Under the banner of the word "Han", a small boat rowed towards the sea boat that Zhao Xingde was riding, and the Han army checked each other's password documents before letting go. The seven or eight sailors on the boat wore thick cotton military robes, covered with a fur shoulder, and the thick leather belt around the waist was hung with short knives, fire folds, deerskin bags, etc., all of which were of uniform specifications. A sailor jumped aboard a ship in Kaeju and instructed the captain to enter the harbor along the designated waterway, with a hint of pride in his gestures. Compared with the soldiers dressed like flowers in the Yalu River Hanzhai in Taibai Mountain, the Suzhou Han Army is already a regular army only in terms of equipment.

The harbor is obviously very busy, and the berths are moored with large and small sea vessels, and the masts are lined up like a dense forest. The sailors on the ship shouted the words of the south and the north. These sailors followed the ships from Mizhou, Jinling, and even Canton, and the Han army did not allow them to enter the hinterland, but they were allowed to stay in the area around the docks. The wharf was piled up with all kinds of goods, warm clothes wrapped in thick cloth, rice from Fujian, wheat from Shandong, and iron from Hebei.

"Mr. Zhao, this is yours." Wang Ji handed a red scarf to Zhao Xingde and motioned for him to wrap it around his neck, and he also wrapped one around himself. Zhao Xingde took it and took a look, the corner of the red scarf was embroidered with a rather fine phoenix pattern, and there was the word "Shuaifu" in regular script. In order to prevent the details from snooping into the details, starting from the wharf, the entire south of Suzhou Pass is a hundred or dozens of miles, and the Han army has used white ash and wooden signs to demarcate a variety of different areas. Ordinary soldiers with white scarves around their necks can only move around the defense area of their own camps, while those with red scarves are the generals of each battalion or the guards of the marshal's mansion, who can walk through the various camps. Han Ningshuang herself wore a white scarf to show that the upper and lower were one. No one in the entire Guannan of Suzhou knows the marshal, so naturally there is no need to worry about being blocked when he walks there.

Zhao Xingde wrapped the red scarf around his neck and said with a smile: "The Han Alliance Lord's mind is quite meticulous. Wang Ji said: "The generals are too busy to train the battalions. The rules and regulations of the Guannan camp are all written by the marshal. ”

Zhao Xingde looked left and right as he walked. Almost all of the nearby hills are building walled forts, and Zhao Xingde can see at a glance that the Han army absorbed the design of Nanshan City and built the fortress small and strong, but the city wall is obviously much thinner than Nanshan City. Not far away, a group of Han soldiers were practicing their guns, and the soldiers were stabbing with their guns while shouting in a shocking voice, "Kill!" "Kill!" Zhao Xingde saw that the soldiers in the front row were all iron helmets and iron armor, and the soldiers in the back also had thick leather armor, so he couldn't help laughing: "How many years have the Han army taken out the family background." If the Liao State goes all out to attack Suzhou Guannan, I'm afraid it won't be so easy. ”

"The fathers and elders of Liaodong have accumulated savings here for decades, but unfortunately the Ma army is too small, and they still have to rely on the fortress to compete with the Liao army." Wang Ji looked up at Zhao Xingde and sighed, "Mr. Zhao, the Nanshan City you designed is good, but there are too many earthworks that can be used, and it is too slow to build." ”

Zhao Xingde saw that his eyes were full of worry, and explained with a smile: "Since I am here, there is naturally a solution." He also asked: "The elite of the Han army is gathered here, even if it can't just defend and not attack, does the Shuai Mansion have the next plan now?" Wang Ji said: "According to General Xu's meaning, since Kaizhou is gaining momentum, it should go east to conquer Zhenhaifu and Muzhou, and connect with Kaizhou and Taibai Mountain." However, General Zhang advocated taking Fuzhou, Ningzhou, Chenzhou, and Yaozhou in the northwest first, and then cutting off the connection between Zhenhaifu and Liaoyang in the east, maybe Zhenhaifu could go down without a fight. Mr. Zhao, what do you think? ”

Xu Detai is a person from Kaizhou Village, so he advocates opening up the road between Suzhou and Kaizhou, and Zhang Liuge is the leader of Chenzhou Water Village, so he is more willing to attack Liaoguo County near the sea in the northwest along the waterway. Zhao Xingde sighed secretly, although the terrain of Suzhou is good, if the Han army wants to seize more territory, it is inevitable to give up the terrain that is absolutely favorable to him and engage the Liao army outside the Suzhou Pass. And the Han army scattered to defend the state and county is absolutely unable to hold it. Moreover, in the future, Liaoyang will be the most important battlefield in the future, and the Han army will be very easily involved, and it will be difficult to achieve the effect of sitting on the mountain and watching the tiger fight. According to Zhao Xingde's idea, the Han army had almost looted the population of the prefectures and counties in eastern Liao, and it was better to move the population to the Yalu River, far away from the center of Liao rule, or even further north. As a result, the supply line of the Liao army was stretched by thousands of miles, supplemented by cavalry harassment of the rear road, and the Liao army could not hold out for more than one winter, and it was forced to retreat. This area of Guannan in Suzhou was good as a base for plundering and harassing the Liao State.

He pondered for a moment and said in a deep voice: "I don't have any opinions, everything but obey the arrangement of the Shuaifu." However, these places are too close to the Liao State, and it is a burden to do more, so it is best to only plunder the population and wealth of these states, and migrate to the Yalu River or even the Gongmen River. ”

Wang Ji said with a smile: "Mr. Zhao is a native of the Southern Dynasty, I don't know, after the Yalu River and further north, the place is too cold to grow food." ”

"Really? But Ouyang Xiu mentioned in the "New Tang Book" that the Bohai Sea has the soybean of the gate, the cloth of Xianzhou, the cotton of Wozhou, the scarcity of Longzhou, the iron of the city, and the rice of Lucheng. In addition, "Wei Shu Beji Biography" also mentioned that its country and even farming, the soil is full of millet, wheat, stalks, and sunflowers. It should be able to grow food. Moreover, the mountains and forests over there are dense, and the river and coast are close to the sea, so many people can be fed just by fishing and hunting. Zhao Xingde is familiar with the history of the scriptures, after arriving in Liaodong, he is even more attentive, in the Yalu River, the Bohai Sea and the hometown of the Yamen River generation, found a lot of relics that have planted grain in history, and even place names such as "Maizigou". Therefore, he firmly believes that as long as hardy crops are planted, hundreds of thousands of Han people in Liaodong can be fed over there.

Wang Ji was surprised: "Can you really plant?" Who is Ouyang Xiu, can Mr. Zhao ask him to give me some advice. "Most of the Han generals who led their troops to fight relied on ancestral know-how. Wang Ji lived in the Hanzhai of Kaizhou when he was young, practiced archery and horses every day, worked hard, and was just literate, and only read the "Art of War", "Thirty-six Strategies" and the "March Model" compiled by the Xia State Marching Division, and did not know which Mr. Ouyang Xiu was.

"Mr. Ouyang is dead," Zhao Xingde said with some amusement, "but he is a very learned person, so he probably won't make it up." "I have come to the Shuai Mansion while speaking. In fact, it is just a neat camp, and the future Shuaifu should still be under construction.

Zhao Xingde brought two centurions, Liu Zhijian and Du Fujiao, as well as four three-inch guns, mainly to train gunners for the Han army. Tong Yunjie and other more than 100 Han soldiers who had received artillery training at Phoenix Mountain earlier also followed. Laiyuancheng and Kaizhou relied on artillery and blasting the city walls, and after the Han army learned of this situation, they paid more attention to the role of artillery. The first batch of artillery has not yet arrived in Liaodong, and Han Ningshuang has already proposed to buy artillery and ammunition again, and asked the Ordnance Department of Xia Guo to send craftsmen to Liaodong to cast cannons nearby. The Protectorate has been dragging on without replying, probably because it does not want the artillery casting technique to fall into the hands of the Liao State. Chun Yu Zhen was very happy, and wrote to Zhao Xingde in private, saying that the battle of Laiyuan-Kaizhou and the Han army's active request for artillery ammunition had greatly changed the attitude of the Protectorate to field artillery, and the Ordnance Department had placed additional orders for Chunyu Iron Works, and was also pushing the Iron Works to try to produce field artillery with larger caliber and power.

The more than 100 sergeants accompanying Xia Guoying settled down, and Wang Jicai went to ask the Shuaifu for instructions on when to arrange a visit. Zhao Xingde came in person this time, to a large extent, relieved the Han army's suspicion of Xia Guoying, he persuaded the Han army to immigrate to the Yalu River and the Gongmen River on the way, and Wang Xuansu also believed that Xia Guoying had no intention of fighting for territory with the Han army over there, which was unexpected by Zhao Xingde.

..................

"Miss, Mr. Zhao has already arrived at the Shuai Mansion, Wang Dutou asked, when will he come over to visit." The maidservant Sinan whispered through the curtain. Han Ningshuang returned to Liaodong and needed reliable people around her, so Wang Hengzhi recommended her over. The Han generals from all walks of life asked Han Ningshuang for a thousand things, and it was inevitably delayed, and Han Ningshuang asked the maids around her to report to her at any time.

"Well, let him wait a bit. In the evening, we have a banquet for hospitality. ”

Han Ningshuang had just taken a bath, facing the mirror, wrapped her chest tightly with a fine white cloth, dried her black hair, and combed it into a men's bun. Her face was like a peach, and her skin was white and red. Only then did he apply a special gouache to his face to make his cheeks look slightly yellow, draw his eyebrows thicker with an eyebrow pencil in the mirror, and then carefully put the hair in the red scarf all around, and not let it hang down even a lock of green silk.

Han Ningshuang coughed lightly, her voice was crisp, and she lowered her voice a little lower, first smiled, then her face sank like water, and after changing her expression a few times, she patted her chest and breathed a sigh of relief. Commanding the Han army as her daughter, she has been extremely cautious over the years, and she always does not want others to despise her and lose the prestige of her ancestors. Marrying a husband and raising children, even if she thought about it, she always had such and such concerns. The Han family has no other descendants, and the Han army can accept a woman as a marshal, but Han Ningshuang's marriage itself has also become a major event for the Han army. If this person is mediocre and incompetent, everyone will be disgraced, but if it is the opposite, then Han Ningshuang is more likely to directly lose the power to command the Han army, and her husband will take over everything.

"I'm not going to get married." She said angrily to the mirror, tied her forehead tightly with a green wipe, and wiped a white jade inlaid on her forehead, and smiled slightly at the mirror, in which she looked like a young and heroic general, which was the image of Marshal Han familiar to tens of thousands of Han soldiers.

Note: Liao's Quanmen River, that is, today's Tumen River.