Chapter 171 Setting up the General Accounting Office
Zhao Yulin told these businessmen that this was an opportunity for win-win cooperation between the government and private capital, and that the interests of the people must be taken care of first. The Shenwei Army will invest more than 50%, and the total amount of private capital will not exceed 50%. A general account office and a shareholders' meeting will be set up to introduce supervision from ordinary people and operate the bank in an open and transparent manner.
Those who are willing to participate in the construction of Fengxiang New City will operate in the same way as money houses and must take care of the interests of the people. They will not engage in street-based livelihoods until the relocated households are properly dealt with.
After he finished speaking, the hall suddenly became lively. Shen Baiyi expressed his willingness to participate in the construction of the bank and new city of the Administration Office on the spot. Finally, it was unanimously decided to start one by one when the conditions were ripe, and to start the operation of Fengxiang Bank first.
The money houses would then lend money to Fengxiang Prefecture to build the new city, which would better guarantee the funding and profit distribution of the new city's construction.
Zhao Yulin thought this was a better option. He had just finalized the arrangements for the construction of the money house and the new city when the Yang army from Bozhou arrived.
He invited Lao Cao to meet Yang Jia from Bozhou together.
Lao Cao criticized Yang Jia very harshly, saying that he was stationed in the southwest and did nothing, which led to civil unrest and devastation of the people, and that he had let down his ancestors.
This descendant of the Yang family originally wanted to find Zhao Yulin to argue about why he was transferred out of Bozhou. However, after being reprimanded by Cao, he felt that he was in the wrong and gave up.
Seeing that Lao Cao had taken ruthless action, Zhao Yulin said nothing more and asked him to lead his troops to the Lishan camp for training and to fill the quota according to the organization of the Shenwei Army Corps.
Lao Cao reminded him that the Lishan camp enjoyed the treatment of the Imperial Guards and he should not bring shame to the emperor.
Yang Jia stood up, stood at attention, bowed, and left.
He smiled and said that they had come from far away, so why embarrass them?
Lao Cao fell on the armchair and sighed, saying that things are different now. A loud drum needs a heavy hammer. If you don't hit it, the tiger will turn into a mouse.
The next day, Zhao Yulin and Cao Youwen went north to Luochuan to inspect border defense.
Lai Chuanfang and Lu Hua just learned that the two chief officers were coming, and ran out to greet them. Cao Youwen caught them and criticized them harshly, saying that he was just like the young man from Yulin, who had no regard for etiquette and only cared about results.
The two men followed behind obediently. The group walked along the border for two days. Lao Cao felt that with the Shenwei Army in charge, the defense facilities of the main pass were strengthened a lot, which greatly improved the effectiveness of resisting cavalry, which was very good.
Returning to Luochuan for a meeting, Zhao Yulin told everyone that the Mongolian army suffered a great loss in Gongchang Prefecture and was not expected to use troops in Guanzhong this year. This gave us a chance to catch our breath and prepare. All units must intensify training, familiarize themselves with the battlefield environment, and be fully prepared for the future war.
Lao Cao told them that the Military Administration Office was now out of soldiers and all of them were uniformly called the Shenwei Army. He was the military supervisor and would strictly supervise law enforcement and protect the Shenwei Army to win one victory after another.
Seeing that Lao Cao had made his statement straightforwardly, he was not ambiguous and said that the Shenwei Army was the soldiers of the Military Administration Office. Now that all the armies in the northwest have been completely integrated together, they should shoulder the heavy responsibility of building the Iron Great Wall in the west of the Song Dynasty and defend their country until their death.
The generals immediately shouted three times: "We will defend our country until our death."
Cao Cao was very happy that Sichuan and Shaanxi finally formed a closely united army. After returning to Chang'an and hearing that Cao Yong and Guo Chongma led their troops to Mount Li, he immediately asked Zhao Yulin to go to the camp with him for review.
The two men went to Mount Li again, and after reviewing the army, they had a night banquet and wine with the generals. Zhao Yulin told everyone that a military reorganization meeting would be held later, and Guo Chongma would be appointed as the commander of the cavalry column and Cao Yong as the commander .
Lao Cao immediately confirmed it and said that the Military Control Office would report to the Lin'an court for the post of military commander.
Zhao Yulin told them that no matter how the court appointed them, the Administration Office would treat everyone equally in our Shenwei Army, and the remuneration and salaries would not be reduced by a penny.
He then told everyone that Fengxiang was going to build a new city and a general's mansion. Although the yard was a little small, you only needed to pay the capital to buy it and move in. If you are interested, you can go and see it in the future. He will arrange for craftsmen from Yibin to help with the construction using the latest materials.
Everyone was delighted when they heard this.
After working hard all your life , isn’t it just the hope to have a comfortable home? So everyone signs up to have a yard.
Guo Chongma's deputy generals were happy to hear this, but then they felt helpless when they realized that they had nothing.
Zhao Yulin said with a smile that during the battle of Huizhou, General Guo ordered his men to take out all the gold and silver to forge cannons to defend against the enemy, so they must not have much silver on hand. It doesn't matter, just pay as much as you have, and the shortfall will be on him.
Lao Cao was happy and said that brothers who have difficulties should tell us, we all have houses. Even if the first batch is not enough, we can build the second batch, and how about the third batch?
Zhao Yulin immediately agreed and said bluntly that he must do a good job of taking care of the brothers' logistics.
Then, Lao Cao said that it is not allowed to embezzle money and eat empty salaries just to buy a house. If there is not enough money, payment can be delayed, but military discipline must not be abolished.
All the generals stood up and promised to resolutely carry out the general's orders.
On the way back, Lao Cao said with great emotion that he advocated that China be one family, broke the taboo in employing people and used the Jin generals, which reduced a lot of resistance in recovering the lost territory in the northwest. It was very good and a great thing.
Take the recapture of Tongguan as an example. If Wanyan Chengmin had not surrendered, I don’t know how many young lives would have been sacrificed to complete the task of closing the East Gate, not to mention easily defeating Gongchang Prefecture.
Zhao Yulin didn't dare tell him that He Hubili also contributed to this. He smiled and said that a great man once said that politics is about how to find ways to make brothers and friends more and enemies less.
Military is just a continuation of politics, the key is to capture people.
Lao Cao asked him cheerfully, so what we are fighting is a political war, a war for politics?
Zhao Yulin smiled and said that he hadn't figured it out yet. Maybe it was because he had more friends, so he could make a living.
So, politics is about making friends.
The current Khan of the grassland is also making friends widely, and his envoys are attacking everywhere, granting official titles, making promises, and bribing with gold and silver. Many powerful and prominent families in the Central Plains have joined the ranks of the Mongolian army, and after changing their flags they have become his Haner Army, which is no different from the puppet army in later generations. They turned their guns on the Song army and desperately killed it.
Because the policy of the Khan of the grassland is very simple, just like investing in a business, once the Han army conquers a place, they will rob as much as they can, forcing people to take their money, goods and territory.
This kind of business that only cares about one's own comfort and doesn't care about the lives of others is a one-time business, so of course it is easy to do. The Han people along the border who have no integrity, whether they are border troops or bandits and refugees, all took active actions to join the Han army. The eastern end of the Song Dynasty suddenly became precarious.
The two returned to Chang'an City, and Gao Jin, Feng Guiqi and others were also back. They happily reported that the infantry and cavalry had cooperated and had taken over Xining Prefecture.
These places did not have independent and specially trained armies like the Shenwei Army. They were all tribal soldiers who were appointed officials and promised by the Mongolian Army and raised the flag. After being chopped up by Gao Jin, they immediately changed their flags and names to the Song Dynasty.
Zhao Yulin knew that now that the Hexi Corridor was in his hands, his brothers would definitely not forget places like Qinghai Lake and Xining Prefecture.
However, this very loose, subservient area still needs careful management, otherwise it would be normal for a king to suddenly appear one day.
Five days later, the Military Administration Office held a military reorganization meeting in Chang'an.
This was the first military reorganization meeting held by the Western Military Region of the Great Song Dynasty. Zhao Yulin announced the appointment documents of important military commanders in various fields, appointing:
Miao Gui was the chief military officer of the Shenwei Army, organizing and coordinating the daily affairs of various military services.
Lai Chuanfang was the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Group, coordinating the defense of Yan'an Prefecture, Tongguan to Shangnan.
Hao Xiaoming was the commander-in-chief of the Western Group, coordinating the defense of Lanzhou Prefecture, Gongzhou to Huizhou.
Gao Jin is the commander of the Northern Group, coordinating the defense of Pingliang Prefecture, Qinzhou to Jiezhou
Yang Xingyun was the commander of the Southern Group, helping to guard the Xingyuan Prefecture, Jinzhou to the Zhejiang-Chuanshui line.
Li Yunqing is the commander-in-chief of the Xifan District, coordinating the defense of the two mountain areas of Zhuoqiao Mountain and Zheduo Mountain.
Lu Youpeng was the commander-in-chief of Mahujiang, coordinating the defense of Mahujiang and Renhuai Fort areas.
Next, the Military Command appointed eight new column leaders:
Liu Honggen was the captain of the 10th Column, stationed in Lanzhou
He Guoping was the commander of the 11th Column, stationed in Lanzhou
Cao Youliang was the commander of the 12th column, stationed in Wuwei
Cao Yong was the commander of the 13th Column, stationed in Xining
Guo Chongma was appointed as the commander of the 14th Column and stationed in Huizhou.
Cao Youwan was the commander of the 3rd Cavalry Column, stationed in Lanzhou
Wang Gui was the commander of the 4th Cavalry Column, stationed in Zhejiang and Sichuan
Batulu was the fifth cavalry commander, stationed in Pingliang
Zhao Yulin asked all groups to selflessly support the construction of the cavalry, send horses and brothers who can ride horses to the cavalry column, and speed up the formation of the cavalry of the Shenwei Army.
He asked Miao Gui to unify the coordination and make the reserve garrisons in various places regular troops. The infantry was gradually expanded into five corps with a total of 25,000 people.
Then, Zhao Yulin analyzed the current enemy and our own situation with everyone.
He told his brothers that the Mongolian army in the north was still strong. This year, they had sent troops to the west, south and east to attack Goryeo, which was enough to show that our opponents were very powerful.
As for us, we were short of horses and could not outrun them, so we had to rely on the infantry to defend the city in groups, and we were still in a defensive position under unfavorable conditions. We were able to take Hexi and occupy Xining Prefecture, which was the limit of our military operations.
In the northwest of the Song Dynasty, the enemy and our side entered a stage of local stalemate with equal strength.
He said that war, in a sense, is fought with logistics.
Now, although our territory is large, it is a barren land with a large area and sparse population, and the logistics supply is already very tight. This requires us to streamline the military and government, invest limited military and financial resources in the front line, and develop production to save ourselves.
He smiled and said to Guo Chongma and Cao Yong that even though they were wearing new uniforms and had new weapons, they would have to do everything on their own after returning to the base.
The brothers immediately burst into laughter.
Lao Guo stood up and said straightforwardly that the situation was ten times better than being trapped in Huizhou City. He would definitely lead his brothers to overcome difficulties and protect their homeland.
Several newly promoted column commanders stood up in unison to salute him and Lao Cao, and promised to lead the team well and guard the defense zone well.
