Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 488: Stimulation for New Soldiers
Originally, the Guangdong gentry had great resentment towards Governor Jia, and they used all their connections to impeach him and get him out of office. But with the arrival of Fang Song, the Guangdong gentry suddenly realized that Governor Jia was actually a good person. He just didn't allow the gentry to collude with the government to collect various heavy taxes. Censor Fang was bleeding everyone.

A gentleman cannot do gentlemanly things. This saying is well reflected in Fang Song.

Jia Lian was shocked by his style of doing things. If it were another scene, it would be Li Zicheng torturing and plundering the capital.

Jia Lian was a little unsure, so he came to see Fang Song's style of doing things.

After being invited, the tender-skinned gentry and merchants were really pricked on their fingers with needles, put on the tiger bench, and poured pepper water into their mouths.

Jia Lian gasped and couldn't help but advise: "Brother Fang, this will affect your reputation!"

Fang Song had a melancholy look on his face: "Brother Jia, I am not you. Once I take the first step on the path of a cruel official, there is no turning back. The day when His Majesty dislikes me, that will be the day I die."

Jia Lian quickly comforted him: "That's impossible. As long as you can make money for the court, His Majesty and the cabinet will protect you."

Fang Song chuckled, "It's true that the Prime Minister and the Second Assistant Minister protected me, but not necessarily the others. I'm sure you already know that after leaving Beijing, the Third Prince had several battles with others in order to protect the R&D Department's assets. The lawsuits were brought to the palace, and the dignified uncle of the emperor was beaten by his nephew. The father-in-law is old, and after he suffered a stroke, the two uncles of the emperor are even more in need of supervision."

Speaking of this matter, Jia Lian was speechless. Who would have thought that after he left the capital, the first people to jump out and ask for help from the Research and Development Department would be Queen Zhou's two younger brothers.

Li Heng was really a ruthless man. He personally went out to block the uncles of the two countries and beat them up so badly that they were bruised and battered. He himself was also covered in bruises.

The cause of the incident was that the king's uncle wanted to buy cement. Liu Chuan did not make it difficult for him and gave him a 30% discount on the price. However, he never expected that the king's uncle said he had no money and not only did he not give the money, he also demanded the factory.

The two uncles took away 10,000 kilograms of cement without paying a cent. They also sent people to guard the factory gate, saying that the factory would belong to them from now on. After Li Heng found out about this, there was a follow-up.

There is no conclusion to this matter yet, and the emperor has suppressed it, which must have given him a headache.

One thing is certain, this loophole cannot be opened. Once it is opened, within a very short period of time, all the factories under the R&D department will be eaten up to the point where not a single bone will be left.

After leaving Beijing, another thing happened, which was also related to Jia Lian, that is, Li Yuan went to the Wucheng Bingmasi and was no longer in Shuntian Prefecture.

I don’t know what the emperor is thinking. I guess he hasn’t made up his mind which of these two princes to choose.

Jia Lian no longer cared about Fang Song's affairs as he was too busy with his own things.

The main problem was the navy. He had few talented people under his command and relied entirely on external recruitment. Wang Ziteng was also ruthless. He took most of the navy he built to Annan.

After the Tanka youths started to sign up enthusiastically, the first phase of the navy soldier recruitment plan was successfully completed. The 3,000-man team of sailors were all Tanka youths.

It can only be said that the Tanka people have the best sailor foundation. Now that they have sailors, they have started training on land, and now they lack boats.

Regarding the ship issue, Jia Lian had no choice but to go to Wang Ziteng. He said, "All the people from the Nanyang Navy have been taken away, so you have to hand over half of the ship."

Faced with Jia Lian's request for boats, Wang Ziteng delayed as much as possible, and called for the boats little by little like squeezing toothpaste.

After half a month of hard work, a total of 30 large and small ships were handed over, three of which were third-class sailing battleships. Well, they had no guns, and even if they did, they were broken and could not be used.

After learning about this, Jia Lian was not angry. Instead, he received a group of craftsmen from the capital, bought a piece of land outside the city, and built a new cannon foundry specializing in the production of naval guns.

The technical problems had been solved, and what remained was to slowly and carefully work the goods. Jia Lian had arranged this long in advance, and a group of the best craftsmen, along with the machinery and equipment, were transported here together.

Fang Song returned to Beijing, leaving behind the nickname Fang Bapi. When he left, firecrackers rang out in Guangzhou, which was said to be "sending away the god of plague."

Rather than an unpleasant nickname, Fang Song cared more about the harvest this time. He managed to squeeze out eight million taels of silver from the local merchants and various guilds.

This shows how wealthy the local merchants are. It reminds Jia Lian of the story of the fire in the Thirteen Hongs, where the silver was melted and flowed into a river.

Talking about the Thirteen Hongs, we have to bring up old stories. This group of people were the first batch of compradors, the real ones who had forgotten their roots. The strange thing is that some people made a TV series to whitewash them.

Although the colonists brought disasters to the colonies, they also brought a taste of modernization to the colonies.

There are many people who hold this view. Finance, education, law and news are all the hardest hit areas.

When it comes to training troops, Jia Lian naturally has a mature set of routines, and his subordinate staff department is also familiar with it.

The biggest difference between ordinary people and soldiers is whether they are organized or not.

Zhang San came back after being away for two months. When the first batch of new recruits were sent to the military camp, Qi Yun was dumbfounded.

Some time ago, I saw a joke about Zhang San recruiting soldiers. Various jokes are still circulating in the streets of Guangzhou. How could he bring back more than 5,000 people?
The locals are unwilling to join the army, naturally because it has no appeal, but this batch of new recruits all come from northern Guangdong and southern Hunan, and they are truly good families.

Students who are good at geography and a little older should have a certain understanding of these two places.

For example, in the 1990s, there was a roadside restaurant that specialized in catering to long-distance bus drivers. There was a sign at the door that said "dining", "water", and there was also a sign saying "tire repair" next to it.

This type of restaurant is located next to the road, and there are often young women standing on the road to solicit customers. This type of restaurant was almost everywhere in the mountainous areas of southern Hunan and northern Guangdong in the 1990s.

The above is just one meaning, this area is really poor.

When Zhang San came back to meet Jia Lian, he talked about the local situation and was filled with regret.

"In several counties, they wouldn't let people go unless they recruited enough people. Many people took the 20 silver dollars for resettlement, and then had weddings at home. It wasn't they who hosted it, but their brothers. The local county magistrate and gentry also expressed their gratitude, saying that they were a great help. There are many mountains and little land in that area, and people often fight over land. They recruited hundreds of young and strong people at a time, and the silver dollars left were enough for a family to eat for a year."

Jia Lian listened very quietly. How could he not know about the Hunan Army? In modern history, Yang Du said something that was very thought-provoking: If you want to destroy China, all Hunanese people must die out.

"I have spent all the money, otherwise I would not have been able to get it back. Please rest assured, sir, they are all good people with clean backgrounds and families."

Zhang San was a little embarrassed. He recruited 5,000 people in total and spent 150,000 silver dollars, which was indeed a bit too much. Jia Lian didn't care about how much money he spent. In fact, what he was most worried about during this period was the safety of Zhang San and others. After all, in a poor and remote area, many villages were civilians in normal times, but became bandits when the opportunity arose.

"I'm glad you came back safely and completed the mission well. Go to bed early today and I'll go to the military camp tomorrow to take a look." Jia Lian also praised him, thinking that he did a good job.

Zhang San was still a little embarrassed and hesitated to speak. Jia Lian asked suspiciously, "Why, is there anything else?"

"It's like this. In order to get us to recruit more people, two counties used some evil tricks. The brothers were not prepared and fell for it. Although the people came back, they brought back one or two more."

Jia Lian was a little confused and raised his hand to his forehead: "Wait a minute, please explain clearly. Why am I getting more confused the more I listen? What do you mean by bringing back one or two?"

"Hey, these bastards went to the local area and boasted about how it was a great job to be an officer under Lord Jia, and how everything was good, except that they couldn't bring their wives with them. Then the local people had a bad idea, so they got them drunk first and arranged for women. So, when they came back, no one escaped, and everyone brought back at least one, and some were pregnant with another."

Jia Lian was stunned by what he heard. Is it so complicated?

Zhang San looked at Jia Lian's expression and became more worried about his brothers. He quickly said, "I didn't let them go either. I beat them up and forced them to give all the money they brought with them to the girl's family."

"These women are all concubines? OK, he has only been an officer for a few days and he has already taken concubines." After Jia Lian understood, he couldn't help but be sarcastic.

There is no doubt that this trend must not be encouraged and must be severely stopped. What a joke, you already have a wife and children at home, and now you have a concubine outside, what's the big deal?
Besides, this is the army, and the officers are like this. Is there any need to fight this war?
Zhang San also knew that this matter would not be easy to deal with in front of Jia Lian, so he could only whisper to help and speak well: "They are all old brothers, some of them were born as servants, and some are old brothers from the Shenji Camp. Aren't they defenseless?"

"Give me a list of names and tell them that they can forget about getting promoted within three years. They are a bunch of bastards. If they don't want to work with me, take their women home. By the way, how are you going to deal with them?" Jia Lian was naturally going to get angry, otherwise he would not learn his lesson.

"He was beaten with 10 military sticks! He was beaten pretty hard. He had to stay in bed for several days."

"If it's less, I'll give them twenty more military sticks, and after that, give each person fifty yuan for medicine and resettlement expenses. This is so shameful. If it happens again, you will be punished by military law." Jia Lian's words were quite harsh, but he raised his hand to punish them.

Zhang San hurriedly thanked Jia Lian and took his leave. There was a group of people waiting for him at the door. They were all the brothers who went out to recruit soldiers.

Zhang San was also troubled when he saw them. This time, he was completely defeated. He did it too. He also brought back two girls. It was not his fault. He drank too much and woke up with two naked girls around him.

Who would have thought that the local people were so wild?
For the sake of these two girls, Zhang San also embezzled 200 yuan in banknotes, and the first thing he did after returning was to make up for it. What was even more difficult was that Zhuzi knew about it, and he had no way to explain it.

Zhuzi knew about it very quickly, and was furious. He beat and scolded him in front of Jia Lian: "You are such an old and disrespectful person. You have only been a lieutenant general for a few days, and you have already taken a concubine like others."

Jia Lian suspected that he was plotting against him, but he had no evidence.

"You are now a fifth-rank garrison commander and have a wife at home. I heard that you always go to Old Cai's boat." Jia Lian couldn't let him play tricks on him in vain and had to fight back with a strong punch.

When Zhuzi heard this, his face turned red: "Sir, I didn't do anything wrong!"

After hearing this, Jia Lian knew that it was almost true. None of these guys brought their wives out, and their treatment was good. It was only a matter of time before something happened outside. After all, taking concubines was very normal in those days.

Jia Lian also knew that he couldn't stop it, it was only a matter of time, these people were all his team. Just thinking about it gave him a headache.

"It's better to find one than to go to a brothel." As he spoke, Jia Lian took out two bills and handed them to him: "Here, give them to the girl as a settlement allowance. You can talk to your father about this matter yourself."

Zhuzi was not polite. His affair with Miss Cai was to send the girl back and take a look at why the local gang leader was trying so hard to snatch her away because of her beauty.

The girl was grateful to him, and he was an officer, so he was still very attractive even though he looked average. Both sides were interested, so he got along well with the girl, and they got together while Lao Cai was out selling dried fish. Now, Zhuzi was still worrying about how to tell Jia Lian, but he didn't expect his father to be even wilder.

The armies of these days cannot compare with the rabbit's army.

To put it bluntly, Jia Lian was a warlord, but it was not obvious and he hid it very deeply.

Since they are warlords, when they hire people, they will of course choose their own people first. It is very necessary to deal a heavy hand to them this time, so that no one will send them women in the future, which will cause more serious consequences.

The next morning, Jia Lian went to the military camp, where Zhang San and others were waiting. In front of the garrison and five thousand new recruits, Zhang San started his performance.

"When I went out on business, I violated military discipline. I have no complaints about your punishment. Come on, start with me!"

Jia Lian didn't expect that this bastard would play this trick on him, but he didn't stop him. He just sat on a high place and watched coldly.

Zhang San lay on the bench and turned to look at his subordinates who were afraid to take action: "What are you standing there for? Hit them!"

The military sticks fell down, and the subordinates who were carrying out the execution gritted their teeth, trying hard to control the strength so as not to hurt the man.

This is not an easy task. We can't go too hard or too lightly. The governor is watching over us.

After being beaten with twenty military sticks, his buttocks were covered in blood and flesh. Two soldiers dragged him to the side for the doctor to apply medicine.

The 5,000 new soldiers were a little relaxed at first, but after Zhang San was the first to be beaten, and beaten very badly, everyone's expression became serious. This is the army, not home.

All of the more than 300 people who followed Zhang San out were beaten with twenty military sticks.

Because this incident was bound to affect the subsequent work, but Jia Lian still did not stop it. This beating was necessary.

New recruits and veterans watched the large-scale law enforcement scene for a whole morning. Everyone stood in the team and dared not breathe. When these officers were recruiting soldiers, they were all majestic and awesome.

Now, once the pants are pulled down and the military stick is applied mercilessly, the buttocks are really bruised and bloody.

I’ll show you this when you first enter the military camp. It’s exciting!

(End of this chapter)