With the fall of Xingzhou, the war of the Great Song Dynasty against the party has also come to an end temporarily, but the Great Song Dynasty has begun to be busy internally, and the idle Xiang troops around the country have received orders to rush to the northwest after being pulled.

Outside Tokyo, Li Zhang and Han Qi walked side by side in the snow, wild dogs and several officials followed, the two walked and chatted in front, since entering the officialdom, although the two often meet, but more because of business, and both of them are very busy, and they both have their own families to take care of, so it has been a long time since they chatted like today.

The weather is cold, and some of the Xiang army near the capital are also going to move to Xingzhou City, and this is not only a matter of the Privy Council, but also requires the cooperation of various yamen such as Kaifeng Mansion, Han Qi, as the governor of Kaifeng Mansion, happened to go to a Xiang army garrison to check today, Li Zhang just met him, so he came together, and he was also quite curious about the survival of the Xiang army.

"Li Zhang, the court and the central government all say that although you don't have the position of prime minister now, you have the reality of being a prime minister, this is not a good limelight, you have to be careful, don't be calculated!" Han Qi suddenly said at this time, he served in Kaifeng Mansion, and he was also very well-informed, and he was also quite concerned about some movements in the court, and he was also a little worried about Li Zhang's current situation, because Li Zhang had actually committed a taboo in officialdom.

"I know what those people in the court are talking about, but I don't care, and the war in the party is over for the time being, and I won't get involved in other things in the future." Li Zhang said very calmly, he naturally knew that his influence on Zhao Zhen would cause dissatisfaction or jealousy among some people in the court, but he himself was also measured, as long as it did not touch the real core interests, ordinary people would not dare to really target him.

"It's good that you are prepared, in fact, with your status and status, you can enter the court openly, even if you achieve the position of ruler, it will not take a few years, I believe that Your Majesty also hopes that you can become his most powerful assistant in the court." Han Qi hesitated for a moment before he spoke again and suggested.

"It's not that you don't know my character, let me come up with ideas next to Your Majesty, and help him with things, but if you really let me deal with those complicated government affairs, maybe it will be a mess, and then I will only do things, in comparison, I think you are more suitable to be the prime minister." Li Zhang laughed when he heard this.

"Don't make fun of me, I'm just a little pusher now, how dare I hope for the position of prime minister? But don't be too modest, aren't you doing a good job in martial arts now, General Cao doesn't care about things, now you will handle all the big and small things, and martial arts is also thriving, even Lu Xiang praises you for your talent in governing the country! When Han Qi heard Li Zhang say that he could be the prime minister, he laughed at himself and laughed at the moment.

"Huh? That's not right, I remember you were very confident when you were a kid. Li Zhang was a little surprised when he heard that Han Qi was so unconfident, in his opinion, it was almost a sure thing for Han Qi to be the marquis and worship the prime minister in the future.

"Who hasn't been young and frivolous, but the longer I have been in officialdom, the more I feel that the water in it is too deep, and I am not sure where I can go in the future." Han Qi first glanced at Li Zhang, and then looked up at the distant road, with a little confusion in his eyes.

Li Zhang only came to his senses at this time, he didn't expect that the famous Han Qi would also be confused when he was young, but it is normal to think about it, even if he is a great person, it is impossible to plan his life in advance, they are more pushed to that position by the times, as the so-called times create heroes, this sentence can be described as a word.

"Don't talk about that, what is the number of the box army we are going to today, and how many people are there?" Li Zhang suddenly changed the topic and said that the confusion in life is not something that can be awakened by relying on the guidance of others, but more of a personal understanding, which others can't help at all.

"This team is called the Holy Second Army, and the number is about 5,000 people, most of whom are young and strong, and there are more than 1,000 women." Han Qi also woke up from his emotion at this time, and then introduced to Li Zhang with a smile a little embarrassed.

"The Holy Second Army? Why is the name so strange? Li Zhang also asked with some surprise when he heard Xiang Jun's number.

"The Xiang Army was originally used as an auxiliary soldier to assist the regular army, but later Emperor Taizu in order to prevent the displaced people from making trouble, so every disaster year, the disaster victims will be incorporated into the Xiang Army, so according to the unwritten regulations, this kind of Xiang Army is generally based on the year name when it was incorporated, such as the Holy Second Army, in fact, in the second year of the Heavenly Sage, Xiangzhou Chidi thousands of miles, countless displaced people fled to the capital to beg for a living, so the imperial court then incorporated these displaced people into the Xiang Army, the number was not so much, but in the next few years, some disaster victims were successively absorbed, There are more than 5,000 people. Han Qi patiently explained at the moment that although he had not been in office for a long time, he had patiently checked the information and was very familiar with these things.

"I see!" Li Zhang also nodded when he heard this, originally he wanted to ask why there were so few women, but thinking of the cruelty of the famine years, he couldn't help but sigh, once he had seen the situation where the victims fled to the capital, almost every victim was yellow, hungry and thin, and behind them were the bones all the way, and the frail women rarely could hold out to the capital, so it was not difficult to explain that most of the people in the Xiang army were young and strong.

While speaking, Han Qi took Li Zhang to finally come to a low village, saying that it was a box army, but in fact, from the outside, it looked like a few villages close together, but they were more low and dilapidated than ordinary villages, and they didn't have land, and they couldn't do anything else with military status, so they could only live on the little money issued by the imperial court.

Originally, according to the regulations of the imperial court, the Xiang Army's Yulu was half of the forbidden army, but the regulations were dead, but the people were alive, and it was impossible for the imperial court to spend so much money every year to raise a group of idlers, so these Xiang Army's Yulu were often deducted, unless there was anything that needed their labor, the Yulu would be distributed according to it, otherwise they could only wait to drink the northwest wind.

"The Holy Second Army usually relies on some labor assigned by the imperial court to live, such as building imperial tombs, repairing river embankments, and even transporting grain, etc., when there is work, there is income, and if there is no work, you can only be idle, and some people secretly rent the land of nearby landlords, but because they are military, many people are unwilling to rent to them, even if they take the risk of renting to them, they will raise the rent, even if they work hard for a year, they can't even earn rations." Han Qi introduced again at this time.

Li Zhang was also silent when he heard this, with the promotion of potatoes before, he thought that there should be no people who could not eat enough in the Great Song Dynasty, but now it seems that he is still too naïve, these van troops are obviously a group of people who are struggling on the line of life and death, even if potatoes have an impact on them, I am afraid that it is very limited.

At that moment, Li Zhang and Han Qi stepped into a village at the front, because the Holy Second Army had received the order to relocate, so they did not arrange labor, in fact, it was such a cold weather now, and there was no labor for them to do, it was noon, it was supposed to be lunch time, but every household in the village was very deserted, and they didn't see the smoke rising, which made Li Zhang immediately understand, it is estimated that it is because of poverty, so these soldiers are used to two meals a day.

Maybe it's because it's too cold, so most of the people are huddled at home, Li Zhang didn't see a few figures when they entered the village, but a few curious children saw them coming in through the crack in the door, and they all looked at them with curious looks, big eyes and big heads but very thin and small, typical malnutrition, and their little faces were even more red and black, and their hands and faces were covered with a lot of frostbite, which looked extremely pitiful.

"Where's Commander Zhou?" Han Qi asked at this time, and then the official behind him immediately ran out to find someone, although the Holy Second Army was a group of refugees, it was an army after all, and there were also two commanders here to manage it.