Chapter 220 The Construction Corps is out

Zhuhongmen, blue stone steps, and three-in-three-out courtyards have been cleaned neatly. Although they are not as elegant and exquisite as the Jiangnan courtyard, they are full of northern style.

"The young master of the Li family is back."

The news is recited in the small streets and alleys of Jinzhou. When the passers-by pass by in a hurry, they will never forget to look at the big house, but the guards standing at the door are afraid to get too close.

The neighbors did not expect that the young master of the Li family, who disappeared after Li Guotai's death, came back, and he also came back with a powerful army. He not only swallowed Liaodong, but also Jilin and Heilongjiang!

More importantly, the Qing court ignored it. It not only ceded the three northeastern provinces, but also withdrew all officials, which made everyone realize that the sky in the north had changed.

Several months have passed since the war. The people who were scared by the Russians and the Pacific Army, who were so scared that they didn't dare to show up, gradually returned to normal life. In addition, everyone found that those Pacific troops in strange military uniforms and without braids on their heads did not offend them, so on the street There are more and more shops and passers-by.

Suddenly, a string of crisp calls broke the noise of the street. Everyone turned their heads one after another and saw two four-wheeled iron cars that had never been seen before getting into the street, neither pulled nor pushed, and ran forward with black smoke behind their buttocks.

When they were so shocked that they even avoided giving way, they also pointed to the car. As the car stopped in front of the big house, everyone knew that this kind of self-running car actually came to the Master Li.

Especially some curious children wanted to surround them when they saw the car stop, but they were pulled by the adults. As Li Enfu, Zhao Long and Duan Fei got out of the car, some bold children and young people slowly approached a little and looked at the iron shell that they would walk.

The soldiers on guard originally wanted to be expelled, but they were pulled by Li Enfu. They had to watch these people pointing around the car. No one noticed that under a linoleum hat in the crowd, their cold eyes flashed. After seeing Li Qiang and Duan Fei entering the door, they immediately squeezed into the crowd and pretended to look at the car for a while, and then quickly disappeared into the flow of people. Medium.

Zhao Long was the most familiar person. As soon as he walked into the inner courtyard, a familiar figure suddenly appeared in front of him and hurriedly called, "Uncle Fuhai, when did you come back?"

Seeing the three people, Fuhai quickly left a few servants who were listening to his instructions and said with a smile, "I came last month. I can't leave because I have something to do in Honolulu. I'm free to come back to play the outpost for the young master." After saying that, he hurriedly smiled and said, "Mr. Li, the young master is in the living room."

Li Enfu greeted him with a smile and immediately walked to the main hall. Before he entered the room, he suddenly smelled a fragrant smell of chicken soup. After entering, he found that Master Li was in a daze around the hot hot pot around the round table, and the three young ladies next to him were talking and laughing while placing bowls and chopsticks.

Seeing the three people, young master Li, who was recalling the hot pot restaurant with his buddies in his previous life, quickly stood up. Everyone thought he was getting up to welcome. Unexpectedly, he walked to the door, glanced at the sky and said, "I said, didn't you guys have time to eat for free? I haven't prepared much for this hot pot.

As soon as the words came out, the living room was suddenly wonderful. Li Enfu was full of black lines, and Duan Fei smiled bitterly at the corners of his mouth. Zhao Long nodded repeatedly, and even the three maids laughed forward and backwards.

"Nonsense, there are a lot of them in the kitchen. You can't even eat them all." Miss Duan glanced at her beautiful eyes, and the funny young master Li said to Li Enfu, "Mr. Li, Brother Zhao, please sit down quickly. I'm going to ask for more."

Duan Yueer pulled Xiaoxiao and left quickly. Fang Xianqi originally wanted to go with them, but she was stopped by Li Mo and sat next to her: "Don't go. Why are you squeezing in the kitchen so small?"

Being pulled by her little hand in public, Fang Xianqi couldn't help but be a little enthusiastic, but her heart was sweet, because the three people in front of her were the most effective assistants around Li Mo. At this moment, she undoubtedly told the three people that he had admitted his identity.

Seeing this scene, Li Enfu couldn't help but raise a trace of sneer at the corners of his mouth and said, "Enfu has seen the young grandmother and two girls." Fang Xianqi suddenly heard that Li Enfu called his young grandmother. Suddenly, her cheeks turned red and she hurriedly replied: "Xianqi has met Mr. Li, Chief Zhao, Brother Duan."

"Good, young grandma."

"Duan Fei has met the young grandmother."

Zhao Long and Duan Fei also hurriedly said hello, especially the latter, which made Fang Xianqi feel relieved. You know that Duan Fei is Yueer's brother and has power. If he does not recognize himself, I'm afraid there will be a lot of trouble in the future.

In a short time, Yue'er and Xiaoxiao brought the dishes of the shabu-shabu with several servants, especially the large plate of thinly cut mutton, which immediately made Li Mo's index finger open and hurriedly asked Xiaoxiao to bring the chili sauce.

As soon as the red chili sauce was poured out, the fragrant living room suddenly had a pungent spicy taste, especially Li Enfu choked and sneezed several times. He, a southerner, did not touch the chili in Honolulu, not to mention that this was the hot sauce made of peppers selected by Fuhai.

"Sit down, eat the hot pot while it's hot." The red peppers and hot soup base really made it difficult for Li Mo to resist. He hurriedly asked everyone to sit down and start.

Unexpectedly, at this time, Duan Yueer saw Fang Xianqi sitting next to Li Mo. She didn't even want her brother. She quickly occupied the other side and deliberately stared at Li Mo. In the end, she had to sit beside her obediently.

"Two left and one right, there is still one left." Master Li turned his head and counted the lament from the bottom of his heart. There was still one missing, which was not balanced enough! However, at this time, he didn't have time to find anyone to wait for him. He took the lead in picking up a piece of mutton as thin as cicada wings and put it into the hot hot pot. After counting one, two or three, he picked up a little chili sauce.

"Hang!" The spicy on the tip of his tongue suddenly made him take a breath. In an instant, the feeling of going to a hot pot restaurant several times in his previous life came back!

Several other people were also aroused by Li Mo's eating appearance and raised their chopsticks one after another. The atmosphere in the living room suddenly became lively, especially Duan Yueer, who was as addicted to chili as Li Mo, and her face was so spicy that it was red and attractive.

A moment later, there was a remnant on the table. After being full of wine and rice, Xiao Xiao and Duan Yueer began to clean up the table. Fang Xianqi also ordered someone to make a pot of tea to relieve the fire for everyone. Li Mo burped and saw Zhao Long actually brewing tea for Li Enfu with a smile. He immediately smiled and said, "Mr. Li, I think you should really put off the army plan again. Only then can you enjoy the day when someone pours tea and water for a few more days.

"Haha..." After Li Enfu finished laughing, he waved his hand again and again: "Come on, young master, don't torture me. I'm about to be entangled by them for this matter, and I'm almost tied and signed by them."

"What? Passed?" Duan Fei also knew about the expansion, and he was also slightly surprised. Uh-huh." Zhao Long nodded and rubbed his hands excitedly: "Add eight regiments."

"Eight groups!"

Not to mention Duan Fei, even Li Mo was shocked by such a large number. Looking at Li Enfu's face full of disbelief, he couldn't understand why this calculating master suddenly made such a big deal.

Li Enfu took a sip of tea, took out the already prepared expansion document and handed it to Li Mo, saying, "It's not the Russian [***] ships that have been sold, otherwise how can I agree?"

"Oh? Sold it?" Naturally, Li Mo knew that since he decided to leave only six warships, the navy had been hoping to sell the remaining two Russian heavy patrols, one coastal defense ship and two torpedo ships instead of scrap metal disposal, but he didn't expect to find them so soon, and quickly asked, "Who is the buyer?"

"The Ottoman Empire bought 350,000 pounds at a time." Li Enfu squinted and could see that he was also very satisfied with the price that those warships could sell.

"So it's Turkey." Li Mo suddenly realized that he was afraid that only they would be the only one who would be the wrongdoer. The Russian-Turkish War was fought ten times, and the most recent one was more than ten years ago. The relationship between the two countries had been very tense, so only they were willing to buy that pile of scrap metal to study their opponents well.

350,000 pounds, converted into Daqing Bank, it will cost 3 million taels, and it is indeed enough to arm eight regiments. What's more, the refunds of the two battleships returned by the United Kingdom have arrived, and the one million paid by Russia have also arrived. The State Council, which has just been overwhelmed by the huge procurement funds, has finally recovered a little. Life. .

It's just that the navy was not happy that Li Enfu transferred the funds for the sale of trophies to the army, so it asked to expand the existing Marine Corps to a complete division, so that the Marine Corps accounted for two of the eight regiments.

The remaining six places are divided into one for each division, and the remaining one is handed over to the former Liaodong Reading Battalion, which will form a cavalry regiment of 5,000 people on the basis of the battalion and use it as a mobile force.

Although the establishment of the four regiments of each division proposed by the staff has still not been realized, the addition of a cavalry regiment has made Zhao Long and other army officers overjoyed, so that there is not much complaint about the two regiments occupied by the Marines.

However, it seems that the scale of this expansion is huge, but in fact, it includes recruitment and training, etc. It will take at least a year for the army to complete all the plans, and the third division should ensure the safety of Honolulu and Ryukyu. The fifth division is prepared for Nanyang. In addition, the land division may have to invest in Nanyang in the future, so even if it is expanded After the completion of the Ministry, the total strength in the three northeastern provinces will not exceed ten regiments, 50,000 people, only a little more than the number of troops stationed in North Korea. However, now that it is impossible to continue to increase troops to North Korea, the Japanese has begun to arm the local puppet army. It is said that it is necessary to form ten regiments of 30,000 people, so that the Pacific Army is still in terms of numbers. Not dominant.

The strength of the North Korean puppet army is worrying, and the recruits recruited by the Pacific Army also need training, so this is still a close contest.

More importantly, the expansion of the army is a great burden on finance no matter which generation. Especially when the construction of the three northeastern provinces is still facing a huge funding gap, it is even more stressful. Therefore, Li Enfu's ability to agree to such a huge expansion plan is undoubtedly prepared to gamble. The whole family is going to fight this battle to the death!

"Consaders, have you thought about it?" Li Mo closed the document, but did not sign it immediately.

Zhao Long nodded: "Hunnel and Ryukyu some time ago, we set up several reserve battalions. This time, they will all be merged into the third division, and the fifth division will be led by Liu Hengyu, mainly absorbing the children of Nanyang Chinese. In addition, we can probably pick out tens of thousands of Qing prisoners of war from the Russian army. In addition, Shoushan and others who have defected to the Russian army should be able to gather three regiments, so that we only need to recruit 15,000 people.

"Use the Qing army?" Li Mo frowned.

"Young master, don't worry, I have also seen those Qing army prisoners of war, among which there are some young people with potential. In addition, I suggest using more children from the northeast, and I believe that as long as they are trained and educated by recruits, they will also see the general trend as clearly as the current soldiers."

Hearing that Duan Fei, an intelligence officer, said so, Li Mo was also relieved. The army was his greatest support, and he didn't want to be exploited.

"Yes, young master, what about the remaining Qing army prisoners?" After Zhao Long introduced the conscription plan, he immediately asked, thinking of the tens of thousands of Qing prisoners imprisoned in Fengtian and Lushun.

"How many more people are there?"

"There are still more than 40,000, most of whom are Jianghuai and Sichuan children. Is it a matter of dismissal?"

"No way." Li Enfu quickly shook his head: "Although they are defeated, they are all soldiers after all. If they are put back, as long as they are re-armed by people with intentions, they can pull up another team."

"What if you don't dismiss it? Do you use them as hard labor? It's not good to spread it, is it?" Zhao Long spread out his hand and was a little helpless.

More than 40,000 prisoners are more than 40,000 workers. Naturally, Li Mo is reluctant to let go of such good labor, but it is not good to use others as slaves. After all, they are all compatriots. At this time, he suddenly thought of the construction corps that the previous Republic built the Beidahuang, and immediately waved his hand and said, "It's very simple to form four regiments. It's all right."

"Four regiments." Li Enfu shivered, and then the army began to expand its army and build another regiment?! This regiment is not the other regiment. Li Mo quickly explained: "It's not a war regiment, it's a construction regiment."

Thinking of the construction of the army of the same name that shed youth and blood for the motherland in his previous life, Li Mo couldn't help but get excited: "The construction regiment, as the name implies, is mainly for construction. You can break up these people first, and then add them into the local hard labor and divide them into several regiments. In addition to sending special personnel to take care of them, you can also choose some experienced craftsmen. , specially teach them skills, so that they can be responsible for project construction full-time in the future.

"In addition, they are different from the Nanyang natives. They can't restrict their communication and books, but they need to be checked by a special person. In addition to all-inclusive food and accommodation, they should also be given a certain amount of money every month. Once the construction task is completed well, they will also be given appropriate rewards. Of course, the most important thing is..." Li Mo blinked: "Give them the right to supervise the locals."

Worm!

The last sentence made Li Enfu slap the table fiercely and praised, "In this way, in a short time, we can have tens of thousands of skilled craftsmen, and it is much easier to supervise the locals!"

"Yes." Zhao Long was also excited: "The 20,000 natives transferred from Ryukyu have arrived one after another. With the 40,000 hard labor we have at this moment, we can make up a full-time army of 100,000 people responsible for construction. Coupled with the craftsmen we recruited from the local area, we can invest 200,000 full-time construction this winter!"

Even Duan Fei thought it was a good idea. He could not only establish a group for construction, but also strengthen the supervision of the locals's hard work and prepare for applauding, but before he could speak, Du Dazhuang ran into the living room out of breath.

"Young master, Kamalov was killed by lightning." ......

(to be continued)