Returning to Fucheng from Hengshan Island, Zhao Mengqi had a long talk with two veterans.
After that, Ma Guangzu went to Jiankang Mansion to take up his post, and Wu Qian also returned to busy government affairs.
Zhao Mengqi also moved out of the government office and moved into Canglang Garden with a few young ladies.
However, he himself spent most of his time in Nanda Camp and lived a military life.
It took half a month to finally recruit 30,000 new soldiers, one-tenth of whom were serious scholars, and one-third who knew more than a thousand words.
Most of the others can recognize some words, but there are not many people who are completely illiterate and can't even write their own names, only a thousand people.
Not only did Zhao Mengqi regard literacy as an important condition for recruiting soldiers, but he also benefited from the achievements of the Song Dynasty in popularizing education. Especially in the wealthy areas south of the Yangtze River, as long as conditions allowed, their children would attend elementary school for a few years.
If you have a talent for reading, then tighten your belt and try to cultivate it for a few more years. If you really have a talent for reading and get admitted to Jinshi in the future, the whole family may cross the class and live a different life.
Even if you are not interested in reading, knowing some words will be helpful for making a living.
Taking into account the physical differences of the recruits, the first month was only queue training and military regulations education, and then physical training and tactical training were carried out.
These recruits are all healthy young people. Under strict and arduous training, as long as their nutrition keeps up, it will not take long to meet the physical requirements of soldiers.
Therefore, Zhao Mengqi spent a lot of money on army food, spending an average of 1,000 yuan a day.
Not only is there enough rice, but there is also meat for every meal. Although most of it is aquatic products, for many recruits, it is already the New Year standard.
The training in the army was indeed hard, harder than most of them expected. Not that no one thought about quitting, but if nothing else, just because of such good food, they put the thought aside.
Such a huge demand for food materials emerged out of thin air, causing meat, eggs, poultry and fish to increase to varying degrees around Suzhou.
Stimulated by business opportunities, not only many farmers increased their breeding capacity, but even businessmen and gentry began to try large-scale breeding farms.
For example, Zhu Gui, who lost nearly half of his family property after the "Food War", missed the opportunity to buy stocks because of his hesitation. Now he simply borrowed 50,000 yuan from the Royal Bank to start a pig farm, claiming that he would Full of ten thousand pigs.
Pigs these days are no longer ready for slaughter in three to five months compared to later generations. They take at least one or two years to grow, and it may not be easy to gather so many piglets.
After Zhao Mengqi heard this, he was happy to see the results. He even specially summoned Zhu Gui, signed a supply agreement with him, provided tax-free support, and asked the newly established agricultural science department of Pingjiang Prefecture to cooperate with his pig farm to set up large-scale breeding. research topic.
As a result, the breeding craze in Pingjiang Prefecture became even higher.
In addition, except for weapons, military supplies are basically supplied in a market-oriented manner. Like the Taihu Project, tenders are issued to civilians and procurement is open to the public.
With the stimulation and support of various policies and factors, as well as massive monetary support from the Royal Bank, Pingjiang Prefecture's economy has entered a period of rapid development. It is no exaggeration to say that it is changing with each passing day.
Many landowners who suffered loss of profits due to the business world gradually eased their dissatisfaction after discovering new paths to wealth, and the remaining work in the business world became smoother and smoother.
Everything was prosperous and there was no need to worry about political affairs, so Zhao Mengqi was able to devote himself wholeheartedly to the construction of the new army.
When he arrived in the army, Zhou Mi and Wang Yisun, who had just been appointed to handle the affairs of Prince Yan's palace, naturally had to follow him into the camp.
"You're all here, let's take part in the military training together."
With just one word, King Yan threw the two talented men into the furnace, frying, frying, and frying...
The training uniforms in the Eastern Wei Army were all designed by Zhao Mengqi in imitation of the styles of later generations. At this time, people looked at them as strange clothes, especially scholars. It was related to etiquette, so they paid special attention to clothing.
When Zhao Mengqi asked Zhou Mi and Wang Yisun to replace him, they met with strong opposition.
"Ancestral Clothes
How can the crown be changed lightly? "
Zhao Mengqi rolled his eyes, "According to what you said, we should wear feathers and animal skins now."
"Clothing is a reflection of etiquette and a symbol of Chinese civilization. This is true. If it is forcibly changed by foreigners, it will naturally be the loss of civilization. However, everything in the world is constantly developing. Make adaptive changes according to the actual situation. , is the correct attitude towards doing things.”
"Being blindly defensive will only hinder your progress. As the saying goes, if you don't advance, you will retreat. Your enemies will take this opportunity to catch up with you, surpass you, or even destroy you!"
"If you fall behind, you will be beaten. The Song Dynasty has been beaten by foreigners for hundreds of years, and now it is on the verge of extinction. If you don't change and make progress, it will not be long before it will be conquered by foreigners."
"When the time comes, the foreign race puts a knife on your neck and says, "Keep your head or not, keep your hair or not." and force everyone to shave their hair and change their clothes. Will it be useful if you tell them about your ancestral clothes? ! "
Hearing this sentence "Leave your head without leaving your hair, leave your hair without leaving your head" made the two of them shudder.
On the surface, Zhao Mengqi is talking about clothes, but in fact he is talking about systems and concepts.
"You also know the principle of riding and shooting in Hufu. Although this military uniform is not as elegant as the broad robe and long sleeves, it is conducive to combat training and can make the army stronger. Why can't you accept it?"
With the knowledge of the two kings of Zhou, if they quoted scriptures, they would definitely be able to refute Zhao Mengqi completely.
But those words weighed heavily on their hearts, making them speechless.
Zhao Mengqi patted his training uniform and glanced at the two of them again, "Whether I like forcing others to do something or not, it's your choice whether you wear these clothes or not."
After saying that, he walked out of the tent, leaving the two of them in a daze.
Zhou Mi sighed and rubbed his face fiercely, as if to convince himself, "Your Highness can wear it, but I won't be able to wear it no matter what!"
Wang Yisun just nodded silently, picked up the full set of training uniforms that were folded squarely, and walked into the small account.
After the two changed clothes, although they were a little uncomfortable, after looking at each other, they felt that they were not ugly at all. On the contrary, they looked neat and energetic, so they couldn't help but smile at each other.
When I arrived at the school grounds, I found that King Yan was not on the general stage, but standing at the head of a square formation like an ordinary soldier.
When Zhao Mengqi saw the two of them put on their clothes, he simply said, "Come into line, stand behind me. When you hear the command during training, just follow my movements."
The two walked to the two stations reserved for them. Lu Changqing, who was standing next to them, nodded slightly to them as a greeting.
At first, I subconsciously wanted to clasp my hands in return, but as soon as I raised my hands, I saw the greatly changed sleeves, and I immediately came to my senses, lowered my hands and nodded in salute.
Clothing may seem like a small thing, but it can always remind the wearer of his identity and his responsibilities. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why uniforms exist.
"Pay attention to the password!" Zhao Mengqi shouted softly.
Although he didn't turn his head and didn't have eyes on the back of his head, he seemed to be aware of something unusual about the two of them.
On the general stage, Qu Moxuan, who was also dressed in training uniform, stood with his hands behind his back and shouted, "Everyone is here, stand at attention!"
He performed the standard movements himself, ordered five demonstrators on each side of the stage, and demonstrated them to the new recruits in the audience.
There are ten hundred-man phalanxes in the field, and the first row of each phalanx is the "veterans" of the Eastern Guard, who are also "pacesetters."
Between the square formations, there were many instructors wearing red armbands and holding small whips, who began to check and correct the movements of the recruits.
What followed was queue training, which seemed ordinary to later generations, boring and hard.
The military posture stood there for half an hour, like a piece of wood that couldn't move, turning left, right, and back, making people dizzy.
Several times, Zhou Mi and Wang Yisun couldn't hold on, but seeing King Yan obeying the instructions meticulously and training seriously, they couldn't complain at all, so they gritted their teeth and persisted.
The recruits in this school field are basically scholars. Many of them find it difficult to persist. But they may not be able to see King Yan, but they know that he is here and with them.
We trained together, so we all persisted.
In these seemingly unremarkable training programs, day after day, a month later, Zhou Mi and Wang Yisun could no longer see a trace of bookishness in their bodies. Instead, they were vigorous, high-spirited, straightforward and rigorous, and vigorous and resolute.
The other recruits are similar. Maybe their physical fitness is still far from the requirements of soldiers, but mentally they have almost completed the transformation from civilians to soldiers.
In late November, General Gu Qing summarized and sorted out the movements of the Mongolian army detected by the Intelligence Department and sent them back.
Zhao Mengqi looked at the map one by one.
In September, Chahan, the marshal of the Mongolian army, held a meeting with Zhang Rou of Ten Thousand Households in Fuli. After the meeting, Zhang Rou led his army to build a corridor from Bozhou to Baizhangkou, and set up wooden stakes in the river to prevent our army from Then, the area north of the Huaihe River, including Luyi, Ningling, Chuqiu, Kaocheng, Zhecheng, and Nandun, was attacked by waterways, and the four prefectures of Chen, Cai, Xi, and Ying were restored to contact and the information was clear.
Later, Zhang Rou sent Wang Anguo to lead the navy to Mengcheng and harassed and attacked our territory. He himself and the marshal would attack Wuhekou regardless of the situation.
Marching ten thousand households in Shishu, they attacked the Han River from Tangzhou to Xiangyang, defeated our navy division at Yuanyang Beach, and then attacked our Tiecheng Village. Our army repulsed it and killed hundreds of households in Hudusi.
Many Mongolian troops moved south, Dong Wenwei's troops built cities in Kunyang, Yan Zhongji's troops built cities in Suzhou, Qixian and other places, Mengde of ten thousand households stationed in Jiuhaizhou, and Liu Bin of ten thousand households stationed in Pizhou.
In mid-October, Cha Han died of hypochondriasis, and Liu Qian succeeded him and commanded all the Mongolian troops in Huaibei.
In addition, Sichuan has been experiencing frequent wars since the beginning of the year, and Dali's Wu Lianghatai attacked northward, approaching southwest Sichuan.
After reading it, Zhao Mengqi couldn't help but frown. After thinking for a long time, he relaxed slightly and felt at ease.
Judging from the actions of the Mongolian army, although the deployment of troops and generals was slightly frequent, the attack was not determined and the scale was not large. It should be a tentative attack and the strategic deployment was improved.
Zhao Mengqi was either worried about something else or some bullshit butterfly effect that would cause the Mongols to change their strategy and launch a full-scale attack in advance.
In that case, the new army he has just broken out of its shell will not be able to help him in any way.
Fortunately, no such signs have been found so far, and I still have some time.
