On the twenty-fifth day of the first lunar month, Shen Yi completed all preparations in Jiankang, said goodbye to his family that morning, and got on the carriage going north.
Many people came to see him off, and even Zhao Changping, the Minister of Revenue, personally sent Shen Yi outside the city. They said goodbye for a long time before reluctantly waving goodbye.
As Dajiu Qing, Zhao Shangshu's every word and deed will be seen by other people in Jiankang City. Now that he comes out to see off Shen Yi, there is no doubt that he is standing up for Shen Yi.
In other words, it is a platform for the Huai'an Army.
Because there were so many people seeing off, it was not until noon that Shen Yi's carriage was able to leave Jiankang ten miles away. Fortunately, it was not hot at this time, so there was no need to rest at noon and he could keep going.
Yuan Tan and Yuan Fuxian of the Yushitai went with Shen Yi, but he couldn't stand the bumps of the carriage, so he went out in a sedan chair.
In fact, most civil servants in this era went out in sedan chairs, no matter how far they traveled, unless they were extremely poor officials who could not afford to hire a sedan bearer.
Civil servants like Shen Yi who go out either on horseback or in a car are in the minority, and can even be said to be an outlier.
Although Shen Yi is not very interested in riding in a sedan chair, this mode of travel is still necessary in this era.
At the very least, a large number of bearers can be used to support the family.
Although the carriage was not running very fast, it was still faster than the sedan. Therefore, after the two of them walked together for a while, Shen Yi felt a little disgusted with Yuan Tan's slow walking.
While eating at noon, he said hello to Yuan Fuxian, and in the afternoon, he took his entourage on the road without waiting for the supervisor.
Although Yuan Tan wanted to follow Shen Yi, the bearer did not allow it, and he was left behind by Shen Yi in the entire afternoon.
On the next day, Shen Yi saw that he had ditched Yuan Tan, so he simply stopped riding in the carriage and rode directly on the horse and rushed to Huai'an Mansion.
The distance of four hundred miles, even if the riding speed was not fast, only took two or three days. By the morning of the 29th of the first lunar month, Shen Yi rushed to Huai'an Mansion and stationed himself at the imperial envoy's headquarters.
Because he had greeted the Huai'an Army in advance, when Shen Yi arrived at the imperial envoy's camp, several main generals of the Huai'an Army were already waiting at the entrance of the imperial envoy's camp.
When Shen Yi's horse stopped at the gate of the imperial envoy's carriage house, everyone lined up on both sides and bowed respectfully to Shen Yi with clasped fists: "General Ling Su, pay your respects to Duke Shen!"
"The last general Xue Wei..."
"Su Ding..."
There were six generals in total. Ling Su was led by Liu Mingyuan and Zhang Meng, and Su Ding was led by Xue Wei and Wan Zhong.
Because Wan Zhong had made great contributions in the Battle of the East China Sea, although his position level has not yet been raised, his status in the Huai'an Army has been improved a lot.
Master Shen jumped off his mount, relaxed his muscles and bones, and said, "No need to be polite, let's go in and talk."
Soon, everyone arrived at the main hall where the imperial envoys traveled. Shen Yi sat down on the main seat, and then the generals took their seats on his left and right hands.
On the left are Ling Su and three others, and on the right are Su Ding and three others.
After sitting down, Shen Yi took a sip of tea, glanced at everyone, and said lightly: "I haven't seen you for more than a month. Hello everyone."
The generals who took the throne lowered their heads and clasped their fists: "How do you say Mr. Shen?"
A smile appeared on Shen Yi's face.
"Okay, you guys probably didn't come here to hear my greetings today. I know what you want to hear, so I won't be too pretentious and just get straight to the point."
Mr. Shen put down the tea cup and said calmly: "The imperial court has approved the documents for reporting merit at the end of last year, but the Ministry of War is still going through the process. Originally, I wanted to wait in Jiankang with the documents and documents from the Ministry of War. The imperial edict from the imperial court came back together, but after waiting for a few days, I really couldn’t wait any longer, so I rushed back early.”
He looked at everyone and said with a smile: "Everyone, as well as the Huai'an Army, the imperial court and the Ministry of War will reward you based on your merits."
When the six people heard this, their expressions perked up. They stood up one after another, bowed their heads to Shen Yi and said, "Thank you, Mr. Shen!"
"No need to thank me."
Shen Yi waved his hand and motioned for everyone to sit down. Then he paused and continued: "I told you last year that the Huai'an Army will increase its troops by about 20,000 this year. The imperial court has also approved this matter."
Master Shen paused for a moment, and then said calmly: "In addition to the quota of 20,000 recruits, after the Lantern Festival, I went to the Ministry of War again, and finally the Ministry of War nodded and agreed."
"The 20,000 new recruits are included in the establishment of the Ministry of War, which means..."
Shen Yi looked calm: "We will increase the number of generals in the four guards."
The predecessor of the Huai'an Army was the Coastal Capital Division, which had a five-guard establishment and a total of five commanders.
The quota of these five commanders has always been fixed. Even if the Huai'an Army later expanded from 10,000 to 30,000 troops, the quota of the five commanders remained unchanged.
And now, the establishment of the Four Guards has been added, which means that after the reorganization of the Huai'an Army, four additional commanders will be added!
Four commanders, four commanders, eight commanders, and a total of twenty thousand households!
This is a real benefit, and it is a tangible benefit.
The six people sitting here were all excited.
Although most of them received the errands of commanders, they held high positions with low ranks. For example, Zhang Meng and Liu Mingyuan were now at the rank of commanders.
Wan Zhong is the level of Qian Hu!
Now that the Huai'an Army has suddenly vacated so many general positions, not only do the hundreds of thousands of families with seniority below have a way out, but these six of them will also most likely be promoted.
Especially Wan Zhong, his breathing was quickened.
Because in this way, his position in Qianhu will most likely move up!
Everyone stood up again and bowed to Shen Yi.
"Thank you, Mr. Shen!"
"No need to thank me."
Master Shen shook his head slightly. He smiled and said: "If you want to thank me, you should thank the imperial court."
Having said this, Mr. Shen once again motioned for everyone to sit down, then looked at Ling Su and said: "General Ling, the recruitment of 20,000 new soldiers is not a small matter. In my opinion, it should be distributed according to the east and west lines. You and General Su, each receive a quota of 10,000 people, recruit them as soon as possible, and then put them into training."
Ling Su immediately lowered his head and said: "General, I will obey your order!"
Su Ding also bowed his head and saluted: "General, I will obey your orders!"
Mr. Shen said "hmm" and said, "We have agreed in advance that we can recruit troops in Huai'an, Lianshui County, Xiangshui County, or go to Zhejiang, but this time the Ministry of War has regulations."
Shen Yi said in a deep voice: "You are not allowed to go to Taizhou Prefecture or Wenzhou Prefecture to recruit troops."
After saying this, he looked at Ling Su and said with a smile: "Does General Ling have any objections?"
Ling Su and Xue Wei were both from Taizhou Prefecture, or to be precise from Linhai County, Taizhou Prefecture. Until now, many generals in the Huai'an army are from Linhai.
After all, the foundation for the original resistance against the Japanese army was actually the Linhai Guards of Taizhou Prefecture.
Ling Su quickly forced out a smile, lowered his head slightly and said: "Since it is a request from the Ministry of War, the general will naturally have no objections. Don't worry, Mr. Shen, all the 10,000 recruits on the Western Front will be recruited within three months."
Shen Yi looked at Su Ding again.
Su Ding was born in Mingzhou Wei and was also from Mingzhou Prefecture.
Mingzhou Prefecture...is also in Zhejiang!
Hearing Shen Yi say that he could go to Zhejiang to recruit troops, General Su turned his eyes and bowed his head respectfully: "Mr. Shen, the Eastern Front will be fully recruited within three months."
Shen Yi nodded, then stretched and said, "Okay, that's all the business for now, the rest is training. But apart from the business, there is one more casual thing that I want to tell you."
Seeing the eyes of the six people looking at him, Mr. Shen stood up and said with his hands behind his back: "This year, the imperial court sent a supervisor down. He is the deputy censor of the imperial censor, and he has a high position."
"He may patrol the army at any time."
"That's the military supervisor of the imperial court. I can't restrain him. If he finds out anything is wrong, especially slack in training, deduction of military pay, or other violations of military rules and disciplines."
Mr. Shen put his hands behind his back and said, "It's hard for me to protect you."
The six people looked at each other and said nothing.
Xue Wei was the most upright. He looked at Shen Yi and said, "Mr. Shen, why did the imperial court suddenly send a supervisory army down? Didn't we fight well in Huai'an last year?"
"We have many soldiers in Huai'an, so why is it strange that the imperial court sent a supervisory army down?"
Shen Yi glanced at Xue Wei, and then said calmly: "You don't have to think too much. If you don't do anything wrong, even if he wants to cause trouble for you, I won't agree."
Having said this, Mr. Shen coughed: "Also, in front of the supervisors, don't call him Mr. Shen. It will only make people laugh."
The six people clasped their fists in unison, all speaking in unison.
"Yes, Mr. Shen!"
(End of chapter)
