Wang Jing personally set the tone for Yanzhou's future development direction. Zhai Jie, as the specific executor, gladly accepted the order and then picked up his beloved optical surveying tools to survey the terrain.

It is obvious that Mohism attaches great importance to infrastructure. If this development model becomes the norm in the future, Mohists will be more widely involved in the future political decision-making of the empire, thereby obtaining a status equivalent to that of the current Confucianism, which is simply the dream of any Mohist.

After Zhai Jie left, Guo Jia reminded Wang Jing in due time: "My lord, among the many famous people in Yanzhou, there must be some who can see the various impacts brought about by road construction. They will not be willing to give up power, nor will they sit idly by and wait for death."

Wang Jing frowned at this. Even a desperate dog will jump over the wall. Confucianism has been the only school in the world so far, so it will definitely not bow to him.

"Fengxiao, do you mean someone will interfere?"

"This is inevitable and we have to prevent it."

Guo Jia, who was insightful about people's hearts, had already foreseen that there would inevitably be people who would be unwilling to lose power and would create trouble and obstruct the new policies, just like Xu Si and others.

The alternation of new and old forces is often accompanied by brutal struggles, and no vested interest group will ever voluntarily give up their existing power and interests.

Wang Jing also felt that what Guo Jia said made sense. The stubborn elements among the aristocratic families have always been cowards who will not cry until they see the coffin. Unless their bones are broken and their pride is crushed by the use of tyrannical force, they will not learn to abide by the new rules and order.

"Does Fengxiao have any good ideas?"

Guo Jia thought about it and suggested: "We can send a guard team to hide in the road construction team. If there is any emergency, they can respond calmly at any time."

"Well, this is a good idea. It can not only build roads, but also provide an opportunity for training troops."

Wang Jing thought about it and asked Guo Jia, "Who should be sent?"

Without thinking twice, Guo Jia recommended Taishi Ci to Wang Jing: "My lord, Taishi Ziyi is originally from Donglai, Qingzhou. He is well-known in the local area. You can let him come forward to reorganize the surrendered soldiers of the Yellow Turban Army in Qingzhou. Eliminate the old and weak, select 100,000 strong and strong, build roads while secretly training the army, so as to prepare for a rainy day and lay the foundation for the future domination of the world."

Wang Jing instantly thought of the special branch of the military, the engineering corps, who were able to build roads through mountains and bridges across rivers, and were able to work and fight, which was indeed very good.

Afterwards, Taishi Ci was called from the Rencheng camp to Changyi by Wang Jing, and was entrusted with the important task of training the new army.

"Ci, meet the lord."

Taishi Ci is seven feet seven inches tall, tall and mighty. He is now twenty-five years old. His beard is long and shiny, and it is obvious that he has taken good care of it.

Like Guan Yu, Taishi Ci also loved his beard. In the history of the Three Kingdoms, both of them were called "Beautiful Beards".

In terms of personal image, just from Taishi Ci's angular, square face, one can tell that he is a resolute and courageous man.

Taishi Ci was a man of extraordinary talent. When he fled to Liaodong, he watched a goshawk preying on a giant python on Snake Island in Da County and came up with the "Six Wonders of the Sky Eagle", a martial art that ranked him first on the martial arts list.

At the same time, Taishi Ci also went deep into the territory of the Wuhuan people, where he had another adventure. He inherited the country's magical skills from Houyi, the king of Youqiong State in the former Xia Dynasty, and learned the unique skill of "Flying Bow and Divine Shooting". His strength was extremely extraordinary and was not much weaker than peerless generals like Guan Yu and Zhang Fei.

"Ziyi, you fought beautifully in the previous battle outside Wenyang City."

The more Wang Jing looked at Taishi Ci, the more satisfied he became. He believed that he was indeed a brave general whose name would go down in history.

Taishi Ci cupped his hands. Although he was praised, his expression did not show any pride or complacency. "This is not beyond my responsibility. I dare not take credit for it."

Of course, Taishi Ci did not take credit for himself, but Wang Jing could not go unrewarded for his merits.

Only by being fair in rewards and punishments can we accomplish great things and conquer the world.

The former overlord Xiang Yu refused to share the official seal in his hand with his subordinates even though it was covered with patina, which led to talents like Han Xin abandoning him and joining Liu Bang. With such a lesson in mind, Wang Jing would naturally not repeat the same mistake.

Wang Jing smiled and took out a document from the court and handed it to Taishi Ci: "Ziyi, your appointment letter has come down. I have recommended you to be the captain of Yingyang. In addition to the Northern Army, I want to establish six armies and six guards. Among them, the Shenwu Army has been established, and the next ones are the Huben Guard and the Yingyang Guard. You will be the first commander of the Yingyang Guard."

The Northern Army was originally a force to protect the capital, and the total number was only a little over 20,000, which would certainly not be able to adapt to the needs of future wars. In order to cope with the increasingly intense war for hegemony, Wang Jing naturally needed to expand the size of the army, so he planned to rely on the local military system, continuously select elite troops, and establish six armies and six guards.

Among them, the six armies and six guards are all elite. All future battles will revolve around the six armies and six guards, with the elite troops as the core of combat power, assisted by a large number of regular soldiers and palace soldiers. In this way, the combat effectiveness of the army can be ensured.

In addition to the Shenwu Army that had already been established, Wang Jing was planning to have Zhang Liao form the Huben Guard in Bingzhou, Wang Ling form the Tielin Guard in Sili, Guan Yu form the Yulin Guard in Yanzhou, Xu Huang form the Longxiang Guard with the help of the Hedong soldiers trained in the Hedong camp, Zhao Yun recruit the nobles of Bingzhou, Youzhou and Jizhou to form the Xiaoqi Army, and Gao Shun form the Xuanjia Army based on the Xianzhen Camp.

Of course, these are just plans at the moment. Whether it is recruiting soldiers for training or preparing weapons and armor, it requires a huge amount of time and money and cannot be accomplished overnight.

However, preparation is the key to success. Wang Jing didn't want to find out that there were no soldiers available when he needed them, so he started to prepare now.

During the previous Battle of Wenyang, Taishi Ci's official position was only a captain.

Taishi Ci was quite excited as he was promoted to a higher position due to his merit of killing Zhang Chao in battle. Living in troubled times, how could he not want to follow a wise leader and accomplish something earth-shaking?
Therefore, after Wang Jing handed him the appointment letter, Taishi Ci knelt on one knee and clasped his hands together: "Thank you, my lord, for your appreciation. I will repay you with my life."

"No need to thank me, you deserve this."

Wang Jing helped Taishi Ci up from the ground, and then gave him instructions: "I want to build a road to connect the capital and Yanzhou. This is related to the implementation of the new policy of the court, and there can be no mistakes. Therefore, I need a person I can trust to lead the army in Yanzhou for me. I wonder if you are willing to take on this important task, Ziyi?"

Taishi Ci immediately clasped his fists and accepted the order: "As long as there is an order, no one dares to disobey."

Seeing that Taishi Ci took on this tough job without hesitation, Wang Jing was very pleased: "It will take at least two years to go there, sleeping in the open air. I'm afraid it will be hard for you."

The thought of building a road with a group of rebels who had just surrendered was enough to make one's scalp tingle.

You have to know that these one million Yellow Turbans in Qingzhou are not obedient citizens, but ruthless characters who dare to rebel. Although they have surrendered, they have killed people and seen blood, just like bloodthirsty wolves. It is not an easy task to tame them into obedient dogs, and it is not something that can be done by just anyone.

It goes without saying that road construction is such hard work that it can even be exhausting to death. Any engineering accidents that lead to casualties will inevitably cause dissatisfaction among these young and strong people.

That's why it took a deterrent military general to lead the troops to suppress the rebellion. Although Zhai Jie was a martial arts master from the Mohist school and had superb swordsmanship, he was still a man of the world. He was far inferior to Taishi Ci in decisiveness in killing, and he was unable to control the situation at all.

This is just for internal affairs, not to mention dealing with external military threats.

There were bandits and robbers in the wilderness, as well as the Yanzhou nobles and wealthy families who intended to stop Wang Jing from building the road, or they were facing harassment from troops sent by other princes.

Without a famous general with strong military skills in charge, this road will probably not be repaired even if it takes a hundred years.

So Wang Jing had to compensate Taishi Ci: "Ziyi, after the matter is accomplished, I will submit a petition to the court to appoint you as the General of the Eagle Guards."

"Is this true!?"

Even though Taishi Ci was usually calm and composed, when he heard the words "General of the Central Army", his heart was stirred up with waves.

Although the prestige of the imperial court was destroyed after the 18 princes' campaign against Dong Zhuo, coupled with the fact that Yuan Shao and other heroes in the Central Plains lavishly conferred titles and made promises to their subordinates, the value of official positions had depreciated, especially positions such as commander, cavalry commander and even colonel. Although they were not commonplace now, they were at least "available to ordinary military generals".

But the position of General of the Central Army was still quite valuable. Taishi Ci came from a poor family and was originally just a small clerk in Donglai County. He was not at all a mainstream in the officialdom of the imperial dynasty.

If he could really become the General of the Imperial Army, it would be tantamount to bringing honor to his family and even having a separate page in the family tree!

Seeing Taishi Ci so moved, Wang Jing laughed and said, "Do your best and I will not treat you unfairly."

"Yes!" After getting Wang Jing's assurance, Taishi Ci left happily. Now he was full of energy and was already thinking about how to do this matter beautifully.

A few days later, Yanzhou began to become lively.

"Recruiting! Recruiting! Don't miss it if you pass by. Good news! Come and have a look!"

At the gate of Changyi City, Zhai Ping, a Mo Men apprentice wearing work clothes, shouted at the top of his voice: "The court is now building a road and is looking for qualified road construction workers. As long as you can pass the training, each person will receive one guan of money per month! Three meals and lodging are provided, and work clothes are also provided!"

Although the recruitment notice has been posted, the illiteracy rate is as high as over 90% these days, so someone has to be sent specifically to make the announcement, otherwise it will be useless even if it is posted.

Because ordinary people are illiterate, and those who can read look down on this kind of hard labor.

Since the road construction project was of great importance, Zhai Jie was worried about handing over such an important matter to outsiders, so he asked his nephew Zhai Ping to come over.

"Young man, this notice of yours can't be fake, right?"

Several old men wearing tattered fur coats came over. They obviously didn't believe what Zhai Ping said. "When did the court give money for road construction? Are you sure they are not collecting corvée labor?"

"That's right, I've lived to this age, and I've never heard of the imperial court giving money for road construction. Every time, they just conscripted us for labor service. Not only was the work hard, but we also had to provide our own food. How many people never returned, and died in a foreign land..."

"That's right! A few years ago, my eldest son was conscripted by the imperial court to go to Luoyang to build a garden for the emperor. But after that, there was no news from him. No one knows whether he is dead or alive."

A few old men were talking about the sad things they had experienced over the years. They looked sad and tears were visible in their cloudy eyes.

They are all of this age and don't care about life and death, so they dare to say anything.

In fact, what they said was not false. It is no joke that when a country prospers, the people suffer; when a country perishes, the people suffer. Even in the so-called prosperous times, the lives of ordinary people were also very hard.

The lower-class people have made the greatest contributions and created most of the wealth of the entire society, but they are also the ones who are most exploited by the upper class. The vast majority of the people are penniless and have nothing of their own. Many people don't even have a home. They are so poor that they have no place to live and have become refugees.

Therefore, when someone suddenly came out and offered to recruit workers and work for the court, their first thought was that this matter was very unreliable.

Besides, Zhai Ping is too young, inexperienced and unreliable.

When Zhai Ping saw this, he immediately straightened his expression and explained seriously: "Ladies and gentlemen, in fact, this road was not built by the court."

"If it's not the imperial court that wants to repair it? Then who wants to repair it?"

It would have been better if Zhai Ping didn't explain. After he did, the old men became even more confused.

"Of course it's my master who wants to repair it. Qi Hou, you know that, right?"

“I know this!”

When talking about Wang Jing, the old men became very excited.

Wang Jing's reputation for benevolence and righteousness has spread from Luoyang to Yanzhou, although Xu Si and others have been secretly making trouble recently and have been deliberately trying to ruin Wang Jing's reputation.

However, Wang Jing directly mobilized a large amount of grain from Luoyang for dumping, which directly ruined their conspiracy. Even many wealthy families were bankrupted by Wang Jing. However, facing Wang Jing's powerful military force, no matter how unwilling they were, they could only watch helplessly.

Wang Jing's reputation in Yanzhou is now unmatched. The fact that he opened the Changping Warehouse to sell grain at a low price, which eventually forced all the grain shops to lower their prices, is known to everyone in Yanzhou. There are even storytellers recruited by the secret guards to make up a story according to the routine of cool novels, which spread throughout the streets and alleys and became a topic of conversation for the people after dinner.

After all this, who wouldn’t be grateful to Wang Jing for saving their lives?
Therefore, when the old men heard that Wang Jing wanted to build the road, they immediately stopped doubting and said, "Marquis Qi is a good man. If he said he would pay the wages, then he must be right."

"Marquis Qi is really generous. He gives me one string of money a month. Winter is coming soon, and my family is in urgent need of money. I want to sign up!"

Zhai Ping looked at him awkwardly and said, "Old man, you are already in your 50s or 60s, right? Road construction is a physically demanding job, not everyone can do it."

The old man was looked down upon and was immediately upset. He glared and said, "Can't I sign up for my son?!"

"Okay, okay, come and sign up with me. What's your son's name?"

Zhai Ping took out paper and pen, set up a tent, put out a wooden table, and started registering people on the spot.

The news of the recruitment spread by word of mouth, and finally it spread from ten to a hundred, and soon a large number of militiamen flocked to the scene, shouting that they wanted to build a road for Wang Jing.

Although Yanzhou is located south of the Yellow River and its winter comes later than Youzhou and Jizhou, the weather is gradually getting colder and the crops in the fields have been harvested. Many farmers have nothing to do anyway, and now when they hear that there is a good job that can earn one string of money a month, how can they hold back?
The registration location was packed with people. In addition to Zhai Ping, Zhai Jie also sent a dozen or so Mohist disciples to support the event so as to prevent his good nephew from being exhausted to death.

The price of grain in the Eastern Han Dynasty was about 600 to 700 wen per dan (120 jin) of grain, but this was obviously the price in peaceful years.

Now that it is the end of the dynasty and the prelude to troubled times has begun, food prices have naturally soared.

Even though the grain price in Yanzhou had been suppressed by Wang Jing, it was still more than 900 wen at present. An ordinary family of five, relying on farming, raising chickens and ducks, weaving and other work, had an annual income of about 11,200 wen, or an average of more than 900 wen per month.

This means that after working hard for a month, they can barely make ends meet and do not have much spare money left.

Moreover, this data only shows the treatment enjoyed by rich peasants with land. If it were a landless tenant, then life would be even worse. The whole family could not even afford enough food and clothing, and had to find ways to dig up wild vegetables or even grass roots and tree bark to fill their stomachs every day. They were so hungry that they were pale and emaciated and suffered from malnutrition.

Now Wang Jing offered a monthly salary of one string of coins, in addition to providing food and lodging, and giving away work clothes. If this treatment were put in later times, it would be considered a blatant act and a violation of the labor law.

But in the Eastern Han Dynasty, this treatment was very attractive to ordinary people, so in just a few days, the quota for tens of thousands of workers was filled.

After three days of hard work, Zhai Ping finally took the roster and went to report to Zhai Jie.

At the same time, the atmosphere in Zhonglang's mansion was tense.

Xu Si looked anxious, simply because the uneasiness in his heart was growing stronger and stronger.

Xu Xi, however, had a smug look on his face: "One string of cash a month, he actually came up with that idea, hahahaha, the world has said that Qi Hou Wang Jing is a man of both civil and military talents, a man of great talent, but I don't think he is anything more than that."

Mao Hui, like Xu Xi, had a smile on his face: "Instead of imposing corvée labor, Qi Hou chose to spend money to build roads. This move is a waste of military funds. It's really meaningless."

"That's perfect. When he runs out of money and food, what will he use to support his troops?"

Xu Xi sneered. Wang Jing's efforts to suppress grain prices had caused him to lose a large sum of money, and he was still furious.

After cursing, Xu Xi looked at Mao Hui and twitched his eyebrows: "By the way, you also secretly sent people to sign up, right? Hehe, one string of money per person per month, we are making a fortune."

Both of them secretly sent their tenants to build roads. These tenants had a strong personal dependence on them, so Xu Xi and Mao Hui were not afraid that these people would not obey after getting the money.

It was only because they controlled a large amount of land and food, and at the same time some of their clansmen served as officials in the court, forming a huge network of relationships that covered the entire Yanzhou.

The people caught in this web can only allow themselves to be controlled and harvested at will, without any power to resist. (End of this chapter)