Horse on the World

Chapter 342 A Worrying Incident

Shanglinli, as the bridgehead for attacking the grassland that Dingzhou focused on in the past, invested a lot. Not only the majestic Shanglinli city was built, but also a lot of effort was made to build enclosures, a large number of immigrants, reclaim wasteland, grow food, and build The fences connected the surrounding houses together. Later, the war began to advance step by step to the depths of the grassland, and Shanglinli became an important logistics base. With the increase of security here, more immigrants began to settle here. , and now they have formed villages one by one, scattered around Shanglinli City.

When Luo Daoming received the urgent order from Bayan Hara, he couldn't believe his eyes. As an official promoted by Xiao Yuanshan, he felt very lucky that he was not punished in Li Qing's time. He was surprised to stay in the position for so long. He always thought that if Li Qing had a suitable candidate, Li Qing would definitely get rid of him, and then transfer himself to a cold yamen as a cold bench.

What he didn't expect was that now Li Qing did transfer him away, but he was promoted and reused instead of being left behind.From the order, he knew that Li Qing would set up the Western Region Protectorate, and he immediately realized that the Eastern Protectorate would actually become the core of the entire grassland. In this position, the area under its jurisdiction would actually be larger than that of Dingzhou. bigger.

Surprised, a little panic, after the panic, but excited.As an official in his prime who just passed his 40th birthday, he didn't have any ambitions, but with the downfall of Xiao Yuanshan, his heart also cooled down, but what he didn't expect was that after living in fear Three years later, the opportunity presented itself.

The Duhu of the Duhu Mansion is not inferior to the magistrate of a prefecture. Although he has never dreamed of being compared with the magistrates like Lu Yiming and Xu Yunfeng, at least in name, the status of the Duhu of the Duhu Mansion is comparable to them.

Along with Li Qing's order came a secret letter from Li Qing. In this letter, Li Qing expounded that the barbarians should turn nomadic pastoralism into settlements, and change their focus from grazing to land reclamation, supplemented by grazing. It is to gradually change the living habits of these inland barbarians and bind them to the land. This policy will be a long-term one, and it may take many years to produce results. But now Luo Daoming is the first thing to do It is to build houses for these inland barbarians, let them give up their tents first, and gradually change from the most basic living habits.

Time was tight and the task was heavy. After receiving the order, Luo Daoming spent a day handing over to the officials who took over as magistrate of Xinyang County. He only brought a guard and hurried on the road to Shanglinli. I can only live in Xinyang first, and pick them up after I finish my work.

After arriving in Shanglinli, Luo Daoming didn't have time to appreciate the great difference between the grassland scenery in Shanglinli and Xinyang, so he went straight to the yamen and immediately held an emergency meeting to discuss with the village elders.

To mobilize manpower and allocate materials, within 20 days, at least 2 to [-] houses must be built. This is an extremely heavy task, especially now that it is the spring plowing season. The officials and the elders of the villages all showed embarrassment.

Luo Daoming said resolutely: "I know everyone has difficulties, but this is a death order from the commander in chief. We must fulfill it unconditionally. I have already made a request to the military government. The military government will mobilize [-] new recruits from the recruit training camp for emergency Go to Shanglinli, and the left-behind garrison in Shanglinli will join in addition to the normal patrol duty. As for the young and old in each village, because spring plowing cannot be delayed, one day every three days must be used to complete this task. Task."

"If this is the case, I think all of us can accept it." A villager said, "It's just Mr. Luo, these barbarians are enemies with us. Is it necessary for us to treat them like this?" Judging from his tone, this person should be A native of Dingzhou, he doesn't have the slightest affection for the barbarians. However, most of the immigrants in Shanglin come from other states in the hinterland of the Central Plains.

Luo Daoming said: "This old man's words are wrong. If the barbarians were our enemies before, but now we have defeated them and conquered them. From now on, they are all people under the rule of the general. , except for their different ethnic groups, they are no different from us. Our Dachu is a state of etiquette. These grassland herdsmen have moved from far away. As the host, shouldn't we treat them warmly? Let them feel at home, let them Minimize the pain of leaving home and let them contribute to the development of our Dingzhou? In the future, the strength of Dingzhou will not only depend on us, but also on them!"

"Your Excellency has a good opinion!" Many village elders talked about the truth, but naturally they couldn't compare with Luo Daoming, an official who is full of knowledge and good at handling affairs, and with a few words, he convinced everyone.

On the third day after Luo Daoming took office, a round of construction boom began in Shanglinli. The houses were built with wood and stones. Except for the main city of Shanglinli, all the bastions and defensive fortresses outside were demolished, and all the materials were used for building houses. above.

A month later, a convoy from afar appeared on the horizon in the distance, and the outpost personnel of the selection battalion galloping ahead saw the tall city wall in the upper forest, all cheered and galloped, and returned home.

After receiving the report, Luo Daoming brought a team of gongs and drums to the gate of the main city of Shanglinli. He should have organized a large-scale welcome party to welcome these returning soldiers, but now everyone in Shanglinli is desperately When building a house, Luo Daoming could only keep everything simple.

An hour later, a large group of people appeared in everyone's field of vision.

Ten days after the first group of people set off, Li Qing's second group also started from Bayan Har. After several days of marching, Li Qing received an urgent message from Qingfeng at the campsite.

King Ning took action. On March [-]th, the first year of Zhaoqing in the Great Chu Dynasty, King Ning raised troops in Ningzhou, under the banner of punishing ministers and the side of the Qing emperor. On the day of the army, a total of five states in the south responded. King Ning ordered to be stationed in Qingzhou and Gaizhou. Lu Xiaobo and Zhang Wei sent troops to attack Qinzhou, an important military town.The collision of the two largest forces in Dachu kicked off in Qinzhou with a bang.

The era of the great Chu heroes cutting off dramas has officially arrived.

As for the collision between these two forces, Li Qing had expected it earlier, but he didn't take it seriously. Another official document from Qingfeng caught his attention. The network deployed by the Statistical and Investigation Department in the area controlled by the Lu family in the north found that there were important people in the Lu family who had a relationship with them. Luzhou has frequent contacts, and Luzhou is the buffer zone between Dingzhou and the Lu family in the north. If Luzhou falls to the Lu family, Dingzhou will directly face the threat of the Lu family.

The Lu family controls the north and has tens of thousands of elite soldiers. Like the barbarians that Dingzhou just conquered, the Lu family in the north is also dominated by cavalry, and there are many ethnic minorities under its rule. The Lu family has managed the north for several generations. Through marriages with these ethnic groups, the economy The integration of the world has completely controlled these ethnic groups. Unlike Dingzhou, the Lu family in the north controls several states in the open and in the dark. Whether it is resources, population, or economy, they are much stronger than Dingzhou. Without the buffer zone of Luzhou, there would be a tiger sleeping soundly next to the couch in Dingzhou, which Li Qing absolutely did not want to see.

Could it be that the Lu family wants to attack Dingzhou, which has just ended the war and has not recovered its vitality?Li Qing felt a strong uneasiness in his heart, so he wrote back to instruct Qingfeng to immediately step up the investigation of this clue and make sure to find out Lu's true intentions.

Could it be that the war against the barbarians has just ended, and is it about to be involved in another great war?This was what Li Qing was unwilling to do, and it was also the result that Dingzhou was most unwilling to face.

Li Qing summoned Shang Haibo. Facing this emergency, Shang Haibo pondered for a moment, pointed to the map and said to Li Qing: "Commander, now we can only stop calmly and let Qingfeng figure out the other party's true intentions first." If the other party really has this intention, we can only act first, and send troops to occupy Luofeng County and Nagasaki County, which border Luzhou and our Dingzhou, but we can't go too deep. We just need to let Mrs. Lu understand that we already know him No matter how many troops are stationed in these two counties, I don’t think the Lu clan will choose to confront us head-on. After all, Dingzhou’s soldiers who have fought in hundreds of battles have pushed us into a hurry, and it will not do him any good. Even if he wins, it can only be A tragic victory, and the result of the tragic victory is that he will be swallowed up by other forces that are eyeing him."

Li Qing nodded, "That's right, we only occupy these two counties and let the rest of Luzhou become a buffer zone for our two families. What we need is time. As long as we give me three to five years, we will have enough strength in Dingzhou Deal with threats from either side."

"I'm afraid we have to send an army back to Dingzhou first. Now we are marching too slowly. I am worried that the other party will take risks and send troops suddenly before we have turned back."

"Let the cavalry of the Changsheng Battalion and the Xuanfeng Battalion go back first, Mr. Shang, you also go back to Dingzhou with the two battalions and take charge of the overall situation!" Li Qing said.

That night, the Changsheng Battalion and the Xuanfeng Battalion broke away from the brigade and returned to Dingzhou at an accelerated speed. This action did not cause much disturbance among the ordinary people and soldiers, but it caused a lot of repercussions among the senior generals. I knew in my heart that something must have happened in Dingzhou, and the general would have made such a move. Boyan, Sushun, Nuo Qi'a and others also speculated in their hearts, but Li Qing didn't say it clearly, so naturally everyone would not ask.

Unknowingly, the brigade also accelerated the pace of returning east.

At this time, in Lulong, the capital of Luzhou, Wang Qi from the Operations Department of the Statistical Investigation Department has led a dozen special agents to sneak in, connecting with the Foreign Intelligence Agency's nails here.

Qingfeng's order to Wang Qi is very simple. If it is discovered that someone from the Lu family is indeed in contact with Luzhou, then they will do everything possible to tie back the members of the Lu family. As long as they are brought back, then no matter what plans the Lu family has You can be very clear, if you really can't bring it back, you will kill the person, and leave the mess to Luzhou Commander Xu Hongwei, let him have a headache, how to explain to Lu Shi why the other party's people suddenly died.

(End of this chapter)