After personally accompanying the new father to the county government to register Wang Xudong's household registration information, and solemnly handing over the first birth subsidy of Qinghe County to him in front of all the elders of the county, Lin Hai and Wang Liang appeared again in the military camp outside the city.
Since the wars between countries have ended, several major countries have begun the traditional post-war recuperation, cultivating land where necessary, suppressing bandits where necessary, and pacifying refugees where necessary. This has led to the gradual decrease in the attractiveness of Qinghe County. After all, for refugees from afar, the decrees issued by the courts of various countries are still far more attractive than the notices of the Qinghe County Government.
But if Qinghe County wants to develop, it needs population, and more and more population.
Qinghe County's current industrial structure was irrational. Lin Hai's obsession with industry had forced the few remaining laborers and a significant portion of the working population into industrial jobs. They were either mining, building roads, or smelting steel, iron, cement, and glass. Simply put, there weren't many people farming, which was why Lin Hai was so determined to strike a deal with Cambodia.
"If we want to achieve food self-sufficiency, we'll have to reduce our industry by at least three-quarters, which is unbearable. Right now, we rely primarily on imports for food, especially from luxury goods like glass beads, which bring us a considerable amount of tax revenue. We use this tax revenue to purchase food and keep Qinghe County running. But it's wrong to have grain reserves below the warning line for so long. We need more people to farm, especially a large number of self-employed farmers to maintain economic activity in the countryside. We also need a large number of unpaid laborers to work on collective farms and provide sufficient food for our warehouses."
Lin Hai said this at the "Qinghe County Military and Political Conference" held in the military camp.
"Well, Xiao Linzi, what you said is too profound." Wang Liang looked at Lin Hai with a blank face and continued, "Qinghe has reached this point today, basically all thanks to you. Now those brothers who can't move have people to serve them, and those who can move have errands. They live a life they couldn't even imagine before. If you have any plans, just tell us how to do it, and we will just follow your orders."
"Brother, this...actually there is another possibility. If you don't understand this, just don't listen for now. Wait for me to tell you how to do it specifically. What I just said was for them." Lin Hai pointed to a group of people in the last row of the conference room. They were all young people selected by Lin Hai from night school, the best of the best. He brought them around every day to learn from them and was ready to be of great use.
When Lin Hai pointed to the back row, the twelve people in the back row stood up collectively, saluted in unison according to the new military salute prescribed by Lin Hai, and then sat down. The whole process was uniform and no one spoke or made any noise. Wang Liang looked at them, nodded, and returned the salute. Then he said to Lin Hai, "Xiao Linzi, it's okay, you can continue."
Lin Hai untied a rope hanging from the wall, and a huge map gradually unfolded from above, its bottom edge just level with the ground. A closer look revealed a map of the various factions centered on Qinghe County. The edges of the map also marked Jinguan City (Daliang), the borders of the Chen Dynasty, and the borders of Cambodia (Mengyang). The entire map was not only marked with blocks of color to indicate the various factions, but also the military forces of each party in various locations. It was clear that after Lin Hai separated the third squad of the county government from the militia, relegating the third squad to maintaining law and order while the militia focused on military training, Qinghe County now had a reinforced militia. The Qinghe County Militia Regiment, consisting of three battalions, was stationed in the county seat, the Qinghe Industrial Zone, and several key locations around the county seat. The Qitianzhai Militia, organized as an independent battalion, was stationed to the east of the county seat, forming a pincer attack on the entire county seat.
If we only compare them with the various bandits that have been discovered and distributed in the Shiwan Mountains, although the Qinghe County militia is far less than the number claimed by the various mountain kings (those mountain kings who have never been to school and can't count dare to claim to have ten thousand brothers even if they have a hundred. After all, everyone is shouting nonsense, and it would be embarrassing if they claim to have fewer), but in terms of equipment, training and personnel quality, they are all at the crushing level. However, if compared with the Daliang field combat group stationed in Jinguan City, or the Chen Dynasty garrison stationed in Zhaoyang, or even the Khmer mountain infantry stationed in Mengyang, they must be much worse. Even if their equipment is better, their overall combat effectiveness is far inferior.
Lin Hai pointed to the large area surrounding Qinghe County and said, "As we develop Qinghe County, according to the areas designated by the Ministry of Revenue, we should have administrative jurisdiction over the entire Greater Qinghe County area. Therefore, a reasonable scope for Qinghe County should be connected to the Daliang military farm in Qiongdu in the north, the Cambodian border city of Mengyang in the south, Zhaoyang of the Chen Dynasty in the east, and the plateau border in the west. This piece of land is very suitable as the first phase of Qinghe County's development."
At this point, not only Wang Liang was stunned, not only his sworn brothers were stunned, even the twelve students trained by Lin Hai were stunned...
This is not just a county. If it were before the war, it would have been the territory of two provinces, even larger than the three southwestern provinces.
Remember, the Chen Dynasty ceded the three southwestern provinces: Hanzhong, the northernmost, to Western Xia, and Xichuan and Xiangyun to Daliang. The area planned for Linhai now encompasses southern Xichuan and all of Xiangyun, even including most of Qianzhong Province, which was still under Chen Dynasty control.
To be honest, their total area is comparable to that of Cambodia.
There is indeed a large area in a state of anarchy, mainly the area south of Qinghe County in Xichuan and the entire Xiangyun Province, which is basically an area of bandit fighting. The Cambodian people have actually coveted this area for a long time. Many of the bandits there were even supported by the Cambodian people. However, the Cambodian people were also afraid of the powerful military force of the Daliang Empire and did not dare to openly enter the above-mentioned area.
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