Jiangxia City.

This is one of the current border towns of the Nanli Empire.

After Jiangxia City leaves the city, it only takes half a day to come to the Yangtze River Basin, cross this river, and across the river is Xinye County.

It can be said that the significance of Jiangxia City to the current Nanli Empire is the northern gate of the Nanli Empire.

If the allied forces of the Central Plains want to penetrate deep into the belly of Nanli, Jiangxia City is an important town that they must not bypass.

Therefore, Jiangxia City is a town of great strategic significance for both the Central Plains and the Nanli Empire.

If the south leaves Jiangxia, it will be invaded by the Central Plains coalition army.

If the Central Plains countries get Jiangxia, the troops will be divided into three ways?

No, no, no, after taking Jiangxia, the Central Plains countries can rely on their strong military reserves to slowly encroach on the territory of Nanli.

Therefore, if you want to deal with an attack from the north, Nanli's garrison in Jiangxia City will definitely be the most important thing among the towns in the northern territory.

The fortification construction is the top priority of Jiangxia City Shou over the years.

It's just that such a town of great significance to the Nanli Empire has a history of loss.

That was in the last earth-shattering battle, Zhou Dunyi did not hesitate to throw Jiangxia City directly to the Central Plains Coalition Army.

One soldier and one soldier, any common people were moved out of Jiangxia and moved south by Zhou Dunyi, and in the end, they waited until that time after the Central Plains coalition army entered Jiangxia City.

The vanguard army, which was originally as imposing as a rainbow, saw Jiangxia City, which was extremely deserted, you look at me and I look at you, and I can't figure out what Nanli is doing.

What started as a fierce battle ended up being nothing.

Because of this incident, Zhou Dunyi was also infamous by many people at that time, thinking that Zhou Dunyi was a traitor, a coward, and a scum of the royal family.

How ugly the words are, how ugly they are, all the people in Nanli keep thinking that they are on the right side to poke Zhou Dunyi's backbone.

But fortunately, a beautiful battle by Zhou Dunyi later made all these discordant voices disappear when the war ended.

And the record of Jiangxia City's fall in history since it was included in the territory of Nanli is only Zhou Dunyi's time.

After many years, Jiangxia City is about to face the attack of the Central Plains Coalition Army again, and General Nanli, who is responsible for dealing with the Central Plains Coalition Army this time, has changed from Zhou Dunyi to Bai Qi.

After ordering the army to enter the city in batches, Bai Qi rode his horse, followed by Sima Cuo and Li Chengqian on the left and right.

The three of them drove the horse leisurely and leisurely, while Bai Qi lowered his eyes, not knowing what he was thinking about.

Li Chengqian's face was indifferent, looking at the people on both sides of the street watching their army enter the city, how cold and cold his face was as cold as the second prince.

Sima Cuo felt that the atmosphere around him was a little chilly, and as if he was thinking about stirring up the atmosphere, Sima Cuo took the initiative to smile and laugh

"Boss, Second Highness, this Jiangxia City is still as solid as ever, hehe, compared with that year, this is more than a few grades."

However, as soon as the words came out, Sima Cuo's face was a little embarrassed, because he found that Bai Qi and Li Chengqian both turned their heads and stared at him with strange eyes at the moment when they had just spoken.

Touching his head in embarrassment, Sima Coo coughed twice, pretending that nothing happened, as if he hadn't spoken just now.

"Come on, don't talk if you don't have, you have to force yourself to speak, yes, now it's something that doesn't matter what kind of brainless thing."

I don't know when, Gan Mao rode a white horse and came forward, and looked at Sima Cuo with some jokingness.

"Hey, you guy, where have you been all these days? Why are you only coming back now, hurry up, tell the uncle if you have been robbing the people's girls behind your back on your back these days. ”

Sima Cuo was not impatient, and after seeing clearly that the person who came was Gan Mao, he immediately raised his interest, obediently, this guy has not had a figure since the new army was launched, and he asked the boss, and the boss didn't care about himself.

Gan Mao rolled his eyes weakly, took out an account book-like book from his arms, handed it to Bai Qi, and then replied to Sima as if he was wrong

"Why do you ask so much, adults don't interfere with children's affairs."

However, after Gan Mao said this, Sima Cuo's face had not changed, but Li Chengqian, who was on the side, had a sudden change in his face.

However, soon, Li Chengqian returned to his usual look, but this change was clearly captured by the three of them.

Sima Coo looked at Gan Mao gloatingly.

Look at it, and say that I, talking nonsense makes the Second Highness unhappy, you can wait, in the future, the uncle will definitely say a few bad things about you to the Second Highness, so that the Second Highness will play to His Majesty in Jinling after returning to Beijing, and then demote you back to Jiangling.

Gan Mao cleared his throat, he didn't care much about this matter, anyway, the second prince Li Chengqian, no matter how his face changed, it had little to do with him, he was a general who only had to fight and kill people, where did he care about these princes or something.

"Boss, the directories are all about the same, the wealth that Xinyang County Lord has accumulated over the years really makes me feel a little chilly."

Hearing Gan Mao's words mention the county lord of Xinyang, Sima Cuo and Li Chengqian's attention was immediately attracted, especially Li Chengqian.

Who is the county lord of Xinyang, how can he, as the second prince of the current dynasty, not know.

This is the daughter of the king of Nanyue, deeply favored by his father, even when he was in retreat in the palace these years, he could occasionally hear the name and some deeds of the lord of Xinyang from the mouth of the eunuchs who served him.

Especially, what kind of character is his father, and will he not know something about himself as a son?

Even if his father treats his untalented younger brothers, even if they are biological, they are also cold.

In other words, in the eyes of his father, only a son with excellent talent can get his favor and get some feelings similar to father's love from him.

Otherwise, don't ask.

But this is also normal, where to find any family affection in the emperor's family, if you want to experience family affection, the last thing you can do is to reincarnate in the emperor's family.

And what about the county lord of Xinyang?

The daughter of the king of Nanyue, the identity of the king of Nanyue was originally a little sensitive in the current dynasty, as the daughter of such a prince, the original treatment of the county lord of Xinyang should be extremely miserable.

But what about his own father?

It can be seen from the title alone.

Lord of Xinyang.

It is rare for her father to generously take such a place as Xinyang as her title, and naturally, Xinyang has also become the soup place of the county lord of Xinyang, which is the treatment that many biological daughters and princesses do not have.

That is, Li Chengqian's mind is not here, if he is replaced by Li Shangyin, he may viciously guess whether the county lord of Xinyang is the illegitimate daughter of his father.

Otherwise, how could he be so pampered.

Feeling Li Chengqian's gaze on him, Bai Qi took the account book and slowly opened it, and after a few casual glances, he closed the account book and put it in his pocket, turned his head to look at Li Chengqian, and after meeting Li Chengqian's eyes, the corners of his mouth rose slightly, and he chuckled

"How, I want to know how Ben will have something to do with the county lord of Xinyang?"

After hearing Bai Qi's question, Li Chengqian first nodded subconsciously, and then came back to his senses and quickly shook his head, making his head look like a rattle.

Li Chengqian's rare contrast amused Bai Qi, who is usually serious, and Bai Qi said with a smile

"Okay, the county lord of Xinyang was also brought up by the general, so naturally after returning from Jiangling, he also wanted to inquire about the recent situation of the county lord, and always heard from other people's mouths how the county lord was favored by His Majesty Jinling, and there would still be some unease in his heart, so let Gan Mao check it."

This explanation, if you listen carefully, is a little wrong and full of omissions, but Li Chengqian didn't notice it, just nodded in disbelief, and then put on that cold demeanor again.

Li Chengqian didn't hear it, but that didn't mean Sima couldn't hear it.

I can still believe in the first sentence of my boss, the county lord of Xinyang did grow up in the military when he was young, but the words that follow, don't talk nonsense, if you care about the county lord of Xinyang, why don't you visit people in Jinling?

And even if you don't visit people because of some things, how many ways do you want to know how the county lord is doing?

Check the ledger?

What does this have to do with how the owner's family in Xinyang County is doing?

It's just that you can't hit it together.

Really, I don't know what kind of medicine is sold in my boss's gourd.

Sima Cuo muttered, he didn't know what he was muttering, his eyes were a little resentful, and he stared at Gan Mao deadly.

Gan Mao hurriedly turned his face away, he didn't want to meet the resentful eyes of Sima Cuo, how old he is, and he has the same temperament as a child.

Not long after, Bai Qi reined in his crotch and stopped in front of a yamen, and after turning over and dismounting, the three people behind him also turned over and dismounted like Bai Qi, and followed closely behind Bai Qi.

When several officials in front of the yamen saw these men in armor coming, they raised a vigilance for some reason, and each pressed their palms on the saber at their waists.

After Bai Qi's eyes swept over, these officials were shocked by Bai Qi's murderous eyes and took a few steps back.

"Bai Qi, the general of the town army, was ordered to lead the first army of the Northern Expedition into Jiangxia, and today I came to visit the county guard of Jiangxia, and please report it."

Bai Qi didn't salute, and his tone seemed a little stiff, although he brought an invitation at the end of the words, but the tone of the command was full of the whole sentence.

Several officials swallowed their saliva and glanced at each other, and after a long time, one of the officials turned around and ran into the official mansion.

These officials don't know much about the generals of the town army.

But since he is a general, he must be a big man.

Looking at the eyes of the generals of the town army, the officials faintly saw a sea of blood like a Shura field from their white eyes.

This must be a murderous general!

After a while, a man dressed in a red official robe who looked like a scholar ran out of the official mansion, this man trotted all the way to Bai Qi, and after stopping, he was a little out of breath, and after wiping the fine sweat on his forehead, he said to Bai Qi with some joy

"The Baizhen Army has arrived in Jiangxia, since this is the case, this official no longer has to worry about the attack of the Central Plains Coalition Army."

Bai Qi frowned slightly.

This is a fresh face, Bai Qi clearly remembered that the previous Jiangxia County Shou was a capable middle-aged man, how could this person still look bloated.

"What about Li Yifu? Who are you? ”

The fat Jiangxia county guard who was talking to a ball heard Bai Qi ask, bent over with a smile, and first walked towards the official mansion with Bai Qi, and said unhurriedly on the way to the road

"Bai Zhenjun doesn't know, Lord Li was transferred to Jinling Shangshutai a few years ago, and his subordinates are the new Jiangxia County Guards who have replaced Lord Li, and Bai Zhenjun is just called his subordinate Liang Ji."

"Liang Ji?"

Bai Qi's impression does not have the memory of such a person.

His memory of Jiangxia County Guard is still stuck in the time when he came to fight against the Central Plains Coalition with the prince of Zhou more than ten years ago.

At that time, the Jiangxia county guard was Li Yifu, who was born as the champion of the imperial examination, and he was only in his early twenties, and he had just taken over the burden of the Jiangxia county guard from the hands of the previous old county guard.

However, high hopes are high hopes, once he entered the position of county guard, Li Yifu, who was just a scholar, was naturally criticized by many people, but later Li Yifu's performance during the war was like a slap on the backhand of these people.

In the war, Li Yifu repeatedly made meritorious contributions, and when he rewarded the ministers according to his military merits, Li Yifu was a civilian, but he obtained many military merits that civilian officials could not obtain in their lifetime.

The Nanli Empire had an unwritten rule for high-ranking officials.

That is, without military merit, you cannot enter a high position.

In other words, if you don't have military merits, then unless you have made some great achievements in your life, you will not be able to become an official position above the six books.

Now the six Shangshu of Nanli, even the Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry, have more or less some military merits.

And Li Yifu has won a lot of military merits at a young age, which makes many people think that this champion may grow to serve as the sixth secretary of the book in the future, or he may be the guy who is the prime minister.

But now listening to what Liang Ji said, Li Yifu's situation over the years has not been very good.

Shang Shutai has such a lot of trivial matters, and because of the cowardly nature of the current Shang Shuling, he has slowly faded out of the circle of power in the center of the south.

And Bai Qi has never heard of the current Shang Shuling surnamed Li.

Looking at it this way, Li Yifu was transferred to Shangshutai, but there was some demotion in it.

It's a pity.

Bai Qi still likes Li Yifu in his early twenties, at least in Bai Qi's opinion, Li Yifu at that time had the knowledge of many outstanding people, and what he was short of was just some immersion in the Huan Sea.

"In this way, Liang Junshou, can you explain to General Ben how many permanent troops are there in Jiangxia City now? How many young and strong people are there? Do you have enough weapons? Ben General told the truth, the number of troops of the First Army of the Northern Expedition is still a little stretched, and the General thought that if the permanent army of Jiangxia is sufficient, it should be possible to solve the urgent need of the First Army of the Northern Expedition. ”

Since Li Yifu has already left office, there is no need for him to continue to talk about Li Yifu with Liang Ji.

These things should be investigated after the war is over and after returning to Beijing.

The name of the First Army of the Northern Expedition is also interesting.

As the commander of the new army, Ji Wuying discussed with Bai Qi the day before the new army started, and he stayed in Jinling and tried his best to recruit some new soldiers, anyway, even if Ji Wuying came with him, he would not have any practical help for the war on the front line, so he should obediently stay in the rear and take care of the logistics for Bai Qi.

And the number of the new army will naturally have to be finalized after it is formally established.

Ji Wuying and Bai Qi also discussed for a long time for the number of the new army, and later Sima Cuo and Gan Mao also joined in, until finally Li Chengqian joined, Li Chengqian's words made everyone finally decide the number of the new army.

The Central Plains is a place to leave the south, and the defense is far less than that of the northern expedition.

Li Chengqian's short sentence made Bai Qi's eyes light up, and he quickly finalized the number of the new army.

The meaning of the First Army of the Central Plains in the Northern Expedition is also obvious.

The goal of this new army is not only to repel the Central Plains coalition army this time, but the goal of this new army is to march north.

The northern expedition and the Central Plains are the names they should have.

The military department also naturally passed this number.

Once an army has a number, then its establishment will soon come down.

The establishment of the first army of the Northern Expedition by Emperor Li is 50,000, but although the establishment is 50,000, the gaps that are lacking now need to be found by themselves.

The compilation is given to you, and the source of soldiers will be screened by yourself.

Therefore, Bai Qi hit the gap in the establishment to the permanent army of Jiangxia City.

As the north gate of the south departure, the number of permanent troops in Jiangxia City will definitely not be less, as long as he fights the Central Plains Coalition Army back this time, if he draws some elites from the Jiangxia permanent army to supplement the new army, how can this be reasonable?

Liang Ji's fat body took Bai Qi and they came to the lobby of the official mansion and sat down, and ordered the official to serve tea, and after drinking the tea in one gulp like drinking boiled water, Liang Ji stumbled and replied with some embarrassment

"Bai, the Baizhen army doesn't know, Jiangxia suffered a flood last year, and some villages next to Jiangxia County were also flooded with a lot of crops, and in terms of finance, the official has reduced the number of some garrisons, so now the number of permanent troops in Jiangxia City is only more than three thousand, of which half are elderly and veterans."

When Liang Ji said this, he vigorously wiped the fine sweat that kept pouring out of his forehead with a handkerchief.

Bai Qi didn't reply, but just stood up directly and whispered to Li Chengqian and the others

"Let's go."

The words fell, and without Liang Ji's reaction, Bai Qi walked out of the lobby with steps and walked towards the entrance of the official mansion.

Hehe, this Liang Ji also recognized Li Chengqian's identity as the prince, plus he heard about the fact that he had compiled it to the Tiance Mansion, otherwise, he would definitely not have said these words.

Flood?

No matter how serious the flood in Jiangxia is, won't Jinling allocate money to you to rebuild?

As the north gate of the south departure, no matter how much Jinling deducts it, it will never deduct your money from Jiangxia County.

But why did Liang Ji say that there was a financial shortage?

Seeing that the two princes are here, Liang Ji also knows that if he conceals it, if he is found out in the future, his punishment will definitely be reduced to a common person and exiled to the three southern states.

Seeing Bai Qi walk out of the official mansion, Liang Ji, who was still sitting in the lobby, kept sighing again and again.

It's not that I don't want to chase it, and it's not that I don't want to beg Bai Qi not to expose this matter.

Where did he not understand, Bai Qi asked himself why the Jiangxia garrison was.

The establishment of the First Army of the Northern Expedition is still tens of thousands, and the meaning of Bai Qi's words is nothing more than that he wants to draw some soldiers from the Jiangxia permanent army to supplement it, if he lies about it, it will be easy for Bai Qi to find out.

If it is found out at that time, His Royal Highness the Second Prince next to him will be present, and this matter will definitely be presented to His Majesty in the future, and it will be a big crime to face it at that time.

And after Bai Qi and his party left the official mansion, Gan Mao gritted his teeth viciously and said angrily

"This dog official, what's wrong with corruption, it has been embezzled to the armament, how did the official position of Jiangxia County guard such a key place fall into the hands of such a dog official."

Li Chengqian frowned slightly, he hadn't reacted yet, he was a little stunned, and asked subconsciously

"Liang Junshou, what's wrong?"

Sima Coo patiently explained to Li Chengqian

"Your Royal Highness the Second Prince, didn't you see it? What Liang Ji said was just an excuse to excuse himself, what to reduce armaments, it is nothing more than to put all those funds into his own pocket, this kind of thing is in many counties in China, but I can't imagine it, as a county guard of a major border county, Liang Ji's move is like being blinded by lard, this is simply self-destruction of the Great Wall. ”

Gan Mao nodded vigorously, he very much agreed with what Sima Cuo said, and added after Sima Cuo finished speaking

"Besides, the most important point is that the existing number of the First Army of the Northern Expedition is already barely enough to deal with the Central Plains Coalition Army, if it is impossible to draw some people from the Jiangxia permanent garrison, then with only a garrison of 3,000 people, we can only draw some people from the Northern First Army to supplement Jiangxia City and assist the garrison in defending Jiangxia, otherwise, if something goes wrong on the front line, how can Jiangxia City withstand the attack of the Central Plains Coalition Army."

Bai Qi closed his eyes and rubbed his temples.

Although Sima's mistake is somewhat serious, it is also reasonable.

Since he can't do the feat of the prince of Zhou back then, the garrison of Jiangxia City must be kept on a safe line.

At present, there are 3,000 garrisons, half of whom are old, weak, sick and disabled, and he has to draw at least 2,000 people from the 1st Army in the north to stabilize the situation.

Two thousand people is already a large number for the current Northern First Army.

This Liang Ji is really, it makes people hate itchy.