At the end of September of the sixth year of Emperor Huisheng Gongding Xiao, and the third year of Huangchao's reign, the war in Lingdong broke out again.

Just after the newly acquired military order and establishment of the Fufeng Battalion in Xunzhou has been roughly reorganized and organized, and the last batch of supplies has been collected and packed, it is time to continue marching to defeat and pacify the remnants of the Tu regiments and the officers and soldiers who have rebelled in those places.

And this time, after a short rest from Xunzhou City, the rebels seem to be completely different from the past in terms of mental outlook and lineup form, but people really can't say what the differences are. According to the decision of the military council, the first priority goal is to continue to attack Chaozhou in the east; That is, according to the mouths of those captives, the first place where the Tutuan Rebellion occurred and was captured and fallen by the officers and troops who suddenly appeared.

Of course, as the foundation of a veteran rebel army from Henan, he learned the lesson of the unprovoked annihilation of the rebel army stationed in those places in the western district; Wang Pan and they also knew that before the enemy's battle, they carried out reconnaissance and investigation of the enemy's situation; He also collected a number of displaced people who had fled from Chaozhou, inquired about the news and inquired about the situation, plus Zhou Huai'an sorted out various records of the past dynasties and local historical records from the cabinet treasury of the nearby government; Therefore, I also have a rough impression of the place I am about to go, and I will not rush into it with a blank eye.

In ancient times, the Chaoshan Plain, where Chaozhou was located, was one of the few places in the coastal areas of Lingnan Province that was rich in essence and population; In later generations, it was also the second largest plain in Guangdong, which was connected by the Longjiang River basin and some other river valley basins and small coastal plains, thus forming many prefectures and counties.

Historically, it has been subordinated to the Fuzhou Governor's Mansion of Jiangnan Province, the Governor's Office of Minzhou and the Fujian Economic Envoy. In the first year of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty (742), the whole country was changed to a county, and Chaozhou was renamed Chaoyang County. In the tenth year of Tang Kaiyuan, in 751 AD, it was changed from Jiangnan Province to Lingnan Province. Now the three counties of Haiyang, Chaoyang and Chengxiang are under the borders: there are 4,420 households and 26,745 mouths. However, due to the development of the local sea routes, there have always been a large number of overseas Chinese and immigrants living in the area, as well as a large number of shady households and registered households whose hukou has been hidden, so the actual population must be far more than the number on these books.

Tugong has: banana, shark leather, jiaxiang, snake gall, turtle, stone well, silver stone, water horse and so on.

In this plain with many rivers branching off, although there is a lot of flat land and arable land, because the coast is eroded by the high tide of the sea, the local field color can also be divided into "water tank", "grass tank", "tide field", "enclosed field" and many other types and different stages of color.

"Enclosure" is a high-yield farmland with a high terrain and completely desalinated soil; "Tide field" terrain is slightly lower, affected by the tide, called the tide field, the yield is low and unstable, in addition, the tide field can also be opened for salt to dry salt; The low-lying "water tank" can be used to breed fish and shellfish; "Caotan" is exposed to the sea at low tide, and mat grass (salty grass) can be planted to develop handicrafts. That is, it is a long process of land transformation that first uses the natural siltation of river sediment to form sartan, then accelerates the sediment sedimentation rate and improves the saltan soil by planting salty and leach-tolerant plants, and finally builds dikes to enclose the sartan into a field.

This is the local so-called "flat soil can be cultivated, high soil can be planted, soil can be fished, and brine can be salted". The benefits of fishery and salt are linked to the complementarity of agricultural production and irrigation systems, and the land and resources are maximized. Therefore, the locals eat more aquatic products: fish, turtles, snakes, mussels, and clams

However, because it is from the salt water to fish, the local people have also formed a fierce and aggressive folk customs from various group fights for water to the open sea to venture out to seek business and fishing.

The Wu forts and enclosures built everywhere have become a major feature and unique scenery that can be seen everywhere in the local area, even if it is a small village of dozens of households, there are low fences made of tree branches and trenches of different depths; Then, from this center, a large area of fields and river network ditches radiates from it.

After crossing the Xingning River at the junction of Xunzhou and Chaozhou, the first thing I encountered was a large green sugarcane field, but most of them were destroyed and ruined, and only some sugarcane bushes located on the mounds and mountain terraces were preserved.

Because the local area has been abandoned and fled for a period of time, these unattended and still growing sugarcane fields have also been picked and harvested a lot, which can be regarded as a supplementary means to quench thirst and eliminate fatigue in the march, but for Zhou Huai'an, this local sugarcane variety has obviously not gone through the improved means of later generations, and it still looks relatively slender and thin, and there is more water than enough sweetness, more fiber and very hard taste, and a little pantothenic acid.

Only then did Zhou Huai'an remember some records he had read, such as the Lingnan area, which seems to be the place where sugarcane was first planted and the corresponding stone honey (sugar cake) production method was introduced from Tianzhu; Therefore, among them, there are native varieties of bamboo cane, rod cane introduced to the tropics from Southeast Asia by sea, and Tianzhu Tuo cane that was transmitted by land through Wang Xuance, and even wild varieties such as hand cutting honey (sweet root grass); It is cultivated in fields, gardens and mountains according to local conditions, and has become a major output resource in these coastal states.

After turning over Jieyang Mountain, there are large orchards and tree gardens distributed on both sides of the road, bayberry, green plum, almonds and other green and ripe hanging fruits, so that some soldiers who can't control their greed are very hungry, so a new regulation has been added to the back camp, and Zhou Huai'an's private collection has also added several experimental formulas of candied fruit.

And along the Jieyang Mountain, after turning south to a water and land hub - Likeng Town, it is a different scenery and appearance; The "Ye Xi Ming" (large flower jasmine) is planted all over the mountains, which is also the basic raw material of one of the contemporary famous fragrances "Toye Xiang"; It's just that most of these large jasmine flowers imported from overseas fall and rot in the dust and mud, leaving a lingering special smell floating in the air.

During this period of marching, Zhou Huai'an once again felt the delay and frequent errors of military orders, and buried his head in his own exclusive tool carriage, and came up with a simple timekeeping tool and corresponding calculation method; For example, when there is sunshine, you can use the corona carried in the barracks to make a rough judgment, and when it comes to rainy weather, you can only use the original version of the water drop timer that can be carried on a car. Despite this, it has somewhat changed and improved the efficiency of communication and collaboration on the move.

Then, he made persistent efforts to figure out the measurement methods of distance and direction, such as the high and low pole method under the sun, and the triangular ruler method of distance and proximity, which can still be restored more accurately with the current conditions and means, especially with the assistance of unknown systems; Therefore, he quickly made several samples and calculation charts as reference models, and then handed them to the four detachments to study and use.

On the third day of this mighty march, a large white flower suddenly appeared in the field in the distance.

(End of chapter)