The establishment of the rural protection army, to a certain extent, actually started during the Funiu Mountain period.
At that time, Luo Zhixue had already established agencies in each township and village, and the ruling tentacles of the rural protection army were directly penetrated into each village.
And when the Baoxiang Army went south to Li Qingdian, it was before the Zhaozhuang Campaign was launched.
There are already more than a dozen townships in the Baoxiang Army system, and its control area covers more than one county in terms of geographical area. The permanent population within its jurisdiction already reaches nearly 10,000 households.
After the Zhaozhuang Campaign was launched, in just over ten days, the Baoxiang Army's control area expanded rapidly with a series of military victories, like blowing up a balloon.
As a result, in order to effectively govern the rapidly expanding control area, it became inevitable to establish county-level institutions.
If it weren't for the fact that Nanyang Basin had not yet been fully controlled, Luo Zhixue would have wanted to do it in one step and directly establish a government agency.
After all, there is Nanyang Prefecture and Xiangyang Prefecture!
It's just that now the Baoxiang Army doesn't even have full control over Nanyang Prefecture, and Xiangyang Prefecture only controls two counties. It's a little early to establish prefectural-level institutions.
This series of measures to establish counties, towns, and villages is undoubtedly a serious establishment.
And this is the biggest difference between the Baoxiang Army and other rebel armies.
Don't look at how Gao Yingxiang and the others have made such a big fuss, claiming kingship and hegemony one by one, and randomly claiming the names of various kings for free. But in fact, they don't even have a territory, and they have not set up any level of governance institutions at all.
The difference between bandits and bandits is here.
No matter how the bandits play, they are nothing but rootless duckweeds, and they will be finished sooner or later.
As long as they own the territory and control the local bandits, if they are lucky and strong enough and grow step by step, they can transform from sitting bandits to separatist forces and then to rule the world in minutes.
There is no comparison between the two.
Luo Zhixue knew this very well, and so did Guo Quanshu.
When Guo Quanshu made plans for the above-mentioned institutions according to Luo Zhixue's instructions, he was filled with fear and uneasiness.
He knew very well that once the Hometown Protection Army openly raised the banner of the county government, the Ming Dynasty would definitely fight to the death with the Hometown Protection Army.
It is even possible that the Ming court would throw Gao Yingxiang and others aside first and directly mobilize the army to encircle and suppress the Baoxiang Army.
Because Gao Yingxiang and the others would just destroy the place and run around with their officers and soldiers.
As for the rural protection army, they were directly rushing to seize the world of the Zhu Ming Dynasty.
It’s a shame that the big-shot officials of the Zhu Ming Dynasty and even Chongzhen could endure it.
To put it bluntly, Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng can still accept the imperial edict, but their Baoxiang Army probably has no chance of accepting the imperial edict...
Be as miserable as you want!
What's even more tragic is that once the Baoxiang Army is finished, Guo Quanshu, the director of the Civil Affairs Department, will most likely be guillotined.
Even being beheaded is a good thing, but maybe he will be executed by Ling Chi, quartered, or something like that.
In the past few days, Guo Quanshu couldn't help but lament when he thought about his tragic death in the future.
So what if he just lamented, Guo Quanshu had no way out.
It is estimated that by now, his name Guo Quanshu will be known to the surrounding Ming court officials along with Luo Zhixue's name. In the future, maybe the memorial that Chongzhen will read will contain his name Guo Quanshu...
Since there was no way out, Guo Quanshu could only grit his teeth and continue to follow Luo Zhi. He did not dare to expect the Baoxiang Army to conquer the world in the end. He only hoped that the Baoxiang Army could develop as soon as possible and separatize local areas.
Then it can last for one year...
Naturally, Luo Zhixue didn't know about Guo Quanshu's inner thoughts. He looked through the establishment plan written by Guo Quanshu. While reading, he pointed out the areas that he thought were problematic and asked Guo Quanshu to revise them later.
After a long time, Luo Zhixue finally closed the plan and said: "It's almost there. Although there are still some details that are not perfect, it is still usable. You can modify the problematic ones later and implement it according to the plan!"
"The establishment of a yamen will inevitably require more officials. They are generally selected from existing officials. Secondly, efforts must be made to continue recruiting. If some demoted officials and officials are qualified, they can also be appointed after assessment."
"In short, establish the county government offices as soon as possible, otherwise it will be difficult to collect taxes if it takes too long!"
Guo Quanshu said: "General, don't worry. Taxation stations and taxation bureaus in various places are our priority in establishing them. Taxation work will definitely not be delayed."
After hearing this, Luo Zhixue nodded slightly: "That's good. Taxation work is the lifeline of our rural protection army, and we cannot attach too much importance to it."
Guo Quanshu said: "I understand."
Guo Quanshu naturally knew very well that the establishment of administrative agencies in various places must be based on taxation work.
Because to a certain extent, the establishment of other yamen at all levels is to better collect taxes and then use them to support the army.
Before the township-protecting army established each township government office, there were grain collection stations. When the township government offices were subsequently established, they were all built around the grain collection stations.
Tax collection is the biggest goal of many internal affairs officials of the Baoxiang Army. As for other issues such as public security or people's livelihood, they are all for better tax collection.
If taxes can be collected without these things, and if they collect more, the Baoxiang Army must be too lazy to set up these messy administrative agencies...
Collect taxes and fight wars!
This is what the current system of the Baoxiang Army is doing. Even though there are so many institutions, and the things that the Baoxiang Army does are messy, in the final analysis it can be summed up in these two points.
After Luo Zhixue put down the plan, he took a sip of tea and continued: "Since the county government is expected to be established, the government will soon be established. The organization of the General's Mansion will also be improved, and the names of various places will also have to be changed. Once it is changed, it cannot have the same name as the local government offices."
"All departments under the General's Mansion will be renamed ministries, division chiefs will be renamed ministers, and departments under the ministries will be renamed divisions. Divisions will be divided into divisions, departments, offices, etc."
After hearing this, Guo Quanshu thought to himself: Yes, the director of the Department of Personnel Affairs will directly become the Minister of the Department of Personnel Affairs. This is directly equivalent to the Minister of Personnel Affairs...
In this way, the name of the pseudo-official minister has been completely pinned on himself, and no matter how hard he struggles in the future, he may not be able to take it off.
But Luo Zhixue hadn't stopped yet, and he continued: "Establish a new Ministry of Ethnic Affairs to take charge of education, imperial examinations, etiquette and other matters, take the selection of officials away from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and let the Ministry of Ethnic Affairs run a training course on official documents. , Nowadays, many of our officials are still not very well educated, and they have a lot of typos when writing official documents.”
Guo Quanshu said: "I will make arrangements now."
Luo Zhixue said: "Okay, let's get here first today. You can sort it out later and then hand over the documents."
After Guo Quanshu left, Luo Zhixue was still not idle and called Song Qizhong from the Intelligence Department again.
Since Song Qizhong was newly appointed to the important position of Chief of the Intelligence Section, Luo Zhixue naturally wanted to have a personal conversation with him to hear his views on military intelligence matters, and he also made several demands for Song Qizhong.
He asked Song Qizhong to quickly dispatch personnel to infiltrate the surrounding areas. Ruzhou and Luoyang in the north; Runing in the east; Yunyang in the west; and Chengtian, Hanyang, Wuchang, and Jingzhou in the south all needed to be penetrated intensively.
It is not only necessary to collect military intelligence such as local geography, city defense, troop deployment, and leading generals, but also to win over local people as much as possible. When necessary, directly assassinate important local leading generals or civilian officials, so as to ensure the best possible outcome for one's own military operations. Provide convenience.
If the army reaches a certain city, and dozens or hundreds of our own people emerge from the city to cause chaos, and intelligence personnel assassinate the local leading generals, and seize the city gate to welcome the army into the city, wouldn't it be wonderful? !
At the same time, he also asked Song Qizhong to try to assassinate Lu Xiangsheng in Yunyang!
Lu Xiangsheng is not a simple person. If possible, Luo Zhixue would rather assassinate him directly instead of leading an army to fight Lu Xiangsheng!
But Song Qizhong also expressed it euphemistically. Lu Xiangsheng was the governor of a place and the commander of an army. Such a person would be surrounded by dozens or hundreds of soldiers at any time.
It is extremely difficult to assassinate this person!
Luo Zhixue also knew that it would be difficult to kill a local governor, and the protective force of such high-level officials would be very strong.
Just look at Luo Zhixue himself and you will know. Luo Zhixue usually moves with the army. Even when inspecting Xiangyang City, he always brings hundreds of soldiers with him and never acts alone.
Now I am staying at the General's Mansion, which was renamed as Prince Xiang's Mansion. There is an entire military camp stationed in this General's Mansion and some of the surrounding residences requisitioned, with more than a thousand people...
Ordinary people can't even get within a few hundred meters of Luo Zhixue, let alone assassinate him.
Lu Xiangsheng's security force may be a little worse, not as perverted as Luo Zhixue's security, but it shouldn't be too bad, and it will definitely not be easy to assassinate him.
But, no matter how difficult it is, you have to give it a try. What if you get lucky and succeed?
Wouldn't that be a huge profit? If Lu Xiangsheng can be killed, then there will be no second general who can fight in the huge Yunyang governor area and Huguang governor area. This pair of Baoxiang troops will be able to resist the Ming army in the future. Counterattack, or even going south to the Jianghan Plain, would be of great benefit.
Song Qizhong also knew this. The reason why he said it was difficult was just to give Luo Zhixue a vaccination first, so that if the operation failed, he would not be blamed on Song Qizhong.
After meeting Song Qizhong, Luo Zhixue did not meet other military and political officials. Instead, he chose to meet with some grassroots officers and soldiers who had made meritorious service in the previous series of battles, and personally promoted and rewarded these people.
After finishing all these things, it was already approaching evening, and Luo Zhixue had a little leisure and could take a rest.
But the next day, Luo Zhixue continued to be busy.
Early in the morning, he went to inspect the soldiers of the 1st Infantry Brigade stationed in Xiangyang City. He also took the opportunity to inspect the 5th Mixed Brigade, which was still in the process of reorganization and training.
Luo Zhixue's inspection was different from those of those days when officials were aloof, sitting in sedan chairs and riding horses to look at him from a distance. Luo Zhixue went to the military camp in person, walked up to the soldiers to greet them, patted the soldiers on the shoulders, and then talked to them. The corpsman shook hands.
At the same time, with a smile on his face, he said a few common words to the soldiers, asking them how the food was, how they were dressed, how many people were in the family, and how their life was.
When I heard this, a 17 or 18-year-old soldier under his command said that his hometown was in Tang County, which was still under the rule of the Ming Dynasty for the time being. He was recruited by the government to garrison in Nanyang City last year, and was finally captured in the Battle of Zhaozhuang, and immediately surrendered to his hometown. The army is a soldier.
He also said that when he left home last year, there were still six people in the family and they all didn’t have enough to eat. Luo Zhixue put on a serious expression, raised his head and said to the crowd: "This is why we raise armies, why we fight with Officers and soldiers fight not only so that we can have enough to eat, but also so that our families can have enough to eat, so that everyone in the world can have enough to eat!"
"Unless we overthrow this decadent Zhu Ming dynasty and bring down those corrupt officials and powerful men who eat the flesh and blood of the people of the world, we people will never have enough to eat!"
Then he lowered his head and said to the 17 or 18-year-old soldier: "Don't worry, it won't be long before we reach Tang County to rescue your family and the people of Tang County!"
