"Zhiyuan, you hand over official duties and filial piety today, and set off tomorrow. It just hasn't snowed in the past few days, and the road to the capital should be fine, and you can go to the capital even if it snows when you enter Hanoi. Zeng Yu instructed Xie Jing.

At this time, the roads were not as convenient as in later generations, and once it snowed, it would cause mud to travel south. However, there has been no heavy snow this winter, and the road from Shangdang to Hanoi and then into Luoyang is still relatively smooth, and there are caravans coming from Luoyang not long ago.

However, the warm winter indicates that the harvest in the field will not be very good in the coming year, which is summed up by the Chinese civilization for many years of agricultural experience.

After Guo Jia and Xie Jing left, Zeng Yu called his own soldiers and instructed: "You go to Yachuan Mansion to help me call the county Cheng." ”

"Wait a minute, notify Mr. Tian, Master Yin, and Gu County Lieutenant, and let them all come over." The soldiers were just about to set off, and Zeng Yu commanded again.

Liu Neng and the others were resting at home at this time, and when they heard Zeng Yu's invitation, several people hurriedly followed their own soldiers from their respective mansions and rushed to the county office. Several people's mansions were not far from the county office, and they rushed to the county office at about the same time, and after entering the county office, some soldiers told them that Zeng Yu was waiting for them in the study, and they walked towards the study together.

"Everyone is here, let's find a place to sit." Zeng Yu said to them.

After everyone thanked Zeng Yu, Liu Neng, who had the highest position, asked, "I don't know what happened to the lord who brought us?" “

"I called you here this time because it is speculated that Taiping Dao may have an incident in the near future, and I will confirm with you the preparations for grain and grass." Zeng Yu said.

"What do you mean?" Goode asked excitedly.

"That's right, once the Taiping Road is in trouble, we will take the opportunity to recruit soldiers and horses to quell the rebellion, which can not only make meritorious achievements, but also train our subordinates. Yachuan, how much grain does our county government have in stock now? Zeng Yu nodded and asked Liu Neng.

"Lord Qiqi, we have a bumper harvest of grain this autumn, plus we have been buying grain, and now there are 100,000 stones of grain in stock, 10,000 stones of forage soybeans, etc., which can fully guarantee the supply of 20,000 troops for at least three months." Liu Neng replied.

"Three months is a bit less, this time Taiping Dao has been preparing for several years, and if you want to quell the rebellion, it will take at least half a year. If the victory is won, the rations of the captives must also be guaranteed, so that 100,000 stone is a little less. Yachuan, you have increased the purchase of grain in the past few months, and you have to buy at least 30,000 stone for me, and you don't have to worry about money. Yaozu, is the money in our county government treasury still sufficient? “

"Don't worry, the lord has obtained a lot of money from the two major families before, plus the tax of the Chamber of Commerce in the past six months, if it is only to purchase 30,000 stone of grain, there is no problem in terms of cost." Yin Zhuo replied.

"It's not enough to just buy grain and grass, you have to prepare enough rewards, and since ancient times, enough rewards are the most direct incentives for soldiers." Goode said beside him that he had been training 2,000 county soldiers in the county, and he was very clear about the needs of those soldiers under his command.

"Yes, the reward must be prepared, this time is different from the previous bandits. When we suppressed bandits, we were able to seize money and food from the bandits every time, but now we have to pay for this part ourselves, so we need to prepare in advance. Yaozu, I will leave the money to you, and I must ensure that the soldiers' salaries and bounties can be paid in full. Zeng Yu instructed Yin Zhuo.

"No!" Yin Zhuo commanded.

"Yuan Hao, you are good at scheduling and management, once there is an incident in Taiping Road, there will inevitably be a large number of ordinary people who will be coerced. Once these people are scattered, if they are not collected, they will either become displaced people or fall into the grass. At that time, you will be responsible for collecting the displaced people in Anping County and receiving the prisoners sent back from the front. Zeng Yu instructed Tian Feng again.

"No!" Tian Feng also clenched his fists to lead his life.

"Which teams does the lord plan to let participate in the battle this time?" Goode asked Zeng Yu.

"Once there is an incident in Taiping Road, it will inevitably be huge, and we will also be involved in it, especially if the party is located at the junction of the two states, it will definitely not be ordinary people. If we want to gain military merits, it is definitely not enough to rely on a few thousand men and horses in the county town, because in addition to defending the county seat, we also need to take the initiative to attack, so as to win military merits. Therefore, I plan to let all the unclothed troops participate in the battle, and the soldiers and horses in the county are responsible for garrisoning the county except for the cavalry battalion. Zeng Yu said.

"Lord, in this way, there is no army on the Golden Bull Mountain. If it is besieged by the other party, there will be no extra troops on the mountain to resist, and the county town will not have enough soldiers and horses to rescue. "Every time the weapons are transported down the mountain, Liu Neng is responsible for receiving them, and at this time, he learned that Zeng Yu planned to attack the whole army, so he hurriedly spoke.

"Why didn't the lord move the workshop into the county seat? Since the expansion, the area of the county has increased greatly, and it is more than enough to arrange the next workshop, and after it is built, it does not need to be transported down from the mountain, and it can be sent directly to the warehouse in the county. Tian Feng asked.

"Yes, it's time to move the storeroom down. However, now that the workshop is working hard to build the equipment of the cavalry battalion, it is not appropriate to relocate at this time. Yuan Hao, you choose a location in the county, first build a blacksmith workshop that can accommodate a thousand people, and when the equipment is finished, let them move down. Zeng Yu had similar thoughts before, but the scope of Anping Xian before the expansion was too small, so it has been delayed.

"Yes, my lord!" Tian Feng responded.

"I wonder who the lord plans to arrange?" Seeing that Zeng Yu had made up his mind and planned to do his best to seize the merits, Gude, as the county lieutenant of Anping County, couldn't help but ask.

"I'm going to have you stationed, I wonder if you'd like to?" Zeng Yu asked.

"My subordinates hope to follow the lord and make contributions." Goode, of course, was reluctant to act as the general who stayed behind.

"This is our base camp, and Yachuan is also all in the county, so I don't feel at ease if I leave anyone else. You have always been relatively stable, if you stay in the county seat by then, plus the two thousand soldiers and horses in the county, we can be foolproof, and we can also attack with confidence. Zeng Yu said earnestly.

"And once the Taiping Road is in trouble, the troubled times will really come, and you will have the opportunity to make meritorious contributions at that time." Zeng Yu continued to persuade.

Of course, Gude also knew about this, but he had always practiced with the idea of killing the enemy and making meritorious contributions, but he never had a chance, and even the bandits and bandits in the surrounding mountains were all dissipated after Wang Qing and their sweep. At this time, when he heard that Taiping Dao was about to start an incident, how could he not want to go out with Zeng Yu to kill the enemy.

However, Zeng Yu's hard work, coupled with Gude's stable personality and the overall situation, finally agreed. Zeng Yu encouraged Gude, and then said to everyone: "After the New Year's holiday, the county town began to enter a state of preparation, and we must prepare all the materials and other materials just mentioned." ”

"No!" Everyone shouted in unison.

Although Zeng Yu said that after the New Year's holiday, the few people who received Zeng Yu's order began to draw up the next plan after returning home, whether it was Yin Zhuo's calculation of the money needed for this expedition, or Liu Neng's preparation of grain and forage, it can be said to test the ability of the two.

Zeng Yu has not been idle in the past few days, after Guo Jia took over the work of intelligence collation, they combined the information in their hands to analyze how they would act after the Taiping Road incident. Whether Shangdang County will become their main point of attack or not, all of this requires them to analyze with some simple intelligence and formulate a corresponding plan. And this time they can't be too outstanding, otherwise a county order will achieve more military exploits than the people sent by the imperial court, which will arouse suspicion. At the same time, they can't be too pretentious to others, so they can't build their own prestige.

Of course, when Zeng Yu and the others were preparing because of the frequent transfer of Taiping Dao, others were also like them, feeling that the opportunity they had been waiting for for a long time had finally arrived. And Zhang Jiao, who was at the core of this incident, didn't feel that he was already in the limelight.

"Big brother, it's not that I don't believe you, but I always feel that the things that God will help us this year are a little hanging." Zhang Bao is the most handsome among the three brothers of Taiping Dao, and when the three of them got together at the beginning of the year, Zhang Bao opened his mouth and asked Zhang Jiao.

"At this time, you don't need to believe it, as long as the followers believe it, and last winter was relatively warm, this year's harvest will not be much better, and then through our propaganda, the people will naturally believe that the Han spirit is exhausted." Zhang Jiao, who had a long beard, shook his head and said with a smile to Zhang Bao.

"Third brother, just leave this kind of brain-using thing to the eldest brother, and then the eldest brother will do what he tells us to do." Zhang Liang, who had a square head and a big face and a bearded face, said to his third brother next to him.

"The two virtuous brothers can rest assured that as long as everything goes well, the success rate of our actions is at least fifty percent certain." Zhang Jiao said.

"It's only fifty percent, isn't that only half a chance." Zhang Bao is young after all, and what they are ready to do is to rebel, and once they fail, it will be the result of falling to the ground.

"Yes, big brother, isn't there too little chance of fifty percent. Now that we have 36 directions, no less than 300,000 people, plus millions of peripheral disciples, I think the success rate must be at least 80%. Zhang Liang also interjected, but he didn't know if he was comforting himself or others.

"It is up to people to make things happen, and it's up to heaven to make things happen. Now that we have to send it, all I can do is try to keep everything within the plan so that we have a higher chance of success. The task I have given you two is to control the army in our hands, although the thirty-six parties in each state are also our people, but the power is moving, and only those who are really in our hands can be trusted. Zhang Jiao said to the two.

"Big brother, don't worry, now we each have 30,000 elites in our hands, plus the 10,000 Yellow Turban wrestlers in your hands, big brother, all of them have followed us from the earliest times, and all the middle-level generals are cronies, so don't worry about the loyalty of these tens of thousands of horses. If Qu Shuai wants to challenge the authority of the eldest brother, we will definitely not let him live. Zhang Liang patted his chest and said.