I

Ji'an City, Military Academy.

The scope of the Military Academy's powers and responsibilities include: recruiting soldiers, organizing and training the army, managing military personnel, leading troops in combat, evaluating performance, promoting officers, and selecting generals.

Compared to the castrated Ming Dynasty’s Five Military Governor’s Mansion, Zhao Han’s Military Academy has greater power!

Nowadays, Fei Ruhe is the head of the Military Academy.

Zhao Han decided to expand the army and prepare for war. Fei Ruhe could not decide how many regular soldiers to expand and how many new troops to form. That fell within the scope of the Military Affairs Department (Li Banghua).

However, Fei Ruhe can pick a few soldiers first and assign them to his own troops in the future - the current system is not perfect yet, and after the territory grows, the chief officer of the Military Academy will definitely not be able to personally command the troops. Even if he wants to command the army, he has to temporarily step down from his daily duties at the Military Academy.

"Bring the prisoner list." Fei Ruhe ordered.

His secretary directly handed over a list of names and said: "In charge of the hospital, the chief town asked me to hand it over to you."

Fei Ruhe was furious when he saw it, and he agreed to break up the Ehu soldiers and organize them into various units. But Zhao Han screened out eight people in advance and sent them directly to mine without any discussion with Fei Ruhe.

Of the eight Ehu officers who were sent to mine, five of them were named Fei!

Fei Ruhe completely lost his mind, left the Military Academy and went straight to the Yamen of the General Military Palace.

"Zhao Bingyuan, the main town is discussing matters, you can't go in... Zhao Bingyuan... General Zhao..." The guard hurriedly stopped him.

"Get away!"

Fei Ruhe forced the guard away and kicked open the conference room door.

Pang Chunlai, Li Banghua, Chen Maosheng, Xiao Huan and others all turned around and looked a little confused.

Zhao Han smiled and said, "Sit down."

Fei Ruhe did not sit down, but asked: "This is only two prefectures and eight counties, and you are going to kill the donkey?"

"Business matters," Zhao Han explained, "I don't have to pursue all those Ehu soldiers, but the officers who led the troops must be brought to justice."

Fei Ruhe sneered: "After eight officers were appointed, five of them were named Fei?"

Zhao Han asked back: "Can the officer of the Ehu Army not be named Fei?"

This is true. As long as Zhao Han punishes the officers severely, the majority will be those named Fei.

"Why didn't you discuss it with me in advance?" Fei Ruhe asked.

Zhao Han asked: "Will you agree?"

Of course he would not agree. Fei Ruhe was a passionate person at heart, and it was impossible to send his relatives to mine because of such a thing. Although mining is classified as labor reform, and you can be free after five years, you will still be ill even if you survive.

Fei Ruhe refused to admit the matter and said stubbornly: "If you discuss it with me, I will definitely agree!"

Zhao Han slowed down his tone and said comfortingly: "Sit down and speak slowly."

"I won't sit down!" Fei Ruhe stood and glared at Zhao Han.

Zhao Han sighed and said, "Hey, you should go home."

"Sure enough, the bird is gone and the bow is hidden." Fei Ruhe sneered.

Zhao Han could only explain: "There must be government spies in each county under our rule. Your identity and my identity will definitely reach the governor of Jiangxi in as late as a year and a half or as early as two or three months. Don't you tell me in advance Bring your family here? I'll reserve the seat of the Commander of the Military Academy for you first, and you can go home and calm down. Think about it, and continue to come back to do things. If you can't figure it out, you don't have to come back. "

Several hundred Ehu soldiers were scattered among various units, and sooner or later Fei Ruhe's identity would be spread out.

Fei Yinghuan's position as an official in Fujian was not stable, so he had to send someone to notify him as soon as possible.

Zhao Han is really not afraid of the Fei family becoming powerful. Zhao Han is not Liu Bang, and the Fei family is not the Lu family.

Liu Bang and Lu are entrepreneurial partners, and their shares are very close. What's more, can the system in the late Qin Dynasty be compared with that in the late Ming Dynasty? The Lu family has private soldiers, and the proportion is very large!

"Continue the meeting!" Zhao Han ignored Fei Ruhe and did not let him go out.

Chen Maosheng said: "The truth is this. The missionary groups and officials at all levels believe that there are too many towns in each county. In the early stage of land distribution, there are many things to do, and the officials are naturally very busy. But one or two years after the land distribution, , it appears that town-level officials are redundant. With village chiefs and farmers’ associations assisting in village and town affairs, many town-level officials have nothing to do.”

"I agree to reduce one town in each county," Pang Chunlai agreed, "the expenditure on official salaries is too high."

Zuo Xiaoliang said: "At least two towns should be reduced. Take Luling County as an example, six towns are enough. I went back to my hometown during the Mid-Autumn Festival, and my cousin worked as an official in the town. He said that except for summer and autumn, I am very busy collecting grain and during droughts and floods, but at other times I am free to catch lice.”

Everyone spoke one after another, and Zhao Han was completely unable to refute.

In ancient times, imperial power did not extend to counties, so Zhao Hansheng created town-level institutions just to extend his power to the grassroots.

But now it seems that it is a bit out of touch with reality.

Zuo Xiaoliang's hometown is just across the river from Wuxing Town, which has been under the rule of Zhao Han for a long time. The fields that should be allocated have been divided, crops have been promoted, land reclamation has been started, canals have been repaired, and several new canals have been dug.

Then, the officials in the town couldn't find anything to do, so they went to the Yamen all day long to hang out. They only become temporarily busy when collecting taxes in summer and autumn, or when encountering floods or droughts.

Even Chen Maosheng, who has always believed that the grassroots level should be controlled, also felt that the town-level yamen should be reduced through feedback from the missionary team.

Zhao Han thought carefully and suddenly smiled and said: "That's it. We are starting a business and many things will be wrong. If you make mistakes, you should correct them. There will be such mistakes in the future. I hope you can speak freely. Let's do it, every county Two towns will be reduced, and their officials will be transferred to Fengcheng County, Taihe County, Wan'an County and Longquan County respectively."

Fei Ruhe, who was sulking, suddenly asked: "Are we going to attack Taihe County?"

"What, are you interested?" Zhao Han asked with a smile.

Fei Ruhe said angrily: "I've been holding back my anger, and I just happened to take it out on the thieves in Taihe County."

Zhao Han asked: "Who will pick up your mother?"

Fei Ruhe said: "I will send some of my confidants back. I only need to bring back those from Jingxingyuan. My grandfather, grandmother, second uncle, and third uncle can all stay still. The bigger the battle we create here, the bigger the battle will be over there." The local officials would not dare to take action easily."

Li Banghua said: "Now that Zhao Bingyuan (Fei Ruhe) is here, let's discuss the military affairs together. I think that including the soldiers in the main town, the regular soldiers should be expanded to eight thousand, of which two thousand are naval forces. .Yongfeng County to the east should also be captured, so as to increase the depth and strengthen the defense of the eastern site."

"I agree!" Fei Ruhe agreed immediately. As a person in charge of soldiers, he naturally hopes to have as many soldiers as possible.

Zhao Han asked Pang Chunlai and Chen Maosheng: "If Yongfeng County is captured, will there be enough officials and missionaries?"

Pang Chunlai said: "Withdrawing two towns from each county will create sixteen more town officials. Promoting some more will definitely be enough."

Chen Maosheng said: "There are also enough missionaries. This year's development has been rapid, and most of them are domestic slaves, prostitutes, and poor scholars."

"That's good," Zhao Han reminded, "Maosheng, let the missionary officer read more Mencius. The Four Books and Five Classics are also very important. Your missionary department is equivalent to the Ministry of Rites of the Ming Dynasty. It cannot be looked down upon by those scholars. .”

Chen Maosheng smiled and said: "I am reading "Mencius". Mencius's book is really good. The people are the most noble, the country is second, and the king is the least. Therefore, if you get the people of Qiu, you will become the emperor, if you get the emperor, you will become the princes, and if you get the emperor, you will become the princes. He became a great official by relying on the princes. I think the key to this passage is 'getting to the people of Qiu', which is the same as our Datong theory, which is to make decisions for the common people."

Mencius' "people are the most valuable" does not only refer to the gentry and nobles, but also to the "people of Qiudian", including farmers who work hard, and even more focused on farmers.

Zhao Han added: "Also, let them learn more arithmetic, which is the Thai and Western arithmetic that children now have to learn."

"I will let them learn when I get back." Chen Maosheng said.

It was decided that the land of two prefectures and eight counties would now be expanded to five counties: Taihe County, Wan'an County, Longquan County, Yongfeng County, and Fengcheng County.

Strive to complete all the land allocation work before next year's spring plowing. By then, Zhao Han will be the big rebel in control of the thirteen counties.

The regular soldiers were expanded to 8,000, the army was 6,000, and the navy was 2,000.

The navy accounts for a large proportion, but in Jiangxi, we must vigorously develop the navy.

After the meeting, Zhao Han received news that day: the magistrate of Yongfeng County died of illness, and the chief bookkeeper and dianshi obeyed his orders and dedicated the city to surrender, as well as thousands of elite village warriors.

Fei Ruhe was holding back his resentment and vented it out to Zhao Han, but he didn't want to really fall out because of it, so he raised his troops and went to attack Taihe County on the third day.

Just looking for someone to vent your anger on.

When he arrived outside Taihe City by boat, the county town had been surrounded by brothers Fang Shengchang and Fang Shenghong who had raised troops in Longquan.

When they heard that Fei Ruhe had arrived with troops, the Fang brothers came to see him quickly: "Greetings to Zhao Bingyuan."

"You two brothers, there is no need to be formal," Fei Ruhe asked, "How is the war going here?"

Fang Shengchang said: "The rebels entrenched in various villages and towns have been eliminated, and the rest have hidden in the county. My two brothers originally planned to present three counties as gifts to the main town during the Chinese New Year."

Fei Ruhe asked: "How many troops does your army have? How many bandits are there in the city?"

Fang Shengchang said: "Our army has more than 7,000 troops, but only 7,800 elites. As for the bandits in the city, they are just a mob. Every time they fight outside the city, they are defeated in one blow. They are not even as good as the bandits in the mountains of Longquan County. .”

Fei Ruhe still had another mission and said: "General Zhao plans to take over the three southern counties. I don't know if the two brothers want to be civil servants or military attachés in the future."

Fang Shenghong asked: "How about the civil servants and the military officers?"

Fei Ruhe said: "We have rules here, and I think you two must be aware of them. But you two have made great achievements in offering soil. If you want to be a civil official, you can start from the county magistrate. If you want to be a military general, you can start from the commander of five hundred troops. Always start.”

"I am a civil servant."

"I also work as a civil servant."

The Fang brothers, who rose up in rebellion and captured Longquan and Wan'an counties, and soon captured Taihe county, unexpectedly unanimously chose to become civil servants.

Because they are scholars!

"Well," Fei Ruhe said with a smile, "when the war here is over, you two can go to Fengcheng County and Yongfeng County to serve as county magistrates. This is a decision that has been discussed by the General Military Office."

The Fang brothers had already built the siege ladder, and after many days of siege, the city's defense supplies were almost exhausted.

These bandits are unwilling to surrender because they have committed too many crimes and surrendering would mean death.

The next day, Fei Ruhe sent someone to the city to shout: "Second General Zhao of Luling is here. Listen to the bandits in the city. If you surrender the city, ordinary bandits will be spared death!"

Death penalty can be avoided, but living crime cannot be avoided. If the iron mine is full, it can be sent to build canals and open up barren mountains.

Of course, such words would not be spoken.

After shouting for more than ten times in a row, when they attacked the city again, the resistance of ordinary bandits was indeed much weaker.

Fei Ruhe had been observing the battle situation. Suddenly he took off his chain mail and wore only cotton armor and shouted: "Let me seize the city!"

Fang Shengchang quickly dissuaded him: "General Zhao, there is no need to personally take risks."

Fei Ruhe said angrily: "I was angry at the main town, and I have to kill someone today to vent my anger!"

This guy personally led hundreds of soldiers, ran all the way to the city, and climbed towards the chosen target city wall. The fallen rocks and rolling logs were all gone, and the gold juice and boiling oil were poured out. Fei Ruhe climbed up with his knife.

Climbing all the way to the female wall, Fei Ruhe ducked past the bamboo spear thrust into his face, and then jumped in.

"kill!"

Fei Ruhe hacked a soldier to death and shouted at the top of his lungs: "Luling Zhao Er is here!"

The king of Zhao is Zhao Han, and the second general of Zhao is Fei Ruhe. These are all bad names given by the rebels around him.

When Zhao Er's relatives arrived in Luling, they immediately frightened the thieves out of fear. Countless thieves dropped their weapons and ran away.

A thief leader named "Black-faced Tiger" came with his old thieves, raised his knife and shouted: "Others are afraid of you Zhao Er, but I, the Black-faced Tiger, are not afraid!"

This guy has a pale complexion and a strong back. He doesn't know what he did before.

With a slash of the knife, Huhu was in full swing. He was obviously a practicing master.

"when!"

Fei Ruhe had been practicing swordsmanship for ten years. He split the opponent's weapon with one blow, then turned around and used the force to strike again. The flow was smooth and flowing, without any obstruction. The thief didn't even react, and the second knife had already hit his face.

The black-faced tiger instantly turned into a tiger with a rotten forehead, and was slashed into the forehead by Fei Ruhe.

"Master Tiger is dead, run away!"

"Zhao Er of Luling is so vicious!"

"..."

Fei Ruhe came here to vent his anger this time. He completely ignored his soldiers and just rushed forward with his sword, slashing at any bandits he saw along the way.

This guy chased and hacked for more than 20 feet, killing more than ten people one after another, which scared the thieves and fled in panic. After running away, the whole city wall collapsed. Fei Ruhe chased hundreds of bandits alone.

The Fang brothers stood under the city, dumbfounded.

"A true tiger general!" Fang Shengchang swallowed and said.

Fang Shenghong exclaimed: "Fortunately, I chose to surrender, otherwise the person in front of us would be unable to resist us."

(The map expanded to thirteen counties will be attached at the end of the chapter. If you can’t see it, please refresh it.)