receiving the holy decree to transfer him back to Beijing, most of his beard and hair had turned gray.

He knew he had screwed up, completely screwed up, and this time it was no better than before. In that year, he took over as the secretary of the military department, and proposed to the emperor the strategy of suppressing bandits in four positive and six corners and ten nets, and said that the thieves could be quelled in March, although it was not realized in the end, but it did achieve a lot of gains, exterminated many bandits, suppressed the momentum of the bandits, and the emperor did not condemn him, and even used him more seriously.

But this time was different, and he knew that he had done it badly this time.

He Renlong mutinied and sent the Yu army to recover it, but was raided by Zhang Xianzhong and defeated. Then he joined up with Zuo Liangyu and led his troops to pursue, but was ambushed again and defeated again. failed again and again, and on the other hand, Mei Zhihuan was a succession of victories. The emperor did not immediately send Jinyi guards to capture him and bring him into Beijing, which was already very face-saving for him. The so-called going back to the ministry is just the last bit of face left for him.

His career is over, the saint has been lost, and there is no longer his position in the court.

How did things get to this point? Yang Sichang was a little puzzled, he sat under the silhouette, basking in the sun, thinking with his eyes closed, and then thought of a key person. A character who was ignored by him before, Liu Jun and Liu Jiye. He thought about it, Mei Zhihuan's series of actions were very risky, and even could never have succeeded. But in the end, Mei Zhihuan succeeded, but he miscalculated step by step.

In the final analysis, it is because of this Liu Jun. It is he who has repeatedly used a new army but is always unexpectedly invincible, invincible, invincible, and invincible, it is him, he is the variable. If there is no Liu Jun, it will be replaced by other generals. Can Mei Zhihuan be so proud? If Mei Zhihuan's subordinates were not Liu Jun, but powerful generals like He Renlong, Li Guoqi, and Diao Mingzhong, would he still be able to laugh until now?

And what if he is not under He Renlong, but Liu Jun?

Yang Sichang shook his head and sighed, it was already too late.

Coughing a few times, Yang Sichang lifted the pen on the table in front of him. Start writing a recital. He was going to go to his hometown to beg for illness, and although he was only in his fifties this year, he was already disheartened.

In the recital, Yang Sichang praised Liu Jun for his wisdom and bravery, and finally he made several suggestions to the emperor. It is necessary to quell the rebellion of the bandits in the Central Plains and reduce the burden on the people of the Central Plains, which is the source of the banditry rebellion. Second, it is necessary to reuse a general like Liu Jun and retrain a new army. Now the generals of various towns, such as Zuo Liangyu, He Renlong, Li Guoqi and other departments, have recruited a large number of bandits, arrogant soldiers, these armies have long been unusable, and even these armies have made chaos in the place, no different from bandits, and there is already a danger of gradually getting out of control, third. The imperial court should issue an order for local officials and squires to come forward to set up a militia group, which was not the regimental training run by the imperial court before. The militia should be the civil defense township soldiers of the local squire and the local people.

The imperial court had to mobilize the local squires and ordinary people to work together, let them protect the territory and the people, and cooperate with the new army trained by the imperial court to encircle and suppress them, so as to truly pacify the bandits. Otherwise, letting generals like Zuo Liangyu, He Renlong, and others suppress bandits will only become more and more chaotic.

Yang Sichang finally wrote in the recital. Organizing and training a new army in the Central Plains and dismantling the soldiers and horses that were originally unusable can not only save a large amount of military salaries, but also train a soldier and horse with good military discipline and capable of fighting. After the new army trained the bandits and pacified the bandits in the Central Plains. The imperial court could also transfer new troops to the north to deal with Jianyu. Even when necessary, it can replace the Liaoxi generals who are also becoming more and more domineering today.

Yang Sichang vigorously recommended Liu Jun, saying that Liu Jun had Qi Shaobao's talent for military training, and Liu Jun only trained a team of tens of thousands of soldiers and horses in just a few months, and broke the bandits, which shows Liu Jun's ability. If Liu Jun is allowed to train the new army, and the imperial court summarizes and promotes it, then the new army can be successful.

However, when Yang Sichang recommended Liu Jun, he also reminded the emperor in the compromises that although Liu Jun has the talent to train and recruit soldiers, he must also be vigilant as soon as possible, and when he is reused, he must also be strictly supervised, and more officials must be sent to supervise it, in case after the new army is trained, it will become another Guanning army.

wrote a long breath, Yang Sichang stopped writing and sighed. Emperor Chongzhen really trusted him, and he was also very grateful for this kindness. Even if he has messed up things now and is ashamed of this trust, in this last recital, he still loyally put forward many of his own suggestions to the emperor.

The triumphant nine-headed bird sailed down the river, and on both sides of the river were patches of rice fields. The rice in the field is growing well, this is the second season of late rice, at this time it has reached the time of filling, the long verdant dripping, looking from afar, the two sides of the river are like a piece of green blanket.

Liu Jun stood on the bow of the boat, looked at the endless green on both sides of the river, and said very happily, "The growth is good, and the late rice will be a bumper harvest." ”

On Liu Jun's left is Yang Tinglin, and on the right is Huang Daozhou, who has just arrived. Huang Daozhou is a newly appointed Yunyang patrol, already in his fifties, is a Jinshi at the time of the Apocalypse, and has been a scholar of the Hanlin Dynasty and a bookkeeper of the Banquet Exhibition during the Apocalypse Dynasty, and a scholar of the Hanlin Lecture and a bookkeeper of the Banquet Exhibition in the Chongzhen Dynasty.

Last year, he was demoted six ranks in a row and relegated to Jiangxi because of his opposition to Yang Sichang's peace with the Qing army and his direct advice to the emperor. This time Yang Sichang had an accident, Chongzhen began to reactivate many officials who had been exempted from being demoted because of Yang Sichang, and Huang Daozhou was also reused because of this, and was awarded by Chongzhen as the imperial history of Yunyang Patrol.

Although the patrol is only a seven-rank official, there is a common name among the people for the eight governors to press the imperial Shi Qincha, and the power is very great. In a province, you can even sit on an equal footing with the governor, and the duty of the governor is to patrol on behalf of the Son of Heaven, "big things are judged, and small things are decided".

Huang Daozhou, the inspector, has the right to impeach Liu Jun, the chief soldier, and also has the duty to supervise the army's meritorious service. Huang Daozhou can not only impeach Liu Jun, but even under authorization, he can directly try Liu Jun, the chief soldier, in addition, the chief soldier supervises military discipline. All in all, Huang Daozhou, the patrolman, holds the power of rewarding and punishing Liu Jun, the chief soldier, and supervising the impeachment.

Therefore, in some ways, Huang Daozhou, like Yang Tinglin, is a prison guard, and he is also equivalent to a boss. Huang Daozhou not only supervised Liu Jun, the general soldier, but even the entire Yunyang Town, 10 prefectures, 15 prefectures, 105 counties, from the governor to the prefect and county, were all under the supervision of the patrol.

After Liu Jun was promoted to the chief soldier of any town, he found that he had a lot more mother-in-law on his head. Not only is the governor of Yunyang his boss, but also the four governors of Sichuan, Shaanxi, Henan, and Huguang can manage Liu Jun, and there are also two governors of the five provinces who are also in charge of the boss, and there is also a governor of the eight provinces.

In addition to these governors, governors, and governors, there were also inspectors and eunuchs. The lieutenant guards, the supervising army and the imperial history, etc., are all able to manage Liu Jun.

There is only one set of housekeepers and mothers-in-law on other general soldiers, and because Liu Jun's Yunyang Town is a special setting, in addition to the governors, patrols, military supervisors, and eunuchs who guard the prison army in this town, the other four provinces can also manage him.

However, the greatest jurisdiction over Liu Jun is still the governor of this town, and the imperial historians will first come to Yang Tinglin, a superintendent of the army. Now there is another patrol of the Zodiac Zhou, fortunately, these two people are known for their loyalty and integrity, and they belong to the kind of Wei Zheng-style upright people, Liu Jun got along with them and found that both of them were not bad.

Huang Daozhou is a decent person, he did not wait for Liu Jun to meet him in Yunyang, but rushed to the river to meet Liu Jun directly after leaving Beijing. Although in today's places, the patrol is high above the general soldiers, but Huang Daozhou is for this young general soldier who is only half his age. But still maintain enough respect.

"There is still more than a month to harvest, and when it is another good harvest."

Liu Jun nodded, he was very happy, Huguang was familiar with the world. Huguang's bumper harvest of late rice this year is also a direct good news for him. It is about to recruit troops and train new troops, and food is the most important thing. When the late rice harvest is abundant, the price of grain will not remain high, and it is just right to buy a large amount of grain and grass reserves at a low price.

"I'm going to come out with a sum of silver. Immediately sign a subscription contract with grain farmers from all over Huguang and pay them a deposit in advance. Then order their late rice in advance. ”

"Harvest grain in advance and order grain directly from rice farmers?" Huang Daozhou was greatly surprised when he heard this, and it was the first time he had heard of this method of purchasing grain. Generally, the food in the army is transferred by the government. Even if you want to buy it yourself, you have to buy it from granaries in various places, and Liu Jun actually wants to buy it directly from grain farmers. Or reservations.

Liu Jun nodded and said with a smile, "This is also a win-win practice, we buy grain from grain farmers, and what we buy is the latest grain of the year." There is no need to worry about old grain, mildew, sand and soil, etc. And we are now negotiating prices and signing contracts with grain farmers, and we are guaranteed that we will not be affected by food price fluctuations. ”

"And for the grain farmers, they can get a cash payment right away. You must know that now the burden on the people is heavy, and many grain farmers are often in short supply, waiting for the silver to pay various taxes and fees. In addition, sometimes the more good the year, the cheaper the grain price becomes, and at harvest time, those grain merchants will deliberately suppress the grain price and force the grain farmers to sell it at a low price. We can now negotiate a reasonable purchase price with the grain farmers, and they will also benefit a lot. ”

With some cash as a reservation, you can get new grain for the season, and you can also get the amount of grain you want, as well as a stable price of food, so why not?

Liu Jun felt that it was advantageous to do this, so he would do it, he didn't think there was anything about it. But this matter is too jumpy for Huang Daozhou and Yang Tinglin, and Liu Jun's approach is unprecedented.

But when you think about it, there is a really good plan.

"How much grain are you going to buy, and what price are you going to buy?" Huang Daozhou did not rush to object, he asked patiently.

"The emperor asked us to train 50,000 new soldiers in Yunyang Town, 50,000 soldiers and horses consume a lot of food in a year, and we also have to prepare food for the families of the soldiers, and I plan to purchase more for the workers in the workshop and mine. As you know, this time I took tens of thousands of captives, and let them go to mining, to work in workshops, to build forts and fields, and they also needed a lot of food. ”

If you don't have enough to eat, let alone train your troops, let alone fight a war. Especially in this time of turmoil, food is the first thing, and even food is more important than silver. Just like Liaodong outside the Guanxi Province, their military salaries are much higher than those in the mainland, and even basically they are more than two or two months' salaries, but in fact, the grain prices in Liaodong are much higher than those in the interior, and even sometimes Shandong can only buy four buckets of grain in Liaodong for one stone of grain.

In times of war, it is often impossible to buy grain even if there is silver, and even the price of grain will fluctuate greatly with the war, sometimes more than ten times different.

Therefore, for Liu Jun, to train soldiers and horses, to establish a stable rear, and to calm the army's heart, the most important thing is not to have silver in his hands, but to have food reserves. This grain reserve could not be counted on by the imperial court, and could only be prepared by itself.

"I plan to purchase 1 million stone of grain as a reserve, and the purchase price is 1 tael of silver per stone of rice, and we can pay a deposit of 10% in advance and sign a purchase contract."

Huang Daozhou and Yang Tinglin almost took a breath of cold air, a million stone grains. One stone and one tael of silver, then you will get one million taels of silver, and even if you only pay a deposit of one percent, you will get 100,000 taels of silver.

Does Liu Jun have so much money? As far as they knew, this time the emperor rewarded the war merits, and Liu Jun's subordinates only got more than 100,000 taels of silver. Moreover, the emperor had already said that the imperial court could no longer afford to pay Liu Jun to train the new army, so it had to rely on local measures. A million silver, where did it come from?

Huguang is the granary of the world, and one million stone of grain is trivial, but the key is where the money to buy grain comes from.

Liu Jun was very calm, he was ready to buy one million stones of grain, but not all of them were used to raise soldiers. It was also prepared for the families of soldiers, those miners, craftsmen, and the people of Tuntian. In other words, most of the grain was not actually supplied to them for free, but was paid as wages, so that the silver could be recycled.

In the longer run, these grains are actually the reserves for those point coupons issued by Liu Jun.

Liu Jun can't take out one million taels of silver now, but he can still take out a deposit of 100,000 taels. Now that there is still more than a month before the late rice harvest, Liu Jun feels that he still has time to raise the remaining grain, not to mention, it is not necessarily necessary to pay off the grain immediately, when signing the contract, you can agree to pay in installments, and pay it off before the end of the year.

As long as he can really collect one million stone grains, then Liu Jun can really train with peace of mind, and he will no longer have to worry about the future. One million stone grains is enough for at least 200,000 people to eat for a year.

Food and silver are all what Liu Jun lacks now. Fortunately, this time with the permission of the emperor to allow him to raise food and salary in various ways, Liu Jun was determined to use chicken feathers as an arrow, and he had a good vote. As long as you do a good job, a million silver, it really won't be a problem.

However, Liu Jun expected that he would collect grain on a large scale, but he was afraid that it would touch the interests of many big landlords and grain merchants, but Liu Jun couldn't control them, now he is no longer the original him, if he doesn't see him in March, he must be impressed, if those who don't open their eyes want to wrestle with him, he Liu Jun doesn't mind playing with them, dealing with those people, he Liu Jun has a hundred ways! (To be continued......)