People in the Republic of China era began to rise from industry.

Qu County.

Yang Zihui returned victorious, and the first thing he did was to express his gratitude to Lin Yi.

He knew in his heart that if it weren't for Lin Yi's help, losing Qu County, the last piece of territory, would have been a minor matter.

The fear is that his warlord career will come to an end here.

The situation is very different from what it was ten years ago when the Beiyang government was in power.

Chiang Kai-shek held absolute power in Nanjing, while Liu Yuanfu had also basically established a foothold in Sichuan Province.

Having lost his last piece of territory and troops, it would be virtually impossible for him to make a comeback.

Therefore, it is no exaggeration to say that Lin Yi is his second parent.

"Brother, I can't thank you enough."

"I, Yang Zihui, will remember this incident. From now on, I will listen to your word, Brother Lin, even if it means going through fire and water!"

Lin Yi smiled and said, "Brother Yang, you flatter me. There are no mountains of knives or seas of fire. As long as we work together, we will only make money together."

Hearing this, Yang Zihui chuckled and said, "Yes, yes, you see things very clearly, brother."

Lin Yi accepted his flattery without hesitation and then said, "But Brother Yang, after this defeat followed by victory, don't you have any thoughts?"

Upon hearing this question, Yang Zihui's smile slowly faded.

He ripped the hat off his head: "Damn it, these soldiers are getting more and more cunning these days, they only care about money."

"I've seen through it all. After all these years of fussing and turning, I, a general, haven't gotten a single penny. It's all benefited them."

Lin Yi gave him one million.

Initially, Yang Zihui planned to spend only 300,000 yuan.

But an idea is just an idea.

When you have a lot of money in your pocket, it's easy to become extravagant.

He not only bribed the men of the 11th Division, but also gave extra bounties to his original troops.

The effect was indeed good; in just one day, they turned the tide and captured Guangnan.

His troops quickly expanded to nearly 20,000 men.

But if you include the 100,000 that was taken down when Luo Dingchen's stronghold was destroyed, and the reward money that would be given after the great victory, then that's another story.

In total, I spent nearly 700,000 yuan.

As for the remaining 300,000, the food, drink, and military pay for the 20,000 soldiers would only cover two months' worth of expenses, even with the most frugal measures.

This is without adding any equipment.

If it weren't for this, when we captured Luo Dingchen's defense zone of one prefecture and three counties, finally securing a decent source of tax revenue, we would have truly lost out.

Lin Yi was pleased to hear that Yang Zihui had also realized this.

His past habits as a Sichuan soldier were irrelevant.

He would even use this when necessary.

As soon as this opportunity arose, he seized it quickly, briefly showcasing his abilities and successfully making Yang Zihui grateful to him.

But now that he's here to invest and start a business, this matter is now related to him.

Otherwise, the king's flag on the city wall will keep changing, and today one side will finish singing, and tomorrow another side will take the stage.

Everyone wants to make a quick buck off him, so how can he possibly do business and make money?

He's a businessman, not a spendthrift.

If Yang Zihui is willing to change, then his position as the spokesperson for interests will be as secure as Mount Tai.

But if he continues to drift along aimlessly... Lin Yi can throw money at him to win, and he can also throw money at someone else to inherit his estate and take his place.

Of course, that would make the trial-and-error cost a bit too high.

Yang Zihui has now realized this, and with a little guidance, there should be no need to change agents.

"So, Brother Yang, things need to change."

"Otherwise, if you can buy Luo Dingchen's troops today, then Luo Dingchen can buy your troops later."

"With all this back and forth and no peace, our plan to get rich together as brothers is in jeopardy."

Hearing Lin Yi's words, Yang Zihui nodded repeatedly, agreeing with this point.

"Change is necessary."

"I heard that Liu Yuanfu has been working on reorganizing the army, which is probably for this reason."

As Yang Zihui spoke, she didn't forget to belittle her old classmate and rival Liu Yuanfu: "Although this guy's command skills are average, his vision is still pretty good."

Hearing him say that, Lin Yi knew it would save him trouble.

He had originally intended to give Yang Zihui advice on how to reorganize the army.

Judging from his tone now, he clearly intends to follow Liu Yuanfu's example.

So he directly stated his plan:

"The most important thing in reorganizing the army is to recruit new soldiers and eliminate the old and weak."

"Brothers have thought it all out for you. The soldiers who are laid off will not need to receive severance pay."

"Once the mine opens in a while, we'll arrange for people to work there, and the salary will be no less than that of the military."

“This could even become a precedent. In the future, if your soldiers no longer intend to carry guns, they can be sent to work in my factories and mines.”

"As long as there are enough workers, my factories and mines can be built up quickly, and then the tax revenue can be used to support your army."

"Back then, if you increased military pay as needed, and everyone had no worries about the future, wouldn't they be completely devoted to you?"

Listening to Lin Yi's meticulously planned scheme, Yang Zihui's eyes lit up.

He stared at Lin Yi for a while, then suddenly slapped his thigh: "Great idea!"

With Yang Zihui's approval, the rest is simple.

Lin Yi need not worry about the specifics of how to organize the army.

Yang Zihui summoned more than a dozen staff officers from the military headquarters, and they began to study the matter that very day.

Lin Yi also gave Fang Chang instructions, preparing to simultaneously begin the first step of the mercenary expansion plan along with Yang Zihui's military reorganization.

It's not complicated; it's just about carefully selecting suitable people from the veterans that Yang Zihui eliminated.

The evaluation is based on three aspects: years of military service, military skills, and physical condition.

They may not be the strongest fighters, but they are certainly the most experienced on the battlefield.

We can then learn from these people the experience of regular warfare.

Combined with the special forces training experience summarized by Fang Chang, a mercenary training system can be initially established.

With a systematic set of standards, Lin Yi could mass-produce batches of qualified mercenaries like an assembly line.

Fang Chang agreed with Lin Yi's development strategy based on industrial thinking.

However, when Lin Yi finally said that they would be operating under the name of the mine security team, Fang Chang became somewhat unhappy.

"Isn't that so tasteless?"

"As long as it's convenient, that's fine."

Lin Yi chuckled.

The former ace assassin, dressed in pristine white, is now a security captain, looking disheveled and humiliated.

The scene is too jarring; I can't bear to think about it...

The reorganization plan for the 20th Army officially began five days later.

During this time, Yang Zihui came to seek Lin Yi's opinion and asked him if he had any suggestions.

Lin Yi didn't stand on ceremony and came up with an idea—to increase the salary.

Therefore, the first thing announced in the 20th Army's reorganization plan was to increase the pay of ordinary soldiers from 3.6 yuan to 6 yuan.

The morale of the troops, which had been somewhat unsettled due to the leak of news about the military reorganization, immediately stabilized.

After more than ten days of field investigation, Jing Zhizhong and his team of experts finally produced a preliminary report.

Based on exploration of several old mines, two of them were found to have abundant iron ore reserves.

Based on geological theory, the estimated reserves are around ten million tons.

In addition, the nearby coal reserves are quite abundant...