Early June.

Li Congyan's soldiers exterminated the three major thieves in Dengzhou one by one in three ways, and the strength of the new army and Li Congyan's iron fist greatly shocked the small bandits in the rest of the country. In particular, the bloody Jingguan, which was composed of hundreds of heads, made the surrounding small group of thieves even more frightened.

Within a few days, Li Congyan ordered all units of the New Army to be broken into pieces, swept through the territory of one city and four counties in Dengzhou, and annihilated more than a dozen bandits one after another. In the face of such a bloody purge, the rest of the thieves who had not yet been attacked all fled from Dengzhou and fled directly from Dengzhou, and the soldiers of the new army took over many thieves' nests without bloodshed, and the thieves in Dengzhou were completely wiped out.

And Li Congyan's iron-blooded wrist also spread all over the surrounding states along with the merchants, making the thieves and thieves in the surrounding states change their color, and they didn't dare to enter Dengzhou again.

As the officers and men of the various units of the New Army continued to transport the captured back to Dengzhou City, the Ministry of Military Affairs began an inventory. This time, troops were dispatched to suppress bandits, and various units of the New Army beheaded more than 4,000 thieves and rescued more than 9,000 households. The amount of money and grain seized by the various units of the New Army was huge, which was enough to settle the more than 9,000 households, which made Li Congyan very happy, and it seemed that it was possible to make money by fighting a war.

Therefore, Li Congyan ordered that these more than 9,000 households be settled in the west of Dengzhou City, and the Household Registration Department of the Ministry of Civil Affairs was responsible for registering and making records, and guided these more than 9,000 households to settle in separate villages and temporarily fall under the jurisdiction of Dengzhou City.

At the same time, the Ministry of Civil Affairs' Reclamation Division was responsible for clearing the land and cultivating new land around the newly built villages, which was then distributed to more than 9,000 households in accordance with the shogunate's method of dividing the land.

With the destruction of the Dengzhou thieves, Li Congyan's reputation in the surrounding states and counties of Dengzhou was greatly shaken, and even Shen Tan, the envoy of Pinglu Jiedu, heard about it, and ordered his subordinates not to have friction with Dengzhou and try to live in peace.

As a result, the expansion of the trading company under Li Congyan was much smoother, and even the merchants from all over Dengzhou became unimpeded in their travel between the states.

In the Dengzhou Mansion, Li Congyan sat on the Hu bed with a slight frown, looking at a Tang newspaper in his hand.

In this month, due to the lack of food and grass for the follow-up of the Liangchuan army, Emperor Li Siyuan had no choice but to order Shi Jingjiao to lead the army to withdraw and serve as the envoy of the Heyang Festival. Since then, the war between the two rivers has come to an end for the time being.

"It seems that the general direction of historical development has not changed, but there are some discrepancies in some details!"

Li Congyan sighed, only felt that the development of Dengzhou was still too slow, and now Shi Jingjiao had begun to serve as the envoy of the local real power, with experience in leading the army, a group of subordinates with experience in big wars, and the qualifications and connections in the court, now he is too far ahead of himself!

At this time, in Li Congyan's view, compared with the rolling wheels of history, his strength is still too weak, and he must achieve corner overtaking, otherwise the future will become very bleak.

After sighing for a while, Li Congyan said to Li Wei beside him: "The Ministry of Military Affairs must remember this Shi Jingjiao, this person will be our mortal enemy in the future!" ”

"Shi Jingjiao?"

Li Wei was a little confused, and he didn't know why Li Congyan suddenly mentioned this person, so he said with some confusion: "My subordinates heard that this person is the new envoy of Heyang Jiedu, and he has nothing to do with our Dengzhou, and Heyang Town is thousands of miles away from Dengzhou, I don't know what the lord means?" ”

Li Congyan waved his hand and said, "This is a matter of the future, and I will talk about it later, but the Ministry of Military Affairs will pay special attention to Shi Jingjiao's news from today onwards, and will start to collect all the information about this person." ”

"Whoa!"

Li Congyan took a few deep breaths, adjusted his emotions, and then said, "Okay, let's talk about rewarding the soldiers of each department first." What is the opinion of the Ministry of Military Affairs on the fact that the officers and men of the various units of the New Army have achieved a lot of results in this battle, which has shown the prestige of our New Army and deterred all sides, and the shogunate must give heavy commendations to the officers and men of the New Army. ”

Li Wei already had a plan, took out a document at this time, and said: "Your Majesty, after the Ministry of Civil Affairs has settled more than 9,000 rescued people, there is still some surplus of the seized money and grain, and it will be handed over to the Ministry of Military Affairs. The subordinates counted it and took out a part of the funds of the Ministry of Military Affairs and prepared it to be used as a reward for the officers and men of various departments. ”

"The subordinate plan is like this, all the officers and soldiers of each department, regardless of the soldiers or generals, will be rewarded with one month's military salary, and on this basis, the meritorious soldiers will be rewarded with an additional 100 to 500 yuan according to the size of the merit. Soldiers who have died in battle and are disabled shall be compensated in accordance with the regulations of the new army. I don't know what the Lord thinks? ”

Li Congyan shook his head slightly and said: "It's okay for everyone to increase their military salaries, but it's not an additional month's military salary, but three months!" There is no problem in giving pensions to the wounded and disabled soldiers in accordance with the regulations. However, the rewards for meritorious soldiers should be more specific. ”

"Show me the Lord!"

"The reward for meritorious soldiers should be calculated according to the number of beheadings, and the reward for the head of a thief is 300 yuan, and the head of the leader of the thief is 500 yuan, and those who have other merits are counted separately. In addition, everyone's reward must be divided into two, the soldiers keep one copy, and the remaining one is directly issued to the soldiers' families, and the specific rules are improved by the Ministry of Military Affairs. ”

"Whoa!"

Then Li Congyan continued: "The Ministry of Military Affairs will immediately compile a list of meritorious soldiers, and those who should be promoted should be promoted immediately, and this list will be handed over to me early tomorrow morning. If there is no big problem, it will be transferred to the Assessment Department of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and start handling the promotion. ”

"Whoa! The subordinates will do it immediately. ”

At present, there are quite a few problems in the organizational structure of the Shogunate's Ministry of Military Affairs and the Ministry of Civil Affairs, for example, the promotion and evaluation of generals must be handled through the Ministry of Civil Affairs' Examination Division.

Li Congyan also noticed this, the departments of the Ministry of Civil Affairs actually correspond to the six departments of the imperial court, but at the moment, his stall is too small, and he can only be hastily divided into two major departments, military and civilian, and has to press down the level of the various departments of the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

Li Congyan already had a plan at this time, when the territory under his control was larger, and the soldiers and horses in his hands and the population were larger, he would carry out further reforms to the shogunate, and then the Ministry of Civil Affairs would be directly abolished, and all the departments under the Ministry of Civil Affairs would be upgraded and turned into departments at the same level as the Ministry of Military Affairs, so that there would be no current drawbacks.

After Li Wei and Li Congyan finished discussing, they hurriedly went to implement various affairs, while Li Congyan closed his eyes and said secretly in his heart: "Next, it is time to start the layout and preparation before the expansion!" ”

A few days later, the Ministry of Military Affairs issued a reward to all the officers and men of the army, and all units of the new army burst into thunderous cheers.

Muping County, Nantang Village.

Chen Shuo, the county magistrate of Muping County, came to the entrance of the village with the general officials and was moving several large wooden boxes from the accompanying cart.

"The families of the new army are lining up here, don't mess around, wait for the name of Chen County's order!"

Tang Ming squeezed forward in the crowd, and soon stood in the line under the guidance of a group of officials.

"Where is Tang Dong's family!"

"In!"

"Tang Dong followed the army to suppress the bandits, beheaded the first level, and Li Tingshi issued a reward of nine hundred yuan, this is a share for your family, it is half of the four hundred and fifty yuan, take it!"

The onlookers and the families of the recruits who were waiting in line suddenly exploded with a roar and began to talk excitedly. In particular, the families of the new soldiers had a sparkle in their eyes and joy on their faces.

Tang Ming was very nervous in his heart, he didn't know how much reward his brother Tang Yi would have, so he could only hold back his excitement at this time and keep moving forward with the team.

"Where is Tang Xi's family?"

"In, here!"

"Tang Xi beheaded the bandits for two levels, and Li Tingshi issued a reward of 1,200 yuan, which is half of the six hundred yuan, take it!"

"Good! Good! ”

An old woman excitedly took a heavy bag of money, which contained the reward of six hundred dollars.

"It's good now, my son's money to marry a wife has been settled, and Li Tingshi is a great benefactor of my family!"

As she spoke, the old woman burst into tears, wiping away her tears as she walked home.

"Where is Tang Yi's family?"

"In!"

Tang Ming stepped forward excitedly, only to hear the county commander Chen Shuo read out the notice of the Ministry of Military Affairs aloud: "Tang Yi followed Li Tingshi to exterminate the thieves, beheaded the fifth level, and was promoted to the chief of fire for merit, and the Ministry of Military Affairs issued a reward of 2,100 yuan." That's half a thousand and fifty dollars, put it away! ”

The surrounding villagers roared again, and congratulated Tang Ming, Tang Ming's face was flushed and excited, and he took the heavy money bag, only to see that the money bag was also printed with the badge of the new army, which was exactly the same as the battle flag of the Tang Dynasty, all of which looked like the Sanchen flag, and the workmanship was very exquisite.

"Xie Chen County Order!"

Putting away the money bag, Tang Ming walked through the envious crowd as if he was drunk, and walked towards the village.

Tang Ming walked for a while, and then ran all the way through the village, his face was excited. The villagers he met along the way looked sideways when they saw this, and an old man asked loudly: "Tang Erlang, why are you so happy?" ”

Tang Ming didn't stop at the slightest moment, and replied loudly: "Reward!" Li Tingshi has issued a reward, my brother has made meritorious contributions in the army, and he has also been promoted to the rank of fire! ”

The surrounding villagers couldn't stop exclaiming when they heard this, and they congratulated Tang Ming one after another, and several old women were still talking about who had a suitable girl, and they must introduce Tang Yi first, then Tang Yi will be promoted and make a fortune in the future!

Tang Ming ran all the way home, and saw his father head-on, only to see that Tang's father was chatting with a few old men.

"Grandpa, look!"

As he spoke, Tang Ming took out the money bag and handed it directly to the Tang family's father.

"This? Yi'er has given so many rewards! ”

Tang Ming said excitedly: "Brother went out with Li Tingshi to suppress bandits this time, beheaded five people, made military merits, and was promoted to fire chief!" Grandpa, these are all rewards from Li Tingshi, this is only half, and Brother keeps half of it. That's a thousand bucks here! ”

"What? A thousand bucks! ”

"The Tang family has made military merits, this is a glorious lintel!"

"Congratulations, my brother is going to set up a wine to celebrate!"

"Promoted to Fire Captain? This is the only person in our Nantang Village who leads the troops, which is really gratifying! ”

Several old men crossed their hands to congratulate, and the father of the Tang family was even more smiling, his family has been poor farmers for several generations, who would have thought that his son's generation could produce a leading soldier!

At this time, the father of the Tang family laughed and crossed his hands while returning the salute, and at the same time ordered Tang Ming to go to drink, and he would take a few old men to celebrate with him today.

Tang Ming agreed, and went to drink, and today when he saw his brother Tang Yi making great contributions, he couldn't help but be moved, and thought in his heart: "I don't know when Li Tingshi will recruit soldiers again, seeing that my brother is like this, how can I be willing to cultivate all my life!" ”

While thinking, Tang Ming began to look forward to the various scenes after he entered the new army.