Chapter 20: The Troops Expand Their Recruitment

  Chapter 20: The Troops Expand Their Recruitment

  Hu Hu led a team of lightning-fast occupation of the entire Xiapu County, six towns and seventy-two villages. Except for individual landlords without evil deeds, all the local tyrants were overthrown, and the land was also measured and distributed to landless farmers.

  "How's it going, Old Zhao? Work is going smoothly, right? Just now, I took a stroll around the main street and saw nothing but shaved heads!" Huo Hu said with a smile.

  When he said that, Zhao Guang also reacted and realized that in the town of Sansha with a population of several thousand, most were landless peasants. Although it was difficult to accept cutting off the queue they had grown for decades, having their own land was a dream shared by Chinese peasants for thousands of years. Therefore, under this temptation, some brave single men couldn't help but cut off their queues and ran to the temporary government headquarters to report.

  Finally, the result was perfect. After getting the first three mu of good paddy fields, they showed off in the town and immediately more people cut off their braids and threw themselves into the arms of the new government. The surging tide of cutting braids could no longer be stopped, so the land strategy of the Huo family achieved unprecedented success. They also stood firm in Xiapu County with the support of many farmers.

  "All land, shops and houses in the county have been dealt with, and the funds obtained have also been registered and handed over to the logistics department for safekeeping."

  In addition, all levels of government units in the county have also been successfully established, and now we can take a slight breath! Zhao Guang handed over the materials in his hand to Huo Hu, smiling.

  "Lao Zhao, you can handle these management issues with Lao Zhou and the others. Now I just want to know how our new troop formation is going? You're taking away over 500 of my soldiers at once, you'd better make it up to me, or else we'll fall behind on the task assigned by Young Master, and I won't be able to explain myself!"

  He's not too interested in these economic things. Now, Huo Hu is most concerned about how to expand his own troops, and now he's drooling at the territory of other counties in Ningde Prefecture every day! After all, the more spoils are seized, the better it is to ask Young Master for equipment to arm more troops!

  Seeing the absent-minded expression on Huo's face, Zhao Guang couldn't help but smile wryly. The two of them had been fighting together since they were in the militia at Huo's village, so they knew each other very well, and he also knew that Huo really wasn't interested in these political and logistical things!

  "We have now recruited 5,000 new soldiers throughout the county, and we can start training immediately..." But Zhao Guang's words were cut off by Huo Hu, who was eager to speak.

  "Five thousand, how could you only recruit five thousand people? I told Old Zhao, this time we've made a big profit, and you, Old Zhao, are also from our military, how can you be so stingy when recruiting soldiers, just like those wealthy landlords! No way, you have to recruit at least twenty thousand for me!"

  "Two hundred thousand? Are you, Tiger, running a fever?! The entire Xiapu County has less than two million people, and you want to recruit 200,000 soldiers right away. Who will then cultivate the land in our base area, and how can our economy develop?" Zhao Guang rolled his eyes and said to the hastily shouting Huo Daren.

  "But 5,000 is still a bit too few! Old Zhao, just add another 5,000, and as long as we have these 10,000 people, I guarantee that in three months, I'll hand over the jurisdiction of three counties to you!" Huo Daren said with a slap on his face.

  After listening to his words, Zhao Guang couldn't help but lower his head and consider it for a moment. In fact, he also wanted to expand the troop's organization, so that they could complete the young master's task as soon as possible. However, before the troops were divided, the young master had repeatedly instructed them to be steady and cautious, occupying one place and digesting one place at a time, which made him hesitant for a moment.

  Seeing the hesitation on Zhao Guang's face, Huo Hu said: "Old Zhao, how about this? This army of 10,000 people, we'll train them first. After we take down other counties, I'll let these 5,000 people retire and by then our newly established government departments will also have sufficient personnel to handle affairs. What do you think?"

  "Lao Huo, I didn't think you still had some tricks up your sleeve! Alright, let's do it your way! However, with spring planting just around the corner, farm work is going to get very busy. So, you'll have to cut your daily training time in half!" Zhao Guang said with a smile.

  "No problem!"

  ——————

  Although the Qing dynasty had few roads and railways at that time, and the flow of information was very closed, three days later, the news that more than a dozen villages below were occupied by a group of bandits without braids still reached the ears of Zhao Dehou, the county magistrate of Xiapu County.

  "County Master, don't you think it's better to let the Green Camp handle this? I heard those bandits have many foreign guns and are quite powerful!"

  After listening to the teacher's words, Zhao Dehou raised his eyelids. In this era, bandits were as common as cow hair, and such robberies happened frequently every year, so he didn't take it to heart.

  "Hmm, got it! Aren't they just bandits? They'll leave on their own in a few days! As for the Green Standard Army in the county, there's no need to send them yet, let's go!"

  "Yes, County Master!"

  ——————

  "What's wrong with the efficiency of this Qing dynasty official? It's almost a month now, and there's still no movement in the county town at all!" Huo Hu, who was eager to fight against the Green Camp soldiers and train his own troops, shouted in dissatisfaction.

  "Hehe, I think this county magistrate is treating us as ordinary bandits!" said Qian Gang, the chief of staff, with a smile on his face.

  "Yes, I saw the description of these situations in the national conditions article written by Young Master before. At that time, I was a bit skeptical, but now after experiencing it personally, I found out that the reality is even more severe than we imagined. No wonder Young Master always said that the Qing Dynasty has become irretrievable, and Li Hongzhang's self-strengthening movement of 'Chinese learning as the body, Western learning as the application' will definitely end in complete failure!"

  "Lao Zhao, isn't this just perfect? Overthrow the Manchu dynasty and when the time comes, let our young master ascend to the throne! You, Lao Zhao, will be enfeoffed as a marquis and appointed as a high-ranking official, and your wife and children will be protected - what a wonderful thing!" Huo Hu said with a smile.

  Although it's still early to say this, in the old era when democratic republicanism had just been introduced into China and feudal ideas were still very strong, ascending the throne and declaring oneself emperor was undoubtedly a guarantee for the establishment of a new regime!

  "Alright, let's not talk about that anymore! I called the two of you here today because there are some things I want to communicate with you!" Huo Hu said as he led the two men in front of a large map of Qing Dynasty Fujian Province.

  "How about you, want to hit other county towns?" Qian Gang asked with a smile, looking at the names circled in pencil on the map.

  "Not bad, now our new recruits of 10,000 people have been trained for over a month. Although we can't expect them to go into battle yet, they can still be used to garrison local areas. This way, we can free up our main force troops. I believe it won't take much time to take down these villages that don't have many troops stationed there. And you all know what the Green Standard Army is like now! If Young Master didn't forbid it, I would have gotten rid of them all already!"

  "Lao Huo is right, our current strategy is still a bit too conservative. With our equipment, we can completely defeat several times or even tens of times more Qing troops!" Qian Gang said after some thought.

  "Hmm, that's right. The army was born to fight, and after a month of governance, Xiapu County has completely calmed down. The common people have recognized our rule, it's time for us to expand our base further!" Zhao Guang also agreed with him.

  "So you're agreed?" Huo Hu said, somewhat disbelieving. He had prepared a lot of arguments beforehand, but hadn't expected the two to agree before he even had a chance to speak up!

  "Agreed!" The two of them said with a smile at each other.

  ——————

  "Young master, all the teams have reported back! The mission was completed very smoothly!" Huo Shi said.

  "It's definitely going smoothly, the letter of equipment has been handed over to Fu Bo! How can it not go smoothly?" Huo Shi also knew about this matter. After taking down Xiapu County, Huo Da Rengzi, who had obtained a large amount of gold and silver, asked the Equipment Department for 10,000 rifles, 5 million rounds of ammunition, and 30 60mm mortars! As a result, the Logistics Department, which was not good at directly rejecting people, handed over the equipment list to Fu Bo, wanting him to make the decision.

  "Master, how much shall we give them?" Huo Shi said with a smile.

  "What's the progress on expanding the munitions factory's production capacity?" Huo Shan didn't answer directly, instead turning to ask Li Yunfeng, the Minister of Equipment sitting beside him.

  "Now we have six rifle production lines, two hand grenade production lines, fifteen rifle cartridge production lines and one mortar production line. We produce 10,000 Type 80 rifles, 20,000 wooden-handled grenades, one million rifle cartridges and sixty Type 60 mortars per month! The remaining pistols, machine guns, 70mm infantry cannons and 82mm medium mortars have been successfully developed, and the production lines are being set up! I estimate that in another month our ordnance factory will be able to mass-produce!" Li Yunfeng said proudly.

  "What great news! And do we still have stock of our new rifles?" asked Huo Shan.

  "They're all gone! The new guns were handed over to the second batch of troops as soon as they came out of the factory. The 40,000-strong army that has been formed is still short of 25,000 new guns, which urgently need to be supplemented!"

  "Uh-huh, I see. The arsenal's production line will continue to expand, and we must ensure that every one of our soldiers has a gun in hand!"

  "Yes, young master!"

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