I

General Military Mansion, back house.

Fei Rulan came out to greet her happily: "Meet my fourth uncle and meet my sister."

"Haha, you don't have to be polite," Fei Yingcong said with a smile, "We haven't seen you for a few years, and Lan'er is already the wife of the General Soldier."

Fei Rulan said: "My husband, the commander-in-chief, can do a lot."

"I've met Sister Lan." Fei Ruhui said, clasping her fists.

Although they are cousins, they have only met once. Mr. Fei does not accept Fei Ruhui.

Fei Rulan saw her dressed as a woman and asked, "Isn't my brother-in-law here?"

Fei Ruhui replied: "He is busy at home."

What are you busy with?

Of course, managing a bandit den.

Fei Yinggong saw that there was only one maid named Xiyue in the courtyard, and Fei Rulan was still helping to serve tea and pour water, so he couldn't help but said: "It's so deserted here, why don't you keep more slaves?"

Fei Rulan smiled and replied: "My husband has abolished slavery, how can I disobey it? The courtyard employs six servants, which is quite a lot."

"I see," Fei Yingcong changed the subject purely to inquire about information and asked, "Is there any news about big brother?"

Fei Rulan said: "My father is now the magistrate of Huzhou Prefecture."

Fei Yingcong smiled and said, "It's a quick promotion."

The family drank tea and chatted until evening, when Zhao Han finally came back, and Fei Ruhe and Fei Chun also came.

After putting the food on the table, Zhao Han raised his glass and said, "I'd like to toast my fourth uncle!"

"Easy to say." Fei Yingcong laughed heartily.

Fei Ruhe also raised his glass and said in a toast: "Fei Chun and I left home, intending to look for our fourth uncle, but unexpectedly we found Brother Han and got into a big situation."

"If you had found me, I'm afraid you would still be a bandit today." Fei Yinggong said with emotion.

Zhao Han just smiled and didn't take the initiative to mention it. He had already guessed what Fei Yinggon was here for.

After pushing the cup and changing the cup for a while, Fei Yinggong finally couldn't help it: "Oh, I never thought of rebelling, but suddenly a sweeper king appeared next door. You are in the east, and the sweeper king is in the west. I feel very uncomfortable being caught in the middle. .”

Zhao Han said with a smile: "As long as there is no war, no one will keep an eye on Fourth Uncle's territory."

Fei Yinggon's land is located in the rolling mountains. It is remote and poor, which is really not interesting.

But it is very important militarily. Once Tianhe Town is occupied, Zhao Han can easily defend against enemies in the west. If Fei Yinggon hadn't been entrenched there, Zhao Han would have sent troops to capture it long ago, because it was the jurisdiction of Luling County.

The Sweeping King is also very interesting. If Zhao Han expands northward, the Sweeping King's territory will be completely protected by Zhao Han. Only when the officers and soldiers eliminate Zhao Han can they attack the King of Sweepers, or Huguang sends troops to sweep away the King of Sweepers.

Seeing that Zhao Han never opened up, Fei Yingcong had no choice but to ask: "How about I come to your place to do something?"

"Okay, welcome." Zhao Han smiled.

"What are your requirements?" Fei Yingcong asked.

Zhao Han made it clear: "First, the fields must be divided. Each person, including the fourth uncle, can reserve up to twenty acres. Of course, the fourth uncle has a lot of mountainous land, so he can reserve a few more acres as appropriate. Second, if the fourth uncle wants to join the army, , we must disband our own troops and break up the Datong disciples. Third, the fourth uncle can only serve as a sentry officer, temporarily leading more than ninety people, and he is not allowed to be stationed in Tianhe Town."

Although Fei Yinggong had expected it, he still couldn't help but feel a little angry.

He came to Zhao Han with his territory and troops, but Zhao Han wanted to annex him.

That's all. He could have been given a senior military position, but he was only asked to serve as a sentry officer, with less than a hundred soldiers under his command.

Zhao Han explained: "There are only two situations when working under me. One is to start from the middle and lower levels; the other is to create a situation on your own. For example, Gu Jianshan was the commander of the navy from the beginning, because I did not have a navy under me, so I relied on He organized the training by himself. There was also Tian Younian, who was in charge of the weapons institute when he first arrived, and he had to build the weapons institute. Even Li Banghua was the first to set up the grain bank, and he was promoted only after he made political achievements."

"Okay, I'll be the sentry officer." Fei Yingcong reluctantly agreed. He believed that with his talents and the Fei family's connections, he could be promoted after a few battles.

Zhao Han laughed and said: "Welcome Fourth Uncle to join us, come, let's all drink from this cup!"

Everyone raised their glasses and drank.

Zhao Han then said to Fei Ruhui: "Sister, if you want to do something, you can join the missionary team. Women can also be officials here."

"That's good." Fei Ruhui said happily.

After another chat, Fei Rulan suddenly said: "Ruhe is not young anymore. I have been looking for a suitable family for a year and finally found a suitable family."

"Where are you from?" Zhao Han asked.

Fei Rulan said: "The niece of Anfu County Juren Yuan Yunlong."

Zhao Han did not express his position and continued to ask: "What's going on with the Yuan family?"

Fei Rulan had obviously done her homework: "The Anfu Yuan family is a branch of the Yichun Yuan family, and its ancestor is Han Situ Yuan An (Yuan Shao's grandfather's grandfather). Although the Anfu Yuan family comes from a wealthy family, this branch has long declined, and the Ming Dynasty Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, there has never been a Jinshi. Yuan Yunlong's family has a total of more than 300 acres of land, but there are so many people in the clan that 20 acres for each person is not enough."

This kind of small landowner actually has no losses except being forcibly divided.

Zhao Han allowed each landlord to reserve twenty acres of land. However, when the Yuan family's land was divided, it was not enough to get twenty acres. Each person was only allocated eighteen acres of land.

Fei Rulan added: "This Yuan Juren has failed the exam five times. He is disheartened about taking the Jinshi examination, and his family has no money to buy him an official position. Therefore, Yuan Juren is very active in his work and has been promoted to the imperial examination in Anfu County. As mayor of the town, he also wrote an article praising the land distribution.”

"This person can be cultivated." Zhao Han decided to establish Yuan Yunlong as a model gentry.

Fei Rulan said: "I also asked someone to inquire about Yuan Juren's niece. She is fifteen years old. She is dignified, beautiful, reasonable, and good at poetry and painting."

Zhao Han immediately agreed: "This is a good match!"

Fei Ruhe sat next to him and giggled. He was not picky about women, as long as they were not ugly. This guy wanted to do big things.

The next day, Zhao Han sent a missionary team and grassroots officials to accompany Fei Yinggon back to take over Tianhe Town.

If you add in the mountains on both sides of the river, the area there is very large, but the cultivated land is very little.

If Fei Yinggon's son-in-law Yang Fengsu can actively cooperate with the land distribution work and does things well, Zhao Han can appoint him as the mayor of Tianhe Town. In this way, there are nine towns in Luling County, and Tianhe Town is the poorest one. 90% of the cultivated land belongs to barren mountainous land. In the future, sweet potatoes are the staple food.

After discussion at the meeting, everyone felt that nine towns under the jurisdiction of one county were too many, and the salary expenditures for grassroots officials could not be afforded.

So the administrative divisions of Luling County were fine-tuned, and one town was divided into four parts, each of which was merged into the adjacent town. All the officials in the town were sent to Bailuzhou Academy to study, waiting to be assigned to work in the newly expanded territory.

In this way, Zhao Han finally owned the entire territory of Luling County, while maintaining the administrative districts of eight towns in Luling County.

Immediately, the General Military Mansion also made adjustments, and the framework was as follows -

General Military Department.

Secretariat, Official Selection Department, Government Affairs Department, Mission and Education Department, Finance Department, Military Affairs Department, Criminal Affairs Department, Integrity Department, Public Works Department, Military Academy.

The Secretariat is of course Zhao Han's secretarial organization. There are three chief secretaries and some civilian staff below. They are only responsible to Zhao Han, but they cannot interfere in the affairs of various departments, which is essentially different from the Ming cabinet.

The word "secretary" already existed in ancient times, so Zhao Han didn't bother to use the term "book in charge" and directly changed it to "secretary".

The Department of Personnel Selection, equivalent to the Department of Personnel, is in charge of Pang Chunlai.

The Chief Secretary for Administration, formerly headed by Li Banghua, is now promoted to Luling Magistrate Huang Shunfu as Chief Secretary.

The Mission Department, equivalent to the Ministry of Rites, is headed by Chen Maosheng.

The Finance Department, equivalent to the warehouse governor of the Ming Dynasty, was headed by Fei Chun.

The Military Affairs Department, equivalent to the Ministry of War, is headed by Li Banghua.

The Criminal Name Department, equivalent to the Criminal Ministry, promoted Zuo Xiaoliang, the magistrate of Anfu County, to serve as the director of the Criminal Name Department.

The Department of Integrity, equivalent to the Metropolitan Procuratorate, is headed by Xiao Huan.

The Public Works Department, equivalent to the Ministry of Industry, is headed by Song Yingxing.

The Military Academy, equivalent to the Commander-in-Chief of the Fifth Army, was in charge of Fei Ruhe.

As for Tian Younian, he serves as the director of the Arms Bureau under the Military Affairs Department.

This framework is quite large, but fortunately there is not much territory and the number of officials is not overly complicated.

But the land of three counties will definitely not be able to support it. After all, there are still so many town-level officials, and the territory must be expanded to support them.

You are the Ming Dynasty court, don't you want to rule the grassroots?

If there are more officials, there will be more salary expenses!

Zhao Han had to at least double his territory before his financial situation would be a little better.

Some people even think that there are still too many town-level institutions and Luling County should be reduced to six towns and Jishui County to five towns.

This suggestion is not a joke, everyone including Zhao Han himself has thought about it seriously.

The economic base determines the superstructure, and an agricultural society cannot support an excessively large bureaucracy. Previously, the number of regular soldiers was small and they could barely afford it. Three thousand regular soldiers were paid on a monthly basis, which instantly made Zhao Han's money bag tight.

As soon as the General Military Mansion made adjustments, an old man brought all his clan members to pay him a visit.

"Old Liu Yingkui, please pay your respects to the chief!"

"Old sir, please get up quickly."

Liu Yingkui pointed to the clan members behind him and said: "My Liu clan members are all willing to serve the general town. Although there are no candidates, there are five scholars, twelve children, and the rest are schoolchildren."

Zhao Han smiled and said, "Let them all come to Bailuzhou Academy. I will make my own arrangements after the spring plowing."

Liu Yingkui added: "Liu Tongsheng is the old man's nephew. He fled with his family and has nothing to do with my house. Please don't worry about it."

"Old sir, please don't worry, I won't get involved in anything." Zhao Han said.

Liu Yingkui continued: "These Liu family scholars can be used by the general town at will, even as officials. I have warned them that the general town has its own rules for employing people. As long as they work seriously, the general town will not treat them badly."

Zhao Han said with a smile: "The old gentleman has great wisdom... I have little talent and little learning, and I can't write well, so I just try to write a single word."

"Thank you so much for the words from the town." Liu Yingkui was overjoyed.

Zhao Han casually wrote four words "a virtuous family". It didn't matter what he wrote. He could just write "eat meat tonight".

Liu Tongsheng and his family fled with the money, but Liu Yingkui sent all his clan members to serve him. These wealthy clans cannot be cut off across the board.

The main thing was the case a few days ago, where Zhao Han showed his attitude.

Liu Yingkui was willing to take sides and recognized Zhao Han's methods. The tougher Zhao Han behaves, the more convinced he becomes that the Liu family can benefit from Conglong.

Of course, there are also many people who are deeply disgusted. Yesterday, another gentry ran away with his family.