When Zhao Tianba and the others returned to Chengdu, it was already mid-April, and as soon as they arrived in Chengdu, they heard that Deng Ming had once again carried out administrative reforms and established the Taxation, Planning, and Education Bureaus. These are all subordinates of Liu Jinge's Chengdu prefect yamen, but each has its own establishment, and the most urgent task at present is to build schools so that a large number of fellow talents can read and write, so as to provide the required officials for each yamen.

To everyone's surprise, Xiong Lan, who had just defected to Deng Ming, further expanded her power in this zhèngfǔ expansion. Deng Ming divided the bank's existing staff into two parts, one of which formed the backbone of the tax bureau, Xiong Lan's master Qin Xiucai was appointed as the director of the tax bureau, and his chief thug Pu Fu arrived in Chengdu not long after, and was also appointed as the deputy director of tax collection. Although Qin Xiucai and Pu Fu have since separated from Xiong Lan's direct leadership, and Deng Ming has transferred almost all cashiers to the tax bureau as tax collectors, Xiong Lan is still very happy and thinks that this is an affirmation of his work achievements. Now Xiong Lan said that when Admiral Deng inspected the bank, he was surprised and delighted when he saw the strong cashier, and there was enough incense to speak. Deng Ming: Who is that? After a long time in battle and a lot of knowledge, everyone knew that no matter how powerful and majestic the cashiers were, it was not enough to surprise him, it must be because Xiong Lan was able to improve the jīng spirit of the gang in Wanxian County so much in just a few months, which was completely unexpected by Deng Ming.

"The farming time is basically delayed," after seeing Zhao Tianba and them, Deng Ming said to them bluntly: "The more than 20,000 new volunteers are unlikely to open their own fields this year, so I plan to let them live in the city, and they can do some odd jobs and subsidize some families." ”

Deng Ming would give these volunteers a stipend, but he still hoped that they would get another job, and now that Chengdu is short of manpower, he doesn't want these men to stay in the barracks.

The guards had a different opinion, they felt that it was better to seize the time to train the army anyway.

"No, Chengdu can't afford to raise tens of thousands of troops, if you don't go out to fight, it's best to raise a thousand people." Deng Ming said that the army needed to be temporarily disbanded, and he only planned to maintain a standing army of no more than 2,000 men in Chengdu: "However, although our army is small in number, it is completely different from the military cantonment, and our officers do not need to think about other things, they only need to study how to fight every day." ”

Deng Ming planned to disband the Volunteer Army, including the soldiers, and keep only all the officers and non-commissioned officers as a standing army, and he planned to educate these standing troops in a cultural education, so that all the people could know at least 100 words within three months. Obviously, this requires a lot of money and educational resources, and if the standing army is too large, Deng Ming will not be able to support it for the time being.

"Weapons and armor are not taken back, but they are given to the soldiers first, but since they receive allowances, then the army may call them back at any time, and these soldiers who take away weapons will need to bring their own weapons and armor." Deng Ming felt that weapons and armor were simply given to private individuals, and soldiers would always pay more attention to their own property, which was better than rusting in the warehouse.

"Disbanded volunteer soldiers can go to work in a trading house or help in the fields, and if someone is in arrears of their wages, they can complain to the pavilion chief......" Deng Ming ordered to publicize Chengdu's policy to the whole army to ensure that the soldiers would not suffer: "There is another point to be paid special attention to in the capital, we allow Tongxiucai to hire both short-term and long-term laborers, but we do not recognize the landlord-tenant relationship. ”

"The admiral said to slow down, and some of the lowly positions can't keep up." The guards and officers shouted one after another, before they went to publicize to the army, they first needed to learn policies and regulations from Deng Ming, and Deng Ming came up with so many unheard of policies in one go, and they all felt their heads swell.

If it is self-cultivated land, then it is a protection fee of ten yuan per mu of IOU, and for the time being, there are no people around Chengdu who own a large amount of land, and Deng Ming has not made any regulations on the number of short-term laborers; But Deng Ming has already announced to his peers around Chengdu that Chengdu does not allow the business of leasing land and then collecting rent according to the proportion of the harvest. This is because the reason why Deng Ming set such a low agricultural tax is to protect the production enthusiasm of the yeoman peasants, and if there is a pattern in which the landlord takes half or even 60 or 70 percent of the land rent, then Deng Ming's policy will not play a role in protecting the yeoman peasants.

"Our policy is that as long as you can do it, it is no problem for a person to cultivate 100 or 200 acres, and only 10 yuan per mu will be charged; However, it is absolutely not possible to sit on the land and collect rent, so our light tax is not helping the peasants, and all the benefits are taken away by the landlords who collect rent. Deng Ming's words were very clear, and he also got the support of Liu Jinge and other administrative officials, taking advantage of the fact that there are no landlords around Chengdu now, he quickly set the rules, so as not to have interest groups in the future, and then the resistance to setting rules will become very great. As long as he does not collect rent proportionally, Deng Ming is not opposed to land annexation, he knows that some people may have the talent to run the agricultural industry, just like some people are good at running enterprises, if someone hires a large number of workers to reclaim a large amount of land for him, Deng Ming will not object, but it must be the same mode of paying wages as the commercial house, and the worker's personal life cannot be restricted, and the worker cannot be prevented from resigning.

Most of the people had no objections, but Ren Tang thought for a while and said to Deng Ming: "The humble position understands the admiral's distress very well, and knows that the admiral hopes that the people around Chengdu Mansion can work hard, and it is also for this purpose to disband the soldiers and keep only the 'standing army'. But the Admiral had better not make this a law, but a temporary expediency. ”

"Why?" Deng Ming guessed the reason for Ren Tang's objection, but he deliberately pretended to be confused.

"Because it is natural to collect land rent, it has been the case since ancient times, and now there are really no landlords around the capital, they have only only obtained land, and they have to cultivate it for ten years before they can make their own land. But Huguang and Shaanxi around us are completely different, and if the admiral makes this a law, then it will cause dissatisfaction among the landlords. Ren Tang honestly stated his opinion.

"We don't have control over Huguang or Shaanxi now, and it's not too late to talk about it after we control it." Deng Ming secretly said in his heart that it was really as I expected, but he didn't show it on his face, pretending to be full of indifference.

"People have no foresight, but they must have near-term worries." Ren Tang didn't see what Deng Ming meant at all, and still said loyally: "You don't even have to wait for the Ming Dynasty to prosper, and after the Admiral recovers Huguang, this law cannot be implemented. ”

"Brother Ren is thinking too far, I just set it as the local law of the capital, when did I say that it would be implemented to Huguang?" Deng Ming resolutely refused to compromise, did not implement the household registration system in Chengdu, and did not limit the scope of work of Tong Xiucai, just to break the personal dependence relationship, Deng Ming refused to turn the people into his own slaves, how could he agree with others to turn the people into private slaves? It's just that now Deng Ming doesn't dare to say that his purpose is to cancel the personal dependency relationship nationwide, so he can only fool Ren Tang first.

Shut down

"Local laws?" Ren Tang was completely confused, the so-called whole world, it is not the king's land, of course, the Ming Law is the same as the whole country, there is no difference.

"Yes, it is only valid within the jurisdiction of the prefecture." Now Deng Ming actually controls Chengdu, such as Liu Yao in Dujiangyan and Yuan Zongdi's Daning, which are currently all military slave systems, and for example, Jiangling and other places controlled by Li Laiheng are feudal systems that recognize the landlord's ownership of tenants, and Deng Ming has no intention of changing it immediately. Knowing that Ren Tang couldn't turn this corner, Deng Mingsuo xìng took out the clan rights that have been recognized by the feudal dynasty for thousands of years as a shield: "As the saying goes: the state has national laws, and the family has family rules. It stands to reason that the death penalty must be decided by the county order, reported to the government and province, and finally reviewed by the criminal department again, so that the Son of Heaven can kill people, right? ”

"Of course." Ren Tang nodded again and again.

"But when a widow steals a man, the clan sinks people into the pond, this happens all the time, but has anyone reported it to the criminal department? Can the county magistrate ask about these murders? "In Huguang, Nanjing and other places, Deng Ming has heard a lot of this kind of thing, many of which are naked murders, and the clan covets the property of the widow's family, so he charges these helpless women with this kind of crime, seeking money and killing them; This was also the case with some of the matchmakers who sold widows to Li Laiheng during his time in Hubei, where the clan sold these hard-working women to strangers, assuring them that they would never return to their hometowns, and then taking their husbands' inheritances. The latter is equally cold-blooded and shameless, but at least leaves a way for the widow to survive compared to Shentang.

For this kind of murder and wealth grabbing, both the Ming and Qing dynasties took it for granted clan rights and never interfered. Within the scope of Chengdu, Deng Ming will never allow anyone to have judicial power, but this is a weapon used against Ren Tang, Ren Tang was stunned by the question, and replied blankly after a while: "But this is a clan rule, not a law." ”

"Since a big surname can make its own clan rules, why can't the yamen of the capital make rules that are only valid in the capital?" Deng Ming was unforgiving: "It's just a matter of urgency." ”

These words suddenly reminded Ren Tang of a painful experience, Deng Ming relied on the words of "urgent power" and "the law of the ancestors is immutable" to forcibly implement the policy of Tongxiucai, although there was already a premonition that the advice would not be adopted, Ren Tang still made the last effort: "Admiral Mingjian, if the court spreads rumors and says that the admiral changes the law, it will not only confuse the emperor, the court, and the king of Jin, but also make the gentry of the world worry, they don't know that this is the local law of the capital, and they will mistakenly think that the admiral wants to take away their tenants." ”

"Rumors stop at the wise."

As expected, Deng Ming stubbornly rejected his advice, saying that he would not admit the landlord-tenant relationship.

After repeated examination by the Ming army, in the end, Chengdu only retained a standing army of 1,300 people, Deng Ming gave one of the five most important guards a major rank, and the remaining fifteen people were captains, plus the original more than 20 captains, forming the highest level of the Chengdu standing army. The rest of the people ranged in rank from corporal to lieutenant, and Deng Ming, while fully providing the quality of the diet of this standing army, also personally taught them every day, and taught the standing officers and soldiers to read and read together with the guards.

Every morning is the time for cultural classes, in addition to literacy, it is to summarize lessons and lessons, although the battle with Li Guoying and Zhao Liangdong is only a short day, but there are many gains and losses that need to be summarized. In the afternoon, the officers and men of the standing standing army conducted training on the various ideas discussed in the morning. These practices would be recorded and disseminated to the whole army the next day, and would form part of the basis for the next morning's seminar.

While Deng Ming was training his troops, reconnaissance of Sword Pavilion and other places was also continuing.

In late April, Deng Ming repeatedly convened meetings of captains, and all the captains of the standing army would attend to openly discuss the next step of the Ming army's strategy with Deng Ming. Now this kind of discussion is often held, and after these dozens of captains have attended the meeting, they will bring the content of the meeting back to their respective units, discuss it with other officers and men, and then give feedback on their opinions.

"There are two ways for our army to attack Boryeong and Guangyuan from Jiange, one is the strategy of Gao Mingzhan, gather an army of 5,000 people, and then mobilize 20,000 people to carry food. Regardless of the grain route and replenishment, the whole army attacked Guangyuan, and after seizing the city, it relied on the stocks of the captured Qing army to maintain the army. Although Deng Mingtong guò interrogated the captives and knew that Guangyuan and other places were very empty, this plan still made him feel uncomfortable: "The advantage is that the number of soldiers and auxiliaries we need to recruit is limited, the impact on the production of the capital is limited, and the preparation time required is short, and we can set off within ten days of the conscription order being issued; The downside is that we can't encounter any surprises in our attack, if the Qing army suddenly comes to reinforcements, or if it rains heavily, or if the defenders resist extremely stubbornly, or if the defenders set fire to the warehouses and we can't put them out in time, then the army will be wiped out, and Gao Mingzhan will end up together. ”

After several days of discussions, officers and men at all levels of the Standing Army felt that there were some risks in this plan. The Qing army had just experienced a major defeat not long ago, and it was difficult to send many reinforcements in the short term, and it was difficult to replenish the empty Quang Ninh and Boryeong, but no one dared to say that there would be any accidents, and it was unknown whether Li Guoying would suddenly give up the whole army and retreat to Boryeong. If possible, the Ming army was reluctant to take such a big risk.

"Another way is to ensure that the grain route is unblocked, we need to first restore the warehouse of Jiangyou, tidy up the road between the capital and Jiangyou, and transport enough grain to Jiangyou; Then build a road from Jiangyou to Jiange, and then transport the grain to Jiange for storage. The second way Deng Ming said was what Wu Sangui did in Dongchuan, in addition to large warehouses and roads, it was also necessary to establish post stations and beacon towers along the way to ensure that the generals in the rear could grasp the situation on the front line in time: "After our warehouse in the Sword Pavilion is repaired, we can send war horses to conduct continuous reconnaissance of Guangyuan and Baoning to understand the reality of the Qing army." In this way, when we attack, we are not gambling, but deliberate action, and even if we can't take it in a short time, we can get a steady supply of food and grass. Even in the worst case, our army can retreat to the Sword Pavilion before the food and grass are exhausted, and then return to Chengdu in an orderly manner. ”

The benefits of the latter strategy are obvious, but the difficulty of self-reliance is obviously much greater, and in the past two days, the Ming army has also carried out simple transportation and construction simulations, and obtained some rough numbers: "The road between Chengdu and Jiange has been in disrepair for many years, and it is impossible to transport grain quickly, and it will take us about three months to build a warehouse that can support Tanma, and at the same time, we must continue to build roads, so that the transportation of grain and straw will become smoother and less loss." The strength of the Qing army is recovering every day, and it is difficult to say whether Boryeong will be so empty in half a year, if we want to attack Boryeong within half a year, then within five months we will need the Sword Pavilion to store supplies for 10,000 troops to eat for a month......" Build roads, transport grain, and establish post stations and warehouses, Deng Ming said to the officers present: "We need about 100,000 laborers to work at night to complete, and a large amount of labor requires enough food, plus losses, we must provide at least one million stone of food in these five months." ”

Deng Ming can get a million grains, but mobilizing so many laborers means that all the current production work in Chengdu will have to stop.

After finishing speaking, Deng Ming saw that some officers had already shown deflated expressions on their faces, but most of them still didn't realize anything, Deng Ming secretly wrote down in his heart: "The standing army has made achievements in the reorganization, but it is not enough, in the future, it is necessary to make every officer fully aware of the importance of logistics." ”

Ren Tang was the first of all to be discouraged, after the first few strategic research meetings, Ren Tang strongly advocated that it was not feasible to attack Boryeong, and resolutely opposed to gambling that Boryeong would still be suitable for attack after half a year at the cost of huge manpower and material resources. In Ren Tang's opinion, he either took the risk of raiding Baoning with a small number of troops, or simply abandoned this plan, and gradually Deng Ming began to accept this opinion.

"But even if Boryeong is not suitable for the offensive in half a year, it is not useless for us to build roads and these warehouses." Zhou Kaihuang pointed out that if a fighting force could be stationed in the Sword Pavilion, it would eliminate the possibility of the Qing army threatening Chengdu from the north.

"But can the capital raise such an army in the Sword Pavilion for a long time? There was no one around the Sword Pavilion, and everything that this army needed needed to be transported from the capital, and it cost so much. "Ren Tang has recently been advocating that the fruits of victory should be digested first, and that it can be spent a year or two to restore production, reorganize the troops, and reserve supplies, and then wait for the opportunity to go out.

This construction was approved by many officers, but Deng Ming always found it difficult. Relying on grain captured from Jiangnan, he could provide large rations to the civilian population; Relying on the weapons obtained from Huguang, Deng Ming could equip and train the troops, and there was no pressure to produce weapons for the time being; The farm tools obtained from Li Guoying can also be used to support the blacksmith firm in Chengdu...... In short, Deng Ming was able to implement the New Deal smoothly and restore Chengdu from the wounds of the war at an astonishing speed, relying on the huge war dividends. It can even be said that now is a place to save material resources and help Chengdu's agriculture and industry recover. However, when the dividends of the war were exhausted, the speed of Chengdu's recovery was bound to slow down greatly, and at that time, the agricultural and industrial circles not only did not receive the full support of the Ming army, but also had to bear the pressure to help the Ming army fight the war.