Everyone present was silent and looked at Ye Ying standing high up quietly, but their hearts were surging. In particular, many of the former bandits in Zhuifeng Ridge were veterans of the Eagle Army. They had tears in their eyes at this moment. They did not expect that they would have the opportunity to become a member of the Eagle Army again in this life.
Although the bandits in Zhuifeng Ridge had previously joined the Flying Eagle Club, they were under the unified control of the leader Ye Ying. But in fact, in the hearts of many people, the eldest lady Fan Lingyan has always been the leader, but now, the balance in the hearts of many people has begun to slowly tilt towards Ye Ying.
The news that the son of Eagle Commander Ye Fei had occupied Yunshan Pass and Shishou Pass, and reestablished the banner of the Fierce Eagle Army in Heishan, Yuhe, and Caoping Counties, spread as quickly as if it had grown wings.
It didn't take long for Emperor Liu Gou of Daning in Jinling City, as well as the entire Daning, from the dignitaries to the traffickers and lackeys, to spread the news. Even the northern barbarians far away from the pass received the news.
The reputation of the Fierce Eagle Army was too high back then. This news touched the heartstrings of many people in Daning and the Northern Barbarians. Many forces were urgently discussing how to deal with this sudden news. Even Ye Ying himself did not expect that a bloody storm would slowly unfold due to the reappearance of the Fierce Eagle Army.
In order to show that the Lieying Army had no intention of targeting the Daning court, Ye Ying also made a major decision, which was to release all Daning officials and soldiers captured during this period.
Since the defeat of the Mad Lion Army, the Flying Eagle Society has detained many prisoners, most of whom are soldiers of the Mad Lion Army, and some are soldiers and officials captured from Yunshan Pass and various counties. There are thousands of these people in total, and just to fill their bellies requires a lot of food. Letting them go this time can be regarded as getting rid of a big burden.
Of course, before letting them go, the Fierce Eagle Army still gave everyone a choice, that is, those who were willing to stay in the three counties. Whether they joined the army as officials or as ordinary people, the Fierce Eagle Army welcomed them.
This strategy of the Fierce Eagle Army was obviously very effective. Nearly 30% of the prisoners decided to stay in the three counties controlled by the Fierce Eagle Army. In particular, some officers of the Wild Lion Army took the initiative to stay because they were afraid of returning to the court and being punished. These generals with the ability to command on the battlefield are exactly what the Eagle Army is in urgent need of.
"General Zeng, please come back to the court and give me a message. I, Ye Ying, am a citizen of Daning. The main purpose of forming the Lieying Army is to help Daning fight against the invasion of foreign enemies. As long as the court can return the Lieying Army to the Ye family, Innocent, we are even willing to obey the imperial court's orders." Ye Ying said to him solemnly when sending Zeng Yi and others out of Shishou Pass.
"I understand." Regarding Ye Ying's words, Zeng Yi did not make any promises, because he was a defeated general, and it was hard to say whether he could save his life when he returned this time.
Seeing the changes in Heishan and other three counties, Zeng Yi even had the urge to stay in the Eagle Army, maybe he could create a new situation. But he knew deeply that as a member of the Zeng family, betraying the court would be a heavy blow to his family. For the benefit of the family, he had to choose to return or even lose his life.
After sending away these prisoners, Ye Ying and his subordinates set their sights on developing the economy of the three counties. The previous crackdown on the unscrupulous rich in the three counties was too severe. Although it won the hearts of the people and allowed the three counties to confiscate a lot of property, the drawbacks were actually not small.
The biggest drawback is the development of commerce. Zhuge Ying, the county magistrate and military adviser of the three counties, is a wise man. He knows that if a place wants to develop, the development of commerce is essential and the fastest way to develop the economy.
In the early stage, unscrupulous landlords and unscrupulous businessmen were cracked down on, but those wealthy businessmen who had a good reputation, were conscientious in doing business, and often did charity were protected targets, and their property was not affected in any way.
But seeing that many businessmen had their property confiscated and even lost their lives, these businessmen were still frightened. They didn't know when the knife would be put on their heads. So these days, these businessmen have chosen to suspend their business and stay at home to avoid drawing attention to themselves.
This approach of these businessmen has greatly affected the livelihood of the people. Many people cannot sell their cloth, medicinal materials, agricultural and sideline products, etc., and the people who rely on these things to make a living will soon face an unsustainable situation.
When this phenomenon was reported to Ye Ying through various counties, this optimistic young man began to feel worried. After racking his brains for a long time, Ma Zhengyuan's name suddenly appeared in his mind.
Ma Zhengyuan and Ye Ying have always been in close contact. Since the Mad Lion Army attacked the Fuhu Mountain Flying Eagle Association, the two have temporarily lost contact. After defeating the Mad Lion Army and even the Flying Eagle Society bandits moving into Yuhe County, Ye Ying had so many things to do that he couldn't spare the time to visit Ma Zhengyuan.
Ma Zhengyuan actually wanted to find Ye Ying, but now their identities have changed. Ye Ying has changed from a bandit leader to the leader of these three counties, and is even the son of Commander Ye Fei. Now this The supreme commander of the Eagle Army.
After Ye Ying occupied the three counties, he killed many businessmen and wealthy people. Ma Zhengyuan was a little confused about what he wanted to do, so he did not dare to contact him rashly.
Ma Zhengyuan's business is very large, and he is the second largest businessman in Yuhe County after the Wang family. He also has business in Heishan County and Caoping County. He has great influence among the businessmen in these three counties, which is why Ye Ying suddenly thought of him.
Seeing Ye Ying taking the initiative to look for him, Ma Zhengyuan was also very happy, and he finally breathed a sigh of relief. He took the initiative to propose the establishment of a chamber of commerce in the three counties controlled by the Fierce Eagle Army, and readily accepted Ye Ying's invitation to serve as the president of the chamber of commerce in the three counties.
The vice president of the Chamber of Commerce is Zhang Fu. Zhang Fu has done business in nearby counties over the years and has accumulated a lot of contacts. However, except for important figures in the Flying Eagle Association, no one else knows that Zhang Fu and his son are actually Flying Eagles. The leaders of the Eagle Association, they are serving Ye Ying.
With the joint efforts of Ma Zhengyuan and Zhang Fu. Finally dispelling the doubts of the merchants, they began to take action, collecting various materials from the three counties and sending them to other places to sell at high prices.
At the same time, a lot of materials needed by the three counties were purchased from outside. Because of the lessons learned from other businessmen, these businessmen now do things very fairly, which has brought a lot of benefits to the officials, bandits and ordinary people in the three counties.
With the cooperation of Ma Zhengyuan and Zhang Fu, other businessmen who got the benefits also took action. Seeing this situation, Ye Ying and the officials of the three counties also promptly introduced various policies to give great support to their business activities. .
These policies have made businessmen feel at ease, and their worries and fears about these bandit-turned-officials have been reduced a lot. Driven by interests, more and more people have joined the ranks, which has greatly improved the business prospects of the three counties. The development gradually became operational smoothly.
After solving the business problems, Ye Ying and the officials of his core group breathed a sigh of relief and turned their attention to the development of agriculture.
The three counties of Heishan, Yuhe, and Caoping are all mountainous areas. The mountains and forests here are vast, rich in vegetation, and home to many medicinal materials and birds and animals. But it also has its fatal weakness, that is, the land is very scarce and the crops that can be planted are also very limited.
Now, there are more than 20,000 official members of the Fierce Eagle Army. Including military families and support personnel, there are a full 30,000 to 40,000 people. The food, clothing, housing and transportation for so many people consume a huge amount of money.
The most troublesome thing for Ye Ying now is the food problem. There are very few varieties of food that Da Ning can grow, basically only rice, millet, wheat, sorghum, sweet potato and other crops.
Among them, crops such as rice, millet, and wheat have high water requirements, so most of them can only be grown in fields. At present, the three counties of Heishan, Yuhe and Caoping are mostly in mountainous terrain. The shortage of fields and land is very serious. They can only rely on drought-resistant crops such as sorghum and sweet potato, which obviously cannot meet the current needs.
Under the current circumstances, the officials of the three counties could not think of any other good solution, so Ye Ying, at the suggestion of Ge Yuncai, the magistrate of Heishan County, focused on cultivating terraces while there was no war at the moment.
If you want to cultivate terraced fields, you must have abundant water resources as a guarantee. There are only two methods that can be done at present. One is to make a water wheel to send water from low-lying areas to higher locations.
In order to achieve this goal, Ye Ying ordered the carpenters and blacksmiths from the three counties to be summoned to start manufacturing waterwheels.
Of course, just having a water tanker is not enough. You have to find ways to keep the water at high places. The only way is to build a reservoir, which is a big project. But in order to solve the food problem of the people in the three counties, this matter had to be done.
For this reason, Ye Ying and military advisor Zhuge Ying personally took the three county magistrates Ge Yuncai, Du Kui'an and Jiang Jin to inspect the three counties and decided to build two large reservoirs.
Since there is currently no war, Ye Ying ordered all combatants to be mobilized to help the people build the reservoir.
When they heard that the reservoir was going to be built, the people in the three counties reacted very positively because they knew that this was something that would really benefit them. After seeing the announcement issued by the county government, almost all the people took action. Everyone who had money and strength contributed, and they all devoted themselves to this matter with a positive attitude.
However, the county governments did not treat everyone badly. For those people who took the initiative to participate in the reservoir construction project, they not only provided food, but also distributed some money and food. Although the money and food were not very much, it also made the people very happy.
In the past, the imperial court assigned them tasks, and many times they had to bring their own food, let alone the money to take it. Nowadays, the county government works for the people, and they still have food to eat and money to earn. This is something that no one has thought of before. In this case, people are more motivated to work.
As the saying goes, "when everyone adds firewood, the flames rise." With the joint efforts of the Qinglong, White Tiger, Suzaku, and Xuanwu armies of the Fierce Eagle Army, two huge reservoirs have begun to take shape. Of course, it will take more than 10 years to actually put them into use. Take some time.
However, the specific operations were left to those experienced people. In the process, county officials discovered some talents in water conservancy and assigned them positions in the county government. This greatly mobilized The enthusiasm of everyone also relieved a lot of pressure on the upper management of the Fierce Eagle Army with Ye Ying as the core.
"Brother Ying, try your best to arrange things for the people below. Seeing how busy you are every day, sister Ganxiang and I are very anxious." In the yard where Ye Ying lives in Heishan County, Fan Lingyan personally Holding Ye Ying's shoulders, Gan Xiang also made a pot of tea for him.
