"It's almost fading out of the birds these days - brother, when do you say the adults will take everyone north to Runzhou? King Xindu Xiong has returned to Jiangbei, and Runzhou is just a few defeated generals, if he doesn't beat his mother and a bear at this time, how long will it be delayed? It's really not good, can we enter Huzhou? Brother, what do you think in his heart? ”

After entering the middle of October, the weather turned cooler, and the north wind blew a bit of biting cold, after Han Leopard recovered from his injury, his body was strong, and he only wore a linen jacket filled with grass wool in his robe, but he didn't feel cold, sitting on the haystack, chewing grass roots and talking to his brother Han Donghu.

Two months have passed since the capture of Langxi City, and the whole army has been resting and training, and in the col of the hanging ridge on the east side of Sitiandun, on the basis of reclaiming terraced fields on slopes and excavating coal kilns, five more dragon houses were built in mid-September.

Han Bao was promoted to the deputy team rate, but he recovered from his injuries and returned to the camp, was kicked to the study class first, suffered for more than a month, and finally learned to write his own name crookedly, and reluctantly reluctantly "The Preliminary Solution of the Situation in Liang Chu", "The Essentials of the Construction of the Siege House", "Several Precautions for Field Terrain Exploration", "Compendium of Drills and Flags", "Overview of the Township Organization" and other mimeographed pamphlets are all stumbling to recognize the words in the mimeographed booklets--It's just that I can read it and can't read it evenly, let alone write it- Then he was sent to Xiling Township, east of Sitiandun, as an inspector, and dealt with stubborn and hard-to-train teenagers and fierce women all day long.

Although there are more than 300 adult men in Xiling Township, they are all left over from the Chishan Army, with yellow faces and thin muscles, skinny bones, and it is difficult to bear excessive physical labor.

The entire Xiling Township should excavate coal kilns, reclaim slope terraces, build dragon houses, organize healthy women and teenagers to carry out autumn training, organize township drills, organize women and children to collect grass wool and sew winter clothes, and recommend activists to enter the study class - in Han Bao's view, who is crazy to think about actively entering the study class - the daily things are extremely cumbersome, and Han Bao is a little unable to stand it.

Not to mention that compared with the knife and bow charging trap, he felt that he didn't have to rack his brains to deal with so many things when he was a slave in the Shang family in the past, and he was more comfortable than his current life.

Seeing that his brother returned to Xujiaji Township with a team of sentry horses through Xiling Township-Sitiandun was in addition to Xujiaji Township, and there were also four townships set up - Han Bao couldn't help but come over to inquire about the news, thinking about what kind of army was moving eastward, and asked his brother to transfer him to the battalion, and he would not stay here to be this bird assistant if he died.

Han Bao couldn't stand it, and Han Donghu was still panicked.

People in the world thought that after successfully attacking the retreating Chuzhou army, capturing Langxi City, and forcing Gu Zhilong to surrender, the Chishan army would soon have more active and more military actions after regrouping, but in fact this was not the case.

After the substantial merger of the Xuanzhou Army and the Qiuhu Army in late August, Han Qian carried out a new reorganization of the Chishan Army.

The three infantry armor capitals, each with 9,000 generals at its peak, but after the new reorganization, each of them only retained 3,000 soldiers and 3,000 auxiliary battalions; In addition, the cavalry battalion was expanded to 1,200 elites, and the guard battalion was restored to 500 people.

That is, after the end of August, the Chishan Army only maintained the main force of less than 11,000 soldiers and 9,000 auxiliary battalions.

In addition to the generals who died in the capture of Langxi and died of their wounds, there were almost more than 4,000 wounded soldiers who retired from active service after recovering from their injuries.

These wounded soldiers were supposed to become the most elite combat force of the Chishan Army, but Han Qian abandoned them, saying to the outside world that they had already made the sacrifices they deserved, and they would not be mobilized unless Guangde, Langxi, and Anji counties were attacked by a great enemy.

In addition to taking over the defense of Sitiandun after the withdrawal of the Qiuhu Army, the main forces of the Chishan Army were mainly assembled in Nantangzhai, Shiqi Mountain, and Langxi City at the southwest foot of Jieling Mountain, and there was no major mobilization, let alone organizing large-scale operations to the north or to the territory of Donghu and Hangzhou.

In mid-September, the Caizhou army of Daliang marched east into Xuzhou, forcing Yang Yuanyan, the king of letters, to lead a part of his troops and horses to retreat north to Chuzhou to defend the foundation.

However, in addition to arranging for more than 4,000 wounded and recovered generals to retire from active duty one after another, Han Qian took advantage of the further alleviation of the military crisis in mid-September to dispatch a group of military attaches and 9,000 auxiliary battalions to expand the efforts to reclaim slope terraces, mine coal and iron, cut timber, and burn lime at the southern foot of Jieling Mountain and the northern foot of Fuyu Mountain.

There are many examples of a large number of grassroots military attachés like Han Bao who were assigned to serve as adjutant officials and tun chiefs in the townships to which the three counties belonged after preliminary study.

A large number of Weilong houses have been built at the southern foot of Jieling Mountain, and more importantly, more than 200,000 acres of land and more than 20,000 houses have been replaced in Langxi, Guangde, and Anji counties, which is far from enough to accommodate so many old and weak women and children.

More than 300 Wailong Houses, more than 30,000 new houses will be built, and the total number of 320,000 Chishan Army generals and their families can only be barely called to spend the first cold winter between Fuyu Mountain and Jieling Mountain.

In mid-to-late September, by order of Yueyang, the Guangde Army was formally established, and the Chishan Army was reorganized into the Left Guangde Army as a whole, and the Qiuhu Army after the merger of the Xuanzhou local soldiers and horses was reorganized into the Right Guangde Army as a whole.

At this time, compared with the German army on the left, it was silent and low-key, while the German army on the right was actively taking Donglu Mountain, Fushan, Tianyin Mountain, and Jilong Mountain as the boundary, looking for fighters in the northwest direction, and harassing the soldiers and horses of the Nanya forbidden army stationed in Lishui and Pingling.

At this time, there was even a lot of controversy within the Chishan Army about Han Qian's compromise and silence, and almost every once in a while, several groups of generals and military attachés ran to Han Qian to ask for battle, but they were all suppressed by Han Qian.

The generals and military attachés who danced particularly happily were even kicked into large and small transport teams by Han Qian "ruthlessly".

Rao and Shezhou followed closely after Yang Zhitang, the king of Yuzhang County, and officially surrendered to the table in early September, and the assassins of the two states personally led the state battalion and a small number of brave men with the rank of military general, and incorporated into the Youguang German Army, and participated in the attack on Lishui, Pingling, Dangtu and other places, and were extremely active, as if they wanted to release the loyalty to the three princes who had been suppressed for too long in the past before winning the final victory.

Han Daochang and Fu Mo went out of Raozhou and Shezhou respectively.

This also means that the land passage from Xuzhou to Xuanzhou is completely opened.

Although there is a post road from Xuzhou to Langxi City in the north of Xuanzhou, there is a post road to communicate, but more than 2,000 miles of post road passes through Fuyu Mountain and Yishan Mountain, crosses the hilly area of the south wing of Poyang Lake, and wants to cross the Wugong Mountain of the northern branch of the Luoxiao Mountain Range, to cross the stretching mountains on both sides of the Xiangshui River, and to cross the Xuefeng Mountain to reach the Qianyang City of Xuzhou.

This is a difficult road for even those who are proficient in the army to embark on at least a month, not to mention the transportation of large quantities of materials from Xuzhou into Xuanzhou.

Still, Han

Qian still organized more than 30 study class transportation teams of 50 or 60 people each, and rushed them all the way to Xuzhou.

On the one hand, headed by Xi Fa'er and others, they took these people to conduct reconnaissance, counter-reconnaissance, and topographic survey investigation and study on the spot, and on the other hand, Han Qian could not wait for the waterway to open up, so he had to transport a batch of high-value-added goods from Xuzhou into Langxi before November.

Although the annexation of the two states of Rao She, and the temporary merger of these two states and Xuanzhou into the rule of the Guangde Empire, Han Qian, as the Guangde Envoy, was in charge of the power and could mobilize the men and horses of the nineteen counties of the three states, but except for the relatively flat arable land in the north of Xuanzhou, the other counties of the three states were located in the interior of Fuyu Mountain or Yishan Mountain, and only a small number of valleys or river valley plains could be used for farming.

The total population of the 19 counties in the three prefectures is less than 800,000, but the cultivated land is less than 5 million mu.

Measured by the level of productivity in the world at that time, the scale of productivity in the 19 counties of the three prefectures of Xuanshu Rao is far from catching up with the six counties to which Runzhou belongs.

In the nineteen counties of the three states, even if it is quite difficult to fully supply the material consumption of more than 50,000 soldiers and horses in a short period of time, not to mention that Han Qian still has the luxury of pulling out a large amount of additional materials to support the nearly 300,000 old and weak women and children stranded in the three counties of Guangde, far exceeding the carrying capacity of the three counties.

Without holding study classes, or even without a considerable period of study and accumulation, the vast majority of officers and soldiers who fought bravely in battle, even the military attachés at the grass-roots level who had been promoted to the rank of team leader, could not understand what a difficult task it was to ensure that more than 300,000 elderly and weak women and children could survive the cold winter and that large-scale unnatural deaths would not occur.

Even the local faction in Huhang, led by Huzhou Thorn Shi Huanghua, further softened their attitude, acquiescing in the Guangde Army's system of sending people to Huzhou and Hangzhou to purchase grain, cloth and other materials, and even did not have the intention of hoarding Juqi and making things difficult in terms of price, but the problem was that Han Qian still had to trade the corresponding materials or goods.

At present, although Yueyang has agreed that the three counties of Anji, Guangde, and Langxi should be set aside separately to resettle the generals and families of the Zuo Guang German army, the problem is that the three counties can replace only 200,000 mu of farmland and houses, and can only barely resettle the brave soldiers and the 8,000 families and families who were seriously injured or disabled, and the total number of the total number of the Zuo Guang German army generals and their families is less than 20 percent.

In addition to the 20,000 generals and soldiers of the main force and auxiliary battalions of the Zuoguang German Army, supplies can be spent from the military salary, and the insufficient part can even be further applied to Yueyang and transferred from Hongyuan and other prefectures, but after deducting the generals who have been placed and the generals who are on the staff, as well as the 267,000 old and weak women and children, it is necessary for the Guangde Army to raise and support the embassy itself.

At present, the three prefectures of Xuanhui Rao are only temporarily controlled by Han Qian, and the requisitioned materials, according to the original agreement, can only guarantee the supply and consumption of 40,000 generals of the Guangde army, and the material support for the additional 2.67 million old and weak women and children can only be solved by Han Qian from the additional taxes collected from the three counties of Langxi, Anji, and Guangde, or by transferring money and grain from Xuzhou.

The 2,670,000 elderly, infirm, women, and children are guaranteed a minimum of eight yuan per person per day to ensure the supply of materials (including food, shelters, and winter clothing), which is 2.2 million yuan a day, 66 million yuan a month, and nearly 800 million yuan a year, that is, 800,000 yuan.

For a long time, in addition to the intercepted part of the Kaizhou County Office, the annual revenue that can be transported into Jinling, and the income of the Duzhi Envoy Department has been kept between three and four million yuan.

The Feng family's ability to accumulate four or five million yuan of family wealth is the accumulation of several generations of the huge clan after mastering the Jianghuai financial resources, even so, after confiscating his clan, Emperor Tianyou was shocked.

In the world, the annual shortfall of 800,000 yuan required the Guangde government to raise its own funds, which was a terrifying figure.

The three counties of Langxi, Guangde, and Anji, in addition to the first batch of resettlement generals' small families and farm houses, also have a population of 110,000 and more than 600,000 mu of cultivated land.

At present, the biggest advantage is that local production has not been destroyed, trade routes with the Huhang region have also been opened, and the autumn grain harvest has been completed in various places.

The biggest problem, such a large gap, where does Han Qian go to make up for it?

After capturing Langxi City, why didn't Han Qian fight?

In addition to too many other things to consider, Han Qian mainly didn't dare to fight, and was reluctant to fight.

Another key factor is that the consumption of elites is too big and too ruthless.

When Langxi City was captured, as many as 6,000 soldiers were killed in battle and died of serious injuries after the battle.

These 6,000 people are precisely the group of people who have the most potential to become elite in the German army of Zuoguang - how many times can the German army of Zuoguang withstand such losses after losing so many elite young men in the first war?

Taowu Jibing used to be infinitely beautiful, but merged with the Changchun Palace Zhuang, there were more than 20,000 adult Ding Zhuang, and after these years of war consumption, now there are less than 6,000 adult men left.

If it weren't for Han Qian's desperate efforts this time to save more than 40,000 women and children in Taowuji, especially nearly 10,000 boys and teenagers, Taowu's military households would soon become a historical term and dissipate in the wind.

Even so, with traditional fertility and medical conditions, it will take at least two or three generations for Taowu soldiers to recover—the infant mortality rate is too high, and even if there is no war or famine, half of them will survive to adulthood safely, thank God.

In addition to the spirit of not being afraid of death and daring to fight hard, it is that in the early stage, it can continue to coerce the young and strong men at the bottom to enlist in the army, without worrying about consumption, but it also leads to the women and children who are coerced more and more large, and in the later stage, when the young and strong elite are consumed similarly, the Liumin army will become more and more fragile, so that it will soon be disintegrated and collapsed in the later stage.

If Han Qian wants to break this vicious circle, he has to endure it, and desperately suppress the inflated mentality.

In order to reduce unnecessary material consumption, reduce the casualties of elite soldiers, cultivate fields and build houses and mine coal as quickly as possible, all the military exploits in the later period can be given to the Youguang German army led by Gu Zhilong, Li Xiu, Chen Mingsheng and others, so that Xinchang Hou Li Pu and others are "extremely beautiful" in the front......

…………

…………

The middle of October passed, and although the weather was not yet cold, it was already winter.

Nandutang Lake, located at the southwest foot of Jieling Mountain, due to the siltation of soil for many years, the lake silt water is shallow, at this time, the water level of several upstream streams and rivers that transport water into Nandutang Lake has fallen, resulting in a large area of lake beach exposed, so that women and children in more than a dozen nearby Xintun can directly enter the lake beach to harvest and fill the reed flowers that can be filled with shabby clothes and interlayers to keep warm.

Silk wool, cotton wool and fur have a better warmth effect, but the Chishan army generals are not so extravagant, and the reed flower is already an excellent thing. If the reed flower is not enough, knead it thoroughly

Replacing softly opened wheat straw and thatched stalks is also a way to survive the winter.

In the south of the Yangtze River, even if it is a cold weather, it can always survive, and in the Central Plains region north of the Huai River, when the mountains are covered by heavy snow, it is really difficult.

Han Qian sat on horseback, pondering the information that had been collected from the northern front one after another these days.

Emperor Zhu Yu of Liang drove his own expedition and won the victory of Suiyang in Songzhou, but did not take advantage of the victory to pursue the remnants of Zhu Jue, the king of Liang Bo, so that the Xuanjia army with heavy casualties stayed in Songzhou to rest, and made the Caizhou army led by Han Yuanqi enter Xuzhou eastward, rendezvous with the Xuzhou soldiers led by Sima Dan, and enter Chuzhou on the south bank of the Huai River.

Many people do not understand the intentions of Emperor Zhu Yu of Liang, and most people analyze that Emperor Liang should strengthen his control over the eastern region of Liang before his internal hidden dangers are completely solved, and at the same time force Yang Yuanyan, the king of Xin, to seize Huaidong and cut off the possibility of the Chu army's large-scale northern expedition in recent years.

Is it really that simple?

As Zhu Yu, who was still in the leisure mood to sneak into Chu to scout the military intelligence after the defeat of Jing Xiang, would he be worried that even after the surface unification, the internal factional interests of the Great Chu were complicated had the ability to pose a fatal threat to the Liang State?

Wouldn't it be better to leave Yang Yuanyan to lead the Chuzhou army on the south bank of the Yangtze River, and fight with the soldiers and horses of Yueyang first?

At this time, seeing Chen Jitang coming over, Han Qian discarded the chaotic thoughts in his mind.

"When did the adults arrive, why don't you talk about it in advance?" Chen Jitang was wearing riding boots, stepped on a muddy ground, and walked over and asked.

"Go back to Langxi from Nantang Village, stop by this side to take a look," Han Qian turned over and dismounted, walked to a slightly higher beach with Chen Jitang, looked at the lake beach and the water surface of Nandutang Lake, which shrank to only more than 1,000 acres after winter, and asked, "You haven't returned to Langxi City for four or five days, and your food and lodging are all in the wild. ”

Chen Jitang fell while inspecting the terrain in the central area of the lake, and at this time his body was covered with mud, and his muddy robe was also torn open, but there was no restraint in front of Han Qian, and said:

"The water surface of Nandutang Lake in summer and autumn can reach more than 13,000 acres when it is the widest, but because the Taoran River and Qiwei River in the south are used as outlets, the channels of the two rivers are extremely narrow, which actually makes the role of Nandutang Lake water storage and flood discharge greatly reduced - I have walked through it four or five days ago, found some old people, looked at the county records, Nandutang Lake is all reclaimed into fields, the water surface of Nanyi Lake in the south is 30 times that of Nandutang Lake, and the average water depth is more than twice that of Nandutang River, we can completely widen the channel of Qiwei River. The rainfall and flood that should be accumulated from Nandutang Lake in summer and autumn will be channeled into Nanyi Lake, and there will be no obvious impact on the coastal areas! ”

The terrain of Langxi is high in the south and low in the north, half of the mountains and half of the lake, and the fields in the mountains are few and barren, which is not much better than the situation in Guangde.

Not to mention the difficulty of reclaiming terraced fields on sloping land, the yield per mu of grain is still low.

There was a need for more high-yield new fields, so Han Qian could only set his sights on the matter of enclosing the lake and building a polder.

Even with the accumulation of experience in building embankments in Chishan Lake and large-scale land reclamation and water conservancy construction in Xuzhou, the world's understanding of water conservancy, climate and geography and geology is still too limited.

The reclamation of the entire lake area of the Nandutang River can obtain more than 12,000 acres of plastered new fields, but there are too many factors to consider in order to channel the rainfall that pours down in the rainy season, not to accumulate waterlogging and become a disaster, let alone to cause the mountain flood to break down the river embankment and form a monstrous flood.

In mid-September, in order to expand the scale of reclamation and industrial and mining production in Guangde, Langxi, and Anji counties on a larger scale, Han Qian transferred Chen Jitang and 300 other craftsmen and craftsmen from Xuzhou.

In order to ensure safety, Chen Jitang and them came by land, but it was much harder than taking the waterway, and after they arrived in Langxi, they immediately put into high-intensity work, and they were almost thin and out of shape in just over ten days.

Listening to Chen Jitang's report on his investigation of the Nandutang River in the past few days, Han Qian looked around, the lake beach was full of snow and reed flowers, and the scenery was naturally extremely beautiful, and he frowned slightly and said:

"Although the risk is difficult to completely eliminate, the widening of the Qiwei River must be carried out at the same time, and two trunk canals must be dug at the same time, and we cannot expect that there will be no heavy rainfall in Xuanzhou next year in the summer."

To complete the reclamation of 100,000 mu of new land before next year's spring ploughing, the pressure is extremely high, and it is impossible not to take any risks.

In this way, after the spring ploughing begins next year, more than 5,000 families and small families will be able to be resettled.

However, the remaining population resettlement is a hard nutshell.

Although the industrial and mining industry can also accommodate a large number of surplus workers, the mining of coal and iron requires investment, and the establishment of a handicraft workshop requires foreshadowing and investment.

Workshops, overflow stone dams that stabilize the flow of water, roads leading to coal pits in the mountains, and a large number of mining tools, forging and casting tools, hydraulic equipment, looms, textile machinery, and the promotion and planting of cotton, etc., require a lot of resources and a lot of time.

At the same time, it is also necessary to develop a vast market that can accommodate the dumping of large quantities of primary industrial goods.

Sometimes it takes more time than the resources to be invested.

The fundamental purpose of Zhu Yu's troops in Xuzhou and Huaidong is not to give him enough time, right? Han Qian sighed in his heart and thought silently.

At this time, several fast horses galloped from the south, attracting everyone's attention.

Guo turned over and dismounted, and said: "Yueyang's messenger has just arrived in Langxi, and it is reported that on the 12th, Li Zhihe led his troops to capture the two cities of Chiwu and Xunyang in Jiangzhou, killed 6,000 defenders including Zhou Ang, the assassin of Jiangzhou, and captured more than 7,000 Jiangzhou defenders such as Zhong Yanhu. In addition, the king of Yuzhang also led his troops to the north through the west bank of Poyang Lake at about the same time, and trapped Pengze City. Li Pu, the deputy envoy of the system, Gu Zhilong, the commander of the Youguang German army, Chen Mingsheng, Li Xiu and others should have contacted the messenger sent by Yueyang first, and they had already rushed to Langxi City at this time, waiting for the adults to go back! ”

"Capture Jiangzhou so soon? The speed of recruiting troops along the Yangtze River and Jiangxi recruiting troops is so fast! Xi Ying exclaimed, "The capture of Pengze City, less than 300 miles east of the river is Chizhou, so look at it, maybe within November, Yueyang soldiers and horses will be able to knock on the west gate of Jinling, right?" ”

"The Liang army has forced King Xin back to Jiangbei, and if Li Zhihe delays it for a day, Anning Palace will send hundreds of delayed soldiers into Jiangzhou." Chen Jitang said.

Chen Jitang came over to serve as the chief engineer and official of the Imperial Mission, but it did not mean that he knew nothing about military affairs.

"Let's rush back first!" Han Qian gathered his eyes and said.

Han Qian's tone of voice was very calm, but he knew in his heart how contradictory and entangled he was at this moment, on the one hand, for the sake of his father's last wish, he hoped that the war could end as soon as possible, and the people of Li would suffer less, but on the other hand, if the war could be delayed until after the autumn of next year, Guangde's situation would not be so embarrassing.

Han Qian said goodbye to Chen Jitang, who wanted to continue to stay near Nandutang Lake to survey the terrain and prepare for the completion of the polder reclamation work before the beginning of spring, and Xi Ying and his guards, under the guidance of Guo Qi, turned on their horses and galloped towards Langxi City in the south......

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