Fu Shanhe

Chapter 410 Deploy troops and generals
Annan Protectorate.

"My Lord, this is the list of newly recruited personnel. Please take a look."

Lan Linjie began to report.

From the time he entered the officialdom to the time he served as the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, Li Mu had very few civil servants under his command.

It's not that no one wants to join him, nor is it that he doesn't want to build a team, it's purely to avoid suspicion.

When a military general goes to establish a civil service team, it is equivalent to having his ambition written on his face.

With such an obvious flaw revealed, he would be lucky to keep his life, let alone rise to the top.

The team was recruited in the morning, the people were sent to the imperial prison in the afternoon, and were sentenced to immediate execution the next day.

When the civil service group was strong, the military generals had to keep a low profile.

Even when the noble family rose in the later period, the rules should still be followed, otherwise it would be handing a knife to political opponents.

There are several big bosses in the noble family, and each of them has only a few staff members under his command.

Now we can recruit people freely, and that is because we have obtained permission from the court.

It’s not that the imperial court relaxed its supervision over military generals, but mainly because the Ministry of Personnel had no officials to assign.

It is not easy to pass the imperial examination after studying hard.

People all want to bring honor to their family, not to live in poverty and live in remote areas.

The Ministry of Personnel mobilized dozens of officials, but no one was willing to take up the post.

A few unlucky guys were forcibly selected, and they fell ill before they even left the capital.

A melon that is forced to bite is not sweet, and this kind of appointment that is forced on someone will not make people willing to work hard.

At one point, he wanted to lower the standards and select officials from among the scholars and juren, but this was met with collective opposition from all officials.

I would rather leave the seat empty than break the rules.

Theoretically speaking, Juren is also qualified to be an official, but that is no longer true.

At this time, if a scholar wanted to become an official, he had to be recommended by an official of the third rank or above.

As for scholars who want to become officials, they must first donate money to become a student of the Imperial Academy, and then obtain the recommendation of an official of the third rank or above before they are eligible to become an official.

The reason why so many restrictions are set is naturally for the sake of profit.

Rules are something that, once broken, will happen countless times.

Since Annan can make exceptions to appoint officials when it is short of officials, should Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou and other places that are also short of officials follow suit?

Once the rules of the game change, a large number of successful candidates will enter officialdom.

Quantitative change leads to qualitative change. As long as there are enough successful candidates in the government, sooner or later someone will be promoted to a high position due to his merits.

Juren and Xiucai can enter officialdom directly, so how can the status of these Jinshi masters be protected?
It will not be so easy to recruit staff in the future.

As long as you can obtain the title of Juren, the financial pressure will no longer exist.

It is impossible to expect someone to risk their life just for a few pieces of silver.

He gave up his job as a juren and went out to work for others.

Either to accumulate experience in government affairs, or to gain an opportunity to enter the government.

In this process, the master and the benefactor are bound together, and both sides prosper together.

Once another path appears, the two parties become in an employer-employee relationship.

Even if I continue to work, I won't work that hard.

In addition, the Ministry of Revenue will also lose a large amount of income from donations to the Imperial College students.

With so many disadvantages, the vested interests will naturally strongly oppose it.

Since the Ministry of Personnel was unable to select personnel, it could only delegate power and let the Protectorate solve the problem of staff shortage on its own.

Without being registered with the Ministry of Personnel, the officials Li Mu is currently recruiting are equivalent to temporary workers.

If you have made achievements, you can be recommended as an official official of the court.

However, this recommendation is limited in number.

Before they were officially appointed by the imperial court, their personnel were classified as officials of the Protectorate General's Office.

The promotion channel he took was also that of an official.

Not only is the ceiling of their development low, but outside the Annan Protectorate, no one outside will recognize them as officials.

Of course, in order to recruit talent, these things will definitely not be said openly.

If everyone knew that after traveling thousands of miles to Annan to develop their careers, they would end up being a low-ranking official, I guess everyone would run away.

"First arrange for them to receive three months of training. At that time, I will personally assess them and then decide on their positions."

After glancing at the list, Li Mu said calmly.

No matter whether it is coaxing or deceiving, as long as people come, they must be kept and used.

The civil servant Ka, who was appointed as the Minister of Personnel, died, and he had no power to influence the decision of the Ministry of Personnel.

But the appointment of military officers is different. After bypassing the Ministry of War, the Governor-General's Office is his own people and will not offend him.

If he had the ability, he would not be stingy with the official position.

Although the civil and military affairs were clearly distinguished, the Annan Protectorate was far away from the emperor.

As long as confidentiality is maintained, the people below will not be able to discover the difference for a while.

After working for a while, everyone was sure that Annan was not a remote and poor place, and even if they knew there were problems with the organization, these people would not run away.

Although the social atmosphere is that civil officials are superior to military officials, on the surface they are treated the same.

For those who have no connections and cannot pass the imperial examination, being an official is a way to bring honor to the family.

No matter what, the political status of military officers is much better than that of donated officials.

"The students will make arrangements when they go down."

"My Lord, the Marquis of Wuyang has sent an official document requesting the mobilization of the Guangdong and Guangxi naval forces to transport the disaster victims.

How do you think I should respond?

Lan Linjie continued to ask.

It is true that there is a shortage of people in the Annan region, but the population must grow in an orderly manner.

The sudden influx of a large number of disaster victims is also a huge burden.

The biggest problem is not the lack of money, food or supplies, but the lack of medical resources.

For the immigrants from Guangdong and Guangxi, the climate difference was not that big, but many people still fell ill.

If the refugees were from north of the Yellow River, the problem of acclimatization would only be more serious.

“The Yellow River burst its banks, leaving millions homeless, and the government was unable to provide relief.

If the victims stay where they are, they are waiting to die.

Once you arrive at the Annan Protectorate, there will always be a way out.

I have discussed this matter with Marquis Wuyang, and asked the navy from Guangdong and Guangxi to go there and obey orders.

Lease some idle merchant ships to help with transportation.

Notify the local garrisons and ask them to make preparations to receive the disaster victims.

After the relocation of the Guangdong and Guangxi garrisons, there were still a large number of vacant houses, which could also be used to accommodate some disaster victims.

In order to better manage the local area, local garrisons were required to submit lists of people who were transferred to other jobs.

Anyone who is over 30 years old but not on the general banner, or who is over 35 years old but not on the hundred-household unit, will be transferred to local positions.

In the past, those retired wounded soldiers who had recovered were arranged to work at the grassroots level after a little training.

Let the generals in the army do a good job of ideological work among the officers and soldiers below them, so as not to cause any chaos."

Li Mu said with a little sadness.

He had thought of various ways of immigration, but he never expected that the Yellow River would burst its banks and bring with it a large number of immigrants.

But now that things have come to this, all we can do is clean up the mess.

As for the losses in the immigration process, they were simply ignored.

No matter how difficult the immigration journey is, at least there are people to provide food and drink, which is better than staying where you are and having to eat your own children.

In order to accommodate the immigrants, Li Mu even started the retirement system ahead of schedule.

According to the original plan, the retirement system should be proposed next year and then gradually promoted in the military.

In fact, the military control system is the most effective means to maintain local stability. However, the army is always the army, and it is impossible to focus all its energy on people's livelihood.

Since the land distribution measures were taken, the people of Annan have become the people of Dayu.

Combined with the previous measures to crack down on the gentry, the local people were helped to complete the physical settlement of their accounts, allowing them to straighten their backs after having been bent for a lifetime.

With the support of local people, the anti-Yu forces that had been hidden among the people were exposed one after another.

After a series of attacks, the forces originally loyal to the King of Annan were eliminated and local security improved greatly.

The conditions are now in place for the local area to return to normalcy.

“Lord, local governance is the job of civil servants.

It would be fine to transfer officers to local posts, but if soldiers were also assigned to local posts, it would be easy to cause trouble.”

Lan Linjie reminded gently.

He had never seen such an operation in all his years, and he couldn't even find a precedent in history books.

He really couldn't judge the prospects of such a reform that was beyond his understanding.

"Don't worry, nothing will go wrong.

The most important thing in the military is order. They may not be qualified administrators, but they are qualified executors.

As long as I can execute the orders of the Protectorate and ensure local stability, I will be satisfied.

Taking measures to govern the place according to local conditions is an ideal state.

We have so many officials in the Great Yu Dynasty, all of whom are well-read, but they still make a mess of local governance!"

Li Mu said with disdain.

If these retired soldiers were allowed to develop the local economy, it would most likely turn out to be a mess.

But simply asking them to maintain local order and convey the orders of the Protectorate would be different.

It doesn’t matter if your thinking is mechanical or inflexible, what Li Mu wants is execution.

……

The Hall of Nourishing Heart.

"The Henan Governor sent an urgent report that the rebels have besieged Kaifeng Prefecture.

My dear ministers, do you have any opinions?"

Emperor Yongning asked with a tired look on his face.

The imperial envoy sent to provide disaster relief had not yet left the capital when trouble broke out in the local area.

The disaster victims and the rebels joined together, captured cities in Henan, and directly reached the city of Kaifeng.

"Your Majesty, I am afraid that this imperial envoy for disaster relief will soon become an imperial envoy for suppressing rebellion.

The fact that the rebels were able to surround Kaifeng showed that the situation was irreversible and the Henan government troops alone could not clean up the mess.

It turned out that the various government troops that were encircling and suppressing the rebels in Shanxi also suffered heavy losses.

All military forces in the north, except for the nine borders, were severely damaged.

Considering that the northern barbarians may invade at any time, the only option now is to draw troops from the Governor-General of Jiangnan and the Governor-General of Fujian and Zhejiang to organize a large encirclement and suppression army to enter Henan to quell the rebellion. "

Gu Jiaxi said self-deprecatingly.

Before anyone even set out, they were already being blamed for the poor disaster relief efforts.

The imperial envoy for disaster relief became the imperial envoy for suppressing rebellion. This is by no means a compliment.

With this stain on his name, his historical evaluation in future history books will drop to a lower level.

There is no point in crying out for injustice. Now that you are in the position you are in, you must take on the corresponding responsibilities.

“Lord Gu, it’s not easy to transfer troops from the two places.

Marquis Wuyang reported that the number of people affected by the disaster in Southern Zhili had exceeded one million.

In order to maintain local stability, troops from three towns have been mobilized to enter the disaster area.

There were a total of five military garrisons under the jurisdiction of the Governor-General of Jiangnan.

The White Lotus rebels had just been wiped out and there were still remnants of forces in the local area, so the army could not go out in full force.

At most one town of troops can be dispatched to help, and the Governor of Fujian and Zhejiang can dispatch two to three towns of troops to join the battle.

Although it seems that the military force is sufficient, in fact the situation this time is unusual.

While launching the encirclement and suppression campaign, the army also had to shoulder the heavy responsibility of disaster relief.

In a sense, in Henan at this time, using food could more effectively disintegrate the rebels than using troops.

In order to ensure that the rebels do not spread to Shandong, Shaanxi and Shanxi, troops will also be stationed in the above-mentioned areas.”

As soon as Marquis Wuxiang finished speaking, the atmosphere in the hall suddenly became solemn.

The army of the Dayu Dynasty was once again not enough.

This made those senior officials who had previously clamored for disarmament very embarrassed.

Fortunately, the imperial court did not approve the disarmament, otherwise we would be at a loss in the face of the current predicament.

"Four regiments were drawn from the Beijing camp and stationed in Shandong and Shanxi respectively to prevent the rebels from fleeing to the two places.

As for Shaanxi, as long as we hold Tongguan well, I don’t think there will be any major problems.”

Minister of War Luo Zefeng immediately gave a plan.

But this time, all the ministers hesitated.

The power of the Beijing Army is no longer at its peak.

The damage caused to the Beijing army by the last invasion by the northern barbarians has not yet been recovered.

It’s not that the nobles don’t attach importance to the Beijing Army, but it’s mainly about priorities.

The court's finances gave priority to supporting the nine frontiers, and the funds for suppressing the rebellion in the south were all raised by the south itself.

The funding for the Beijing Army was also affected.

It was not until the end of the war and the improvement of the court's finances that the reconstruction of the Beijing camp was put on the agenda.

Unfortunately, several bigwigs from the noble faction are not here, and the remaining people do not have enough prestige.

In terms of specific implementation, there are often internal disputes and progress is very slow.

Now we can only say that the number of people has been restored, but as for their combat effectiveness, no one can tell for sure.

At a time when the northern barbarians could invade at any time, how could the defense of the capital be guaranteed if the troops from the four garrisons were withdrawn at once?

With the lessons learned from the last time, no one dares to guarantee that the northern barbarians cannot invade.

As always, when faced with difficult problems, everyone would habitually throw them to the emperor.

"If you have no objections, then let's do it this way!"

Emperor Yongning thought for a moment and said.

Compared with all the ministers, he is the most optimistic.

It’s not that they have a strong mentality, it’s mainly because the people below them like to report good news but not bad news.

In the eyes of Emperor Yongning, the overall situation in the empire is now improving, and the Henan rebels are just a minor problem that cannot cause any major waves.

The Great Wall's defense line had been repaired long ago and was sufficient to keep the Northern Tartars outside the Great Wall.

The last time the Northern Tartars invaded was just an accident. Now the border troops are well prepared, and the enemy will only be beaten to a bloody pulp.

But in the eyes of knowledgeable people, the situation is completely the opposite.

The defense line seemed to have been repaired, but that was only reported by the subordinates, and no one knew the specific situation.

You should know that during the process of repairing the defense line, the Ministry of Households’ funding was not only discounted, but also not allocated in a timely manner.

In this context, if the officials on the front line could repair the defense line on time, they were either extremely talented or their work was shoddy.

It’s not that they don’t know the seriousness of the consequences. On the contrary, it’s because they know the consequences too well that they choose to build shoddy projects.

The imperial court set a deadline for repairing the defense line, and failure to complete the task would result in a crime.

The withholding of funds by higher-ups is systemic corruption.

If you lift the lid, you will die without a burial place.

Since you're going to be unlucky either way, you might as well just take a gamble.

The defense line is so long, as long as the Northern Tartars do not break through from the area they are responsible for, then this level will be passed.

(End of this chapter)