In mid-February of the fifth year of Chongzhen, Huang Yi finally returned to the more prosperous Xinghe City.
The Han population in the base area has doubled and now exceeds 300,000. Including the Mongolian tribes that have surrendered, the total population is no less than 420,000.
If the base area is attacked, Huang Yi can organize and mobilize 200,000 to 40 men and women to take up arms to defend their homes.
This is how everyone becomes a soldier!
Jiannu really dared to confront the enemy head-on. If he wanted to defeat the Xinghe Army and occupy the base area, the Jin Army would suffer at least 50,000 casualties.
This kind of consumption of Zhanhuang Taiji is simply unaffordable!
As the population increased, more basins with guaranteed water sources were needed for settlement and reclamation, so Huang Yi chose to build another city between Xinghe City and Dongshan Fort - Xinghe Second City.
With cement concrete, the cost of building a city is only 20% compared to building a city built with traditional slabs, but the speed is seven or eight times faster.
The new city to be built is about eighty miles away from Dongshan Fort and one hundred miles away from Xinghe City.
The Xinghe Army must have a strong city to rely on, strong cavalry to attack, and be able to attack and defend with ease.
In addition, fixed telescopes are set up on the fortresses built between the cities for day and night observation, which can ensure that the enemy cavalry group is discovered twenty miles away.
Sun Chengzong used bunker and tower attack tactics in Liaodong in an attempt to trap Jian Nu to death. However, the result was that the Ming army was trapped to death, and Jian Nu came and left whenever he wanted.
If Huang Yi were to lead the Xinghe Army to Liaodong to implement this tactic, they would really be able to suppress Jiannu.
Because the cavalry of the Xinghe Army dared to fight and had superb riding skills, they were able to win the battle even though their equipment was better than that of the Jiannu.
All in all, if the fortress is not garrisoned by strong troops who dare to fight, it is equivalent to digging its own grave.
Throughout the winter, there was no one in the base area, except for tens of thousands of young and middle-aged laborers and craftsmen working in steel plants, cement plants, brick and tile factories, flour mills, arsenals, quilt factories and other factories.
There are hundreds of thousands of men and women digging coal, ore, quarrying stone, leveling the land, digging irrigation canals, digging wells, and digging reservoirs...
Sufficient stones and sand have been prepared for the construction of Xinghe Second City, and the newly built cement factory at the foot of the mountain near the city has begun production at full capacity.
After the spring plowing was completed, civil officials such as Wang Baishan and Ye Huiling immediately organized 50,000 young men and women to work together. The plan was to complete the city construction in half a year.
Farmers will have their own land, and every resident will have their own house, so that workers will have a better future. The Xinghe Army system can certainly achieve this.
Lazy guy?
This variety does not exist in the base area!
Consciously or unconsciously, everyone has to work, and lazy people will be expelled or reformed through labor.
Since last autumn, the export sales of steel farm tools in Xinghe City have been increasing every month. Not only the Li family is selling, but Shanxi merchants such as the Fan family, Wang family and others are also purchasing large quantities.
It is estimated that a lot of ironware should have been sold to Liaodong.
Great development is inseparable from large-scale steelmaking. Only when there is sales can there be profits. Only with profits can we better expand production capacity.
Therefore, Huang Yi did not strictly control the steel trade. As long as he was willing to give a good price, he would still sell it even though he knew that the eight imperial merchants had bad records.
"My Healing Game"
Not only are the sales of steel increasing, but the sales of the latest glassware, mirrors, soaps, etc. are also rising month by month.
The profit in December last year exceeded 20,000 taels of silver.
The two sisters, Geng Yueru and Geng Yueling, returned to Xinghe City in early February. They worked hard for half a year and achieved remarkable results. They had sold 25 "big cars" and made a profit of more than 40,000 taels of silver.
Due to the technical content of the "big car", it cannot be copied without all-steel bearings, qualified steel, large pieces of transparent glass and other raw materials.
In addition, each car is carefully crafted by master craftsmen and apprentices, so it is an exclusive product sold exclusively.
Geng Yueru and Geng Yueling took the luxury jewelry route from the beginning. The price of a "big car" in the capital was 2,500 taels of silver each. They did not bargain or discount.
The top craftsmen in the large car manufacturing plant are all highly paid. Three senior skilled workers already earn ninety taels of silver a month, and ordinary apprentices can also earn two taels of silver a month.
The material selection of large cars is very strict, and the best wood, steel, copper and glass are all selected.
Even so, after all costs are calculated, the cost of a large car is only four hundred taels of silver.
It is expected that the sales volume of "large sedans" in the capital this year will exceed 100, and the profits obtained will not be less than 200,000 taels of silver, which can greatly alleviate the economic pressure caused by the population explosion.
As long as we wait until the autumn harvest, the power of "soil fertilizer" and high-yielding crops such as sweet potatoes, potatoes, and corn will be realized, and it is estimated that we can make more than one farm.
As long as there is enough surplus food, Huang Yi will spare no effort to absorb the population and strive to increase the number by one or two million after autumn.
On the thirteenth day of the first lunar month, the eunuchs of Xuan's army escorted four bandit leaders, and more than twenty bandit leaders returned to the capital. In the afternoon of the same day, they met the hasty-tempered Emperor Chongzhen.
Chongzhen is a temperamental person who is easily deceived.
Wang Kun has indeed been climbing on ice and lying in the snow these days, and the chapped and frostbite on his face and hands are all real.
So Emperor Chongzhen was moved and was happy to find a eunuch who was as upright, honest and hard-working as Hai Gangfeng.
Wang Kun became a role model for eunuchs and was promoted to one of the eunuchs named Bingbi, the Superintendent of Ceremonies, and he also took charge of teaching in the inner library.
Xuanda civil servants and generals who have made meritorious deeds are rewarded, Geng Ruqi is an exception!
Because Emperor Chongzhen intended to transfer Geng Ruchi back to Beijing to serve as Minister of War, he only had to wait for the expiration of the three-year term of Governor Xuanda.
Of course Huang Yi was the first person to achieve great military success in suppressing the bandits, so his general was changed to deputy general, his military rank was upgraded to second rank, and his wife Geng Yueru was given the imperial title.
Huang Yi doesn't care about personal grade, but cares most about the number of troops.
However, there is no corresponding change in the number of troops when a general is promoted to a deputy general. They all vary according to local conditions and individuals.
Therefore, Huang Yi could only rely on his father-in-law to operate and captured the 800 troops of the Zhangjiakou garrison.
The commander-in-chief's direct battalion is the main battalion, the deputy general's battalion is the odd battalion, and the deputy general's battalion is the reinforcement battalion...
They are not subordinate to each other in peacetime, but in wartime it is the commander-in-chief who gives the orders.
The Xinghe Battalion was upgraded to the Qibing Battalion. It was still stationed in Xinghe City and there was no regular barracks to be stationed together.
Presumably Geng Ruchi did this on purpose, planning to support Huang Yi as the chief military officer before he left office.
Zhangjiakou was guarded by Huang Dapeng. It would be easier for the Xinghe Army to enter and exit the customs in the future.
That alone was not enough. Huang Yi also planned to replace all Zhangjiakou's four to five thousand defenders with well-trained Xinghe troops through slow cannibalization.
The first target was Li Sien's men.
Huang Yi has a close relationship with Li Weida. They used to rely on the Li family's business network to buy goods and food.
It's completely different now. The Li family sells ironware, salt, glassware, soap, etc. produced in the base area and makes huge profits.
Huang Yi asked Li Weida to come forward and persuade Li Si'en to become a governor who only paid his salary and did nothing. Li Weida agreed without hesitation.
