Start with the humble bridegroom

Chapter 181 Calculation
In the Jiangling Palace, the remaining snow has not yet melted, and it is also the coldest when the snow melts.

Under Dan Chi in the palace hall, there is a row of officials standing, queuing up one by one.

Three or four days before the New Year's Eve, all the chief officials from the south of the Yangtze River who were supposed to close the government office for the winter came here secretly.From the observation envoys, defense envoys, supervisory envoys and transshipment envoys of Jiangzuo Dao to the four envoys of Jiangyou Dao and the four envoys of Jianghan Dao were all present.

In the main hall of the palace, seven or eight huge copper tripods were burning red charcoal, and a huge topographic map was hung on the front wall. Emperor Zhang Hua, who was dressed in a gown with narrow sleeves, was sitting on the dragon chair in the middle, listening to the training of Shi Yue, the battalion commander in the south of the Yangtze River. report.

"When I arrived on flying horses, I found out that the puppet dynasty of Southern Wu had sent envoys from Jinling to the north. The leader was Yao Tu, the servant of the puppet Ministry of Rites. This person is the uncle of the puppet king, and he seemed to have a strong intention to seek peace."

Hearing that Southern Wu was asking for peace, Emperor Zhang Hua's expression remained unchanged.

"Don't worry about Nan Wu's reaction, Jiangnan Dongying did it according to the policy?"

Yue Lian returned: "Return to Your Majesty, according to the plan, Dongying made a false appearance of withdrawing from the camp and returning to the north. The Wu army in the southwestern direction of Xunjiang seems to be confused by me and has already slackened."

"I know you have worked hard, but the military plane must not be delayed. You should take a break and return to Dongjiang Road. The soldiers and horses of the Dongying in the south of the Yangtze River must firmly restrain the main force of the 15 Wu army in front! Don't let them go west or return to aid Zhaoyang County."

"According to the order!"

"Go!"

After Yue Lian turned around and left the hall, Emperor Zhang Hua looked at Zuo Xian, the servant of the Ministry of War.

"Zuo Qing, how is the deployment of soldiers and horses everywhere?"

Dequeue left first.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, the Jiangyou Seventh Army, the Jiangzuo Seventh Army, and the Jianghan Army are all secretly moving out. The army period is the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, and they will gather at Pengxiangdu. After hearing the news that His Majesty drove out of Jingdong, the Southern Wu Sure enough, its navy no longer patrols the river as usual, and only small boats have appeared recently, and since yesterday, the river has become colder, and even the small boats have disappeared."

Emperor Zhang Hua looked at the officials in the stands.

"I was born and gathered for five years. I organized and trained the armies of Jiangyou and Jiangzuo. Every winter, regardless of the long distance, I went to Hedong to escape the winter. I also limited the day when I left Beijing until the seventeenth day of the first month of the next year. In order to paralyze the Southern Wu Now that He Muchen has broken Qi County, the soldiers and horses of the three counties of Liuchuan in Southern Wu are forced to go west to defend against his attack. And our dynasty has spent a lot of money. It has been more than a year since we have deployed an army of [-] on the Xunjiang line, and the elite of Southern Wu has been completely Gather in the Xunjiang River. I only need to destroy the Nanwu Navy on the opposite bank, and its gate, Zhaoyang County, will be in my army. If we take Zhaoyang, we can swallow up the six counties of Pinghu Road, and the destruction of Wu is just around the corner. Everyone, Chinese New Year After that, follow me across the river to see the real Jiangnan."

Congratulations.

The emperor called the Jiangzuo transfer envoy to come up again.

"How are the refugees and beggars from all over the Jiangzuo gathering? I didn't launch local corvee this time, just to avoid being investigated by the Southern Wu. You are responsible for the logistics transfer of the army here, and you must not make any mistakes!"

The transshipment envoy Zhao Kezhu stepped forward to report.

"Nearly [-] refugees and beggars from the seven counties on the left of the river have gathered in Pengxiang. Clothes have been distributed, and there is still a full meal every day. The camps are quite stable. When the army crosses the river, they will be divided into eight battalions to transfer food, grass and equipment in turn. It has been three years since Pengxiang's food and equipment have been assembled, and I personally visited it last month, and everything is safe."

Gu Mansion.

"Husband, I want to sell a few of the livestock on Gu's farm during the Chinese New Year. What do you think?"

In the Guihe Courtyard of the Gu Mansion, Meng Xiaowan was removing hairpins in front of the mirror, and talked to Zhang Zhe by the way.

"You are in charge of everything at home, why did you suddenly think of it and want to tell me?"

"The matter of selling animals came to my mind on the spur of the moment. I was afraid that the old lady would not like it."

Zhang Zhe put down the book in his hand: "Why do you suddenly remember that you want to sell animals?"

"I have no choice." Meng Xiaowan let her hair loose and sat beside Zhang Zhe, "The prices of coarse grains and rice bran in the city have risen sharply. I heard that a businessman from the north has collected all the coarse grains and rice bran in the surrounding area. The price of coarse grains is almost catching up to that of ordinary grains now. I figured it out, it would be too costly to raise livestock for the winter like this. Why don’t you sell a few and send someone to the north to buy some livestock next month? .”

"Prices of ordinary grains* grains, meat and vegetables haven't moved?"

"It's almost Chinese New Year, so it has naturally increased, but the price of fish has dropped. It is said that the Wu army on the other side of the cold weather does not patrol the river, and the fishermen dare to go into the river. The catch is much more than usual. That is. The prices of coarse grains and rice bran are really strange."

Zhang Zhe suddenly became interested. He studied economics in modern times and belonged to the half-pot keyboard warrior party.

He took out a piece of paper and began to list various things that happened recently.

Seeing that he had written a full page of words, Meng Xiaowan stepped aside.

"Husband, what are you planning to do?"

"Hehe, my master once taught me a supreme knowledge called politics and economics. It is best to deduce many big things from a few small things."

Meng Xiaowan smiled in his ear: "My husband's way of talking and laughing is really very sincere. I don't know what the respected teacher has taught you besides the way of the world. Could it be that you can coax the concubine by changing the name of fortune-telling? go?"

Zhang Zhe pursed his mouth, and began to cross out the missing messages one by one, leaving only those messages that seemed abnormal compared to usual.

After a long time, Meng Xiaowan had already gone to bed and called him twice. At this time, there were still six messages left on the paper.

First, unlike previous years, all the beggars and refugees in the city were swept away and all rushed to the south.The government office, the general department, and the officers and soldiers are collectively doing this;

Second, Mrs. Shentu said that His Majesty would summon him and let them stay in Jiangling;

Third, His Majesty went to Hedong again;
Fourth, Mrs. Shentu suddenly returned to Jiangling;

Fifth, Wu Jun did not patrol the river due to the cold weather, and the catch increased;

Sixth, the prices of coarse grains and rice bran soared.

A trace of cold sweat crept up Zhang Zhe's back. He threw the pen away, turned on the lamp and got under the covers.

Meng Xiaowan helped him remove his clothes under the quilt, and couldn't help but pat him.

"Why is my husband so surprised? I don't know what Daoist Zhang of my family has figured out?"

Zhang Zhe hugged his wife tightly, and said in a low voice: "Don't sell the livestock, stock up more grain and cloth at home, and I'm sending people to buy some common wound medicine tomorrow, and ask if the price has also risen? Also, ask the carriage and horse shop if the price of fodder has also risen, don't go to the place where the fodder is sold, just remember it."

When Meng Xiaowan heard "wound medicine" and "forage", something came to mind.

"Husband, what are you thinking about! It's winter, it's freezing and snowy, how can anyone think of fighting?"

Zhang Zhe kissed her ear.

"Our Jiangbei is a world of ice and snow, but the other side of the river is not!"

After Meng Xiaowan waved away the servant who answered, she suppressed the trembling of her hands and returned to her room.

"Husband!" She hugged Zhang Zhe tightly, "We will return to Wuling immediately!"

Hearing Meng Xiaowan's words, Zhang Zhe immediately realized that the prices of wound medicine and fodder had started to rise sharply.

"Then pack your things! I'll come back after meeting a few people, and book a boat by the way. You write a letter to Madam Shentu, saying that there is something going on at Wuling's house, and write lightly, don't overdo it."

"Ok!"

(End of this chapter)