Huang Zide had no naval army in his hands at all, so he naturally could not force the Yangtze River. Therefore, he can only stop at Hanyang Hankou now.

But at least for now, for Huang Zide, controlling the Jianghan Plain is enough to feed his army, and crossing the river to control the Dongting Lake area is the next step. The most urgent thing now is not a military matter - the officers and soldiers will not be able to take the initiative to attack Huang Zide for a long time. For today's Huang Zide Group, the most important thing is how to establish a local system, truly control the Jianghan Plain, take root, and sustainably obtain nutrients to strengthen itself.

Therefore, Huang Zide left Shang Yigong and 10,000 troops in Hanyang, and then returned to Xiangyang with the main force north. As soon as he returned to Xiangyang, Huang Zide received a report from Tian Xiucheng, who stayed behind, saying that Luo Mengde and Zhang Bingzhong had a conflict, so he brought his more than 3,000 people to find Huang Zide and proposed to join forces with him to "conspire for a great cause". It's just that Huang Zide was not there, and Tian Xiucheng didn't dare to make his own decisions, so he asked Luo Mengde to take people to stay in Niushou in the northwest of Xiangyang temporarily.

Speaking of which, Luo Mengde is still kind to Huang Zide. Back then, Huang Zide covered Zhang Bingzhong to defeat Fengyang and robbed the imperial tomb. After the matter was completed, because of the sharing of the spoils, Huang Zide and Zhang Bingzhong had a conflict. Zhang Bingzhong's strength at that time was much greater than Huang Zide's, so Zhang Bingzhong planned to simply merge Huang Zide. After Luo Mengde heard the news, he immediately notified Huang Zide and asked Huang Zide to escape with his troops. At this time, Luo Mengde and Zhang Bingzhong fell out and ran here, how to treat him is a problem.

"What do you think about this?" Huang Zide asked the generals who were following him.

"Big brother," Liu Jiexuan said first, "Luo Mengde is kind to us. We can't repay our kindness. If the eldest brother wants to give him something or something, I don't think it's anything. But big brother, it's absolutely not okay to be a joint venture or something. We have now laid down the north of Huguang and Jiangbei, in order to farm well here. Cao Cao, he is not a person who can divide the farming. And he Cao Cao came over, what is it? Is it on an equal footing with the big brother? This Huguang is our foundation, how can there be a person here who is equal to the eldest brother? If you really want to keep him in Huguang, there will definitely be chaos, and when the time comes, it will not be good, and it will be ruined. So, I think we can help Cao Cao, but we can't let Cao Cao stay with us, well, it's good to let him continue to plague the court. ”

Huang Zide listened, thought about it, and asked Xuan Yi again, "What does the Taoist think?" ”

Xuan Yi remembered that in his previous life, Luo Mengde had been a joint venture with Huang Zide for a long time. In his previous life, Huang Zide was able to defeat Zuo Liangyu and Sun Baigu and defeat the last strength of the imperial court. But after Huang Zide began to build his own system and established himself as the king, Luo Mengde insisted on being on an equal footing with Huang Zide, which became the most unstable factor in the entire system. In the end, Huang Zide used the method of fire merger, killed Luo Mengde, and seized his army, but it also greatly reduced the cohesion within the team. When it's going well, you don't feel it, but once you get setbacks, it immediately leads to an internal collapse. And now, Huang Zide does not lack such a little strength as Luo Mengde, so Xuan Yi also feels that leaving Luo Mengde does not gain much, but it leaves hidden dangers.

Thinking of this, Xuan Yi stood up and said, "Marshal." After taking Huguang, it was time for the marshal to claim the king's establishment. When the time comes, Poor Dao, General Liu, and all the generals will naturally be subordinate to His Royal Highness the Marshal. But what will be the identity of Lomond then? Will you be a vassal with us, or will you continue to be independent? And Huguang was defeated by us, our foundation, if Luo Mengde is unwilling to submit to the marshal, how can we rest assured that he will stay in our heartland? Therefore, Poor Dao thinks that it is okay for us to give him some assistance, but to talk about joint ventures? Unless Romandeken assumes himself the position of a courtier, it is better to forget it. ”

"Mr. Niu, what do you think?" Huang Zide asked again.

"Marshal, my subordinates feel that what the military advisor and General Liu said makes sense. We can give him a little weapon and let him go to Anhui, and by the way, go to find some things for the imperial court. Niu Juming also replied.

Huang Zide listened, nodded, and asked the others, "What about you?" Who has any different ideas no. ”

"Marshal." Tian Xiucheng said, "Luo Mengde has some skills, and he is still good at fighting. It's also a good thing that he's willing to go to us. Last time, the Taoist chief told us that 'the sea is inclusive of all rivers, and it becomes great'. Now that people are coming, we turn him away, and it's not good. I think we should send someone over and talk to him in detail, because people don't necessarily have to be on an equal footing with the marshal. ”

Hearing Tian Xiucheng say this, Liu Erhu also got up and said, "Marshal, I don't think so. Cao Cao's fight is a trick. But his style of play is not the same way as the way we play today. Moreover, Cao Cao has many bad habits. Let him stay with us, he will do a lot of things that will ruin our reputation. Such a guy, I think, even if he is willing to be a vassal to the marshal, we can't keep him. ”

"He is still kind to the marshal and to us in the end." Tian Xiu became enlightened.

"Yes, but we can't use him to ruin our future. There is another way to repay the favor. Liu Erhu immediately retorted.

"Then ......" Tian Xiucheng wanted to say something. But at this time, Huang Zide spoke:

"Okay, Brother Tian, Brother Erhu, don't fight. Brother Tian, tomorrow you can take some time to go to Luo Mengde's place, invite him to Xiangyang, and I will have a good talk with him. Well, that's all for now. Next, let's focus on how we govern the territory that is now in our hands. ”

That's the real focus of today's discussion. As soon as he heard that he was going to talk about this matter, Niu Juming immediately came to his senses, and he immediately stood up and said: "Marshal, these days, my subordinates have counted the population and land books of all the states and counties under our control. The marshal also knows that there are many people in exile nowadays, and these brochures are basically not numbered. It has to be rewritten slowly. As for land, the same is true, large areas of registered land are actually seriously abandoned. The owner either died or ran away. Much of the land has become barren and borderless. In addition, the water conservancy is also deserted and dilapidated, and there are very few that can be used. Not even one out of ten out of ten. Therefore, the subordinates thought that the first thing to do now was to restore production and organize the displaced people to open up the wasteland. Now that the autumn harvest is in a month, it is even more important to protect the grain fields. The subordinates dared to ask the marshal to give an order to appease the people and prohibit damage to the farmland and crops. In addition, we have just occupied this place, and the hearts of the people are not attached, and we have asked the marshal to reduce the taxes for this year in order to win the hearts of the people. ”

"How much grain do we have left?" Huang Zide asked again.

Niu Juming quickly reported a number, and then said, "Marshal, these grains can support us until the beginning of next year." In addition, if we can buy grain with the silver in our hands, plus what we have, we can barely support the early rice. ”

"The gentry should still have grain in their hands now, but they may not be willing to sell it." Xuan Yi said.

"Won't sell to us?" Liu Jiexuan said with a smile, "Then let's go directly to the door and take it ourselves-well, don't worry, big brother, we will give them an IOU." ”

As soon as Liu Jiexuan's voice fell, a burst of laughter sounded next to him, and even Huang Zide couldn't help laughing. Only Niu Juming didn't smile, but his expression became more serious:

"Marshal, now we are the kings of the world, and we are no longer rogues. This kind of means, if you can not use it, it is better not to use it. Now that people's hearts are not attached, it is time to be tender. ”

Liu Jiexuan was not happy when he heard this: "What is Huairou?" No matter how good we are to those gentry, can the Jokhang Dynasty be good to them? The Jokhang Dynasty never taxed them, and we will never tax them? Aren't we the second Jokhang Dynasty? How the Jokhang Dynasty plays eggs, let's play eggs! Mr. Niu, this is not an idea. If they have a conscience, they will naturally remember the goodness of the Jokhang Dynasty, and no matter how good we are to them, it will be in vain. If they don't have a conscience, then what we do will be in vain. These people, who are unreliable, are good for them in vain! ”

"General Liu, if you don't have the support of the gentry, how can you govern the place?" Niu Juming shook his head.

It takes a lot of skilled, educated people to govern a place. These people were all among the gentry, so it was always difficult to bypass them as long as they had to govern the place.

"Grandma, the Lao Tzu finally wiped out the official army and laid down this place, it is Lao Tzu's turn to be the official, I still have to win over the gentry? Do you have to look at their faces? Liu Jiexuan's face was full of unhappiness, "Didn't that old man become a kneeling begging for food?" ”

"Oh, General Liu, how can you say that? To be honest, how many people can't do such a kneeling thing to ask for food. Look at the Jokhang Imperial Court, isn't it even that you knelt and didn't get a meal? ”

"Ask us, why did everyone rebel in the first place?" Liu Jiexuan said, "Including the eldest brother, isn't it just that the legs and feet are inconvenient and can't kneel?" If I still don't believe it, I can't stand and eat the rice in this bowl! ”

"My General Liu, this meal is really not delicious!"

At this time, Xuan Yi suddenly spoke: "Lao Liu, what Mr. Niu said is not completely unreasonable. But it's not impossible to eat standing still. ”