When dividing the defense area, Zhao De mentioned that he wanted to build more forts in the upper reaches of the Yalu River, or cut firewood, burn charcoal, or exchange furs and pearls of the Jurchen tribe nearby, which could be used to facilitate the mooring of ships. The upper reaches of the Yalu River are remote, the Han people are scarce, and most of the people living in the forests along the river are savage Jurchen tribes, and the Han village next to it is afraid that it will not be enough, Liu Baohu actually took the initiative to ask Ying, and did not go to the flat and fertile state and county in the south, and volunteered to defend this wild land.

Wang Heng dealt with it directly, but in his heart, he couldn't afford to see Liu Baohu. He knew very well that Liu Baohu seemed to be rude, but in fact he was deep in the city. He was the secret stake buried by the Shuai Mansion in Jiming Village, killed the Yu brothers who were in charge, and won the position of the owner of the village. Although the Yu brothers took refuge in Han Guo and deserved to be punished for their crimes, Wang Hengzhi still had a mustard in his heart, and once sighed to others: "The old brother of more than ten years, if he says that he will kill him, it is inevitably chilling. What's more, Liu Baohu then cleaned Jiming Village, and it is said that he unjustly killed many good people. Wang Hengzhi had prejudices in his heart, so he felt that his character was inferior everywhere.

"A ruthless and sinister guy, a villain, seeing that Zhao De is powerful, he is busy currying favor with him." Wang Hengzhi couldn't help but sneer: "Since Dangjia Liu admires General Zhao so much, why don't you go over to toast?" ”

Liu Baohu smiled: "Thank you for the reminder." He didn't seem to notice Wang Hengzhi's sarcasm, and really stood up and walked over with a wine jug. Zhao Xingde was surrounded by several other Han generals, and Liu Baohu did not squeeze forward, so he had to wait beside him for a long time, with a vague smile on the corner of his mouth, until the Han general who toasted went to a while, and then stepped forward and said respectfully: "The last general, Liu Baohu, a glass to General Zhao." Different from the affectionate energy of the Han generals next to him, Liu Baohu's demeanor completely put on the posture of his subordinates respecting the officials, Zhao Xingde was slightly stunned, raised his wine glass and said: "General Liu doesn't have to be too humble, you and I drink together." "During the two-month siege, the strength of the Han army in all parts was reflected. Jiming Village was originally the northernmost Han Village, the place was bitterly cold, planting crops was not enough to make a living, and there were many Jurchen tribes around, so the soldiers and people were accustomed to shooting and fighting. Liu Baohu's subordinates were able to endure hard fighting, and they were forbidden, Zhao Xingde saw it in his eyes, and even wondered why Han Ningshuang didn't transfer this elite army to Suzhou.

"General Zhao, don't treat Liu as an outsider," Liu Baohu sighed with a look of regret on his face, "Liu only wishes that the fly is attached to the tail." ”

Zhao Xingde patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile: "Drive the Xinghan and participate in the grand event." "There are a few remote Han villages that are willing to do the trade of cutting wood and charcoal, which also hints at the meaning of the state-run horse head of the Xia state. Liu Baohu even privately mentioned that Jimingzhai could not only accept the command of Xia Guoying, but could even be reorganized into a garrison battalion. But Zhao Xingde couldn't agree to him immediately. Only Ding Zhuang was selected from the Han people to expand the garrison camp, and the speed of forming an army was too slow. However, the sequence of absorbing the Han army into the garrison camp is not easy to lay a solid foundation, and even waste food and salary.

Liu Baohu simply sat down at the table, patted his thigh and said with a smile: "General Zhao's soldiers have sharp armor and thousands of strategies in his chest, and Liu is very impressed." He lowered his voice and leaned closer and said, "But what Liu admires the most is not the ability in the battle array, but the soldiers who surrender without a fight." ”

Zhao Xingde didn't understand what he meant, and only slightly, "Oh? "Yes.

Liu Baohu's eyes turned slightly, sold a pass, first poured himself a glass of wine, and then filled it to Zhao Xingde, and then said in a low voice: "The reason why Liaodong is difficult to control is that one is that the climate is bitter and cold, and the other is that the forest is dense and the road is narrow. The barbarian tribe drilled into the deep mountains and dense forests, and it was like a fish swimming in the sea, which was difficult to find a trace, and could shoot and hunt for a living. The army of the Central Plains, on the other hand, was unfamiliar with the terrain and marched in the dense forest, and was most likely to be defeated in ambush. Mr. was clever and clever, with the power of a small amount of money, he cut wood and burned charcoal in Liaodong, and then sold it to the Central Plains. One day, the dense forest of Liaodong will be cut down, and if the sea water is drained, the fish and dragon will have no way to live, and there will be nothing to hide. This is a ploy to draw wages from the bottom of the kettle. At that time, whether it is the crusade of the Central Plains army or the Han people's reclamation, it will be ten times easier than now. Those barbarian tribes who followed the cutting of trees and burning charcoal really dug their own graves. ”

Zhao Xingde smiled: "It's just to find a way to live, I didn't expect there to be such benefits?" He clinked glasses with Liu Baohu, and said with a smile: "General Liu said that he laughed, how can the sea water be drained, such a vast mountain forest, the old big trees were cut down, and new ones grew again." Zhao is still looking forward to the fact that this logging business can be done well for hundreds of years. He said haha, but he was secretly surprised in his heart.

"It's just a joke, it's just a joke." Liu Baohu also laughed and said, "For hundreds of years, Liu Mou has only looked forward to General Zhao. "Okay, let's have a toast with the two charcoal sellers." Both laughed. The other Han generals looked at this side, and some secretly said that Liu Baohu had some ways to change the door so quickly. Some scolded disdainfully: "A villain." "We'll see, it's time for the Shuai Mansion to clean up the portal."

This night was full of wine, and many Han generals were drunk. At dawn the next day, everyone led their armies and went to receive the nearby prefectures. Zhao Xingde also returned to Phoenix Mountain with the eighth battalion of Chengying and more than 1,000 soldiers of the garrison battalion, who had been on the expedition for nearly three months. In just three months, the army almost exhausted the military rations in the stockade, but fortunately, after capturing Laiyuan County, Xia Guoying obtained a reliable port. The grain and grass compensated by the Goryeo Kingdom are being delivered one after another. The 4th Battalion of Chengying purchased a total of 4,000 stone of grain in Mizhou of the Song Kingdom, and it also arrived in Laiyuan more than ten days ago.

Zhao Xingde and Jin Changtai discussed and decided to focus on the development of ironmaking and logging. With the help of Fuhaixing and Yajiaoxing, there were already merchant ships of the Song Kingdom carrying grain and cloth, and exchanged for furs, good wood, charcoal and other bulk products that were special products of Liaodong in Yuancheng. In the trade of exchanging grain and cloth, special products such as ginseng, sea cucumbers, and mountain delicacies, which were originally highly hoped, were not very important, and Zhao Xingde did not care, just as the Jurchen tribe did not care why they bought large quantities of furs in places that were said to not snow all year round. In order to solve the problem of insufficient supply, he personally visited the leaders of various Jurchen tribes on both sides of the Yalu River, sent people to teach the Jurchen tribes on the Yalu River to cut wood and burn charcoal, and exchanged grain from the Song State for charcoal, fur and ginseng from the Jurchen tribes. The charcoal and fur collected by the Chengying Camp were strictly graded, and the best materials were transported to Jinling and Bianliang, and small carved items such as spices and rhino horn and ivory from the South China Sea were added to the big deal. After the business grew, even the Koreans on the other side began to come to Yuancheng to buy exquisite goods from the Song Kingdom. Kim Chang-tae even discussed with Li Sihai to open up a new maritime trade route to Dongyingguo. Now that the shortage of manpower has outnumbered the problem of food and grass, Kim Chang-tae even proposed that Dongmu Bank pay for the redemption of Han Chinese slaves from nearby tribes.

Under the near-frenzied expansion of Kim Chang Tae, rudimentary forts guarded by poorly trained garrisons dotted the banks of the Yalu River. Because of the lack of troops, Jin Changtai selected and trained Ding Zhuang to form two battalions of garrisons. Jian Cheng, Du Chuijiao, Tang Qiyong and Cha Shen respectively served as the governors of the garrison battalion, and selected some elite sergeants to serve as centurions in the garrison battalion. According to Kim Chang-tae's idea, in order to ensure the control of the garrison battalion by the sergeant, the garrison could not hold the position of centurion or above until he was promoted to the rank of sergeant. These arrangements were constantly reported and submitted, and the military government only made it clear that non-commissioned officers could be selected from among the garrisons, but the garrisons had to undergo inspection and training in Dunhuang after being promoted to sergeants. The General's Office had neither objected to nor formally affirmed the other arrangements, and adopted a tacit attitude. The commander of the Chengying Army made Zhou Yuanzhong faintly encourage.

The baggage division asked the 8th battalion to settle the food and salary of the garrison camp by itself. Kim Chang-tae was also not polite, and in the name of running out of artillery ammunition he carried, he submitted a document urging the Heavy Duty Division to quickly replenish the ammunition consumed in the two wars of Laiyuan and Kaizhou. The nearly 40,000 pieces of silver that the Chengying battalion had squeezed out in the name of ammunition expenses, and the more than 10,000 pieces of silver and thousands of stones of grain that had been distributed in Kaizhou in the case of beheading the enemy and strictly defending the ground, were all disposed of according to the spoils of war captured by the detachment, most of which were given to the sergeants, and a small part were given to the garrison. The sergeants got an average of dozens of profits, and under the drive of Du Fujiao and other veterans of the seventh battalion of Chengying, most of them chased this part of the windfall into the gang and went to Dongmu Xing. Kim Chang-tae and Cho Xingde discussed that in order to improve the morale of the garrison, the garrison would also be allowed to join Dongmuxing, but the garrison seemed to prefer to hide the money at home. The garrison camp was part of the Han army in Phoenix Mountain, and in Kim Chang-tae's account books, it was recorded as a bodyguard hired by Dongmu Xing. It's just that the pay is much higher than that of a lumberjack. In addition to drills, the garrison camp was also engaged in logging and building cities and paving roads.

As the grain and grass problem eased slightly, Xia Guoying left more steel for his own use, making iron axes and hacksaws for logging, iron picks and shovels for mining and building cities, and even various blades and armor. The sergeants also trained the lumberjacks according to the ranks, and the lumberjacks cut down trees with axes all day long, and there was plenty of food, but their brute strength grew stronger and stronger. The "light work" such as charcoal making, gathering, and farming is mainly undertaken by healthy women and the old and weak.

After Xia Guoying occupied Laiyuancheng, Zhao Xingde and Li Sihai jointly played a joint performance, asking the General's Mansion to replenish a batch of iron barrel cannons for defending the city, or cast them on the spot in Liaodong. Zhao Xingde was troubled by the lack of archers in the garrison camp, and ordered the blacksmith shop to try to imitate the Song fire. Zhao Xingde made a slight improvement, lengthening the head of the iron spear mounted in front of the fire gun to more than a foot, with a blood groove engraved in the middle, and cutting blades on both sides. A detachable wooden pole was added to the back of the firecracker, and the pole of the original firecracker was added, and the three-section rod-shaped component was no more than three feet long, and the soldiers could usually put the gun on their backs. However, when the three barrels are connected, they are about a zhang long, and they can not only be used as spears, but also because the barrels are made of fine iron, if the front part of the barrel of the guns nearly two feet long is wrapped in iron, this iron spear is more powerful and heavy than ordinary spears, and the enemy's knives and axes are difficult to break. However, in this way, the cost of the musket is expensive, and it takes two powerful soldiers to move.

The battle of Kaizhou shook Liaodong, Zhao Xingde not only made great achievements, but also had a wide financial route, and his reputation among the generals of the Han army gradually increased. The situation on this side of the Yalu River in Taibai Mountain soon spread to Guannan in Suzhou. In September, the weather is getting colder and colder, and in three months, the sea on both sides of the Suzhou Isthmus will freeze. On the Nanshan Mountain, which guards the Isthmus of Suzhou, the construction of the new city designed by Zhao De is progressing slowly, which also worries Han Ningshuang.