Chenzhou's guest population, mainly from the Qin and Han dynasties, nearly a thousand years from the Jianghuai, Jingxiang and the Central Plains have migrated to the past, the proportion of the war was already five or five points, but because Chenzhou has long thought that the implementation is a system of restraint, the local military and political power is mainly in the hands of the local surnames, and even the state and county defense soldiers are all filled by Fanhu Ding Zhuang.

However, if there is no way to promote the Turkish-Hakka union with absolute strong force like Xuzhou, it will be difficult to effectively weaken the absolute power established by the big surname forces such as the Xi clan within the Tujia households.

Before the war, there were less than 10,000 households in Chenzhou, and the number of adult households was about 21,200.

However, in addition to the early stage of the war to cut the domain, the Chenzhou Fanying was hit the hardest, almost annihilated more than 6,000 adult Ding Zhuang, after attaching to Emperor Yanyou, who sat in Yueyang and was named the king of Linjiang County, in order to ensure that the position of the Xi clan was not weakened, the Chenzhou Fanying participated in the later war of eliminating the feudal domain and captured Jiangzhou, Chizhou and Jinling and other battles were extremely active, and the loss of adult Ding Zhuang would not be less than 5,000.

Of course, in these years, there are corresponding young men in Fanhu in Chenzhou who have grown up every year, but under the fierce exploitation and oppression of the big surname forces, epidemics, poverty, hunger and cold, the overall number of Fanhu Ding Zhuang has dropped to less than 12,000.

Even though the size of the local household seems to have remained the same, the actual population has dropped sharply from the previous 80,000 to less than 60,000, that is, the number of households per household has dropped sharply, and the proportion of the labor force has dropped even more.

In contrast, the guest population of Chenzhou has increased from 80,000 to 90,000 with the migration of displaced people and exiles.

Of course, the combat effectiveness of the Chenzhou Fan Battalion has been greatly strengthened over the years.

Especially in the early years, the soldiers fought bravely and fearlessly to death, but because the armor equipment was too poor, they were killed by the Wuling Army of that year and had no power to fight back, and participated in so many fierce battles over the years.

If Chenzhou hadn't been suppressed by the demonic Xuzhou around him, even if the wars over the years had caused great losses to its core population, in addition to being able to maintain health and recuperate, it could also use armed annexation to encroach on the surrounding territory and population to supplement the losses of Fanhu.

After all, none of the surrounding barbarian villages is the opponent of the Xi family, and the Xi family's annexation of the surrounding barbarian village will not be too constrained by the central power, and the integration of the surrounding native households will be relatively smooth, and it will not be like the implementation of the Tujia family in Xuzhou will be restrained by hundreds of years of traditional concepts - in fact, the Xi family can rise in Chenzhou, and it has been doing so all these years.

And if there are two or three generations of shrewd and capable family heads like Xiying, the Chenzhou Xishi may be able to grow into the overlord of the southwest.

For the Chenzhou Xi clan, the most unfortunate thing is probably the rise of the Han family father and son in Xuzhou.

Han Qian's first condition this time was to force the Chenzhou Fanying to be transferred out of Chenzhou and join the formation of the Right Dragon Bird Army to participate in the war against the rebels in Yongchen and other states.

Even if the power space vacated by Chenzhou is filled by the Zheng family and the local guest forces, this result is definitely what Xuzhou is more willing to see at this time.

In fact, no matter how Xian Ying's father and son suppressed, with the gradual growth of the cotton weaving industry in Xuzhou, Chenzhou currently has almost hundreds of thousands of acres of cotton field planting scale, but Chenzhou has not produced a corresponding weaving industry, and the seed cotton produced is digested by the yarn field and weaving mill in Xuzhou.

In addition, there are a large number of tung oil seeds, tea, medicinal materials, dye ores and other materials in Chenzhou every year, which are imported into Xuzhou for digestion.

These outputs, which are closely related to Xuzhou, are mainly controlled by the guest forces, and the annual transaction scale has exceeded three or four hundred thousand.

This is directly destined to this part of the guest forces, which are in the same breath as Xuzhou, but they are currently suppressed by the local surname forces led by the Xi father and son.

In the process of the rise and fall of the native guests in Chenzhou, the Fanzhai forces, which were directly controlled by the Baptism clan and once unique in Chenzhou, were weakened to the most serious extent; If it can continue to be weakened, there will be an imbalance between the forces of the native surnames in Chenzhou.

Outside of the Xi clan, not all the big surname forces in Chenzhou are extremely hostile to Xuzhou.

These big surnames are weak in power, and they occupy only a corner of the land, and they have no ambition to occupy a land of poor mountains and rivers to claim hegemony, and in addition to forming some stubborn prejudices for a long time, they have no hostile position to Xuzhou in terms of fundamental interests.

On the contrary, they have been quite greedy for the fact that the guest forces can make a fortune in trading with Xuzhou over the years.

One acre of sloping terraces, planting cotton and selling seed cotton, the harvest can be much higher than that of planting beans and wheat; This simple account can be calculated by ordinary people with their toes broken.

In the mountains, such as tung oil seeds, tea medicine, timber and other products, Xuzhou is the largest distribution center.

Another Chenzhou Xi clan is also separated from the Xuzhou Xi clan, and the collateral of the Chenzhou Xi clan has been repeatedly damaged and suppressed, whether it will recognize the ancestors and return to the ancestors and re-join the Xuzhou Xi clan, that is also a matter of doubt.

At present, Han Qian does not need to directly and aggressively send troops to directly occupy and rule Chenzhou, Yezhou, Sizhou, and other places, but only needs to continue to suppress the hostile forces in these areas, disintegrate the control of individual hostile and stubborn forces over the localities, and let the forces close to Xuzhou or relatively neutral rise and occupy a dominant position, so that he can ensure his influence in these areas through the systematic and large-scale industrial and mining workshops in Xuzhou.

In Han Qian's plan, in three to five years, Xuzhou's follow-up strategy for the surrounding areas will not undergo major changes.

And this time, some things can take a big step forward, but it is really thanks to Yao Xishui's ruthless "help."

lined them, but in a short period of time, his main energy will still be on the operation of Huaixi Prefectures.

Even if we do not consider the strong reaction of other forces, if we want to launch a large-scale war in Chenzhou or Siye and other prefectures, we must carry out predatory requisition and scraping of the occupied areas in order to meet the huge military expenditure, which is not in line with Han Qian's long-standing concept of governing the army.

So this time, if he can force Chenzhou Fanying to leave Chenzhou and solve the problem of Shiliang County's ownership, Han Qian will be satisfied.

As for the resumption of the establishment of Haozhou, Chuzhou, and Chaozhou, and the upgrading of the Tangyi Xingying system and the government, that is the proper meaning, at most the imperial court will pull the skin for this matter for a period of time, and it will not have a substantial impact.

Of course, these things can be dealt with logically, and core figures such as Tian Cheng, Gao Shao, and Lin Haizheng can be rewarded for meritorious service and officially rank among the middle and senior generals of Great Chu, which can also boost morale.

Tangyi Xingying is a huge group, and the advantage of the reward cannot be taken by Han Qian alone.

Lin Zongjing and Feng Yi have to retake the matter of leading the naval army to reinforce Xuzhou, as long as the troops are dispatched, other things will advance quickly - Han Qian, Gao Shao, and Zhao Wuji went to the banquet hall and gathered together with Zheng Chang, Han Daoming and others.

Tangyi effortlessly recovered the twelve counties of the northern line this time, and knew that countless people were jealous and hateful in their hearts with their toes.

It is one thing to use the Chenzhou camp to win over and curry favor with the Zheng family, so as not to be too isolated in the court.

On the other hand, Han Qian hoped that the Liang army could have a respite to resist the strength of the Mengwu people in the Heshuo area, and at the same time hoped that Huaixi could rest and recuperate, so he did not advocate the resumption of war on the northern front, so as far as the Great Chu at this time was concerned, it was time to completely annihilate the rebels and recover Yongchen and other places.

Han Qian would not ignore the fundamental interests of Da Chu in order to drag the Zheng family back.

When he went to the banquet hall and sat down, in addition to Zheng Chang, Du Tangyi and the descendants of the Han Mansion, there was no need to hide some words.

Han Qian directly said that in addition to supporting Zheng Hui and Zheng Xingxuan (Zheng Yu's son) to lead troops to capture Yongchen and other prefectures, he would also support them to further attack the territory of the Lingnan Jing Navy (Qingyuan Army).

In addition to giving away the Chenzhou camp for nothing, he would not mind the Zheng clan drawing money and food from Chenzhou - Han Qian believed that they also had the ability to coax the Xi clan and ask the Xi clan to contribute money and efforts.

The Zheng clan marched into Lingnan, and in order to control the outbreak of miasma in the battalion army, Xuzhou could also supply sufficient miasma wine.

In the past few years, in order to ensure food supply, in addition to brewing high-purity medical alcohol, Xuzhou has deliberately controlled the development of the brewing industry.

This time, Han Qian agreed to allow the wine merchants under the Zheng clan to enter Xuzhou and Huaixi, but he also hoped that the territory recovered and newly expanded by the Right Dragon Bird Army would be relaxed and restrictions on the merchants of the Chishan Society and Xuzhou.

Although at this time, the Lingnan region under the rule of Liu Yin, the envoy of Jinghai Jiedu, encompassed the two vast regions of later generations, but these areas were Miao and Yue mixed together, and the proportion of Hakka Ding households and better naturalized familiar barbarians who moved south since the Qin and Han dynasties was lower than that of Chenxu and other prefectures, and the large-scale Shengfan barbarians inhabited in the wider deep mountains and old forests without control, and at present, only 1560,000 households were registered under the Jinghai Jiedu Embassy, less than one million Dingkou.

Although the commercial and trade potential of Lingnan may not be as good as Huaixi, after the recovery of Yongchen and Yongchen, to the south is Guizhou (Guilin), there are Ling Canal since the Qin and Han dynasties, thousands of years of continuous repair, connecting the Xiangjiang River, Lijiang River water system, from Guizhou to the south is Liuzhou, Xiangzhou, Yongzhou (Nanning), and then from Yongzhou to the south is Lianzhou.

As early as the Han Dynasty, Lianzhou was an important commercial port of the sea and land fair, and the generals of the previous dynasty also conquered Jiaozhi through Lianzhou across the sea, and set up the Annam Governor's Office, which was included in the territory of the Central Plains Dynasty, and the maritime merchant ships were the places that traveled to and from the far west, and later generations called Lianzhou the starting port of the Maritime Silk Road; Of course, the merchant ships entered the Xijiang River through the Li River, and to Guangzhou was another larger outlet to the sea.

Qianyang Bu wanted to have a larger market, and Han Qian couldn't spare his hands for the time being, so he could only fully support the Zheng family to expand its territory to the south first.

However, at this time, Liu Yin, who called himself the king of Nanping, was able to dominate Lingnan for two generations of his father and brother according to the remote corner of Fengzhou, even if there were only one million households in the entire Lingnan region, his strength should not be underestimated.

After Zheng Hui recovers Yongchen and other places, it can only be seen whether he can use troops smoothly in Lingnan.

In any case, no matter how the relationship with Tangyi and the Han family will go through twists and turns in the future, at least Zheng Chang's trip to East Lake is pleasant and satisfying.

Of course, in order to win the money and grain of Hunan Xingshangshu Province to ensure the use of troops on the southern front as much as possible, Zheng Chang also advised Han Qian to shrink the size of the Tangyi army a little, and the imperial court was really unable to make ends meet at this time.

As for the ownership of Shiliang County, Zheng Chang saw that Shen Yang had acquiesced, and guessed that Shen Yang was very likely to use the 500,000 stone grains that the center promised to allocate a total of this year and next year as a bargaining chip to force Huaidong to make concessions.

Zheng Chang was in front of Han Qian at this time, and naturally promised that the Zheng family would definitely support this side.

In addition, the shit in Chenzhou was pasted on the butt by the Queen Mother, and they could never expect to completely let Shen Yang and the Zheng family come out as villains.

In this way, Huaidong should not have the confidence to be stubborn......

…………

…………

Shen Yang left the East Lake by the purchasing official boat of the Weaving Bureau, at this time it was early summer, the water level of Chaohu Lake rose, and the Yuxi River was also turbulent, and it flowed down the Yangtze River, and returned to Jinling City in the early morning of the next day.

Although Yao Xishui intervened in this matter by the order of the Empress Dowager, but from Cao Xiushi's mouth, knowing Yao Xishui's actions in the whole matter, Shen Yang also ignored Yao Xishui all the way, and after getting off the boat, he hastily cleaned up, and did not even return to the Prime Minister's Mansion, so he directly took Qin Wen into the palace.

Zhou Qinian did not have a place to live in Jinling, but after the Huanghua incident in Jinling, he moved his family to Jinling, even if Huanghua was transferred to Hunan as a consolation envoy, the Huang family as a descendant in Jinling The mansion is also a courtyard wall and flowers, Zhou Qinian, as a guest of Huanghua, also went to Huangfu first, and met with Huang Huixiang, the son of Huanghua, the Marquis of Jiang, Huang Huixiang, who served in the command of the guards and the army, and Huang Huixiang, who was the waiter of the Ministry of Rites at this time.

Cao Xiu

Shi Ze could only stay in the post house first and wait for further news.

Yao Xishui returned to Cishou Palace in despair, and saw that the Marquis of Linjin, Li Changfeng, the squire of the Ministry of War, Zhou Yuan, the squire of the Ministry of Works, and Xu Jing, who had stayed in Gwangju before, were all in the palace.

After knowing that Han Qian was very likely to know about the collusion between Liang He Wang and the Mugultures, Xu Jing and Chun Shisanniang sent people to Chenzhou on March 4 to report the news.

However, from Chizhou to Wuling County, you can still whip quickly, but from Wuling County to Chenzhou for hundreds of miles, in addition to taking the Ruan River waterway, the coast is sandwiched by cliffs and mountains, and this section of the road can only be passed by waterway.

However, when the messenger crossed the Nguyen River waterway, he encountered an ambush, the ship was wrecked and people died, and the letter could not be delivered to Yao Xishui in time, so that Yao Xishui could not stop the attack on Xuzhou in time.

Breaking his toes, he knew that it was Han Qian's hand, but at this time, there was no point in dwelling on this issue.

Can this matter still be complained about in the open?

Xu Jing was appointed by Li Zhihe to urgently return to Jinling to discuss countermeasures after Luoshan learned the news of the Chenzhou incident, and he had just arrived in Jinling the day before yesterday.

Knowing that Shen Yang pulled Zheng Chang to personally rush to Donghu to intercept the Tangyi army to reinforce in the southwest and negotiate with Han Qian, he stayed in Jinling to wait for the news, and did not chase to Donghu to find it.

"......" Yao Xishui was in the side hall of Cishou Palace, and said about the trip with shame, "After we left East Lake, the Tangyi Navy still had more than a dozen warships sailing west, it seems that Han Qian is not up to the goal, and will never stop in Chenzhou......"

"The Zheng family suddenly got such a big benefit, this time they will definitely help Tangyi speak, did Shen Xiang say that he sent someone to Huaidong to match this matter?" Zhou Yuan asked with a frown.

After leaving East Lake, Shen Yang returned to the cabin without showing up or saying anything. Yao Xishui said.

Zhou Yuan's brows furrowed even tighter at this moment, and said: "Han Qian learned in advance the news that Zhu Rang, the king of Lianghe, had colluded with the Mughurs to rebel, which was almost an open secret, but now so many things have suddenly happened, especially Cao Xiushi is very likely to have told the matter of Xishui going to Chenzhou to lobby, with Shen Yang's shrewdness, I am afraid that we can guess in advance that there will be a shocking change in Heshuo - looking at his attitude, maybe after reporting to His Majesty, he will force us to send someone to Huaidong to mediate this matter, right?" ”

"The king of faith is not easy to get along with." Li Changfeng frowned and said.

After going through so many things, especially after his uncle Li Pu learned that the queen mother took the second prince to Cishou Palace to support, he made Li Xiu and Li Zhen serve in the Xiangbei army, and Li Changfeng, the marquis of Linjin who was not yet fifty years old, did not want to return to Hongzhou to retire, so he had no choice but to become the queen mother's party.

Of course, in terms of prestige and qualifications, Li Changfeng, the Marquis of Linjin, has the potential to replace Li Pu and represent the Queen Mother's party to sit in the foreign courts.

If Shen Yang insisted that they send someone to Huaidong to negotiate, this task would most likely fall on his head.

Li Changfeng didn't mind a trip, but in addition to paying 300,000 stone grains every year, the imperial court did not have substantial binding rights on Huaidong, and he was worried that only threatening 300,000 stones of grain might not be able to make Huaidong surrender Shiliang County.

To put it bluntly, if they want to give Huaidong additional compensation, it can only be that they have to make corresponding sacrifices.

Li Changfeng broke this, and Yao Xishui was even more ashamed and embarrassed.

"In short, this time I have to trouble Hou Ye Li to go first, and without further ado." Lu Qingxia said without emotion.

No matter what conditions Huaidong will propose, it will only be known after contact, and the matter cannot be delayed, otherwise, the Xuzhou soldiers will really attack the Chenzhou camp, and the series of consequences that will occur in the future may not be what they are happy to see.

"What is the situation in Luoshan City, is there a possibility of cooling down in the near future?" Li Changfeng asked Xu Jing.

King Shin is not a good man, and if he walks over like this, who knows what will happen to him?

"It's very difficult in the short term, before the Shouzhou army took Luoshan City as the core to prevent our army from going north, and the grain and weapons were well stocked - even if you don't consider that the Wen clan has moved to Xusi and other places, Wen Bo will not easily go out of the city and surrender when the army is gone." Xu Jing said.

Of course, Xu Jing knew how important it was to capture Luoshan City at this time, and he could take a tougher posture from the flanks and threaten Han Qian not to force troops against Chenzhou, but Wen Bo was too capable of defending the city, and most of the defenders were the elite of his lineage, as long as the grain was not exhausted, the price paid by the Xiangbei army if they wanted to storm Luoshan City was too great, and it was not in line with their previous purpose of recovering Liangbo.

At present, the main force of the Xiangbei Army is used to besiege Luoshan City, and it is necessary to guard against the counterattack of the defenders and the Shouzhou Army to return to the west of Caizhou to reinforce the Luoshan defenders, that is, to hope that the Tangyi Army can contain the main force of the Shouzhou Army at this time, which has become extremely limited with the options they can have at this time.

"Alas," Li Changfeng sighed lightly and said, "I'll go see Shen Yang now and give the matter of the trip to Chuzhou next—however, after this incident, the expansion of the guards' army cannot be delayed any longer." ”

"There must be fifty or sixty thousand soldiers and horses in the guards and pro-army, and Shen Yang and His Majesty will not be so reluctant this time, and they will also give priority to the expansion of the guards and pro-army afterwards," Lu Qingxia said, "and when the time comes, Cishou Palace will fully support Li Xiu's transfer back to Beijing to serve as a guard pro-army......

In any case, the predecessor of Huaidong soldiers and horses was the elite brought out by Li Yu, and Li Changfeng personally rushed to Huaidong to say that he could get some old friendships, but it was impossible for Lu Qingxia to let Li Changfeng run this trip in vain.

And the follow-up expansion of the guards and the pro-army, the new commanders, Duyu Marquis and other generals, will inevitably be the focus of contention, and they will push Li Yu's son Li Xiu to compete for the new commander position, and the resistance is also the least.

In fact, apart from Li Xiu, they have no more suitable candidates.

Li Changfeng mentioned the matter of guarding the pro-army at this time, that is, waiting for Lu Qingxia's words, he immediately retired from Cishou Palace and rushed to Chongwen Hall to block Shen Yang's road......