Chapter 65: Internship for the lieutenant, waiting to be promoted to a regular employee

Next comes the much-loved part of rewarding people for their contributions.

Zhu Jun reported Jin Mao's achievements truthfully and recommended Jin Mao as the acting commander of the Southern Kuaiji Prefecture.

Zhu Jun didn't know about the deal between Jin Mao and the other two, and by some coincidence, the three of them thought that the deal was exposed.

Fortunately, it was just a false alarm.

Zhang Tie, the eunuch, read out the emperor Liu Hong's order, ordering Zhu Jun to return to Luoyang immediately to report on his work after completing his mission.

Although he could not observe mourning for his mother, Liu Hong had already given Zhu Jun face by allowing him to "be both loyal and filial."

If Zhu Jun is so disrespectful, then don't blame Liu Hong for getting angry.

Zhu Jun didn't say much and accepted the order.

After rewarding the soldiers based on their merits, a grand banquet was held to reward them.

Jin Mao is now an agent who can exercise his powers. Once the official documents are issued, he will be a real commander with a rank equivalent to two thousand stones!
Although the cost of all this is huge.

Not only did they have to pay nearly 40,000 shi of grain for nothing, but they also had to pay Liu Hong a large sum of money for promotion.

Fortunately, my father-in-law was wealthy and said that the Tang family would pay for it and it would all be considered Tang Ji’s dowry.

Even so, a large amount of money for idle employees still has to be paid every year.

The most disgusting thing is that Jinmao has to pay for this money out of his own pocket, and Liu Hong doesn’t pay any salary!

Moreover, Zhu Jun knew that the equipment of the commander's troops was in Jin Mao's hands, so it would be difficult to request replenishment.

Even if he applied for additional funds, Liu Hong would not admit it.

But it's all worth it!

Everything is too magical.

From being a mere village official, he became a high-ranking official with a rank of 2,000 stones in less than two years!

No matter whether you will be ridiculed in the future, there are so many things you can do right now!

With Wushang County as its center, Jinmao can cultivate the Baiyue people to the south, conquer the Wuxi barbarians to the west, and dry sea salt in more places to the east.

Going north would be the best option, but it’s not time yet.

With the Zhu family around, it would be difficult for Jinmao to extend his power beyond Zhejiang, because the Zhu family's salt and iron would never be handed over, and Zhu Jun still had to support more than 2,000 private soldiers.

But in the future, Danyang County must be obtained, because the salt and iron produced near Jianye County are enough to form an elite army of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people!
Since the Zhu family's cake cannot be touched, Jinmao wants to take this opportunity to get more benefits.

That day, Jin Mao found Zhu Jun.

"General, I have a favor to ask of you."

After Jin Mao was promoted, Zhu Jun took back his position as Sima of the Separate Department, which made Zhu Jun very embarrassed.

After all, in Zhu Jun's eyes, an acting position is definitely not as good as a Sima of another department, which is a real position.

So when Jin Mao came to him, Zhu Jun couldn't refuse him and said, "As long as it's something I can do, I can agree to it."

Jin Mao did not mention anything excessive, but said: "General, the Jiao family and I have become mortal enemies. I would like to ask the general for a letter to prove that the Jiao family is plotting a rebellion!"

According to Jin Mao's idea, this should be just a small matter for Zhu Jun.

Unexpectedly, Zhu Jun decisively refused: "I will not give you the souvenir."

Jin Mao was quite disappointed. He did not expect Zhu Jun to change the subject: "However, I will not interfere in your affairs with the Jiao family, and neither will the Zhu family!"

Obviously, Zhu Jun knew about the feud between Zhu Fu and Jin Mao, and said, "Also, I hope you and my son can shake hands and make peace with each other."

Is there such a good thing?

To be honest, after seeing the true strength of the Zhu family, Jinmao does not want to have any friction with the Zhu family at this stage.

"Well...it's just..."

Jinmao agreed hesitantly, which seemed to indicate that he still wanted some benefits.

Zhu Jun couldn't help but frown.

"General, I have no choice but to do so."

Seeing this, Jin Mao quickly explained: "Your Excellency controls the salt and iron of the entire Kuaiji County. Now I have to manage more places. What should I do if the farm tools are damaged?"

Everyone knows whether it is a farm tool or not.

Zhu Jun thought it was nothing and readily agreed: "It's a small matter. I'll take it on behalf of my son. We can do the transaction normally from now on."

Such a good and high-quality client, it would be a fool for Zhu Jun to refuse.

"Thank you, General!" Jin Mao was ecstatic.

Zhu Jun laughed: "From now on, we are all one family. Although you have not yet become my disciple, I will treat you as my disciple!"

Jin Mao was "touched" and said, "General..." "That's all." Zhu Jun pulled Jin Mao up with one hand and pulled Zhu Fu, who had a grim look on his face, with the other hand.

"You two must work together from now on and not create any rifts!"

Witnessed by Zhu Jun, Zhu Fu reluctantly shook hands with Jin Mao and made peace.

"I hope you will take good care of me in the future."

Jin Mao immediately took the opportunity to climb up the ladder, which made Zhu Fu very disgusted.

Zhu Jun laughed heartily, thinking that the matter had gone perfectly.

In fact, Jin Mao felt no better than Zhu Fu, "Don't provoke me again, wait two years, I will recover, hehe."

When it was time for dinner, Zhu Jun insisted that Jin Mao have a couple of drinks with him.

While drinking, Zhu Jun talked about the Minyue captives and his plan to kill them all to set an example.

Jin Mao disagreed: "General, you have killed enough enemies. Why not sell these people to me as slaves?"

"There is a lot of work to be done now. Yongning County and Ye County are vast and sparsely populated. Why not let these people contribute more?"

Zhu Jun waved his hand and offered a favor: "Captain Jin has asked, how can I refuse?"

"General." Jin Mao was very "touched".

Zhu Jun picked up the wine jar and said, "Drink, drink."

December twenty-three.

Zhu Jun boarded the return ship and left with his men.

Jin Mao also had to deal with more than 5,000 Min Yue prisoners, and the method was simple.

Bai Shi was originally a celebrity in the neighborhood. Within two days of the promotion, the people of the Min Yue mountains began to yearn for it and enthusiastically joined the Jinmao camp.

Jin Mao immediately selected a thousand young and strong men from them, and Bai Shi's confidant Bai Lin led a hundred elite Min Yue soldiers to become officers at all levels of this new army.

Then select a thousand people from the Han people and train them uniformly.

The supplies for the two thousand-man teams are replenished directly locally. The fishery here is self-sufficient, much better than Yongning County.

December 30th, New Year’s Eve.

Jinmao did not stay and returned with 700 people.

Along the way, Jin Mao was no longer obsessed with physical training, but deliberately began to train in a long snake formation.

A long snake formation is not just a formation of marching in a line.

The long snake formation is like a giant python. The snake head can break the enemy formation, the snake body can crush the enemy formation, and the snake tail can complete the harvest.

The snake's body is mainly composed of long-haired and spearmen, while the snake's head and tail are mixed with cavalry, heavy infantry and other charging troops.

Due to the lack of cavalry, Jin Mao used his personal guards as the snakehead. All members wore full body armor and were equipped with swords and shields, which would be replaced with iron shields in the future.

The tail of the snake is made up of new soldiers wearing half armor or cloth armor, including all kinds of soldiers. Harvesting is easier than charging into the battle.

However, coordination among the 700-man team has always been a big problem.

Although we have grown a lot after several months of hard work, it is a new beginning for us to practice the formation.

Even the elite personal guards always make mistakes.

Either they run too fast and fall out of touch with the troops behind, or they run too slowly and get squeezed into a ball with the troops behind them.

All in all, it took fifteen days to return to Yongning County, but there was no progress.

The long snake formation is not even a small snake, but more like a dead snake that poses no threat.

As a last resort, Jin Mao had to change his thinking: "Maybe the simplest formation may not be suitable for my soldiers."

Come to think of it, there are mountains everywhere, so why would we need a complicated formation? It would be even more difficult to deploy when there are too many people.

Jin Mao simply practiced the cone formation for attack and the circular formation for defense.

The head of the cone formation needs elite troops to tear open the enemy formation, while the circular formation is composed of iron shield soldiers, with some spearmen mixed in for defense and counterattack.

The results are amazing!
In just one day, seven hundred people had practiced quite well.

Jin Mao thought thoughtfully: "Isn't this the same as the snake formation dividing the snake's head and body?"

The snake's head attacks in a cone shape, while the snake's body coils into a ball for defense.

"Let's call it the Flying Snake Formation."

The snake head flies out to attack while the snake body defends. When the snake head returns to rest, the snake body can also help stop the enemy.

perfect!

　Thanks to book friends 20170518090913116 and Xingcang Manying for their monthly ticket support
　　
　
(End of this chapter)