Han Bao, Huo Li, and Wang Zhe escorted Yun and the princesses Zhu Xi, Shen Peng, and Zhao Ci across the Huai River and entered the Tangyi defense area, which was already early April.

Although the temperature has not yet become hot, the whole Jianghuai land has entered the early summer, and the rain is also abundant, and the water above the Huai River is mighty.

The earthen embankment built in the previous dynasty on the south bank has long been abandoned, and Han Bao and they crossed the Huai River, only to see the broken mounds in the mighty water, and they can still vaguely see the shadow of the old causeway.

It was only the beginning of April, and the rainy season had not yet officially begun, and after everyone inquired, they learned that several heavy rainstorms had fallen in succession a few days ago, resulting in the scene that the south bank of the Huai River had been flooded at this time in late spring and early summer.

At this time, in addition to the siege of Luoshan City by Wen Bo's headquarters, the other soldiers and horses of the Shouzhou Army successively abandoned the hinterland of the central and southern parts of Guang, Huo, and Shou Prefectures, and withdrew to Qisi, Huoqiu, Shouzhou and other places close to the south bank of the Huai River.

Now the hinterland of Liang is in chaos, not to mention that after the Shouzhou army was forced to shrink the defense line and cede the hinterland of Huo and southern Shouzhong, there was an urgent need to solve the needs of military resources and grain, even if it could hold Huaixi at this time, and the grain was sufficient, at this time the troops were sent to occupy the southern areas of Liang such as Ying, Qiao, etc., after Emperor Zhu Yu of Liang pacified the rebels, he could still argue that it was to consolidate the defense of the empty places such as Qian and Ying to prevent the rebels from going south.

In the end, if you don't let out Yingqiao and other places, it depends on whether the central soldiers and horses are strong or not.

After taking over a total of 12 counties, including Haozhou, central and southern Huozhou, and south-central Shouzhou, as well as Le'an and Huangzhou in eastern Gwangju, the two armies on the left and right sides of Tangyi did not immediately send troops to launch an offensive against the important military towns of Shouzhou, Huoqiu, Qisi, and Fengtai, which were still under the control of the Shouzhou army on the south bank of the Huai River, but the harvest was extremely fruitful.

This time, fundamentally, there was a serious turmoil in the Liang State, and Tangyi's recovery of Huailing, Linhuai and other twelve counties can be said to be unearned.

And even if it is inevitable that the Shouzhou army will be in chaos and withdraw in a hurry, the exploits of Han Bao, Huo Li, Wang Zhe and others can already be said to be quite dazzling.

Not to mention the exploits of several of them, how far-reaching and huge the impact on Heshuo and the entire Central Plains is concerned, only for the Tangyi army at this time, if they did not send accurate news back in time, Linhuai and Zhongli, two cities bordering the Huai River, are very likely to be under the control of the Shouzhou army or the control of the Hejin army at this time; At the same time, it was impossible for Han Qian to preempt the Xiangbei Army and make Kong Xirong lead his troops to take over the two cities of Le'an and Huangchuan first.

Perhaps in the vast Huaixi region, Han Qian has already occupied a condescending geographical advantage by managing the northeast slope and north slope of Huaiyang Mountain, and it does not have to lie in the gains and losses of the three or four cities, but the control of four more cities, and the more important significance is that there are more than 200,000 dingkou near the four cities, and since then they have become the households ruled by the Tangyi Prefecture.

In Huaixi, which is vast and sparsely populated and full of barren land, population is far more important than occupying two or three hundred li of land.

At present, the areas in the north of Huo and Shouzhou bordering the Huai River are still under the control of the Shouzhou Army, and Xu Mingzhen also took advantage of the Zuolou Boat Army to control the middle and upper reaches of the Huai River, and forcibly forced the households in these areas to move to Yingqiao and other places on the north bank of the Huai River, which can almost move more than 200,000 Dingkou along the coast, but Tangyi has gained nothing for nothing, and the new Dingkou is still more than 500,000, which actually makes the military and civilian scale controlled by the Tangyi Prefecture in Huaixi directly double, surpassing Huaidong and Xiangbei for the first time, ranking first among the three towns on the northern line.

Throughout March, the left and right armies of Tangyi and the Metropolitan Administration were at a high level of operation, busy with various takeovers.

Before Han Bao and Huo Li crossed the Huai, they came into contact with the scouts and horses of Tangyi, and after crossing the Huai River, they were directly escorted to Shoudong by a team of soldiers and horses.

Shoudong is located seventy miles southeast of Shouzhou, one hundred and forty miles away from Chaozhou City in the south, and forty miles away from Chi Fengtai, another Huaibin city controlled by the Shouzhou army at this time.

Whether it is a follow-up attack on Shouzhou, Fengtai and other cities, or the suppression of the Shouzhou army along the Huai River and not southward, Shoudong is a priority military town for the Tangyi army at this stage.

Shoudong County is Xu Mingzhen for the resettlement of the people who crossed the river by the Anning Palace, the site of the city was built in a hurry, but there is a galloping road from Fengtai to Chaozhou through the city, and there is a clear stream river of more than ten zhang on the north side.

The source of the Qingjian River is out of the Jiushan Mountain in the territory of Huailing, flows into the Beiqishui River to the west, and then enters the Huaihe River, which is a water canal that can be connected with the Huai River and the Huaishui River, but the problem is that the middle and upper reaches of the Huaihe River are still under the control of the Shouzhou Military Water Division at this time.

The Hangou waterway was not opened to Huaidong, and the warships of the Tangyi Navy were still limited to the Yangtze River system, and the soldiers and horses stationed in Shoudong had to be extra guarded against at this time, and the warships of the Zuolou Naval Army would attack from the upper reaches of the Qingjian River.

The low walls were made of rammed earth and were only seven or eight feet high.

Although it has only been built for more than a year, cracks have been exposed on the outer side of the city wall, which shows how hasty the Shouzhou army was in building Shoudong City and how short of materials it was, and this city wall has not been seriously tamped.

When they entered the city, they saw hundreds of laborers piling up earth on the outside of the thin city wall to build a horse-faced wall; On the south side of the wall, work has begun to cover a layer of bricks about three feet thick.

The buildings in the city are mainly simple shacks built by the migrants, but there are also several open areas cleared out, and the brick houses are being built - pontoon bridges are built on the surface of the Qingjian River, as long as the pontoon bridge is not destroyed, the warships of the Zuolou Boat Army are limited to the downstream of the pontoon bridge, but the Tangyi Army also requisitioned some small fishing boats to mine coal from the upper reaches of Jiushan and other places, and transported them to Shoudong to burn lime and green bricks.

At present, no matter where the Tangyi army advances, it will build lime cellars and brick cellars first, but if there is coal, it will be mined nearby, and if there is no coal, it will be transported from Huaiyang, Shiquan, Daishan and other places.

After entering the city, Princess Yunhe, Shen Peng, and Zhao Ci had their own special personnel to take over, Han Bao, Wang Zhe, Huo Li, and the two brothers Zhang Shigui and Zhang Shimin, who were arrested by Han Bao on the way back to their hometown, first went to the temporary office of the Military Intelligence Staff Department in Shoudong to resume their lives.

Zhang Shigui and Zhang Shimin, two brothers, were full of apprehension.

This great achievement naturally belongs to Han Peng, Huo Li, Wang Zhe and others, although they have small merits, but whether they can resist the previous crime of escaping the camp, there is really no bottom in their hearts.

The government office is very simple, the priests and Cao are crowded into the low courtyard of Sanjin to work, the staff is noisy, and the affairs are extremely busy.

Han Bao and Huo Li walked into a courtyard, and they were also a little dazed for a while, seeing that everyone was in a hurry, they couldn't bear to stop and ask for directions.

"Leopard!"

Han Donghu strode into the courtyard, and at a glance he saw Han Leopard, who was much thinner, and he still rubbed his head habitually when he walked over.

Han Bao was in front of Huo Li and Wang Zhe, but he was not used to being treated as a child by Han Donghu, and his head was slightly aside.

Han Donghu laughed, saw Huo Li and Wang Zhe come forward to salute him, waved his hand and said:

"You've really done a great job this time - the Lord told you to go straight to your life, and I thought you should be here by this time!"

Han Bao introduced Zhang Shigui and Zhang Shimin behind him.

He intended to bring the two Zhang brothers with him, thinking that while the adults were happy, they would be exempted from the crime of escaping the camp, and they could be directly promoted to military attaché when they were meritorious, or directly subordinate to the Military Intelligence Staff Department as officials, so as not to have to work hard to get up from the bottom.

Hearing Han Bao say this, Han Donghu smiled and said, "When the adults talked about your return, they also discussed with Gao Sima whether to ask you to directly command the soldiers and horses in the future; You can stay by your side in the future, so you don't have to go over today to join in the fun......"

Tangyi has a new brigade-level establishment between the town army and the capital, but the chief general of the soldiers and horses of the capital is also a middle and senior general at the deputy capital Yu Hou level. In the future, it will not be bad to be able to follow Han Bao to do things, Zhang Shigui and Zhang Shimin also put their minds at ease, so they said that they would wait outside the courtyard first.

Huo Li and Wang Zhe followed Han Donghu and Han Bao and walked directly to the back office, not busy talking about what they had seen and heard all the way back, and first asked about Wang Yan, Wang Ji, and Huo Xiao.

The five of them can be said to be Wang Jun's dowry, not to mention what the generals of Tangyi think of them, they themselves feel a little embarrassed in Tangyi after they arrive in Tangyi.

This time they went north, Huo Li and Wang Zhe completely settled down, thinking that even if they were not promoted, even if they continued to serve in the General Administration Department and the Military Intelligence Staff Department as before-the starting point of their previous positions in Tangyi was high enough, but they had no real power-they finally had the capital to gain a foothold, and they would no longer be rejected or looked down upon by the generals of Tangyi.

Of course, I haven't seen Wang Ji, Wang Yan, and Huo Xiao for a while, and I don't know where they were sent to work because the Tangyi plate had expanded so much all of a sudden.

"Wang Ji went to General Kong Xirong as a deputy general, and Wang Yan also went to Huangchuan to serve as a county commander, so for the time being, he was under the control of General Kong Xirong. They just left the day before yesterday, and you have to come back two days early, and you can still see them—Huo Xiao is in Shoudong, and people don't know where they have gone at this time. Han Donghu said.

After they crossed the Huai River, Wang Zhe inquired about the current situation in Tangyi from the military attache who escorted them to Shoudong, and also knew that although the Huonan Task Force Battalion led by Kong Xirong was a brigade-level establishment, there were 14,500 soldiers and horses, but it was mainly recruited on the northern slope of Huaiyang Mountain last winter, and its combat effectiveness was not strong, and the situation it faced was complicated.

After the occupation of Le'an and Huangchuan, the former Gwangju Prefecture ruled Huangchuan City as the camp of the Honan Task Force, and Wang Yan served as the commander of Huangchuan County in this context, obviously like Wang Ji, he went to Kong Xirong as an assistant.

Considering the particularity of Huangchuan and the huge number of soldiers and horses of the Honan Task Force, it is obvious that Tangyi has the intention to increase the establishment of another town army.

"Isn't it too abrupt for us to go to see adults like this?" Before entering the tooth tent, Wang Zhe couldn't help but ask.

They trekked all the way south, and after crossing the Huai River, they only temporarily begged the men and horses who escorted them to change into dry clothes, which were not so tattered and ragged, but they didn't comb them well, and they all had stubbles.

Walking to the tooth tent, Wang Zhe realized that their image at this time was too sloppy.

"No, this is how you can reflect your hardships and hardships at this time!" Han Donghu joked.

Han Bao and Wang Zhe walked into the hall, Feng Yi was talking to Han Qian about things, and he didn't ask them to avoid it, but just asked them to sit next to him for a while, and from the conversation between Feng Yi and Han Qian, they knew more about the situation that Tangyi was currently facing.

After recovering 12 counties such as Huailing, Zhongli, and Huangchuan, the left and right armies of Tangyi carried out a comprehensive mobilization, and in addition to the supernumerated Huonan Task Force, all the soldiers of the baggage battalion were also incorporated into active service, and the total size of soldiers and horses was sharply expanded to more than 60,000 people.

The soldiers of the baggage camp were mainly prisoners who were captured during the great victory of Wujinling, and they did not abuse the servants, but gave them enough food and warm clothes to work, which was enough preferential treatment, and it was naturally impossible to pay them military salaries.

The conscription system must be carried out, and the salary of the soldiers must naturally be paid according to the standard of the regular soldiers.

After the 20,000 heavy battalion soldiers were turned into regular soldiers, there was a shortage of 20,000 free laborers in the construction of camps, roads, ditches, barracks, etc., but instead of decreasing, these things were greatly increased, and it was necessary to pay extra money and grain to hire young and strong laborers -- since the new system was to be carried out, forced labor must be exempted, and young and strong laborers could not be forcibly requisitioned for work without compensation, so they could only be hired with money and grain.

In addition, it is necessary to continuously increase the ration of a large number of new armor and weapons, and preparations for the wars in Shouzhou and Fengtai have not yet been carried out in a serious manner, and the regular military expenditure of the government in March has skyrocketed by six or seven percent.

The news of the chaos of the Liang State was transmitted back to Jinling, and Huaidong sent people to Jinling to complain that Tangyi secretly communicated with the Liang army, which was very likely to cause the soldiers and horses of the Great Chu to miss a God-given opportunity to send troops to attack the Central Plains.

Even if the government can embezzle money from the official money bureau at this time to make up for the shortfall in military spending, this is still borrowing and borrowing, and it is an act of demolishing the east wall to make up for the west wall.

How many gaps are filled here,

How much gap will be left on the side of the bureau.

The purpose of setting up the bureaus is to raise funds to support the development of industry, manufacturing, commerce, and trade, and it is not permissible to divert money and grain from the bureaus to make up for the shortfall in military expenditures.

Wang Zhe listened to them for a long time, and only then did they know that Feng Yi meant to persuade Han Qian not to reduce taxes for the twelve counties that had been newly recovered and taken over this year in order to stabilize people's hearts.

With the addition of 500,000 new dingkou, even if the government does not levy taxes too harshly and make certain reductions or exemptions, this year's summer and autumn grain will be able to collect 300,000 or 400,000 stone grain and 3,400,000 yuan of cloth and silk dingkou, which will be able to make up for the shortfall in the expenditure of the government this year to a great extent.

"This year, we will do a good job in measuring the acres of land, and some of the Dingkou will be moved to Chuzhou and Yongyang to fill the households there, and we will also sort out the hidden piles and spies that the Shouzhou Army may have planted. Let's stay up for another year or two, and when we are comfortable next year, we will find a way to make up for the gap in the official money bureau. Han Qian disagreed with Feng Yi's proposition and persuaded him to find a way to make up for the gap in military expenses from other places.

In the past month, Han Qian did not stay in Linhao or Shoudong, but walked through the newly recovered twelve counties non-stop.

There are more than 500,000 new vassals, even if a considerable number of them are people who were encircled by the Anning Palace after the Jinling Incident, but they are all yellow-skinned and thin-skinned, and their clothes are ragged, and their lives are very hard.

In order to maintain such a large number of soldiers and horses over the years, Xu Mingshou could not give preferential treatment to so many people, except for a very few generals who were integrated into the core of the Shouzhou Army.

The people who crossed the river and fled north, no matter what their previous status, as long as they did not hold a position in the Shouzhou Army, had a hard time, and the poor people at the bottom were even more eager to have every grain of grain that could be squeezed from their bodies.

Now is the spring famine season, and there is no harvest of green and yellow, and the government has even to take out a large amount of money and grain to provide relief, and exempt this year's summer and autumn grain, so that it is possible to let their days breathe a little lighter and prevent a large-scale famine.

Han Bao couldn't intervene in these matters, so they could only listen silently, but they were qualified to observe, which also showed that their identity in Tangyi in the future was different from the past.

I don't know how long it took, when they heard someone walking in the courtyard, Wang Zhe and the others sat at the door, and looked into the courtyard, but it was Princess Yunhe, Shen Peng, and Zhao Ci who were led in.

At first glance, Yun and Princess, who changed back into women's clothes, Wang Zhe felt dazzling, but he didn't expect Princess Yunhe, who had traveled with them all the way and suffered a lot, at this time she walked in in a shirt, she was so beautiful and beautiful, and her childish face had the calmness and calmness that she should not have at her age.

However, Wang Zhe noticed that Han Qian's eyes did not fall on the radiant Yunhe Princess, nor on Shen Peng, the core leader of Liang Guocheng Tiansi, but on Zhao Ci, who was silent and a little reckless along the way.

Wang Zhe was not sure why, Xi Fa'er, Lin Haizheng and others who were sitting in the hall talking about things had changed greatly, and Xi Fa'er was holding the handle of the knife, and directly ordered the left and right guards to detain Zhao Ci.

"Forget it, people are guests, don't be reckless," Han Qian waved his hand happily, signaling to retreat left and right, before looking at Zhao Ci and asking, "Are you Zhao Kuo's son or nephew?" ”

"Father Zhao Kuo......" Zhao Ci said.

"No wonder a mold is carved, how old are you this year?" Han Qian asked, "Seeing that you are two or three years younger than me, when Zhao Kuo lurked beside my father, you just remembered, right?" ”

Hearing Han Qian say this, Wang Zhe suddenly thought that Zhao Kuo was not the general who had been by Han Daoxun's side for many years, and during the Jinling Incident, he stole Han Daoxun's body and committed suicide after returning to Xuzhou?

Lurk?

Zhao Kuo turned out to be Liang Guo's secret room?

They escorted Princess Yunhe and Shen Peng back, and their attention was focused on Shen Peng, but they didn't expect to dig into the root of Zhao Ci and make such a big mistake.

Wang Zhe was also full of shame, fortunately nothing happened.

Han Qian was originally still interested in chatting with the captives of Liang State, but he didn't expect that one of them turned out to be Zhao Kuo's heir who stayed in Liang State, so even if he was not interested in anything, he directly ordered them to be brought down left and right.

Han Qian said to Guo Rong again: "You plan for me to write a confession, and I will do this to see what the court wants to do with them." ”

Along the way, Shen Peng and the others didn't make any trouble, they were quite cooperative, everyone got along quite happily, and they didn't think that as soon as they arrived in Shoudong, Han Qian decided to hand them over to Jinling for disposal.

Han Bao and Huo Li immediately wanted to stand up and say something, but thinking of their own identities and after crossing the Huai River, they also heard that someone in Jinling was spreading the matter of Tangyi's collaboration with the enemy at this time, and Tangyi imprisoned the princess of Liang Guo for no reason at this time, but did not hand it over to the imperial court to deal with, isn't it even more unclear about the twists and turns inside?

Just for Shen Peng to send a message, inform Chen Kun, and Han Yuan Qi Chi to help Bianjing, how can this matter be explained clearly?

Of course, if the people are handed over, there is naturally no possibility of concealing these things; Shen Peng, Yun and Princess Yun will also choose to trade with the people of the court when the time comes, and it is impossible for Tangyi to keep their mouths shut, they have no such obligation.

"Liang Guo, such an important figure was escorted to Tangyi, and the news couldn't be hidden. Since the news can't be hidden, how can Tangyi have to go to the court to make sense, otherwise what is the matter with detaining the princess and general of the enemy country privately? Wang Zhe lowered his voice and said to Han Bao and Huo Li, "However, at this time, he only sent the song fold up, but did not directly escort the people to Jinling, and the matter will take a turn for the better. ”

No matter how shrewd and capable Han Bao and Huo Li are, they are far less good at collusion and fighting than Wang Zhe.

They also wanted to ask what to do if the imperial court asked Tangyi to hand over Princess Yunhe and Shen Peng after receiving the recital, and when they saw Han Qian looking over at them, Han Donghu made his eyes come, and they stepped forward to pay respects......