Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 255

"En." Zhao Xingde nodded.Having said that, because the new battalion involves increasing the number of lieutenants, it may change the power structure of the Huguo Mansion itself. Therefore, the Huguo Mansion is extremely cautious and even disgusted with all plans to expand the battalion.Therefore, the number of Xia Jun's battalions has also been maintained at a "reasonable" level.It would be easier for the garrison battalion to have the title of the Liaodong Han Army.

"In this case, I will proceed to make arrangements. The journey is tiring, so let's take a break first." Jin Changtai nodded and said, Zhao Xingde has been in charge of all the affairs in the mountains since Zhao Xingde left for several months, and he already seems to be doing what he says. As he said that, he picked up the teacup and took a big sip, intending to immediately prepare for the matter of selecting young men and elites.

Zhao Xingde said with a smile: "Jin Sima wait a moment. Captain Li from the [-]th Battalion came over just now and talked about the fact that the common people cut wood and went out to sea along the river, and used it to build ships for the navy. In exchange for money, they bought food for the winter. I think Quite feasible. According to Li Xiaowei, just to build a large ship requires thousands of trees that are nearly a hundred years old. There are hundreds of sticks, and in this way, tens of thousands of people can be fed without having to ask the Huguo Mansion for additional relief money and food."

"There is such a thing?" Jin Changtai smiled with joy in his eyes, "That will solve the big problem." In fact, Li Sihai has already stayed in the village for more than ten days, and has met Jin Changtai several times The next meeting was just to introduce the situation of the two battalions to each other.Jin Changtai always treated each other with courtesy, and did not intend to replace Zhao Xingde as the master, and Li Sihai also did not see the true Buddha and kept quiet.The two of them bowed to each other happily, and they didn't talk about the management of Liaodong, as well as substantial cooperation such as logging and shipbuilding.

"Exactly." Zhao Xingde nodded and said, "As far as I know, the Central Plains of Hebei is also the most short of wood. If the logging industry becomes popular, in addition to cutting good wood for shipbuilding, other trees can also be used. The felling is piled up and transported to the Central Plains for sale." A smile flashed in his eyes, "No matter how many forests there are in Liaodong, there will be a day when they will all be cut down. When the forests are almost cut down, no matter how you look at it, There is a lot less trouble in opening up wasteland and reclamation and managing Liaodong."

Jin Changtai smiled and said: "It is indeed a big deal worth doing. I knew that if I followed you, there would always be a good deal to do." The two raised their teacups and clinked, replacing wine with tea, chatting to celebrate.

Liaodong is bitterly cold. If there is no food in the winter, you will have to freeze and starve to death. Whether it is the Han army or the Chengying Camp after collecting tens of thousands of people, the most difficult thing is not how to fight the Khitan people, but how to obtain them. Food and grass survived in this extremely difficult and dangerous place.The fertile fields outside the mountains are easily harassed and attacked by Khitans and Jurchens, and the harvest of land reclamation in the mountains is far less than that outside.Although there are rare treasures such as ginseng and sea cucumbers in Liaodong, they are rare after all. Now that there is an additional way of logging, it is tantamount to leaving a heavy burden for the two of them.

In addition to being happy, Zhao Xingde talked about Li Sihai asking him for the list of prostitutes, which made Jin Changtai dumbfounded.

"Li Sihai is really a weird person." Jin Changtai smiled slightly, "If a famous prostitute in a brothel in Chang'an knows that he is looking for prostitutes everywhere in this barren mountain and wild ridge, I am afraid that he will be so angry that his heart will be broken. The obscene words he wrote were torn to shreds."

Zhao Xingde wondered: "Oh? Jin Sima seems to know this person well?"

Jin Changtai nodded, and said with a smile: "Before he joined the army, my cousin kept talking about him every day, and she had never met him, but she wished she could marry him with her body. Unexpectedly, unexpectedly." He fell for Zhao Xingde He drank a cup of tea, filled it up for himself, and said with a smile, "This man's literary talents come from his family. When he was not in the army, Chang'an had a brothel poetry meeting every Lantern Festival and Double Ninth Festival. He was so happy. As long as he writes one or two poems, he can spend a lot of money and often wins the favor of beauties, but unfortunately no one can keep him. Later, for some reason, he suddenly joined the army. The world only knows that he has no end. He's secretly sad." Jin Changtai's face was full of sarcasm, "I only found out after I went to the Marching Army Division that Prince Bowanghou didn't go to the Tiger Wing Army, but joined Chengying, killing the enemy without regard for his own life." , In just a few years, he became a captain."

"Unexpectedly, this person has a lot of background." Zhao Xingde listened with relish, took a sip of tea, as if listening to a story.

"When I was in Chang'an, I saw him once or twice from afar. It's just that he was trapped in the beauty and beauty, surrounded by the red and the green, and was proud of the spring breeze. He didn't have a chance to say hello." Jin Changtai sighed, with a lot of regret, "But when we meet him here, it's like a different person. Not only his appearance has changed a lot, but his temperament has also changed a lot."

"Chengying camp is all isolated and isolated, and they have experienced life and death. If they stay for a few years, who can change?" Zhao Xingde sighed.He suddenly thought of something, and pondered, "The garrison battalion is all from Liaodong, so we need to teach more about loyalty and righteousness to prevent them from turning against them. After the selection, a hundred reliable soldiers will go to lead the garrison battalion, and then Select a group of usable ones from the common people, and I will personally teach them how to read and read, and teach them the way of loyalty." When Zhao Xingde was in Hejian, he had already compiled a military calligraphy book, and now he did so, adding some things suitable for Liaodong Han children. The cases encountered are very familiar.

"No problem." Jin Changtai drank the tea, stood up and said, "I'll go to prepare for the selection of sharps first." There was a distressed look on his face, "It's said to be one out of six, but It’s not always possible to pick suitable ones. These Liao people were hungry in the early years, and they had never practiced martial arts. Few of them could draw a hard bow, and even fewer could hit the target. The situation in Sichuan is very different. Sigh..." He sighed heavily, said goodbye and walked out.

Several gongs sounded outside the military tent, which was a signal that dinner was ready to be distributed.Sanyin Village is still a big business. In just two or three months, the people who were lucky enough to live in the village seem to have adapted to this kind of life. Those who came first looked down on those who came later with a sense of pride. Tone teaches them manners.Jin Changtai made good use of this point. He selected smart and capable people from among these people, some served as foremen, and some served as assistants to sergeants. As a highly respected supervisor, Jin Changtai talks to these people every day to ensure that the people are satisfied with the order here.

In order to take precautions, except for working, the sergeants will teach various rules at other times. Every few days, there will be an assessment. If the people answer the rules correctly, they will be rewarded with extra food. They will be punished, and in extreme cases, they will even be moved out of the camp and driven to live in a more dangerous and difficult place.The common people have to use up all their energy to cope with learning these boring but indispensable rules for the future after working. Naturally, they have no energy to think about other ideas.Those who were able to understand all kinds of rules, and draw inferences from one instance, were all selected by Jin Changtai, preparing to serve as subordinates in the future, but those who showed resistance, and some were unruly, most of them were tested out in repeated assessments.

Looking at Jin Changtai's back, Zhao Xingde smiled slightly, and shook his head again. He remembered that when he just came out of Xia Guo, Jin Changtai looked devastated, as if he wanted to die, but he was so motivated now.Before Jin Changtai left, Zhao Xingde frowned and thought about the lack of qualified soldiers. He couldn't think about it for a while. He stood up and stretched his waist. He only felt that his bones and muscles were a little numb. Unconsciously, as soon as I arrived in the camp, I was tired.But now there is no slack, and in the evening there will be a banquet for more than a hundred gunners and blacksmiths who came from the sea with the artillery, so that they can work in Liaodong with peace of mind.

After doing a few movements of stretching his limbs and getting tired, Zhao Xingde took out the unopened family letter. Before he opened the envelope, he put the letter paper next to his nose and took a deep breath. There seemed to be a trace of The faint fragrance, he closed his eyes, it was a familiar smell, Ruoxue, who was both happy and angry, seemed to be right in front of him.

After thinking about it for a long time, Zhao Xingde finally suppressed his ups and downs, opened his eyes, took out a knife, and gently tore apart the letter paper.Immediately, the graceful and straight handwriting came into view.A few thin sheets of letter paper, in addition to exhausting the pain of lovesickness, also let Xingde know that the two children are not only babbling, but can also walk on the ground. Aunt Liu, the helper, is doing her best. Come and visit.Song Guo's parents-in-law knew that Xingde was in Liaodong, so they wrote a letter to Ruoxue to comfort her, but Li Ruoxue wrote back to comfort her parents, and finally told Xingde not to worry, and took care of his health in Liaodong.

In addition to the letter, there are also two short poems. Zhao Xingde read it several times before folding the letter paper squarely. When he picked up the envelope, he found that there seemed to be something inside. They are two long and slender nails, painted in a bright red color, like a delicate dimple.Zhao Xingde took a deep breath, feeling that his whole body was slowly filled with happiness.His heart, which was hard and rough because of the war, suddenly became a little soft.

"Ruoxue." He murmured, "I'll be back soon."

A group of workers from the ironworks lined up to pass Zhao Xingde's tent dripping with sweat, many of them looked this way curiously.In a short period of time, the news of Mr. Xiaowei's return has spread to every corner of the village.Although these people didn't understand how Zhao Xingde was alone, all of them had the deed stamped by his great seal in their arms, and to a certain extent, he was the boss.Generally speaking, when the host comes back from a long trip, it is to add food to celebrate the work, but today's dinner seems to be indeed, a strong smell of broth, which has long been wafting in the stockade, making people straight Swallow.