Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 317: Busy Mansion

While the Shengwu Army was invading the Jiangbei front, the Marshal's Office in Jiankang City in the rear was also extremely busy.

All the captives for the expansion of the army had been distributed and assigned to various units, but there was still a shortage of soldiers, so several thousand soldiers were recruited from all over the place, and finally the general establishment was filled.

These days Feng Guoyong has been sorting out the military roster with a group of officials from the Military Academy's Military and Political Department. After the roster is compiled, one copy will be given to the generals leading the troops, one copy will be kept in the Marshal's Office for filing, and the last copy will be asked to the French network to temporarily set up the Huainan Province, so that they can arrange the resettlement of immigrants from the south of the Yangtze River and the policy of allocating land and settling down to the soldiers.

At the same time, Yang Jing also came to report to Lu Jin, saying that there were not enough instructors in each department.

Lu Jin thought about it and made arrangements.

"There are three ways to recruit training officers. The first is to focus on training, pick out some good candidates, and bring them with the training officers of various departments. They can serve as deputy officers and work with them, and learn more from them.

"Secondly, we recruit from the general public and recruit them through examinations. We don't ask for talent, as long as they can read and do arithmetic, even if they are waiters or apprentices in shops, they will be sent to various armies after unified training.

“The third is to promote people from within the army. Before the crossing of the Yangtze River, didn’t they ask the training officers of each unit to find some typical people to serve as examples for complaining?

“Find some who are not very strong in combat but are good at talking, especially those who were oppressed by the Yuan court in the past and turned their lives around after joining the Shengwu Army. You don’t even need to say too much about these people. They are role models themselves. Just telling them about their own personal experiences will be enough to impress the new recruits.

"With these three approaches, we should be able to fill the vacancy of the training officer."

Yang Jing and Feng Guoyong nodded their heads upon hearing this. Feng Guoyong even said, "This is a good idea, but I suggest that when we recruit instructors from the civilian population through the examination, we can recruit more of them and assign them to the military as deputy positions. This way, when we expand the military next time, we won't have to worry about not being able to find people like we did today."

"Okay, let's do it." Lu Jin agreed immediately.

For this kind of thing, Lu Jin only needs to set the general strategy. As for how many people are needed, how many people to recruit, and how to conduct the exam, Feng Guo will naturally take care of it, so Lu Jin doesn't have to worry about it.

However, the matter of adding a new training officer had been decided, and Feng Guoyong could not help but remind him.

"Marshal, in order to gather enough troops for the Eastern Expedition, almost all of the Imperial Guards were withdrawn. Once the Eastern Expedition begins, Jiankang will definitely be left defenseless. Marshal, you should have made plans early."

Upon hearing this, Lu Jin nodded solemnly. He naturally knew that the Marshal's Mansion was short of troops.

After Yang Jing led his army to the east, he sent Chang Yuchun to Taiping Road. Then Lu Jin would have no soldiers around him. The only direct troops that could be mobilized were the newly formed 3rd Cavalry Regiment and the four chariot camp musketeers who were taken out from the original two brigades after the reorganization of the two brigades of the Imperial Guards and were temporarily organized into a musket regiment.

A musket regiment and a cavalry regiment, together with a total of 9,000 people, this number of troops is not enough to defend a big city like Jiankang, not to mention that Jiankang is a huge city with a circumference of 30 miles. How many troops are needed just to stand on the city wall? You can figure it out by yourself.

Lu Jin thought for a while and said, "Let's first figure out the reorganization of the East China Front Army. After the families of these new soldiers have moved away, we will recruit soldiers from all over Jiangnan. We want those who come from poor families but have clean records. We can give them land and win their hearts.

"Then we will organize three or four new imperial guard divisions, with a total of about 40,000 people, and then leave them in Jiankang to train and prepare for war. However, by then, this batch of new soldiers may have to be handed over to you to train."

Feng Guoyong was stunned when he heard this, and asked, "Let me train the troops?"

"Yes, anyway, after the expansion, you won't be busy anymore. You'll be idle anyway, so it's a good opportunity for you to train the troops here. I'll let you be the acting commander-in-chief at that time, but your position will still be in the Military and Political Department and the Secretariat of the Martial Academy." Lu Jin explained immediately.

"Okay." Feng Guoyong felt a little melancholy after hearing this. He couldn't tell whether he was disappointed or relieved. When he first heard Lu Jin asking him to train the soldiers, he thought Lu Jin was going to let him lead the troops at the front line. It turned out that he was overthinking.
But in fact, Feng Guoyong is indeed a capable fighter. Although he is now a civil servant in Lu Jin's mansion and he is a Confucian scholar, in the original history, this guy was a brave man who made great contributions in the attack on Jiankang and even served as the commander of Zhu Yuanzhang's personal soldiers.

Moreover, Feng Guoyong is only 28 years old this year, younger than some veteran generals in the Shengwu Army, such as Zhu Liangzu, Liao Yongan, and Yu Tingyu. He can be considered a man of both civil and military talents.

Feng Guoyong did have the idea of ​​being sent out to lead the troops, but Lu Jin trusted him very much. There were also a lot of things to do in the Marshal's Mansion, and he himself was reluctant to leave the current situation. Besides, his brother Feng Sheng was leading the troops outside. Now it would be best for the two brothers, one inside and one outside, to assist each other.

So Feng Guoyong just thought about it for a moment and gave up the idea of ​​being sent out to lead troops.

The martial arts academy is extremely busy, but the liberal arts academy is also not idle.

The first thing is to appoint officials. This is a top priority and a major matter, because if you occupy a piece of land but don't send officials to govern it, it's the same as not having conquered it. Although the area is nominally yours, the land, population, and wealth on it cannot be used by the commander's office. Therefore, it is necessary to establish government agencies as soon as possible to carry out effective governance and management to "make the most of the people's strength."

The arrangement of officials was mainly divided into two parts. One was the area occupied after crossing the river. This part mainly used the promotion and transfer of officials from Huainan to take control of the newly annexed areas as soon as possible and end military control.

Secondly, there is the upcoming Eastern Expedition, which will involve 36 cities. If a county magistrate, a chief clerk, and a county magistrate are placed in each city, that means hundreds of officials. Not to mention places like Yangzhou Road in the north of the Yangtze River, the number of officials needed is extremely huge.

The Marshal's Office's response policy was to post a notice in Jiangnan to recruit capable officials and generals, and to recruit scholars from Jiangnan to come to Jiankang Prefecture to take the exam. A few hundred people would be admitted and transferred to the former Huainan Province to serve as deputy assistant officials. Officials from Huainan would then be transferred to Jiangnan, and the heads of various departments of the Marshal's Office could also be selected to be sent to local areas as government officials. However, in this way, the Marshal's Office itself would also have to supplement some officials.

After Li Shanchang and Zhang Laishuo, the head of the Ministry of Personnel, arranged the transfer of existing officials from various places, they came to Lu Jin with a number of names, mainly to ask Lu Jin to select people. They needed Lu Jin to make decisions on the appointment of officials from various places after the Eastern Expedition.

However, Lu Jin only looked at a few candidates for prefectural governors. The Ministry of Personnel would naturally help recommend county magistrates. Lu Jin only needed to look at the official's performance evaluation and the reasons for the recommendation, and then sign.

"Marshal, this is the list of prefects. Only three have been confirmed so far. Please give your opinion on the others." Zhang Laishuo handed over the list and said.

Lu Jin took a look and found that the confirmed prefect of Shuntian was Ji Xuan, who was the previous chief of the intelligence station in the Yangtze River area. He was promoted to prefect after making meritorious service.

Dangtu was also changed from Taiping Road to Dangtu Prefecture, and the prefect was Wang Ye, the former magistrate of Chao County, who was promoted and transferred this time.

There was also the prefect of Zhenjiang Prefecture, who was Yao Liangchen, the former magistrate of Lujiang Prefecture. Because he did a good job in Huainan, he was transferred to Jiangnan and promoted to prefect.

As for the remaining vacancies, there were still about ten of them, namely Changzhou Prefecture, Pingjiang Road was changed to Suzhou Prefecture, Songjiang Prefecture, Guangde Prefecture, Huzhou Prefecture, Jiaxing Prefecture, Hangzhou Prefecture, Shaoxing Prefecture, and Qingyuan Road was changed by Lu Jin to Ningbo Prefecture, all of which were changed to names he was familiar with.

In addition to these places in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, there are also places such as Yangzhou and Gaoyou in the north of the Yangtze River that are waiting for officials to take office.

Lu Jin immediately said, "The Intelligence Bureau has made great contributions in the war, and all station chiefs should be rewarded with official positions, starting with prefects. Moreover, they have been lurking behind enemy lines for a long time and are most familiar with the local conditions. It is most appropriate for them to govern the local area.

"Among all the prefectures in the northeast of Taihu Lake, Suzhou is the most important. It is not only an important node for canal shipping, but also connected to Wuxi and Changzhou in the north, and Jiaxing and Hangzhou in the south. It is a key location. After the Eastern Expedition is over, let Yu Yunzhou, the station chief of the Intelligence Bureau's Changzhou Station, take office as the prefect of Suzhou." Li Shanchang and Zhang Laishuo hurriedly wrote down what he said.

Lu Jin looked at the map and the list, pointed at Hangzhou, and asked Li Shanchang.

"Hangzhou was first captured by the Xu Song, then recaptured by the Yuan army, and burned to ashes by the Yuan army. In addition, Hangzhou was the former Lin'an of the Song Dynasty, so it is of great significance. We must send a capable official to take charge, use work instead of relief, rebuild Hangzhou City, and win the hearts of the people. Mr. Baishi, does anyone have a candidate to recommend?"

Li Shanchang did not directly recommend a candidate, but suggested, "The governor of Hangzhou must be trusted by the commander-in-chief, and this person must be capable and do practical things. I suggest that one person be selected from the heads of the various departments in the commander-in-chief's office and sent to be the governor. What do you think?"

Lu Jin thought about the several officials in the Marshal's Mansion and said, "Then let's send Bao Heng from the Finance Department. He is the first civil official to serve under me and is very familiar with the work-for-relief system. However, the financial affairs of the Marshal's Mansion cannot be neglected, so we need to select someone to fill this vacancy."

Upon hearing this, Li Shanchang suggested again, "We can recruit one or two from the scholars in Jiangnan to win their hearts."

Hearing this, Lu Jin looked at him and asked, "Is there a suitable candidate?"

Li Shanchang added, "These days, many scholars have come to the Marshal's Mansion to recommend themselves after seeing the list, and they are all waiting for the Marshal to summon them, or to take the exam directly. I suggest that the Marshal first test them in person and recruit a few to win their hearts. As for those who come later, you can hold another exam."

Lu Jin thought about it and nodded, "Okay, sir, please find a time to arrange it."

Seeing that the two had decided on the candidate for the prefect of Hangzhou, Zhang Laishuo suggested, "General, Shaoxing has many salt fields and needs an experienced official to manage them. I recommend Gao Xun, the current salt supervisor of Dingyuan, to be transferred to serve as the prefect of Shaoxing."

Lu Jin nodded in satisfaction, "This arrangement is fine, let's finalize it."

Li Shanchang helped to analyze the situation and said, "General, Ningbo Prefecture is close to Zhejiang Fang Guozhen, and Fang Guozhen has been recruited by the Yuan court. We must be careful that Fang Guozhen will attack Ningbo, Songjiang and other places under the order of the Yuan court. It is best for these prefects near the sea to be knowledgeable about military affairs. Even if they are not, they must remain calm in times of crisis to be competent."

Lu Jin waved his hand upon hearing this, "It is already qualified for a civil official to remain calm in the face of danger. Don't wait until you encounter the enemy and lose your composure before they attack you, and cause trouble for your own military officers."

Li Shanchang also knew Lu Jin's attitude towards civil officials, which was that civil officials should not discuss military affairs. If it was said that the Song Dynasty went too far and used civil officials to control military officials, which eventually led to the destruction of the country, then Lu Jin's attitude was not to say who controlled whom, but to completely separate civil officials and military officials, and no one should interfere in each other's affairs. Of course, each person had to bear their own responsibilities, and no one should try to put the blame on the other.

There were some chaos in the Song Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty, such as civil officials interfering in military command and putting the blame on the military generals when the battle was lost. This kind of thing would never happen to Lu Jin, at least not while he was alive. Everyone minded their own business. It was the military generals' fault if they couldn't win the battle, and it was the civil officials' fault if they forced the people to rebel.

The end of the Song Dynasty's use of civil officials to control military officials is still fresh in our memory. Some people say that Lu Jin went too far or that he promoted military officials too much. Anyway, he has his reasons and others cannot refute them. However, at least for now, the system of the civil and military academies is still running well.

Lu Jin was flipping through the list of officials from the prefectures and counties of the former Huainan Province, wondering if there were any people among them who knew military knowledge. Qin Li could barely be counted as one, after all, he was the one who had planned the rebellion and wanted to surrender to Lu Jin, but he was now the Right Governor of Huainan. After much thought, the only people who could remain calm in times of crisis were those who had seen "big scenes" and had some experience.

So he said, "Let's transfer Rong Yanzhe, the magistrate of Lai'an, to be the prefect of Ningbo. After all, he has experienced Dong Tuanxiao's attack on Lai'an, so he has seen the world. Then let Yang Jing pick a general to guard the area. We don't ask Rong Yanzhe to do anything great, as long as he can stabilize the rear."

Li Shanchang immediately wrote it down, and then asked, "What about Jiaxing Prefecture and Songjiang Prefecture?"

Lu Jin added, "Ji Guozhang, the magistrate of Haozhou, was promoted to the magistrate of Songjiang; Ding Haifeng, the magistrate of Chuzhou, was promoted to the magistrate of Jiaxing; Sang Hongbin, the magistrate of Dingyuan, was promoted to the magistrate of Changzhou; Cai Qiwen, the magistrate of Quanjiao, was promoted to the magistrate of Huzhou; Zhao Yuan, the magistrate of Wuwei, was promoted to the magistrate of Guangde.

"Other chief clerks, county magistrates, and county magistrates, you guys draft the draft and hand it over to me for review."

"Yes." Zhang Laishuo immediately wrote down these names.

Li Shanchang reminded him again, "It would be better to select the candidates for Yangzhou and Gaoyou prefects at the same time."

Lu Jin looked at the list and said, "Hanshan County Magistrate Jiang Yue has been transferred to Yangzhou Prefecture; Shucheng County Magistrate Fang Mingyan has been transferred to Gaoyou Prefecture. Gaoyou is likely to be the front line, so let this person be prepared when he is transferred."

"Yes."

Lu Jin quickly decided on all the prefects, and then instructed, "All prefects in East Zhejiang must immediately hand over their duties and report to the commander's office upon receiving the transfer order. They will follow the army to the battle next month. In addition, these prefects will also be responsible for the transportation of food and fodder for the army. They will take up their posts after conquering a place, and control the transportation nodes in various places. They will not allow the front line to lack food and supplies."

"Yes." Li Shanchang and Zhang Laishuo agreed immediately, and then they began to draft the transfer documents, which would be sent to various places after Lu Jin signed and stamped them.

After dealing with the important matters of the civil and military academies, Lu Jin rushed into the back hall of the government office, hung up a map, and sat on a chair upside down in front of the map for a long time. Seeing this, the civil and military officials in the Marshal's Mansion knew that Lu Jin was looking at the map and thinking about military strategies, and they did not dare to disturb him. It was not until the evening of the 13th that the victory report from Jiangbei was delivered, and Feng Guoyong could not help but take the victory report to see Lu Jin.

On the day Liao Yongzhong captured Liuhe, the victory news reached Jiankang. This was because Liuhe was located right in the lower reaches of the Chushui River, and the mouth of the Chushui River was not far away by water. Once the ships entered the Yangtze River, Jiankang would be on the other side.

"Marshal, there's good news from Jiangbei. Liuhe was captured by Liao Yongzhong's 106th Division. The cavalry regiment of the 102nd Division has already destroyed Yu Shiliang's camp and captured him alive. Zhu Liangzu has just arrived in Tianchang County with the main force of the 102nd Division. They plan to launch a siege tomorrow. After three days of fighting, more than people will be annihilated in total." Feng Guoyong reported excitedly.

Lu Jin took the battle report and read it carefully. He was not too surprised. Although he gave Zhu Liangzu and Liao Yongzhong the right to act at their discretion, they still had to report to him at any time about where they were fighting.

Although Lu Jin was not in charge of micromanagement in the rear, he needed to know the speed and time of the frontline's advance to help him grasp the overall situation. For example, how many days would it take for Tuotuo to go south? Where could Tuotuo reach before he went south? What arrangements should be made? Could the 40th Army prepared for the Eastern Expedition be withdrawn from Jiangbei in time?
Lu Jin looked at the battle report and picked up a red pen to underline the name of the newly occupied Liuhe place on the map in front of him, indicating that the place had been occupied by the Shengwu Army.

Feng Guoyong continued, "Yu Shiliang of Shiliangzhai was captured, and Zheng Yong surrendered 4800 of his soldiers. Zhu Liangzu plans to organize these people into a reserve regiment. There are still more than old soldiers and officers from Dingyuan who participated in the Dingyuan fight. Zheng Yong plans to send people to bring all of them here for hard labor."

Lu Jin nodded when he heard this, "Then bring them all over. There will be work for them to do."

Feng Guoyong was immediately surprised and asked, "The Marshal wants to build a palace?"

"What palace should we build?" Lu Jin frowned.

"We originally planned to conquer the three lakes and then the world, but now we haven't conquered any of the three lakes. How can we build a palace? The day before yesterday, I asked Wang Dayuan to go to the river to find a suitable site to build a shipyard. We just need manpower to dig the dock. What are you thinking?"

Feng Guoyong immediately realized that he had misunderstood. He did not dare to continue the conversation, but asked again, "Marshal, what should be done with Yu Shiliang and Sun Deya after they are brought back?"

Lu Jin thought for a moment and said, "Let Zhang Wen cross the river and send them to Anqing and hand them over to Lu Ding. This will be considered as me fulfilling my promise to help him get revenge. Then let Zhang Wen take everyone's families over. It's not a good idea to keep them in Huainan forever. It's bound to make people panic."

(End of this chapter)