Although the Northwest Eastern Expeditionary Army has successfully taken Jiujiang, the prefectures and cities along the northeast are still under the control of the puppet dynasty, and most of the local guards are stationed.

In order not to reveal their whereabouts, Chi Fei and his party did not dare to rush openly, so they could only take a break during the day and rush at night.

Due to the poor visibility at night, the light can only be lit by torches, and the speed of travel is not even half of that of the day, which is quite slow.

But for the sake of safety, this is the only way to go.

Along the way, because he couldn't sleep well during the day, ate badly, and was in a hurry at night, Chi Fei watched Ah Zhi, who was originally white and fat, lose weight quickly, which made him feel quite distressed.

Ah Zhi knew that her sweetheart was worried about her, but she comforted him with an indifferent face and said that she was okay and could stand it.

Chi Fei had no choice but to let her lean into his arms while riding at night, and then he used his arms to fix her body while controlling the reins, so that she could at least squint a little.

For all kinds of considerate care of her sweetheart, Ah Zhi's heart is very sweet, so she really doesn't feel how hard it is along the way.

After a long journey of more than a month, the group finally arrived in Jiujiang without danger, and everyone was really relieved.

The administrative divisions of the Great Wei Dynasty are roughly divided into provinces, prefectures, counties, towns, townships, and villages.

The prefecture is equivalent to a modern prefecture-level city. Jiujiang Province is located in Anping Province and belongs to a small seaside city with no name.

Jiujiang Mountain has a lot of land and little land, and the output of crops is limited, mainly in the fishing and shipping industries.

Although there are also salt farms in the area, the production is limited, and it is basically only enough to supply the local needs and those of the surrounding neighboring cities.

Before Chi Fei entered the city, he saw that although various protections had been done around the city, there was no trace of battle.

When he entered the city, he found that there were Northwest soldiers patrolling back and forth everywhere in the streets, but the civilians were all hiding in their homes and watching nervously, and there were no obvious casualties.

Chi Fei went to ask Ning Yabai, who came to answer, to know that when the Northwest army was approaching the city, the Jiujiang prefect saw more than 20,000 sudden Northwest soldiers under the city, and his face turned white with fright.

The prefect of Jiujiang knew that the thousands of defenders in the city could not resist the more than 20,000 brave and warlike Northwest Army, and if he insisted on resisting to the end, he might not even be able to save his own life after the city was broken. So he didn't even dare to resist, and directly opened the city gate and surrendered.

In this way, the Northwest Army took Jiujiang bloodlessly, and it was so successful that it was beyond everyone's expectations.

It is precisely because of the timely surrender of the Jiujiang prefect that after the Northwest Army occupied Jiujiang, he still let him continue to serve as the Jiujiang prefect to calm the people's hearts.

After successfully taking Jiujiang, General Xiao Zhijian, who led the army, left only 5,000 soldiers to guard Jiujiang, and then he immediately rushed to Zhangnan with the remaining 15,000 men to support another Eastern Expeditionary Army.

Zhangnan's side is not like Jiujiang, the defender there is a veteran who has fought a battle, and there should be a tough battle to be fought.

At the same time as the 5,000 defenders, there was also Ning Zhiyuan's eldest son, Ning Yabai, who was responsible for commanding the 5,000 defenders.

The reason why Ning Yabai did not follow General Xiao to attack Zhangnan was because he had already received a secret letter from his father Ning Zhiyuan, asking him to wait for his brother-in-law Chi Fei here in Jiujiang to come over, and then fully assist him in making salt.

As the son of the Ning family, Ning Yabai naturally knew that once the salt making method proposed by his father in the secret letter was really successful, it would greatly alleviate the difficulty of money and food in the entire northwest in the future.

This matter is very important, even more important than the capture of Zhangnan, Ning Yabai knows the stakes, so he will take the initiative to stay and wait for his brother-in-law to come over.

Now that he saw that his little sister and brother-in-law had arrived safely, he was relieved.

After Chi Fei and his party settled down at the official residence, Ning Yabai asked them to rest for a few days first.

Chi Fei didn't postpone it, after so many days of driving, he and Ah Zhi were really tired, and they really needed to take a good rest.

While Chi Fei and them were resting, Ning Yabai continued to devote himself to the important task of raising military rations.

The military rations he raised were not conventional foods such as rice, corn and wheat, but a specialty of the coastal areas: dried fish.

Jiujiang produces limited grain, which is only enough to meet local needs. But after all, it is a coastal city with an abundant fishing industry, and almost every household will dry dried fish as a side dish, which is common and cheap in the local area.

Ning Yabai took a fancy to this, so he came forward through the local government to purchase a large number of various dried fish from the people as a supplement to military rations.

He also knows very well that there is not much grain in the northwest now, and he can save a little bit.

So far, he has collected thousands of catties of dried fish, and he is still buying a large number of them.

In addition to actively raising military rations, he also requisitioned all official ships and large merchant ships suitable for transporting troops, and prepared for the expedition to the sea.

The reason why we had to prepare for an ocean expedition instead of going to the sea to buy grain was because this was originally the final result of the discussions of the generals.

As his brother-in-law Chi Fei said, if those small neighboring countries that are rich in grain refuse to sell them grain, then they can only send troops to rob them.

Whether or not we can obtain enough military rations is a matter of life and death for the entire northwest.

At this time, there can be no more benevolence, righteousness and morality, even if you really want to kill the locals.

What's more, what they have to deal with is only overseas people other than the Great Wei, and they don't attack the Han people, they can at least keep this banner of loyalty and patriotism, and the soldiers have a lot less guilt.

Of course, it would be best if they could negotiate smoothly, and they didn't want to send a large army to expedition to these small neighboring countries.

After three days of rest, Chi Fei's fatigue finally disappeared.

He knew that he had a heavy responsibility, so he took the initiative to go to Ning Yabai to discuss the matter of experimenting with dried salt.

Ning Yabai also knew that it was not too late, and immediately took him to various beaches to inspect the local environment.

……………………

"Ah Zhen, what do you think of this beach?" Ning Yabai asked, pointing to a large sandy beach in front of him.

Chi Fei took a closer look and saw that this beach was indeed very large, and the terrain was much flatter than the few places he had seen before.

In addition, because the beach faces south, there are no high mountains around, so the sun can shine directly down without any obstruction.

In terms of topography, it is indeed a good place to dry salt.

After looking at the surrounding environment, Chi Fei asked, "Big brother, you have been stationed here for a while, how do you feel about the climate in Jiujiang?" Is there a lot of rain? ”

"The weather here in Jiujiang is somewhat similar to that in the northwest, both of which are relatively dry and rainy.

But it still rains occasionally, especially during typhoons.

I've heard from the locals that from June to August, it's the typhoon-prone months.

Every time a typhoon comes, not only will the local crops be lost, but the houses will also be damaged to varying degrees.

However, there are generally typhoons in coastal areas, and Jiujiang is considered light here. ”

After hearing this, Chi Fei couldn't help frowning.

June to August is the season when the sun is most abundant and the most suitable for drying salt.

It would be a pity if the salt could not be dried in these months because of the typhoon.

But there is no way to do it, after all, typhoons are natural disasters, and even modern society cannot do anything about it, and the most we can do is reduce the disaster.

Seeing her brother-in-law's brows frowning slightly, Ning Yabai couldn't help but ask, "Ah Zhen, isn't this okay?" ”

Chi Fei said helplessly: "I don't know if it will work or not, so I can only try it first."

Even if you can't dry salt due to frequent typhoons from June to August, it should be okay in other months. But as for the yield, it depends on luck. ”

Ning Yabai said very calmly: "Do your best and obey the destiny of heaven." That's all we can do.

Ah Zhen, just do your best, don't put too much pressure on yourself, after all, this kind of thing is beyond human control. ”

Chi Fei smiled and said: "Big brother, don't worry, even if this method doesn't work, I still have another way to make salt, but the yield is not as high as the previous one." But compared with the salt frying method, it is still a lot better. ”

"Is that true?" Ning Yabai is worthy of being Ning Zhiyuan's son, and even asks the same.

"Nature is true. It's just that I haven't tried it myself, but it should still work. ”

"Great, if the method you said is really feasible, then the money and food problem in the northwest will be much easier to deal with in the future." Because he was too excited, Ning Yabai, who had always been more restrained, rarely showed an excited look.