Guo Song deployed 30,000 troops in the states of Guannei, 20,000 troops returned to Lingzhou, and Guo Song led 20,000 troops back to Hedong.

With the expansion of the control area, the total strength of the Hexi Army has exceeded 200,000 people, distributed in Anxi, Beiting, Hexi, Longyou, Shuofang, Guannei and Hedong and other places, at this time it is not suitable to be called the Hexi Army, because Guo Song was named the king of Jin, the ruling center has been moved to Taiyuan, Hedong, the army has been officially renamed the Tang Jin Army, but everyone is still used to calling the Hexi Army.

At the end of October, Guo Song returned to Taiyuan Mansion, at this time, Zhangye officials and ministers have moved to Taiyuan one after another, and the Liangzhou Assassin Shi was served by Guo Song's former staff Zhang Qianyi, and also served as the governor of Hexi Jiedu Prefecture.

On this morning, Guo Song was discussing with Pan Liao and others about the establishment of granaries, the establishment of large granaries is a common method adopted in all dynasties, subordinate to the imperial court, so that the grain from various grain producing areas can be stored nearby, such as Guangtong warehouse, Luokou warehouse, Huiluo warehouse, Liyang warehouse, etc., which are the world's famous four major granaries, in addition to many smaller granaries, Chang'an's Taicang, Chenliucang, Jiangdu Cang, Jinyang Cang and so on.

Taiyuan's Jinyang warehouse is a famous granary, at the beginning of the rise of the Li Tang Dynasty, it was thanks to the grain and grass materials of Jinyang warehouse.

Jinyang warehouse built on the bank of the Fenshui River, is a group of warehouses, composed of hundreds of large warehouses, surrounded by city walls, in fact, it is a warehouse city, originally built in the era of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, burned down many times, and rebuilt many times, the Yuan Dynasty hoarded nearly one million stone grain and dozens of loads of forage in the Jinyang warehouse.

Pan Liao hung a warehouse drawing on a wooden shelf, and said to Guo Song and the officials: "The officials of the Warehouse Department have measured on the spot, the Jinyang warehouse can hold 3 million stones of grain, 2 million quintals of forage, and other materials can be stored, and we will consider expanding to double the storage capacity of materials, at present, there are 800,000 stones of wheat and 400,000 quintals of forage in Jinyang warehouse, and we are considering preparing to transport the grain and grass materials of Zhangye Cangcheng and Guzang grain and grass, and the grain reserves over there are 1.5 million stones." ”

"Is there any difficulty in carrying the grain and grass here?" Guo Song asked.

The grain and grass materials in Hexi were transported, this was Guo Song's most concerned issue, the war consumed huge grain and grass materials, and without sufficient material reserves, he could not compete with the Central Plains and the major feudal towns in Hebei.

Pan Liao smiled bitterly and said: "The biggest difficulty is the lack of transportation capacity, more than 500 ships take at least two months to make a trip, and can transport 300,000 stones at a time, at most five times a year, not only to transport grain, but also to forage, sheep and other materials, it will take at least two or three years to transport, if we have 2,000 ships, we can basically transport it in one year." ”

Guo Song nodded, "If I want to find a way to ship the ship, the shipbuilding will definitely not be able to catch up, so I can only find a way to buy it, do you have any other good ideas?" ”

Cao Wannian raised his hand and said: "There are several detailed ideas about the humble position, which are debatable. ”

"You say, what details."

"First of all, the sheep, just now Pan Changshi mentioned the sheep, I think the sheep should not be transported long-distance, you can build a transit pasture in Fengzhou and Yulin, with the method of captivity, when transporting from Yulin to the ship, two days to transport to Lanzhou Hehe County, where ashore, the terrain is flat, the grassland has more than 100,000 acres, as well as the Xizhou pasture, and even the Yunzhou ranch, can accommodate millions of sheep, can be fully utilized."

Cao Wannian's idea is good, everyone agrees, Guo Song nodded and smiled: "This is the establishment of inland pastures, it is a grand strategy, but it is not a matter of details, you talk about the details!" ”

Cao Wannian pondered for a moment and said: "A few months ago, I went to Hukou of the Yellow River to inspect the dryland boating there, it can be said that the Hukou cliff is the biggest obstacle to the Yellow River's water transportation, but there is no way, the dryland boating method is advisable, but it consumes too much manpower, which is mainly focused on the link of transporting goods and transporting cargo ships. ”

Guo Song asked with an excuse: "Are you talking about moving the materials off the ship first, then transporting them for two miles, and then loading them on the ship?" ”

"It is this link, I saw the ship with a healthy ox pulling, not very labor-intensive, the main handling of this link, moving and transporting, transportation is with ox carts or mule carts, moving is completely by manpower from the boat back on the back, thousands of people are working, it takes a long time, lowly considerations, if there is a large equipment, the materials are quickly unloaded from the ship to the shore, then it can greatly reduce manpower, and the speed of unloading and loading is accelerated."

Guo Song nodded, Cao Wannian was actually talking about cranes, although there were no cranes in the Tang Dynasty, but the wisdom of the working people is infinite, and there must be other ways to achieve it.

Cao Wannian continued: "Humble and a few old movers chat, they have a lot of ideas, among which there are several lowly jobs feel more reliable, one is to use the skateboard, the skateboard is hung on the side of the ship, put the grain bag on the skateboard, the grain bag will slide down the skateboard, and slide directly into the ox cart below, this method has been used, but it can only be unloaded, not loaded.

There is also a way to use hydraulic drive, to establish a windmill-like large turntable, it is always rotating, using the height difference when rotating, the goods are carried between the boat and the ox cart, but this method is easy to lose balance, either one end is too heavy to pull up, or the other end is too heavy, to the high place directly smashed down, it is difficult to solve this balance problem. ”

Guo Song's eyes lit up and said with a smile: "The fundamental solution has actually been found, that is, to use water power, but the direction is not right, such as using water power to push the grinding disc to grind the surface, using water power to extract oil, and so on."

Hydraulic power is like a strong man, it will not be tired, should find a way to let it carry the goods on the ship, I can't think of how to do it for a while, but you can organize craftsmen to ponder, as long as we can improve the effectiveness of the dry land boat, we can use the Yellow River and the Fen River, the grain and grass resources from all over the country continue to transport to Taiyuan, as for the ship problem, I will find a way to solve it. ”

At this time, a personal soldier walked quickly to Guo Song's side and whispered a few words to him, Guo Song sneered: "Zhu Zhu's movements are really fast, immediately send a messenger over, Pan Changshi, you receive them first, find out their intentions, and I will talk to them tomorrow." ”

"Obey the order!" Pan Liao saluted and left in a hurry.

Everyone got up one after another, and Guo Song said to Cao Wannian again: "You just mentioned the method of sailing on dry land, you hand it over to the Ministry of Industry to deal with, you are in charge of the Suzheng Terrace, you must quickly improve the Suppression Terrace, establish a patrol system of the Suppression Terrace in Hedong and Guannei, and I will see the effect before the end of the year." ”

"The lowly duty has already begun, and it will be accelerated."

At this time, Guo Song remembered something again, and called Yan Shuo in the Shibu Shilang, Yan Shuo is the third son of Yan Zhenqing, and is currently in charge of the Ministry of Scholars, which is equivalent to the Ministry of Rites, in charge of school tribute, foreign affairs, ceremonies, temples and Taoist temples, etc., with a wide range of jurisdiction, and there are three offices, Honglu Administration, Ceremonial Department and Tribute Department.

"Your Highness, please!"

Guo Song smiled: "Let's talk while walking!" ”

The two walked out of Jinyang Palace, the official offices on both sides of Jinyang Palace have been built, divided into two squares on the left and right, covering an area of hundreds of acres, the official offices are intensive, although they are not as magnificent as the Daming Palace, but there are many houses, complete functions, it can be said that there is everything, and the various official offices from Hexi have been in place, fully operational.

The imperial and political districts in Jinyang Palace are mainly the four major military and political institutions of Tiance Mansion, the Prime Minister's Mansion, the Suzheng Platform and the Internal Affairs Department.

There is also a very long building in the south, called the Chengshi Hall, which is the external window of various official offices, like the local officials who come to Taiyuan Mansion on business trips, and the businessmen apply for various qualifications, and submit documents in the Chengshi Hall to get back the approval, which is quite like the government affairs hall of later generations.

In this way, it is avoided that idle people are running around in the official office.

Guo Song said to Yan Shuo: "There is not only a lack of officials in various places, but also a mixture of fish and dragons, pit the people and harm the people, the selection of talents is a top priority, I consider holding the imperial examination in Taiyuan next spring, of course, we can not be called the imperial examination, but called the scientific examination recruit, the examination can be awarded to the Jinshi department, and the examination of the Ming Jing Department is an official, first the Ming Jing, and then the Jinshi, this matter is very important, and your scholars must immediately prepare for it." ”

Yan Shuo thought for a while and asked, "May I ask Your Highness, is this imperial examination only for the area under our control, or the entire world?" ”

Guo Song smiled slightly: "We welcome talents from all over the world, as for the qualifications, those who have passed the examination can come to Taiyuan to apply for the examination, in addition, we provide two months of free room and board." ”

Yan Shuo nodded, "Humble Rank now go to Meng Jiao to discuss and provide a report to the envoy as soon as possible." ”

"I'm looking forward to Lang Zhong's report!"