In the capital, in the Ministry of War, the minister is on duty.
Hou Xun has already taken office and is working hard on paperwork.
There were countless documents piled on the table, and he needed to look at each one.
Not long after, a newspaper attracted his attention.
The person who wrote the letter was Zhang Jimeng of the Linqing Army.
In the Tong Bao, Zhang Jimeng elaborated on the local military situation in Linqing, focusing on the fact that after the incident at Chaoguan Wharf, the local army was short of weapons, so he begged the court for permission to set up his own weapons depot.
Hou Xun took the document and thought about it for a while before making annotations on it.
Then, he found another document.
The second document was sent earlier, from Li Xuewei, the magistrate of Mengyin County, Shandong Province.
In October this autumn, bandits in the Yimeng Mountain area went out in large numbers to plunder Mengyin. Ten villages and thirty-five villages were destroyed, and the county town was surrounded. Thousands of people were massacred, and more than twenty landlords of all sizes were exterminated.
Li Xuewei was so frightened that he quickly wrote memorials to the Qingzhou Prefecture, the Governor of Shandong, and the Ministry of War, begging the imperial court to send troops to suppress the bandits.
The Qingzhou Prefecture and the Shandong Governor received the report... but pretended not to have received it.
It's not that they neglected their duties, it's that there are no troops to send in Shandong.
At that time, in order to prevent civil unrest in Jifu, most of Shandong's troops were transferred to the front line in Dezhou, leaving a very empty internal situation.
Even without this mobilization, Shandong's local troops and horses are still very insufficient.
In addition, the Yimeng Mountain Area is remote and impoverished. If a large army is sent there, not to mention whether the bandits can be suppressed, the local area cannot even guarantee the supply of military rations.
So they had no choice but to turn a blind eye or close one eye and pretend they didn't see it.
When the memorial arrived at the Ministry of War, Hou Xun read it and planned to deal with it later. After seeing Zhang Jimeng's petition, Hou Xun had an idea.
He put the two memorials together, with Li Xuewei's on top and Zhang Jimeng's on the bottom. Then he found a clerk and gave detailed instructions.
"Send it up nicely."
Although the civil servants working in the ministry are inconspicuous, they are all excellent people.
The minister said this, how could he not understand?
So the civil servant kept the two memorials in the same order and submitted them to the Supervisor of Ceremonies.
One day later, Chongzhen summoned Wang Qia, the Minister of War, and Hou Xun, the Minister of War, to inquire about the matter.
Chongzhen's focus was indeed on the first thing.
"Is the banditry in Mengyin so serious?"
Wang Qia was a little confused.
He had just succeeded Wang Zaijin and was familiar with the headquarters. How could he know the specific affairs?
Only Hou Xun can come forward.
"Your Majesty, Mengyin is close to the Yimeng Mountains, and the terrain is dangerous and complex. The land is barren, the people have no food and clothing, and there are many bandits. The former Qin Shilang once said: There are seventy-two valleys in Yimeng, and there are tigers in the valleys."
Qin Shiwen, the former minister of the Ministry of War, was from Mengyin County and passed away in May this year.
Chongzhen was very angry.
"In that case, why didn't Shandong Yousi wipe out the problem?"
Hou Xun had done his homework. When he told the actual situation, Chongzhen was helpless.
"Shandong is so big, but there are no soldiers available?"
Hou Xun naturally could not embarrass the emperor, so he excused himself by saying: "Shandong was divided into Denglai to take care of Liaodong. Since then, the focus of military preparations has been shifted. It has been a long time ago."
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the war situation in Liaodong became increasingly difficult. In order to support the Liaodong battlefield, the Ming court separated Dengzhou and Laizhou from Shandong and established the governor of Denglai. At the same time, it also gathered heavy troops in Denglai, leaving Shandong empty.
After hearing what he said, Chongzhen became interested.
Later, the first martial arts examination of the Ming Dynasty was held, and the first martial arts champion Wang Lai was specially hired and sent to Shandong to serve as deputy general.
But Chongzhen still had to deal with the current situation.
"Then let's deal with it as it is, and order Linqing troops to prepare for the road. When the army is reorganized, we can dispatch troops and generals to assist Mengyin in suppressing the bandits."
After the plan was approved, Hou Xun looked calm and relaxed.
"I obey the decree."
Zhuangzi has now become a bustling construction site. More than two thousand people are working here, and the progress is very fast.
The top priority now is the construction of military camps.
Zuo Mengeng did not entrust others, but took charge and designed it himself.
Because the weather is cold, if you make mud bricks to build a house, the mud bricks will not dry at all. So Zuo Mengeng spent a lot of money and directly bought green bricks and built a brick house.
This item alone cost more than 20,000 taels.
"The officers and soldiers' dormitories are all built like this, with long rows in series and large kangs. Note that the flue under the kang must be built like this. If something goes wrong, I will cause trouble for you."
Zhang Yan led several masons around Zuo Mengeng and listened to his instructions without daring to neglect them at all.
I just didn't expect that this rich young man actually knew how to build a Kang.
Everyone was quite skeptical before, but after a section of the house was built and a kang was built, everyone was convinced.
The flue of the new kang is very smooth and can transfer heat to the entire kang surface very well, so that people can feel warm wherever they sleep on it. It is simply a magical life.
Because the house is built with blue bricks, it is not afraid of cold weather. After it is built, smoke it with firewood, and the house will be ready soon.
As for the house being smoked black, we have no choice but to paint it afterward.
The original Zhuangzi has been completely demolished, and the fence boundaries are gone.
The entire military camp occupies a very large area, and together with the school grounds, it almost takes up all the cultivated land.
However, the cultivated land here is not suitable for working, so if you take it, you can take it, and you won't feel bad about it.
Even the wasteland around Zhuangzi was occupied after Zuo Menggeng asked Qu Shichen for instructions.
What is ownerless is mine.
The rear camp is a comprehensive army, and the space required for training is inherently large.
According to Zuo Mengeng's plan, the whole camp was divided into several parts.
The center is the battalion headquarters, and the front periphery is four infantry brigades.
The infantry brigade's dormitories are a long row of brick buildings, one for each brigade. A washroom, activity room, toilet, etc. are added in the middle to form an independent area.
The artillery brigade is the most elite and is located behind the battalion headquarters. A row of soldiers' dormitories and a row of warehouses.
Of course, the ammunition depot is far away and nothing is close to it.
Zuo Mengeng didn't want to fall asleep, so he took a local plane.
The cavalry brigade has the largest land area. In addition to the officers and soldiers' dormitories, the stables stretch over a wide area. Including the warehouse for storing fodder and the racecourse for training, almost half of the entire camp is used up.
The General Logistics Brigade is between the military camp and Xinzhuangzi.
Zuo Mengeng's idea was to turn the General Logistics Brigade into a technical force.
Arranged here, after the weapons station is put into operation, the general logistics brigade can get started immediately and gradually cultivate its own technical personnel.
Xinzhuangzi was named Zuozhuang by Zuo Menggeng, which was his private property.
Now there are not only the farmers of Lao Zhuangzi, but also the families of the officers and soldiers who are about to enter the camp. There were a huge number of men, women, old and young, at least tens of thousands.
It is impossible to support so many people by farming alone, and Zuozhuang does not have that much land.
Together with the more than 2,000 strong laborers, Zuo Mengeng's idea is to gradually arrange them into various workshops.
The military camp is under construction, and Zuozhuang is also under construction.
Enough housing must be built for those who come after us.
Zuo Mengeng is also not stingy. The new houses here are also built with bricks and tiles.
Of course, the requirements are definitely not comparable to those of a military camp. Each household is compactly located next to each other, minimizing the amount of land used.
You can still get water at home to wash up, but you have to go to a public restroom far away to use the toilet.
Regarding hygiene issues, Zuo Mengeng has extremely strict requirements. Within a few days, he had whipped anyone who defecated in the open.
Under severe punishment, both the original farmers and the refugees all obeyed the rules honestly.
"Don't think that these people are here just to steal our jobs. People are the greatest wealth. Without these people, would our place be so prosperous now? Besides, we only have so much land, and we can't rely on it. Eat. So, you must open your mind and accept these new people from outside. Only when everyone gets along in harmony, life here will be more prosperous, right? "
At any time, conflicts between locals and outsiders are bound to exist.
The same goes for Zhuangzi.
The original farmers saw tens of thousands of people coming all of a sudden, and were afraid that these people would steal their new fields, so they were very hostile and resistant to these outsiders, both covertly and overtly.
After learning about the situation, Zuo Mengeng specially called the bankers together and held a briefing meeting.
Hearing that outsiders would not steal land for farming, farmers finally let down their guard.
"Master, how can these outsiders survive if they don't farm? You can't keep raising them all the time."
The person who spoke was called Widow Wang. She was actually not very old, only in her early twenties.
The man went out to fight against sacks at the pier the winter before last. He slipped and fell to his death. She was left with her mother-in-law, and the two of them made do with each other.
When it comes to outsiders, the ones who are most wary of are families like hers.
After all, there is no man in the family. If someone bullies someone, there is no way to deal with it.
Zuo Mengeng smiled.
"How much money can you make from farming? Just farming is not enough. In the future, we will have many workshops here. People who don't farm can work in the workshops and earn money to support their families."
A group of farmers looked at each other, a little confused.
Zuo Mengeng simply took Widow Wang as an example.
"Sister-in-law Wang, there are only two people in your family, and they are both women. If you were asked to farm, how much could you farm?"
Widow Wang thought for a while and said as much as possible.
"Whatever, I can still cultivate five acres of land."
Zuo Mengeng didn't believe it.
"How do you farm? Just sprinkle the seeds into the ground and then wait for the sky to eat? I ask you to plow the ground. I'm sure you can't do it, right?"
Widow Wang's eyes turned red and she almost cried.
It is generally best to use oxen to plow farmland.
But where are the cattle?
The farmers had no choice but to work shoulder to shoulder and rely on manpower.
Only men can do this work, women don't have the strength.
Widow Wang was really sad when she thought that without a man in the family, she could not even farm.
