Ning Zhiyuan is a person who does things vigorously and resolutely, once he has made a plan, he will implement it in the shortest possible time, and he will never drag his feet.

Early the next morning, he began to instruct all his subordinate generals to pick out all the soldiers in the army who could ride horses as candidates for the expeditionary force.

Since the expeditionary force is composed of all cavalry, the first condition is, of course, to be able to ride horses, otherwise it is called cavalry.

As a result, only about 90,000 people were selected, and less than 100,000 were selected.

This number made Ning Zhiyuan quite dissatisfied, but he was helpless.

After all, war horses that can be used in combat are a very valuable resource in the Han army.

Taking the Northwest Army as an example, if the local war horses had not been carefully cultivated and continuously expanded by the Ning family for several generations, it would have been impossible for the Northwest to have more than 50,000 war horses available for battle. The number of horses in this war is even more than that of the entire Central Plains.

Because war horses are so precious and scarce in the army, there are naturally not many soldiers who can ride horses.

Being able to make up more than 90,000 cavalry is already considered a good effort.

Of course, of the more than 90,000 soldiers, only 50,000 were regular cavalrymen who were truly proficient in horsemanship.

The remaining 20,000 were musketeers of the Shenji Battalion, and the other 20,000 were reserve cavalry.

These people can only be said to have learned to ride horses, but they are not proficient and proficient at all, and they need to gradually adapt to it during the next march.

Since the total annihilation of the army of more than 200,000 led by the eldest prince Arobu, it is the first time that the Northwest Army, which has captured a large number of war horses from the Hu people, has seen this phenomenon that the number of war horses is much more than the number of cavalry.

For the Northwest Army, which has always lacked war horses, this is a luxury trouble no matter how you look at it.

In fact, if we had selected people not only from the Northwest Army, but also from the Xinjing Forbidden Military Camp or the Fifth Military Camp, perhaps this number would have increased by 20,000 or 30,000 people.

However, Ning Zhiyuan did not trust the local soldiers and generals in Xinjing, and these southern soldiers may not be able to adapt to the combat methods of the Northwest Army.

Therefore, Ning Zhiyuan did not consider the local soldiers in Xinjing at all, and only selected people from the Northwest Army.

Since he could only get so many people at one time, Ning Zhiyuan had no other choice but to form an expeditionary force with more than 90,000 soldiers.

Regarding the selection of leading generals, after careful consideration, Ning Zhiyuan still ordered his confidant Li Dingbei as the main general, his eldest son Ning Yabai as the deputy general, and then added two staff members as military advisors, and a number of middle-level generals such as Qianhu and Baihu.

In this way, this expeditionary force can be regarded as basically formed.

Once the person was chosen, it was the turn of the supplies to be distributed.

In order to reduce the burden on the horses, each cavalryman only brought about a month's worth of dry food, as well as concentrate and forage for feeding the horses, in addition to armor and weapons.

The rest of the grain, grass and military supplies were all transported by horse-drawn carts, and they were as simple as possible to facilitate the march.

Chi Fei also specially gave each soldier about two catties of dried meat to supplement them with protein during the march. Otherwise, it will be difficult to maintain physical strength by eating only dry food.

In any case, the food and grass of the expeditionary force can only last for about a month and a half.

If the city of the Hu people could not be repaired before the grain and grass ran out, the fate of the expeditionary force would become very worrying.

But whether it is Ning Zhiyuan, Li Dingbei and others, they are not worried about this situation at all.

Because there were not only more than 20,000 musketeers in their army, but also a large number of flowering shells.

With these two major killing weapons in hand, if the Northwest Army still loses, it can only be said that it is the will of heaven, and no one can do anything.

And this so-called providence is actually mainly the weather of the guide.

Although muskets and flowering shells are very lethal, they have a fatal weakness, that is, they cannot get wet.

Once wet, these two firearms, which can almost sweep across the battlefield, will instantly become useless waste.

At this time, it was the end of winter in the southern region, with little rain and relatively dry weather, which was a good time to use firearms.

Once the rainy season unique to the south arrives, the Northwest Army, which has lost the greatest advantage of firearms, will have to fight the Hu people head-to-head, and there will definitely be many casualties at that time.

Therefore, now is the best time to send troops on an expedition to the southern region.

In order to prevent heavy rain in the event of heavy rain, Chi Fei not only issued each musketeer some waterproof materials such as oiled paper and tarpaulin to wrap muskets and gunpowder, but also put two barrels of dried lime in each carriage loaded with flowering shells, just to use these dried limes to absorb water vapor when it rained.

Chi Fei had already done all the precautions he could think of, and if this couldn't be avoided, then he couldn't help it.

After thorough preparations, five days later, the expeditionary force officially set off.

This cavalry army of more than 90,000 people galloped towards the south in this way, and the sound of heavy horses' hooves like a dragon turning over made every Xinjing citizen who witnessed this scene unforgettable.

……………………

After the expeditionary force set off, the next major thing to do was to inoculate the people in the south of the Yangtze River as soon as possible, and then guide them to return to their hometowns to resume farming.

However, this seems simple, but it is not easy to do.

The biggest challenge is how to gain the trust of the people.

In the past, because the doctors in the Tai Hospital did not know how to pretend to understand, they insisted on using cow blood instead of pus to inoculate the people.

The result was not only completely ineffective, but also caused the plague to spread more quickly, resulting in a large number of people dying of disease.

The oolong operation of the Tai Hospital has made the vast majority of people in Jiangnan no longer believe that the vaccination method can immunize and disperse sores.

Now Chi Fei wants to re-vaccinate the people, and the difficulty can be imagined.

But no matter how difficult this is, it must be done, otherwise the people who wander around to escape the plague will never return to their hometowns.

Even if they reluctantly send troops back, most of them will escape again.

Therefore, how to restore people's confidence in the vaccination method is the key.

"My lord, my subordinates think that compulsory vaccination can be implemented in the county towns that have been controlled first, and then the local government will post posts everywhere to announce it, which should gradually win back the hearts of the people." In the conference hall, Zhang Wenxuan proposed.

Ning Zhiyuan frowned and said, "This method is not bad, but the effect is too slow."

It is now the end of winter, and it is only about two months before spring ploughing.

If you count the time to bring people back to their hometowns, I am afraid that I will probably miss the spring ploughing. ”

Several other generals and staff, including Xiao Zhijian and Ning Yafeng, also felt that this matter was very difficult to handle.

On the one hand, there are hundreds of people who refuse to return to their hometowns, and on the other hand, there is a large amount of fertile land that is eager to be restored.

If we fail to attract people back to their hometowns before spring ploughing, it is very likely that the grain harvest in the entire south of the Yangtze River will be reduced by more than half this year, and there will probably be a grain shortage by then.

"Ah Zhen, is there anything you can do?" Finally, Ning Zhiyuan turned his gaze to the face of his little son-in-law Chi Fei, his eyes were full of anticipation.

Chi Fei smiled and said, "Father-in-law, my son-in-law thinks Mr. Zhang's proposal is excellent.

As for the question of your saying that the results are too slow, the son-in-law has two bad ideas for reference. ”

"What a bad idea, tell me quickly." When Ning Zhiyuan heard the tone of his little son-in-law, he felt that there was a play, and hurriedly urged.

"For the average person, sometimes the so-called gossip is more likely to be believed than the official information released by the government.

In that case, why not take advantage of this rebellious mentality.

The first bad idea was to use the "Seeking the Truth", a folk tabloid spread by Hu people's spies, to spread the truth of the matter.

Since Qiuzhen Bao has a wide range of readers among the people, many people believe what the newspaper says.

Therefore, we can use the newspaper to let many people know that the reason why the vaccination method in the hospital was ineffective was because the medicine used was problematic, not because the inoculation method was not effective.

Of course, we can also publish in the newspaper all kinds of evil deeds done by the Hu people after entering Beijing, as well as the news that the Zhao royal family was exterminated by the Hu people.

Then add the detailed process of the Northwest Army repelling the Hu people and recovering Xinjing, so that the people know what happened here in Xinjing.

The second bad idea is to let some members of the Freemasonry, a secret non-governmental organization, widely publicize among the people, so that the people know that the medicine used in the vaccination method we are promoting comes from the northwest and can really immunize and disperse sores.

This way of preaching from civilians to civilians should be more acceptable to the common people.

In addition, every time we have vaccinated a group of people, we have to send them back to their hometowns as soon as possible.

When there are many people who return to their hometowns, other people who were originally skeptical will naturally be touched and take the initiative to come to get vaccinated, so that a virtuous circle can be formed.

The above is the advice of the son-in-law, please refer to the father-in-law. ”

Hearing this, Ning Zhiyuan's eyes were already shining, and he immediately asked the henchmen around him, "Lao Zhang, what do you think of Ah Zhen's proposal?" ”

Zhang Wenxuan smiled and said, "Mr. Su's wisdom, the old man admires." It's a great way to try. ”

Ning Zhiyuan blushed and said, "Okay, since that's the case, then let's do a big job." ”

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A few days later, the mysterious folk tabloid "Qiuzhen Bao" reappeared in the streets and alleys of various provinces in the south of the Yangtze River, and was quickly looted.

Even many illiterate people will rob them, because they can be sold for money.

Because every time the newspaper appeared, it would publish some extremely powerful inside information, so it was very popular with the reading and literate people, and regarded it as an important source of information that could get a glimpse into the inside story of the imperial court.

Because of the small number and the fact that it is often confiscated by the government, it is speculated as a high-priced prohibited item in the black market.

Many readers even transcribe the above content, and then pass it on widely among classmates and friends, exchanging news.

The reappearance of the newspaper did not disappoint, and the content published this time was more vigorous and shocking than ever.

Many people didn't know until they read this issue of "Seeking Truth" that almost the entire Zhao royal family was wiped out by the Hu people.

Now in the entire Great Wei Dynasty, the only remaining royal bloodline is the eldest sister of the former Emperor Jing'an, Princess Qingping, and the concubine of Emperor Jing'an, Princess Chunfang.

Emperor He An is gone, the two princes are gone, and all the men of the Zhao family who are qualified to inherit the throne are gone.

Could it be that the Great Wei Imperial Court is over?!

Anyone who saw this news could hardly believe their eyes and felt like the sky was about to fall.

In fact, due to the rampant plague and the blockage of the roads, not many people really knew about these things, except for the people in Xinjing and the surrounding areas.

Now, under the report of "Qiuzhen Daily", this has made the readers and people of the provinces south of the Yangtze River aware of the various major events that have happened in Xinjing recently.

The content of the next report was even more vigorous, just after the Hu people executed the Zhao royal family, they were burning, killing and looting in the new capital, and doing all kinds of evil, the Northwest Army in the northwest suddenly appeared and came to the city.

Immediately afterwards, the Han army led by Ning Zhiyuan, the general of the Northwest, bombarded the Hu army with "thunder".

Then, with this never-before-seen sharp firearm, the Northwest Army forced the Hu army into the inner city.

The following description is just like Mr. Chi Fei's masterpiece "Xianxia", which was famous all over the country, full of magical colors.

After forcing the Hu people into the inner city, the Northwest Army tricked the Hu army to break through from the north gate of the inner city, and then set up a huge array of firearms on several streets near the north city gate, trapping the Hu army who was eager to get out of the siege on the street.

After that, the Northwest Army fought with the Hu army for a whole day with this fire array, and even shot more than 200,000 Hu people alive in this way, and none of them were spared.

Even the eldest prince of the Hu people was no exception, and he also died on the battlefield.

At this point, the Northwest Army won a complete victory and successfully recovered Xinjing.

In this battle to defend Xinjing, the general of the Northwest Ning Zhi was greatly contributed, and under the recommendation of the two princesses and a number of princes and ministers, Ning Gong was elected as the minister of the state of superintendent and oversaw all military and political affairs.

In other words, the person who is now commanding the overall situation in the new capital is Ning Zhiyuan, the general of the Northwest?!

Many people saw this, and then it suddenly dawned.

It turns out that the person who governs the court now is Ning Zhiyuan, the prince of Zhenguo, no wonder there has been no news of the Xie family for a long time.

Against the backdrop of these explosive news, the next report on why the vaccination method implemented by the Tai Hospital in the provinces south of the Yangtze River is ineffective, seems a little unremarkable.

Only then did those who saw this report know that the medicine used by the doctors in the hospital was fake, and it had no effect at all, let alone immunity to sores.

And all of this is all the conspiracy of Xie Mingshun and others, who forced the doctors of the Tai Hospital to use false vaccination methods to coax displaced people from all over the country to return to their hometowns, so as to avoid the further spread of the plague in Xinjing.

Therefore, the same inoculation method, why it is effective in the northwest, but does not have any effect in the south of the Yangtze River, is the reason.

Because the news was so exciting, the contents of this "Seeking Truth" were widely circulated throughout Jiangnan at an astonishing speed, and even illiterate people could hear the news from other people's mouths more or less.

For a time, these revelations by the "Seeking Truth" soon became a topic that many readers and ordinary people often talked about in private.

Although many people are skeptical, many more still think that these reports should be true. 、

Just when these gossip news were spreading more and more, local governments suddenly posted a new court list one after another, which instantly pushed the popularity of these news to the highest point.

The general content of this list is: Ning Gong, the minister of the prison state, ordered that from now on, the people of the whole south of the Yangtze River will be vaccinated free of charge, so as to prevent the continued spread of the plague.

The medicine used in this vaccination is by no means the fake medicine used in the previous Tai Hospital, but the real miracle medicine produced by the Northwest.

The specific location and time of vaccination in each region will be arranged by the local government itself, and there must be no mistakes.

Those who are successfully vaccinated with the miracle medicine will not only no longer have sores to disperse, but the government will also arrange for them to return to their hometowns to farm and provide them with seeds, tools and other necessary things.

As soon as this list came out, it immediately set off a huge shock among the folk and scholars in all parts of the Yangtze River.

In particular, the title of "Ning Gong, Minister of Prison", just verifies the content disclosed by the "Seeking Truth".

Ning Zhiyuan, the prince of Zhenguo, was indeed elected by the two princesses and a group of princes and ministers as the minister of supervision as disclosed in "Seeking Truth", presiding over the overall situation.

For a while, anyone with a little political sense can faintly feel that this day is likely to change.