Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 253

As soon as Zhao Xingde and the Han army had a preliminary trust, they had to part ways. Han Ningshuang would lead all the generals of the Han army to continue southward, sneaking into Fuzhou and Suzhou, secretly contacting the Zhenzhen tribe, and capturing the Suzhou Guan, and then the heroes of the Han army from all walks of life gathered together in the south of Suzhou Guan.And Zhao Xingde returned to Fenghuang Village, where he trained gunners for the Han army. After Xia Guo's aid to the Han army arrived, a batch of iron barrel cannons for defending the city could come in handy.

"League Leader Han, everyone, let's leave now, there will be a later date." Zhao Xingde sat on the horse and cupped his hands.

"Mr. Zhao, there will be a meeting later." Wang Xuansu clasped his fists and said in a deep voice.Sixth brother Zhang rushed to Chenzhou ahead of time, Gao Bolong wanted to restrain his subordinates, so he came to Zhao Xingde early in the morning to say goodbye.Although these generals of the Han army were repulsed and suspicious of Zhao Xingde at the beginning, as they got to know each other better, they are now able to treat each other honestly.After all, they are some hot-blooded men, so Zhao Xingde didn't care about it in his heart.If it weren't for these people destroying their homes to relieve their difficulties, beheading and shedding blood, I'm afraid Liaodong would have been in a state of complete silence.

"There will be a time later." Han Ningshuang looked at Zhao Xingde's back, whispered, turned the horse's head, lightly urged the horse, and the war horse began to trot.Wang Ji waved to Zhao Xingde, and led the guards of the army to follow. The cavalry of the brigade, and the marching column composed of carriages meandered. When they arrived at Kaizhou, nearly 2000 people had gathered.

The place where we parted ways with the Han army was already very close to Phoenix Mountain. After galloping for half a day, we saw some newly reclaimed fields along the way. Messy footprints.Came to a camp in the forest, the huts were made of branches and birch bark, and the stove propped up by the branches was still emitting green smoke, but there was no one around.It was as if they were suddenly attacked by the enemy and took everyone away.There was not a single living thing in the camp, only the dots of sunlight 'shooting' through the dense forest were still shaking.

Zhao Xingde was wondering, Du Chuijiao and Liu Zheng were on guard, and the sergeants took out their bows and arrows.Suddenly there were several birdsongs in front of him, three long and three short, and the expressions on the faces of Du Chuijiao and the others eased. Only then did a figure appear faintly, and he asked loudly, "Which brother from the camp is coming?"

Zhao Xingde nodded, and Liu Zheng replied loudly, "General Zhao is back."

Sergeant Sun Dalin poked his head out from behind the dense forest. The military robe he wore from the Kingdom of Xia was already a bit worn out, because he had been taking a moderate amount of sex for a long time, and his face was somewhat disheveled.Soon he recognized Zhao Xingde in the crowd, his eyes were full of joy and excitement, he quickly put the knife back into its sheath, waved behind him and shouted: "That's right, General Zhao is back." In the woods of Qiu, Pan Yuheng, the head of ten husbands, also appeared, and the two quickly came to Zhao Xingde, bowed together and said: "See you, general." Behind him, hundreds of people appeared one after another, men and women Everyone, young and old, held hoes, sickles, wooden forks and other things used in land reclamation. Seeing this group of high officials on horseback, they all came over and bowed to say hello. In a panic, there were no ones who knelt and kowtowed in a hurry.

Zhao Xingde nodded in satisfaction, got off his horse and paid a few salutes to everyone, then asked Pan Yuheng, "After we leave, how is the situation in the mountains?" There is still a distance from this place to Fenghuang Village, so he roughly estimated that if it was closer than here If most of the wasteland in the country has been reclaimed one after another, the resettled people may not be a small number.Within the sphere of influence of the Kingdom of Jin, many of the original prefectures and counties of the Liao Kingdom were plundered, and many people were displaced. Then they cut off contact, and only occasionally got some vague news from the Han army.

When the captain asked, Pan Yuheng didn't dare to be negligent, and he will report the situation in the past few months one by one.Since Zhao Xingde left, the soldiers of Chengyingying went out to coerce and relocate the people according to the plan. They not only issued the original land title deeds, but also managed the people in an orderly manner.Just over a month ago, the sea-going ships of Chengying’s [-]th Battalion arrived in Liaodong. Apart from artillery and other ordnance, there were also nearly ten thousand stones of grain along with them. The grain arrived, and the people had the hope of spending the winter, and they all followed Mr. Xia to reclaim wasteland in a down-to-earth manner.

As soon as the master blacksmiths who came with the seaborne artillery arrived, Jin Changtai dispatched a hundred strong men to help, and ordered them to start the furnace to smelt iron immediately.The furnace for making iron has been built long ago, and a lot of charcoal and iron ore have been stockpiled. The process and formula have been determined long ago, which are no different from those in Chunyu Iron Works.It only took a few days for the iron factory to open the furnace, and the results came out continuously.Good molten iron was used to make weapons, and poor ones were used to make iron hoes, iron forks, iron axes and other agricultural tools.Now they are distributed to shade households in the order of first come, first served.

Compared with the chaotic war outside, the generation around Phoenix Mountain is like a paradise.Although it is difficult to start a business and the road is blue, the people always have the hope of living as individuals in the "chaotic" world.According to the rules of the Xia Kingdom, shady households hand in [-]% of their annual income, and with the fertile black soil of Liaodong, they can hand over [-]% of the food and they will not starve to death. .After the spread of all kinds of situations, not only were there far fewer fleeing and rebelling than other Han army cottages, but there were also many people who took the initiative to bring their families to seek refuge. Now there are already [-] "shady households" under the eighth battalion of Chengying Yukou, but compared with the shady households controlled by ordinary military camps in the hinterland of Xia Kingdom, the number is slightly smaller, so the sergeants are also very familiar with managing them.

Zhao Xingde listened to the report and was quite satisfied with Jin Changtai's overall planning during this period.The horseshoes were brisk, and it was not too late, and they had already arrived at the Sanyin Village of Phoenix Mountain. The return of the school captain caused another round of cheers among the soldiers Xia.People far or near temporarily put down their busy hands and asked their companions what made everyone so happy. "It's Captain Zhao who's back." "Who is Captain Zhao?" "You're stupid, the land deed of your house is stamped with his seal."

There was an oak tree in front of the tent of the Chinese army. When Zhao Xingde set off, a new bud had just sprouted. It hadn't been seen for several months, but now it was full of greenery.To Zhao Xingde's regret, Jin Changtai took his soldiers to inspect the charcoal burning field at the logging camp three miles away, so he had to hold back the words of praise he had in mind.Captain Li Sihai of Chengying [-]th Battalion waited for several days in the village, Zhao Xingde just took his seat, so he asked the sergeant to invite him to meet him.

Before Zhao Xingde became a lieutenant, Li Sihai was the youngest lieutenant in Chengying Army. There was an occasional sharp look in his eyes.When he stepped into the tent, he cupped his hands and smiled, "Captain Zhao, it's not easy to see you."

Zhao Xingde also stood up and was polite. Although the two belonged to the Chengying Army, it was the first time they met, so they exchanged pleasantries first.This is slowly turning to the topic.In the future, the development of Xia Kingdom's power in Liaodong will fall on these two generals.Zhao Xingde introduced to Li Sihai the situation of the Han Army Alliance and his observation of the Jurchen Jin Kingdom's power, while Li Sihai introduced to Zhao Xingde many recent events in the Xia Kingdom, Song Kingdom, and Liao Kingdom, which were all old news to him. For Zhao Xingde, who had different news from the Shanzhai for several months in this remote place in Liaodong, it was all news.More importantly, Li Sihai brought the long-awaited letter from home to the soldiers of Chengying Camp.

"It's hard to get letters from home in this place where the birds don't shit. It's really not easy for the brothers of the Eighth Battalion." Li Sihai smiled with sympathy in his eyes, "The Military Intelligence Department plans to set up a In the future, after the Pigeon Post is built, urgent military information can be sent across the sea with pigeons, and then delivered by fast horses after arriving in Liaodong. Letters from home will still be sent in batches with the fast boat.”

"Really?" Zhao Xingde was a little surprised, and sighed, "It's really not an easy task for the Military Intelligence Department to lay piles in this barren and chaotic place. It's really hard for them to think about the brothers." said, taking a sip of tea.

"What's so strange about this." Li Sihai smiled slightly, leaned closer, and said in a low voice, "To tell the truth, Brother Zhao, if this Suzhou Guannan can be managed, it will not be as simple as passing on military information." He reached out and touched it. After ordering tea, I drew a shape of Suzhou Guannan on the table, and even drew a few strokes of the general graphics of Liaodong and the coast of Song Dynasty.

"Lieutenant Zhao, look, Suzhou Guannan is only a little bit connected to the land, but the hinterland is not small, and it is densely covered with mountains and surrounds a good port. It is easy to defend and difficult to attack. If you manage this place, It only needs to guard these several dangerous passes, and the cost of troops is not much. Then, the navy will start from the port here, from Liaodong all the way south to Shandong in the Song Dynasty, and then to Huainan and Jinling, all within the reach of the sword. The momentum It is really no small matter. Even if the Song Dynasty takes precautions, at least [-] troops will be exhausted. In the future, if we want to take the Kanto, we will raise a brigade of elite soldiers from the southern part of Suzhou, go ashore from Shandong, break Bianliang's arm, and then go up the river to take Huainan , cut off the water transportation. What a credit this is."

Li Sihai said in a seductive voice while drawing the marching route: "Now Liaodong is in chaos, and Liao and Jin have no time to worry about it. , I took this place and managed it as the foundation of my power towards the east, and I have all the advantages of the location. The right time, the right place, the people and the three are all ready, hehe, Xiaowei Zhao, we don’t want to be promoted to the title of Marquis, it’s impossible.”

Zhao Xingde listened to him quietly, and then said with a wry smile: "Lieutenant Li, this place is good, but it's a pity that people have already missed it."