Chapter 79 The calm before the storm

Chapter 79 The calm before the storm

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Shao Xun would not let go of the opportunity to hold power.

On the second day after the army set out, he led his troops to take over the empty Jinyong City.

Afterwards, he ordered people to open the Taicang and the arsenal, take out a considerable amount of supplies, and move them to Jinyong City for storage.

From this day on, supplies were replenished as they were consumed, ensuring that there would be enough reserves in Jinyong City to last 10,000 people for half a year - the three cities of Jinyong were so small that they could only store so much.

Chen Yougen's teaching team was expanded, mainly by drawing on veterans from the lower army who had experienced several battles, as well as a few skilled soldiers from the East China Sea of ​​the upper army.

After the reorganization, the team had a full staff of fifty people, and Chen Yougen could be considered a real team leader.

More than a thousand people from Luoyang City were laid off as a whole in the upper army.

They were not asked to leave, at least they had been trained for half a year, they knew some rules and had some basic military skills. They were organized into "auxiliary soldiers", mainly engaged in logistical support work, and would only go to the city walls for rotation when necessary.

As for the vacancies in the upper and lower armies, they will be filled by recruiting new soldiers - the people are new, but they may not know nothing. Perhaps the "new recruits" have fought in more battles than Shao Xun.

He also took the opportunity to form two new teams.

There were casualties in the battle to attack Daxia Gate, probably dozens of people. The team leader Zhou Ying had very bad luck and was killed by a stray arrow while chasing the enemy.

This time, some people were transferred to the teaching team, so there are more vacancies.

Shao Xun disbanded the third team and divided it into the remaining teams to fill in the vacancies.

At the same time, the third team was rebuilt and Jin San was appointed as the team leader.

A new 11th team was established, and Lu Heigou was promoted to be the team leader - Mao Er had some talent for learning and was good at arithmetic, so Shao Xun didn't want him to risk his life on the battlefield.

These two teams of soldiers came from the same sources as before: porters at the market, dock workers, and even boatmen pulling boats on the Luo and Yi rivers.

Shao Xun examined each person one by one, and only incorporated them into the army after roughly confirming their character.

The main tasks of these two teams are only three: training, training and training.

Of course, although Wang Que'er Team (Team 7) has been on the battlefield, they still need to continue training.

The training tasks were very heavy. Shao Xun sometimes took charge of them himself and sometimes let the teaching team do it for him.

He Lun and Wang Bing almost completely let go and allowed Shao Xun to do whatever he wanted.

I don't know if it was because the war was imminent that they were forced to lower their stance, or if Sikong promised them something that led to them not being interested in this.

But either way, it's a good thing.

Some people try every possible means to get promoted, the higher the better, but their mindset has not changed.

Historically, it was probably not until the Yongjia Rebellion that more people suddenly woke up and carefully examined their past.

Smart people will abandon outdated old perceptions and redefine true "wealth" in troubled times.

Among them, those who are determined and courageous will take advantage of the rare power vacuum when the court order collapses, expand their private armies, gather in cities, and wait and see the situation.

Those who were not so courageous would try to flee southwards and seek an official position. At that time, they were no longer picky. Those who could have been prefects before could now be satisfied with being county magistrates, and those who could have been governors could also be considered prefects.

Under the general trend, everyone made different choices, and left their records in the long river of history, whether they were complacent, ambitious, living a life of mediocrity, or moving forward courageously.

People are different from each other.

******
Recruiting new soldiers, reorganizing the troops, and conducting rigorous training are not things that can be accomplished overnight.

Shao Xun was busy until the end of July before he could finally take a breath.

On the last day of July, he led the third, seventh and eleventh teams of 150 soldiers out of Ximing Gate and headed for his manor - just as an armed march.

Pei Shiliu, Pei Jin and Tang Jian went out to greet them.

"My dear, I listened to you last time and occupied some more land. No one really cared." Pei Jin said with admiration, "There is also a farmhand who brought land to offer. He doesn't want the land as long as he can keep his family safe."

"How did you do it?" Shao Xun asked.

"We have taken them all. There are now fifty or sixty farmstead households, and they can't even farm all the land. Many of the lands are unowned, and no one wants them even if they are sold. The owners packed up some valuables and headed south to Yuzhou and Jingzhou." Pei Jin said, "According to my husband's instructions, we have all planted grains and will be able to harvest them soon."

In other places, unowned land would most likely be occupied by nobles and powerful people, and would not be truly ownerless.

But Luoyang is a very special place. Too many people are watching it. There are wars every year. Who can stand it? Even if you want to sell it, no one will buy it.

The population of the entire Luoyang Basin has been in a state of population loss, and it is better to go to Yuzhou than to stay in Luoyang.

If Yuzhou is still not reassuring, then go to Jingzhou which is basically stable. I heard that Governor Liu Hong is distributing land to people who go south. As for how those lands came from, of course we have to thank Zhang Chang. Without war, there would be no "unowned land".

Newly acquired land often misses the opportunity for spring sowing, and can only grow some short-growing grains - mainly beans.

As the threat of war looms, this is the most suitable emergency crop. After harvesting and drying, it can immediately become food reserves.

"Harvest as soon as possible." Shao Xun said, "Pick the fruits in the manor in batches and find a way to make them into dried jerky. Fatten the livestock as much as possible, then slaughter them, smoke or pickle them as you like. Catch as many fish as possible in the pond, send a batch of fresh fish to the army first, and make the rest into dried fish. Finally, pick up more firewood and send it to Jinyong City."

"Yes..." Pei Jin replied with some sadness. After coming to Shao Mansion for a few months, it was the first time in his life that he managed a large manor independently. It could be said that it was an important sign that his career and life had reached a new level.

But now, forced by the war, he had to destroy it like a fortified city, and he personally led his men to destroy it.

Who can understand the ups and downs in my heart?

"My dear." Tang Jian stepped forward and said somewhat unnaturally, "There are a total of 104 children and teenagers. They have all been trained for three months. Do you want to go and take a look?"

Tang Jian used to be the owner of the Hebei Clan, and is now a guest of the Shao Mansion. The only people under his jurisdiction are six other guests.

They used to hone their skills and guard the house, but now they also have to manage the Luoyang orphans - orphans created by the war.

Over the course of several months, Shao Xun came several times, mainly to examine the young people's cultural and military knowledge.

Culture was taught by scholars who were trapped in Luoyang and had no food or clothing.

Military knowledge mainly involves queues and formations, which are taught by the teaching team in their spare time. Shao Xun also taught it two or three times.

As his status rose, he became increasingly busy, and his visits to the manor became less and less frequent.

"Lead the way." Shao Xun waved his hand and said.

Tang Jian immediately led the way, and Shao Xun, surrounded by 150 soldiers, soon arrived at the orchard on the right.

The children were picking fresh fruits, mainly pears, grapes, persimmons and the like. Some were hitting dates with spears. It was a busy scene.

Shao Xun suddenly became angry for no reason, not at these young people, but at the people who started the war.

But then he remembered that he was also one of those fucking war enthusiasts, and his anger dissipated.

You all will suffer for a while first, and after the war is over, we will give you peace.

The three team leaders, Wang Que'er, Jin San and Lu Heigou, looked at these Luoyang teenagers curiously.

While the boys were busy, they also secretly glanced at the soldiers who came to the manor, especially the three boys who were about the same age as them.

The teacher mentioned that Master Shao also brought a large group of young men from the East China Sea to learn literature and martial arts. These three people in front of me should be them, right?
The two gangs of "naughty kids" from Donghai and Luoyang just stared at each other for a moment, then tacitly looked away, with a somewhat subtle emotion.

Donghai Phase I, Luoyang Phase II...

The two big words "faction" seemed to have fallen from the sky and were almost sticking to their foreheads.

"Sun He, Zhang Daniu, come here." Shao Xun shouted.

"Master Shao." The two men put down their work and saluted together.

Shao Xun, on the left and right, led the two most outstanding young men since the second term of Luoyang began, to the front of the 150 soldiers standing in neat rows, and said, "Many of them started to learn literature and martial arts two years ago, and now they have become squad leaders, platoon leaders, and team leaders, and officially lead troops. You have only studied for three months, and your gains are limited, but you must not underestimate yourselves, and you must practice hard. In the future, you can also become a squad leader, a platoon leader, a team leader, or even an official in a county. Do you understand?"

"Understood." The two responded in unison.

Shao Xun nodded with satisfaction.

To be an official one must have a good background; not everyone can do it.

But he was thinking about the future.

The Jin Dynasty can still maintain its status, and although the central authority is constantly slipping away, it still exists. If you are asked to be a governor, the county officials and the nobles will still recognize you, so everything must be done according to the rules.

Those who take the lead in challenging this rule will bear the greatest backlash. Such people are generally called "pioneers of the king."

In later generations, some people even invented the theory that "the first to take action must be punished, and the last to prosper will be blessed."

Once the first few groups of rebels who served as the king's pioneers have died, the successors will have more room for development and will be more likely to succeed.

To put it bluntly, someone has to consume the remaining authority, wealth, and military force of the last dynasty, so that this dynasty, which is destined to perish, will have no resources to eliminate the newly emerging ambitious people after being severely damaged.

In this dynasty, a number of refugee soldiers who served as the king's vanguard have died, such as Qi Wannian, Shi Bing and others, as well as Zhang Chang, who died in the futures market.

The second batch of refugees began to emerge, and the vast majority of them were still destined to be wiped out, with only a very few lucky ones able to survive.

After this group was basically killed, the third group was the powerful ones. The official refugee army (beggar army), the rebellious refugee army, the local generals who made their fortunes by suppressing the refugee army, the Huns, the Xianbei, the fort commanders and even the ambitious aristocratic families all made their appearances and started a rampage - in fact, it was almost the same in all dynasties. Without the Yellow Turban Army as the vanguard, there would be no princes defending their own territories; without the Red Turban Army fighting the Yuan army in the north, there would be no Zhu Yuanzhang accumulating strength in the south of the Yangtze River.

At this stage, the North will be completely out of control, and some of the "heavenly rules" and "iron laws" will not be so rigid, and some opportunities will be revealed - opportunities that are extremely rare in peacetime, and unique to times of troubled times.

This was the opportunity Shao Xun had been waiting for.

"You can't relax either." Shao Xun turned his head and looked at Wang Que'er and the others, and said, "I got my official position by risking my life and earning the five scars on my body. On the battlefield, swords and spears are blind. Only by studying hard and practicing hard can you survive more easily and achieve success."

"Yes!" the student soldiers responded in unison.

"Yes!" Led by them, more than a hundred soldiers from three teams responded in unison.

Shao Xun laughed with satisfaction.

Pei Shiliu looked around, leaned close to his ear, and whispered, "Young Master, the princess is still waiting for you to come in."

(End of this chapter)