Lord of the House

On the 12th day of the fifth lunar month, Sun Zhuang followed Qin Chengzu to Shanyang, and at night crossed Huaihuai to Siyang to stay overnight. The next day, together with Li Wei, who had officially assumed the post of magistrate of Shanyang County, and Liu Tingzhou, who had come from Shuyang, they headed north to Chenjiatang, and they entered the area under the control of the Red Jacket Army.

The Red Jacket Army was in charge of contacting Li Liang, a general under Ma Lantou and the Red Jacket Army's defender in Suyu.

Although Liu Tingzhou was the imperial court's appointed envoy, Liu Tingzhou also knew the truth of "give milk is the mother", and knew that Qin Chengzu came on behalf of Lin Fu, which was the key to the last recruiting negotiation.

Qin Chengzu held a high position in Huaidong, and he was also born in the upper class of Huai in his early years. The Red Jacket Army did not neglect him, and felt that he was kind. Li Liang personally went out of the city to meet him, and escorted Qin Chengzu, Sun Zhuang, and Li Wei and their group from Suyu to Huaiyang.

There are wheat fields on both sides of the avenue, as if the hair on a man's head is very sparse.

In terms of solar terms, it is already the seed of awns. The wheat ears in the south of the Huaihe River have fallen heavily and are about to be harvested. The wheat in the Huaihe River has just pulled out the ears, and it will take a month to be harvested at least.

While resting on the way, Qin Chengzu dismounted, handed the whip and reins to the squire, walked to the side of the road, grabbed a clump of wheat and orange poles, looked at the wheat ears, frowned slightly, and said nothing.

"South of the Huaihe River, fertile fields can be filled with grains of rice grains in spring, rice or cotton and linen can be planted in summer, ten acres of land can support a well-off family, and Huaisi ditches and ditches are completely abandoned, whether it is drought or waterlogging, one mu of land can be harvested in a year. Five buckets of grain, even if God opens his eyes, the difference is seven or eight times." Li Wei was most familiar with the situation in Huaisi, and regardless of Li Liang's presence, he did not take care of the face of the generals of the Red Jacket Army, and directly sent Huaisi counties. of embarrassment.

Liu Tingzhou frowned slightly, and said: "The war has been chaotic for several years, and the bushes have become wasteland. In the countryside, there is a serious shortage of iron tools. Not to mention the counties in Huaisi, four or five of the farmers on both sides of the Shu River still hold Stone sickles and wooden swords work in the fields," he asked Qin Chengzu, "Chongzhou and Shanyang iron yard, can you sell some iron to the army leader this year?"

"You have to ask Lin Mengde about this, maybe you can," Qin Chengzu said, "I'm not very clear, since Master Liu brought it up, Huaidong always has to squeeze some out."

"How much can be squeezed out, Qin Sima will give me an estimate." Liu Tingzhou asked after the snake.

To say that Liu Tingzhou's status is naturally higher than Qin Chengzu's, it is a bit disregarding his status to ask such a question.

Qin Chengzu thought to himself: Liu Tingzhou can be regarded as one of the very few capable officials in the Dayue Dynasty who can perform their duties faithfully, but it is a pity that they are against Huaidong everywhere.

"There may be three or five thousand pieces." Qin Chengzu said.

"Then we will settle on 5,000 pieces, and I will send someone to Shanyang to ask for it from Master Li." Liu Tingzhou said.

Li Wei had just received a transfer order from Ren Shanyang County magistrate, and he did not know the bottom of the iron yard in Shanyang County. Moreover, the iron yard in Shanyang County was also directly controlled by Cao Zi'ang - Liu Tingzhou said so, Li Wei just kept his face cold and silent.

Qin Chengzu didn't expect Liu Tingzhou to be so entangled, so he could only laugh helplessly, and said, "I'm afraid it won't work to give farm implements directly. If there is not enough Shanyang, Chongzhou might be able to squeeze out 50,000 catties of wool and iron, Mr. Liu. Just go back and send someone to Chongzhou to negotiate..."

Farming is the most important iron tool. With a scythe and a scythe to cut rice and wheat, a family can harvest four or five acres of land day and night. When it comes to reclamation, in addition to guarding against miasma and acclimatization, iron scythes are also highly relied upon. The bushes are overgrown and the roots are intertwined. There is no sharp saw, only a stone sickle and a wooden knife. How easy is it to open up wasteland?

In the south, there are many barren beaches, deserted islands, barren mountains and barren forests. Jianghuai, Huhan, Huxiang and Jiangxi were only fully developed in the previous dynasties, and the development of East Fujian was more backward. be more fully developed.

In the south of the Five Ridges, the area of ​​Guangnan is more than twice that of Jiangdong County, but the development is extremely insufficient. The indigenous people are rampant in the mountains and are often rebelled. At this time, the entire Guangnan County has only 2.12 million households. , even far less than Pingjiang or Jiangning, only comparable to the pre-war Mingzhou.

Guangnan is too far away, and the localities are self-contained, and there is a tendency for separatism. Even if there is no intention of splitting the earth and proclaiming the king, he is temporarily out of Jiang Ning's control, and secretly walks with the luxury family.

Huaidong was beyond the reach of Guangnan, but after Huaidong landed in eastern Zhejiang, he firmly controlled Mingzhou Prefecture, Changguo, and Daishan Islands, and suppressed the Jinan and Zhejiang navies of the luxury family. Lu Jianghe didn't dare to go out to sea, but in fact he has already gained absolute control in the East China Sea.

Huaidong's next intention is to seize Yizhou Island.

Yizhou is Taiwan in later generations. It covers thousands of miles and is only much larger than Huaidong.

Yizhou has a county for more than 200 years, but apart from the uncivilized indigenous people, there are only more than 4,000 households registered in Dingkou, which only reaches one Zhongxian county in the Yue Dynasty, not even large counties such as Chongzhou, Hailing and Haiyu. Dingkou's eleven.

The ships of Jinghaihai Camp set off from Mingzhou to attack the coast of Jin'an. It would take at least five or six days for a trip back and forth for thousands of miles. When the weather is clear, standing on the northwest corner of Yizhou Island, you can look far into the distance, and you can even see the shore mountains and islands along the east coast of Fujian. Occupying Yizhou Island and taking Yizhou as the base, it formed a flanking attack on the coast of eastern Fujian. The harassing ships could reciprocate day and night, and it was more beneficial to capture fighter planes.

In addition, with Yizhou Island as the base, the maritime trade of Huaidong can be extended to the South China Sea.

After Yizhou was established as a county, it was under the jurisdiction of Quanzhou Prefecture. At this time, it was the control area of ​​the Song family. Regardless of the attitude of the Song family, Yizhou was inevitable in Huaidong in the near future. Will cover Chongcheng Buying to attack Yizhou.

Of course, after the capture of Yizhou, how to operate Yizhou, in addition to serving as a water base and a springboard for maritime trade to connect with the South Ocean, whether or not to immediately relocate large-scale people to operate Yizhou, there are still great differences within Huaidong.

Compared with the Changguo Islands, which have only been abandoned in recent years, it is relatively simple to reclaim, and there are not so many places of miasma. The difficulty of reclamation is far above Hecheng Grassland and Xisha Island, and the cost of development is naturally extremely high.

However, with the surge of iron smelting capacity in Huaidong, it is not impossible to move people to Yizhou on a large scale to reclaim wasteland.

Huaidong's ability to resettle refugees and refugees is mainly directly related to two matters, one is rice grain, and the other is iron smelting. In the end, Huaidong was able to control Dingkou, rice grain, and iron smelting, which directly reflected Huaidong's military potential.

After there is Huaidong Bank, it is possible to borrow money to develop iron smelting workshops on a large scale and in the Great Leap/Forward. Lin Fu's production increase plan for Chongzhou and Shanyang this year requires that the output of gross iron should reach 5 million catties and the output of refined iron should reach 2 million catties.

Compared with Huaidong's production of wool iron this year, the supply of 50,000 catties of wool iron to Liu Tingzhou only accounts for 110%, but in Liu Tingzhou's view, 50,000 catties of iron is not easy.

If Shanyang County were excluded, and all counties in Huaian Prefecture were collected, I would only be able to find 20,000 to 30,000 catties of iron.

Li Liang listened greedily next to him, thinking to himself, if the Red Jacket Army could have 50,000 to 60,000 catties of iron, how good would it be? I just thought about it in my heart. After all, I haven’t officially accepted the court’s recruiting, and let’s say accepting the court’s recruiting. How could the court and Huaidong not be on guard against the Red Jacket Army, and how could it be possible to supply tens of thousands of pounds of iron materials?

In the northwest of Suyu, the red jacket army set up a trestle bridge at the narrow part of the Bian River, which could cross the river and enter the territory of Huaiyang.

Although the Red Jacket Army was headed by Liu Miaozhen, it was a female class after all, and there were many inconveniences. Ma Lantou actually presided over more military and political affairs. Ma Lantou's influence and status in the Red Jacket Army was actually not under Liu Miaozhen.

The first three times Liu Tingzhou entered Huaiyang, Ma Lantou was polite and greeted him at the gate of the city. Today, he greeted him at the bank of the Bianshui River, obviously for Qin Chengzu.

Liu Tingzhou sighed in his heart that Huaidong secretly delivered rice grain to the Red Jacket Army. Although he had no conclusive evidence, he knew the general situation to some extent. Right now, he only hoped that the generals of the Red Jacket Army would change their ways and return to power and serve the court. Don't completely win over Huaidong.

The refugees were mainly evacuated to the east of the Bian River. After nearly half a year of recovery, Huaiyang City has recovered somewhat. The city has also been repaired, but it is all built of rammed earth, shining white light in the sun.

These flashes make the city look better in the sun, but in fact, when the city was built with earth, the shells, fine stones and other objects in the soil were not sieved out. Even if all the incomplete sections of Huaiyang City are repaired by rammed earth, the actual firmness is lower than that of the ordinary version of the city.

When the Donghu people attacked Jizhou, they had already used catapults on a large scale to attack the city. At this time, Huaiyang City was somewhat vulnerable in the face of large catapults.

At noon, Ma Lantou came forward to entertain and used the luncheon.

Officially, it is also a public recruiting process. Of course, Liu Tingzhou and Li Wei are the main people. Qin Chengzu and Sun Zhuang came on behalf of the Huaidong Military Division. They did not directly participate in the recruiting negotiation on the bright side. They would return after the luncheon. The inn rests.

Qin Chengzu only said that it was too tiring to travel continuously, and he had to take a rest in the inn, and he did not insist on Sun Zhuang pulling Li Liang to catch up.

Naturally, Huaiyang City cannot be compared with Chongzhou. It is strictly forbidden to sell alcohol in the city, and there is no wine on the table during the luncheon...

He found a restaurant, which was very dilapidated. Li Liang went straight into the backyard, uncovered the pot and turned over the cupboard. He took all the large piece of deer meat that the restaurant had, and left a piece of silver next to Sun Zhuang. He sat down at the table by the window, untied the lacquer gourd around his waist, shook it, and there was a sound of water, and said, "The wine brewed by the wild fruit is the craft you taught me, Sun Shuai—for this matter, I almost beheaded Ma Shuai to show the public. Huaisi’s food is too precious. It’s useless to ask for mercy. Fortunately, I explained it clearly, and I was so scared that I didn’t dare to drink it again. Handsome, I just brought it to please you."

There was a stack of bowls at the corner of the table. Sun Zhuang took one and placed it in front of him. Regardless of whether it was open or not, he poured half a bowl of wine, took a sip and tasted it, and said, "It's too sour, you haven't learned this skill very well. !"

"..." Li Liang also greedily poured himself half a bowl of wine and drank it in small sips. The fruit wine was not too strong, so there was only half of the gourd wine left, and he drank it as a baby, and asked Sun Zhuang, "If we can negotiate this time, Now, is the pole man coming back?"

"Ma Lantou asked you to ask?" Sun Zhuang asked.

"Ma Shuai didn't say it, I asked myself."

"Fart, you pout and shit, can I not know? It's the same for anyone who asks," Sun Zhuang sighed and said, "No answer!"

"..." Li Liang said anxiously, "Below the goddess, there are two cavalry captains, Ma Shuai occupies one, and the other is reserved for you—this can be from a third-rank military officer, Huaidong can't give it to you. Let's talk about it. After that, you are in Huaidong and Huaiyang, isn't it the same? If the East invaders come in, Huaidong will count on you to stand in front with us - as long as you promise to come back, Huaidong will not tie you up. let it go?"

The conditions that Jiang Ning can give are almost the same.

The authority to control the envoys is very large. They govern the military and administration of a local area and also manage the local military equipment. The local military, county, soldiers and townships are all within the jurisdiction. Jiang Ning is only willing to set up a military town in Huaiyang to incorporate the Red Jacket Army, and to Liu Miaozhen. , Ma Lantou and others also awarded the ranks of senior military generals such as Lieutenant Commander and Lieutenant of Cavalry to lead Huaiyang Town.

"Huaidong doesn't owe me, and the rest is what I owe Huaidong and the adults. If I don't pay it back, how can I go?" Sun Zhuang said with emotion, "Tell Ma Lantou, don't mention this matter again. already."

Li Liang smacked his lips, not knowing what to say for a while. If Sun Zhuang had not given up the two cities of Suining and Suyu at a critical moment, the Red Jacket Army would not be able to escape the doom of annihilation.

Before that, Sun Zhuang had more than 10,000 soldiers and was the defender of the two cities. After that, Huaidong was demoted to a soldier. This time, Sun Zhuang went with him in command of the army and resumed his status as a military attache, but it was far from the same as when he was in charge of the Northern Army alone.

All the generals in the red jacket army felt that they owed him, so they wanted him to come back, return his old division to him, and give him one of the three senior military attache titles given by the court.

"By the way, we've talked about it so many times," Sun Zhuang said, "The situation in the north is very urgent, and Jiangning and Huaidong don't want to drag it on any longer. What else is difficult to negotiate here? When Mr. Qin comes over, he can make a final decision - you can tell me first!"

"The Huaiyang Military Town is set up, but there are things we can't discuss about the military town's quota, station, money, and local officials and Dingkou placement..." Li Liang said with a bitter face.

Sun Zhuang also knew about what they couldn't agree on, but he didn't know how much the Red Jacket Army could give in, and he didn't know if it could be blended.

For the stationing issue, Jiangning means that the Red Jackets should be stationed in Huaiyang City; Huaidong means that the Red Jackets should be stationed in Huaiyang and Suining, and Suyu City, which is close to the interior line, should be released; Liu Miaozhen, Ma Lan The first-class generals of the Red Jacket Army naturally do not want to come out of one place. They want to firmly control the core area of ​​Huaisi with the three cities as the corners. Of course, the three cities are all under the control of the Red Jacket Army. Jiangning and Huaidong did not mean to force them to insist on not letting them go.

In principle, the three counties of Huaiyang, Suining, and Suyu were temporarily incorporated into the jurisdiction of Huai'an Prefecture; the three positions of magistrate, county magistrate, and teaching officer were selected by Jiangning; officials were selected by Huai'an Prefecture from the local gentry, with red jackets. In name, the army accepted Huaidong's restraint—for this, Huaidong almost quarreled with Jiangning.

Considering that it is more convenient for the military leaders and divisions in charge of Liu Tingzhou to unify the grain and salaries of Huaiyang Military Town, and Huaidong facilitates this matter behind the scenes, it is difficult to convince Huaidong if there is no profit, Jiangning finally bowed his head on this matter, The Huaidong Military Division became a vassal with the right to control the military town.

Jiangning only agreed to pay Huaiyang Military Town with 20,000 soldiers, four buckets of grain per person per month, and three coins and silver. Liu Miaozhen and Ma Lantou hoped to keep the 30,000 soldiers they had secretly agreed with Huaidong—the 30,000 The soldiers and horses are the elites who have been eliminated by the Huaisi refugee army after these years of war. Don't be a last resort. How could Liu Miaozhen and Ma Lantou be willing to disperse these soldiers and horses?

Liu Tingzhou came here this time with some concessions, that is, on the basis of the money and food provided by the 20,000 soldiers, an additional part will be added, which will be coordinated internally by the Red Jacket Army. The two Huai salt and silver are only 1.8 million taels per year. The amount of money Jiangning allocated to Huaiyang Junzhen is limited to 200,000 taels, which is almost the limit of Jiangning. There are too many places to use silver.

Of course, Jiang Ning was willing to set aside 200,000 taels of silver every year, and then awarded him an official title. In the eyes of Jiang Ning's princes, it was already very generous, but it was far from solving the problem of the Red Jacket Army.

It is enough for the generals to eat four buckets of grain per month, and the key is to pay for them.

In exchange for him, three coins and silver can buy six or seven buckets of rice grain, which is barely enough for the generals to support the family. Besides, the family has some fields to cultivate, and their life is not bad. At this time, three coins and silver can only buy two buckets of grain in the front of Haosi and other places. It is slightly better in Huaidong, and can buy half a bucket more, but when it is transported to Huaiyang, it is not much different if you count the money.

And the army of red jackets came, and the family had no land for farming, and the soldiers' families only survived on three coins and silver, and in fact they could only hang their lives.

This is still calculated based on 20,000 soldiers. If it is given to 30,000 people, the situation will be even more embarrassing - of course, this is much better than the most difficult time, so there is nothing that cannot be compromised.

After entering Huaisi, in addition to the Red Jacket Army retaining its complete organization, more than 50,000 refugee troops were disbanded on the spot and scattered to rural villages to receive relief as refugees. 100,000 people. In addition to these, there are almost 145,000 war refugees in the Huaisi area.

Except for the Red Jacket Army and the family, the total number of refugees stranded in the Huaisi area, according to preliminary statistics, is almost 360,000.

Jiangning advocated expelling these refugees from the Huaisi area and sending them back home.

"Lord Pole, tell me, you don't even have any rations to live on, so after being expelled from Huaisi, you'll either starve to death on the road, or you'll revolt with flags," Li Liang said indignantly, "Jiang Ning What kind of meaning, why can't we think of it? They still want to deceive us as fools! They will condone the life of the displaced people, and then send us to suppress - mother, we can do this kind of thing of crossing the river and demolishing the bridge - Besides, even if The Red Coat Army and the family are preserved, and the others are mostly relatives and neighbors from the village, so you really have the heart to drive them away, regardless of whether they live or die?"

"Crack!" Sun Zhuang drank the wine in one gulp, put the gaping bowl on the table, and said nothing.

"In Huaidong, can we still have rice grain surplus this year?" Li Liang asked.

In the past half a year, Huaidong secretly delivered nearly 200,000 stone grains of rice, which was the key to the stability of the Red Jacket Army in Huaisi and the survival of 300,000 to 400,000 refugees.

In late April, Lin Fu rushed to eastern Zhejiang, and the strength of the Huaidong Army nearly doubled.

Liu Miaozhen and Ma Lantou naturally wanted to continue to receive the secret support of Huaidong, but how much extra money would Huaidong have when the army expanded to 60,000 or 70,000 people? They don't know how Huaidong operates, and can only speculate on Huaidong's financial resources with conventional thinking. Especially after the Jinhai grain route was stopped, Huaidong also lost one of the most important financial resources.

Moreover, they officially accepted the court's recruitment, but only nominally accepted the control of the Huaidong Army Division. The food and wages were changed to be allocated by the Huaidong Army Chief Division under the control of Liu Tingzhou. There is no reason for Huaidong to secretly support the money.

With the money Jiang Ning was willing to allocate, he could barely support 30,000 horses and children.

Don't say that 300,000 or 400,000 refugees and refugees will compete with local forces for land. If they are not handled properly, they will lead to sharp conflicts. Even if Huaiyang, Suining, and Suyu have enough wasteland to resettle so many people, with the current high The price of food, Jiang Ning said that he would have to spend 60,000-700,000 to 700,000 taels of silver to settle so many people.

Lianghuai salt and silver can still be squeezed out, but all the forces are staring at Lianghuaiyin, Yue Lengqiu and other Jiangning princes, and even Gu Wuchen, who is willing to waste Lianghuai salt and silver on refugees?

"Suyu and Suining, we agreed that we can't compete with the localities for land. Huaiyang should be able to cultivate some land," Sun Zhuang asked. "It won't be harvested at all, will it?"

"Yes, there's nothing to hide from you," Li Liang said, "but it's really ugly. You can see that the fields opened in Huaidong this year can have 20,000 to 30,000 stone. The harvest of rice grains has reached the sky!"

"I'm coming here. According to the adults, I can still support this point, but the exact number is in Master Qin's stomach. I don't know." Sun Zhuang said, he was also worried, because Huaidong occupied only a small amount of space. The food that can be raised is very limited.

"You can do it," Li Liang said. "As long as you tighten your pants and you can get through it."

Sun Zhuang was afraid that Qin Chengzu had something to order him, so he did not chat with Li Liangduo outside, so he returned to the post house. Sun Zhuang didn't hide what Li Liang said, but he briefly recounted it and asked with a frown, "Huaiyang can only receive 20,000 to 30,000 stone grains of rice, it is really too short, how much can Huaidong squeeze out? ?"

"Captain Cavalry is a military general from the third rank. Wouldn't it be a pity for you to refuse?" Qin Chengzu asked, "At most, Huaidong can help you get the rank of Commander of the Zhaowu School for you. There is a difference of three or four levels... "

"What is there to do for the court's ghost fishing officer? I owe the adults and I haven't paid it back. The court asked me to be a prince, but it's not worth it." Sun Zhuang said.

"..." Qin Chengzu smiled and said, "Huaidong can still squeeze out some food, but just like good iron is used on the cutting edge, Huaidong is currently on the northern front to construct a defense line against the Donghu people. How to use the extruded grain, we must revolve around this. Tell me, how should the northern defense line be constructed?"

"The ditches are all abolished. Except for a few big rivers, the Donghu people poured in. I'm afraid that they won't be able to stop until the Huaihe River." Sun Zhuang said, "On the Huaiyang side, if possible, the outside of the Huaiyang city wall should be covered with a layer. Bricks, build a fortress around Huaiyang, slant to the northeast, connect with Bianshui, and then connect with Suining - but this is not good enough, to be able to smash Chen Hansan's tortoise and take Xuzhou , the northern line is much more comfortable!"

"It's impossible in a short time, don't think about it." Qin Chengzu said.

Chen Hansan can struggle to survive, and the more he lives, the stronger he will not be without his brilliance.

Chen Hansan holds 20,000 elites, and he is extremely vigilant about this side. He is guarding the heroic city of Xuzhou, and most of the outer cities are controlled by him. It is extremely difficult for Huaidong to unplug Chen Hansan.

Besides, Jiangning and the Liang family in the north would not sit and watch Huaidong fight Chen Hansan. Once Huaidong sends troops to attack Xuzhou, Jiangning may hesitate and hesitate, and the Liang family will almost certainly lead troops to assist Xuzhou and the three coalition forces of Chen and Han to fight against Huaidong - not to mention the coalition against Donghu at that time, the internal must be divided first.

"Without Xuzhou, Huaiyang and Suining are connected on both sides, it would be much ugly." Although Sun Zhuang was not as accomplished in the art of war as Zhang Gou, he was a commander of the army after all, and his vision was still there, not comparable to ordinary people. , said, "Then according to what the lord said, we must strengthen the red jacket army as much as possible - the current red jacket army has 30,000 elite soldiers, if they can eat enough, their combat strength will be similar to the Changhuai army, but lack The bow and crossbow that can suppress the cavalry is far from the Changhuai Army, and sometimes it can only be filled with human lives. If the Donghu people have 10,000 cavalry to leak in, the Red Jacket Army can only hide in the city wall. In field battles, build more chariots and use large shields and long spears to carry them hard, but they are barely able to hold their positions. If one corner of the formation cannot hold it, this field battle will be lost!"

"Although it's not precise enough, it's not bad in general," Qin Chengzu said, "Sir, if you don't feel that you have been humiliated, I have something to teach you!"

"Then I'll kowtow to you, old man!" Sun Zhuang got up and knelt on the ground to kowtow.

"Get up," Qin Chengzu said, grabbing his arm, "Learning the art of war is only the Hinayana, and the Mahayana is a political matter. You also have a deep understanding of the situation in Huaisi, tens of thousands of elite soldiers can't actually build a strong fortress against the penetration and breakthrough of the Donghu cavalry... …”

Someone came in to inform Li Wei that Li Wei was back, and Qin Chengzu asked him to come in quickly.

"After talking about it, Jiang Ning refused to pluck a single hair on his head," Li Wei said in distress, "If you want to build a defense line in Huaiyang and North Suining according to the advice of adults, you can't let Dingkou evacuate to the area. Go to the north. We must also prepare as much as possible to receive the next wave of refugees from the north. From the south of the defense line to the Huai River, the land that can be used to resettle the refugees is too limited. Also, how much supplies can be allocated to the northern line? !"

"Not counting the investment in the second line of defense in Siyang, Shanyang and Shukou," Qin Chengzu said, "rice and grain are in short supply everywhere, so we have to prepare for the refugees from Jinhai to go south. Guaranteed not to starve to death; before the end of the year, only 400,000 stone grains can be squeezed into Huaisi."

Sun Zhuang thought that it would decrease, but he did not expect that it would increase instead of decreasing. There are still less than seven months until the end of the year, and 400,000 grains have been invested, which means that 60,000 shi can be invested every month, which is 50% more than before. The key is that after accepting the recruitment, Jiangning can pull 12,000 to 14,000 stone grains every month. Compared with the situation since the beginning of the year, it is very different. Even ordinary refugees can eat half of it. full.

Of course, good iron is used on the cutting edge, how to use so much grain, Huaidong has his own plan, and will not raise so many people in vain, so that they can sleep under the sun every day.

"Enough," Li Wei said, rubbing his hands together, and said, "Ren Jiangning's organs are exhausted, and what adults do is the way of the Dao. I am completely convinced of this conflict between Confucianism and Confucianism," he asked again, "Huaidong How much iron material can be squeezed out, iron material is very important, just eating enough food is not enough."

Since the Red Jacket Army marched eastward, although Huaidong secretly transported grain every month, it strictly controlled strategic materials such as iron materials. To strengthen the combat power of the Red Jacket Army and the ability to reclaim wasteland and cultivate crops in Huaisi, iron materials are indispensable materials.

"The upper limit of 1 million catties for raw iron materials and 300,000 catties for refined iron materials should be sufficient!" Qin Chengzu said, "Depending on the situation, some armors will be sent over."

"Ha!" Li Wei laughed, "When you came here, you said you wanted to give Liu Tingzhou 50,000 catties of iron. I was still thinking about ninety-nine in my heart. I really underestimated Mr. Qin and the adults..."

"At the end of last year, my lord decided that the total output of iron materials in the Chongzhou and Shanyang subway yards would exceed 7 million catties, and asked to open the coal and iron ships between Haidong and Chongzhou. Many people did not understand, and I also hesitated. "Qin Chengzu said, "It seems that the adults have already made plans..."

Armor is the most difficult to build. Ordinary knives, spears, and arrow clusters. As long as there is a supply of iron materials, Huaisi can also gather a group of craftsmen to build them, which can supplement the insufficiency of ordinary weapons; it is easier to build farm tools.

Even if the Donghu people conquer Yanjing, they will need to adjust for a period of time, and then attack the defense line built by the Liang family along the banks of the Yellow River. At the earliest, large-scale cavalry will not leak to Huaidong until the end of the year.

Lin Fu wanted the Red Jacket Army to build the first line of defense on the periphery, with Fengli Camp as the main force, and build the second line of defense around the Huai River in Siyang, Shukou, and Shanyang, to ensure that the production of the Huaidong inner line would not be disturbed.

As long as the Red Jacket Army defends Huaiyang, it actually has a strong shielding effect on Haosi and Dongyang, which is further inside. Consider things over there.

Of course, although Huaidong had prepared so many materials for the northern line, he had to use these materials as a condition to urge the Red Jacket Army to cooperate with Huaidong's deployment on the northern line.

Qin Chengzura and Li Wei discussed in the quiet room for a long time. Since Liu Tingzhou and Liu Miaozhen and Ma Lantou generals did not have a pleasant conversation in the afternoon, after nightfall, Ma Lantou and Li Liang, on behalf of the red jacket army generals, invited Liu Tingzhou and Qin Chengzu in the inn. , Li Wei, Sun Zhuang and others had a banquet, but Liu Miaozhen did not appear.

There was no wine, only some game, and there was no speculation, and the dinner was over. After the dinner, Li Liangcai sneaked over and asked Qin Chengzu and Sun Zhuang to go to the military mansion to discuss secretly, while Li Wei stayed in the post house to drag Liu Tingzhou.

In the Ming hall of the military mansion, the homemade candle burns with the aroma of pine resin. Liu Miaozhen took off the bronze mask that was still on her face at the luncheon and during the afternoon negotiations with Liu Tingzhou and Li Wei, to show respect to Qin Chengzu, the representative of Huaidong, and said: : "My brother commented on the people in the world, and admired Mr. Qin the most. He sighed that Mr. Qin was harmed by traitors and could not invite him to participate in the grand event. I never expected that Mr. Qin had secretly been the mainstay of Huaidong..."

"General Liu is very polite," Qin Chengzu said, sitting under Liu Miaozhen, "there are countless good generals in Huaidong, including Fu Qinghe, Cao Ziang, Ao Canghai, Ning Zechen, Zhao Qingshan, Zhou Tong, Zhao Hu, Ge Cunxiong, and Ge Cunxin. , Sun Zhuang, Zhang Gou, Chen Zhu, etc., as well as Lin Mengde, Sun Jingxuan, Sun Jingtang, Ge Siyu, Hu Zhiyong, Liang Wenzhan, Li Wei, Zhou Guangnan, Wang Chengfu, etc., all of them are a temporary choice, if there is Gao Zongting, the 'strategist of the world', is also working for the defense of Jinhai——Qin is mediocre, which is really unbearable. If you really want to talk about people in the world, my family may be able to praise An Shuai, and my family will also praise An Shuai. Highly esteemed…”

Chongzhou civil officials are not very famous, but when it comes to military generals, Qin Chengzu reported so many people as if they were rare. The main generals of the Red Jacket Army, such as Ma Lantou and Li Liang, who were here with him, were really no one who patted their chests and said they were better than them. Sun Zhuang had already expressed his resolve in the afternoon. Qin Chengzu had listed Zhang Zhuang, Zhang Gou, and Chen Zhui among the Huaidong generals. When the generals of the red coat army heard it, the taste was a bit complicated.

Although being a general in Huaidong, you still have to lead the way, bear hardships and stand hard work, and be not afraid of sacrifice~www.readwn.com~ But the generals of Huaidong Army are strong in combat, can work together, and can always take the initiative in strategy and be happy. This is probably the realm that military commanders long for the most.

Liu Miaozhen stared at the big candle at the corner of the table thoughtfully, as if Qin Chengzu's words aroused her mind, and after a while, she said to Qin Chengzu, "I want to go to Chongzhou, but I don't know if I would suddenly bring it up at this time. It would be a little presumptuous!"

When Liu Miaozhen said this suddenly, not to mention that Ma Lantou, Li Liang and other generals of the Red Jacket Army were wanted, Qin Chengzu was also greatly surprised.

Although Liu Miaozhen was a female, she was the head coach of the Red Jacket Army after all. She had not officially accepted the court's recruiting. Huaidong detained or killed her, so she did not have to bear any moral accusations, and Jiangning would not object. Even if Chen Hansan had served as Xuzhou's system envoy for two years, even Jiangning would not dare to go.

Ma Lan's face was full of embarrassment. If Qin Chengzu and others were not present, he would have directly objected.

Qin Chengzu was surprised, but Liu Miaozhen was willing to go to Chongzhou, which is better than anything else, and said at the moment: "General Liu is willing to go to Chongzhou, that is the best, I plan to invite General Liu to Chongzhou on behalf of Huaidong; let Sun Zhuang go to Chongzhou; After escorting General Liu to the south, I will stay in Huaiyang and discuss the alliance with Ma Shuai!" The implication is that he is willing to stay as a pledge to ensure that Huaidong does not have any bad intentions towards Liu Miaozhen.

"Mr. Qin is willing to stay in Huaiyang to discuss the coalition, that's the best..." Ma Lantou stopped in front of him and said, really afraid that the eldest lady would arbitrarily propose to put Qin Chengzu back.

Lin Bie is a very ambitious person, how could he stick to trivial things such as morality and credit? If the eldest lady insists on going to Chongzhou, Ma Lantou will definitely take Qin Chengzu as a hostage, and it is best to convince the eldest lady to give up this idea. My QT room is open! More vulgar official QT room number [9167] Click to enter