Li Jingsi deliberately said with confidence to please the marshal, "There are many northerners in the troops under his command, and it is true that they are not accustomed to the water nature of ships, but how can anyone be born with water nature?" As long as you practice a few more times, you can learn that although Japan is an island country, it is not particularly far from the mainland, and it will not waste much effort to take a boat. Zhao Brigade is a good general, the soldiers under his command are elite soldiers, and it will definitely not be impossible to overcome this difficulty, the marshal and relax, watching his sons continue to make great contributions and serve the country! ”

Because the Central Plains and Jiangnan had been pacified, and only a few directions on the border were left to continue fighting, the Han army was now actually divided into several major battle groups, each headed by a marshal.

Although the marshals are all old brothers for many years, and they are like brothers and sisters to each other, they are now all marshals, and they all have countless subordinates under their command, and everyone is waiting to rely on them for promotion, so they are still faintly divided into several mountains according to the power in their hands.

Previously, because of the exploits of destroying the Jianzhou Jurchen regime, the Northeast Army and the main general Chen Sheng had the highest momentum and prestige in the army, and the number of high-ranking military officials promoted from the Northeast was naturally the most, but recently, the situation has been slightly different.

The other marshals didn't care, but the two marshals of Cao Guogong Ji Xiang and Cai Guogong Shi Manqiang, who controlled the two armies in the northwest and southwest respectively, have now faintly caught up with Ji Guogong Chen Sheng.

The army controlled by these two marshals, because of the relationship between the use of troops for many years, is now no smaller than the Northeast Army, and because the war in Liaodong has gradually subsided, the place where they have been able to brush up their military merits is also in their jurisdiction, so the generals of these two mountains have also been promoted in large numbers - even though Liaodong has been working hard to clear the remnants of Jiannu, how can the prestige and effect be compared with the two places where the soldiers have been clearing Mongolia and the remnants of the Ming Dynasty for several years?

As a result, the mountain, which was originally the dominant mountain in the army, was now suddenly squeezed by two new mountains, and the original position was faintly shaken. Under these circumstances, the high-ranking officers of the Northeast Army were a little anxious and always wanted to find a new place to plunder military merits in order to consolidate and maintain their position.

After receiving the news that the emperor planned to conquer Japan and appoint Zhao Song as the main general, the top brass of the Northeast Army also breathed a sigh of relief.

The emperor's general Zhao Song was appointed as the chief general of the expedition, firstly because Zhao Song was brave and resourceful in battle, and secondly, it also confirmed the status of the Liaodong and Northeast armies in the army.

The conquest of Japan can be seen to be the largest military operation of the Han Dynasty in recent years, and if it can be achieved immediately, as long as Zhao Song and his directly subordinate regiments are rewarded, then the momentum of the Northeast Army system will naturally rise again and return to the status at that time.

It is precisely because of this that the Northeast Army attaches so much importance to Zhao Song and this expedition, and does not dare to ignore it at all.

Although he is not a military insider, Li Jingsi has many years of experience after all, and he sees people very accurately, so when he compliments Ji Guogong, the effect is wonderful. Moreover, as soon as he started talking, his spirit became concentrated, and his body, which was about to collapse, recovered a little.

"Master Li......" Just as he was about to close his eyes and recuperate, he heard a greeting from the side.

He turned his head and found that the person who shouted to him was Senator Ning Zeguang. This rather elegant officer, who stood for so long, did not appear to be as prostrated as he was.

"What advice does Lord Ning have?" He asked, somewhat curious.

"In the lower position, where can you talk about instructing adults." Ning Zeguang smiled slightly, "It's just that I want to ask my lord something." ”

"It's okay to ask rather senators, I know everything."

"I don't know how far the matter of establishing a province in Liaodong has progressed now?" Ning Zeguang turned his gaze and looked at the waves in the distance again, as if he was asking a trivial matter.

"Hmm......" However, Li Jingsi's expression instantly became solemn.

He pondered for a moment before replying softly, "Cabinet...... Some time ago, the cabinet sent a special envoy to inquire about matters that need to be paid attention to after the establishment of the province. Fear...... I'm afraid that the establishment of a province is not far off. ”

After the establishment of the new dynasty, the major events expanded in all directions, and the territory of the Ming Dynasty had been greatly increased compared to the previous Ming era, so many newly conquered lands were added. For example, the "Liaodong" where they are now located refers to a huge piece of land, and the clearing troops sent by Shenyang before even hit Sakhalin Island.

Since these newly conquered lands have been included in the territory of the Han Dynasty, it is natural to establish civil and civil governance institutions according to the model of the Han Dynasty itself, and Liaodong has been almost calm over the years, so the cabinet has been planning to establish local government institutions such as provinces and prefectures and counties throughout the Liaodong region.

Because the Han Dynasty was a new dynasty, it followed the system of the former Ming Dynasty in many places, except for the division of Xuzhou, the land of Longxing, into a province, the original local provinces and prefectures and counties have not changed much. However, because the army and the government had been separated, and there was no longer a need for additional civil officials to oversee the provinces, the imperial court did not have a governor, and the highest local administrator was the governor.

According to the system established by the imperial court, the local governor is only responsible to the emperor, and is appointed and dismissed by special decree of the emperor, and the cabinet cannot appoint the governor without the consent of the palace, and the governor is of a very high grade, equal to the cabinet ministers. However, in practice, when there is a vacancy in the governor's office, the cabinet recommends the candidate, and if the emperor has no objection, it is directly issued as an edict, so in fact, the cabinet minister can also control the governors of various places. This will not only prevent the cabinet from being overly inflated, but also prevent local government affairs from being disordered, and balance the power of the imperial power and the cabinet will be balanced.

In addition, because of the lessons learned from the previous dynasties, the local yamen also included scribes and foreign officials in the establishment of the government, and paid salaries according to rank.

In the pre-Ming Dynasty, in order to save government expenditures, the establishment of local yamen was set very small, and the salaries of scribes were set very low, and they could not be transferred to the ranks of officials at all, they could only be petty officials all the time, and there was no way to rise.

As a result, for the sake of the livelihood of the whole family, these people tried to create additional income, and at the same time, because there was no upward channel, they had no scruples about the situation, and in the end, these people deceived the people and oppressed the people in various ways, seeking personal interests, causing the people to live in hardship and complaining, which was quite unfavorable to the imperial court.

Having learned the lessons of the previous dynasty, the new dynasty vigorously monitored the illegal acts of officials on the one hand, and on the other hand, drew this group of people into the scope of officials, giving them a salary sufficient to support their families, and the experience of local government in Xuzhou was quickly extended to the Han Chinese inland provinces.

In addition, the cabinet also promulgated the law on the appointment of officials, stipulating that officials and scribes could also be promoted to become local chiefs based on their work performance, giving these people who are familiar with local government affairs and good at handling local affairs room for advancement, and also allowing the court to have more officials who can understand the people's feelings.

Because this set of plans took care of the interests of the errand servants and scribes who were originally neglected, they supported this policy very much, and the implementation was very fast, so along with the reform of the court, the reform of this set of local governments was also carried out steadily, and now the provinces within the territory of the Ming Dynasty, except for the special situation in Sichuan and Yunnan, have been basically completed.

However, only the new dynasty, which relies on industry and commerce and opens up its financial resources, will have the ability and resources to carry out this kind of reform.

After the reform of the inland provinces was completed, the cabinet began to set its sights on the newly conquered lands on the border, hoping to integrate these lands into the Han dynasty and become fertile soil for the Han people by promoting the inland government model and immigration.

The first to be selected was the Liaodong region, because firstly, this side has been largely pacified, and there is no risk of being invaded by the outside, and secondly, the land here is still fertile, and a large number of farmers can be immigrated to the Guannei, and there are also a large number of coal mines and iron ores here, which are more worthy of development.

After two years of preparation, the matter of establishing a province in Liaodong has entered the agenda of the cabinet, and Li Jingsi is now the governor of Liaodong, and his opinion is naturally an important reference for the cabinet, and the cabinet has consulted him many times on the details of the establishment of the province.

The military naturally looked at the correspondence between the cabinet and Governor Li, but adhering to the principle that soldiers are not allowed to interfere in politics, it is not easy for them to ask Governor Li directly. But this issue is too important, so Ning Zeguang wants to take this opportunity to set up the governor's tone in a less deliberate way.

"Is the establishment of the province really ready to be built......" Ning Zeguang bowed slightly, but his expression was quite complicated, "The adults are smart, and after the establishment of the province in Liaodong, they must be able to herdsmen." ”

"Who will be the governor, this is a matter that can only be decided by the court and the emperor, where can I put my beak ......" Li Sijing was modest, but unconsciously revealed some complacent. I have always only thought about being loyal to His Majesty and being loyal to the country, and I have never thought about such a thing. ”

It was quite strange for a former dynasty jinshi to say such a thing, if it was a harsh person, I am afraid that he would have ridiculed it in person, but Ning Zeguang was still very calm. "It seems that this matter has indeed been decided. However, Lord Li, although it is said that it is Liaodong, but now the place occupied by our army is very large, I don't think we will build a province in the future, right? ”