Su Zhong, Pan Cheng, Xue Wang, Yuan Hua and other generals worked hard to train their troops, and the soldiers listened to the command, were able to endure hardships, and benefited from the sufficient supply of grain and grass.

Originally, there were nearly 70,000 troops under the control of Suzhou, and the supply of grain and grass was the responsibility of the imperial court, but the food consumed every month was too much, and it was transported from the south of the Yangtze River, the road was far away, and the loss on the road was serious, and it may not be able to provide expenses.

Therefore, after six months of supplying food, the imperial court could only give cash, and each army could purchase food on its own, and at the same time pressed the task of requisitioning food to the state capital where the garrison was located.

The grain in Suzhou, Bozhou, and Chenzhou was looted as early as last year when Wan Yanliang led his army south, and it was already difficult for the people to buy grain.

As Zhang Xiaoxiang, who was suddenly activated and came to Suzhou directly from his hometown to serve as Zhizhou, he had a headache in the face of grain and grass problems.

Although order has been restored in the state capital and the people have returned to their old lands to settle down, they are also short of food, and there may be a famine next spring.

Yang Congyi's 70,000-strong army needs food, and the more than 100,000 people in Suzhou also lack food, which is a big problem.

Fortunately, Yang Congyi introduced him to a merchant and told him that as long as he had money, he could buy grain from other regions through trade routes.

Zhang Xiaoxiang has money in his hands, and it is also a sum of money specially allocated by the imperial court to appease the people in Suzhou and other places, there are more than 100,000 yuan, and he can solve the most difficult food problem with businessmen.

Although he has been serving in Lin'an since he won the top prize in the examination, he has not governed the place, but he himself comes from the bottom and knows the ordinary people very well.

Therefore, in his view, the governance of the local government is just four words "rule by inaction", as long as the subordinate officials are well managed, and they are not allowed to do anything wrong, a state and a government can recover naturally, and it will not take long to prosper, but the premise is that when the people encounter an irresistible disaster, the government can provide some necessary help and shelter to help them tide over the difficulties, otherwise the state capital will be chaotic.

After having a businessman help him solve the food problem, Zhang Xiaoxiang relaxed.

Zhang Xiaoxiang, who was idle, did not sit in the yamen of the state capital in the city to fight against the literati and ink writers and recite poems, dance and write ink, but walked out of the streets, walked out of the city gates, walked into the night desert, walked into the dilapidated courtyards of the common people, and walked into the military camps.

Outside the city, he saw more tireless people who were running for life, and he knew that as long as the people were there, Suzhou would definitely be able to prosper after next year's spring and autumn harvest.

His confidence comes from nearly 80,000 family members of the army in Suzhou, 80,000 people can reclaim a lot of fertile land, Yang Congyi promised to give each soldier who brought his family five acres of land, Zhang Xiaoxiang ordered the state officials to investigate and count, the amount was increased to ten acres, and after reporting to the imperial court for approval, all newly reclaimed land was exempted from taxes for three years, and all the income from the land belonged to the army themselves.

At the same time, he also negotiated with Yang Congyi, planning to buy some pack horses from the army that could not fight, and lend them to the common people to reclaim barren land.

However, Yang Congyi, the pack horse in the army, was intended to be distributed to the families of the army, and Zhang Xiaoxiang naturally could not force it, nor would he force it, because he bought the pack horse labor mainly to lend it to the families of the army, but now it is directly distributed in the army, which saves him a lot of things.

Zhang Xiaoxiang of Suzhou is like this, and Xin Qiji, who is in Bozhou, is also busy with people's livelihood.

Xin Qijiben served as the secretary under Geng Jing, the leader of the Shandong Righteous Army, and went to Lin'an instead of the powerful Righteous Army, asking to be attached to the Song Dynasty, and after being ordered to be crowned an official, after returning to Shandong, he heard that the leader Geng Jing was killed by the traitor Zhang Anguo, and hundreds of thousands of righteous troops also fell apart.

Extremely angry, he personally led 50 horsemen to the enemy camp of more than 50,000 people, captured Zhang Anguo in one fell swoop, and led a rebel army of several thousand people to cross south and submit to the Song Dynasty, and the traitor Zhang Anguo was beheaded after parading in the streets of Lin'an, avenging Geng Jing and the righteous army.

Xin Qiji was awarded an official position by the imperial court because of his meritorious service to the anti-gold return, and Jiangyin signed the judgment.

Later, the new emperor Zhao Yan ascended the throne, and the main battle faction actively prepared for the Northern Expedition, Xin Qiji, because he was a person who crossed from the north to the south, was more familiar with the north, so he served in Jiangyin Zhixian for less than half a year, and was transferred to Bozhou to take up his post and was responsible for raising grain, grass and military supplies.

Xin Qiji was very uncomfortable when he first came to Bozhou, he did not want to raise grain, grass and military supplies for logistics, his ideal was to lead the troops to fight, and personally drive the Jin people out of the Central Plains and Shandong.

But after Yang Congyi heard that he came to Bozhou and met with him, he told him that without grain and grass and military supplies, no army could win the battle, let alone restore the Central Plains, and drive away the Jin people.

Xin Qiji, who was in his early twenties, listened to Yang Congyi's words, because he had heard of Yang Congyi's deeds, and he had long regarded them as a heroic idol, so the hero's words naturally had to be listened to, not only to listen, but also to implement them firmly.

Among the hundreds of thousands of righteous soldiers, Xin Qiji, who served as the secretary in charge, was originally the person in charge of the logistics of military grain and grass, and now he is responsible for docking the military grain and grass of the Bozhou garrison, so naturally there will be no big problem.

Moreover, Xin Qiji's own family is in the north, in the Jin ruling area, his father and ancestors have been officials in the Jin court, and the relationship is still relatively deep.

Therefore, although he is in Bozhou, he can still get grain and grass from the north, and of course, these grains and grass are also exchanged for real money.

is also responsible for logistics and military supplies, and it is impossible for other officials to get even a load of grain from the northern Jin people's ruling area, and Xin Qiji's ability can be seen in general, and the imperial court sent him to Bozhou, and the duel was a good move after careful consideration.

Yang Congyi didn't know if the imperial court's dispatch of Xin Qiji and Zhang Xiaoxiang to Bozhou and Suzhou was related to his previous visit to the new emperor who was still the king of Jianwang in Zhenjiang, and if the appointment of these two people was personally instructed by the emperor, it means that the emperor gave him enough trust.

Because whether it is Zhang Xiaoxiang or Xin Qiji, it is Yang Congyi who personally recommended the Northern Expedition talents to the Jianwang who was not the emperor when he was in Zhenjiang, and the Northern Expedition needs to reuse young people if it is to succeed, and the Northern Expedition is a protracted war, which is as short as five years, as long as ten years, or even for decades, relying only on Zhang Jun, Chen Kangbo, Yang Cunzhong and other old ministers in the court, once the Northern Expedition cannot succeed in one fell swoop, there will be no one who can preside over the Northern Expedition in the future.

The emperor can agree to send Zhang Xiaoxiang, who is in his thirties, and Xin Qiji, who is in his twenties, to Bozhou and Suzhou to prepare logistics for the Suzhou army and stabilize the hearts of the people in the prefecture and county, which shows that he has made preparations for the future, if Zhang Jun and Chen Kangbo cannot succeed in the Northern Expedition, then the people who can preside over the overall situation of the Northern Expedition in the future are among these two young people, and perhaps they will spend the rest of their lives in the Northern Expedition and preparing for the Northern Expedition.

For this kind of deployment of the imperial court, Yang Congyi agreed, nothing alone can not last long, because they will always die of illness or old age one day, if they die on the way to the Northern Expedition, just like Liu Jian who was seriously ill at the critical juncture of resisting the southern invasion of the Jin people, once they are gone, it will be difficult for the army and the court to find a person who can replace him to preside over the overall situation, and any military action can only end in failure.

And to train young people, employing young people, you can avoid the problem of lack of energy and physical strength, and you can concentrate on doing one thing for ten or decades, as long as there are no accidents, there will be no interruption.

Although Yang Congyi did not return to Lin'an, he also knew that the people who can speak in the court today are basically nearly sixty years old, or old people who are already over sixty, and all of them are old ministers of the former dynasty, these old ministers have their own ideas, once they gain power, they will implement their own strategies, once they retire from illness and die and lose power, the strategy that is being implemented will be overturned immediately, so that the decrees cannot last long, the information is not smooth, and the decrees are often changed, and the final result is that the decrees are only issued in the imperial court and the capital, and the local governments will not pay attention to them at all, and they will not be implemented. Because they know that any decree is a gust of wind.

The court without young people can not speak for long, apparently the new emperor Zhao Yan was aware of this problem, perhaps on the first day of his ascension to the throne, seeing the old people with gray hair and beards in front of him, he already had the idea of training young officials in his heart.

The young officials that the new emperor Zhao Yan can know are very limited, he is a prince and a prince, and almost all of the people who can contact him and speak can be important ministers in the court, and it is impossible for the important ministers in the court to have young people of the same age as him, so Yang Congyi, who is similar in age to him and has been in contact many times, has become a person who can talk to him, although Yang Congyi has never seen him since Zhenjiang.

Yang Congyi defeated the enemy army several times in Zhenjiang, as well as his inferences and judgments about the Jin people, almost all of them were accurate, it can be said that the reason why the 500,000 Jin people who gathered troops in Guazhou retreated was probably because of Yang Congyi, and it is even possible that in the eyes of the new emperor Zhao Yan, the retreat of the Jin army was facilitated by Yang Congyi with the strength of a single army, because his inference about the Jin people was too accurate.

When the new emperor Zhao Yan ascended the throne, Yang Congyi was in Bozhou and could not leave, and he did not receive an order from the imperial court to teach him or hand over military power, so he could not return to Lin'an.

Although Zhao Yan did not privately pass on the message to Yang Congyi after he ascended the throne, the transfer of Zhang Xiaoxiang and Xin Qiji, two people he personally recommended, to Bozhou and Suzhou can show Zhao Yan's trust in him.

And the basis of trust must be that Yang Congyi has no personal relationship with Xin Qiji and Zhang Xiaoxiang.

Since the two of them didn't bring him any words, Yang Congyi didn't dare to guess Zhao Yan's thoughts, but just handed over the power to raise military supplies and grass to the two of them as much as possible, and also gave them complete trust.

But it's not completely letting go, being a hands-off shopkeeper, when necessary, giving them some help and solving some problems that they can't solve.