After the apprenticeship ceremony was completed, all the guests below stood up and applauded.
They originally thought that this time they came to the county governor's mansion simply to congratulate Nie Chen on his official appointment as county governor.
Unexpectedly, I also saw the scene of the majestic prince becoming a disciple. You should know that this kind of scene can only be witnessed by the dignitaries in the capital. I didn't expect that they also have this honor, seeing this scene and witnessing history.
What they didn't expect was that this scene, this moment, this event would be recorded in history, passed down through the ages, and talked about by people thousands of years later.
Later generations of historians designated this day as a historic turning point, saying that from this day onwards, Nie Chen started his path to power and became infamous as an evil minister.
Of course, Nie Chen didn't know how future generations would judge him. At this moment, he thought that the apprenticeship ceremony was over, could he start dinner?
I'm so hungry.
Eunuch Zeng shouted in a high-pitched voice,
"After the ceremony, the music is played, and the banquet begins! Please take your seats!"
Everyone sat back down, while the Sixth Prince held his hands and smiled,
"Teacher, please take a seat with your wife."
After Nie Chen hesitated for a moment, he said
"This is inappropriate. You are the prince and your status is the highest here. You should sit in the upper seat."
"What are you saying, teacher? Even the emperor has to salute the teacher when he sees him. What's more, Xiao Wang is just a prince?
The Lord of Heaven and Earth, my teacher, are the five great respects. If I don’t respect my teacher, wouldn’t I become someone who is reviled by everyone? "
Hearing this, Nie Chen stopped delaying and took Weng Qiuchan to sit at the main table.
The Sixth Prince, Eunuch Zeng and Zhao Fanhai sat on the seats on the right, while Zhou Ping, Ouyang Ming, Dazhuang, Lin Guang, Yue Dongwen and others sat on the left. Everyone else sat at the large round table.
After the banquet started, the atmosphere was no longer so serious, and people became more casual. Many merchants and scribes came to toast Nie Chen. After the toasts, the merchants all surrounded Zhou Ping, and the scribes all surrounded Ouyang Ming.
After all, these two people, one is a big boss in the business world, the other is a model of literary people, both are idol-level figures.
After hearing that Ouyang Ming had followed Nie Chen, many literati were inspired and immediately bowed their heads and were willing to serve Nie Chen.
This banquet was extremely lively, and it also demonstrated Nie Chen's prestige and strength.
After the banquet, everyone went home to rest.
From then on, the sixth prince would run into the curtain hall whenever he had something to do, saying he wanted to learn from his teacher.
Nie Chen was so busy every day that he had no time to teach him, so he asked Zhou Ping and Ouyang Ming to take turns teaching him how to read, one hour a day, and let the sixth prince move freely during the rest of the time.
In fact, the Sixth Prince didn't like reading, and he didn't regard Nie Chen as a teacher in his heart. He was only two years younger than Nie Chen. His nature was to be playful and lustful. He came to study with Nie Chen just to increase his familiarity with him. , just to cultivate feelings.
Nie Chen divided the work in the curtain hall, letting Zhou Ping still be in charge of government affairs, but separated the military affairs. All the civilian work in military affairs was taught to Ouyang Ming, which can be regarded as a specialization in the field, which greatly reduced Zhou Ping's pressure. burden.
On this morning, Nie Chen, Ouyang Ming and Zhou Ping were all working in the curtain hall.
Ouyang Ming took a ledger, sat next to Nie Chen, and said,
"Lord, as of last night, the recruitment status of Fei Ge Chuan Shu in various places is as follows.
Jinping County recruited more than 10,000 troops, and they were first concentrated in the county government. Mr. Zhao asked for instructions whether to send them to Guiling Pass. "
"Give him a reply and send it directly. Liang Peng is the commander-in-chief of the Jinping Army. All soldiers and horses recruited by Jinping County will be sent to Guiling Pass without any further questioning."
Ouyang Ming nodded and continued,
"Okay, Qingshui County has recruited 13,000 troops, and they have now entered the county. Wang Hao, commander of the Qingshui Army, has full authority for training and arrangements."
Nie Chen frowned and said,
"The recruitment work in Qingshui County is a bit slow. It is the place where we made our fortune, and the people trust us the most and have the strongest sense of identity. Only more than 10,000 people have been recruited so far.
Send a message to the county magistrate over there and ask him and Wang Hao to recruit troops as soon as possible. We will face war at any time. "
"Lord, Qingshui County is the county with the smallest population among the four counties. It has been suffering from wars and chaos all year round and bandits are rampant. It has caused a lot of loss of people. In addition, the arsenal is recruiting workers, plus more than 10,000 people were recruited during the previous army. There may not be many young people left in Qingshui County now.
We still have to leave a lot of young people to farm. Otherwise, if there is not enough food and grass, we will have to spend a lot of money to buy food and grass from King Pingxi. No matter how much money we have, it will not be enough to spend like this. It will undoubtedly be fishing on dry land. In the future, the financial situation will also be affected. crisis. "
"Okay, by the way, how is the construction of the Jinshan Arsenal in Jinping County? All the craftsmen I sent should have arrived, right?"
"It's all here. The construction has been completed. It's just like production. It's just the finished weapons. I think it will take a while before they can be released and sold to King Pingxi."
"Well, the construction of weapons must not slow down. Whether it is arming ourselves or selling them for money, they are our lifeline."
Ouyang Ming nodded and said,
"Okay, my lord, I also have some suggestions regarding business. We will discuss this at the end. Let's move on to military matters first.
In Longxing County, Tiantai, a few days ago, General Lin and General Yue led their troops to suppress bandits. According to the intelligence last night, their work of suppressing bandits was nearing completion.
Under the condition of continuous arrest and recruitment, Tiantai County recruited more than 5,000 bandits and more than 28,000 new soldiers. Longxing County recruited more than 3,000 bandits and 30,000 new soldiers.
We used to have 12,000 soldiers. Adding these newly recruited troops, we now have nearly 80,000 troops. Adding the troops recently recruited by the county government, we now have a total of 80,000 troops.
Lord, you have to number these 80,000 people and arrange them well. All generals and commanders must be arranged in place and well trained. "
Nie Chen touched his chin and said,
"That is to say, now, the Jinping Army itself has 20,000 people. Before I came back, I transferred the 10,000 people from Jinping County to him, and now I have transferred another 10,000 people, for a total of 40,000 people.
Then the Qingshui Army has 15,000 people, and Lin Guangyue, Dongwen and others have a total of 80,000 people. I already have 130,000 people under my command? "
Ouyang Ming's head was full of black lines and he said,
"Lord, we have quite a few troops now, but most of them are new recruits. Without formal training, it is difficult for them to display their combat effectiveness. They cannot compare with the enemy's elite army.
The most urgent task now is to train these troops and quickly transform them into combat effectiveness. "
