Now the Jingzhou Army and the original Chu Army have almost been adjusted, eliminating the old and weak, and being incorporated into the Tuntian Army, half of the remaining 60,000 soldiers and horses have been incorporated into the three naval battalions of Jingzhou, Jiangxia and Yuezhou, and the other part has been incorporated into the local defense forces.

Large-scale military tuntian began in the Jinghu area, and many tuntian military households recruited from the Central Plains also migrated here.

The imperial court is vigorously renovating and expanding the two iron prisons in Daye and Yuanzhou, and the military reclamation areas and industrial and mining enterprises in various places are the main sources of soldiers in the prefectures in various places.

In addition, in Yuezhou and Jiangxia, the two sailor battalions have opened their own machine shipyards.

The requirements for inland river ships are different from those of sea ships, the hull should be wide, the draft should be shallow, and the "steamships" built by sailors have eliminated sails and used steam engines as the only source of power.

The water network in the south is well developed, and cleaning up rivers and developing water transportation have become the primary tasks to solve the transportation problem.

The navigable mileage of the four major water systems of Hunan, Zi, Yuan, Li and Dongting Lake is not close, and in the upper reaches of Xiangshui, there is actually a canal dug by the Qin Dynasty, which connects Jingjiang Mansion (Guilin) on the side of Xiangshui and Lishui, and can directly reach Xingping Mansion (Guangzhou) from the Yangtze River by waterway.

Xiangshui in July is the busiest time of the year.

At this time, a large number of summer grains harvested in Nanyang and Jingxiang were being transferred south to supply the troops stationed in Yongzhou, Wuzhou, and Qinlian.

Li Jizhong, the commander of Lingnan Town, was a little incomprehensible, and the imperial court didn't know what was going on, but it seemed to attach great importance to the two states of Jiao and Zhi, which could be easily pacified by the Southern Han Kingdom, but they sent 40,000 Dongchuan troops and Jingxiang troops south. Jiaozhi is only the border area of the two states of the Tang Dynasty, and Li Jizhong thinks that he only needs to send thousands of soldiers and horses to wipe out the border states where the barbarians in the two border areas gather in one fell swoop.

However, the imperial court demanded that he should not act rashly, and that he could not start his action until the army had sufficient food and grass.

Li Qi also understood the questions of his generals very well, Liu only sent more than 10,000 soldiers and horses to attack Jiaozhi, and captured Qu Chengmei, who dared to be the king in Jiaozhi, back to Xingping Mansion, and almost beheaded in public. The generals under their own command naturally did not think that the elite of the Tang Army would be weaker than those miscellaneous armies of the Southern Han Dynasty.

But they didn't know that after the Song Dynasty was defeated twice at the hands of the Jiaozhi people in the Taizong era, it has been adopting a tolerant and conniving attitude, making Jiaozhi grow bigger and bigger in Lingnan.

The evil consequence of connivance and accommodation in a small country is that when it is strong, it will bite back when you are weak.

Like the story of the farmer and the snake, there is no room for mercy.

Any principle of equality is nonsense, it is better to encircle the territory into your own home.

The sky was overcast, and it was raining lightly.

The air was filled with moisture, and since crossing the Yangtze River, the clothes on my body never seemed to dry through, and I felt very uncomfortable sticking to my body wetly.

"What the hell is the weather."

Cao Yun poked her head out of the carriage, looked at the gray sky, and muttered in her mouth.

Looking at the wharf, the tugboats transporting grain and grass are lined up, at this time in previous years, there are tens of thousands of slender men gathered on both sides of the Hunan River, relying on manpower to pull the river boats carrying grain all the way up the river to the south. At this time, although the wharf by the river was full of boats, and there were constantly boats sailing back and forth on the river, the number of slender men gathered on the wharf was significantly reduced.

On the surface of the river, smoke was rising from the chimney of the small steamer towed, making a rumbling sound, and more than a dozen barges were dragged behind them, flying up the current as if they were flying much faster than when they were pulled by manpower.

Cao Yun got out of the carriage and saw Li Yanyu, the transfer envoy of Hengzhou, standing on the dock in Hengzhou, looking up at the sky, not knowing what he was thinking.

Cao Yun walked over and arched his hand: "The lower official will see the transfer envoy." ”

Li Yanyu turned his head and looked him up and down, "Brother Cao, do you feel better?" ”

Cao Yun smiled bitterly: "It should be a lot better, and there is a labor transfer envoy who is worried." ”

Li Yanyu's brows furrowed slightly: "That's good, they all say that the south ship and the north horse, this is to the south, seasickness is not a problem, and you have to strengthen exercise." ”

Cao Yun arched her hand again, "I'll try to stay on the boat as long as possible." He knew that Li Yanyu had a straightforward personality, and he didn't beat around the bush when he spoke, and he didn't take it to heart. This Li Yanyu was born in the army, but now he has been reappointed to a civilian position, and he still can't change his habits in the army when he speaks. He is the eldest son of Li Congzhang, a famous general of the Jin Army, a member of the nominal clan, with a deep foundation, and he is indeed tough when he speaks.

"What's more, there are several sections of the river from Yongzhou to Hengzhou that are relatively steep, and this rain, the dredging project has to be stopped." Li Yanyu looked at the dripping rain by the river, and scolded casually. As a transshipment envoy in Hengzhou, he is now mainly responsible for the allocation and transportation of grain, grass, and baggage to Lingnan, and the pressure is not small.

"Isn't there a slender man in the original area, the imperial court has arranged to recruit as Cao Ding, responsible for the dredging and maintenance of the river." Cao Yun said.

"Hmph, they will be lazy and throw out the problem of the placement of more than 20,000 slender men." Li Yanyu glanced at the tugboat that began to smoke on the side of the dock with dissatisfaction, "There are more than 20,000 Caoding River workers, and there are more than 100,000 people who drag their families and mouths, how can it be easy to resettle?!" ”

Cao Yun said: "Didn't the imperial court say that it would be resettled along the river, incorporated into the military tun on the spot, and implement tuntian? Anyway, we can't let them go without food, otherwise these people will flow into the place, and they will all be a disaster in the future. ”

Li Yanyu said: "The above is light, both sides of this river are ripe fields with owners, so there is so much wasteland that can be used to house the Tun army?" That is, he dared to complain about the above policies, but Cao Yun could only listen and was unwilling to answer. This transportation in southern Hunan is counting on this waterway, which connects Lishui from the Ling Canal in Hung Yen.

Now the canal is being dredged and widened so that more than 50 tons of tugboats can pass through directly.

From Tanzhou to Jingjiang Mansion, because Yongzhou has several relatively steep river sections, they dare not pass at night, and it takes four days to walk on this road, which is already nearly half of the time shortened from the original. If the channel is completely dredged, it will only take three days at most to reach Jingjiang Province from Tanzhou.

At present, the troops transferred from Shu and Jingzhou to the south are also trying to use waterways, which has aggravated their transportation tasks.

It's no wonder that Li Yanyu is anxious and complaining.

In fact, the movement of this large army in the south was very difficult, and the most difficult thing was the transportation of supplies such as grain, grass, baggage, and ordnance. This mountain is high and the road is dangerous, and the land transportation is inconvenient, mainly counting on the waterway.

Now with this kind of small steamer towing, the convoy can swim against the tide without the need for a slender man, and in fact the situation is much better than in the past......

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