The winter has been getting colder every year, especially in the north. It was only one winter to follow Chen Mu to northern Xinjiang, and Deng Zilong's face was full of wind and frost, which was the inevitable price to pay for military training.

During this time, Deng Zilong, like Hu Liangpeng, in addition to doing his own military affairs, also had to do Chen Mu's business and help him train and recruit soldiers.

In the orthodox war at the provincial level of the Ming Army, the chief military officer led the regular soldiers to control the guards under his jurisdiction, the deputy general soldiers led the strange soldiers, the guerrilla generals led the guerrillas, and the staff generals led the reinforcements, which were called the four soldiers.

The regular soldiers of the Xuanfu were selected by Chen Musha to eliminate the old and weak, so they had to recruit new soldiers. Last year, from spring to autumn, the cost of harvesting the fields was not good, and because of the war, the livelihood of the people was even worse in the winter, so it was especially easy to recruit soldiers.

"The riders scattered all over the country brought back more than 1,000 new soldiers who met the general's requirements after the year, and they were first incorporated into the general's regular army. If this continues, spring will not be over yet, and all the troops will be recruited. "This is the biggest thing in Deng Zilong's heart," There are also weapons and horses sent by the Ministry of War, more than 2,000 high-headed horses have been transported one after another, and they have to be received four times in the spring, which is worth 13,000 pack horses and war horses. ”

Saying that, Deng Zilong recruited his subordinates to report and presented the list to Chen Mu, with 7,800 military horses, of which the amount of southern horses and northern horses was almost the same. The rest are pack horses used for baggage, of which 1,200 pack horses were added by Tan Lun before leaving, and they were specially made to pull cannons, and they were all good Liaodong pack horses with great strength and wide strength.

The old man who listened to the drama still remembered him when he returned to his hometown for vacation.

"Well, the matter of recruiting soldiers and responding to the baggage is very important, and it will be difficult for our Xuanfu to take things from the military department later, so we have to rely on our own skills."

Chen Mu nodded heavily, his acquaintances had all left the military department, Tan Lun and Wu Guifang had gone home, and now it was Yang Bo who replaced Shangshu. This is also a fierce man, starting from the eighth year of Emperor Sejong Jiajing's Jinshi, only one magistrate has nothing to do with military affairs, and the rest are civil and military positions.

Twenty years ago, it was the secretary of the military department, and he had the Mongolian leader to put Du'er and the 100,000 army that called Sun in Gubeikou, and now the old man's main job is the secretary of the ministry, and he is also in charge of the affairs of the military department, and there should be no change in the general direction, just wait for Tan Lun to come back.

"General, the weapons and armor that the Ministry of War brought to us are not bad!"

Deng Zilong called the two sergeants and asked Chen Mu to see the brand-new armor and weapons on their bodies, the pad iron armor and the arm armor were quite thick, and the waist knife was also well-made.

Chen Mu smiled: "Can that be the same?" We are thousands of households in the south, and the ordnance we receive must be the worst batch, and now you are a staff general and I am the chief military officer, and the ordnance you take must be the best, this is Xuanfu! ”

"The four armies of the chief officer are all rotten things, what are you going to use to guard the border towns?" Chen Mu shook his head as he spoke, and said, "The ordnance sent by the Ministry of War is enough for the battalion soldiers, and you don't know what the weapons and armor of the 40,000 guards look like." ”

In other words, it's not that the things given by the Ministry of War are good, but that the guards themselves are third-line soldiers, and even the guards under the command of Chen Mu, the chief military officer of the Xuanfu, still can't take the turn of the best ordnance.

It's all forced out, and now even if he gives him the best ordnance in the military department, he can't take a fancy to it, because he already has a better choice.

If you are used to using a bird's gun, you can't look down on a fire gun, and this principle is the same for armor.

"Craftsman, is there a craftsman coming?"

When it came to craftsmen, Deng Zilong was not as elated as when he talked about ordnance before, he turned his head to the side to see the military formation running on the vast school field, and sighed: "There are more than a hundred here, and more people are still on the road, ragged and hungry and cold, and a few died on the road and did not survive." ”

"Dead on the road?"

Deng Zilong shook his head, as if he didn't want to say more about this matter, but said: "The humble post has sent someone to inform the post stations along the way in Xuanfu, let them prepare porridge sheds and charcoal pots for the craftsmen, build houses on the construction site, and send medical craftsmen to treat sores and treat them. ”

How many of the 100 or so people died?

Chen Mu's face was gloomy and terrifying, and he instructed Zhao Shizhen: "Write an article on my behalf and send it to all posts along the way." Let them take good care of the craftsmen who come to Xuanfu on the road! south of the Yellow River, give convenience; North of the Yellow River, if the craftsman has no cotton clothes and no food to eat, let the post station take care of it, and there must be no more craftsmen dying of illness and starvation! ”

Against all odds.

This suddenly reminded him of the scene when Guan Yuangu took his two sons to find him in Qingyuan, carrying a craftsman's box on his back, and the father and son packed up their belongings and found themselves on duty at the post station outside from Qianhu, and they walked a few miles.

Unlike this, he recruited craftsmen everywhere in Tiannan and Haibei, the nearest North Zhili, and the far to Sichuan and Shu, they came from there, not to mention that they had to rush at the New Year's Pass, and the hardships encountered on the road can be imagined.

The dispatch of craftsmen this time was Chen Mu's old boss Zhang Han, and the order was sent from the Nanjing Ministry of Industry to recruit all kinds of craftsmen from all over the world. In terms of skills, they are the elite of the elite, and in this era when no one values craftsmen, they are all treasures in Chen Mu's eyes.

No one is missing!

"Later, I'll visit the craftsmen—they're coming."

As he was talking, he saw Long Junxiong, who was wearing a helmet and armor, leading a rider to take a chariot and a horse into the edge of the school field, Chen Mu said to Deng Zilong: "The businessmen and internal officials who buy and sell coal mines are here. ”

The merchant sent by the Wang and Zhang families was surnamed Shen, named Shen Jiang, who was very old and a well-known salt merchant. He also has another identity, and is the brother-in-law of Wang Chonggu, the governor of Xuanda.

"I heard the story of the general riding out of the fortress alone, which made the old man's heart broken, he had long wanted to meet the general, and he had been waiting for the general in Xuanfu for a long time, and he finally saw it today!" Shen Jiang is not like the fat-headed and big-eared businessman in Chen Mu's impression, his body is well-proportioned and strong, although he is old, he is full of energy, and he smiled at Chen Mu and hugged his fists and said: "Old man Shen Jiang, meet General Zhenshuo!" ”

Behind Shen Jiang, the three internal officials were both old like Shen Jiang and young like Chen Mu, and they saluted Chen Mu one by one, and the elder said to Chen Mu: "When I came, Lord Feng told us that the master of the coal matter was in the military affairs, and the second was General Chen's good intentions to the palace, this is a good thing, it can't be ruined, everything must be listened to by General Chen." ”

These three eunuchs are all eunuchs in service with the imperial horse supervisor, and they are also majestic figures elsewhere.

"A few of you, please take a seat, Chen didn't mean to toss the elders, this matter is an errand for the emperor, and it is not appropriate to talk about it in the mansion." Although it is a school field, there is also a yamen of three guards, Chen Mu led four people into the yamen, took Zhao Shizhen into a seat, and said to a few people: "When Chen didn't come, a few people should have already talked about it, I heard that the honeycomb coal trade will be done in Ganning and two Huai, how to talk about it, a few of them." ”

"The general set the price of coal in Beijing, and no matter how big the stall is, the old man can't break the general's rules. The old man in the commercial market has negotiated with the next family, and the silk, copper and other things are given to others, and they let Shen take a certain step in the coal matter, and the key is to set the price. ”

Shen Jiang talked eloquently, looked at Chen Mu and said: "Shuntian and Xuanfu are the general's affairs, and the general's score for Shuntian is one or two eight thousand catties at the reserve price, and three into three points." The same is true for Xuanfu, which also draws three percent for the general, and outside of Xuanfu Shuntian, the general draws one percent, how about it? ”

Listening to Shen Jiang's meaning, he wanted to take care of everything, but this division was actually about the same as Chen Mu imagined, after all, he was selling a shovel.

Chen Mu asked: "These points, Shuntian Chen has calculated, the annual points should be around 13,000 taels, how to calculate the Xuanfu, how to calculate the North Zhili Shanxi, and how to calculate them outside them?" ”

"Xuanfu is 7,000 taels a year, Shanxi is 75,000 taels a year, and Beizhili is 75,000 taels a year, and the other year should be around 250,000 taels, and 25,000 taels in a Chinese New Year's Eve, which is the least."

Chen Mu bowed his head slowly, deducting a part of the emperor, and the military expenses of the Xuanfu could be self-sufficient.

"In that case, how about paying half of it in advance, leaving half a year to Chen, and paying 325,000 taels in February and August every year in the future?" https://./14_14088/