On the 20th of the twelfth lunar month, the sky was clear and snowless, the north wind was howling, and it was already extremely cold on Xuanzhen North Road.
In the Chicheng General Office, all the officials gathered, including the officials of the Kaiping Guards, the guards of the North Road forts, and thousands of households gathered in the Chicheng Castle. It has become a regular practice since then.
Everyone rushed to Chi Castle one day in advance. For this reason, Zhang Cheng specially ordered people to carefully clean the Inspectorate Office opposite the General Office, where all the officials and generals who came from afar lived.
On the same day, since Chen time, everyone has been discussing matters in the Procuratorate Office. First, the forts in each castle reported the harvests of their military households, and the military camps were engaged in garrison matters. Then, the Guards Division allocated material reserves based on the situation of each fort.
It was not until the end of the day that the discussion ended. Generally speaking, it was good. It was just that the inspection of farmland on Xiabei Road and the reclamation of wasteland and canal construction were carried out a little later, so the effect was not so obvious.
Shangbei Road is different. After all, Zhang Cheng took office in early May. Under the rapid changes, the changes in Shangbei Road were extremely rapid. Although there were some bloody storms in the middle, the effect was obvious.
The only change is that during the discussion, many castle guards and thousands of households were more concerned about when Zhang Cheng would start recruiting brave men again!
In response to this, Zhang Cheng just smiled but did not make any reply. He also wanted to continue recruiting military warriors, but this was not a matter of recruitment. How would the recruited military warriors be supported?
With the current strength of the North Road, it is extremely difficult to feed the nearly 10,000 troops under his command. Others may expect the imperial court to allocate funds for food, but Zhang Cheng knows very well that the imperial court cannot spend any extra money. of silver.
Even now, Zhang Cheng can barely feed these nearly 10,000 soldiers, thanks to the serious shortage of troops in the fortresses on the North Road. It can be said that he has concentrated his efforts to support the new army under Zhang Cheng's command.
During the discussion, Zhang Cheng also promised each castle that he would gradually fill the vacancies in each castle in the coming year. Of course, everything always has a priority. Since Zhang Cheng has not set a specific order and time, there is more room for maneuver here.
As a person from later generations, if he doesn't even have this kind of thinking, then there is no need to continue to mess around, he can just jump off the cliff!
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That night, Zhang Cheng and the officers and generals of the Kaiping Guards, as well as the garrison guards from various fortresses, Qianhu and other generals had a feast. All the officers and generals came to toast Zhang Cheng, but Zhang Cheng could not do it one by one. The person who came to toast naturally drank it all in one gulp, but he just touched his lips.
Jin Xinpeng, Yan Qingrong, Zhang Guodong, Chen Zheng, Zhang Guangda, Wu Zhizhong, Wei Zhice and others also attracted much attention, and people from various castles also toasted to them one after another and built relationships with them.
Jin Xinpeng and Yan Qingrong have clearly become the second and third figures in North Road, and a few smart people can't help but secretly admire Zhang Cheng's manipulation.
Xue Liangqing, the three original big-shot figures in Kaipingwei, was now dead and in disrepute, and Jin Yong, the clan nephew promoted by Jin Xinpeng, was transferred away from Dushi.
Therefore, although Jin Xinpeng is the No. 2 person on the North Road and is now in charge of Dushikou Castle, Zhang Cheng has promoted Sha Zhongwang to the Chief of Dushi Defense Camp. He is Yan Qingrong, the No. 3 person on the North Road. of cronies.
How could one not admire such an arrangement? Although Zhang Cheng was no longer stationed in Dushikou Castle, Jin Xinpeng, who was in charge of the affairs, had no trusted generals, and Yan Qingrong, who had trusted generals, had to take orders from Jin Xinpeng.
This is the result that Zhang Cheng wants. Perhaps in the near future, even Chen Zheng's Dushi Infantry Camp and Zhang Guangda's Cavalry Camp can be moved away from Dushikou.
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Early on the next morning, the garrison officials in various forts and officials from thousands of households left Chicheng and rushed back to their respective garrison places after breakfast.
Before leaving, Zhang Cheng even sealed a big red envelope for each of them, containing ranging from fifty taels to two hundred taels of silver, to reward him for his diligent service over the past six months.
Those who stayed behind were all the key figures around Zhang Cheng, either from Zhang Cheng's shogunate or close relatives and direct descendants of Zhang Cheng.
At noon, the Office of the Procuratorate was already bustling with life again, and it seemed very lively, not only the commanders of the Kaiping Guards Jin Xinpeng, Yan Qingrong, Liu Zhi, Cao Jinwang and others who had stayed behind.
There are also Chen Zheng, Cui Shijie and Song Shanquan of the Dushi Infantry Camp, Zhang Guodong, Chen Dakuan, Jin Yong and others of the Chicheng Infantry Camp, as well as Zhang Guangda, Chen Zhong and Wang Tieren of the Cavalry Camp.
As well as the generals of the Chinese army led by Wu Zhizhong and the generals of Wei Zhice's carriage camp, more importantly, Shi Tiegen, the general manager of the Yunzhou craftsman camp, Wang Gancheng, the head of the gun bureau in the camp, Li Chengmao, the head of the artillery bureau, Du Gui of the gunpowder bureau, and Xin Congjian of the carriage bureau , as well as the directors of several major bureaus and workshops, including the Armor Bureau, all arrived.
Lu Dachun, Zhang Cheng's newly appointed reception manager of the General Staff Office, has been very busy these days, but his smiling face has not changed at all. He is tireless and always maintains a comfortable smile.
In the huge official hall of the Chicheng Procuratorate, there are small tables on the left and right sides. On each table there are some dried fruits, cakes and tea.
Zhang Cheng is sitting in the middle of the upper chamber, with officers and generals such as Jin Xinpeng, Chen Zheng, and Zhang Guodong on his left, and craftsmen such as Shi Tiegen, Wang Qiancheng, and Li Chengmao on his right.
In the middle of the official hall, there are rows of wooden shelves with rows of firecrackers on them. In addition, there are several pairs of armors hanging on the wooden shelves. The armor leaves are of the same thickness and look like Extremely sophisticated.
But the eyes of everyone in the official hall were still attracted by the fire blunderbuss on the wooden racks, especially the short blunderbuss on the first row of wooden racks, which were even more eye-catching.
Zhang Cheng was also concentrating on the various muskets and armors placed in the official hall. These were newly made by Yunzhou Craftsman Camp and were brought here for Zhang Cheng to view and accept.
"Have you tried these new fire guns?" Zhang Cheng asked in a deep voice.
"Reporting to the Commander-in-Chief, this time I brought five volley-type short muskets, self-generating fire muskets, and electric muskets, all of which have been tested. There are also new chainmails, plate armors, and breastplates each, all of which are water-powered. The armor leaves and armor pieces forged on the forging machine are extremely fine." Shi Tiegen stood up and replied.
Zhang Cheng asked again: "How many types of guns and cannons have your craftsman camp prepared?"
"Reporting to the Commander-in-Chief, by the end of the year, a total of 1,250 Yunzhou guns can be prepared. Some time ago, 456 guns were delivered to the Dushi Infantry Camp and the Chicheng Infantry Camp. There are also 456 guns in the Yunzhou Treasury. There are three hundred and thirty-eight shots in stock.
In addition, the artillery bureau has also prepared 120 No. 4 cannons, 120 boxes of rockets, 100 No. 5 cannons, 60 tiger crouching cannons and mortar cannons, in addition to 100 flying cannons.
Among them, one hundred and twenty No. 4 guns and one hundred and twenty boxes of rockets have been assembled on chariots, totaling sixty vehicles, and have been delivered to General Wei's chariot camp for reception.
In addition, the No. 5 gun has also been assembled on fifty baggage vehicles. Another fifty baggage vehicles have not yet been equipped with the No. 5 gun. These one hundred baggage vehicles have also been delivered to the camp.
The remaining tiger crouching cannons, mortar cannons, and flying cannons are not equipped with chariots and carriages, and can be arranged and deployed as needed during wartime. "
