I passed by Guangning on the way back.

Li Chao and his party naturally had to stay here for a few days. After half a month, Guangning Fort, the King of Zhao City, has now barely looked a little bit. The architectural style is very rough, with huge logs standing on the ground, surrounded by fort walls. The houses in the castle are also built with logs.

The stilt-style building is rough and very rough.

At least it is a log that is thick as a basketball. It is peeled and built one by one after another. When Li Chao looked at it, he felt a little wasteful, especially when he saw many valuable trees from the logs that made the fort walls, suspension bridges, and houses.

This kind of all-wood castle is a bit unsafe no matter how you look at it. If you are attacked by fire or something, there are hidden dangers. But for a time, there were not so many people rammed earth to build a city, or directly transported cement bricks and tiles to build a city.

However, Li Chao decided to go back and let Li Ji Zao and Li Ji Shipping transfer craftsmen and materials come here to burn bricks and tiles, and transport cement and lime to build a Han-style brick and tile castle, which must have the characteristics of the Han family.

The brick and tile city is also strong.

Zhao Guoling's resources are mainly wood, and there are also many minerals. Li Chao believes that the rich wood resources here are worth developing. As long as you invest some in the early stage, you will not lose money. This industry is still very profitable.

Of course, there is little potential for agricultural development here. But it is still more than enough for the 5,000-strong government soldiers to divide the land and grant land. Such a large territory is 700 miles and only more than 50,000 natives, so Li Chao set up ten military palaces, and it is enough to settle land and reclaim it. Although there is less land suitable for cultivation here, it is more than enough for the land to be reclaimed for the government soldiers.

It means moving all their families over and reclaiming hundreds of acres of each family, which are many.

The more troublesome thing here is that the traffic is not very good.

However, there are many rivers, so it can develop shipping, build more shipyards and build more ships, and whether it is cargo or passenger transport, they still have great potential. Although there are more than a dozen waterfalls with large drops in the Qianli section of the Heishui River, even in sections, there is still great potential.

At worst, it’s just a section of shipping, one or two hundred miles apart, which is already very good. When you go to those places where navigation is not available, you can open a wharf, build a section of land, build a station, and freight station.

"I think we need to build Yue Guoling well. First, we have to build roads and navigation, second, we have to attract investment, and third, we are to run schools." In Guangning City, there are already many managers in the Li family responsible here.

Today Li Chao asked them to have a meeting, which means explaining the development direction here.

The Li family is rich and is not afraid of investing money. Therefore, Li Chao can invest a lot of money in the construction of roads, navigation, shipbuilding, station building, etc. As for returns, mining control, and logging, these are all benefits.

"Education is very important. We have to set up schools in every town. If possible, we have to send people to set up schools in various native villages, send teachers to teach native children Chinese, and even teach those natives Chinese."

There are some advantages to the small number of natives, which is that the control of this territory is easier to control in the future. What Li Chao needs is to constantly immigrate here.

The benefit he gave to the soldiers was that the soldiers in the Central Plains could divide 100 acres of land, which was not necessarily enough. But here, Li Chao directly gave each person five hundred acres of land, which was enough for them to build a farm.

He treated his territorial soldiers according to the standards of European enfeoffment knights.

If they pay for the land of 500 acres, if they spend money to buy land by themselves, the family can own thousands of acres of land as long as they have enough labor or have the money to buy some slaves. These lands produce a lot of output.

Their responsibility for these is to bring their own weapons, train regularly, and then take turns to serve as guards, encounter wars, and obey the conscripts. Even brothers, nephews, slaves, etc. in their own manor can become militias and receive their training and leadership.

There are five thousand soldiers on the ground of seven hundred miles, but in fact there are a lot of them.

But Li Chao did not treat them as soldiers, but as the middle class of Zhao Guoling, who had their own manor land, and even slaves. These people were the most stable class of Zhao Guoling in the future, and they would fight to protect their land and property.

As for ordinary people who immigrate in the future, they can reclaim land by their own efforts, or work in mining workshops. In the future, the Li family will build a manor workshop here, and there will be many slaves, etc. In the future, slaves will be redeemed as free people here.

"I am going to give the rank of knights to those who are outstanding among the soldiers in the future."

"Knight?" Cheng Qian asked in confusion.

"That's how I think. Among the soldiers of the government, I select young children and let them receive knight training from an early age. Starting from the age of seven, I will select a group of people to come to Guangning every year to learn culture and receive military training, and serve as attendants in our palace, learning etiquette, etc.."

"Seven-year-old servant?"

Chengqian understood Li Chao's meaning. The emperor would select some people from the children of nobles and high-ranking officials to become the eunuchs of the palace and guards. After that, he would be released from office. The guards of the palace were the first step for the children of the officials who were honored and relatives.

However, most palace guards are at least over seventeen years old.

However, Li Chao proposed to select seven-year-old children from the government soldiers to come to Guangning Fort for cultural and military courses, and also let them serve as his attendants and learn etiquette.

This is what it means to start training since childhood, especially this kind of training will strengthen the relationship between King Li Chao and the children of the soldiers below, and thus strengthen the relationship with the soldiers.

"From the age of seven, an excellent knight should go through at least fourteen years of training. Until he becomes a 21-year-old, when they can complete all the knight training assessments, the lord will award them the title of honor of the knight."

"Four years of training? Will there be elimination?"

Li Chao nodded, of course there must be an elimination. "Every year, a group of soldiers from the government will be recruited, but every year, a group of laggards will be eliminated. After fourteen years of training, at least fourteen eliminations will be required. Those who pass the final assessment will be the elite among the elites. They must be the best people with both civil and military skills and good character. In the future, they will become loyal soldiers who guard the territory and guard the border for the Tang Dynasty!"

Once you pass fourteen years of training and assessment and become a knight, you will get a manor. This manor is equivalent to a fiefdom and a landlord of this land. Of course, there is no other special rights, no right to govern the people and judicial taxes, and just a landlord.

But a manor is enough to allow the knight to train and fight for the lord with peace of mind.

In Li Chao's idea, knights are professional officers in the territory and the cornerstone of the middle and lower levels of the army. If there is no war for many years, the combat power of the palace soldiers will inevitably be weakened. If there is such a knight class who starts to learn and train from a young age, then the combat power of the army can be guaranteed.

Of course, the court now has martial arts lecture halls and young military academies. When Li Chao proposed this knight system, he was actually somewhat selfish, which was to build a team of officers loyal to the lord.

The knight must undergo fourteen years of training and assessment. The knight cannot be inherited in hereditary manner. The knight is a lifetime system.

Duke Zhao had five thousand soldiers, and Li Chao planned to select and train a team of knights of 500 to 1,000 people.

Li Chao explained to the prince that these knights were actually lord guards and servants.

The prince understood a little and did not object.

This knight system is a lord's private army anyway.

"Without the military soldiers in the palace, why do we still need knights?" asked the prince.

"Then your Highness thinks that since the court has 720,000 soldiers from the Southern Yafu, why are there 80,000 soldiers from the Northern Yafu? Moreover, the number of the Northern Yafu's imperial guards has been increasing in recent years." Li Chao asked.

The Southern Ya is the government soldiers, the Northern Ya is the imperial guards, and the imperial guards are also the permanent army in the recruitment system.

"Your Highness, at the beginning of the country, there are often wars, the court rewards are generous, and the military achievements are exchanged in time. However, as the world is peaceful, there will be many problems in the system of government troops. For example, the court cannot produce land to give land to newly selected government troops, the court has no war for many years, government troops lack training and experience, and even after guarding the border and fighting, it may be able to fulfill military achievements in full swing, etc. This is an inevitable trend. Government troops eventually become farmers who only know how to farm, and the government troops have weakened their combat power and are even unable to stand the battle."

"Is it that serious?" Cheng Qian asked.

The military system of the palace was originally a combination of peasants and soldiers. The military system that appeared in the Western Wei Dynasty was in line with the social environment at that time. The world was divided and wars were frequent. The population was insufficient and the land was large.

The court took out land to the government soldiers. The government soldiers farmed when they were idle and went to war. The court did not have to spend additional military expenses, saving the expenses of raising troops, and also ensuring agricultural production.

But there is one time and another.

History has proved that the government soldiers were very brave and able to fight in the Western Wei, Northern Zhou and Sui dynasties and early Tang dynasties. However, by the time of Wu Zetian and Xuanzong Li Longji, the government soldiers were no longer able to do anything. By the time of Xuanzong, the government soldiers had collapsed, and the court was already using the recruitment system, which was destroyed in name only.

Even Li Shimin knew that the regular soldiers of the Beiya could maintain combat effectiveness and be more useful. Didn’t Li Chao know that his territory also established a regular army, not just relying on a group of peasant soldiers?

Especially a knight, not just a soldier, he is actually an excellent and well-trained officer. With a thousand knights, Li Chao actually has the potential to lose 10,000 or even 20,000 or 30,000 at any time.

At the same time, knight training is also an educational system.

After fourteen years of training, a group of eliminated each year. These eliminated knight attendants will also become useful talents in the territory because of their cultural and military education.
Chapter completed!