The winters of these years have become colder and colder every year, and this is even more so in the north. After following Chen Mu to the northern border for only one winter, Deng Zilong's face became more windy and frost, which was the price that would inevitably be paid for training troops.

During these days, Deng Zilong, like Hu Liangpeng, not only did his own military affairs, but also did Chen Mu's work to help him train and recruit soldiers.

During the orthodox war at the provincial level of the Ming army, the generals led the soldiers to control the guards under their jurisdiction, the deputy generals led the surprise soldiers, the guerrilla generals led the gamblers, and the generals led the reinforcements, and called the four soldiers.

The main soldiers of Xuanfu were selected by Chen Mushadao, and they had to recruit new soldiers. Last year, they fought with Altan from spring to autumn, and the cost of harvesting land was not good. Because of the destruction of the war, the people's livelihoods were even worse in winter, so recruiting soldiers was particularly easy.

"The riders scattered all over the country will bring back more than 1,000 new soldiers who meet the general's requirements after the New Year, and first join the general's army. If this continues, the spring will be over, and the soldiers will be recruited before the spring is over." This is the biggest thing Deng Zilong thought in his mind. "There are more than 2,000 weapons, horses and tall horses sent by the Ministry of War, and more than 2,000 horses and horses, and they will have to be picked up four times in spring, which is a 13,000 pack horses and war horses."

As he said that, Deng Zilong called his subordinates to report the order to Chen Mu. The army had 7,800 horses, and the number of horses in the south and north was almost the same. The rest were pack horses used for baggage, and one thousand two hundred pack horses were added before Tan Lun left, and he made a special trip to pull cannons for him. He chose the best Liaodong pack horses with a large strength.

The old man who was listening to the opera returned home for vacation and still remembered his affairs.

"Well, recruiting troops and receiving baggage is very important. It will be difficult for our Xuanfu to get things from the Ministry of War later. We have to rely on our own abilities."

Chen Mu nodded in contemplation. His acquaintances had all left the Ministry of War, Tan Lun and Wu Guifang had all returned home, and now Yang Bo is the one who succeeded the Shangshu. This man is also a fierce man. Since the eighth year of Emperor Shizong's Jiajing, only one magistrate has nothing to do with military affairs, and the rest are civil officials and military positions.

Twenty years ago, he was the Minister of War. He had argued with the Mongolian leader Ba Du'er and the 100,000 troops who struck Sun in Gubei. Now the old man is the Minister of Personnel, who also manages the affairs of the Ministry of War. There should be no changes in the general direction, just waiting for Tan Lun to come back.

"General, the weapons and armor brought to us by the Ministry of War are not bad!"

Deng Zilong called two soldiers to see Chen Mu's brand new armor and weapons on them, with iron armor on their bodies, and thick arm armor. He also pulled out his waist knife and was well-crafted.

Chen Mu smiled and said, "Can that be the same? We are thousands of households in the south, and the armies we receive must be the worst. Now you are the general and I am the general. The armies you receive must be the best. This is Xuanfu!"

"The general officer and the fourth army are all use bad things, so what should I use to guard the border town?" Chen Mu said, shook his head and said, "The armour sent by the Ministry of War is enough for the battalions and soldiers. You don't know what the weapons and armor of the 40,000 guards are like."

In other words, it is not the things given by the Ministry of War, but the Guards themselves are third-line soldiers. Even the guards under the command of Chen Mu, the general of Xuanfu, were not the best military orders.

They were all forced out. Now even if he gave him the best military orders from the Ministry of War, he would not look down on him because he already had a better choice.

If you are used to using bird guns, you will not look down on muskets. This principle is the same when it comes to armor.

"Craftsman, is there any craftsman coming?"

Speaking of craftsmen, Deng Zilong was not as excited as he talked about military ordnance. He turned his head and looked at the military formation running on the vast school grounds. He sighed and said, "More than a hundred people have come, and more people are still on the road, ragged and hungry, and several of them died on the road but did not survive."

"Diet on the road?"

Deng Zilong shook his head, as if he didn't want to say much about this matter, but said: "I have sent someone to inform the post stations along the way in Xuanfu, and asked them to prepare porridge sheds and charcoal basins for the craftsmen. The construction site has set up a house and sent doctors to treat them with sores."

How many of them died in about a hundred people?

Chen Mu's face was gloomy and terrible. He ordered Zhao Shizhen: "Written an article on my behalf and post to the posts along the way. Let them take good care of the craftsmen who came to Xuanfu on the road! To the south of the Yellow River, to facilitate the convenience; to the north of the Yellow River, any craftsmen who have no cotton coats and have no food to fill their stomachs, so that the post stations can be taken care of. Do not have any more craftsmen die of illness and starvation!"

Unexpectedly.

This suddenly reminded him of the scene when Guan Yuangu brought his two sons to look for him in Qingyuan. He carried a craftsman box on his back. The father and son packed up their belongings and found themselves at the Qianhu Station, who were on duty at the post station outside. They only walked a few miles away.

Unlike this, he recruited craftsmen in this time, and he was all over the world. The nearest one was Zhili, and the distance was to Sichuan, Sichuan, Guangdong and Guangxi. They came from there, not to mention that they had to rush through the New Year. You can imagine the difficulties and dangers they encountered on the road.

This time, Chen Mu dispatched the craftsman by his old boss Zhang Han, and ordered him to recruit all kinds of craftsmen from the Nanjing Ministry of Works. In terms of skills, they are elites among the elites. In this era when no one valued craftsmen, they were all treasures in Chen Mu's eyes.

No one can be left behind!

"A little later, I'll visit the craftsmen-they're here."

As he was talking, Long Junxiong, who was wearing a helmet and armor, brought a few riders to the edge of the school field, and Chen Mu said to Deng Zilong: "The merchants and officials who buy and sell coal mines are here."

The merchant sent by Wang and Zhang's family, surnamed Shen, was named Shen Jiang, who was very old and was a famous salt merchant. He also had another identity, and was the brother-in-law of Wang Chonggu, Governor of Xuanda.

"I heard the story of the general riding alone out of the frontier. I had been desperate. I had long wanted to meet the general. I had been waiting for the general in Xuanfu for a long time. I finally met today!" Shen Jiang was not like the fat-headed and big-eared merchant in Chen Mu's impression. He was well-proportioned and strong. Although he was old, he was full of energy. He smiled and clasped his fists at Chen Mu and said, "I am Shen Jiang, pay homage to General Zhenshuo!"

Behind Shen Jiang, the three internal officials were both older than Shen Jiang and younger than Chen Mu, and saluted Chen Mu one by one. Among them, the elderly said to Chen Mu: "When we came, Governor Feng told us that the coal victim was in military affairs, and secondly, it was General Chen's good intentions towards the palace. This is a good thing, and we must not be ruined by others. We must listen to General Chen in everything."

These three eunuchs are all eunuchs working in the Imperial Horse Supervisor, and they are also powerful figures elsewhere.

"I'm asking for a seat. Chen is not trying to mess with the elders. It's not appropriate to talk to the emperor in the mansion." Although it was a schoolyard, there were also three guards' yamen. Chen Mu led four people into the yamen and took Zhao Shizhen to the seat. He said to the people: "When Chen was not here, he should have already talked. I heard that the honeycomb coal transactions were going to be done to Gan Ning and Lianghuai. How to talk? Let's talk about it."

"The general set a price for coal in the capital. No matter how big the stall is, I cannot break the general's rules. The old man in the market has negotiated with others, giving up silk, copper materials and other matters to others. They give Shen a step in the coal matter, and the key is to set the price."

Chen Jiang talked jokingly and looked at Chen Mu and said, "Shuntian, Xuanfu, is the general in charge. The general's draw for Shuntian is the lowest price of 1,000 pounds and 1,000 pounds and 30% of the draw. Then the same is true for Xuanfu, and it also draws 30% of the draw for the general. In addition to Shuntian of Xuanfu, the general will draw 10%, how about it?"

According to Chen Jiang's opinion, he wanted to take over everything, but the share was actually similar to Chen Mu's imagination. After all, he just sold a shovel.

Chen Mu asked: "These scores were calculated by Mr. Chen Shuntian. The scores should be around 1,000,000 taels a year. How to calculate the Xuanfu, how to calculate the Northern Zhili and Shanxi, and how to calculate the outside of them?"

"Xuanfu is 7,000 taels a year, Shanxi is 75,000 taels a year, and the outside world should be around 250,000 taels a year, which is 325,000 taels a year, which is the least."

Chen Mu nodded slowly and deducted part of the emperor's military expenditure, and the Xuanfu could be self-sufficient.

"Since that's the case, I will advance half of the payment first, and give Chen a half of the remaining year. In the future, 325,000 taels will be delivered in February and August every year. How about it?"
Chapter completed!