Although there was no delay in the trip to Eastern Xinjiang this time, it still exceeded Fang Xie's estimated time. After several months of going back and forth, the anxious waiting in the hearts of those who stayed behind in the camp can be imagined. Fortunately, there is such an efficient espionage organization as the Xiaoqi School, Fang Jie's itinerary will be reported back to the camp soon, so the family members can feel at ease.
Speaking of which, leaders like Fang Jie are indeed rare. Any leader in the early stage of entrepreneurship will not easily take the risk of going to the enemy's territory to do seemingly unimportant things. Once something unexpected happens, the previous struggles will disappear.
Sometimes Fang Jie is a rational and terrifying person, and sometimes he is an emotional and difficult to understand person. If the Black Banner Army was someone else's hard-earned foundation, perhaps they would never have rushed to Eastern Xinjiang for the sake of Wanyan Chongde. No matter from which point of view, this is not a wise thing to do. But Fang Jie did just that, and it doesn't seem to have anything to do with rationality.
After returning to the camp, all the people who stayed behind in the camp were relieved.
Dugu Wenxiu led the generals of the Black Banner Army out of the camp for dozens of miles to welcome Fang Xie back. The generals of each battalion and the local civil servants finally relaxed when they saw that Fang Xie was safe and sound.
The white lion Hunchao had been away from Fang Jie for a few months, but he was not used to it. When he saw Fang Jie, he rushed up and groped Fang Jie's body with his huge head. The voice that came out of his mouth was full of blame and complaint, as if he was asking why he had been away for so long
Fang Jie stroked the white lion's head and greeted everyone with a smile.
"Is there nothing going on at home?"
Fang Jie asked as he walked.
Dugu Wenxiu quickly replied: "My lord, everything is fine at home. The local officials assigned by my subordinates have all taken up their duties this month, and the place is still peaceful. There are some minor disturbances in the three roads in the south, but because the lord left before It was subdued by the army, so it was quickly cleaned up."
"Wei Xiting also handled the matter in Dali City very well. According to the lord, the place where Nanyan used to be was re-formed into a road named Yunnan Road. After Wei Xiting became the governor of Yunnan Road, everything was done according to the lord's rules. According to the rules, appease the people and govern the place. Marquis Sanjin arranged for the manpower of Hutong Tianxia to be responsible for the construction of the workshop. Now the workshop in Dali City has been issued to a large scale. Nanyan’s shipyard has not built warships for many years. It will take some time to recover, but the craftsmen have been recruited, and it shouldn't be long before we can start building ships."
"Over the iron mine, General Qin Yuan personally assigned a team to guard it. Speaking of which, there is good news that the quality of iron ore in Yunnan Road is better than the iron mine in the hands of Jin Shixiong in the northwest. Start digging again."
"Chen Qianshan and the others' attack to the south went smoothly?"
Fang asked.
"It's going well."
Dugu Wenxiu replied: "With the help of Zhu Chijian, General Chen and the others marched southward very quickly. It was only after the lord left that Yunnan Road sent a message saying that Chen Qianshan was ill because of the inaccuracy of the soil and water, and his subordinates had no time to ask for instructions." My lord, after discussing with the generals, General Chen Dingnan rushed to Yunnan Road to replace General Chen Qianshan."
"Well, Xiaoqi School has sent this matter to me in a thousand miles, and you did a good job."
Fang Jie nodded and said.
"General Chen Dingnan is one of the Lord's blessed generals."
Dugu Wenxiu couldn't help admiring: "After arriving in Yunnan Road, Chen Dingnan immediately replaced Chen Qianshan in charge of military affairs. Within half a month, he conquered three cities, and Nanyan's remnants lost consecutive battles. I received the battle report yesterday, and Chen Dingnan has brought The soldiers have attacked the southernmost part of Yunnan Road, and it is estimated that within a month, the entire territory of Yunnan Road will be cleaned up."
"It seems that I will give him a good reward later."
Fang Jie smiled and said: "When I first followed me, Chen Dingnan was still an excitable boy, but now he is able to take charge of himself. How is Chen Qianshan? Is his illness better?"
"It has improved a lot. He is now staying in Dali City to assist Wei Xiting in dealing with local affairs. Chen Dingnan fought too fast, so it is inevitable that there will be some troubles behind him. Chen Qianshan's temperament is safe and cautious. The personal coordination is seamless."
Dugu Wenxiu said with a smile: "After the remnants of Nanyan were basically wiped out on Yunnan Road, Wei Xiting sent someone to discuss with me. He planned to move some of the people from Yunnan Road to Pingshang Road. Pingshang Road is a land of fish and rice, but now the number of people is too large. Less, there are too many barren fields, and most of the Nanyan people live in those big cities, and there is not enough cultivated land to distribute, so Wei Xiting plans to relocate some people. The subordinates feel that this is a good thing for the stability of the south, so they agreed .”
"Um."
Fang Jie nodded: "Not only do people need to be relocated from Yunnan Road, but also people from Yongbei Road and Nanhui Road, especially the people controlled by the aristocratic families in these two roads must be forcibly removed. If you don’t dare to make trouble because of it, that’s the best, if you make trouble because of it, that’s even better. Using the reason of their trouble, killing a group of people will make the place quieter.”
"The subordinates will send someone to arrange it later."
Dugu Wenxiu bowed her head and said.
Fang Jie rolled onto the white lion, smiled and said, "I'll talk about other things when I get back. It's not unreasonable to ask so many of you to accompany me."
…
…
"After the lord's military order was sent back, I discussed it with the generals."
Cui Zhongzhen clasped his fists and said: "The front line of Xinyang City is the most important defense. On the Jiangnan side, if the imperial court, the two brothers of the Jin family and Luo Tu fight in a decisive battle, there will definitely be routs fleeing to the southwest. So the subordinates He dispatched troops to defend Xinyang City overnight. General Xiahou Baichuan had already set off. He did not wait for the lord because he was afraid of delaying the official business. The camp that General Xiahou led 60,000 troops left ten days ago took the road in An County. It was found that some ignorant people believed in cults and spread them locally, so General Xiahou led his troops to An County to destroy them along the way."
Fang Jie hummed: "In troubled times, there will always be a cult. Such people fool the people, collect money, and can't do anything good. Dugu, you should go back and order the local government. Once you find out that there is a cult, don't be soft-hearted. Advice is not enough. It will make people turn their backs, and only when people see blood will they know how to be afraid."
"Whether it's good for me to lead the army to fight, or to govern the country..."
Fang Jie said slowly: "The people are the first in everything, but you can't lose the rules and restraint just because the people are the first. Let the people know that the Black Banner Army is really for their own good, and let the people People know something is wrong."
Dugu Wenxiu said: "This subordinate understands."
Fang Jie sat down, took a sip of tea and said, "Three things are on my mind the most since I left. The first is the local governance on the Yunnan Road. The war is still going well, and it won't be long before the remnants of Nanyan will be cleaned up. The second thing is the excavation of iron mines and the construction of workshops. Although the workshops on Huangyang Road have been fully built, but because of the iron mines So I haven’t been able to make weapons with all my strength. On the Yunnan Road, the conditions are better, Lord Hou... You will arrange more manpower later, and I will leave the work on the workshop to you.”
Wu Yidao hurriedly lowered his head: "My lord, don't worry, the subordinates will do their best."
Fang Jie nodded: "The first matter will be handled by Wei Xiting, and the second matter will be handled by Marquis San Jin. I don't worry. The third matter is the navy..."
Fang Jie looked at the general Zheng Qiu who brought the navy to join him a while ago, and the black flag army navy general Duan Zheng.
"How is this going?"
Zheng Qiu glanced at Duan Zheng, Duan Zheng nodded to him, Zheng Qiu smiled gratefully, Duan Zheng's humility moved him.
"My lord, the shipyard at Daying Water Village in Zhuque Mountain is too small to manufacture large ships. Even refitting the Huanglong warship is quite difficult. For several months, my subordinates and General Duan Zheng have been going to the shipyard almost every day. Staring, but the progress is not fast, because the craftsmen have no experience in refitting warships, and they have to experiment with the impact of the installation of the artillery on the warship, so until now, only one Huanglong warship has installed the artillery, and it is working every day in the lake. Daily sailing inspection, if it is determined that there is no adverse effect on the warship, the next progress will be much faster."
Duan Zheng stood up and added: "Refitting a warship is not just about pressing the cannons on. It is necessary to test whether there will be any problems with the warship after installing the cannons. Since these days, my subordinates and General Zheng have taken the refitted ship. The Huanglong warship has been driving in the lake. The day before yesterday, it left Xuanwu Lake and entered the Huangniu River. The good news is that it has no effect on the warship. However, when the artillery fires, the force of the rear seat is very strong, and the warship will tilt, so the shipyard People around are still trying to figure it out.”
He looked at Fang and said, "The warship will shake once the cannon is fired. If it is fired continuously, will the warship shake too violently because the hull is too light? These things need to continue to be tested before a conclusion can be drawn. However, Andrew said that it is still necessary to increase the weight of the warship, or remove all the towers of the warship. The top of our warship in the Sui Dynasty is too heavy. Andrew said that because of this, no matter how big the ship is, it cannot go out to sea. Because the top If it is too high and too heavy, it can still withstand the wind and waves on the river, but once it goes out to sea, the wind and waves on the sea are not comparable to the waves of the river. Therefore, the new warships should have a lot of changes."
These things are beyond the scope of Fang Jie's understanding, so he nodded and said: "You can't slack off or rush it. You two should discuss it. The development of the Black Banner Army will depend on the navy in the future. Without the navy, we will If you can’t get out of the southwest, you can’t control the waterway. As you can imagine, if our navy can run wild on the big rivers, then more than half of the battle has already been won before it is fought.”
Fang Jie said: "I was thinking about one thing before I left the camp, and after thinking about it for the past few months, I think it is feasible."
He smiled and said: "After the first warship is successfully refitted, I want to separate the two of you. Duan Zheng, the shipyard on the Yunnan Road is ready to start, and the new warship must meet the requirements for installing artillery." Yes, the big ships built in the future must also be able to go to sea. So as soon as the matter here is over, you must immediately take a group of craftsmen to Yunnan Road. I will leave the matter of the navy in the south to you. Tell me later Good news for you, this time I came back from Eastern Border, I asked San Jinhou to bring back a group of craftsmen who know how to build sea ships, and I will hand them over to you later."
"Zheng Qiu, I will leave it to you, the sailor of the Suzaku Mountain camp."
The two stood up quickly, clasped their fists together and said in unison: "Your subordinate obeys!"
Wu Yidao couldn't help but nodded slightly, knowing that Fang Jie's intention in doing so was not just for both sides to start working at the same time and make every effort to build a navy. Duan Zheng was the first navy general to follow Fang Jie, and Fang Jie trusted him very much. But although Zheng Qiu has only been here for a short time, he has brought a powerful fleet with him. Therefore, in the navy, whether to let Duan Zheng or Zheng Qiu be respected, even if there is no discord between the two on the surface, the soldiers under the two of them may discuss in private. No matter whether Duan Zheng is made the top general of the navy, or Zheng Qiu is made the top general, there will be people who will not accept it.
Fang Jie separated the two of them and created two naval forces. In the future, whoever has the highest military exploits on the battlefield will be the leader of the navy, so that there will be no conflicts.
"That's all for today."
Fang Jie got up and clasped his fists: "I also want to thank you all, without your help, I can't move a single step."
"The subordinates are willing to ruin their lives for the lord!"
Everyone stood up and clasped their fists.
"Tomorrow, I'll go to Tuntian to have a look. You should go back and rest."
Fang Jie said with a smile: "Maybe it won't be long before the army is about to move out."
He glanced at Dugu Wenxiu and Cui Zhongzhen: "Dugu, Zhongzhen, you two follow me to the study."