Fenghou

Chapter 405
After the news of recruiting people to build the city wall spread, countless people came from other states in an endless stream. The northwest was far less prosperous and prosperous than the south of the Yangtze River.

People in the south of the Yangtze River can earn a hundred Wen a day, but in the Northwest it is not bad to earn twenty or thirty Wen a day, and there are few ways to earn money.

The main reason is that there is too little money circulating in the northwest market, and all the money in the Song Dynasty has flowed to the wealthy Jiangnan.

So Chen Qing pays [-] Wen a day and takes care of food and housing. This news is like a huge magnet, attracting people from all prefectures and counties to come to work. In just ten days, [-] young and strong clouds gathered in Ji County.

At this time, Jiang Yanxian, Lu Wei and other officials rushed to Chengji County, and [-] soldiers responsible for defense and maintaining order also arrived, and a large amount of material resources were continuously sent to Chengji County.

Chen Qing wanted to understand a truth, he must first secure the interior if he wants to fight against the outside world, and if he wants to become a real Xihe Road Jiedu envoy, he must first control Qinzhou in his hands.

Wang Huai is a local snake. His father was killed by a Jin man. He can be used, but he is not capable enough to bear the heavy burden of Qinzhou's general judgment. The two of them took over the reins.

In front of a big tent, Chen Qing met Wang Huai, the listless judge, and said with a smile, "Wang Tongpan, I want to check on the situation of Mai Mai, do you have time to accompany me?"

"The Jiedu envoy has an order, how dare a humble official refuse to obey? Please come with me."

Wang Huai was dissatisfied with his words. He led the people of Chengji County to escape the Jinbing massacre. There was no credit but hard work. As a result, a new magistrate and a county magistrate were appointed, and his power was taken away. How to feel comfortable.

Wang Huai accompanied Chen Qing to the wheat field silently. Chengji County happened to be the confluence of three rivers, Wei River, Tingchuan River and Ji River. It has always been a place rich in food.

The large wheat fields are mainly distributed on the south bank of the Weihe River and the north bank of the Jishui River, with an area of ​​more than [-] mu. The ditches in the field are criss-crossed and the water flow is sufficient, so that the wheat grows lush.

"Chengji County is also three years old now!" Chen Qing asked with a smile.

Wang Huai nodded, "During the Tang Dynasty, the climate here was warm and humid. Crops were harvested twice a year, one season of wheat and one season of rice. Now the climate has turned cold, and most areas only have one crop per year. The barren land can only be planted The low-yield corn, Chengji County has good conditions, sufficient water sources, and fertile land, so it can be harvested three times in two years. The wheat was harvested in July this year, and the field was rested for a few months. Winter wheat will be planted in winter, and it will be harvested in early June next year. Hurry up Time to plant another season of beans."

"Wang Tongpan deserves to be a big family in Chengji. He really knows Chengji County. I wonder if Wang Tongpan is familiar with Gongzhou?"

Wang Huai was slightly taken aback, and then replied: "Gongzhou is the original Weizhou. It has always been related to Qinzhou by blood and in-laws. My mother is from Longxi County, Gongzhou. I grew up in my grandfather's house in Longxi when I was young."

"Your mother is also a rich family!"

Wang Huai nodded, "Although the Longxi Li family is not as powerful as the Tang Dynasty, it is still the largest family in Gongzhou. It has produced several Jinshi and has a great influence in Gongzhou."

Chen Qing said with a smile: "I consider recommending you as the governor of Gongzhou, would you be willing?"

Wang Huai was really unexpected, and he was speechless for a long time. Of course, he knew that Chen Qing's so-called recommendation was just talk, and in fact it was a direct appointment, regardless of whether the court agreed or not.

It took a while for Wang Huai to say: "All are ready to send troops to Gongzhou?"

Chen Qing said indifferently: "There are only a thousand puppet Qi troops stationed in Gongzhou, and they can be taken at any time. I am going to consolidate Qinzhou first, and then consider sending troops in autumn. After all, I am the Jiedu envoy of Xihe Road. State is a matter of time."

Wang Huai hesitated for a moment and said, "I'm just afraid that the lowly job's lack of ability will disappoint Dutong!"

Chen Qing smiled slightly: "Why don't I let you be the judge of Qinzhou, but let you be the governor of Gongzhou? Do you understand this reason?"

"Frankly speaking, I can't figure it out for a humble job."

"In fact, the reason is very simple. I have very high requirements on Qinzhou. Every county must obey the orders of the state government. I must keep track of the movements of each county at all times. I must double the population of Qinzhou within three years. Let Qinzhou be squeezed into a fist instead of five fingers. Frankly speaking, Wang Tongpan has contributed to Chengji County, as you can see from this wheat field, but his control over Qinzhou is still a bit weak, I can say right!"

Wang Huai said with shame on his face: "Du Tong is right. My father said that I can only be a county magistrate. I really can't control the counties in Qinzhou."

"That's why I considered letting you go to Gongzhou. For Gongzhou, my request is to control Longxi County. Among the five counties in Gongzhou, Tongwei, Tong'an, Anxi, and Dingxi, these four counties are too weak and have almost no sense of existence. , as long as you control Longxi County, you control Gongzhou, which is just very suitable for you."

Wang Huai suddenly realized, and quickly bowed and said: "The humble official is willing to go to Gongzhou to share the worries of the capital!"

Chen Qing nodded, "My army will take Gongzhou this autumn, and you will go to the office together. There are still four or five months. During this period, you must fully support Jiang Yan to build the city first. This autumn, the Xihe Road Festival Du Mansion will be relocated to Chengji County, I hope you will leave a strong mark in Chengji County."

"Humble post obeys orders!"

After some in-depth talks, Wang Huai's knots were untied, and he began to go all out to be Jiang Yanxian's assistant, making the construction of Nirvana rebirth in Chengji County run at a high speed.

However, relying on the efforts of the officials alone, without enough resources, it is still difficult for a clever woman to cook without rice. In order to make Chengji County reborn as soon as possible, Chen Qing began to use the money he had saved over the years.

On the official road, a transportation team that was more than ten kilometers long came from Ganquan Fort full of supplies in an endless stream. Tens of thousands of large tents were scattered on the fields and hills outside the city, and there were hundreds of thousands of grains, two hundred thousand Qian, [-] to [-] people and troops lived in the camp, and Jiang Yanxian, Wang Huai, Lu Wei, Du Min and other officials were so busy that they never touched the ground.

Chengji County basically changed its appearance every day, and it was cleaned up within a few days. It began to dig deep pits and build foundations, using long strips of large bluestones from the old city wall to build the foundation, and then began to repair the city wall with new bricks. bricks filled with soil.

While building the city wall, the burned houses in the city began to be rebuilt. In order to encourage and help the people rebuild their homes, the Song army even provided fired red bricks for free.

With united efforts, the entire Chengji County has become a large construction site, with men, women, old and young people participating in the construction of rebuilding their homes.

The construction site was in full swing, and there were teams of busy people everywhere, carrying baskets, stirring mud, and boiling glutinous rice paste. From a distance, they were as busy as an army of ants.

Chen Qing stood on a small hill one mile away to inspect the progress. This was the second time he arrived in Chengji County within a month. He smiled and asked Jiang Yanxian: "Look at the progress, the city wall should be completed before the wheat is harvested, right?" ?”

Jiang Yanxian nodded with a smile and said, "The city can be completed before the wheat is ripe, but the people's own houses can't be completed until winter. Now everyone is repairing the city wall. There is a shortage of manpower, and there is no supply of red bricks."

Chen Qing pondered for a while and asked again: "There are also official residences, military camps, Cangcheng, and the family members of Ganquanbao, and there are so many people. Is the area of ​​the city enough?"

"You don't have to worry, Chengji County originally had a city circumference of twenty-five miles, but now we have expanded it to thirty-eight miles, which is only a little smaller than Jingzhao City in the entire northwest, and smaller than Fengxiang City's thirty-li. Eight miles long, enough to live for [-] people, even if Cangcheng and the military camp occupy a large area, it can also live for [-] people. It is enough."

Chen Qing said happily: "This way I can rest assured, what difficulties are there now?"

"There is still a lack of resources, such as coal, wood, pig iron, and stoves. Now several families share one stove, but the stove is easy to solve. There is refractory mud nearby. I just ask the brick-burning soldiers to burn a batch. The key is the first three. , to build a house you need beams and sun-dried wood.”

Chen Qing laughed, "If you want the supplies from the West Warehouse of Ganquan Fort, just say so, and I won't give them to you?"

In the west warehouse of Ganquan Fort, there are hundreds of thousands of battalion fences, tens of thousands of catties of coal, and a large number of incinerated waste weapons. Jiang Yanxian wanted to come here a long time ago, but he was embarrassed to open it. After all, it is military supplies. .

"The humble post is too embarrassed to bring it up, for fear that the military will be dissatisfied."

Chen Qing shook his head, "That's not exactly military supplies!"

He thought for a while and said, "I can give you all three kinds of materials, but you know that Ganquan Fort is short of wood. In the future, we will organize the people of Ji County to log and return the wood to Ganquan Fort."

Jiang Yanxian was overjoyed, and quickly agreed: "There is no problem with this. After the people get the wood, they will write an IOU and pay back with wood later."

(End of this chapter)