As the market grows larger, so does the daily volume of trade. And the money that flowed into the county government was actually Gongsun Jian's pocket, and there were more and more money. After preliminary calculations, after removing all the previous expenses and the current normal daily expenses, the county government has more than 1.3 million taels of silver in stock alone, not counting the value of raw materials and finished products at the iron wharf and steel factory in the south of the downstream city, as well as the grain and herbs that have been piled up so much recently that there is no place to pile up, and so on.

Gongsun Jian, Liu Dayuan, Feng Huaidao and Qi Shi Ma Teng sat around, eating the hot pot invented by Gongsun Jian, drinking wine and chatting.

"Childe, we've been a bit dazzling lately! I heard Zhao Changle tell me that there are a lot of strangers in our county these days, and it seems that they are here to do business, but they are looking around for news all day long. Liu Dayuan lowered his voice and said to Gongsun Jian and the others.

Gongsun Jian sneered a few times, did not reply, but looked at Ma Teng on the side. Ma Teng immediately understood and said, "My lord, what Liu Zhixian said is right, Xiaole also told me about this situation. And I sent someone to watch in the dark. The basics are all in hand. In addition to the Jin Longwei sent by the imperial court later, there were also shadow guards, and there were actually people from the Zhao Palace. However, these people, except for the shadow guards, are basically under our control. ”

"It's okay to keep an eye on it, as long as you don't break the law and touch our few secret places, you don't have to worry about them, but if someone crosses the line, you don't need to notify me, you just take someone to death."

"Yes, my subordinates understand." Ma Teng agreed.

"But the strange thing is that our brother actually discovered Wu Guo's secret agent. Originally, we didn't know it was Wu Guo's spies. But the other party was identified by the shadow guard, and the two sides clashed. That's what we know. ”

"Oh! Wu Guo's secret agent and shadow guard confront? Gongsun Jian put down the chopsticks in his hand, picked up the wine glass and smiled slightly.

"That's kind of interesting." As he spoke, Gongsun Jian put down his wine glass again and said solemnly to Ma Teng: "Old Ma, strengthen the security and secrecy of our steel mill and munitions workshop. It's your responsibility. I don't need to tell you why it's important. ”

"My subordinates know."

"It's still the same sentence, but anyone who dares to approach these two places and kill them directly, and dare to spy on these two places to kill directly."

"Yes."

"In addition, Lord Liu, don't let that kid from Changle be in the county office, transfer him to Lao Ma as a deputy. The county office, you find a reassuring person to replace you. Gongsun Jian commanded Liu Dayuan again.

"Okay, I'm fine with it at the moment. The main thing is that the trade affairs are busy, but fortunately, there is Mr. Feng to help. Liu Dayuan agreed with a smile.

"Don't count on Mr. Feng. You are the head of this waterfront county. Mr. Feng has other important things to do. So Lao Liu, you have to take over the burden on Mr. Feng as soon as possible. Take care of and develop Linshui County. Gongsun Jian glared at Liu Dayuan angrily.

It's not that Gongsun Jian is prejudiced against Liu Dayuan, in fact, if you want to say that Liu Dayuan still has the ability, it's that sometimes he is timid and not responsible. The character of hiding anything can make Gongsun Jian a little unacceptable. even said behind his back that Liu Dayuan had half the guts of his daughter, and this Linshui County would not have to worry about him anymore.

was scolded by Gongsun Jian, and Liu Dayuan was a little ugly. Fortunately, Feng Huaidao relieved Liu Dayuan in time. said that Liu Dayuan is also trying his best these days, and many things can not be done alone without Liu Dayuan's help, etc.

But before Feng Huaidao could finish speaking, Gongsun Jian interrupted. He looked at everyone present with a serious face and said, "The good days left for us will not be too long." My grandfather sent me a letter that the imperial court intended to promote me to be the regimental training envoy of Jiangzhou Prefecture. In addition, Liu Zhixian is also likely to be transferred to the governor of Songzhou. In that case, this Linshui County will no longer belong to us. The imperial court will definitely send someone to take over immediately. ”

"This ......" As soon as Gongsun Jian's words came out, everyone was stunned. It is equivalent to the situation that they have finally opened up, and Linshui County, which has developed well, is going to make wedding dresses for others and give them away.

Seeing everyone's expressions, Gongsun Jian smiled. I know that everyone is very unwilling. Then he said, "But don't worry. It is not so easy for the imperial court to pick ready-made peaches. My grandfather and Xungui will help me for a while. In addition, the Cao family opened up the way on the Wu side for me. In a few days, Mr. Feng and Lao Xie went to Wu to talk to each other. When necessary, let the troops near the border pass of Wu State mobilize and prepare to attack the Great Zhou. For this reason, we will pay more salt and billets. But it can temporarily keep my position and Lao Liu's position. It's not a long-term solution, though. But it would be enough to give us more than a year. ”

After speaking, Gongsun Jian glanced at Qi Shi and Tian Kuo next to him and said, "A group of thieves in Shuanglong Mountain, Hezhou Mansion, three hundred miles to the southwest, are quite troublesome. It is said that the mountain people attacked the nearby county seat and killed the local county officials. The prefect asked the imperial court to send troops to suppress it, but he went once and was defeated. At present, it is very likely to attack the state capital, and the capital of Hezhou is also on the bank of Fenshui, I am afraid that it will affect our trade routes. That's why I want our militia to go and suppress the bandits. ”

"Childe, my militia is going to other states to suppress bandits, I'm afraid it's not appropriate. That's a taboo in the imperial court. Liu Dayuan hurriedly opened his mouth to persuade, and Feng Huaidao also stroked his beard and said, "What Lord Liu said is good. According to the rules of the imperial court, both garrisons and militia groups in various places can only operate within a radius of 100 miles from the county seat, and they are not allowed to move around at will without an edict from the imperial court. Violators will be punished as treason. This is a great sin. The lord needs to think twice about this! ”

Gongsun Jian waved his hand indifferently and said: "It's been almost half a year since the militia was formed, how can you know the actual effect of the training if you don't pull it out to fight." Besides, we don't need the banner of the militia group, it's the caravan. Let's find a merchant in the name of a businessman, let's say that he was attacked by bandits from Shuanglong Mountain on the way to do business, and then went to recover the looted property. As he spoke, Gongsun Jian glanced at Qi Shi and Tian Kuo again: "According to the intelligence, there are about five or six hundred bandits in the core of the other party, and the others are all mountain people who are coerced. Do you two have the confidence to defeat and destroy each other in one fell swoop? ”

Tian Kuo and Qi Shi are both from the military, so they won't care about anything that the court is allowed or not, as long as Gongsun Jian tells them to do it. Besides, Ann has been giving birth for so long, and his hands are indeed itchy. In addition to training all day long, the militia will occasionally help maintain law and order and guard important places such as steel mills. It's finally time to pull it out and try out the real skills, and it's too late for the two to be happy.

"Don't worry, my lord. Your subordinates will definitely complete what you have assigned. Tian Kuo took the lead in standing up and clasping his fists with both hands.

"Hmm." Gongsun Jian nodded, and then motioned for Tian Kuo and Qi Shi, who was about to stand up, to sit down and speak.

"The purpose of this time is to test the results of the militia training, and secondly, to let these people see blood. No matter how good the training is, I haven't seen blood, and once I go to the battlefield, I will still panic. So you two must pay attention to this aspect. This time, you take 300 men and tell your brothers that the rest of the booty will go to them, in addition to the money, food, supplies, and war damage paid by the county. Lao Qi, battlefield discipline and the ideological work of the soldiers have always been your responsibility. If something goes wrong, I'll ask you, is it clear? ”

"Got it, don't worry, sir." Qi Shi immediately nodded and said, "I know that this time we went out to fight, not only to test the results of the sergeants' usual training, but also to strengthen and summarize the soldiers' ideological trends in the course of the battle. ”

"Yes. After the success of this battle, these sergeants are qualified to be considered veterans. And then we can use them as the backbone to start expanding the army. Of course, all of this needs to be done in secret. ”

Gongsun Jian and Tian Kuo and Qi Shi explained some details of the troops. And Wei Meng, who was on the side, was already a little impatient to wait. Leaned over and said to Gongsun Jian with a smile: "My lord, let me also follow Lao Qi and Lao Tian this time." ”

Gongsun Jian glared at him angrily. This killing is just the mention of fighting, and he will be energetic.

"You are not allowed to go, let me stay in the county honestly. Turn around and ask Zhao Sihai to take ten brothers from the personal guard team to follow. However, they are not allowed to participate in the war at will, and they are not allowed to interfere with Lao Qi's command. It's just to see and learn from the experience, after all, none of them have been on the battlefield. Gongsun Jian commanded, and Lao Qi naturally understood Gongsun Jian's thoughts. They were all born as big soldiers, and they had no problem fighting, but they lacked command operations. Gongsun Jian wants to cultivate talents who lead soldiers.

Since the government affairs and the dock were handed over to Liu Dayuan and Feng Huaidao, Gongsun Jian has spent a lot of time going to the militia group, and he has also taken the time to constantly teach those soldiers and Lao Qi and a few of them the knowledge of leading troops and commanding. No matter how much you can learn, if you don't put it into practice, it's always empty talk.

Just as a few people were talking, Zhao Changle outside the back hall led the dusty Xie Wu to break in. Everyone was stunned when they saw it, but Xie Wu hurriedly said, "My lord, it's not good. ”

"Don't worry, old Xie. What is so alarming? Sit down and speak slowly. Gongsun Jian gestured with his eyes, and Ma Teng on the side brought a stool to Xie Wu and poured a cup of hot tea. However, Xie Wu didn't pick it up, but picked up the wine glass on the table and drank a few glasses in a row before panting and saying, "Just now, the Cao family got the news from the border pass that Northern Qi and Wu Guo have joined forces to prepare to invade our Great Zhou. At present, the northwest border has been closed, and all exchanges have been cut off. ”

"Hiss......" Gongsun Jian couldn't help frowning. Why did the good Wu State join forces with the Northern Qi? There was no movement beforehand!

"My lord, there is news. The reason why Wu Guo is willing to join forces with Northern Qi is that he has taken a fancy to our Linshui County. Xie Wu then added.

No way. Gongsun Jian was stunned for a moment. I made a little bit of commerce and smuggling salt and iron. My father-in-law, Emperor Yue, hasn't done anything to me yet. Why did Wu Guo take a fancy to it?

"That's right, Wu Guo has always coveted the steel we produce in addition to salt. I have sent someone to secretly investigate our steelmaking method before. As a result, before we could get close to our steel mill, we were shot by the guards. Later, for some reason, there was a conflict with the people of the shadow guard. Therefore, Wu Guo joined forces with Qi State, and the purpose of Qi State was that Wu State could send troops to contain our Great Zhou, so that he could attack directly from the north. And Wu Guo only thinks about this area from the border pass to our waterfront, of course, it is good to occupy more places along the coast of the Fenshui basin to the south. ”

"!" Gongsun Jian couldn't help but curse a dirty word. Lao Tzu, this is not a rich man, he is being targeted by others.

"Lao Xie, the news is reliable?" Gongsun Jian looked at Xie Wu and asked.

"Hmm." Xie Wu nodded and replied: "It was said by the Cao family's people in the other party's army, there should be no falsehood." At present, the army at the border pass of Wu has begun to move. ”

Gongsun Jian pondered, and after a short time, he raised his head and ordered: "Old Qi, you will lead people to cooperate with Mr. Feng to seize all the merchants of Wu and their belongings on the dock. Remember that it is only a temporary seizure, and the attitude is better, but if you dare to resist, you are not welcome. ”

"Yes."

"Lao Ma, the people who take you will arrest all the Wu State spies in the city, as well as the Golden Dragon Guard and the Shadow Guard, and kill them on the spot if they dare to resist. Zhao Changle went to cooperate with Lao Ma's action. ”