At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the competition for the deer in the world

Chapter 34

Cheng De felt a lot more relaxed after throwing a bunch of miscellaneous matters to Lu Bu and Luo Mao.

Seven days later.

At this time, Cheng De was reading a book alone in the room.

soon.

The next person came to report, and Deng Youde asked to see him.

Cheng De met Deng Youde in the study.

Seeing Deng Youde's happy face, it must be done.

"Has the property been recovered?" Cheng De looked away from the book and looked at Deng Youde with a smile.

Deng Youde nodded: "Reporting to the general, all of them have been recovered, and the subordinates have packed them all into boxes. A total of thirteen boxes have been packed, and the general can take them all away when he returns to Sizhou City."

"It's a good job, remember the credit first. However, the person who does this this time can get three taels of silver each, and take the time to hand over this list." Cheng De narrowed his eyes and looked at Deng Youde.

Upon hearing this, Deng Youde immediately replied, "Yes, General!"

"What's the reaction from Miss Ma?" Cheng De asked casually, looking at the roof.

Deng Youde was taken aback.

Only then did I remember that before the general ordered Zhao Jun's head to be sent to the Guo Mansion, he had to point out that the general did it for Miss Ma.

Seeing Cheng De's unfriendly gaze, Deng Youde quickly replied: "When my subordinates brought Zhao Junyong's head into the Guo Mansion, they didn't see Miss Ma. I heard from the servants of the Guo Mansion that Miss Ma has been here for the past few days. I was busy with Guo Zixing's funeral, and I spared no effort to comfort the people in the back house of Guo's mansion. But the general's words were brought to me by my subordinates."

Cheng De was somewhat disappointed.

Do you want to see me?

Forget it, let's talk about it later.

"I have something for you to do. Once this matter is done, I will promote you to be the governor!" Cheng De said seriously.

When Deng Youde heard this, he quickly patted his chest and said, "General, just give orders."

"Haozhou has been captured by me. I want you to go to Fengyang County and recruit soldiers there." Cheng De said calmly.

Deng Youde asked suspiciously: "General, why don't you recruit troops in Zhongli? Besides, Zhongli is not far from Haozhou."

Cheng De sighed: "You don't understand this matter after talking about it. In short, handle this matter well."

I don't understand?don't understand what?
If the general doesn't want to say it, he can just say it.

Deng Youde cursed in his heart.

Deng Youde was about to resign and leave, "Wait!"

Cheng De stopped Deng Youde.

Deng Youde paused, "General, what else can I order?"

"Remember, if the names of Xu Da, Tang He, Zhou Dexing, Hua Yun, Geng Zaicheng, etc. appear on the recruiting roster, you must send someone to tell me urgently, and you must not forget it." Cheng De solemnly urged .

Seeing this, Deng Youde quickly replied: "Yes, General!"

Strange, is there something special about the people the general mentioned?
Have a chance to get in touch.

Deng Youde thought about all this in his heart.

"Okay, don't stick around here anymore, set off immediately and take 500 people under your command to Fengyang to recruit soldiers!" Cheng De waved his hand.

Deng Youde opened his mouth and left depressed.

As for why Deng Youde only let Deng Youde pay attention to those names, the reason is very simple.

He didn't remember the other names.

However, Chang Yuchun, Lan Yu, and Hu Dahai, when he returned to Haozhou City yesterday, secretly assigned tasks to the Jinyiwei led by Zhang Qijiu.

Jin Yiwei secretly searched for it.

At the same time, he wrote a secret letter and sent someone to expedite it, and handed it to Yang Zhongkai, the commander of the Jushengwei in Sizhou City.

The content is to ask him to send Jueshengwei to secretly search for a monk named Zhu Chongba in Fengyang, Dingyuan, Chuzhou, Sizhou, Hefei and other places.

At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang may still be begging for alms!
Now, it is December tenth.

However, a shadow was cast over Cheng De's heart.

Jiangbei Province has not had a single snowfall since the beginning of winter.

In Cheng De's view, this situation is very common.

But when Lu didn't have to tell him solemnly in person, he paid attention.

He remembered a proverb: auspicious snow heralds a good year.

But what about a winter without snow?

How would that be?

He secretly sent Yang Wei to lead people to visit various villages under the rule, ask old people for advice, and record their views on a winter without snow.

But now Yang Wei has not come back.

Not long ago, at the suggestion of Lu Yong, he recruited more soldiers under his rule, secretly preparing for the attack on Chuzhou, Jinling and other places in advance.

At the same time, a navy was formed.

However, the number of the navy is not large, only 1000 people.

He has not yet decided on the candidate to lead the water army, so he will temporarily put it under his own name.

But the training of the water army started after Lu didn't have to let the thousand-man fleet on Huai'an Road send some good water fighters.

However, now his soldiers and horses have reached 4 through expansion.

The daily food consumption of the whole army is huge, reaching an astonishing four thousand shi of food.

After only seven days, he felt that the food was a bit stretched.

Food is far from enough.

According to the statistics presented below, the food remaining today, combined with several sites, can only support an army of 25 for [-] days.

This is still considered, under the premise of slaughtering some pigs and sheep during the period.

And it also counted the fish and shrimps and other food that Lu didn't send the fleet to catch before.

The situation is extremely serious.

What if there is no food?
It wasn't long before he arranged for Lu Wuji to start allocating the land to the poor people under his rule for cultivation, and urged him to do a good job in farming.

Don't think about getting anything right now.

Then grab the Yuan army!
Cheng De's original plan was to wait until the spring of next year before using weapons, but the current situation of unsustainable food made him have to focus on the Yuan army.

The information collected by Jueshengwei is as follows:

Dong Tuanxiao, the general manager of Jining Road, led an elite army of 5 yuan to occupy Shou County, besieging a Red Scarf army there.

On the seventh day of December, the Red Scarf Army was wiped out.

Hefei Cheli does not spend [-] soldiers, has many soldiers and generals, and has a lot of food.

Chuzhou is now in charge of Chi Tai, a thousand households under Jia Lu.

Chuzhou's terrain is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and has already contacted Lu Timur, a general of the Yuan Army on the Yangzhou Road.

And Lu Timur has 15 troops under his command.

As for Huai'an Lu Yuan General Ai Yin's squad, which is said to be one hundred thousand, it is actually less than this number, but they are all elites.

These are the surrounding Yuan armies under his rule.

Not to be underestimated.

On the whole, it seems that Shou County can be played.

But Shou County is a quagmire, and Cheng De doesn't want to sink into it.

After all, this Shou County was taken down by Liu Futong's Red Turban Army before, and now it was only taken by the Yuan Army for a while.

Even if he defeated the Shou County Yuan army, it might be a miserable victory.

If he really took Shou County, it would mean fighting against Liu Futong's Red Scarf Army.

There are enemies everywhere right now, and he doesn't want another enemy.

One more ally is better than one more enemy.

Even nominal anti-Yuan allies are fine.

In short, Dashou County is thankless.

In Chuzhou, he felt that he could not fight either.

Even if he wins Chuzhou in the end, he has to face Cheli Buhua in Hefei, Lu Timur in Yangzhou Road, and Yuan Jiang in Jiqing Road at the same time.

The yuan army on the opposite side adds up to at least 30, so how can we fight.

Therefore, Chuzhou cannot be fought for the time being.

Thinking of the impulsiveness when he hit Chuzhou before, Cheng De secretly felt lucky.

As for the Ain Squad on Huai'an Road, no matter whether they were fighting on the water or on the ground, they couldn't beat it.

For water combat, the water army he formed was still very weak and had almost no combat effectiveness.

In ground combat, the opponent has a lot of cavalry, so they are not opponents.Moreover, the Yuan army on Huai'an Road also had artillery.

Those who can fight can't fight.

You can't beat it.

This is the dilemma Cheng De has to face.

Now it seems that we can only break down one by one.

Thinking of this, Cheng De felt heavy and helpless.

A heavy pressure made him feel a little suffocated.

After thinking again and again, he decided to let Yang Zhongkai continue to develop the Jueshengwei secretly, and spread his manpower to Huai'an Road, Yangzhou Road, Hefei and other places to inquire about all kinds of information about Chelibuhua, Lu Timur, and Ainban.

Afterwards, he can implement countermeasures to defeat them one by one based on that information.

So Cheng De quickly wrote a letter and sent it to Yang Zhongkai in Sizhou City.

However, when he thought of the food problem, Cheng De had a headache.

At this moment, the servants came to report that Yang Wei had returned.

Cheng De's heart trembled.

What does a winter without snow mean?
The answer will be revealed soon.

Cheng De met Yang Wei in the study.

Yang Wei handed a stack of thick paper to Cheng De.

Seeing Yang Wei's heavy expression, Cheng De's expression changed.

Cheng De looked at them one by one.

Cheng De looked very slowly.

An hour later.

Cheng De looked very painful.

If there is no snow in one winter, next year there will definitely be an infestation of insects and locusts, and famine will be imminent.

This is the most frequently mentioned point in these collated records.

Thinking that many people will die next year, Cheng De's heart is very sad.

He felt powerless in this kind of natural disaster.

Thinking of the corn and potatoes far away, Cheng De's eyes turned red.

Facing this news, an extremely dark thought even arose in his heart.

a long time.

Cheng De said faintly: "Pass my order, the Sizhou army—"

Cheng De suddenly couldn't continue.

Yang Wei looked up at Cheng De, waiting for Cheng De's new order.

That's it.

"It's nothing, you go down and rest first!" Cheng De waved his hand.

Yang Wei nodded: "This subordinate resigns!"

The candlelight in the study room was dim, Cheng De was in the shadow of the candlelight, his face was terribly gloomy.

He had a hard time making a decision.

"Zhang Wusi!"

"Subordinates are here!"

"Let Zhang Qijiu come here!"

It didn't take long.

Zhang Qijiu is here.

"Zhang Qijiu, I have something I want to ask you to handle personally! The less people know about this matter, the better!" Cheng De's eyes dimmed.

Zhang Qijiu swallowed his saliva, lowered his eyes, bowed and said: "General, please order!"

"Come forward!" Cheng De said, with mixed emotions on his face.

Zhang Qijiu did so.

Cheng De whispered something next to Zhang Qijiu's ear.

While Zhang Qijiu was listening, his eyes were wide open, showing fear.

A piercing chill filled Zhang Qijiu's body.

After finishing speaking, Cheng De lightly patted Zhang Qijiu's shoulder and said: "Although the food obtained by this move is against humanity, it is worth it compared to being able to live countless people! If there is another way, I will never make such a bad plan. As my confidant, you have to understand my feelings! I am also suffering in my heart!"

"Subordinates—we must handle this matter well!" Zhang Qijiu's voice trembled slightly, and his whole body trembled.

Just as Zhang Qijiu was about to leave, "Wait a minute!"

Zhang Qijiu paused and lowered his head.

"You can only choose someone you can trust to handle this matter!" Cheng De said quietly.

"This subordinate understands!" Zhang Qijiu responded.

"No, you still don't understand that in this world, only dead people can be trusted!" Cheng De said expressionlessly.

Zhang Qijiu was so frightened that his ghosts froze, "General——"

Seeing Zhang Qijiu's expression, Cheng De sighed: "After the matter is completed, other people involved in the matter will be dealt with secretly, and I will record their names in the Heroic Monument. And their wives, children, and parents will I will always be protected and cared for by the General's Mansion!"

Zhang Qijiu's face turned pale, and the corners of his mouth were dry.

what about me?
In the future, will he enter the Heroic Monument in this way?

Suddenly, feeling Cheng De's sharp scrutiny, Zhang Qijiu woke up with a start.

"Subordinate—understood." Zhang Qijiu seemed to have exhausted all his strength.

Either way!

All that the general asked me to do was really for the common people.

As for those crimes, let me bear them for the general!

From now on, I will be the sword in the general's hand!

A sharp knife!

At this moment, Zhang Qijiu seemed to understand his mission.

Cheng De stared at Zhang Qijiu for a while, then quietly said: "Zhang Qijiu, don't blame me!"

Hearing this, Zhang Qijiu hurriedly bowed to salute, and said solemnly: "This subordinate will never betray the general!"

After Cheng De asked Zhang Qijiu to leave, he looked at his back and thought: I hope he won't betray you!
Hey!
What I have done must not be written in the history books.

No one knows, is the safest.

Cheng De looked at the direction Zhang Qijiu was leaving, and sighed faintly.

Two days later.

Deng Youde sent a letter in Fengyang.

After Cheng De opened the letter, his face was very happy.

"Xu Da, Tang He, Hua Yun and others are finally in my hands!" Cheng De laughed.

In a few days, when Xu Da and the others come to Haozhou, they must see each other.

Three more days passed.

Deng Youde recruited 700 soldiers in Fengyang and returned.

Cheng De asked Deng Youde to bring Xu Da and others whom he had been paying attention to to the meeting hall of Wanhu Mansion in Haozhou.

After Cheng De came to the conference hall.

"I've seen the general!" All the people present bowed and saluted.

Cheng De smiled gently, "Who is Xu Da?"

"General, Xu Da is the humble one."

Cheng De looked up and found that Xu Da had a clear face, slightly high cheekbones, a burly figure, and a very energetic gaze.

"That's right, from now on, you will be the head of my ten households! Wherever I go, you will go with me. This is the arrangement for now, and I will make other arrangements when you make meritorious service in the future." Cheng De smiled.

"Xu Da thanked General for his promotion!" Xu Da bowed and saluted with excitement.

Cheng De nodded, then looked at the others, "Who is Tang He?"

"General, your subordinate is Tang He!"

Looking at the person in front of him, with a calm demeanor and serious eyes, he was overjoyed.

"Very well, you, like Xu Da, are also the head of ten households. You also serve in front of me." Cheng De said.

"General Tang and Xie!" Tang He's face was still serious, but his eyes were full of surprise.

Cheng De asked again, "Who is Hua Yun?"

"Report to General, Hua Yun is my subordinate!"

Ok?
Cheng De took a quick look and found that this person had a dark complexion and was very majestic.

I didn't expect the name to be so elegant.

But Cheng De knew that this person was quite capable.

"I intend to arrange you to be the head of ten households with Li Sanqi in Dingyuan, and assist Li Sanqi to guard Dingyuan."

"Thank you, general, for your promotion!" Hua Yun said with joy.

Although he didn't arrange to meet Cheng De, he also knew the name of Dingyuan Li Dingguo, and he was just as good under him.

In any case, he is also the head of ten households.

"Who is Geng Zaicheng?"

"General, your subordinate is Geng Zaicheng!"

Seeing Geng Zaicheng's regular facial features, Cheng De was quite surprised.

"From your accent, you are from Sizhou, why did you go to Fengyang?"

Geng Zaicheng looked embarrassed, "Reporting to the general, because life is difficult, the little one went to visit relatives!"

Cheng De nodded, "You, like Xu Da and the others, use it in front of me and temporarily serve as the head of ten households. Normally, you and Xu Da and the others mainly protect my safety, and then help with some things!"

"Yes, thank you General!" Geng Zaicheng looked excited.

Cheng De turned his head and looked at the last person, "Are you Zhou Dexing?"

"General, Zhou Dexing's subordinate is none other than Zhou Dexing!" Zhou Dexing replied with a calm and composed expression.

Cheng De nodded, "Very good, you use it in front of me too, and become the head of ten households!"

"Thank you, General!" Zhou Dexing bowed and saluted with a happy face.

In the end, Cheng De looked at Deng Youde, "Deng Youde, this time Fengyang recruited troops and recruited these future generals. They have contributed a lot and will be promoted to the commander of the cavalry battalion from now on!"

"Thank you General Deng Youde for your promotion!" Deng Youde bowed and saluted, his face extremely happy.

Seeing this, Xu Da and others were all envious.

Everyone secretly swears: In the future, I will also be a master!

Afterwards, Cheng De chatted with them for a while, and then let them leave.

Afterwards, Xu Da, Tang He, Zhou Dexing, and Geng Zaicheng all wore jet-black battle armor and, as ten household heads, stationed outside Cheng De's study in Wanhu Mansion in Haozhou.

Inside the study.

Cheng De is reading "Historical Records" and "Gaozu Benji".

a long time.

Cheng De closed the book and couldn't help saying with emotion: "There are many things in Liu Bang that are worth learning from!"

at this time.

Xu Da's voice came from outside the study.

"General, a middle-aged scribe came from outside the mansion and said that he wants to join the general!"

Cheng De put down the book, "What is this person's name?"

"Report to General, this person said his name is Li Shanchang!"

what?
Li Shanchang is here!
Cheng De sat up straight and said, "Xu Da, go and invite that Mr. Li to my study!"

"Yes, General!"

Cheng De thought to himself, "Now that Li Shanchang is here, his relatives, teachers and friends will also be in my hands from now on!"

Now that Li Shanchang is here, what about Liu Bowen?
Don't try to run and hide!
All the talents in the world can only be in my hands!

(End of this chapter)