Xixunqiao is less than thirty years old, because he has a bad relationship with his father Xizhen, and he has never held real power in the clan, it was his father who died under the sword of the Tanzhou general on the bank of the Antler River, and he inherited the position of the chief of the Xishi clan in such an embarrassing situation, and then was trapped in Longqiao Zhai Yuexu, and then was forced to surrender and be imprisoned in the Qianyang Furong Garden.

After being released from house arrest, he had just arrived in Linjiang County, which was still desolate in Xinzhi, and settled down for two days, when suddenly a team of people came over, saying that Sima Hanqian wanted to see him, and he could only say goodbye to his wife and children in a panic, changed into a long shirt, and went into the mountain with the visitors.

The site of Linjiang County is still desolate, but walking along the Shahe River to the depths of Dawankou, you can see that the newly built houses and houses are becoming more and more dense, and a large area of grain fields has been reclaimed on both sides of the Shahe River, growing abundant crops, and many young people are digging new irrigation branch canals, which seem to be transformed into watered land in this area of Dawankou.

Xuzhou is vast and sparsely populated, with many mountains and few lands, especially large and small Fanzhai have also cultivated a large number of grain fields, but most of them are in the mountains, and there is little watering.

In the past two years, Han Daoxun first taught the Hakka people to use the gently sloping mountains to build terraced fields and ponds, step by step transform the dry land in the mountains into watered fields, and even plant rice in the mountains.

Before changing to the foot of the mountain, Xixunqiao also saw the new canal connecting Wuliuxi and Shahe, and saw the diversion weir and barrage overflow weir of Wuliuxi.

Although after the completion of these water conservancy projects, standing on a high place, a little knowledge of the world's practical skills, can see the truth clearly, but the new canal is located in the hills on the periphery of Longya Mountain, the terrain is somewhat uneven, in three or four months, the new canal will be excavated in sections, which actually means that the height difference of each section of the channel is calculated in advance.

Xi Xunqiao also claims to be a well-educated person, but he doesn't know how the Han family father and son did this.

The new canal has a culvert of more than 300 steps long and passes through a dirt mountain.

This earthen mountain is only thirty or forty meters high, only three or four hundred meters wide from east to west, but it is five or six miles long from north to south, which is the natural division of the Shahe River and the Wuliu River.

Bypassing this dirt mountain, the amount of new canal work has to be doubled, and it is not practical to dig an open channel from the dirt mountain, and finally the new canal at both ends is connected by the well canal method.

This is also unimaginably complicated before washing and looking for wood, and I secretly feel that maybe the method of repairing the weir in the Central Plains is indeed outstanding.

Along the west bank of Wuliuxi widened post road into the mountain, twenty miles away is the renovated Longya City, seen the appearance of the soldiers and horses gathered in the Longya City, wash the woods can imagine the pressure on the hearts of Chenzhou surnames such as Jiming Village in the north.

Being brought into the walled hall, Xixunqiao saw a huge case in the center of the walled hall, Han Qian was tying the placket of his robe to his waist, and the whole person climbed onto the huge case, comparing it with the atlas at hand, mixing the river sand with the water liquid of unknown things, shaping it into the shape of a landscape, faintly looking like the topography of Yuanshui flowing through Chenzhou.

Zhang Ping, the military envoy with a smooth face, Tian Cheng and Feng Yi, who had a yellow face, and Mrs. Xi, who had long been famous in Xuzhou, stood aside, looking at the shape of the landscape on the huge case with interest, and the sand table showed the terrain of Chenzhou more intuitively than the map.

Han Qian saw Xixunqiao being brought in, pointed to the chair next to the wall and said, "You sit down and rest first, and I'll finish this beforehand." ”

Xixunqiao bowed, stood aside, and did not dare to sit down without permission.

After a while, Han Qian finished the matter in hand, climbed down the sand table, beckoned Xixunqiao to come closer, and said straightforwardly: "The death of Wang Liang of Chenzhou Assassin Shi Wang Liang is infected with the epidemic, I think you should have heard about it, what do you think?" ”

Xi Xunqiao was slightly stunned, and secretly said Is this something he should be concerned about at this time?

Zhao Ting'er brought the water over, and Han Qian washed his hands while saying to Xixunqiao: "The imperial court plans to remove Ma Yin Tanzhou from his post this winter, in order to prevent changes in Tanzhou, and the secret decree is to make my father and son reorganize the soldiers and horses of Xuzhou, so that they can send troops from Xuzhou and attack Tanzhou at that time - I heard that Lord Xi is familiar with military books, I don't know how Lord Xi thinks that in the current situation, how can we effectively clamp down on Tanzhou?" ”

Xixunqiao's mouth was open for a long time, and he didn't know what to say.

Seeing Zhang Ping and Han Qian standing with Han Qian, he could naturally guess that Zhang Ping and the Han family's father and son conspired to set a trap to lure the four surnames to attack Eagle Fish Village, but he didn't expect the real reason, it turned out to be this!

Han Qian continued to ask: "Chenyang County Ling Xiying is the same family as Lord Xiying, how likely does Lord Xiying think it is that he will obey the orders of the imperial court?" ”

Chenzhou Xi is a branch of the Xuzhou Xi clan more than 100 years ago, and the current forces developed in Chenzhou are even stronger than the Xuzhou Xi clan, and the Jiming Village in the north of the Dragon Tooth City and the Chenyang City on the bank of the Yuanshui River are the spheres of influence controlled by the Chenzhou Xi clan.

If there is only one Xi clan, Han Qian doesn't have to worry about anything, after all, the Chenzhou Xi clan controls 13,400 people, and it is already the limit to be able to organize more than 1,000 elite soldiers, but at present, the number of soldiers gathered in Jiming Village has reached 2,000 people, and there are more than 1,000 soldiers gathered in Chenyang City.

For the time being, the native surname of Chenzhou did not dare to bear the charge of assassinating Wang Liang and rebelling, so he did not openly push Xiying to serve as the assassin of Chenzhou, but at this time, the three thousand soldiers who gathered in Chenyang County were under the command of Xiying, which has been confirmed.

In addition, Tanzhou also gathered more than 5,000 soldiers and horses in Wuling.

Xiying may not be able to welcome the soldiers and horses of Tanzhou into Chenzhou at this time, but if his side officially attacks Jiming Village, Xiying will see that he can't resist it, and he will definitely go south to assist in the defense.

The soldiers and horses gathered in Wuling in Tanzhou, even if they went upstream, the waterway of less than four hundred miles would only take four or five days to reach Chenyang County, and Han Qian was not confident that he would capture the well-guarded Jiming Village in four or five days with less than double the force.

Han Qian thought about whether he could divide the forces of the Chenzhou surname from other aspects.

After all, Han Qian's time to take root in Xuzhou was too short, and Feng Xuan and the others had a low status in Shanyue Fanhu before, and the level of contact was not enough.

It was only at this time that Xi Xunqiao understood why Yang Zaili and Xiang Jianlong were left at the mouth of the Shahe River, but he was brought to Longya City?

In the end, Yang Zaili, Xiang Jianlong and others don't know the secret matter or not, they don't dare to resist the Han family father and son on the surface, but deep down in their hearts, they can't wait for Xiying to gather troops in Chenzhou, so that they can hit the Han family father and son as soon as possible, expel the Han family father and son or directly annihilate them, and even if they want to be attached to Xiying and bow down to Xiying, but Xuzhou will restore the old concept of Tuke separation, and they can also restore the status of the chief of the surname.

As a native emperor who can dominate the lives of thousands of slaves and rule dozens or even hundreds of large and small Fanzhai, he is much stronger than the eunuchs who see the state and county magistrates bow their heads.

It's just, is this what he wants to see?

Regardless of anything else, even if Chenzhou sent troops to drive away the Han family's father and son, and Xuzhou restored the old concept of Tuke separation, his brothers could convince him and let him sit firmly in the position of the head of the Xuzhou Xi clan?

When the time comes, there will be a serious split within the Xuzhou Xi clan, will it repeat the tragic fate of the Xi clan more than ten years ago?

Xi Xunqiao came back to his senses and saw that the prison envoys Zhang Ping, Tian Cheng, Feng Yi, Mrs. Xi and Han Qian were all staring at him with burning eyes, and he suddenly realized that he had been silent for too long.

"More than 100 years ago, the Xi family was divided into two branches, one moved into Chenzhou and the other moved into Jingzhou, but there has been no close contact over the years. Xi Xunqiao said with a little flustered.

It has only been fifteen years since the founding of Great Chu, and it has only been five or six years since the nominal restoration of the rule of Chenxu Prefectures.

Seeing that Xi Xunqiao was reluctant to say more, Han Qian did not force him, and said, "I am tired from the journey, so Lord Xi will go down and rest first." ”

Han Qian didn't mean to let Xi Xunqiao leave Dragon's Tooth City for the time being, but instructed Feng Yi to arrange a set of courtyards for him to live in for the time being.

Looking at the figure of Xixunqiao leaving with Feng Yi, Zhang Ping said with emotion: "Xixunqiao still has a lot of scruples!" ”

"Of course, I used deception to lure the four surnames and Tanzhou soldiers and horses to defeat both before I controlled the situation in Xuzhou, in the eyes of others, it was purely a trick. He didn't think we had any foundation in Xuzhou, and he helped us at this time, so we couldn't worry that we would be expelled one day, and he would be purged? Han Qian said with a smile.

Han Qian's reaction to Xi Xunqiao was not surprised, if Xi Xunqiao behaved too positively at this time, it would make him beat the drum in his heart, Xi Xunqiao as an idle chess player, he could play a better role, and if he couldn't play a role, there would be no loss.

Moreover, if he left Xixunqiao in Longya City, he would more or less make Yang Zaili and Xiang Jianlong more jealous, at least at this time, he didn't dare to make any moves behind his back.

"When are we going to storm Jiming Village?" Tian Cheng asked, he didn't think it was possible to surrender to Xiying without a fight, and he hoped to make preparations for storming Jiming Village and sending troops into Chenzhou.

Han Qian shook his head and said, "Let's look at the preparations over there in Ezhou first!" ”

Han Qian thought that the imperial court would first cut down the domain of Tanzhou, and the county prince's mansion would send troops to Yuezhou in Ezhou first, so that the main force of Tanzhou would be pinned down on the northern front first, and then he would send troops to attack Jiming Village, which would have a greater grasp.

Otherwise, his side sent troops too early, and the soldiers and horses of Yingtan Prefecture entered Chenzhou, and they couldn't capture Jiming Village and Chenyang City at the first time, does Xuzhou have the qualifications to fight a war of attrition?