Before Li Congyi left, he held a training class for military commanders in Xuancheng. Li Congyi also gave a speech at the beginning of the training before leaving. In the new army, Li Congyi has always insisted on holding literacy classes for combat training, so that soldiers can learn literacy and officers can learn tactics, so there is no need to do tactical training alone. The main contents of this training course for officers are twofold, one is to review war cases and the other is to analyze the strategic situation.

Because of this officer training class, Cui Feihu also rarely stayed in Xuancheng for a few days.

In the middle of the day, he made an appointment with Hu Yuan, brought his family, and came to the new town of the ferry to play.

According to the new military regulations, regimental cadres are middle-level officers with guards; Cadres at the brigade level can be assigned to guard squads. However, in the realm of Xuancheng, there is no danger, and both of them are military generals, so they really want to meet a little blind, and they can also have an addiction to beating people, so they don't let the guards follow.

Hu Yuan's two babies were smaller, so he became the followers of Cui Feihu's three babies; After all, Cui Feihu is a senior officer of the old army, so he naturally has nurses and maids, so he takes care of several children at the same time. The wives of the two went to hang out in the clothing store on the street.

The clothes in several clothing stores on this street are all produced by Fangfei Clothing, and it is not enough to divide multiple brands. Qian Hailu's Ruifuxiang, focusing on the high-end market, clothing design is gorgeous, cloth matching, patterns and patterns are all the pursuit of complexity, and Fangfei clothing is the main middle and lower class, in addition to the women's clothing brand Fangfei, there are also the main men's clothing Sanyuan brand, meaning Lianzhong Sanyuan, and lower-end, women's clothing brands and men's clothing brands for ordinary people who do rough work.

The most appetizing for the majority of middle- and lower-class women is this Fangfei brand. Fangfei has a similar design concept to Ruifuxiang, but strives for simplicity and low price. Similar to a slim dress of the same style, Ruifuxiang started with ten taels of silver, but Fang Fei used cheaper fabrics, which greatly reduced those accessory designs and could be bought for only two silver dollars. When a new product is on the market and the old product is discounted, it can be obtained with a silver dollar. Although it is still very expensive, many medium-sized families can buy one by gritting their teeth.

Women and children have their own places to shop, so Cui Feihu and Hu Yuan found a small restaurant to drink some wine.

"Those instructors, don't say that they haven't fought in battles, I don't think the queue can stand well, and when it comes to cases, it's a set of cases, and it's very bluffing!" Hu Yuan drank a few sips of wine, and then he couldn't control his mouth again.

"Those instructors are at least children, so don't compare yourself with others." Cui Feihu laughed.

When I was chatting into the alley, I saw two people lift the curtain and walk in.

The first person was Zhao Kai. Zhao Kai's department boarded the ship from the Shuiying station and went to the sea, and Cui Feihu recognized him; The strong man who looked fierce in the back was a big boss in Taihu Village, and he also walked from the Shuiying station at that time, but Cui Feihu didn't know his name.

Seeing Cui Feihu get up to greet him, Zhao Kai brought Shi Deping over.

It turned out that Shi Deping saw the two battles of Zhao Kai's department, and his intuition was powerful, so he applied to join the infantry battalion. Li Congyi allowed him to be the deputy battalion commander of the Zhao Kai Division. Unexpectedly, Jiang Guogong transferred most of the water battalion of the Ningguo Army, including the garrison battalion and the marine battalion, to Yangshan Island. Then, another marine battalion was built in the Qingzhuang of Taihu Lake, so that the combat strength of the Guangbu battalion on Yangshan Island was enough for 1,000 people, and it was more than enough for self-protection. After the water battalion and land battalion arrived at Yangshan Island, Zhao Kai's order to return to the army arrived together. Shi Deping had no choice but to follow Zhao Kai back to Xuancheng. However, Zhao Kai and Shi Deping actually escorted the pirate captives on Yangshan Island to mine, and passed by Xuancheng when they returned from the upstream, taking advantage of the break to play. Of course, this detail is not confidential.

"Straight sissy thief! The deck of that warship was covered with a layer of copper plates, and it was really an impregnable wall! I went crazy and applied to change to the infantry battalion, but I didn't catch the battle and was transferred back! Shi Deping explained the reason to Cui Feihu and Hu Yuan.

Cui Feihu didn't know that the water camp warship was laying copper decks during their rotation back to Xuancheng. Just thinking about it, I think the cost of this warship is really terrifying.

"Is it slippery on this deck?" Hu Yuan asked curiously.

"It's all rivets, that is, take a kind of nail and nail the copper plate to the deck, and it's all lumps." Zhao Kai said with a smile, "The craftsman said that the copper plate is too expensive, and when the iron sheet is mature, the iron sheet can be laid, and then the whole ship can be wrapped in the iron sheet." ”

Even Cui Feihu gasped at this time. If a ship is completely wrapped in iron sheets, how can others beat it? I'm afraid that a trebuchet can only smash a pit. It's just that Jiang Guogong threw a lot of money into the water camp? Not counting the water battalion, even if the new army of the three brigades has just issued five sets of full coats, plus the underwear and shirts that have been issued before, more than 10,000 people, each of whom has five sets from the inside to the outside, and I am afraid that these clothes alone will cost tens of thousands of taels! However, in addition to the ten-month rest of the new army, that is, nine exercises in ten days, the training intensity is so great, the damage to the clothes is quite serious. The New Army, on the other hand, had a large number of soldiers recruited from the countryside, and after months of training, their clothes were almost in tatters.

Cui Feihu doesn't talk about this, he just looks for some troubles to talk about the training sergeant, and he is happy. Shi Deping stood up suddenly, and waved his hand towards the door: "Second master!" "It turned out that Yu Fengping, the second leader of Taihu Village, came in with Xianglian, the leader of the Xianglian Boat Gang. Yes, it's another addition. Cui Feihu slowly called the store to arrange a big table, and the six of them gathered together.

Xianglian people are good-looking, and they can be regarded as a beauty. As soon as a beautiful woman sat down on the table, the atmosphere came up.

Yu Fengping was hit in the back of the head by a piece of gravel on Butterfly Island and lay on the bed for half a month. Xu hurt his brain and affected his nerves somewhere, and after he got better, his hands were weak, he couldn't lift a knife or gun, and he couldn't return to the army. However, here in Xuancheng, the women and children of Taihu Village really need someone to preside over it, and Li Congyi wants Yu Fengping to stay. The main task is to establish a direct route from Xuancheng to Yixing via Gaochun, Liyang and Changzhou in Jinling, directly to Taihu Lake and to Huzhou or Xiuzhou.

And the Xianglian Boat Gang also plans to move to Xuancheng. Yu Fengping and Xianglian discussed cooperation. Yu Fengping built a house for his family, but his relatives also moved in, so he even had to lay out the floor in the living room until night, so he didn't have to think about inviting people to dinner. Chen Dong's kid won a suite, but now he has moved a few beds in, Xianglian and a few women from the boat gang live in it, and they will live in it, and the two chatted about the meal, so they could only come out to find a restaurant to eat.

"The second master, if you want me to say, just learn Xianglian Shipping, and name it after you, just call Fengping Shipping." Shi Deping remembered the hard days on Taihu Lake, so he didn't want to call Laoshizi Taihu Lake Shipping anymore.

Cui Feihu also felt good: "You are now opening a company in Xuancheng and calling it Taihu Lake, which is indeed a bit confusing. ”

Xianglian kept asking about the situation in the East China Sea. Yu Fengping talked about the many difficulties on Butterfly Island, and everyone was also embarrassed. When it comes to the vastness of the ocean above the East China Sea, the magnificence of the sunrise, and the fierceness of the storm, everyone is also yearning, and Xianglian said: "When my baby is older, I must go to the East China Sea to walk around, so as not to live in vain in the world!" ”

Cui Feihu also applauded loudly: "Xianglian gang leader is really a daughter who doesn't let her eyebrows!" Just rush this sentence, when the float is white! ”

————

Cui Feihu was worried about Jiang Guogong's expenses, but Li Congyi himself was not worried.

At this moment, Li Congyi was swiping a big pen and borrowed another 500,000 silver dollars from Jiangnan Bank, which was specially used for the military budget of the Ning Guojun.

The 500,000 taels, although it is borrowed, Li Congyi is the kind that he does not intend to repay at all.

After repeated temptations and ridicule, Li Congyi promised Huangfu Jixun to transfer Huangfu Jixun's 200,000 taels of silver to Hangzhou. The price that Huangfu Jixun needed to pay was that the 500,000 taels of silver in Jiangnan Bank should be deposited in the Jinling branch of Jiangnan Bank in the form of a current account, and only after one year would it be allowed to be converted into a fixed deposit. Huangfu Jixun thought that Li Congyi just wanted to pay less interest as a reward for his errands. For this emperor's successor, it doesn't matter.

For Li Congyi, intercepting 200,000 taels of silver in Hangzhou is already a very simple matter. After all, Xuanzhou is the one who oversells trade with Wu (exports are greater than imports).

However, for the 200,000 taels of silver transferred to Hangzhou by Huangfu Jixun, Li Congyi did not want to let go. Li Congyi talked about a bunch of wealth inheritance, so he asked Huangfu Jixun to leave 150,000 taels of silver in the head of the special user of Xuancheng Bank of Jiangnan Bank, and then regularly pay Huangfu Jixun's two illegitimate sons every year. Huangfu Jixun happily accepted this plan and gave Li Congyi a great thumbs up for the idea of a "good son-in-law".

But he didn't know that what Li Congyi was thinking was that when Huangfu Jixun was beheaded by Li Yu, these savings of his were not a matter of moving his mouth. In other words, Li Congyi has regarded Huangfu Jixun's money as his own, a "non-operating income".

In this way, Ning Guojun's current annual budget for this year has increased from the original 200,000 taels of silver in Xuanzhou Mansion to 300,000 taels borrowed by Jiang Guogong and 800,000 silver dollars borrowed by Jiangnan Bank in two installments, about 1.3 million taels. The Ning Guojun now has more than 10,000 field troops, and the water battalion is close to 13,000 people, and the average annual budget is only 100 taels per person. In the case that the per capita salary of 2 taels of silver cannot be beaten, one-third of the salary will be removed, plus all kinds of equipment and training consumption, this total budget level can only be supported.

However, the financial revenue of the Southern Tang Dynasty last year, the central government and the state capital did not add up to 10 million taels of silver, and the military expenditure that could be taken out was only 4 million taels, but it had to support the nominal 400,000 troops of the whole country, and the per capita military budget was only 10 taels. If it weren't for a large number of vacancies and all kinds of folds, even the army's monthly salaries would not be issued.

Moreover, the purchase cost of various equipment of the Ning Guojun is extremely low. For example, each set of iron armor sold to the Changzhou army was 120 silver yuan, while the Ning Guojun purchased it internally, and each set was less than 30 silver yuan. Under the circumstance that Xuangang was able to organize the production of almost all ordnance except for warships, Ningguojun's military spending was undoubtedly more solid.

It was precisely these money and grain that supported the strong confidence of the Xuanzhou bureaucrats in Jiang Guogong.

"Zhang Bin, the eldest son of Jinling Yin, came to me a while ago, saying that he felt that the situation in the Liangcheng Grain Market in Biancheng of the Song Kingdom this year was different from previous years, and he was afraid that there would be abnormal changes, and he wanted to borrow 200,000 taels to hoard grain in Jinling. I told him to wait. Now that the Military Intelligence Department has sent the news, it has become clear that Song Guo wants to attack me this year. Li Congyi passed the paper in his hand to everyone. After everyone finished reading, Li Congyi said, "I plan to ask Jiangnan Bank to lend Zhang Bin 500,000 silver dollars, which will be used to hoard grain." The conditions are: the grain depot needs to be in the city, and it needs to be guarded by Jiangnan Bank. ”

Gao Jingtong picked up the piece of paper and looked at it, "The Song Kingdom built bamboo rafts with giant bamboos in Tanzhou (now Changsha) on Jinghu South Road, and there are hundreds of them at present, and they are still being built in large quantities. The following is the conclusion of the Military Intelligence Department: "This bamboo raft should be used for the Yangtze River pontoon bridge, and it is afraid that it will change this year." ”

Zhang Bin made an almost accurate prediction from such a little clue, which is undoubtedly a mysterious skill. However, Jiang Guogong helped Zhang Bin to hoard grain, and it may be secondary to make a fortune, so that Jinling hoards more grain, which is more conducive to Jinling's resistance, and it is estimated that it is the more important reason.

"The anomalies found by the Military Intelligence Department don't stop there. The original army of the Song State stationed in Shouzhou has recently moved part of the formation to Luzhou (now Hefei), and the Song State and the state in front of Taiping Prefecture have also appeared in the unknown Ningguo Forbidden Army troops recently, which should come from Bianliang. Li Congyi was very calm. If Song Jun really doesn't come for a long time, it means that history has changed, and then he will lose the aura of a traverser, and it will be difficult to turn passive into active.

"From now on, Xuanzhou will enter the stage of transition to wartime, and everyone must hurry up as soon as they are prepared. As soon as the Song State launched a war, the relevant matters should be immediately launched. Li Congyi's raised tone, but there was a hint of joy in it.