Li Xiaofei and Murong Ling took Murong Qing and more than 1,000 ghost sheep to ride, as well as 20,000 catties of coarse salt and grain and grass, and went to the mountain road to the east.

They packed the salt in a very ingenious way, put the salt into a bamboo tube and sealed it at both ends, each person carried a few on his back, even the car was saved, and some hid the salt under the helmet. The team didn't look like an army, but a bunch of outlaws smuggling salt.

After Liu Jian and Chen Kuan returned to Xiangyang, they sent letters to officials of all sizes, and the masters of the county clerk's office who had never even heard of their names went to the letters. It's not that Liu Jianguang cast a net or Corporal Lixian, there is really no way to fight to this extent. Only a dead horse is a live horse doctor, regardless of whether he is a cell boss or a fast catcher, anyone with weapons in his hand wants it.

It's just that there is little effect, and officials everywhere are waiting to wait, to put it bluntly, they are waiting for Liu Jian to take refuge in the new dynasty after his defeat. Hundreds of earnest letters were sent, and only thirteen teams loyal to the court came, a total of 3,000 people. Among them, eight of the leaders are still registered in the yamen, and the remaining five leaders are county magistrates in several poor counties.

Liu Jian's heart was half cold, but he still politely entertained the thirteen teams and allocated grain and grass barracks to them.

Chen Kuan also tried the combat strength of these people, and he also sighed for a while, he didn't understand the queue drill at all, let alone the formation tactics. A tall and thin catcher in his thirties saw that Chen Kuan was a little worried about their combat strength, so he uncovered the hat on his head and walked over: "My lord, we people have indeed never been in the barracks, and the frontal charge is definitely not as good as the soldiers and horses under the adults, but we have our own ability to walk the rivers and lakes!" ”

Chen Kuan looked at this person and hurriedly reassured: "Brother is too worried, as long as we can come to serve the country, we will treat everyone equally." In time, you will all be elite teachers."

Liu Jian also brought a few veterans of the Chen family army over at this time to prepare to train these people, and when he saw the two talking, he also greeted him: "Brothers, you have worked hard, and your enthusiasm for serving the country is very appreciated by this king, but I came all the way just now and found that many of you are holding short swords and daggers, if you meet the enemy on the battlefield, you will suffer."

Catch quickly gave Liu Jian a salute: "Lord Wang, in Xiashizhou's Yibejiu, the people of the rivers and lakes gave the nickname a glass of wine." Today, I dare to make a request to the prince for the people in the rivers and lakes! ”

This Yi Beijiu, with a pair of sword eyebrows stretched outwards with a flushed face, and a one-foot-long beard, Liu Jian glanced at it slightly and stretched out his hand: "Now that the national crisis is at hand, what do you ask for, but it doesn't matter!" ”

"Please order the abolition of the ban on martial arts, and pardon the knights who have been wanted by the imperial court for twenty years!"

Liu Jian was a little surprised: "When did the imperial court issue a ban on martial arts, and then there are people in the rivers and lakes who are not those people in the Zhongyi Hall?" ”

Yi Beijiu was a little confused, it seemed that the prince didn't know anything about the stories of the rivers and lakes, and immediately explained: "The prince didn't know, twenty years ago, the knights of the rivers and lakes gathered to drink, and actually bet to go to the palace to steal the emperor's dragon robe, Emperor Xianzong was furious, and ordered to prohibit the practice of martial arts among the people, and at the same time wanted all the sects that gathered at that time. Is this Zhongyi Hall, in fact, it has always been the people of the family who operate, and it is not a real person in the rivers and lakes! ”

Liu Jian listened attentively: "Then did they steal the dragon robe?" I said that I couldn't meet an opponent in Jinling for so many years of fighting and making trouble, and it turned out that the masters were all hiding. ”

Yi Beijiu smiled embarrassedly: "What a master, it's just that fighting and killing people are much more powerful than ordinary people." All the people who participated in the dragon robe that time were shot into hedgehogs by the Royal Forest Army, and no matter how high their martial arts were, they couldn't match the strong bows and crossbows of thousands of people for half an hour! ”

Chen Kuan sighed: "Actually, this matter is not because the people in the rivers and lakes are reckless, and those masters are not fools and madmen, how could they break into the palace and steal a dragon robe for no reason." At that time, Xianzong was not properly seated, and legend has it that he succeeded to the throne by killing his brother and uncle with the help of the forces of the rivers and lakes. So these people in the rivers and lakes were all eradicated overnight, and those who were lucky enough to not die were also wanted for many years! ”

Liu Jian nodded: "I understand, the rabbit is dead and the dog is cooked, and the bird is hidden." This imperial city is far more dangerous than the rivers and lakes! Don't talk about this, Yi Daxia's request should have been done a long time ago, I, Liu Jian, will write a message now to order the Quartet to abolish the ban on martial arts, and all the crimes committed by the people in the rivers and lakes before will be pardoned! By the way, we not only want to abolish the ban on martial arts, but also to practice martial arts in all states, counties, counties, and villages, otherwise we will not be able to resist the enemy army in the future! ”

The dozens of people behind Yi Beijiu all uncovered their hats and knelt on the ground: "The prince is wise!" I have waited to thank the prince, and I will say goodbye, but the prince is in danger, and we will definitely help each other desperately! ”

After saying that, these dozens of people were about to leave, and Liu Jian couldn't react a little: "Guys, why don't you serve in the army and be a general and captain to fight side by side with me?" ”

Everyone put on hats: "Helping the prince to quell the rebellion is for the sake of the family and the country, and not being an official is because we have a deep blood feud with the court!" Please forgive me! ”

Liu Jian bowed down and bowed to everyone: "The court owes you too much, and I Liu Jian will definitely rehabilitate your relatives one day!" ”

They bowed, turned and went east.

The knights are gone, but the problem is still not solved, Liu Jian is still far from recruiting an army of 100,000, and even the resourceful and well-informed Chen Kuan has nothing to do.

Liu Jian returned to his house and tried his best to hide his sorrow, but the wrinkles between his eyebrows couldn't be contained.

Xiao Qian walked over with the little emperor and the prince: "Lord Wang, how many soldiers and horses have you recruited?" If it really doesn't work, let's go to Shudi."

Hongrui, who followed behind, hugged Li Youran: "You can't retreat to Shudi, thinking that Zhuge Wuhou was clever a few hundred years ago, and there were famous generals like Zhao Yun and Jiang Wei under him, but he only ended up in the tragedy of the autumn wind and five zhang plains." We still have Jingzhou, Yangzhou, Jiaozhou, and Yizhou now, and we can completely defend them. If Jingzhou can't hold it, it won't be able to hold it if you retreat to Shudi! ”

Xiao Qian looked back at Hongrui: "I can't see that you still have such knowledge, if you were a man!" ”

Liu Jian wiped his sword: "I can't retreat, but I have only recruited less than 5,000 soldiers in the past ten days, and they are all new soldiers, so I can't help it."

At this time, the prince of the world was shouting: "I want milk, I want milk"

The little emperor and Li Youran also shouted: "Milk, milk, I want milk"

Xiao Qian hurriedly called the three nurses in: "Quickly take the emperor and the prince to the inner hall to breastfeed"

The three children immediately broke free from Xiao Qian and Hongrui and threw themselves into the nurse's arms, rubbing their little faces on the nurse's chest and shouting: "Eat, eat, eat"

Liu Jian looked at the three children and patted their thighs: "There is, there is!" ”

Xiao Qian and Hongrui were taken aback, and Xiao Qian asked, "What's there?" Which girl do you have a crush on outside? ”

Liu Jian laughed: "If you have milk, you are a mother, no food and no soldiers, how did I think of such a simple truth?" It's a bit stupid."

Xiao Qian and Hongrui both laughed, Xiao Qian walked over and sat on Liu Jian: "It seems that this emperor's son and Youran are lucky stars descending from the sky, come to give you this foolish prince to guide you!" ”

Liu Jian coughed: "Cough, this grain is available in our army, and we have to plan to make good use of this food."

Hongrui turned around and quietly went out to see the child, leaving only Liu Jian and Xiao Qian to continue talking.

Three days later, a list was posted outside the city of Xiangyang, which read: "The people have listened, there are many brothers in the family, and those who are short of food will be given rations to two people who come to join the army, five people who come to join the army will be given rations to five people, and those who come to three will be given rations to seven people!" Do not have complete hands and feet, do not be blind or deaf, and do not ...... if you are sick."

In order to do a good job of providing rations for the 100,000 army, Liu Jian asked Chen Kuan to find some dry food for the caravan and select a few of them to taste.

Everything Liu Jian ate spit out of his mouth in turn: "These things are too unpalatable!" ”

Chen Kuan smiled: "Dry food is life-threatening, if you have to add salt sauce, the cost will naturally be high."

Liu Jian thought for a while: "I only hate that we don't have enough money, otherwise we must let everyone eat meat!" ”

Chen Kuan ate a few things in turn, and it seemed to be a delicacy in his mouth: "This dumpling made of elm and leaf grass root rice soup is still old, not bad!" ”

"Lord Wang, this is a unique kohlrabi in Xiangyang, this thing is soaked in salt, and it tastes even more delicious with this dumpling!"

"This is a cake made of corn steamed and ground into flour mixed with sour dates and amaranth, which is a bit sweet and sour"

Liu Jian saw that Chen Kuan was eating with relish, so he went over and was about to try it again, picked up a cake and put it down: "Forget it, these things are not easy to come by, I think I will use a few things selected by Mr. Chen to promote it."

Chen Kuan swallowed a dumpling: "Well, in fact, these are all good things, do you know what ordinary people eat when they are not in stock?" ”

Liu Jian looked at Chen Kuan incredulously: "These are all good things, so what are they eating, grassroots?" Bark? ”

Chen Kuan shook his head: "Most of the grass root bark is poisonous, it is hungry to death, so I go directly to eat, this grass root bark should be selected and non-poisonous, boiled and ground into powder repeatedly, and then boiled and eaten." Ordinary people rely on the mountains to eat the mountains and rely on the water to eat water, dig voles, eat river mussels, eat insects, eat mulberries, and eat water chestnuts. These still can't be eaten in the face of great drought and flood, and once they encounter a famine, they can only be eaten! ”

Liu Jian's face was solemn, as a prince, although he was not welcomed in the house since he was a child, he was also clothed and fed, and he thought that it was the same as those merchants and residents in Jinling City. As everyone knows, there is really a thing of eating children in this world, and at first I thought it was written in a book to warn the world.

Chen Kuan patted Liu Jian on the shoulder: "Lord Wang, the most important thing in the world is to eat, how many sages and heroes have been there throughout the ages, and no one can make the world have enough to eat." If there is a real god in this world, it is the one who can keep the whole world from starving! Don't talk about it, Lord Wang, wait and see, the dry food of the 100,000 army we estimate is far from enough! ”

"Since I was a child, I have studied and learned countless great truths, but I can't compare to these buckets of rice, everything can be empty, but this stomach can't be empty. In addition to collecting grain and grass, we also have to persuade farmers to build up the agricultural division first, and open up wasteland and farm land outside this Xiangyang City! ”

"The prince's move is very good, but in the future, we have to re-break the land and redistribute the world's households, fields, mountains and forests, many big families have been killed by Zhu Yaoshi, they can't still occupy the fields and forests of the world when they die!"

Liu Jian and Chen Kuan are drawing blueprints for the future, but most of them can only stay in words. It's not that they are talking, it's that the situation is still unstable, and Liu Jian's subordinates don't have the right people to do these things at present.