"Oh?!" Lin Feng was slightly stunned, took the notebook casually, checked it, and put it on the table of the Eight Immortals, frowning, "It's too thick, I'll see it at night—you give me a rough explanation." ”

"Back to the lord, in the past few months, Zhao Shenqiao has increased his troops again!!" Wang Shirong arched his hand and said, "When the lord returned to Beijing with a great victory over Geerdan, there were only more than 50,000 soldiers in Shandong, and now it is 70,000!" ”

"Huh?!" Lin Feng was noncommittal, and asked in a different way, "So...... So Zhao Shenqiao is ready to fight with us?! ”

"I don't know!" Wang Shirong thought for a while, "But it should be so, although Zhao Shenqiao is the governor of a province on the surface, in fact, the mainland is no less than the king of a country - Shandong is rich, with more than 10 million Dingkou, I think he still wants to get away with it!" ”

Lin Feng sighed, pointed to the book and said, "If you don't see the coffin, you won't shed tears, alas, ......" He shook his head with a wry smile, "This Zhao Shenqiao ......"

"Yes, stubborn and unknown, resisting the power of heaven, it is really hateful!"

"How's his troop deployment?!"

"There are no major changes on the front line," Wang Shirong said, "the focus is still on Dezhou, Linqing, and Leling, among which the most 'elite' troops are stationed in Dezhou, guarding the canals and waterways, with a strength of about 30,000 troops, and confronting the Second Guards Cavalry Army and the Third Guards Army of our Han Dynasty!" ”

"Didn't you say he had increased his troops?!" Lin Feng raised his hand, "Oh, Ji Yun doesn't have to be like this, come-sit and talk!" ”

"Yes, thank you! - Back to the lord, it's an increase in troops! Wang Shirong stood up, arched his hand, and said respectfully, "In May and June this year, Shandong is recruiting young and strong men, and plans to organize them into a new army, but according to the minister's military commander Ya 'Gate', this group of troops is not well trained, the weapons are not neat, and there is also a lack of officers and veterans, so Zhao Shenqiao and Wang Chengye, the general soldier of Shandong, dare not use them, so they are stationed in Kenli, Dengzhou, Qingdao and other coastal areas, while training on the spot, while renovating weapons!" ”

"Well, I see," Lin Feng said with a smile, "It seems that he borrowed Rabu's precedent, and he was afraid that we would engage in amphibious landing operations - it's really ridiculous, 20,000 recruits can guarantee the rear?" If the widow really wants to land in Shandong and go straight to the hinterland, what can 20,000 recruits do? ! ”

"It's just a matter of talking about personnel!" Wang Shirong echoed and smiled.

"And how is our military situation?!" Lin Feng curled his middle finger and tapped his joints lightly on the table, "You say, if we want to take Shandong and break through Zhao Shenqiao's troops, how many troops do we need to use?!" ”

"Returning to the lord, according to the king's edict, only the guards army stationed in the lord is now directly under the government, including a cavalry army and an infantry army on the Texas front, with a strength of about 24,000 people, in addition, Tianjin is also stationed in the Fourth Guards Army, the Beijing Guards First Army and the Fifth Army - the Lord Mingcha, the Fourth Guards Army and the Fifth Army are newly formed troops, and the training is only more than five months, and the Fifth Army is still a pure artillery unit, and it cannot fight alone."

Lin Feng nodded slightly, raised his head, and shouted loudly to the warriors standing outside the 'door', "Come on, bring the map!" ”

When the 'attendant' was ordered, Wang Shirong continued to add, "In addition to the Guards, there are also two brigades of the Metropolitan Guards in Zhili Province, which are stationed in Beijing, Baoding, Tianjin and other places, guarding the 'gate' of the Ya and maintaining law and order," he 'revealed' a smile and shook his head, "However, most of the Guards have not been in actual combat, nor are they equipped with cannons or horses, they are all musket foot soldiers, and they are used to hunt down the 'chaotic' party and exterminate the rogues, but it is not possible to fight!" ”

"I didn't ask you to count them!" Lin Feng shook his head, "They are internal affairs troops, I never thought of letting these old soldiers go into battle!" ”

Duwei Army is a very unique military force of the Lin Han Imperial Court, under the jurisdiction of the Han Imperial Court, with five brigades, including four musket brigades and a cavalry brigade, equipped with a small number of field artillery, this army was originally born out of Beijing City "from the dragon anyway" of the "folk righteous soldiers", and later after the Han army was restructured, these "civil righteous soldiers" were kicked out of the regular army for many reasons, and were assigned to the command of Chen Menglei, the imperial history of the inspection capital, as the internal affairs of the dynasty. At first, the army was small, only more than 2,000 people, but as the empire expanded and strengthened, the ruling area continued to expand, in order to suppress the rebellion and rebellion within the empire, and to maintain the operation of the judicial system, the establishment gradually became huge, until now it has developed into an army of 10,000 people, almost equal to a field army in terms of numbers alone.

The functions of this army are complex, not only responsible for suppressing the people, but also chasing down key criminals, patrolling the market on weekdays, and consolidating law and order in appeasement places, so in Lin Feng's mind, this so-called "capital guard" is actually the armed police force of the Lin Han Empire.

After a short time, the 'guard' presented the map, Lin Feng spread it out casually, and said, "There are 70,000 enemy troops in Shandong, according to you, how many troops do we have to send to win?!" ”

"Back to the lord," Wang Shirong thought for a while, and said "color", "In fact, the minister thinks that in the matter of Shandong, the military strength is secondary, and the former Ma Ji's advice to Zhuge should be taken as a precedent, and it is the ...... of 'attacking the city as the bottom and attacking the heart as the top'."

"Huh?! ......" Lin Feng was quite surprised, and couldn't help but turn his head and said in surprise, "What do you say?!" ”

"Returning to the lord, now my Han country is strong, the Han army is mighty, moving troops in all directions, the Eight Banners and the 'Mongolian' Gu are invincible, and the princes are all afraid, and who is Zhao Shenqiao? Dare to resist the lord of the Central Plains in a corner of the land?! Wang Shirong looked at Lin Feng, "Do you know why?!" ”

"Speak!"

"Money is touching, Silier!" Wang Shirong cut through the ironclad road, confessed his guilt, pulled the map from in front of Lin Feng, and pointed to the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, "My lord, please see, the reason why the officials of Shandong are stubborn and unknown is all in this river!" ”

"Canal?!" Lin Feng was stunned for a moment, then suddenly reacted, and frowned, "What do you mean...... North-South Transport?! ”

"It is precisely here," Wang Shirong nodded, "Since the Han Dynasty attacked Beijing, the pseudo-Qing Dynasty collapsed, and the world has been in its own way since then, so the north and south Cao Yun have been cut off for several years - Cao Yun, the lifeblood of the world, the throat of the Beijing Division, for hundreds of years, the grain and rice, tea, silk, cloth, salt, etc. in the south have gone north and scattered, Shanxi, Henan and even Liaodong have also relied on it, and it is by no means the need of a province directly under the government, which can be described as a veritable 'golden waterway'!" ……”

Lin Feng suddenly realized, and patted his head, "Ji Yun, I understand when I hear you say this, the officials of Shandong have made a fortune in the past few years when I have been in charge?!" ”

"Exactly!" Wang Shirong said with some embarrassment, "As far as the minister knows, since the establishment of the Han Dynasty, Zhao Shenqiao has set up dozens of checkpoints, to the provinces, prefectures, and counties in the canal basin to appoint a department, specifically responsible for the collection of provincial money, the name is numerous, too many to mention, the name is called 'river wages' or 'dredging donations' and the like, in the past, businessmen complained bitterly, so Jiangnan finally arrived in the Central Plains, often skyrocketing in value, in fact, businessmen have made a lot of profits, and these money have been scraped away by officials in Shandong Province!" ”

"Bang ......", Lin Feng slapped the table and said angrily, "I said, what kind of famous is this Zhao Shenqiao playing with me, now that the major events in the north have been decided, he neither says surrender nor war, he only knows how to say some painless flattery, I thought he was playing Taoxue, but I didn't expect it to be for silver?!! ”

"Ahem...... cough ......" Wang Shirong suddenly coughed dryly and arched his hand, "This ...... I'm afraid that the lord has misunderstood, according to the investigation of our military commander's 'door', this Zhao Shenqiao is actually not a corrupt official, and it is his subordinates who really want money! He smiled bitterly, "For example, Lu Yishan, the prefect of Texas, Yucheng Lingliang Dongjia, etc., these pseudo-Qing officials, stealing one side in Shandong, looting unscrupulously, taking Lu Yishan as an example, he is a small prefect, and now it costs 100 gold to eat a meal, not to mention the luxury of the delicacies of the mountains and seas, but also to play music, singing, juggling, etc. It is reported that in April this year, in order to recruit a drama as the twelfth concubine, he spent a lot of money and 'spent' more than 8,000 taels of silver!! ……”

Lin Feng looked at Wang Shirong blankly, and suddenly smiled dumbly, "Look at it, do you see it, there is a clear saying in Rick's hometown, the so-called 'God told him to perish, he must first make him crazy', there is really nothing wrong at all!" ”

"yes!" Wang Shirong smiled bitterly, "His prefect is really crazy, if you talk about the style, I'm afraid the lord will never be able to catch up, even if it is the former Xuanye, it may not be able to compare!" He sighed, "When the minister received the secret report, he couldn't believe it, and turned around and flipped through their archives in the pseudo-Qing official department, these officials are all serious Jinshi backgrounds, it turns out that when he was under Kangxi, this official also did a very restrained job, where is it like now, it's like a group of mad dogs!" ”

"How dare the widow compare with them," Lin Feng laughed and said, "This is honest, don't look at me as the king of Han, in fact, my life is very simple, last month, the head of the internal affairs office settled the accounts, and I, the king of Han, even ate and dressed a total of 86 taels and 66 yuan, which is not worth a meal for his Lord Lu Yishan, the prefect of Texas." ”

"The Lord is virtuous!" Wang Shirong said with a smile, "I'm afraid they also understand in their hearts that our Han army will have to fight over sooner or later, and this kind of day is a little less than a day, and one day is a day!" ”

"Hmm," Lin Feng nodded, and suddenly asked, "You just said that Zhao Shenqiao is not a corrupt official?!" ”

"Yes, the minister inquired very clearly, now the Shandong officials are ruling the whole province erosively, from the feudal department to the master's office, it can be said that there is no one who is not corrupt, but there are only two people who do not ask for money!"

"Oh?!" Lin Feng said in surprise, "Which two?!" ”

"Shandong General Soldier Wang Chengye, Shandong Governor Zhao Shenqiao!!" Wang Shirong said solemnly, "One is the first civil official, the other is the number one general, they don't even want money, and the minister was very suspicious, but after actual investigation, it is true!" ”

Seeing Lin Feng's suspicious 'color', he said solemnly, "General soldier Wang Chengye, the word Yingguang, a native of Shaanxi, born in the army, has never read, is an old man, now Shandong is divided, he is the head of the military attaché, and there are countless filial tributes to officials every month and everywhere, but he does not take any money, divides the silver into two pieces, and the small head is rewarded to the corporaries, the big head." Spend 'money on food and armor in the army, honest and self-controlled, hundreds of civil and military officials in Shandong Province, except for Zhao Shenqiao, regardless of virtue or not, whether greedy or not, wholeheartedly convinced, all officialdom exchanges, where he is there, all the officials are vigilant, dare not have a word to let go of 'waves'! Saying this, he couldn't help but nod his head and sighed, "The general is mighty, and although the minister is his enemy, he can't help but be in awe!" ”

"He's a good general!" Lin Feng also nodded, "This person has to find a way to recruit him." ”

"Yes, the minister remembers!" Wang Shirong bowed and said, "In addition, Governor Zhao Shenqiao is also a Qing official, and his only hobby in life is to grow bamboo......

"What?!" Lin Feng was stunned and said, "You didn't 'get 'wrong'?" - Grow bamboo?! Raise 'flowers', right?! ”

"Back to the lord, the minister didn't make a mistake, he planted bamboo, not raised 'flowers'!" Wang Shirong shook his head and said, "Now the housekeeper in his house is the meticulous work of our Han Army's 'gate'!" ”

"Butler?!" Lin Feng looked at Wang Shirong with suspicion, as far as he knew, 100% of the cronies and servants of officials in this era were fellow villagers or family members, and some were even relatives of sons and nephews, his son Lao Tzu had been used for several generations, most of them were loyal, and other petty officials and servants were just that, Zhao Shenqiao was the governor of a province, how could his housekeeper be easily bought?!

"If you go back to the lord, Zhao Shenqiao is a native of Zhenjiang, Jiangnan, and his housekeeper is his cousin," Wang Shirong said with a smile, "But his cousin is not ordinary, when he was young, he ran 'waves' outside, he was very open in the rivers and lakes, and he had many identities, and now the famous one is the uncle and housekeeper of Lord Zhao, the governor of Shandong; One is the elder of the Cao Gang......"

"Cao Gang?! ......" Lin Feng frowned.

"Yes, in addition to this identity on the surface...... Wang Shirong lowered his voice a little and whispered, "He is also the incense master of the Aoki Hall of the Heaven and Earth Society, and in addition, he is also the secret agent of our Han Imperial Court's ordnance and grain statistics ya'men, the official worships the governor Lang, the rank of lieutenant colonel, and the rank is from the sixth grade......" He smiled, "This official is not small, compared to me, the privy envoy, it is not much worse!" ”

After being stunned for a long time, Lin Feng smiled bitterly and said, "The world is unpredictable, it's really unpredictable," he asked instead, "How did he serve my big man?!" ”

"It's absurd," Wang Shirong said embarrassedly, "The minister sent several secret agents to Zhao Shenqiao's family to serve as servants, this Zhao steward is an old Jianghu, and he noticed it in a few days, and chased after the clues, almost all of the army was wiped out, but unexpectedly, after he caught our people, he didn't send Zhao Shenqiao to deal with it strictly, and second, he didn't kill people, but took the initiative to connect with us, and handed over the words, saying that he was willing to serve the Han!! ”

This matter was even more bizarre, Lin Feng's eyes widened, and he sighed, "What an old Zhao housekeeper!" ”

"Yes, the minister can't figure it out," Wang Shirong spread his hands and said embarrassedly, "But people take the initiative to go to the 'door', and we have no reason to push it outside, so we will make a mistake, register it for the record, send it to the official, and appoint this 'righteous man' as a Han official!" ”

"Hmm......" Lin Feng thought for a while, looked at Wang Shirong, and said thoughtfully, "It seems that this is also a card of Zhao Shenqiao, we have to take it!" ”

"Yes, Lord Shengming, the minister also thinks so," Wang Shirong said respectfully, and the words changed, "In addition, the minister also received a secret report, and now Zhao Shenqiao's mansion is also lively, and there are endless figures from all sides, including people from Wu Sangui in the Southern Zhou Dynasty, people from Jiangsu Labu and Zhejiang Jieshu, Yang Qilong doesn't need to say it, and even Taiwan's Zheng Jing, Korqin's Bulyagma and Zhao Shenqiao's eyebrows are really interesting!" ”

"Normal, normal, aren't we just eye-to-eye with him? Compare your heart to your heart," Lin Feng waved his hand magnificently, "You just said that Zhao Shenqiao is not a corrupt official - since he doesn't want silver, then why is he fighting with me?!" ”

"Lord Mingjian," Wang Shirong glanced at Lin Feng in surprise, the Lord of the Heart Dao was really smart and confused for a while, why did he suddenly not even understand this, but he replied honestly, "Lord Qi, although he is not greedy, but his subordinates are greedy - and almost all of his subordinates are greedy, you know, according to the minds of these moths, whoever does not allow them to be greedy and does not let them be greedy, that is their enemy, not to mention a mere governor, even the 'jade' emperor may not be able to!" Wang Shirong turned his head and asked, "Lord, you said - if our Han wins Shandong, will these people still have such a good life?!" ”

Lin Feng sneered, "Good day?!" If Shandong is submissive, their good life will not be under my control, so what is the mood of King Yama! ”

"The lord is witty!" Wang Shirong said with a smile, "In fact, Zhao Shenqiao's situation is like this, although he is not greedy, but he can't help but be the master of the corrupt officials, otherwise, not only will he not be able to be the governor of Shandong, but even his 'life' will be difficult to save - he is the governor who can't scare people now, the Qing court has collapsed, his name is not right, if he 'provokes' the 'public anger' of his subordinates, then he is really not a person inside and outside!" ”

Lin Feng nodded, leaned down, and pulled out the map, "I understand what you mean, Shandong's affairs, you must fight, but you have to pull!" He straightened up and stroked the word 'Texas' on the map, "Fight a war - fight a battle hard, break their luck, beat their procrastination!" ”

"Lord Shengming!"

"After you go back, you must strengthen your contact with Zhao Shenqiao, this person is a talent, and we can still use it!" Seeing Lin Feng stand up, Wang Shirong saw this, hurriedly bowed down and listened carefully, "As for that good general...... That Wang Chengye, this king will personally go to meet him for a while, and he can use it if he can, if he can't use it...... Then let the widow give him a ride!! ”