Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 255 Return to Tianjin
Jia Lian must not like fighting, but reality will not skip just because you don't like it. There are always some people and things you don't like that you have to face. If you can't solve it, then it will be solved.

The word "cannibalism" is applied to human society most of the time, and the so-called civilization is nothing more than a cloak of cannibalism.

In Jia Lian's opinion, pre-war preparations should be the most important. The Dragon Guards, who were avoided by officials and dignitaries, were invited by Jia Lian to come and ask him in person about the current chaos and the extent to which it had developed. He also made a request: "If you have any news, please let me know as soon as possible. Please rest assured that I have no prejudice against the Dragon Guards. Wars caused by civil unrest are the most harmful to the country. Everyone has the obligation to quell the civil unrest as quickly as possible. As for the rest, we will talk about it later."

Long Jinwei was not omnipotent, but one of the reasons why a large number of Caoding joined the religious bandits was that Li Sanjiang, one of the current cabinet ministers, had long delayed the payment of Caoding's military pay in order to raise military funds for the court to suppress the rebellion in the Western Regions. Caoding, who had no money to support their families, could only live on the water and the canal. The crime rate along the canal rose rapidly, and extortion and kidnapping were minor crimes. Many Caoding also became bandits. More Caoding adopted the form of mutual assistance to survive with difficulty. This gave the White Lotus Sect an opportunity.

Long Jinwei also provided a piece of information, that is, during Li Sanjiang's tenure, he did not hand in more silver than before. The so-called raising military funds for the court was just a cover. At present, more than 10,000 soldiers under the Governor of the Grain Transport still owed three months' salary.

The funny thing is that the new governor completed the handover with Li Sanjiang in the capital, and did not even look at the account books, and tacitly accepted the pit left by Li Sanjiang. After the new governor took office, he continued some of Li Sanjiang's policies, such as arrears of wages and increasing the banknote customs.

Speaking of money gates, the Governor of the Grand Canal couldn't tell how many there were on the Grand Canal. Some were fixed, such as the money gates set up by counties along the coast, and some were not fixed, that is, higher-level government offices would come to generate revenue once they were short of money. The Governor of the Grand Canal had to do everything to set up money gates on the Grand Canal. So, those who understand, understand.

These situations are related to the war, but not too related. We can only talk about them later when the time comes.

As the vanguard of the army for the first time, Jia Lian put forward some demands and asked various departments and the Imperial Observatory to meet them.

The Ministry of War asked for a group of military candidates who could read and write and had a certain foundation in mathematics. The Ministry of War said that they did not have such talents. Why don't you take some effort and train a few people yourself? Jia Lian was helpless and had to give up the high requirements. He asked for ten military candidates first, and the mathematics scores could be put aside for the time being. The illiterate people could go to where they came from.

In the end, the Ministry of War only found three vacancies in total. Jia Lian wanted to ask about the women in the families of the relevant leaders of the Ministry of War.

The Ministry of Revenue cooperated more, and Jia Lian’s request for ten accounting experts was directly met by the Ministry of Revenue.

The Imperial Observatory was very cooperative and sent five of the map-making experts that Jia Lian requested at once.

In Tongzhou, Jia Lian did not set out immediately, but gathered everyone together and called a meeting.

"The court has no clear requirements for the east. The main task of our army is to open up the canal as soon as possible. This task looks simple, but it is probably difficult to do. Because it involves cities, the White Lotus has occupied many cities, and has not yet raised a clear banner. It seems to be a good thing, but in fact there is no key target. As a result, our troops can only advance along the canal. Attacking the city is secondary, everyone understands, I will not say more, I want to emphasize military discipline. There is nothing wrong with me, except for one thing, if someone violates the rules I set, he will definitely die miserably."

Jia Lian's unhurried speech made the officers and soldiers present shudder. No one dared not to believe it, because Lord Jia could really do it. If you don't believe that you are the chief minister of the cabinet, you would have been beaten to death by this guy if the eunuchs on the scene hadn't stopped you.

Well, regarding the conflict at the cabinet meeting, the latest version is as follows: the young master angrily beat the prime minister, and Qiu Daban grabbed his legs and dragged him away.

This version is a far cry from the original truth. When Jia Lian heard it, the famous scene from the NBA appeared in his mind, where the coach hugged the player's legs and was dragged for several meters.

The rumors are so outrageous, is there anyone who wants to do anything about it?
In fact, no one cared. Not only that, but even more outrageous versions emerged.

The next version is that Jia Lian draws his sword in anger, and the Prime Minister flees around the pillar.

You see, no one cares how many bowls of noodles you eat. People just believe and imagine what they want.

Self-proving is undoubtedly the most stupid act. After all, this is not the last pure land of natural science, mathematics, where self-proving is really possible.

Jia Lian first improved the personnel and structure of the Military Law Department, and then the logistics. Ten accounting experts were assigned the task of calculating the daily food and fodder needs. Since there was no first-hand data, they went to conduct field investigations.

After a brief speech, Jia Lian announced the adjournment of the meeting and ordered that they would have one day to prepare and set off tomorrow.

The three military candidates and the people from the Imperial Observatory were brought by Jia Lian, and each of them received a set of rulers and pencils in different colors of red and black. This thing was purely handmade, the latest product of the top craftsmen of the Ministry of Industry.

These people were gathered together and given a simple task: to draw a map. Draw a situation map based on the latest situation. Use red and black to mark the battlefield situation. The martial arts candidates definitely don't know how to do it. If they don't know how to do it, they should learn it. If they can't learn it, they should get out. Jia Lian didn't pamper them at all, and he set up a new department for them, the General Staff Office.

The last time Jia Lian fought in Yunyang, this was what he could not stand the most. He had no idea of ​​the battlefield situation and had to rely on scouts to get information. What kind of a battle was this? The first thing a military candidate should learn is not to make maps, but to read maps.

If you don't understand the terrain, you can't fight a war. Li Daoyuan's "Water Classic" is considered a travelogue by later generations, but it is a military work in the eyes of the military geniuses at that time.

For a long time, the Central Dynasty fought against more backward opponents and made little progress in military operations. After the Napoleonic Wars in the West, new military ideas were fully promoted, and it was eventually left behind by the world powers.

From what D'Artagnan said, the Lighthouse's independence guerrilla war had not yet broken out, let alone Napoleon.

All I can say is that it’s still early, but we can’t delay any longer, as delaying means things may never change.

When people are used to the status quo, they will be afraid of change. The system that Zhu Yuanzhang set up was appropriate at the time, but he did not foresee that change would not be delayed due to human will.

The original intentions of many policies are not complicated, but they are interpreted in a complicated way because the implementation process is tortuous.

The people who were brought here by Jia Lian were not very comfortable with it, but Jia Lian did not explain to them. He just had one request: do it according to my instructions. If you can't do it well, get out and go back to the capital. The expression on his face when he spoke made people want to punch him.

Traveling along the canal does not mean taking a boat. The main function of the boat is to transport equipment and supplies. The most important of these are the medicine and heavy cannons that are indispensable for the Shenji Battalion to fight.

The Shenjiying is currently equipped with three main types of cannons. One is a field cannon that fires three-jin projectiles, and the other is a French rapid-fire cannon. The last type is a continuation of the red cannon of the former Ming Dynasty, which is a siege cannon. And some improvements have been made, mainly in terms of material. The casting material is bronze, which is one of the precious legacies left by the emperor. For the copper-deficient Zhou Dynasty, this is not a good thing. The result is a shortage of copper coins.

It can be said that the root cause of silver becoming a currency is still the shortage of money. In this regard, we cannot underestimate the ancients. The shortage of money can be said to be a problem that is bound to occur as economic activities become increasingly active. If we must find a reason, it is still insufficient production capacity. There are two reasons for insufficient production capacity, one is raw materials, and the other is casting technology.

Let's put it this way, as long as the production capacity is sufficient, no matter how many folk customs of hiding money there are, they are all empty talk. This is like a certain country, isn't it just lacking liquidity? Close the door and put in a nuclear-powered money printing machine.

Why did Jia Lian actively promote the minting of silver coins? The most critical point is the silver hoarding of the people. A large amount of silver was buried underground, or cast into thousands of pounds. At this stage, silver can still be used, but in the future, the government will use its power to tighten silver as a circulating currency and force silver to be exchanged for silver coins before using it. This process is like collecting taxes. Don't you like to hide silver? Well, if you don't change it now, you will lose money in the future.

One silver dollar costs seven cents of silver, which means that now you only lose three cents when exchanging it for one tael of silver, but it is hard to say what will happen in the future.

Before four o'clock in the afternoon, Jia Lian ordered the army to stop advancing, not to enter the town ahead, and to set up camp in the wild.

The quartermaster can go into town to purchase meat and vegetables!
There is a large area of ​​saline-alkali land beside the canal. The specific cause of its formation is unknown, but it is very convenient for camping.

Captain Yang was promoted and is now the deputy general. He was ordered to lead the Shenji Camp and return to the Fengtai camp. Jia Lian is now the acting commander.

The civil servants had no objection at all to Jia Lian leading the troops in his capacity as a civil servant.

After all, there is a tradition of civilian officials leading troops. Lu Xiangsheng and Sun Chuanting in the late Ming Dynasty have long been the objects of praise.

Sun Huazhen of this dynasty was also a model of a civilian leading the troops, and his military record was not bad, but he was overshadowed by too many other great men's incredible military achievements. In addition, he was a man of achievement, so the civilian group would not be willing to brag about him as long as he was alive. They would wait until his death to brag about him and use this as the basis for civilian leadership of the troops.

Yuan Chonghuan? Who are you talking about? I can't hear you clearly. The Guanning Iron Cavalry left without saying goodbye. What did you say? I can't hear you clearly.

Civilians can brag about leading troops, but they are de facto warlords who only obey orders and not announcements, so they cannot brag about this.

I say again, do you have the nerve to brag?

Faced with the army heading south, the elders of the small town ahead were trembling with fear and were waiting on the roadside early.

Jia Lian, who led the troops, did not have a good reputation, at least that was not what they had heard of. He was too cruel to the gentry.

Ordinary people do not have a bad impression of Jia Lian. Recently popular storytelling and operas all praise Jia Lian.

Upon learning that there were elders waiting for him to have a welcome, Jia Lian still had to take care of his own image, and hurriedly led his family soldiers to the town entrance. After he dismounted, the elders repeatedly emphasized that they should not disturb the people. If any soldier violated the rules, they could report it and he would be dealt with by military law without any leniency.

The biggest difference in this trip southward was that Jia Lian had one thousand more elite cavalrymen from the Thunder Camp, all of whom were the elite of the elite who had followed Wang Ziteng to the Western Regions and killed many people. Wang Ziteng did not lie, these people were all from the Brave Camp. It was only because the Jia family was gradually stripped of their military power that these high-quality resources became cheap for Wang Ziteng. They were not opposed to being under Jia Lian's command.

The scenes of cavalry charging seen in movies are very spectacular, but in reality, no knowledgeable commander would use cavalry in this way. The same is true for the Great Zhou. Cavalry has two main functions in the Great Zhou: obtaining information and shielding the opponent from obtaining information in peacetime, and protecting the flanks and artillery positions in battle. Cavalry can play its best role during pursuit. Of course, when the battlefield is deadlocked, once the opponent becomes loose, the commander will not be stingy with the casualties of the cavalry, and give full play to the mobility of the cavalry to obtain the final victory.

The local elders still sent ten slaughtered pigs, and Jia Lian took charge of the logistics and paid for them.

This situation continued to repeat over the next five days, but Jia Lian persisted.

It was not until they arrived in Tianjin and saw Sun Ming coming to greet them that Jia Lian allowed them to enter the military camp prepared in advance to rest. But at the same time, he also issued a strict order that officers and soldiers were not allowed to leave the camp without permission.

Sun Ming showed up with Sun Shaozu, and naturally tried his best to please Jia Lian. Sun Ming is now the highest official in Tianjin. Wang Ziteng, who was just sent away three days ago, is his direct superior. Before leaving, Wang Ziteng repeatedly told him to find Jia Lian if he had any problems.

Jia Lian was very polite to Sun Ming and just nodded slightly to Sun Shaozu. It was not that he was neglectful, but the gap between them was too big.

After the welcoming dinner, Jia Lian asked Sun Ming: "What is your position?"

This seemingly casual title made Sun Ming overjoyed and he said, "My son has been promoted to the seventh-rank military post of a naval lieutenant."

Jia Lian thought for a moment and said, "The navy will surely develop greatly. You must do everything you can to improve the navy's combat effectiveness. In the future, when something happens in the south, you will have the opportunity to establish meritorious service. The Tianjin Navy Office was moved south by Taiwei Wang, and without a boss, it is an opportunity for you. You know very well why Prefect Lin and his men are unlucky. Don't go overboard on some things. You can make money, but don't delay the construction of the navy."

Of course, Sun Shaozu had no chance to contact Yingchun again. The nickname of Zhongshan Wolf meant that Jia Lian would definitely find an opportunity to deal with him.

The emperor and the cabinet's anxiety was not important to Jia Lian. Instead, he let the vanguard army rest in Tianjin for a day to relax.

As more and more information arrived, the situation on the General Staff's map became clearer and clearer.

It seems that the imperial court's warning has played some role. At present, no new cities have been destroyed, the White Lotus Sect has not raised any flags, and there is no intention of advancing eastward to the Yimeng Mountains. This makes Jia Lian very strange.

The rebellion centered in Jining initially developed rapidly and quickly occupied the surrounding prefectures and counties. Why did it suddenly stop?

Rebellion requires a legitimate reason, you have to raise a banner, you can't just shout about the coming of the Mother of No Birth and establish a so-called vacuum hometown like now. From this point of view, he is not as good as Wu Han.

It gives people a doomsday cult feel!

Just before Jia Lian was about to continue his journey south, the new prefect came to the military camp to ask for an audience. What did it mean that the prefect came to the military camp to ask for an audience in the middle of the night?
(End of this chapter)