Although Song Qijing was somewhat envious of the rapid promotion of someone of his own, he had no intention of imitating him.
His friend Chen Haoren is a real ruthless person.
When the army was crossing the Yangtze River, he, who was the fifth-rank section chief of the tax department at the time, volunteered to accompany the army south and led a group of armed tax policemen to clean up the tax-resistant gentry.
He was quick and ruthless in his actions. In just half a month, he ransacked the homes of thirty-six rebellious gentry. Even his second aunt's natal family was directly confiscated by him because of their recalcitrance. The consequences were not small and cannot be tolerated by ordinary people.
However, Chen Haoren's operation brought hundreds of thousands of taels of fiscal revenue to the country, and he became one of the most outstanding tax officials in the tax department at that time.
After this battle, Chen Haoren gained the appreciation of his superiors. After the Wuchang Battle, he was directly promoted from the fifth-grade section chief to the third-grade deputy director.
And there are actually many, many more similar examples!
Although the methods may be different, there are many officials who have upgraded and jumped.
There is no way, as more and more territories are controlled, and the central agencies are becoming more and more perfect, more and more officials are needed. At this time, there are no rules for hiring people.
Like Song Qijing, even if he works honestly and has no great achievements, he will be promoted frequently without making any mistakes.
From being the deputy director of the fourth grade, this is quite satisfying for Song Qijing.
Although the duties are satisfying, I am still tired!
The officials of the Chu Empire were different from the officials of the Ming Dynasty. Song Qijing had a lot of documents to deal with before, but after becoming the deputy director, he still had a lot of things to deal with.
There is no rest at all at the end of the day.
When half an hour had passed since get off work and it was getting dark, Song Qijing had just finished handling today's affairs.
He rubbed his sore wrist, stood up and moved his hands and feet, and then walked out.
He did not leave the compound of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, but walked towards the internal canteen of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry to prepare for dinner.
The foundation of the Song family is in Hanyang. Although it is only across the river from Wuchang, travel requires crossing the river by boat, which is not very convenient.
He now lives alone in Wuchang City, and his wife and children are in his old house in Hanyang across the river.
At the same time, he did not live in his family's large house in Wuchang. Instead, like several other colleagues who came to serve from other places, he lived directly in the dormitory within the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.
The main thing is convenience!
Food and drink can be taken care of directly at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, and he doesn’t have to walk too far to get to get off work. The most important thing is that it makes it easier for him to work overtime.
He often works overtime into the evening, and Wuchang has been under a strict curfew for a long time. Even officials traveling after dark need to undergo frequent inspections.
At the same time, sometimes there will be official business in the evening, and the department directors and even department heads above will have impromptu meetings from time to time in the evening...
Even if it's not a meeting, colleagues will inevitably drag him to the cafeteria to eat and drink after work to bond.
In the end, he simply lived in the dormitory of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, which was simple and convenient.
After he arrived at the cafeteria, he organized a small dinner party with several other colleagues who also had to eat because of overtime. While three or four people ate and drank, they couldn't help but talk about the current situation.
I saw a middle-aged official with a fourth-grade badge saying: "Now that the weather is getting warmer, I'm afraid the Yuezhou side has probably started to move!"
Song Qijing also responded: "It's already March, we have everything we should prepare, and there is no point in delaying it any longer!"
"I heard that the military has accumulated heavy troops in the direction facing Yuezhou. There are hundreds of cannons alone. The Yuezhou Ming army definitely cannot stop our imperial army!"
"As early as one month, but no later than three months, Yuezhou will definitely belong to our Da Chu. In another two or three months, it will not be difficult to capture Changsha, Changde and other places. After capturing these places, our Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry is afraid that Some are busy again!”
"Yes, after the war, local people's livelihood came to a standstill. This requires our Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry to sort it out one by one, appease the people, and guide them to resume production. This task is not easy!"
Another person said: "These are all our duties, but you think, now that my king's army has gathered in Chunan, how long will it take to resolve the war in Chunan?"
"I heard that the higher-ups have been preparing to advance eastward. If we want to advance eastward, we must first take down Yang Sichang of Chunan. Even if we don't completely control all of Chunan, at least we must kill the main force of the Ming army in Chunan first. , Only in this way can the rear be able to advance eastward with all its strength without worries!"
Song Qijing said: "My king's division has unparalleled combat power. It is not a big problem to capture Yuezhou, Changsha, Changde and even Hengyang. It's just that our king's division has many guns and equipment, and in addition to these places in southern Chu, there are many It is a place with complex terrain, and it may not be easy for a large army to march."
"I estimate that we should reach Hengyang within half a year and deal with the main force of the puppet Ming army in southern Chu. Subsequent attacks on those mountainous prefectures will be a grind, but it will not affect the overall situation."
"Maybe in the fall, we will be able to see the grand march of the army eastward!"
Others also showed a hopeful look at this time and said: "Move eastward. Once we can enter Jiujiang, then most of Jiangxi will be at our fingertips, and we will be able to open the passage to Jiangnan!"
"I have heard for a long time that Jiangnan is prosperous. If this army invades Jiangnan and takes Jiangnan into the hands of my great Chu, my great Chu will be ready to fight for hegemony!"
"Our Da Chu's control of Huguang's money and food is enough to lay the foundation. If we have more money and food from Jiangnan, our Da Chu's unification of Jiuzhou will be just around the corner!"
"When the army marches eastward, I'm afraid there will be another big change!"
When he said this, Song Qijing and several others smiled.
Change, what change?
Promotion!
Every time with the expansion of the Chu Empire, not only the soldiers could be promoted, but also the administrative officials.
Because the increase in territory means the need for more administrative officials!
If you have more official hats, your chances of promotion will naturally be greater.
So now even civil servants like Song Qijing are hoping that the military can capture Chunan earlier and advance eastward earlier, so that more official hats will appear and there will be greater opportunities for promotion.
While Song Qijing and others were eating and chatting, in the staff headquarters in Wuchang City, many staff officers and generals from the field troops gathered together to conduct a large-scale sand table deduction.
The officers participating in the sand table exercise were divided into three groups.
A group of generals, mainly generals from various garrison divisions, are playing the role of Chu Nanming's army.
The other group is the generals of the main force, who act as the offensive force.
The last group is the referee team headed by the General Staff Department, the Military and Political Department, and the Logistics Department.
This sand table deduction has already started in the morning. The main deduction is the war in Yuezhou, Changsha and other places. The deduction started from the Chu army's storming of Linxiang.
This time the deduction was also based on the collected information as much as possible, including the opponent's military strength, equipment, general's personality, command style, etc., and simulated the Ming army in front of them.
However, after a day of sand table deduction, the faces of the generals who acted as the main division of the Chu army to attack did not look good.
During the deduction, the Chu army launched a fierce attack on Linxiang and implemented the strategy of storming Linxiang.
The garrison generals who played the role of the Ming army showed their talents, especially Chen Yongfu and He Renlong, who were very clever and thwarted the main division's strong attacks many times.
Even relying on various anti-artillery fortifications prepared in advance, the Chu army's mortars, which had been invincible in several siege operations in the past, were unable to be effectively constructed.
Chen Yongfu, who played the role of the defender of the Ming army in Linxiang, still played his old tricks, deploying elite troops to serve as supervising troops, and then forcing the Ming army to defend, while building various anti-artillery fortifications.
He Renlong, on the other hand, led tens of thousands of Ming troops to respond from the periphery, and made many attacks to threaten the Chu army's rear.
During the deduction, the Chu army launched hundreds of artillery pieces of various types to bombard Linxiang, but the result was little effect.
Finally, the attackers began to blast. Unexpectedly, Chen Yongfu had already prepared. He had prepared a number of gunners and gunners with a mixture of armored elites and light artillery in advance to act as a reserve team behind the city wall that might eventually be blasted.
After the successful blasting, these Ming army reserves rushed to the blasting gap immediately, and also brought up the attacking artillery, tiger squatting artillery, etc., and were attacked on the spot by the attacking Chu army siege commando. Heavy casualties.
During the deduction, the fierce fighting in the Linxiang Attack lasted for five full days before it was finally determined that the attackers had captured Linxiang City.
The referee has even ruled that one-fifth of the Chu army's artillery on the attacking side has reached the limit of its barrel life due to frequent use, and has been forced to deactivate or suffer from explosions.
The most important thing is that the attacking Chu army has been judged to have suffered casualties of at least 5,000 people, of which 3,000 were the main force.
The defenders were also judged to have suffered tens of thousands of casualties, and it was also ruled that Chen Yongfu finally led 3,000 elites to successfully break through with He Renlong's support.
The Linxiang offensive and defensive battle in the deduction made a group of generals participating in the deduction very dissatisfied.
Even Chen Yongfu himself, who played the role of the defender of the Ming Army in Linxiang and held on for five days and killed a large number of Chu troops, was not satisfied with the result.
Because he was just acting as the defender of the Linxiang Ming Army, and he was not the real defender of the Linxiang Ming Army.
If it is so difficult for this army to attack Linxiang, it will be very detrimental to the Chu army's offensive in the entire Chunan. If the Chunan offensive does not go smoothly, then there will be no hope for the eastward advance plan.
And Chen Yongfu has been waiting to advance eastward for a long time.
He is now the commander of the 13th Garrison Brigade. His brigade is temporarily stationed in Xingguo Prefecture. When the eastward campaign is launched in the future, his 13th Garrison Brigade will definitely follow the First Division and other main forces into Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province. of.
At that time, it will be the time for Chen Yongfu to truly make his achievements.
But the premise is that Chu Nan's offensive must go smoothly, and the empire must solve Chu Nan's worries before it can fully launch the eastward advance.
And looking at the current situation of the sand table deduction, Chu Nan's offensive is probably going to cause trouble!
