On October 13, Zhao Mengqi was outside the east gate of Lucheng to see off a force that was about to go on an eastern expedition. The main targets of the expedition were the Moli people.
During the Battle of Lucheng, the number of powerful private soldiers and pirates who stayed behind was more than 2,000. After the war, nearly 1,500 of them were captured. The total number of southern tribes was about 18,000. After the war, there were more than 10,000. Captured.
Regardless of whether they were Han or Han, the vast majority of these prisoners became hard laborers and were sent to cut trees, open up wasteland, build roads and water conservancy, etc. Anyway, there was a lot of hard work waiting for them.
However, not a single one of the more than 6,000 Mori tribe members was left alive, not only because they had a feud with the Taya tribe, but more importantly because they had committed the original sin of cannibalism, which Zhao Mengqi could not tolerate.
These more than 6,000 people are only a small part of the Mori people. There are about 70,000 to 80,000 people on the eastern coast of Liuqiu.
Zhao Mengqi decided to conquer the Moli tribe, firstly, to completely eradicate this barbaric habit, and secondly, to kill chickens to show the monkeys and to shock other tribes on the island.
Another important reason was to train troops, so the troops were asked to abandon the sea route and cross the mountains and ridges on land across the entire Liuqiu Island.
As a result, the difficulty and danger have greatly increased, so we have been preparing for a long time and just set off today. The main force of the army is more than 2,200 people directly under the headquarters of the Fifth Brigade of Dongwei and the 501st Regiment.
The 456th Brigade of the East Guards arrived in Quanzhou on the eighth day of September. Immediately following Zhao Mengqi's order, the 4th and 6th Brigades stayed in Quanzhou, commanded by Chen Wei and the Jiedufu Staff Department to continue to suppress the chaos in Fujian, while the 5th Brigade was transferred to Liuzhou. beg.
Now Fujian has Ma Xingsi's right army led by Cao Lie, Xue Jin's 1st Dongwei Brigade, Wang Zhengsuo's 4th Brigade, and Xia Songsuo's 6th Brigade, totaling more than 20,000 soldiers, which is more than enough to quell the rebellion.
Then after Zhang Shijie led the fifth brigade to Liuqiu, there was actually no battle at all. The pirate ships parked in Lukang were all eliminated by Bao Chuan and Ding Haijun. The battle in Lucheng ended after they landed ashore.
After a few days of rest, under the order of Zhao Mengqi, the 502nd Regiment was sent to the north and the 503rd Regiment was sent to the south to sweep.
If it is said to be a sweep, it is most likely an armed march.
The larger tribes in the north are the Ducas, Kedaran, Saisha, and Gulan tribes, all bordering the Taya tribe. As long as their brains are not caught in the door, they will definitely choose to surrender.
The southern tribes first sent thousands of people to Quanzhou and lost another 18,000 strong men in Lucheng. There was no resistance. In addition, with so many tribal leaders under the control of the Song army, it was only a matter of time before they surrendered. .
In other words, the conquest of the Moli tribe will be a relatively fierce battle. After all, it is a battle of genocide. The Moli people will definitely not stick out their heads for you to chop off casually, so the brigade commander Zhang Shijie will be personally responsible for this battle.
The left-wing army commanded by Zeng Basuo was renamed the Fujian Road Town Garrison Brigade, and two battalions of nearly 1,000 soldiers were sent to fight with the 501st Regiment.
In the military system envisioned by Zhao Mengqi, the future army will be divided into three parts: one is the field force, responsible for external operations, the other is the local garrison force, responsible for internal security and public security, and the third is the border garrison force, responsible for guarding the border.
The field force will gradually be expanded based on Dongwei, but now Dongwei is still very immature. In Zhao Mengqi's view, it still needs to be tempered before it can officially become an army, so it has not yet established a formal designation.
The garrison force will be integrated and adapted from the local imperial army and Xiang army, while the border guard force will be integrated from the garrison army. In the future, both of them may adopt a compulsory soldier system, in which outstanding soldiers will be selected into the field army and become professional soldiers. .
Of course, this idea will take a long time to complete, and there is no rush when facing the Mongolian invasion. Zhao Mengqi's first goal is to get the combat effectiveness of Dongwei into shape as soon as possible.
There were also five thousand Turkish troops accompanying the battle, of which three thousand were from the Taya tribe, and two thousand were from the Babuza, Pabra, Bazehai and other tribes, led by Halu, Mahuo, Wanxing and others.
These Turkish troops will be selected and officially become affiliated regiments of the fifth brigade, and the fifth brigade may be the first to expand into a division and invest in Zhao Mengqi's Nanyang strategy.
Seeing that the time was almost up, Zhao Mengqi patted Zhang Shijie's arm and said, "I have said everything that needs to be said, and there is nothing more to say. I wish the general success and victory!"
"In this expedition, I must guard against arrogance and impetuosity, put military training first, and live up to His Highness's expectations! The Song Dynasty will be victorious!" Zhang Shijie pounded his fist on his chest as a military salute.
Zhao Mengqi returned the greeting, "Huaxia Yongchang, let's go."
"Yes!" Zhang Shijie turned around quickly and raised his arms to his waiting subordinates, "Go to war!"
After giving the order, the nearly nine thousand troops gradually transformed into a long dragon and headed towards the eastern mountains.
After watching the troops go away, Zhao Mengqi turned around and prepared to return to the city, but saw a little disappointment on Zeng Ba's face.
"Hey, my Brigadier Zeng Da, why do you look like someone has robbed your wife?"
Zeng Bashan smiled and said, "Your Highness, the general has not yet married, how can he get a wife?"
"hehe."
How could Zhao Mengqi not know Zeng Ba's little thoughts, "Can't bear to part with my own soldiers? Or are you still complaining that I didn't let you lead the army on the expedition?"
The troops under his command were changed into a garrison brigade, and the official position was changed from commander to brigade commander. Although Zeng Ba was a little uncomfortable with it, he didn't have many ideas.
However, after he understood the nature of the garrison force, and that more than 2,000 people under his command had been assigned to the three regiments of the Fifth Brigade, and there was a high probability that they would be formally incorporated, his mood naturally became worse.
Of course, he would not stupidly complain directly to Zhao Mengqi, "Your Highness is joking, all the soldiers belong to the imperial court and belong to His Highness. The generals are just leaders. They are just trained by themselves. They always get along with each other day and night." There are some feelings, and this sudden separation will inevitably make me feel a little melancholy, but the general wholeheartedly supports any decision made by His Highness, and has absolutely no complaints. As for the expedition, the general really wants to go. It doesn’t matter whether he leads the army or not, as long as he can go into battle..."
"Haha, I didn't expect that you, a guy with thick eyebrows and big eyes, would be able to play tricks now, right?"
Zhao Mengqi glanced at Zeng Ba and said slowly, "In the future, this kind of deployment of soldiers, generals and personnel will become the norm in the army. Whether it is the town garrison or the frontier field army, the three have different functions but they are still one system. Generals Officers and assistants will also transfer to each other, just like civil servants. Yesterday, they served in that county, and today they may be transferred to another state. Today they are in this yamen, and tomorrow they may go to another yamen, regardless of promotion or demotion. In the future, if you have the ability, you will become a military commander. You can also become a civil servant, be it a general or a prime minister."
These words were not only meant for Zeng Ba, but also for other civil and military officials nearby.
Seeing Zeng Ba's open mouth, full of surprise, Zhao Mengqi shook his head and continued, "The local garrison troops will definitely have few opportunities to fight. The most important responsibility is to train and select troops. Doing well in this is also a merit. I think you still have some time to train. If you want, you can continue to be the brigade commander. In the future, you can still accumulate merit and be promoted. It is possible to go to the Ministry of War or the Privy Council. If you want to fight, you can also be transferred to the Eastern Guard. Well, originally the left wing The army has a naval force, and you should also know something about naval warfare. I am planning to establish a southeastern naval division. If you are interested, you can give it a try."
In fact, what Zhao Mengqi wanted to build was a navy, but it couldn't be accomplished overnight. He had to explore slowly.
There is not much difference between the water warfare mode of this era and the land warfare mode. It is not a fool's errand to let Zeng Ba turn into a navy. Anyway, he is learning a new mode from scratch.
When the Chinese navy was first established in later generations, most of the officers and soldiers were transferred from the army.
"Navy?" Zeng Ba scratched his head, "It's not impossible, but apart from some pirates, there aren't many battles at sea..."
This is true, so the navy envisioned by Zhao Mengqi will mainly serve land warfare for a long time, but it will play a major strategic role.
"There's no battle to be fought, am I just using the water division for fun!? Anyway, the opportunity is given to you. If you don't want to, you can go to Dongwei, but for the time being, you can only be the leader."
When Zeng Bazheng was weighing, Qian Long's eyes rolled as he thought that Zhao Mengqi had ordered many ships in Quanzhou, and he obviously valued this navy very much.
Then he popped up and said, "Your Highness, do you think it would be okay for me to go to the navy?"
"You!?" Zhao Mengqi looked Qian Long up and down, and finally his eyes stopped on his big belly.
Qian Long shrank his stomach subconsciously, "I was born fat. As you know, Your Highness, I have a harder time marching, but I am still as lively as others in battle, so I think the Navy is just right for me. You can go everywhere by boat, and if you stay at sea for a longer time, you might be able to lose weight..."
When Zhao Mengqi thought about it, it seemed that this was really the case, "Okay, otherwise if you keep getting so fat, even an elephant might not be able to carry you..."
"Thank you for your grace, Your Highness!" Qian Long didn't care about Zhao Mengqi's teasing and just kept smiling.
Zeng Bayi looked at it, and his heart brightened. The children of the aristocratic family may not be more capable than ordinary people, but their sense of smell in some aspects is much sharper. When you can't see clearly, you will probably not go wrong if you follow the trend and make the choice.
"Your Highness, I am willing to join the Navy."
"Sure?"
"Sure!"
"Okay... leave the garrison brigade to Luo Qian. After the handover is completed, you will move to the ship for food and accommodation. Xiaopang, you too... By the way, a fleet should arrive in the afternoon. Gengzhi, please remember to help me. Go and greet..."
By the afternoon, a fleet departing from Quanzhou, carrying a large amount of supplies and immigrants, sailed into Lukang.
Today's Fujian Road is still in a state of war, but the coastal counties and counties are not at all wary and chaotic. On the contrary, all industries are prosperous.
The original workshops in Quanzhou, Fuzhou and other places were operating at full capacity, producing a large amount of goods, and more workshops were being built in full swing.
The reason for this is not complicated. The main reason is that the new maritime trade policy launched by King Yan and the official launch of Liuqiu development created a huge demand for various commodities. Seeing the profits, countless gentry spent their savings. The wealth was converted into monetary capital through the Royal Bank. After being invested in construction, it stimulated various industries, and the slowly continuing counter-insurgency operations provided abundant labor force.
Fujian is a place with many mountains and few fields, and there are a large number of landless people. Many of them were involved in this chaos and became bandits, and were captured by the army.
If we follow the traditional practice of the Song Dynasty, we would basically take out the able-bodied men and turn them into Xiang soldiers. Most of the rest would be given a little grain and resettled on the spot, leaving them to fend for themselves. At most, some taxes and corvees would be exempted.
But this time it's different. Most of the prisoners were first moved to Quanzhou, Fuzhou, where they were managed by the government and underwent "reform through labor." Whether you have skills or just work hard, you can be given corresponding jobs. , but wages will be paid.
There is no need to worry about labor surplus, because most of them will be immigrated to Liuqiu one after another. According to Zhao Mengqi's plan, at least more than 300,000 people will immigrate in one year, and up to one million in three years.
Since they basically have nothing, they will become employees of the Liuqiu Development Company and become the 'working class' for a few years after immigrating.
If you really can't adapt to this method, you can break away from the company after saving a few years, buy or lease mature farmland from a development company, and become a 'free farmer'.
The indigenous people in Liuqiu know how to farm, but they are basically practicing slash-and-burn farming, and there are almost no truly mature fields. Therefore, the most suitable way at present is to have the development company take the lead, provide sufficient material resources, and then collectively use labor force. Like military villages, wasteland was reclaimed and water conservancy projects were built to create real fertile farmland.
In the future, as long as agricultural products can be grown successfully, it doesn't matter whether it is a farm model or an individual farmer model, so the land can be rented and sold. After all, the development company is controlled by Zhao Mengqi, and the profit he pursues is not money.
Of course, in order to maintain the enthusiasm of investors, Zhao Mengqi also had to come up with appropriate profit points to stimulate them.
Before agricultural development matured, shipbuilding, fishing, sun-dried salt, camphor, timber, animal skins, antler, mountain delicacies, etc. were actually very profitable, enough to attract investors' enthusiasm and confidence.
However, there will be a large gap in food. In the short term, we can rely on the grain reserves from previous years that the Fujian gentry actively or passively put out, and fisheries can provide some supplements, but it will only be enough to support two or three years at most, and it will be lost after three years. I am afraid that the food I asked for cannot be self-sufficient.
Therefore, Zhao Mengqi naturally set his sights on the Indochina Peninsula, and Gu Qing, who was responsible for planning and implementing the preliminary operations, came on the ship today.
