August is the harvest season, but in the fields within fifty miles of Yuguan, no one has harvested those yellow wheat ears. They only sway in the wind, forming waves of wheat that are heart-warming. Since the Khitan people knocked the pass,
All the households in Yuguan were empty, and most of them were plundered and taken to the north outside the pass. Some who were lucky or saw opportunities quickly fled to the interior of Pingzhou and have not dared to turn back to this day.
If you have food in your hands, don’t panic. This sentence comes from the mouth of the former leader Li Chengzhong. For Li Chengzhong, who regards the leader’s incisive judgment as a guideline, it would be a sin not to harvest so much food. In consultation
After getting Feng Dao's advice, he immediately organized soldiers from Capital A and Capital B, joined Feng Dao's hundreds of civilians, put aside all the work at hand, and started the autumn harvest with all his strength.
The total number of people Li Chengzhong could command was less than 300, but the wheat fields to be harvested were expected to be nearly 10,000 acres. Therefore, Li Chengzhong implemented a sixteen-hour work system, that is, twelve hours a day, and only allowed four hours of rest per person per day.
The remaining eight hours were devoted to harvesting. Even so, according to a rough estimate, by the time the autumn harvest is over, nearly half of the wheat fields may not be harvested in time. Feng Dao sent a letter to the governor's office overnight asking for more manpower, so
Three days later, the governor's office urgently dispatched 300 temporarily recruited refugees, and Li Chengzhong breathed a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, the Khitan Pinbu's attack did not continue, which also allowed Li Chengzhong to use all his manpower to carry out the looting. However, the news that the military envoy Zhou Zhiyu was about to come to Yuguan for inspection made Li Chengzhong a little worried. Zhou Zhiyu came to Yuguan,
You have to bring one or two people with you, right? For this reception, you have to take out one or two hundred people, right? It's okay to come for one day, but what if you stay in Yuguan for three or five days in a row?
Is good?
Li Chengzhong had been stationed at Yuguan for recent months, and he had already regarded this Guancheng as a child that needed to be cared for and defended by himself. He had never considered that Zhou Zhiyu was the real Yuguan guard. Even if he was stationed in
It is natural that he has been in Yuguan for three to five years. What Li Chengzhong is worried about is not handing over Yuguan again. Zhou Zhiyu treated him well. He now feels good in Zhou Zhiyu's system. Even if Zhou Zhiyu asks him to step down immediately, he will not
There is no complaint. What he is worried about is that the redeployment of manpower will greatly delay the autumn harvest, and how much food will be lost by then!
According to the letter from the governor's office, the three hundred civilians transferred to Yuguan are already the limit, and there will be no more. This year, the weather has been good, not only the entire Pingzhou, but also the farmland in the entire state under the jurisdiction of Lulong Jiedu has a bumper and mature harvest.
The grain was waiting to be harvested in the farmland. However, due to the heavy losses caused by the defeat of the Southern Expedition, the number of prime-age laborers in Lulong Army Town was too great, and all states were experiencing a shortage of manpower. If it were not for the robbery and harassment by the Khitans, many of them had to flee and enter the Pass.
With thousands of refugees, Pingzhou will also face a serious shortage of labor.
Li Chengzhong thought that if Zhou Zhiyu chose this time to inspect Pingzhou, wouldn't that be causing trouble?
Li Chengzhong told this idea to Feng Dao, who was becoming more and more attached to him. Feng Dao smiled, picked up a pen and wrote an official document for Li Chengzhong. The official document was sent to the military envoy, and the official document stated that he would do his best to do the best he could.
I would like to welcome Zhou Zhiyu’s reception work during his inspection and ensure that Zhou Zhiyu can understand all the details of Yuguan in a safe condition. At the same time, there is a small request at the end of the official document. Please ask Zhou Zhiyu to bring the new information to you when he comes to inspect.
The Pingzhou Army that was formed was brought over, and as many as they could come because Yuguan was trying its best to harvest farmland, but was suffering from a shortage of manpower. I hoped Zhou Zhiyu could bring these brothers over to help.
After Li Chengzhong read the letter, he smiled knowingly and quickly signed it and sent it out.
Three days later, Li Chengzhong met Zhao Zaili in Yuguan, who was leading 90 soldiers from Zhongyingjiadu. As soon as the two met, Zhao Zaili verbally conveyed Zhou Zhiyu's order. The scheduled inspection was postponed until after the autumn harvest, and Li Chengzhong asked
Harvest the farmland quickly and don't let a grain of grain rot in the field! In order to help Li Chengzhong harvest, Zhao Zaili was specially ordered to lead his troops to wait for dispatch. This order made Li Chengzhong sigh with emotion from the bottom of his heart. There is such a considerate subordinate.
A good boss is truly a blessing in life!
After conveying Zhou Zhiyu's verbal order, Zhao Zaili also explained the reason behind the order to Li Chengzhong. After consultation between the governor's office and the military envoy's yamen, all unowned farmland within fifty miles of Yuguan was handed over to the Pingzhou army for harvesting.
The grain was obtained as recruitment fee for the Pingzhou Army to recruit new troops.
When talking about the recruitment of troops, Li Chengzhong couldn't help but ask in detail. Zhao Zaili said with some excitement: "The third battalion of new troops has been recruited, and currently there is a shortage of officers, especially officers with actual combat experience. Moreover, according to Youzhou
The news came that because the Khitans repeatedly invaded the border, the Jiedu government was preparing to readjust a new plan to allow states to expand to three or five battalions depending on their financial resources. This order will be passed on soon. This year looks like a good harvest.
, so Zhang Shijun and our general have made a preliminary agreement, and the Pingzhou Army is going to expand to five battalions!"
This news greatly encouraged Li Chengzhong. He is now one of the highest-ranking officers in the Pingzhou Army, and is highly valued by Zhou Zhiyu. When the Pingzhou Army expands, it is already conceivable what his future will be like.
Li Chengzhong, who was inspired by the good news, was ready to roll up his sleeves and go to work. The grain growing gratifyingly in the fields in front of him was the legal property of the Pingzhou Army. If it was not harvested, it would be the biggest crime against the Pingzhou Army!
Therefore, he unceremoniously included Zhao Zaili's Zhongying A in the sixteen-hour work system. Even Zhao Zaili was driven out to the fields to do the harvesting himself, leaving the general who had never done farm work before.
There was a lot of complaining afterwards.
After more than half a month of harvesting, the Yuguan garrison finally harvested all the farmland in Yuguan at the end of the autumn harvest period. They even robbed the farmland within twenty miles outside the pass that was nearly semi-barren due to lack of care.
After coming back, after counting, the total amount of grain was more than 17,000 dan, with an average of 1 stone and 3 dan per mu inside the pass and seven dan per mu outside the pass. The joy of the harvest was reflected on everyone's face. Looking at the mountains of grain, Li Chengzhong grinned.
One night.
After the harvest, Li Chengzhong was still in his house thinking about how to load the truck and transport it back to Pingzhou. Jiang Miao hurriedly came down from Guancheng. As he came down, he loudly greeted Li Chengzhong: General Zhou is here!
Zhou Zhiyu's arrival was sudden and simple. Not only did he come, but Zhang Zaiji, the governor of Pingzhou, also came to Yuguan. Two of Pingzhou's highest-ranking military and political officials appeared at the foot of Guancheng at the same time, accompanied only by Zhou Zhiyu.
Several of Yu's bodyguards and several military aides from Jiedu Mansion.
Because of the autumn harvest, the towers on Guancheng have not been repaired yet. Li Chengzhong took Zhou Zhiyu and Zhang Zaiji to inspect the city. After explaining in detail the details of the last battle with the Khitans, everyone moved to the place where he lived to conduct the army.
Discussion. This is a simple military building. Such military buildings are lined up along the edge of the school field in Guancheng. There are more than sixty rooms in total, one room for each corps of soldiers, and one room for each officer above the team leader. The rooms are not big.
The room where Li Chengzhong lived was already the largest in the entire Yuguan, and so many people couldn't even stand inside. Therefore, Zhou Zhiyu ordered that only officers above the team leader and several military staff from the governor's office should participate in the military meeting, and then they all sat down reluctantly.
They came down. Zhang Xingzhong, Zhou Qidao, Jiang Miao and Zhao Zaili sat down on Li Chengzhong's bed.
Zhou Zhiyu and Zhang Zaiji first praised the bravery of the Yuguan defenders in the battle against the Khitans' harassment of the border and their hard work during the autumn harvest. Then Zhou Zhiyu personally announced the commendations and rewards.
Because Li Chengzhong led his troops to Yuguan in time and successfully defended Guancheng, Jin Zuoying Jiadutou, Zhirenyong Colonel, was on the ninth rank. Because of his effective organization during the autumn harvest, he guaranteed the future expansion of the Pingzhou Army.
The military rations are assigned to the deputy lieutenant for inspection and defense, and the rank is from the eighth grade to the lowest. After being reported to the Jiedu government for approval, the word "inspection" will be removed. In just over a month, Li Chengzhong went from team leader to team leader, and from team leader to team leader.
At Dutou, his rank was promoted from deputy lieutenant to accompany the army, to captain to accompany the army, and then to captain of Renyong, to deputy lieutenant to inspect the school and resist insults. His rank was even promoted four levels in a row. In the words of later generations, he could be regarded as a "rocket-type" cadre.
.
This kind of promotion was actually due to Zhou Zhiyu's compensation for his great achievements in Beizhou's siege, his efforts in evacuating his troops to the north, and his hard work in planning the health camp system. In Zhou Zhiyu's view, Li Chengzhong was not only able to fight, but also benefited himself.
Loyal officers are really rare confidants, and they are talents who can be "used in a big way" in the future! What Zhou Zhiyu is short of now is officers who can take charge of their own affairs. In his vision, Lieutenant General Li Cheng will occupy one of the five battalions of the Pingzhou Army in the future.
The position of commander of a battalion.
Zhou Zhiyu had already had this idea since he received the new state army reorganization plan from Jiedu Mansion a few days ago. If he hadn't considered that too fast promotion would be detrimental to the growth of young officers, and would also affect the balance of the entire Pingzhou Army.
Unfortunately, Li Chengzhong's request to be appointed commander of Zuoying was already on his way to Youzhou.
In addition to Li Chengzhong's commendation appointment, Jiang Miao, Zhang Xingzhong and Zhou Qidao were also promoted. The three of them served with meritorious service in the Yuguan War, and were all promoted to the head of the inspection school, with the rank of Deputy Lieutenant Ren Yong, the ninth rank, and will wait until
In the future, they will be converted into official Dutou officers after they have meritorious service. The rest of the lower-level officers who have meritorious service will be promoted by Li Chengzhong based on their military merit.
At the same time, Zhang Zaiji exercised the power of appointing the governor. Because of Feng Dao's good performance in this war, he was officially appointed as the chief officer of Pingzhou governor's office, with an official rank of eight. In terms of official rank, Feng Dao jumped to the top.
Above Li Chengzhong. However, in this era, no matter how high the rank of civil servants was, it was far inferior to the power and status of military officials.
After announcing Feng Dao's appointment, Zhang Zaiji talked about the newly issued state army reorganization order by Jiedu Prefecture. According to this order, Zhang Zaiji and Zhou Zhiyu discussed and decided to expand the Pingzhou Army to five battalions, a total of two battalions.
Thousands and five hundred people. Of course, there are some things in this. Zhang Zaiji and Zhou Zhiyu did not reveal it to everyone. What satisfied them most was that in addition to the expansion of the scale, they had obtained the consent of Youzhou, and even the military officers
The appointment and establishment of officers have also been greatly relaxed. In other words, the Pingzhou Army received a full five battalions of regular officers in this new order. This is the most important thing!