After traveling for more than ten days out of Beijing, Shang Yi's group finally returned to Muling Pass at the end of early May.
When passing through Linqu County, Shang Yi discovered that most of the villages and towns in the past had been restored. Families of soldiers had settled here, building houses and rebuilding their homes. You could see old buildings along the road. Well, it may be a house under construction. Most of the fields have been planted with crops. Although only a few seedlings are exposed now, it gives people a sense of infinite hope. Moreover, there are countless farmers working hard in the fields. With the cultivation, the whole area shows a vibrant scene.
Seeing such a scene, Shang Yi had to sigh that the self-recovery ability of Chinese farmers is indeed too strong. Perhaps this is the main reason why the Chinese nation has continued to thrive for five thousand years.
When Shang Yi's large group of troops passed by, farmers in the fields and pedestrians on the road saw them and bowed down on the roadside one after another. Even at some village intersections, men, women and elders came together to greet them, burning incense and paying homage at the intersection. Some people even led pigs and carried wine to express their gratitude to Shang Yi. Because everyone knew that it was Shang Yi who brought them the life they have now.
Although a large group of people passed through the fields of the village, they did not do any harm to the villagers. They also camped and rested in the wild at night. Shang Yi, Ye Yaojia, and Chen Yuanyuan all lived in the tents and did not do anything to the common people. In addition, in the face of the people's welcome, Shang Yi comforted him with kind words and tried his best to refuse the things he sent. Pinguo really couldn't refuse. Moreover, he gave money compensation according to the market price, which also won the heartfelt praise of the people. Many people shed tears on the spot. Were these the same officers and soldiers they had seen before?
By this time, the news had already been sent to Muling Pass. Zhou Shiqi and Tang Zhen, who were staying in Guancheng, also led the generals of all levels in Guanli to welcome Shang Yi and his party back outside the city. However, there was no Zhou Shaoqing among the welcoming crowd, and Shang When Yi asked, he found out that the imperial court issued an imperial edict and Zhou Shaoqing was promoted to the position of general magistrate of Qingzhou Prefecture. This was because Meng Honggong, the prefect of Qingzhou, was promoted to Chief Secretary of Shandong Province and was about to take office in Dengzhou. The new prefect had not yet arrived, so some official matters They were all handed over to the subordinate officials, and Zhou Shaoqing also rushed to Qingzhou to take over the official affairs.
The two of them were able to be promoted, of course, because of Shang Yi's credit. Zhou Shaoqing used to be the county chief registrar and was the ninth rank, but he was suddenly promoted to the sixth rank. The promotion was as fast as that of Shang Yi. , but it is rare, and Zhou Shiqi naturally knows that all this is due to Shang Yi, and is very grateful to Shang Yi.
There were also a few new faces among the welcoming crowd. They were all remaining officials from Linqu and Yishui counties. They included Zhang Guangyuan, the classic historian of Yishui County, and Wang Zhongping, the inspector; Chen Yiwen, Master Zhang Wenxiang and others. After the Qing army conquered these two counties, the magistrate and county magistrate were all killed, leaving only these few officials. Now Linqu and Yishui counties should be under the control of Shang Yi, so these few people They all also came to Mulinguan to report.
After learning that Shang Yi was promoted to the commander of the Shandong Dusi and the general of the Dengzhou Branch, he also received the title of Linyi County Count, and even Ye Yaoyu was granted the title of second-class wife by Hao, and there was even more chaos in Guancheng City. Joy. In fact, most people don't know how big an official Shang Yi is, but Zhou Shiqi and Tang Zhen are both people who have experienced officialdom. They naturally know that Shang Yi is now a very important figure. Since he is in When they first formed the militia, both of them were optimistic about Shang Yi and believed that he was not in the pool. However, Shang Yi was promoted so quickly, which was unexpected for them. However, Shang Yi's promotion naturally brought them with him. A rising tide lifts all boats, so they are all very happy.
Everyone greeted each other and then welcomed Shang Yi's troops into the city. Shang Yi ordered the artillery, muskets, gunpowder ingredients and remaining silver brought back from Beijing to be put into the warehouse, and then went to Zhou Shiqi, Accompanied by Tang Zhen and several other core personnel, he returned to the former Qianzong Yamen and sat down, which is still Shang Yi's residence. Then Shang Yi told everyone the details of his trip to Beijing. Everyone did not expect that this experience would be so tortuous. Shang Yi was actually framed and imprisoned, and there were people who dared to enter the palace to assassinate the emperor. Therefore, they were shocked and sighed.
However, regarding the matter of Shang Yi being imprisoned, first of all, they were not present at the scene. They only heard about it, and Shang Yi came back safely after all. Secondly, the authority of the court and the emperor still had a great deterrent effect in everyone's hearts, so everyone They didn't dare to say anything dissatisfied with the imperial court. Shang Yi also knew this and didn't deliberately use it to encourage them. Anyway, Ming Dynasty only had less than a year left to live. Once Ming Dynasty was over, this group of people would I can only follow myself with all my heart.
Then Shang Yi introduced Chen Yuanyuan to everyone, because she had lived in a small mountain village for a while, so Zhou Shiqi and Tang Zhen, the oldest people, still remembered her. Naturally, Shang Yi could not say that he eloped with her. It is only said that Tian Guozhang gave her to him. It was very common at this time for the powerful to give each other singers, or even concubines, and no one was surprised. Moreover, with Shang Yi's current situation, Given his status, it is normal to have several concubines. So everyone congratulated Shang Yi one after another. Chen Yuanyuan was born in a wealthy family and was very good at dealing with people. It is also very popular because of its charming appearance.
The next step was naturally celebration, and the entire Guancheng City celebrated for three consecutive days.
After the celebrations, business began. Shang Yi also announced to everyone that the imperial court had issued an order to mobilize the Muling Army south to Huguang to quell the rebellion. Shang Yi planned to send troops in July. No one had any objection to this. Regarding Zhou Shiqi, For Tang Zhen and others, this is an order from the court, and obeying it is a matter of course. But the other young generals are very confident in their combat effectiveness after consecutive victories. Even the Qing army can be defeated, let alone They are just rogues, so sending troops this time is actually a good opportunity to make achievements.
Later, Shang Yi made a series of personnel arrangements. First, he had to go to the court and recommend Tang Zhen as the commander of the Shandong Dusi, and Zhou Shiqi as the experience secretary. The commander and experience are subordinate to the commander of the Shandong Province. At the same time, they also recommended Zhou Shaohuan to Qishan Suo Qianhu, Cheng Jin to Jinshan Zuo Suo Qianhu, Wang Xinli to Baichi Yahou Qianhu, Luo Yuanbin to Haiyang Suo Qianhu, Yang Wucheng and Zhou Qi to Qianhu total.
At present, Shandong Dusi does not have a commander-in-chief, and there is only one commander, Shang Yi. All guard posts in Shandong are actually decided by Shang Yi alone, and the imperial court is about to use him, so he recommends several posts with thousands of households. Mr. Qian, the court will still give this face. But even if the court approves it, the generals will not be able to take office immediately because the troops will be sent out soon. It is just to give everyone a formal official position. .In fact, Shang Yi's troops and headquarters were still Mulinguan and the two counties in the north and south.
The next step is the key point. Shang Yi needs to formally establish his own staff.
Officials in the Ming Dynasty, especially local officials, generally had their own staff, and there were everyone in it. Some scholars who had titles but no official positions, or were idle and petty officials who could not perform their duties, were often regarded as important ministers. Staff members usually help the proprietor with some clerical work as a way to advance their career. Sometimes they will also assign important tasks to them. When the proprietor encounters difficulties, they will also recruit staff members to come. Discuss countermeasures. Among them, there are indeed some people who have real talents. Of course, there are also people who have no ability at all and can only do some chores, and they also hang in there to eat and drink.
However, what Shang Yi needed was not this kind of staff, but a staff organization to form a complete administrative management team. In fact, before Shang Yi came to Beijing, Mulingguanli had already established a basic administrative organization, but Now Shang Yi has nearly 100,000 soldiers and civilians under his control. It is obvious that the previously established administrative agencies cannot be managed. At the same time, new base areas will be established in the future. The business will definitely be much larger than it is now. Therefore, we must take precautions to further improve administrative management. Institutions are still very necessary.
According to Shang Yi's plan, his administrative team will be divided into two major departments: the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the United Front Work Department, which manage civil affairs and military affairs respectively. The Ministry of Civil Affairs is further divided into six divisions: the Administration Department, which is in charge of the current two counties and one city. All civil affairs; the Zongzhai Department, manages civil disputes and maintains local security; the Farmland Department, is responsible for agricultural farming, animal husbandry, farmland water conservancy construction, and grain storage; the Education Department, is in charge of educational affairs; the Finance Department is in charge of finance; the Engineering and Construction Department , responsible for various civil buildings and construction projects. Three of these departments are already there: Civil Affairs Department, Education Department, and Finance Department. The other three are newly added: Zhongzhi Department, Farmland Department, and Construction Department.
In addition, the Audit Department will be established to be responsible for financial audit supervision; the Documentation Department will be responsible for handling related official documents, personnel files and other matters. These two departments will be directly led by Shang Yi.
The United Front Work Department is divided into four departments: the Consultation Department, which is responsible for organizing arrangements, supervising and inspecting the training of soldiers, formulating combat plans, and accounting for war costs; the Military Intelligence Department, which is responsible for collecting various intelligence information; and the Ordnance Department, which is responsible for various military equipment. Manufacturing; Logistics Department, responsible for the logistics supply arrangements of the army.
In this way, the management structure will be more complete, the departments will be more detailed, and the division of labor will be more clear, and the efficiency of administrative management will be greatly improved. Although there are still some shortcomings, it is completely sufficient at this stage. of.
As for the selection arrangements for the heads of each department, the ones that existed in the past have basically retained the original selections. The only change is that in the past, Ye Yaoyao was in charge of finance and Sun Hejing was in charge of auditing. Now the two have been transferred to each other. The heads of other newly established departments also made decisions one by one after careful deliberation between Shang Yi, Ye Yaoyao, Zhou Shiqi, Tang Zhen and others.
In the end, the candidates for the heads of the six departments of the Ministry of Civil Affairs were: Zhou Shiqi, the head of the Civil Affairs Department; Sun Hejing, the head of the Finance Department; Chen Yiwen, the head of the Education Department, who was originally from Linqu County, and it was just right to be the head of the Education Department; Wang Zhongping, the head of the Zhongzai Department , he used to be an inspector of the Yishui Department, and he had met Shang Yi several times; Sun Cheng, the head of the Farmland Department, used to be the county magistrate of Yishui County, and he also knew Shang Yi and others; Lu Shi, the head of the Engineering and Construction Department , he was separated from the weapons workshop in the past.