Lu Ming

Chapter 387 Everything is in chaos
After the recommendation book was uploaded to the capital through the military station in early August, the imperial court's appointment document on Cao Chuan's promotion was finally sent back to Guangzhou in mid-September.

"General Zhen Guo's Shangqingche Duwei Department commanded Tong Zhi Xie Shou Zhang Chao and other places to be stationed in Nan'ao Deputy Commander-in-Chief" is General Cao's latest title.

Probably because in the gloomy life since taking over the throne, Cao Pirates in the far south was the only subordinate who often brought good news in the avalanche of bad news; He got an official position and issued all the supporting titles together, which can be regarded as helping Pirates Cao to completely rectify his status and repaying a series of solid military achievements.

General Zhen Guo is a high-ranking military official from the second rank, used for the initial award.Sanguan is somewhat similar to the military ranks of later generations. It does not correspond to positions, but only represents ranks.

Just like there are colonel heads and lieutenant colonel heads in later generations, General Zhen Guo only represents the second-rank rank.As for whether this general is a son of the clan who just receives his salary and waits to die, or a frontier general who holds a heavy army, it is entirely up to the individual.

The same is true for the subsequent ranks: Lieutenant of Shangqingche.This second-rank honorary title is usually only obtained by nobles and hereditary generals.After reaching the top level in the future, it will be the "Pillar Kingdom" that later generations can often see on TV and archways.But when Cao Zhongchen rises to that level, it is probably time to become a national thief.

The department is commanding Tongzhi, and this thing is also from the false post of the second rank.Adding this title is just a convention, which means that General Cao has an official idle second-in-command office in the Guangdong capital.Another thing that is more practical is that General Cao can justifiably mobilize the slaves and beggars in the Guangdong Guards system to join the war in wartime.

After the empty title is over, the unranked field army position of "Associate Zhangchao and other places stationed in South Australia" is the real position of General Cao.

Although the previous series of titles are empty and have no real power, for Cao Zhongchen, there are still some hidden meanings in it.

The first is Chongzhen's recognition and compensation for the previous military achievements.Generally speaking, only those who have made military exploits will skip consecutive ranks in the ranks of casual officials and honors overnight.The series of second-rank titles awarded by Chongzhen this time is to settle the previous military achievements at one time, and officially "fix the title and position" for General Cao.

Furthermore, for the unorthodox people of "reckless origin", this series of titles is quite powerful.It fills in the institutional recognition that the reckless people naturally lack. Cao Zhongchen is now equivalent to Emperor Chongzhen personally wearing the second-rank epaulets on him, and his descendants will also be able to get grace in the future. This can be mentioned in the news broadcast.

In terms of time, this appointment is not considered a delay.You must know that after a document arrives in the capital, there will be discussions and deliberations by a series of departments such as the Ministry of War, the inner court, the outer court, the emperor, etc., before it will finally become a decision.

Unless it is an urgent military situation, otherwise, it usually takes more than a month to send an ordinary post from Guangzhou to the capital and wait for a reply there, and half of the time will be spent on the road during this period.

This is the root cause of the feudal empire's inability to expand its territory: the speed of information transmission is too slow.

In the industrial age, this problem no longer exists.As long as there is wireless telegraphy, theoretically a country's land area can occupy the entire earth. The British Empire before World War II almost reached this level. The prime minister can control all the colonies on five continents in real time while sitting in his official residence.

The moment he got the official document, General Cao officially took over the position of commander of a certain field army in Guangdong and deputy commander of the provincial military region, and the crossing crowd finally put their hearts back into their stomachs.

You must know that in the coming October, the capital will be besieged by the Eight Banners soldiers.If the official document is delayed for a while, the variables will increase greatly by then: Chongzhen may change the content of the official document and ask Cao Zhongchen to go to King Qin, or withhold the official document and not issue it, and re-discuss the appointment of generals in various places after the war.

In short, once it is delayed until October, the situation will be chaotic, and some people's prophetic function will be temporarily disabled.

Although the crossing people did not refuse to send troops to the king of Jingqin, but things are one thing at a time. Right now, Guangzhou is already ready to go, and it is waiting for the general to start work after he takes office. This is the most important job at present.

Fortunately, the plan was successful in the end, so the Guangdong SAR government began to issue orders as soon as it was appointed.

The first job is to enclose the land.

Although the Yamen of Zhang Chao's deputy general is far away from Nan'ao Island, it is possible to set up a recruitment and logistics base in Guangzhou.Because according to the establishment, General Cao originally had two battalions on Nan'ao Island, including one battalion from Fujian and Guangdong.Note that these two battalions are regular "battalions" organized by the Ministry of War, which belong to field recruits who can enter and exit, and are different from those hereditary beggars in the guard.

Therefore, from now on, the cross-travelers can set up recruiting points under the banner of "recruiting young and strong supplementary battalions".

It’s not easy to be a soldier these days, every day there are people who run away and resign and fire the General, plus those who retire at an advanced age, those who died of illness, those who died fighting bandits, etc., so theoretically these recruiting sites can exist forever—as long as The one surnamed Cao is rich.

Recruitment points will not only be set up in Guangzhou City, but also in densely populated counties like Foshan and Shunde.

These are called recruiting, but they are actually strongholds for recruiting laborers, and will become important layout fulcrums in the local area: the strongholds with schools, houses, and business offices can also temporarily station troops in the future. Both the grandfather and the concubine were arrested.

After sending some master tents to buy land everywhere, the fast fleet in Bai'etan is also preparing to move.

The fleet was temporarily stationed in Baietan before, but if it wants to maintain a long-term presence in the future, it will be impossible to stay in Baietan.Those sail warships and sailors are not suitable for going in and out of the city of Guangzhou every day.

So the military chose Huangpu as the new port and barracks. The Huangpu District in the 17th century was just an ordinary agricultural area under the jurisdiction of Panyu County.The Whampoa Military Academy, which is famous in later generations, is still underwater these days—the area of ​​Cheung Chau is still very small.

The detailed location of Xingang is in the area of ​​Huangpu Old Port in later generations.There used to be some small private harbors built by the Ming people. After the General Military Mansion is requisitioned, it can be used and built at the same time.

In the future, after the Liuxiang Group is wiped out, Huangpu Port will become the base camp for suppressing bandits in the inland river.In the Pearl River Delta in the 17th century, there were many waterways and dense ports. There were countless water bandits, Xumin, and local tyrants entrenched in these waterways to suck blood.

Since the SAR government wants to invigorate business and trade, the premise is to get rid of these ubiquitous water bandits first.This task will be much more difficult than suppressing bandits along the coast of Fujian, because there are too many waterways in the Pearl River Delta, which requires slow work and careful work.

In the future, a group of inland river shallow-draft vessels will be stationed in Huangpu Port for a long time.In addition, high-tech equipment including drones will also be deployed here: the terrain of the Pearl River Delta is too complicated, and without drones, the efficiency of troops will be very slow.

After the start of the land acquisition and construction tasks of the recruiting point and the port, all the energy of the SAR government was quickly exhausted, so other plans for the layout in Guangdong will have to wait a little longer, including the previously planned land acquisition for the new industrial zone Waiting will be postponed.

However, there is one thing that cannot be postponed: Liu Xiang.

Now that the official has been promoted, there is no need for Comrade Liu Xiang to continue to be the eldest brother in Causeway Bay.

So on October 1629, 10, the day before the Houjin Eight Banners soldiers and horses broke through the Great Wall Pass, the fast fleet with all preparations ushered in the last big pirate force on the Fujian-Guangdong Ocean in Bai'etan, Guangzhou. surrender.

Since someone's official position has already been obtained, there is no need for Liu Xiang to surrender with much fanfare.The total number of pirates who traveled all the way from Hong Kong to Baietan was only 1000 people and about [-] boats.

As for the rest of Liu Xiang's large force, they have already been "accompanied" by another fleet and have directly crossed the sea to Taiwan.

This arrangement is the most efficient.Previously, in order to build momentum in the city of Guangzhou, the traversing people had to reship a large number of defected pirates to Taiwan. This kind of transshipment was very troublesome, and it was also difficult to manage these pirates under the city of Guangzhou.

This is why Liu Xiang delayed his surrender until the end of October: Taiwan needs time to organize another fleet with a larger number.

Although the number is relatively small, when shopkeeper Liu set foot on the wharf of Baietan, many people from the military and civilians in Guangzhou came to support him: shopkeeper Liu left a deep impression on this city, and he is really famous.

According to the instructions of the crossing people, after taking his own belongings and delivering them around the city of Guangzhou, shopkeeper Liu finally got a short guerrilla rank under Cao Zongbing's command—the same rank as Zheng Zhilong's when he recruited security.

From this official title, we can know that shopkeeper Liu finally chose the path of joining the army. If he wants to become a rich man or start a business, there is no need to bribe Guangzhou officials to buy this guerrilla title.

However, this official title will not be used for some time in the future: Liu Xiang must first get a certain position in the military system of a certain empire if he wants to command a soldier.

Of course, the crossing crowd will not let this famous treasurer come to an end—think about the scene of the gray-haired General Liu commanding battleships to fight against disobedient ministers for the "wearing expensive" in the future, it is also full of satisfaction. Feeling.

In addition, Liu Xiang's already huge private property and the funds of the boat sellers after the recruitment, the cross-travelers will not allow it to depreciate: several nephews of Liu Xiang have already purchased commercial firms and workshops under the guidance of the Ministry of Commerce. In the future, after Old General Liu retires, he will find that his family has too much money to spend.

In short, as long as Shopkeeper Liu is willing to put down his airs and learn new things, his life will definitely be more exciting.

After everything was settled, Deputy Commander Cao of the new department finally left Guangzhou City to take up his post in his own exclusive yamen.

(End of this chapter)