In the evening, when Li Xia returned to the county government office from the camp, Han Chengxu was still handling the accounts. He looked up and hurriedly handed Li Xia a fur coat to put on.
"Alang is leading the soldiers to drill again. Even though he is sweating all over, he is not afraid of getting cold."
"It's okay. It's rare that many wounded soldiers have recovered from their injuries and returned to camp. Today is free." Li Xia said: "How did Yan Yunyun handle the salt sale?"
Han Chengxu said: "I took her to see Du Zhixin at noon, and sent two accountants and two guards to her. I didn't care about it anymore."
"So, she did a good job?"
"Du Zhixin has sent people back to Junlianzhou. Wu Tong will probably send more people to fight against the salt merchants after the New Year. Alang just needs to wait."
"A New Year's Day will delay many things. Wu Tong won't come, and it's hard to recruit people."
"The New Year is always celebrated, and these days are no different." Han Chengxu said with a smile, "By the way, County Magistrate Jiang was too lazy to investigate the case of Tang Ergeng, and said that the murderer was Yu Dechen, the assassin from the north, and wanted to close the case as soon as possible."
Li Xia said: "It's not impossible, but is there any evidence?"
"Is there any evidence? Magistrate Jiang doesn't want to disturb the New Year celebrations, nor does he want the case to be postponed until next year and ruin his evaluation. This is the opinion of all the classes."
"In order to celebrate the New Year, we didn't even investigate the case..."
Li Xia had never celebrated the New Year before, but now she feels that the people of the Song Dynasty attach great importance to the festival. Since entering the twelfth lunar month, the New Year has become more and more important day by day.
When people had such spiritual needs, there was nothing Li Xia could do. Of course, it was only a few days away.
He and Han Chengxu chatted some more about various topics. As the sky grew dark, they turned to the back office.
In the lobby of Houya, Jiang Chun, Mou Zhu, Jiang Di, Han Qiaoer and Jiang Cang were eating melon seeds and pastries around the stove.
It will be the New Year in two days, and Magistrate Jiang has already entered the New Year mood early. He does not sit in court every day, but only supervises small things such as holding lantern festivals.
"Feiyu is back, and I was just looking for you. You and I live together. It's not like a family is better than a family. How about we do the stove sacrifice together in the new year tomorrow?"
"Listen to the county magistrate's arrangements."
Jiang Chun said with a smile on his face: "Sit down, the food will be ready in a while. It's rare for our family to sit down."
On weekdays, he is quite old-fashioned in front of his family, but the Chinese New Year is different. All families, regardless of the scholar or common people, pay attention to "sitting together around the fire". Jiang Chun's New Year is longer, so he starts this activity early.
In this atmosphere, Han Qiaoer, the adopted daughter, gradually became more cheerful. She moved a little and let Li Xia and Han Chengxu sit beside her, and asked in a low voice: "Brother Li, are you free tomorrow?"
"I'm free at noon."
"Wu Shisan's father's birthday banquet will be held tomorrow. Brother Li has promised to go there; Wang Shoufu and Ma Erwa have several people who want to dig a well for their home. They said they would arrange for someone to do it a few days ago; the private school is about to be built.
…”
What Han Qiaoer was talking about were the last wishes of some soldiers who died in battle, and were beyond the scope of compensation.
Li Xia has a notebook to write down, but there are too many things to do, and sometimes he forgets what he has not done yet, but Han Qiaoer can remember it clearly, and she can remind Li Xia every night.
This little girl is one of those people who does things effortlessly. She seems to be playing every day. But if she is asked to do something, she never misses it.
Of course, she is still young and does not know the usefulness of various things, she just remembers them.
"Okay." Li Xia nodded after hearing what she said. It happened that Yan Yunyun could share the burden of the secret affair, but he had been unable to spare the time in the past few days.
"Can Brother Li take me with you tomorrow?" Han Qiaoer asked again.
"Liu Jinsuo hasn't caught the assassin yet, so I'm afraid it's in danger if you go out with me..." Li Xia was halfway through talking, seeing that Han Qiao'er was looking forward to it, and said, "Then bring more people."
"Okay."
The two of them whispered a few words just as they sat down. Li Xia turned to Jiang Chun and said, "I heard that Mr. Zhan is planning to leave?"
"Yes." Jiang Chun said: "Bofu's home is on Kuizhou Road in Fuzhou. Now it's time to go back to celebrate the New Year. He will not be under my supervision from now on, preparing for the provincial examination the year after next."
Li Xia probably understood the state of the literati in the Song Dynasty. Zhan Gang served as Jiang Chun's staff to prepare for becoming an official in the future. If he passed the imperial examination, he could live a comfortable life.
Therefore, generally literati do not like to follow in rebellion.
It would be difficult to rebel without the participation of literati. Li Xia has felt this deeply recently.
In addition, Jiang Chun's move was also a statement that he was preparing to leave office and would delegate power to Li Xia.
Without the involvement of these powers, the two families live together and have a good relationship recently.
"Just now Di'er was still saying that Feiyu's official experience was similar to that of Lord Jiaxuan." Jiang Chun said.
This was not the first time Li Xia heard such comments. He knew that "Jia Xuan Gong" refers to Xin Qiji, who once led fifty cavalry to charge into an enemy camp of tens of thousands of people.
He hurriedly said: "I dare not compare myself with Duke Jiaxuan."
Jiang Di lowered her head and glanced at them. She didn't understand why Jiang Chun said these words, as if she was thinking about Li Xia behind her back.
Jiang Chun cracked a melon seed and said with a smile: "It's okay for the family to chat. Feiyu doesn't need to be too modest. You and Jiaxuan Gong both made extraordinary achievements when they were young. Later, Feiyu, you created the river patrol, are you following Jiaxuan's example?"
Duke Xuan’s move to create the ‘Flying Tiger Army’?”
"Flying Tiger Army?" Li Xia was quite interested.
Seeing that he didn't know, Jiang Chun explained a few words.
"In the seventh year of Chunxi reign of Emperor Xiaozong, Duke Jiaxuan proposed the creation of the Flying Tiger Army. At that time, many people in the court said that this move was 'due to utilitarianism', and because of the huge cost, many people were in the way. Duke Jiaxuan tried his best to mediate.
, and even hid the imperial gold plaque.
The imperial court's annual expenditure was 80,000 guan, but the Flying Tiger Army spent 420,000 guan just to form an army, and the subsequent annual expenses were more than 200,000 guan. Mr. Jiaxuan also supported himself, managed finances in many ways, held wine classes, and ran a farm.
There are housing debts, land rent money, and operating money, so we all work together to create something.
The imperial court set a quota of 1,500 people, but Duke Jiaxuan was vague. Finally, he recruited 2,000 infantry troops and 500 cavalry troops, all with horses and armor. The army was completed, and he was the leader of all armies.
The following year, Duke Jiaxuan was transferred from Huxiang, and the Flying Tiger Army was repeatedly transferred to the front lines of all parties in the following decades. It gained a great reputation and is still the bugle of the powerful army of the Song Dynasty..."
Li Xia listened to Jiang Chun's words and roughly understood that he said that he was imitating Xin Qiji.
Xin Qiji established the wine industry as an official business, but he wanted to sell private salt. He also managed finances in many ways and was determined to build an army. He was also said to be "too utilitarian."
The difference is that Xin Qiji was the pacifier of Hunan back then, while Li Xia is now just a small county captain...
Jiang Chun added: "Do you know that only a few dozen days after the formation of the Flying Tiger Army, where did Lord Jiaxuan be transferred?"
"where?"
"Transferred to Jiangxi as the pacification envoy. In November of the same year, he was dismissed from office."
Li Xia squinted his eyes and realized what Jiang Chun was reminding him.
Jiang Chun laughed again and said: "We are just chatting among our families. Let me say a few words of sincerity... The river patrollers are not yet an army, at least not in name, but at most they are rural warriors. This time Feiyu has made a great contribution and done a great job.
He was very smart and gave most of the credit to Shi Zhizhou.
But what about the future? The next time Feiyu performs meritorious service, won’t anyone in the court ask, ‘How can a group of country warriors repeatedly achieve extraordinary feats’? Then there will always be people checking how Feiyu raises the army, which will inevitably cause some trouble... Yes
, I’ve seen Feiyu’s behavior in recent days, and it’s because he wants to continue to support the army, isn’t it true?”
Li Xia asked: "What does the county magistrate mean?"
"It is still time to report to the imperial court and determine the identity of this person. Instead of setting up an army with two or three thousand people like the Flying Tiger Army, it can also become a regular local army of 500 people."
Li Xia said: "I'm afraid that if this matter is completed, I will also be dismissed from office, right?"
Jiang Chun ate melon seeds and said casually, "I can play the part, so I can get the best of both worlds."
Li Xia smiled, completely understanding Jiang Chun's thoughts.
In this way, nominally this small army was founded by Jiang Chun, and Jiang Chun will have a share of all future achievements; and Li Xia can also appear to be less utilitarian.
Jiang Chun is about to be transferred anyway, but he has no reputation and is not afraid of being suspected. What he lacks is merit. Li Xia is young and has low qualifications and cannot be promoted seriously, but he is well-known and can easily be suppressed. He needs to deliberately reduce his influence.
It is indeed a proposal that is good for both parties.
This is the difference between Jiang Chun and Fang Yankai. When they saw Li Xia selling salt, Fang Yankai wanted to stop it, while Jiang Chun casually proposed a solution that was beneficial to both parties.
…
After Li Xia thought about it, he still shook his head and said: "The brave people from the countryside can be brave from the countryside. There is no need to form an army."
"Why?" Jiang Chun was greatly surprised, thought for a while, and whispered: "If this can be done, you can pay for the military expenses and prevent anyone from impeaching you for training as a private soldier in the future."
He originally thought that with Li Xia's cleverness, this matter could be accomplished.
The reason why I said it while sitting around the fire with my wife and children was to deliberately create a relaxed atmosphere.
Li Xia said: "I'm not afraid of anyone impeaching me for training as a private soldier...but I still want to thank the county magistrate for reminding me."
He stretched out his hand to warm himself over the fire, pondering the pros and cons of these things.
When Xin Qiji was first founded, the Flying Tiger Army was a local army that belonged to the Sanyamen and the Privy Council, and was exclusively subject to the control and dispatch of the commander-in-chief.
There are no private soldiers, so once Xin Qiji was transferred, the Flying Tiger Army had nothing to do with it.
Li Xia doesn't want to be Yue Fei, nor does he want to be Xin Qiji.
The method Jiang Chun said was only a temporary method. If he really wanted to become a regular army, over time, the court would still be able to transfer Li Xia to another position. Rather than doing this, it would be better to train as a private soldier from the beginning.
"Feiyu is... even bolder than Duke Jiaxuan." Jiang Chun sighed with emotion.
"The situation is different." Li Xia said: "If I had been born in the era of Duke Jiaxuan, I'm afraid I wouldn't have had the courage to create the Flying Tiger Army. But the current situation makes me less utilitarian..."
Jiang Chun also sighed, then grabbed a handful of melon seeds and said with a smile: "Let's not talk about this anymore. Let's talk about it after a good year."
He is a man who lives his life clearly. He may not be ignorant of the bad situation in the Song Dynasty, but he has no choice but is too lazy to think too much.
He has the air of enjoyment and decadence brought about by many peace negotiations in the Song Dynasty...
~~
Li Xia was inspired by the chat that night and realized that he must raise bandits to respect themselves in the future. For example, he could raise some bandits in the Wumeng tribe. Gao Changshou was a very suitable candidate.
Of course, this matter is still early, and no one will impeach a small county captain for the time being.
In addition, after learning the lessons of Xin Qiji, Li Xia became more determined to train as a private soldier.
After returning to the house that night, he took out paper and pen again and started writing and drawing.
"Brother Li, what are you writing?" Han Qiaoer came over and asked.
Li Xia didn't mind talking to her more. If he forgot some things, Han Qiaoer could write them down for him.
"I plan to reorganize the river patrolmen. From now on, they will no longer be called river patrolmen. They can be called 'Qingfu Army' or anything else. Titles like 'squad leader' cannot give them a sense of honor, and they need to be called 'river patrollers' from the beginning."
In order to distinguish the military system from other Song armies, it is not appropriate to imitate Mongolia too much, so we use the terms "Shijiang", "Deputy Baijiang" and "Baichijiang".
More importantly, we must use our own military symbols, tokens, flags, and even armor. The style of military uniforms must also be slightly adjusted. Starting from the details, including the way of giving orders and the promotion system, they must be consistent with those elsewhere.
The Song Army is different. Others cannot easily command them..."
Li Xia talked for a while, and Han Qiaoer wrote everything down and said, "Brother Li, burn the paper after you finish writing. If you forget, just ask me."
"Okay, for example, this is the new token I drew. We need to start early so that the soldiers will only recognize it."
Han Qiaoer tilted her head and looked at it, then whispered: "The painting is so ugly..."
~~
That night, Jiang Chun didn't know that Li Xia was working tirelessly to rebel, and he didn't know that his words gave Li Xia a wake-up call.
Sometimes literati can play a very important role in rebellion, whether intentionally or unintentionally...
Jiang Di still felt a little annoyed. She actually only said, "I think Lieutenant Li's experience is very similar to Duke Jiaxuan." However, Jiang Chun told her in front of everyone.
Although no one else cared about it, she cared about it very much...
Jiang Cang felt a little excited. He liked Jiang Chun and his family chatting like this every New Year.
After listening to a lot of Xin Qiji's stories today, he felt even more what was contained in the sentence "A warrior with an iron sword can swallow thousands of miles like a tiger." He kept thinking about this before falling asleep.
"What would it be like if Duke Jiaxuan could lead the Flying Tiger Army he created to resist the Jin Dynasty?"