Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 137 Weighing the Earth

"Marshal? Are you going to attack Sun Deya? If you do, I can just bring the cavalry with me, and I will definitely capture him alive this time!"

Seeing Lu Jin looking thoughtful, Zhu Liangzu immediately guessed.

Upon hearing this, Lu Jin rolled his eyes at him. Lu Jin didn't take Sun Deya seriously. This person didn't pose a threat to him, but he could be used to stir up trouble. As long as this guy didn't conflict with his sphere of influence, Lu Jin didn't intend to kill him.

"Why do you want to attack Sun Deya? He has already fled to Yangzhou Road. Do you have too many troops and too little time to care about something so far away?

“Besides, this guy attacked Lu Ding who wanted to surrender to us before, so it’s reasonable for us to teach him a lesson. Now he has run so far away, and you still go all the way to hunt him down. If other rebel forces find out, they will inevitably accuse us of not having a sense of the overall situation.

"Don't worry, a villain like Sun Deya will never amount to anything. Let him be for now, and we'll see what happens when we meet him again in the future."

"Then when are we going to attack Haozhou? I've been ready for a long time." Zhu Liangzu asked for battle again.

Lu Jin thought for a moment before saying, "Wait until Lai'an is defeated, transfer the main force back, and then form a new regiment to supplement your 102nd Division with four infantry regiments. Leave the new troops to defend Dingyuan, and then you can take the main force to attack Haozhou."

Zhu Liangzu quickly calculated in his head that it would take at least a month to finish everything Lu Jin said. However, he had already waited so long, so he didn't mind waiting another month. Besides, it was a good thing for him to have more troops, so he didn't say anything more.

Since he had finally come to Dingyuan, Lu Jin was not idle. He took the civil and military officials of Dingyuan County for a thorough inspection that day.

Liao Yongzhong first took Lu Jin to see the internal security forces recruited recently. Dingyuan is a large county with only one city within a radius of two or three hundred miles. There are several large towns with a large population. If each village recruits a squad of militia, it would be easy to form more than a battalion.

At present, there is only one company of more than 200 militiamen in training in the city, which is personally led by Liao Yongzhong. Other militiamen are training in their respective villages and take turns to come to the county town for training and inspection, so they can be called up at any time when they are needed.

"kill!"

Lu Jin and his men stood on the top of the city wall, watching the militiamen below practicing stabbing with spears while holding bamboo poles, and nodded with satisfaction.

"Marshal, the Internal Guards are still short of weapons. Now they can only train with bamboo poles and wooden sticks. I estimate that other counties are similar. After our iron factory is completed, we will also have to make some weapons for these Internal Guards." Liao Yongzhong explained the situation on the side.

Lu Jin nodded, "I understand, but there is nothing we can do about it. It is difficult to gather all the equipment for our main force, let alone the internal security militia. Let's just train them like this for now. We don't expect them to be able to fight in the battle, as long as they can help the main force defend the city."

Liao Yongzhong was about to say something when he heard this, but stopped talking after thinking for a while. "General, I think it's hard to rely on these internal guards to defend the city. If we recruit one squad from each village, a county can only get a battalion of soldiers at most. Some small counties even have only two companies. It's hard to gather 500 people with such a small force."

He didn't finish his words, but Lu Jin understood his meaning, but he didn't care.

"To put it bluntly, the Internal Security Army is responsible for maintaining local public order. It does not mainly undertake defense tasks. Its role is only to establish a control system to maintain our army's presence in the local area. Do you understand what I mean?"

Seeing that Liao Yongzhong still looked confused, Lu Jin simply spoke directly.

“If Luzhou is a point, then our main force will continue to push outward. As long as the main force on the outer border can stop the enemy and prevent them from coming in, it doesn’t matter whether there are soldiers in these counties in the middle.

"The purpose of having these internal guards is just to help the government do things, such as recruiting soldiers and collecting grain, arresting thieves, and escorting grain and grass. If the main soldiers on the front line make merit, they will be rewarded with fields and merits. Who will go to the villages to help them deliver letters and help them execute rewards and punishments? Don't we still have to rely on these internal guards?"

Liao Yongan then understood that the Internal Guard was actually an extension of the government in the local area. To put it bluntly, it was there to help the government.

In fact, the modern armed police system is similar. The main field army only fights in the front. The conquered places need to maintain urban security, protect transportation lines, eliminate local bandits, and help implement government policies. This kind of work is done by the armed police, and they are also the supplementary force of the local government.

Political power comes from the barrel of a gun. All power in this world is based on violence. If the law is not enforced by violent institutions, it is just empty words.

In the military system designed by Lu Jin, the Internal Guard Army played this role.

After watching the militia training on the top of the city wall for a while, Lu Jin walked along the city wall again. Then he looked at the houses in the city. Lu Jin suddenly asked Meng Zhifang, the chief clerk of Dingyuan County who was following him.

"Master Meng, are there many vacant houses in Dingyuan City?"

"This..." Meng Zhifang was confused by Lu Jin's question. He had not prepared for this question in advance. Who knows how many vacant houses there are? After thinking about it, he told the truth.

“Replying to the commander, although Dingyuan County has a large population, many of them have joined the army this year and moved to Luzhou. In addition, I have not heard of any housing problems in the city, so there should be some vacant houses.

"I wonder if the Marshal will arrange for someone to live in the city?"

Lu Jin shook his head and did not answer. Just as the group reached the northwest corner, Lu Jin pointed to the northwest outside the city and said, "Is that Luqiao Town?"

"Exactly."

"I may need to relocate some people from Luqiao Town to free up space over there. You must then do a good job of resettling them and compensate them for all the land and houses involved."

Lu Jin then revealed his real purpose, leaving Meng Zhifang a little confused.

Migrate people from the towns to the city? Free up the land in the town? What does this general want to do?
"General, the government is newly established and has to support the garrison. I'm afraid there is not enough money and food. I don't know how many people you want to relocate. If not many, can you relocate the people to other towns? Didn't Sun Deya harm several villages in Outang Town before? Maybe we can relocate there and give the people a few acres of land as compensation."

Lu Jin thought about it and nodded immediately, "This method is also possible, as long as the resettlement work is done well. As for how many people need to be relocated, you can go to Luqiao Town with me tomorrow to have a look."

"Yes!" Meng Zhifang immediately bowed and agreed. Although he didn't know what Lu Jin was going to do, he couldn't refuse.

The next morning, Lu Jin led a battalion of cavalry guards, and Dingyuan Chief Clerk Meng Zhifang also followed on horseback, and the group went to Luqiao Town.

Luqiao Town is located in the northwest of Dingyuan City. Although its location is very different from the maps of the last 600 years, fortunately the salt mine area is large enough, covering several square kilometers, and there are important landmarks for reference, so it is not difficult to find the salt mine.

After all, it is Luqiao Town. Since there is a bridge, there must be a river. The natural river is the best landmark. The river in Luqiao Town is called Yaohe, also known as Gaotang Lake.

They ran for the whole morning and finally arrived at Luqiao Town at noon. Although they were prepared, Lu Jin was still shocked. The scale of the town in front of him was not inferior to that of small counties such as Liang County, Wujiang County, and Hanshan County. "It's so big?!"

Meng Zhifang couldn't help but complain in his heart when he heard this, it seems that you don't even know how big the city is, yet you want to relocate the people. If so many people were to be relocated, where would they be resettled in a short period of time? Anyway, Dingyuan City would definitely not be able to accommodate them all.

In order to dissuade Lu Jin from relocating the people, Meng Zhifang immediately introduced it to Lu Jin.

"General, this place has been inhabited by people since the pre-Qin period. At that time, it was called Quyang County and belonged to Jiujiang Prefecture. It was not until the Southern Dynasty that Emperor Wu of Liang merged several small counties around it into Dingyuan.

"During the late Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period, Emperor Cao Cao of Wei once built an iron smelting furnace here to forge weapons and also built a stone bridge here, hence the name Luqiao Town. Since the Sui Dynasty, Luqiao Town has been under the jurisdiction of Dingyuan County.

"There is a lot of limestone in the mountains here, and there is also a lot of clay. Many people in the town make crude pottery to make a living, so the population is large. There is also the Hao River connecting to the Huai River, so water transportation is convenient and there are many merchants. Although it is called a town, it is actually not much different from a small and dilapidated county."

Lu Jin nodded when he heard this. It seemed that the chief clerk had done a lot of homework in advance. He must have heard yesterday that Lu Jin was coming to Luqiao Town and made some special cram school.

Lu Jin then said, "You said that lime and clay are produced here. I'm afraid you'll have to add one more in the future."

"Add one thing? What is it?" Meng Zhifang didn't understand what he heard, but Lu Jin stopped talking, waved his whip, and ran again.

Arriving at the east bank of Yao River, Lu Jin immediately took out a map from his arms, and then compared it with the real environment. Soon he arrived near a village and farmland in the northeast of the town. After comparing the map again and again, Lu Jin immediately said.

"Right here, the area within a five-mile radius must be cordoned off."

Meng Zhifang was not a good rider and had a hard time catching up on horseback. When he heard what Lu Jin said, he almost vomited blood.

"Five miles in radius?! I wonder what's here. Is the Marshal going to relocate all the people here?"

"That's not the case. There happens to be a village here that can serve as a base for the craftsmen. The villagers don't have to move away all at once, but their land will be confiscated as government land and redistributed to them elsewhere." Lu Jin said, pointing around.

"What's here?" Meng Zhifang still looked puzzled.

Lu Jinle turned his horse's head and looked at him, "There is a large salt mine here, enough for tens of millions of people to eat for tens of thousands of years!"

"Salt mine? The kind of table salt? So much?!" Meng Zhifang was shocked and looked around curiously, but there were only wheat fields covered with snow. How could there be any salt mine? If there really was a salt mine in his jurisdiction, then why had he, the chief clerk, never heard of it?
"Marshal, where is this salt mine? Why have I never heard of it?" Meng Zhifang couldn't help but ask curiously.

Lu Jin pointed to the ground and said, "It's right under our feet. Do you know the well salt in Sichuan and Shu? We have it here too, but we have to dig a well hundreds of feet deep to pump out the brine."

Meng Zhifang still had some doubts, and immediately said, "But the local people have never said that the well water is bitter and salty. How can the Marshal be sure that there is so much salt underground? If it is really buried hundreds of feet underground, and the people have not dug out the brine, how can ordinary people know what is underground?"

Zhang Huzi, who came along as a guard, was also quite curious, but he had seen Lu Jin's car. When they ambushed Zuo Junbi, it was Zhang Huzi who personally lured Zuo Junbi over. He was also present at the time and knew that Lu Jin was a descendant of the Gongshu family and had some supernatural qualities, so he was definitely not an ordinary person.

Hearing Meng Zhifang's question, he also pricked up his ears. What if he could learn some magical skills? Could it be that the Marshal could see what treasures were hundreds of feet underground?
Without even thinking, Lu Jin pushed the blame onto his unfounded family tradition again, "I saw it in an ancient book passed down in my family. The salt mine mentioned in it is right here. It was discovered by Gongshu's ancestors during their exploration."

Meng Zhifang looked at the map in Lu Jin's hand suspiciously, but couldn't make out anything. It was just some casually drawn lines, marking only rivers and approximate locations. What could you make of it? He asked immediately.

"But how can we survey hundreds of feet underground? Could it be that our ancestors dug a deep well with brine here?"

"No, it's weighed on a scale." Lu Jin explained with a smile.

"How? What?"

Seeing Meng Zhifang's dull expression, Lu Jin didn't mind teaching him some physics knowledge and immediately stretched out his hand to gesture.

"Which is heavier, a liter of iron or a liter of cotton?"

"Of course it's iron!" Meng Zhifang said without hesitation. Anyone who gave a wrong answer would be a fool.

"Well, if it's one liter of iron or one liter of salt, which one is heavier?"

This time Meng Zhifang hesitated, but quickly said, "I haven't weighed it, but I think it should still be heavier than iron."

"That is to say, different objects have different weights under the same volume, right?" Lu Jin looked at him and asked enlighteningly.

Meng Zhifang was stunned when he heard this, but after thinking about it, it seemed to be true, and he nodded immediately, "Yes."

"In my physics class, this property is called density. Objects of the same volume but made of different materials have different densities and weights. So, which do you think is heavier, a liter of salt or a liter of soil?"

"This..." Meng Zhifang really couldn't answer this time. In his understanding, salt should be about the same weight as soil and rock, but according to the density theory mentioned by Lu Jin, it might be different. He hadn't made any specific measurements, so of course he didn't dare to talk nonsense.

"I have never said that, but since the commander-in-chief said so, it should be slightly different, right?"

Lu Jin nodded. "Yes, the density of soil and salt is also different. Once you know this, it will not be difficult to survey. You just need to weigh the weight of the earth under your feet, and you will know what is underground, right?"

"???"

Meng Zhifang was full of questions when he heard this. Yes, according to Lu Jin's theory, it is indeed possible to measure the density difference between soil and salt, but it is rather outrageous to weigh the earth. What scale can weigh the weight of the earth?

Meng Zhifang waved his hands repeatedly, "General, let's not talk about what kind of scale can be used to weigh the weight of the earth, but the earth under our feet is also connected as a whole. Even if there is such a scale, how can it weigh the weight of different places?"

Hearing this, Lu Jin laughed and said, "You haven't weighed it yet, so how do you know it can't be weighed?"

(End of this chapter)