Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 2144 Reinforcements
Xie Erren has been busy with the aftermath work for more than ten days. At first, he only felt that everything was difficult, lacking food and money.Unexpectedly, a group of people from the Rehabilitation Bureau can really do things. Not only did they successfully raise part of the food funds, but they also started to do many intricate things one after another.Although there were still many problems in front of him, he finally saw a glimmer of light.The original views on the Rehabilitation Bureau and the retained personnel have also changed-I have warned them in class that these people are "usable and untrustworthy", but in terms of "use", these people are still quite capable.Relying on the few people I brought, I probably haven't even cleaned up the corpses now.

So now he is no longer sending cadres to "sprinkle pepper noodles" to be "supervisors" everywhere, but let them do more important things.For example: raising food.

Raising grain is of course not raising grain on the spot. Wuzhou has limited grain storage. According to the Aftermath Bureau, each grain store can barely maintain normal grain sales for a month, and it will not survive if there is too much.However, Xie Youren knew that rich people were the best at crying about being poor, so there was at least half a month's worth of moisture in these words.

Even if there is water, it will be difficult to survive a month and a half of food.There are still several months before the autumn harvest, and we can't count on food and taxes.As for the reasonable burden collected from the landlords of the four townships, he did not dare to send cadres to the countryside at will. The banditry in the four townships is serious, not to mention whether the landlords are willing to pay, or not. There is a great risk in transporting the grain back. .

The grain that the joint logistics transported for the first brigade had already been handed over to the local government, but prisoners of war, labor teams, and refugees all consumed a large amount of stock, and Zhu Quanxing's battalion food supplies were also drawn from this stock.At best, these "public grains" can only guarantee the normal food supply of those who "eat public grains", and it is impossible to spare some of them to supply the market.

Under the shadow of "grain shortage", the price of grain in Wuzhou slowly rose, and within a few days, the price of grain reached the price increase limit set by him. Although no one dared to violate his grain price limit order, each grain Shops are limited.Although some shops do not limit sales, they only open for one or two hours a day.Stimulated by panic, the citizens rushed to buy goods one after another, which further amplified the tension.Don't look at the "emotional stability" of the citizens on the surface, but the panic has always existed. If it weren't for the unrest in the countryside, many people with farms or relatives in the countryside would have left long ago.

Since ancient times, food has been the foundation of people's stability. Xie Youren knew that his price limit order was a temporary solution, not the root cause. Even if he issued another order to order grain merchants to operate 24 hours a day, it would not work. The war is chaotic.

In desperation, Xie Erren and Xu Xu negotiated, one is to start "counting distribution" in Wuzhou City, and the other is to ask Xu Xu to go back to Sanshui to find Lao Hong to get some military rations.

"Planned distribution" is "planned supply" according to the words of the old time and space.Whenever there is a food shortage, this policy will be introduced.Xie Erren couldn't change food for the time being, so he could only turn to this method for help.

As for the permission to go back to get food, it is naturally because of the elder's face.If Zhao Fengtian was sent back, there would only be "business affairs" in Sanshui.Xie Youren must first report to the head of the Wen district in the Guangdong region, and wait for his approval before mobilizing food.This process was too long for Xie Youren, it would be quicker to ask Xu Xu to go to Sanshui to "borrow food".

"Anything is fine, the military rations of those smashed dead are also fine, we are not picky."

"It's fine for me to take a trip to Sanshui," Xu Xu agreed.He has been busy with interrogating the prisoners and understanding the situation in Wuzhou and Guangxi these days. He originally planned to find an opportunity to go back to Zhaoqing and report the situation.It doesn't matter if you take another trip to Sanshui.

"However, it is not an easy job for you to calculate and sell grain. The household registration system here has not yet been established, and there are no police except for the retained yamen servants. What is the basis for distributing grain? In Wuzhou City, there are only registered The household registration population is almost [-]—the number in the Yellow Book of Daming itself is not accurate, and after such a battle, those who escaped, died, and those who came in from outside...the number of people who came in and out inside was a huge number! "

Xie Youren shook his head and said, "You're right. But building a police team didn't happen overnight. The Qiongya Column sent me Zheng Ergen as the chief of the Wuzhou Police Station. He brought a total of two policemen. Now we can only First use the retained yamen servants from Cangwu County and Wuzhou Prefecture in the temporary security team—this gang of yamen bastards, you can’t expect them to do such meticulous work: first, they can’t do it, second, they will definitely cheat, and good things will definitely go bad.”

Xu Xin thought that this Xie Erren didn't look at the daily romance, but looked at the problem quite clearly.

Xie Erren smiled wryly and said: "Don't forget that I was a reporter! Haven't I seen any ugly things in society?! Since ancient times, the grassroots have been the same. The people we train ourselves can feel more at ease. Subliminary, that’s okay—you can shepherd sheep with wolves.”

"What do you plan to do?" Since there are no police officers and no subordinate staff, Xu Xu is a little confused.

"National Army!" Xie Erren said, "The National Army will arrive in Wuzhou in two days. Bei Wei told me that the National Army in Wuzhou will have a brigade—not a squadron."

Because Wuzhou is located in an important transportation hub and is also the front line, Xie Erren was assigned a brigade.

"This brigade just happens to be used as a police officer first, at least to start the police work first." Xie Erren has already made a plan: first re-register the household registration, and come to the whole city to find out.

Xu Xu nodded. Although the quality of the water-filled version of the National Army was questionable, it was still more reliable than the retained yamen servants anyway.The point is that now Xie Erren has to rely on the retained personnel for many things-it will inevitably lead to arrogance after a long time. Once the National Army arrives, the balance in the regime will be established, and the retained personnel will be more restrained. .

The two were talking, and the correspondent came to report: "The Wuzhou Brigade of the National Army has just arrived. The brigade leader has come."

"Call him in quickly!" Xie Erren cheered up.

Not long after, a young officer strode in, snapped to attention and saluted, and said loudly: "Report: Captain of the Wuzhou Brigade of the Guangdong Corps of the National Army, Lieutenant of the National Army, Zhu Si reports to you!"

Xie Erren saw that the visitor was very young, with dark skin, and he was a well-dressed and capable young man, so he was very happy.Standing up and welcoming him, he said, "It's been a hard journey! How's it going? Is the journey going smoothly?"

"We are on a steamer, and we have guns. No one dares to mess with us on the road—that's..."

"What is it?" Xu Xu asked, "Don't hesitate, talk when you have something to say."

"Yes!" Zhu Si stood at attention again, "There are often unidentified armed forces on both sides of the strait. When the ship was resting at night, there was an attempted sneak attack."

"Oh." Xu Xu frowned. He knew about the turmoil on both sides of the West River, but he didn't expect that in just a few days, it would already start to affect the shipping on the river—this chaos is developing too fast!
"Is it Yaodong's armed forces?"

"Report: It doesn't look like it." Zhu Si said, "There are soldiers from the Ming army in our brigade. According to them, these people are not from Yaodong, but there are indeed Yao people in the team we encountered several times."

"Is it a member of the local township troupe?"

"They also said the same thing, but the first class of the Township Bravery Troupe is on guard in the village and the village, and it is rare for such a large group to gather together for activities."

Xu Xu thought, this is a new situation!He realized that this "Yao chaos" was not only violent and wide-ranging, but also probably caused a new form because of his own involvement in historical changes.It is no longer reliable to rely solely on historical records to judge future trends.

We should rush to Zhaoqing as soon as possible to sort out the situation collected by the troops.Thinking of this, he decided to leave early tomorrow morning.

Xie Erren didn't care about these things, he cared more about the situation of the troops.

"How's the troop going?"

"Our brigade has a total of three squadrons and one directly subordinate squad. Currently, there are 330 people in the actual staff. Three of them are sick -- all of them are mildly ill."

"Okay, okay." When Xie Youren heard that more than 300 people had come, his confidence was greatly boosted.

"The weaponry is not ideal. Only one squadron has Nanyang-style rifles, and the other squadrons have standard spears..."

According to the original plan, there was only one squadron in Cangwu County, and now it is temporarily expanded into a brigade.Zhu Si said that the composition of the expanded troops was mainly the surrendered troops from the Ming army in the Guangzhou prefecture area.Less training and discipline.

"They are all officers and soldiers from the former Ming Dynasty... Can you rest assured?" Xie Erren was a little worried. It has not been long since recruiting these officers and soldiers, and they have not undergone political study and internal cleansing. What about loyalty? "

Zhu Si looked indifferent, "Although these officers and soldiers of the former Ming Dynasty were all newly surrendered, the chief needn't worry: firstly, they are all well-established, and have family members in Guangzhou; secondly, since my Senate surrendered to them, Then they paid off the fake arrears, and the military salary was given favorably. Even if they were fools, they should know which side to work for. Third, our core squadron is composed of naturalized people, and the distribution They are all Nanyang rifles."

Xie Erren was still a little worried, and Xu Xu was actually not very relieved, but in order to relieve Erren's heart and prevent him from needlessly panicking.He whispered: "Old Jie, you don't have to worry. When the Manchus entered the customs, they fought with the green battalion. Isn't the green battalion the same as the officers and soldiers of the former Ming Dynasty and the remnants of the peasant army? The Manchus didn't necessarily have any political studies. It's not just relying on the two simplest principles of 'paying wages on time' and 'distinct rewards and punishments' to conquer the world..."

What Xu Xu did not say is that this is only part of the truth: in the early Qing Dynasty, generals from the green battalion were not uncommon anyway - but Xu Xu believes that the personal dominance of the green battalion generals is relatively large, and the generals of the feudal army are very dependent on themselves.But now the national army is recruiting soldiers from the Ming army, and there is no core of officers, so the danger is much smaller.

Next update: Volume 349 - Guangzhou Governance Chapter [-]

(End of this chapter)