Chapter 286 Changes
"Training soldiers requires weapons and armor. I wrote a letter to Han Cheng a few years ago. He will arrange a group of craftsmen to come here in a while. Zhou Ren, you will be responsible for arranging these craftsmen at that time!" Yang Zhengshan looked at Zhou Ren who was standing next to him.

"As you command!" Zhou Ren stepped forward and accepted the order solemnly.

"Iron ore is needed to forge weapons and armor. I will apply for a batch of iron ore from the Governor's Office. Han Fei, you will contact the Governor's Office when the time comes!" Yang Zhengshan continued to instruct.

"Here!"

Yang Zhengshan nodded slightly and continued to instruct: "Xie Yuan, I'll leave the farming and house construction to you, is that ok?"

"No problem!" Xie Yuan said with a smile.

These were the things he was in charge of when he was in Anyuan City. Now that he is still in charge of these things, he is pretty familiar with the job.

"Song Dashan, you are responsible for the defense of the city and the training of the troops!"

"Here!"

"As for you!" Yang Zhengshan looked at Wu Chongzhe, Yang Mingzhi, Luo Feiyu and Yang Mingzhen again, "Both sides need your cooperation, and you also have to keep an eye on the Qianhu Division below. I don't want anyone to bully others in the Qianhu Division in the future!"

"Well, Minghao, you are the governor, you have to take responsibility for the supervision of the Qianhu Office. It's better to catch a few typical ones to make an example of them!"

Yang Zhengshan could not predict what was happening outside, but he would never allow anyone to cause trouble inside.

"Hehe, don't worry, sir. I will keep a close eye on them!" Yang Minghao laughed.

The "they" he was referring to were the former officials of the Weisi Yamen, as well as the deputy captains and centurions who had previously served in the Tenglong Vanguard.

"Very good!" Yang Zhengshan nodded with satisfaction, "Everyone, let's do a great job next."

With the end of the meeting, Tenglongwei, the nearly rebuilt guard office, finally began to operate.

After a month of adjustment before the New Year, although the Wei Si Yamen is still short of staff, there is no problem in its normal operation.

That same day, Yang Zhengshan personally wrote an official document to apply for the iron mine and sent someone to deliver it to Kyoto.

Tenglong Guard is directly under the Central Army Commandery, which has both advantages and disadvantages.

The advantage is that there is only one government office above him, the Central Military Governor's Office, and he does not need to deal with supervision from other governments. Moreover, the Central Military Governor's Office is far away in Kyoto, and the emperor is far away, so Yang Zhengshan has greater autonomy in many matters.

The downside is that the Central Military Governor's Office is far away in Kyoto, and it takes more than ten days to deliver an official document. If it involves matters that Yang Zhengshan cannot make the decision on or that require the cooperation of the Central Military Governor's Office, it is a waste of time.

The application for the iron mine here has not been approved yet, but Anyuan City has already sent hundreds of craftsmen here.

Han Cheng would naturally not be perfunctory in doing what Yang Zhengshan asked him to do. The craftsmen he selected were the best craftsmen in the Anyuan City Garrison Office, and they were all masters who had built the weapons and armor production line established by Yang Zhengshan.

Of course, Han Cheng could not ignore the official duties of the garrison office and only think about helping Yang Zhengshan.

In fact, the garrison office does not need so many craftsmen now. When Yang Zhengshan left Anyuan City, the garrison office had already stockpiled a lot of weapons and armor. Even if Yang Zhengshan took away the weapons and armor of 500 soldiers, Han Cheng could rely on the weapons and armor in the warehouse to re-equip a new garrison battalion.

The arrival of hundreds of craftsmen made Zhou Ren busy.

He is responsible for the food, drink, defecation and urination of these craftsmen, and Zhou Ren may also arrange for people to build the supporting facilities of the forging workshop. Fortunately, Zhou Ren is very familiar with these things, and although he is busy, he does things in an orderly manner.

On the 16th day of the first lunar month, Luo Zhen sent two hundred oxen from Chongshan Pass.

Ever since last year's great victory in the expedition against the Hu tribe in the East China Sea, the cattle and sheep in Chongshan Town have become somewhat of an overabundance. Although more than half a year has passed, there are still some cattle and sheep accumulated in many places in Chongshan Town.

After all, there were hundreds of thousands of cattle and sheep, and it would take a long time even to transport them out of Chongshan Town.

The prices of cattle, sheep and war horses in Chongshan Town are still relatively cheap now, so it is definitely worthwhile to buy oxen from Chongshan Town.

These two hundred oxen are just the first batch. Yang Zhengshan has reserved a total of eight hundred oxen, which will be delivered in the next few days.

As each oxen was delivered to the thousand-household offices and village settlements below, the military households of Tenglong Guard once again felt the difference between the present and the past.

At the same time, they had more recognition and respect for Yang Zhengshan, the new commander, and the officials of the Wei Si Yamen.

Change comes from top to bottom, and people's hearts are accumulated bit by bit.

On the 22nd day of the first lunar month, Yang Zhengshan finally received a reply from the Central Military Governor's Office, allowing the Tenglong Guard to forge weapons and armor and equip the soldiers. At the same time, the Central Military Governor's Office allocated a batch of iron ore from Chongshan Town to the Tenglong Guard.

On the eighth day of February, the first batch of iron ore was transported from Chongshan Town to Tenglongwei.

At this time, Chongshan Town had undergone a major reshuffle. The new general of Chongshan Town was the former deputy general Ji Feiyu, and the new deputy general of Chongshan Town was the former lieutenant general of Jinzhou Guard in the central route of Chongshan Town.

Several guerrilla generals of the original Zhenbiaoying were successively promoted to lieutenant generals, while other lieutenant generals were transferred from Chongshan Town like Wang Bin and served as deputy generals in other border towns.

However, among the several lieutenant generals, Wang Bin had the best official position after being promoted. After all, Beiyuan Town was a large border town, and serving as a deputy general in Beiyuan Town was much better than in other border towns.

There was a major reshuffle of senior management in Chongshan Town, but the most important person remained, and that was the governor of Chongshan Town, Lu Chongde.

Logically speaking, the governor should be above the general, but Liang Chu was a super-rank marquis before, so Lu Chongde and he had a clear division of labor, one was in charge of military affairs and the other was in charge of government affairs. During the war, one was responsible for battlefield command and the other was responsible for logistical support, and the two worked together very well.

Now that Ji Feiyu has been promoted to general, since he is not a noble, he is naturally suppressed by Lu Chongde.

Therefore, the current Chongshan Town is actually controlled by Lu Chongde. There is no need to say much about Lu Chongde's ability, and it is also good for Yang Zhengshan to have Lu Chongde control the overall situation of Chongshan Town.

Although Yang Zhengshan has left Chongshan Town now, it does not mean that he has no connection with Chongshan Town.

He was from Chongshan Town, so he had the mark of Chongshan Town on him. Moreover, there were still many descendants of the Yang family in Chongshan Town.

Therefore, Yang Zhengshan can still make a name for himself in Chongshan Town.

Although Yang Zhengshan and Lu Chongde had never met, Lu Chongde would definitely show some favoritism to Yang Zhengshan. After all, he also benefited from Yang Zhengshan's military achievements.

It is precisely because of this personal relationship that Chongshan Town cooperated so well this time to transport the iron ore to Tenglongwei.

With iron ore, the forging workshop of the Weisi Yamen can start operation.

In February in Liaodong, the weather has gradually warmed up and house construction can begin during the day. The first to start construction are the military households whose houses were collapsed by heavy snow years ago.

Nanling Village.

Yang Zhengshan once again came to this inconspicuous little village with his entourage.

"Your humble servant Zhang Hu greets you, sir!"

As soon as Yang Zhengshan entered the village, Zhang Hu came to meet him, covered in mud.

"Ok!"

Yang Zhengshan nodded and looked into the village.

At this time, many military households in the village were busy building houses, with men, women, young and old working together, and it looked quite lively.

He jumped off his horse and asked casually, "Are you all ready?"

"To answer your question, sir, everything is ready and we will officially start construction today!" Zhang Hu said with a smile.

Yang Zhengshan looked calm, "Where is your plan?"

Zhang Hu immediately took out a piece of paper from his arms, "Sir, this is the planning map of our Nanling Village!"

It was a very simple sketch showing rows of houses and courtyards.

Since the whole building was to be renovated, Yang Zhengshan naturally did not want the Qianhu Suo and Tunbu to remain in a mess. Overall planning was definitely necessary.

Yang Zhengshan glanced at the planning map casually and nodded slightly, "Not bad, we must ensure that the roads in the village are unobstructed, but we must also ensure that the village has a certain degree of defense!"

There is no need to build an outer wall for a tunbu like Nanlingtun, but not building an outer wall does not mean that the entire tunbu cannot be enclosed.

There are more than 30 households, and the houses are neatly lined up together, with the houses and courtyard walls as the outer walls. Other intersections are blocked, leaving only four exits: east, west, south, and north.

A tunbu should look like a tunbu, it cannot be like a real village.

When Yang Zhengshan walked into the settlement, the busy military households saluted him with their fists.

"Greetings, sir. Greetings, sir!"

"Well, everyone is busy, don't worry about me!" Yang Zhengshan responded gently.

Compared with the last time he came, the military households in Nanlingtun have undergone obvious changes. They smile more often, and their spirits have improved. Their complexions are no longer sallow, but more rosy. Everyone seems to have regained vitality, and even their voices have become much clearer.

The last time he came, although these military households saluted him, they were all silent, as if even speaking was a luxury.

Such a change is undoubtedly good and is what Yang Zhengshan wants most.

After seeing the military households building their houses, Yang Zhengshan turned his attention to their spring ploughing. "Is there any problem with your farm tools and oxen?"

"Don't worry, sir. The oxen are all doing well now. Everyone cherishes the oxen sent by the government office and is willing to take out food from their homes to feed the oxen!" Zhang Hu also had a very bright smile on his face.

For military households and farmers, a working ox is more important than a strong man.

It’s not that human life is less important than cattle, but that oxen are of great help to farming.

"Where are the grain seeds?" Yang Zhengshan continued to ask.

"Our grain seeds are all new grain from last year and have been well preserved!" said Zhang Hu.

Yang Zhengshan nodded, walked around the village again, and when he found nothing wrong, he left with his entourage.

After leaving Nanlingtun, he visited several thousand households and garrisons around the Acropolis to get a better understanding of the situation.

In general, he is quite satisfied with the current situation of Tenglongwei. Although the military households have a weak foundation, they are relatively obedient. As long as you give them a little benefit, they will follow you wholeheartedly.

After the previous distribution of grain, the construction of houses has begun. The military households are naturally grateful to Yang Zhengshan, so they are now doing their best.

(End of this chapter)