The evil forces roaming the heavens

Chapter 30 Planning the Xiang Army!

Tokyo, Bianliang,
At the riverside port, large ships were docked and workers were constantly moving supplies.

Looking at the hardworking people, Zhang Cheng's eyes kept shining.

Once upon a time, he was also a "hard-working" person who believed that he could support himself with his own hands.
But after graduating from university, he miscalculated.

Because that summer, there were so many universities and masters everywhere.

The country's education has reached an unprecedented level.
After working in the mud at the construction site for two months, Zhang Cheng finally understood one thing: you have to choose your own path!
He cannot control life and death, but the fine line between life and death is in his control!
So he chose to cross the ocean and come to Florida to expand and become stronger.

But he never expected that before he could even start working, he was sent here by "good luck"!

Stroking his chin, Zhang Cheng fell into deep thought. After all, he really died before he could accomplish his mission!
"Cousin, what are you thinking about?"

Situ Yaozu came forward curiously, watching Zhang Cheng staring at the port, and couldn't help asking,
“Thinking about the reasons why I failed before!”

Looking back with a smile on his face, Zhang Cheng explained,

"What did you fail at?"

Looking at Zhang Cheng curiously, Situ Yaozu asked in surprise,

"Something unimportant!"

Zhang Cheng replied calmly, pointing to a place not far away and asked, "How is the recruitment of laborers going?"

"It has been preliminarily completed. After all, the salary here is more generous!"

Looking at Zhang Cheng with a smile on his face, Situ Yaozu laughed.
"Did those snakeheads cause any trouble?"

After hearing what Situ Yaozu said, Zhang Cheng asked,

"They don't dare, because the Chai family's signboard is still very effective!"

As he explained to Zhang Cheng, Situ Yaozu smiled.
Looking at Situ Yaozu in front of him, Zhang Cheng nodded with a smile and said, "Not bad! Working with Chai Wenyi is still useful!"

In ancient times, the most important thing was not how smart you were, but how you chose to cling to others and drag them down with you.
However, this trick would not work in the Ming Dynasty. After all, people who often travel through time know that even if Zhang Cheng bound all the civil and military officials in the court, Zhu Yuanzhang could still kill them all.
Among all the ruthless emperors in history, Zhu Yuanzhang would definitely be ranked first.

After all, even if you have committed a crime, you still have to go to work in shackles until someone comes to take over, and then you can die!

But it was different in the Song Dynasty. As long as he dragged someone into the water, there would naturally be someone "protecting" him from behind!

Looking at his cousin beside him, Zhang Cheng couldn't help but sigh.
Because Huang Chao proved one thing to the world back then, that is, it is much easier to capture Chang'an than to pass the entrance exam to Chang'an!
It doesn't matter that the generals have a low status, as long as he can win over the generals, in the Song Dynasty, even if there is no change of dynasty, sooner or later someone will put on the yellow robe for him!

Zhang Cheng: Zhao Kuangyin was able to stage the Chenqiao Rebellion back then, so I, Zhang, can also learn from Chen Youliang!
Chen Youliang: Oh, you have caused me so much trouble!

Situ Yaozu: Cousin, the weather is cold, put on your dragon robe!
"Send this thing down, the delivery speed is still too slow!"

Handing over a drawing of a live wheel, Zhang Cheng turned around and said, "Let the craftsmen make it as soon as possible!"

"What is this, cousin?"

Looking at the design of the live wheel with curiosity, Situ Yaozu couldn't help but ask,

"This thing is called a live wheel. It reduces effort and speeds up the process!" Zhang Cheng explained the design principle of the live wheel.
Looking at Zhang Cheng in astonishment, Situ Yaozu couldn't help but exclaimed: "Doesn't that mean that anyone can lift something weighing a hundred pounds?"

"A hundred pounds or so? With a few more wheels, even a thousand pounds won't be a problem!"

Zhang Cheng spoke calmly, and turned his head to ask, "How is the contact with the Xiang army going?"

"There are quite a few people in the Xiang army who are willing to leave, but we still need to say hello to them more!"

When Zhang Cheng suddenly asked about the Xiang army, Situ Yaozu began to explain.

Because in the Song Dynasty, the Xiang Army was the lowest-ranking "soldiers".
The composition of the Xiang Army is also relatively magical. They are called the "standing army"!
But what does the standing army do? They build roads through mountains, bridges over rivers, and serve as laborers.

But the problem is that the Xiang army had too many people and could only be used as laborers and could not fight. So why didn't the Song Dynasty disband them?
Because once the Xiang army is disbanded, they will completely turn into bandits.
After all, a large part of the garrison troops were the "violent bandits" who were summoned by the imperial court to surrender, as well as the young and strong men who had survived the disaster!
Although the Xiang Army is one of the three redundant forces, once the Xiang Army is disbanded, the consequences will be even more serious!

Throughout the Song Dynasty until its end, the three redundancies were problems that could not be ignored.
After all, when Zhao Kuangyin founded the country, he had already solved the problem of the three redundancies!

With generous rewards and bonuses, redundant officials, redundant soldiers, and redundant expenses gradually became a big problem.

Emperor Zhao Renzong also understood these problems and wanted to reform, but the conservatives were too powerful and the new policy died in less than a year.
Fan Zhongyan was wandering from the road of exile to the road of even greater exile!

However, speaking of the upcoming Qingli New Deal, Zhang Cheng also felt a little anxious.

After all, they were just a few people, and they wanted to completely reverse the "laws of ancestors" of the Song Dynasty for nearly a hundred years with their passion. They really underestimated the "conservatives".

Speaking of this, Fan Zhongyan would definitely say that it is their honor to have a pig teammate like Ouyang Xiu!
After all, Ouyang Xiu, a great literary figure, was so angry when the political debate was at its most dangerous that he slapped Zhao Zhen in the face with an article called "On Factions", which was a knife to the conservatives.
In this situation, what could Zhao Zhen do? The consequence was naturally that the reformists failed!
If the new policy is to be maintained, besides appeasing the conservatives and redistributing the pie, Ouyang Xiu's mouth must be shut.

This troll must not speak. Once he opens his mouth, he will completely offend people!

Fan Zhongyan, who was able to say, "Worry about the world before you worry about yourself, and be happy about the world after you are happy about yourself," is undoubtedly an admirable person in all aspects!

But now it’s different, because he, Zhang, is the biggest “conservative”!
With the help of the Song Dynasty's system, he is constantly increasing his strength until he finally reaches the top!
"How much money do you want? Let the commander of the Xiang army tell you a number. Money is not the problem. The problem is that money cannot solve the problem!"

Looking at Situ Yaozu with a smile on his face, Zhang Cheng laughed.

"I understand, cousin!"

Hearing Zhang Cheng say this, Situ Yaozu also nodded quickly.
Because recently, he is re-planning his official career.
The route Zhang Cheng arranged for Situ Yaozu was to go to the south to serve as the commander of a local army.
That means controlling about 4,500 people!

But this number is on the surface. As long as everything can be arranged well, Li Yunlong can expand a regiment into a division, and Zhang Cheng can also command an army of 100,000 with just one wing!
Li Yunlong: Hey, you have learned something!

Walking down from the upstairs, Zhang Cheng looked at the laborers squatting on the roadside to eat, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.
If he hadn't come, everything in the Song Dynasty would have continued to move forward as history had.

But now that he's here, the future is uncertain.

"It's a great thing to be lucky!"

Zhang Cheng couldn't help laughing.

Looking at Zhang Cheng's back, Situ Yaozu couldn't help rubbing his head, and asked with a puzzled look on his face: "What happened to my cousin?"

(End of this chapter)