"Come on, we didn't fight well and let Guo Yunbiao run away."
After the battle, Hong Qi and Qiao Shuangcheng came back dejected and apologized as soon as they met.
They did not see Guo Yunbiao sinking into the mud. They only saw more than 20 thieves running ashore and going far away, so they thought Guo Yunbiao was among them.
The things they regretted were nothing to Zuo Mengeng.
"It doesn't matter. Guo Yunbiao can't cause any trouble."
The more powerful the military force in his hands became, the more Zuo Mengeng understood that in the face of the overwhelming trend, personal actions really didn't matter.
With Guo Yunbiao's ability, even if he ran away, he would be nothing more than a lost dog in the future.
Not catching Guo Yunbiao made Li Qingshan and others very angry.
"Come on, please leave this matter to us brothers. We will definitely bring Guo Yunbiao's head back."
Zuo Mengeng waved his hand to appease them.
"I know that you and Guo Yunbiao have a deep hatred, but we have more important things to do next. Don't let a mere Guo Yunbiao get in the way."
The capture of Anshan Lake meant that such a large area of water was in the hands of the new army.
Zuo Mengeng had no intention of giving up this area.
He will not occupy the surrounding cities such as Dong'a, Pingyin, Wenshang, Shouzhang, Yanggu, Yuncheng, etc., so as not to irritate the Ming court. But he will firmly control the surrounding rural areas centered on Anshan Lake.
The land is in control.
He said to Hong Qi and Qiao Shuangcheng: "Since you didn't catch Guo Yunbiao, make up for it. Next, take your people and sweep along the lake. I only have one request, and that is to find out the land deeds around and in the lake.
In whose hands is it all? Is the person who holds the land title still there? If he is no longer there, then nothing will happen. If he is still there, then let him go."
His intention is obvious, which is to turn the area around Anshan Lake into a terra incognita.
In this way, what he takes is his.
By letting the remaining title deed holders disappear, there will be no need to fear lawsuits.
Hong Qi and Qiao Shuangli were eager to succeed and went immediately.
Zuo Mengeng sent an order to Linqing, and within a few days, Chen Zhi personally came over with a dozen administrative staff.
Li Banghua and Geng Ruqi also returned from Cao Zhi's tomb and participated in the planning meeting.
Zuo Mengeng hung up the map of the Anshan Lake area and began to deploy it.
"The villages, towns, and rural areas in this area have been basically destroyed, and all the landowners have been killed. Therefore, we have occupied this area, and the court cannot notice it. My idea is, Zhangqiu Town, Shawan Town, Liangshanji, and Anshan
We will select officials and implement management in these four parts of the town. In addition, we will build an aquaculture company based on Anshan Lake. On the one hand, we will increase income, and on the other hand, we will explore the role of aquaculture in people's livelihood."
People of this era have a strong obsession with land.
As for water resources, the difference is somewhat different.
But Zuo Mengeng knew that it was unrealistic to rely solely on land to support people.
Especially in peaceful times, once the weather is good, the population will skyrocket. Limited land resources cannot support too many people.
Therefore, he set his sights on aquatic resources.
Rivers, lakes and seas are all places rich in resources. Once managed well, they can definitely make up for the lack of food production.
This was something he had mentioned before, and everyone agreed, so the arrangements went very smoothly.
After discussion, officials were arranged in each of the four towns.
Zuo Menggeng saved trouble and directly named him mayor.
Moreover, each town has more than one official, but three. They are the mayor, deputy mayor, and financial officer.
He also made clear demands on government affairs.
Major decisions in each town must be made after discussion by three chief officials.
The resolution method is based on voting, and the minority obeys the majority. Moreover, the content of each resolution must be documented.
The opinions of the three chief officials and the voting results must be recorded in detail.
This approach was actually the democratic centralism he imitated that later proved to be very effective.
This system avoids the arbitrariness of individual officials and also avoids low efficiency caused by officials' inconsistent opinions.
A resolution, regardless of whether it is right or wrong, must be made at a standing meeting. Regardless of whether it is right or wrong, it must be implemented in accordance with the principle of the minority obeying the majority.
Even if it is wrong, because there are detailed meeting files, there will be rewards that should be rewarded and punishments that should be punished afterwards.
In short, situations like those in the imperial court that undermine each other and involve each other for a long time are absolutely not allowed to happen.
When he came up with this method, Li Banghua and Geng Ruqi's eyes were filled with brilliance.
As veteran officials, they certainly understand the benefits of this approach.
When they were officials, they often suffered from it. If the court had such a good method, why worry about the country's decline so far?
However, they understood better that with Ming's virtue, it was absolutely impossible to implement this system.
They even don’t know that this system will be the essence of politics hundreds of years later.
As officials from the four towns took office, various livelihood measures were immediately implemented.
Because of the destruction of the White Lotus Sect, the people in these places suffered a lot, and basically all their families were destroyed. According to statistics, the remaining population is less than one in ten.
After Zuo Menggeng discussed with Li Banghua and Geng Ruqi, he also obtained the approval of Qu Shichun and Zhang Jimeng, and mobilized more than 10,000 people from Zuozhuang to move here.
At the same time, the Second Regiment was also stationed in Liangshanji, responsible for local defense.
Li Qingshan, Ma Yingxiao, and Zhang Qi served as deputy mayors of three towns respectively.
As locals, they are familiar with local customs. However, they have never been officials and do not understand administration at all. Therefore, they can learn things by staying with experienced people.
Of course, after a while, they will also return to Linqing to study at the Government Affairs College.
Li Qingshan originally strongly requested to join the New Army and fight. However, considering his age, Zuo Mengeng refused.
As a man in his fifties, it is impossible to learn the rules and methods of the new army all over again.
Ren Qi was seriously injured and was sent back to Linqing for recuperation. After the injury healed, he could consider joining the navy.
To prepare for the establishment of an aquatic products company, Zuo Menggeng once again spread the heroic message.
This time it was no longer limited to Linqing, but all the families in Dongchang Mansion received his invitation.
This autumn, the fields on Zuozhuang once again had a bumper harvest. Under farm-style management, even the yields of potatoes, corn and other crops were 20% higher than those of ordinary land.
Several large families in Linqing and Dongchang went to the fields to verify it in person and were completely convinced by this new model of agricultural farming.
I heard that several big families in Linqing had signed an agreement with Zuo Mengeng to develop large-scale farms. Every family in Dongchang Prefecture was very excited.
After hearing about Zuo Menggeng's aquatic products company plan, everyone knew that this was definitely a profitable business.
Aquaculture is not like farming.
The weather conditions in recent years have been bad, with frequent droughts and floods, which will lead to reduced grain production.
However, breeding in Anshan Lake is different. Even if there is a drought, there is no shortage of water in Anshan Lake, so the impact on breeding will not be significant.
In this way, the output is almost predictable.
And through the new water network channels, the products produced by the breeding here can be marketed to many surrounding cities, without having to worry about the market at all.
Everyone invested money very happily, and the aquatic products company raised a start-up capital of 150,000 taels of silver in one fell swoop.
The company is still a joint-stock company, and after discussion, Ren Huaimao will be the person in charge.
Chen Zhi is more difficult, and needs to travel to Linqing and Anshan Lake.
At present, he is the best student of "Agricultural Policy Encyclopedia", and he also has to worry about aquaculture.
Yes, Xu Guangqi's "Agricultural Policy Encyclopedia" contains content about aquaculture, and it is very advanced.
It can be said that Zuo Menggeng's layout in agriculture and fishery was thanks to the help of this book.
Zuo Mengeng originally planned to stay here in Anshan Lake for a while to straighten out the affairs of the fishing company. However, Zuo Fu hurried over with a scholar in his thirties and told him bad news.
"I, Lu Xiangsheng, would like to ask General Zuo to send troops to rescue Jinan as soon as possible."
Zuo Mengeng couldn't come back to his senses for a long time. Looking at the frail scholar with a handsome appearance in front of him, he couldn't connect it with Lu Xiangsheng, who had left a name in history.
All he knew about Lu Xiangsheng was that he died for his country in a fierce battle with a generous and tragic song. Little did he know that in the third year of Chongzhen's reign, Lu Xiangsheng served as the Left Councilor in Shandong.
Nor did he expect that Lu Xiangsheng would come running over to ask for help.
However, when Lu Xiangsheng explained the situation, Zuo Mengeng was even more shocked.
It turned out that after Zuo Menggen withdrew his troops from Qingzhou Prefecture, the White Lotus Sect Murong's Finance Department was no longer able to be controlled and captured most of Qingzhou Prefecture.
Later, Sun Yuanhua sent Zhang Keda to suppress the bandits, and the two sides fought several battles. Murong Cai was defeated, so he retreated to Jinan Prefecture and besieged Xincheng.
Xincheng local officials sent a series of blood letters to Jinan asking for help, and the Xincheng Wang family put great pressure on Shandong Governor Shen Xun.
Shen Xun had no choice but to send General Song Wei and Deputy General Liu Zeqing to rescue.
As a result, Murong Cai set up an ambush halfway, causing the Ming army in Jinan to be defeated. General Song Wei was seriously injured and deputy general Liu Zeqing was killed.
When he heard that Liu Zeqing was dead, Zuo Mengeng's expression was extremely wonderful.