There is a space for passenger planes in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 74 Expanding the Guards

After the civil unrest outside the city subsided, the county quickly returned to calm.

However, with the influx of more than 2,000 foreigners, and the subsequent arrival of some refugees, the food supply in the county began to become a little tight.

Just when Lin Feng was having a headache about the food problem, Chen Xiong came back with the food he purchased. It seemed that the move he arranged before taking office was very effective.

"Your Majesty, to live up to your trust, I bought 5000 shi of grain from Hubei, all brought back by Sitong Express," Chen Xionghui reported.

"Okay, thank you for your hard work, Mr. Chen. What's the price of food over there?" Lin Feng asked.

"The price of food in Hubei is pretty good, six yuan per stone, plus freight, it may cost about eight yuan."

"That's cheaper than one tael and one stone more than here in Fugu. If you keep a thousand shi, I'll ask Su Si to settle the settlement with you at one tael and one stone.

The remaining 1,000 shi were taken to Sitong Village to ensure the food supply for the convoy, and the other 3,000 shi were taken to Li's Grain and Oil for sale. "Of course the food Lin Feng bought with his own money could not be given to the county government in vain.

"Understood, I will do it immediately." After Chen Xiong responded, he continued: "County Lord, according to the request you made in Jiazhou last time, we recruited craftsmen from more than a dozen households and brought them over."

"Very good, the group is in short supply of craftsmen right now. You can hand over all the people you recruit to Manager Li for arrangement." Lin Feng ordered.

"Yes!" Chen Xiong took the order and left.

This time the refugees planned to attack the city also sounded the alarm to Lin Feng. In troubled times like the late Ming Dynasty, the enemy might use any tricks.

This time, had it not been for Guo Zheng, a small flag from the Wei Station, to call the police in advance, and he was unprepared and was attacked by the rioters and Baihu Station collusion, Fugu City would have been breached with a high probability, and the consequences would be disastrous.

This incident also fully exposed two outstanding problems. One is that there is no intelligence system and no knowledge of the enemy's situation. If something happens in the future, we can't always count on someone to inform us.

The other is that the armed forces under control are still too small. If the number of refugees accumulates more this time, they may not be able to stop them.

The next step must be to start from these two aspects to strengthen our own strength building.

The first thing to do is to expand the army of the escort. Anyway, there are a lot of refugees outside the city now, and Chen Xiong has transported so much food. One thousand dan transported to the village is enough to feed thousands of people for three or four months.

If you have food and people, what are you waiting for? It is the last word to expand the army as soon as possible.

Lin Feng immediately notified Fang Dashan and asked him to recruit 200 new team members among the refugees outside the city. Try to recruit people with families and families, which would be easier to control.

Now the refugees outside the city are crying out for care. It is very convenient to recruit people. Not to mention paying them, as long as they can have enough food, a group of people will come around and cheer.

After preliminary screening by Fang Dashan and others, all 200 people were recruited in less than a day. They were all young men between the ages of fifteen and twenty-seven, and they also had three to four hundred family members.

After the personnel were brought to Sitong Village, Lin Feng personally came over to organize an assessment for joining the team.

The assessment is also very simple, including running up and down the mountain for about 3 kilometers, archery, and simple literacy. Everyone participates in the first event, which tests physical strength and endurance. People who participate in the latter two events participate.

After half a day of assessment, the physical fitness is basically qualified, that is, about half of those who can run 3 kilometers up and down the mountain can do it. There are more than people who can bow and arrow, and even fewer can read Braille, less than ten. But at that time, the vast majority of the people were illiterate, and this ratio was normal.

There were three people who left a deep impression on Lin Feng during the assessment.

One is named Zhou Zhiwei, who escaped from Liaodong. He used to be a hunter in Liaodong. He shoots bows and arrows accurately and runs very fast. He has the potential to develop into a special forces soldier.

The other one is Qian Zhuo, a native of Qingyang Prefecture in Shaanxi Province. He used to be a garrison in Fucheng. After the army was dispersed by the peasant army, he lived in Fugu. His personal force value is relatively high. The last one is Cao Qiang, from Mizhi, Shaanxi Province, a fellow villager of Li Zicheng. He used to be the second boss of a cloth shop in the county town. After Mizhi was conquered by the peasant army, he became homeless. He is literate and can do calculations, and is considered a rare intellectual in this era.

After the assessment, Lin Feng called Shangfang Dashan, Wang Qin, and Zhao Zhixin. After thinking about it, he also called Zhuang Laodao, who had defected to Gaoliang Village, to discuss the matter of the escort team.

Lin Feng walked to the head of the meeting hall and sat down, and then called to everyone: "Sit down, everyone. Now that the expansion of the number of group guards has been completed, we have to study how they should be deployed, what weapons they should be equipped with, etc. Let’s talk about it for a while.”

Fang Dashan spoke first after sitting down: "President, in the past it was okay for us to take charge directly if there were only a few people, but now we really need to be divided into several groups.

Our main weapons include firecrackers and broadswords, as well as a small number of bows and arrows. I suggest we divide them into two groups. One is responsible for shooting with firecrackers and bows and arrows from behind, and the other is responsible for close combat. "

"There also needs to be someone responsible for investigation, just like the border army's night guard." Wang Qin added.

"President, I think we will mainly rely on firecrackers in future wars. We can form a separate team of firecrackers. Our ordnance factory must also step up the production of lightning-type firecrackers." Zhao Zhixin now also knows Lin Feng's other identity, and naturally Shout out.

"Master Zhuang, where are you, do you have any comments?" Lin Feng asked.

"Yes, President, I, I think there should be some praise paintings and the like, which is equivalent to the military advisor of the original village." Zhuang Laodao said nervously when he was called to discuss matters for the first time.

"Everyone has a point. How to deploy the escort team depends on the size and quality of the personnel. Judging from the assessment results, nearly half of the 200 team members recruited this time are not very physically fit. They definitely cannot be used as combatants directly. This Let's form an auxiliary squadron with about 100 people.

This squadron will be managed by Zhi Xinyou, with the cooperation of Zhuang Laodao, and the newly recruited Cao Qiang, who has been the shopkeeper from Mizhi County, is also good, and he can be included as well.

The auxiliary squadron is mainly responsible for the ordnance manufacturing, baggage transportation and other affairs of the escort team. It is also responsible for training new recruits. After passing the training, they will be transferred to the escort squadron. " Lin Feng ordered.

"President, I'm not very good at training." Zhao Zhixin said worriedly.

"It doesn't matter. Dashan, you can choose a few training backbones to help them learn new things."

"Yes!" Fang Dashan returned.

Lin Feng settled the management of the auxiliary troops, and then said: "The remaining 200 escorts are organized into two escort squadrons. One is equipped with firecrackers and bows and arrows, led by Wang Qin, and the other is equipped with armor and swords, led by Fang Dashan. Directly lead."

"Understood!" Fang Dashan and Wang Qin said.

In this way, the entire 300-man escort team was organized into three squadrons, namely the first escort squadron, the second escort squadron and the auxiliary squadron. The name of the squadron was also used to distinguish it from the sentries and battalions established by the imperial court, and to try to avoid conforming to the facts.

"President, what should we do if there are three to four hundred family members of the newly recruited team members?" Fang Dashan asked after thinking about this problem.

"Some of these people are placed in the village and are responsible for the construction of the village, opening up some vegetable fields, cooking and laundry, etc. Their accommodation must be separated from the escort team, and daily management must be strengthened. In addition, some people who want to work can be selected. Let's go to the arranged workshop in Fudong Courtyard." Lin Feng made the arrangement after thinking about it for a moment.

"Okay, I'll make arrangements later." Fang Dashan responded.

"The total number of people in the escort team is not large now, so the three of you will serve as squadron leaders respectively. Fang Dashan will take the lead in the affairs of the entire escort team. Please report to me any important matters in a timely manner." Lin Feng finally gave the order.

"Understood!" the three of them replied in unison.
  

　Continue to recruit troops

　　
  　
  (End of this chapter)