stubborn thief

Chapter 230 Empty Gloves White Wolf

Three thousand lion soldiers stationed in Xining City.

In any case, being able to take over the defense of the city in a legitimate way, after moving for three thousand miles, they finally had a place where they could live for a long time.

Although this shelter is temporarily shared with others, Xining City is not a place to be manipulated by them.

But there are mature towns and enough people here, and it is a good place for bachelors who follow him to start a family.

But who to garrison the city is a difficult choice for the two brothers.

Their army was too bloated and chaotic, with a total strength of 7000, and the Lion Battalion alone was overstretched to [-].

In fact, it can only be used for three to 4000 people in combat, and it is difficult to use it flexibly.

In this situation, when Liu Chengzong fought against Cao Wenzhao, he discovered that his army had a large number of officers and insufficient officers, and he could not complete the combat tasks that a battalion should complete when he fought with the same force.

So much so that in that battle, he didn't even dare to order the infantry to attack on the move, relying entirely on the initiative of the team at the squad level and the tenacity of enduring combat to win the victory.

It was also fortunate that Cao Wenzhao, a general who was blindly rushing, ran out of food, otherwise the lion camp would suffer a big loss in that battle.

In fact, today's Lion Camp and even the entire army is an idiot organization that uses thousands of the best fighters as supply troops.

They were long overdue for reorganization after the oversizing.

But on how to reorganize, they have discussed many times on the road, but they failed to come up with a result.

There is a purpose in creating an army. Before arriving in Xining, they didn't know what they were going to face. After arriving in Xining, they found that they were going to face three completely different opponents.

Pirates, chieftains, Ming army, two of the three kinds of armies, they don't understand the organization, not to mention the farming and nomadic garrison.

It is impossible for 2 troops to be stationed in Xining City for a long time, and everything else is easy to say, but there are more than [-] war horses, which will eat up everything around them.

So for the time being, Liu Shizi's idea is to separate a garrison battalion, led by Liu Chengzu, to be stationed in Xining City.

This garrison battalion cannot rely entirely on second-line or even low-level troops. It must have a certain number of elites to deter any chieftains in the city who may have dissidents.

The most important decision was to separate 2000 people from the Yuzi Camp and 1000 people from the Lion Camp to form [-] households in the Xining Camp, stationed in the city, and directly led by Liu Chengzu.

The commander of the Xining camp is naturally Liu Chengzu, and his three generals are Feng Lu, Li Wanqing and Liu Guoneng.

The six whistle chiefs are Lian Daqi, the former captain of the right whistle of the Lion Camp, Hu Sanhuai, the former deputy chief of the work whistle of the Lion Camp, He Zijie, a local bandit in Ningzhou, Han Chaozai, the leader of Qingyang, Guo Zhashi, the lion commander, and the old Yuhebao. Officer Tian Shoujing.

In the selection of officers, military literacy is not the only criterion, and each has its own advantages.

Some fought hard battles after the rebellion, some were able to coordinate the relationship between various officers, some were extremely senior, and some were able to reach heaven.

This talented army completed its reorganization in the east of Xining City, and the sergeants who were incorporated into the battalion were all in a daze. After being lectured by Liu Shizi, they marched into Xining City and lived in the barracks vacated by the Xining Guard.

Anyway, Liu Chengzong believed in his elder brother's military training ability.

He didn't have high expectations for this army. After autumn and winter, it would be enough to form a fighting force.

As for before that, Liu Chengzong had already found a good place for the army.

In the north of Xining City, the river valleys on the east and west banks of the Beichuan River, the east is the territory of Chieftain Chen, and the north can pass through the Great Wall to reach the Heilin River and Datong River.

This area also reclaimed a large area of ​​land in the early years, but later it was often plundered by Mongolian nobles during the Jiajing period, and later the Great Wall was built during the Longqing period.

Chieftain Chen's land is just to the east of the valley, in a criss-cross valley.

On the bank of the river, a girl in colorful costumes was riding on a horse, driving the horses along the river. When she saw Chen Shiwen from a distance, she dismounted and saluted, and then continued to herd herds.

Some teenagers saw a large group of people appearing in the valley, and ran back to the chieftain's garrison while running.

Not long after, more than a dozen horsemen with sabers and bows galloped out and lined up at the mountain pass. The leader of the horse came up to question with a matchlock and a long gun. Get off your horse and salute.

Chen Shiwen said that the man was his manager.

Walking into the valley, Chen Shiwen gradually straightened his back like a chieftain. He pointed to a castle built in the mountains and said, "Marshal, that is my chieftain's office."

The Lion Camp's brigade camped in the river valley and mountain pass, led Cao Huachun and the guards, and followed Chen Shiwen to the chieftain's office.

He likes to carry Cao Huachun very much, this is the ultimate amulet for him to walk under the rule of Ming Dynasty.

Although Cao Huachun is always uneasy by his side, it can bring him a great sense of security.

However, Cao Huachun has already done him a great favor, so he will not bring Cao Huachun into Qinghai. After a while, when his luggage can be safely stored in Xining City, he plans to put Cao Huachun back.

Chen Shiwen's chieftain's mansion, apart from the high walls and watchtowers for military purposes outside, is indeed a government office inside, so Liu Shizi is very familiar with this structure.

There was no need for Chen Shiwen and Chen Shifo to lead the way. After entering the Yamen, Liu Chengzong went to the West Yamen.

Looking at Chen Shiwen as a fool, it feels like the two brothers have entered Liu Chengzong's house.

However, there is no Dianshi Yamen in the chieftain's mansion. The West Yamen is a large courtyard. In the yard, a few natives are feeding him grass, feeding horses, and turning the mill. In the house are a few natives who are practicing tricks.

Chen Shiwen drove them away, and asked his second brother to take Cao Huachun around the chieftain's mansion, and invited Liu Chengzong in.

He said that this used to be a large prison in the chieftain's mansion, but his family never used corporal punishment on the natives. Usually, when there were disputes between neighbors, the chieftain would mediate in the yamen. If the chieftain could not mediate or broke the law, he would be sent directly to Xiningwei.

Therefore, there was no need for this large prison, and later it was changed into a side room, specially for cheaters invited from outside.

Liu Chengzong said: "Gambling is not a good thing, do you still have this problem?"

"I don't play, but the chieftain has to do the chieftain's work. The family's land is getting less and less, and the court will not let me pay less."

Chen Shiwen shook his head, and explained to Liu Chengzong: "The chieftain's land needs to pay the imperial court more than three buckets of grain, and the cultivation of the tenant land is only enough for half a year, and they have to go to Xining City to do part-time jobs to earn money to eat."

"It's the same with me. There are long-term and short-term workers who need people to work, but there is no money to pay them, so what should I do?"

Chen Shiwen said: "If it's raining and windy, don't work, set up a table to win back the wages."

"You are hurting people."

"If you don't harm others, you have to harm yourself. Fourteen chieftains, every family is like this, some are poor and some are bad. We want to fight for the court. The custom here is to marry a wife at the age of thirteen or fourteen, and marry at the age of twenty. Yes, males don’t have to give birth to practice riding and archery, and marry a big wife to take care of housework.”

Chen Shiwen spread his hands and sighed slowly: "But the imperial court doesn't want us to fight. If I can go out and become a low-level official after a war, I would rather go to be a low-level official."

"Forget it, it's as good as a low-level official." Liu Chengzong shook his head. He had seen too many helpless low-level officials: "I haven't seen many people who can live comfortably in Shaanxi."

"But you said, all fourteen chieftains are struggling to survive like this?"

Chen Shiwen nodded: "It's the same with Dongxi Li's and Dongxiqi's families. They manage a lot of people and look bright, but in fact, the territory is also a mess. It's just that it's bigger and there are more ways."

Chen Shiwen invited Liu Chengzong to the kang, sat on the other side of the kang table, and asked, "When does the commander-in-chief plan to enter Qinghai?"

"Hurry up, someone from me has already entered Qinghai earlier, and I have sent someone out to find him... Fourteen chieftains."

Liu Chengzong pondered for a moment and asked, "What do you think about us?"

"I'm looking forward to the general entering Qinghai. The little chieftain is fine, but the big chieftain is quite scared. They hold all the business in Xining. If the general stays in Xining, they will definitely spit out his things."

Chen Shiwen shook his head and said, "No one wants to spit out their mouths."

Liu Chengzong smiled, very satisfied with this situation.

The chieftain is a backward production relationship, similar to a feudal lord, who is the emperor of his own territory and the emperor's vassals. The natives not only pay the chieftain, but also the emperor.

Simply add a middleman.

But at some point, toast will also become an advanced production relationship, such as the current Daming.

The chieftain holds the life and death power of the native people, but it is not bad for the officials and the gentry to go bad.

There is only one middleman in the chieftain's territory, but there are more than one middleman in the land managed by Liuguan.

Seeing that Liu Chengzong was thinking about something, Chen Shiwen paused for a moment and asked, "The commander-in-chief is planning to attack the chieftain?"

Liu Chengzong smiled and said, "Why, are you scared?"

Chen Shiwen shook his head: "It will happen sooner or later. I have nothing to fear. In the future, the commander-in-chief will gain a firm foothold in Qinghai, conquer a deep mountain and old forest, and move my whole family there. Chieftain, he will always be in one place." No, what you are doing is not just expanding the territory.”

"you're right."

Liu Chengzong nodded. In fact, the chieftain is also a military colony, nothing more than using the local natives to farm the fields, but Shanyin people like the Chen family who came to Xining are indeed military colonies.

It's just that when the country loses the motivation to expand outwards, the military settlements are meaningless and become endless internal friction.

He shook his head and said, "I didn't intend to touch Toast for a while, as long as no one blocks my way, I won't block others' way either."

With Cao Huachun here, he doesn't need to worry about bribing Li Tianyu anymore, but it will be difficult to build a warehouse. The place occupies a huge area, almost like building a small city, and the materials needed cannot be bought in the current market in Xining.

"Grandfather Cao helped me take down the two streets in the middle of Xining City. Chieftain Li didn't say anything, but it cost a lot to build a warehouse. I see that you have wood here. Fourteen chieftains are in deep mountains and old forests?"

"Closer to the deep mountains and old forests. It's easy to get wood and stone."

Chen Shiwen replied, and then asked: "I know the land that the commander mentioned. The warehouse is separated by Hongxue Street. The west side is large and the east side is small. There may be two hundred shops on the North Street of the city."

"Marshal, have you ever thought about letting the chieftains repair the warehouse?"

Liu Chengzong looked at Chen Shiwen and asked, "How to fix it?"

"What the commander-in-chief wants is an open space in the street for a warehouse. The chieftains wanted that space in the past. They wanted the street to be a shop, and the shop was exchanged for the toast to repair the warehouse."

Chen Shiwen raised his head and thought for a while: "There should be nearly 180 shops in those two streets. If the commander-in-chief can give some of these shops to the chieftain, I think everyone will be willing to help the commander-in-chief repair the warehouse."

At first Liu Shizi thought it was a bad idea.

Lin Wei had already calculated the cost of repairing the warehouse for him, and the bricks, stones and wood needed were about 3000 taels, and this still included the craftsmen in the Lion Camp, so there was no need to pay for labor and food.

Are the toasts fools?
For the rent of one hundred and ten taels a year, each family paid him three to four hundred taels to repair the warehouse.

But then Liu Chengzong thought about it for a while, and Chen Shiwen's plan really worked, because the chieftains also had their own craftsmen, and the group of chieftains was not like him.

He is a desperado, and from the bottom of his heart, he resists things that can only be paid back in three to five years.

But the toasts are different. They all believe in value investing very much.

Especially for the long-term benefits of this kind of long-term benefits, everyone is very happy to use the investment that will not return the capital for a few years in exchange for the rent of this place for generations to come.

The pawn shop opened by Chen Shiwen's family in the city has been open for more than 200 years since the early Ming Dynasty.

However, he still had some doubts in his heart: "Will the chieftains be willing?"

"Marshal, I'm also a chieftain." Chen Shiwen opened his palms and said, "If Marshal gives me five shops, I will try my best to build twenty warehouses."

"Then how about I give you ten rooms?"

Liu Chengzong smiled easily: "I can give each chieftain ten rooms."

"Ten rooms each?" Chen Shiwen looked troubled: "I'm afraid the big chieftains will be unhappy?"

"I don't care if they like it or not. I just want to ask you, I need [-] shi houses for each room. To prevent moisture, rats, mildew, and insects, can you build [-] rooms?"

Based on the calculation of 130 shi per room for grain storage, Liu Chengzong needed 130 rooms to store grain, and another [-] rooms to store gunpowder, ordnance, utensils, and money.

In addition, there are barracks for some soldiers to live and patrol.

In this way, when he marches into Qinghai, Xining will be his logistics base; and when he goes eastward, Xining will also be his front-line fortress.

Chen Shiwen quickly calculated in his mind that ten front shops could be rented out as five big shops, and the income would be 60 taels a year, 20 taels in 200 years, and 200 taels in 1 years.

And all he needs to pay is to let the native people under his command cut down trees, dig mountains, burn kilns and make bricks... and put in a little bit of effort.

"can!"

He answered quickly and decisively, and then said: "However, I have to borrow 200 taels of silver from the commander in chief, and I will pay it back soon, very soon."

Liu Chengzong shook his head with a smile, the world is full of good players with empty gloves.

He believed that the little chieftain in front of him had already made up his mind to pay the natives wages, and then take advantage of the windy and rainy day to let the boss under his command win back the wages.

"How about this, you send someone to ask, the same conditions, a total of 140 shops, [-] chieftains all ask, who is willing to do it, and who is not willing to do it; if there are people who don't want to do it, then the rest will do more There are more shops, and there are more shops."

　good morning!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)