Chapter 36: White Wolf Mountain Water Interval (Three)
August is the harvest season, but within the 50-mile range of farmland inside Yu Pass, those golden wheat ears were left unharvested, only swaying in the wind, forming waves that warmed people's hearts. Since the Khitan people attacked the pass, the villages and households inside Yu Pass have been empty, with most being taken away to the north outside the pass, while some lucky or quick-witted ones escaped to Pingzhou, never daring to return to this day.
With grain in hand, the heart is not worried. This sentence comes from Li Chengzhong's mouth before he crossed over as a leader. For Li Chengzhong, who regards this concise conclusion as a precious gem, watching so much grain go unharvested would be a sin. After consulting with Feng Dao, he immediately organized the soldiers of Adu and Baidu, along with 100 civilians under Feng Dao's command, to put aside all other tasks and start the autumn harvest with full force.
Li Chengzhong had less than three hundred people under his command, but the wheat fields to be harvested were expected to be nearly ten thousand mu. Therefore, Li Chengzhong implemented a 16-hour workday, with only four hours of rest per day, and the remaining eight hours were devoted to harvesting. Even so, roughly estimated, by the end of the autumn harvest, it was feared that nearly half of the wheat fields would not be harvested in time. Feng Da sent a letter to the governor's office overnight requesting more personnel, and three days later, the governor's office urgently dispatched 300 temporary recruits, and Li Chengzhong finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, the Khitan's attack did not continue, which allowed Li Chengzhong to withdraw all his troops to harvest. However, the news that Zhou Zhiyu, the military commander, was about to arrive at Yu Pass for inspection made Li Chengzhong a bit worried. When Zhou Zhiyu comes to Yu Pass, he will have to bring one or two hundred men with him. How can he entertain them? He would have to withdraw another one or two hundred men from his troops. It's okay if they stay for just one day, but what if they stay at Yu Pass for three to five days without leaving?
Li Chengzhong has been stationed at Yu Guan for nearly a month, and he has come to regard the city as his own child that needs his care and protection. He hasn't even considered that Zhou Zhiyu is the actual commander of Yu Guan, and even if he were to stay there for three or five years, it would be only natural. What Li Chengzhong worries about is not handing over Yu Guan again, as Zhou Zhiyu has treated him well and he feels good in his system; even if Zhou Zhiyu were to ask him to step down immediately, he wouldn't have any complaints. What he worries about is that after the personnel are withdrawn, it will greatly delay the autumn harvest, and how much grain will be lost as a result!
According to the letter from the Cishi Prefecture, the 300 civilians assigned to Yu Guan are already the limit, and there won't be any more. This year's favorable weather has brought a bumper harvest not only to Pingzhou but also to all the states under the jurisdiction of Lulong Military Command. The matured grains are waiting to be harvested in the fields, but due to the heavy losses suffered during the southern expedition, the labor force of able-bodied men in Lulong Military Command has been greatly reduced, and a shortage of manpower has appeared in various states. If it weren't for the tens of thousands of refugees who fled into the pass due to the Khitan people's raids and harassment, Pingzhou would also face a severe shortage of labor.
In Li Cheng's opinion, Zhou Zhiyong chose this time to inspect Pingzhou, isn't that just causing trouble!
Li Chengzhong shared the idea with Feng Dao, who smiled and wrote a document on behalf of Li. The document was sent to the military commander's office, stating that they would do their best to welcome Zhou Zhiyuan's inspection tour and ensure his safety while he gathered information about the situation at Yuguang. At the end of the document, a small request was made: when Zhou Zhiyuan came for the inspection, could he please bring some soldiers from the newly formed Pingzhou army? Any number would be welcome, as Yuguang was busy with harvesting and lacked sufficient manpower, so they hoped Zhou Zhiyuan could bring his men to help out.
Li Chengzhong smiled with satisfaction after reading the letter and hastily signed and sent it out.
Three days later, Li Chengzhong welcomed Zhao Zaili, who led the 90 soldiers of the Zhongying Camp, at the Yu Pass. As soon as they met, Zhao Zaili verbally conveyed Zhou Zhiyu's order that the scheduled inspection would be postponed until after the autumn harvest, and Li Chengzhong was to rush to reap the fields, not allowing a single grain of food to rot in the fields! To help Li Chengzhong with the harvest, Zhao Zaili was specially ordered to lead his soldiers to come and await deployment. This order made Li Chengzhong feel deeply moved, having such a considerate superior was truly one of life's greatest blessings!
After conveying Zhou Zhi's verbal order, Zhao Zirou also explained the reason behind the order to Li Chengzhong. After discussion between the Cishi Prefecture and the Bingmashi Yamen, all unowned farmland within 50 li of Yuanguan was handed over to the Pingzhou Army for harvesting, with the grain obtained used as recruitment expenses for the Pingzhou Army's new recruits.
When it came to the matter of recruiting troops, Li Chengzhong couldn't help but ask in detail. Zhao Zaili said excitedly: "The three new camps have already been recruited, and now we are short of officers, especially those with actual combat experience. Moreover, according to the news from Youzhou, due to the Khitan people's repeated border offenses, the governor's office is preparing to readjust a new plan, allowing each state to expand its troops to three or five camps depending on its financial resources. This order will be passed down soon. This year looks like a bumper harvest, so Zhang Shijun and our general have tentatively agreed that the Pingzhou army will expand to five camps!"
This news greatly encouraged Li Chengzhong, who is currently one of the highest-ranking officers in the Pingzhou Army and is highly respected by Zhou Yiyu. When the Pingzhou Army expands, his future can be imagined. Inspired by the good news, Li Chengzhong prepared to roll up his sleeves and work hard. The grain that grew well in these fields was the legitimate property of the Pingzhou Army, and if it wasn't harvested quickly, it would be a huge crime against the Pingzhou Army! Therefore, he unceremoniously put Zhao Zaili's middle camp under a 16-hour workday, even forcing Zhao Zaili himself to go down to the fields and personally harvest with a sickle, making this general's son who had never done farm work before cry out in suffering.
After more than half a month of rushing to harvest, the defenders of Yu Guan finally managed to clear all the farmland inside Yu Guan before the end of the autumn harvest season. Even the farmland outside the pass, which had been left unattended and was nearly half-wasted, was reclaimed. After counting, they got a total of 17,000 stones of grain, with an average yield of 1.3 stones per mu inside the pass and 7 dou per mu outside the pass. The joy of a bumper harvest was written on everyone's face, and Li Chengzhong grinned from ear to ear as he gazed at the mountainous piles of grain.
After finishing the harvest, Li Chengzhong was still considering how to load and transport it back to Pingzhou in his own house. Jiang Miao rushed down from Guancheng, shouting loudly to Li Chengzhong: General Zhou has arrived!
Zhou Zhiyu's arrival was sudden and simple, not only did he come, but also Zhang Zaiji, the governor of Pingzhou, came to Yu Pass together. The two highest-ranking military and political officials in Pingzhou appeared at the same time under the city gate, accompanied by only a few of Zhou Zhiyu's personal guards and several staff members from the prefecture.
Because of the autumn harvest, the city tower on the pass has not been repaired until now. Li Chengzhong took Zhou Zhiyu and Zhang Zaiji to inspect the city head, explained the details of the last battle with the Khitan people, and then everyone moved to his residence for a military meeting. This is a simple barracks, such barracks are lined up along the edge of the school field inside the pass, with more than 60 rooms, five soldiers per room, and one room per officer above the partner. The room is not big, Li Chengzhong's room is already the largest in the entire Yu Pass, so many people can't even stand, so Zhou Zhiyu ordered only team leaders and above officers and several staff members of the governor's office to participate in the military meeting, barely sat down. On Li Chengzhong's bed, Zhang Xingzhong, Zhou Kandao, Jiang Miao, and Zhao Zaili squeezed in and sat down.
Zhou Zhiyu and Zhang first praised the heroic performance of the Yu Guan garrison in this battle against the Khitan border disturbance, as well as their hard work during the autumn harvest. Then, Zhou Zhiyu personally announced the commendation and reward.
Li Chengzhong led his troops to arrive at Yu Guan on time and successfully defended the city, and was promoted to Left Camp Adu, Rensheng School Lieutenant, and Ninth Grade. Due to his outstanding organization during the autumn harvest, he ensured the military grain for the future expansion of Pingzhou Army, and was appointed as Deputy Lieutenant of Yu Hu, Eighth Grade. After reporting to the Jiedushi Fu for approval, the two characters "Deputy" would be removed. In just over a month, Li Chengzhong rose from partner to team leader, and then to Du Tou, with his rank jumping from Pei Rong Deputy Lieutenant to Pei Rong School Lieutenant, and then to Ren Yong School Lieutenant, and finally to Yu Hu Deputy Lieutenant, with his grade rising by four levels. In modern terms, he could be called a "rocket-style" official.
Such a promotion actually has the reward for Zhou Zhiyu's great contribution to the conquest of Bei State, the preservation of soldiers and the hard work of participating in the planning of the healthy camp system. In Zhou Zhiyu's view, Li Chengzhong is a rare confidant who can fight and be loyal to himself, and is a talent that "can be used greatly" in the future! What Zhou Zhiyu lacks now is an officer who can take charge alone, and in his plan, Li Chengzhong will occupy one of the five camps of the Pingzhou Army in the future.
Since receiving the new military reorganization plan from the Jiedu Prefecture a few days ago, Zhou Zhiyu had already entertained this idea. If not for considering that rapid promotion would be detrimental to the growth of young officers and the balance of the entire Pingzhou Army, Li Chengzhong's request to serve as Left Camp Commander would have been on its way to Youzhou by now.
Apart from Li Chengzhong's promotion, Jiang Miao, Zhang Xingchong and Zhou Zhandao also received promotions. The three men fought bravely in the Yu Guan war and were all promoted to acting heads, ranked as Ren Yongfu, Zheng Jiupin, waiting for future merits to be converted into formal heads of the army. Other lower-ranking military officers who had made contributions would be promoted by Li Chengzhong according to their military achievements.
Zhang in Ji simultaneously promoted Feng Dao as the executive officer of Pingzhou, due to his good performance in this battle. His official rank was eighth grade. In terms of official rank, Feng Dao surpassed Li Chengzhong at once. However, in this era, even if a civil official's rank was higher, it was still far inferior to a military officer's power and status.
After announcing Feng Dao's appointment, Zhang Jingda discussed the newly promulgated military reorganization order for various states in the Jiedushi Mansion. According to this order, after consulting with Zhou Zhiyu, they decided to expand the Pingzhou Army into five battalions, totaling 2,500 people. Of course, there were some things that Zhang Jingda and Zhou Zhiyu did not reveal to everyone, but what made them most satisfied was that, in addition to getting approval from the Youzhou side for the expansion of the scale, they also got a great relaxation on the appointment and organization of military officers. In other words, the Pingzhou Army obtained a full five-battalion regular army officer system in this new order, which is the most important thing!
