In mid-October, paraquat turns yellow and leaves fall. In the cold wind of autumn, the busy Hedong County gradually entered a relatively quiet stage after completing many political affairs in August and September.

Pei Ji, who served as the chief bookkeeper, wore a ribbon and wore a seal, walked in a regular manner, personally held a few volumes of bamboo books, and walked along the courtyard corridor to the wing room on the left side of the lobby.

After Pei Ji was sent to Hedong by his father, the kindness of the Pei family was already very obvious, and Yan Xing also liked Pei Ji's ability to age, so he appointed him as the head of the county government, stayed in the county government, and became a close official by his side.

During this year, the government in Hedong was engaged in salt and iron, greatly revitalized the tuntian, built water conservancy, implemented winemaking, repaired schools, and strengthened the city defense······ The county government has implemented many government decrees, and the county that quelled the war is full of all industries, although there is no lack of sound of needles and needles in the meantime, but it does not hinder the overall situation, and the whole of Hedong presents a thriving and vigorous scene.

According to the system of the Han family, the people are counted in August and the people are counted in September, and the two months that have just passed are the busiest times of the year for the county officials of Hedong County.

Pei Ji, as the master of Taishou's side, is naturally no exception. The county government receives the county officials, examines the officials, verifies the case files, punishes Zang or not, and all the county government history is busy with political affairs.

Pei Ji was responsible for registering the output of various grains in the autumn harvest together with Jicao and Cangcao, and storing the harvest of Tuntian in the warehouse.

Walking to the front of the wing, Pei Ji didn't see Yan Xing, he was a little surprised, at this time, Yan Xing, who was the Taishou, neither met Peng Shi in the lobby, nor did he deal with political affairs in the wing, could it be that he went to the military camp in the city?

After the autumn harvest, the Xiangting organized farmers to train and prepare for the Kou, the shogunate organized the farmers to practice and teach martial arts, and the soldiers who defended the army repaired the ordnance of the war defense, which was also a busy season.

Pei Jimai stepped inside, put the documents on the desk in the wing, and went out of the room to the hall, and after asking the officials on duty, he knew that Yan Xing was in the backyard at the moment, and specially instructed that if there was anything important, he could go directly into the backyard to find him.

So Pei Ji bypassed the lobby again and walked to the backyard. As soon as he walked into the backyard, Pei Ji saw at a glance that Taishou Yan Xing, Sun Zi, who had been promoted to the chief secretary's room, Jiang Zuopeng, and a few other officials were talking by the pool, and there was a wooden instrument with a rectangular trough next to it.

"Wen Heng, here, do you have something important?"

Yan Xing listened to Jiang Zuopeng's words, occasionally bowed his head, asked for details, raised his eyes and saw Pei Ji coming to the backyard, and immediately smiled.

The marriage between Yan Xing and the Pei family, Pei Mao, the head of the Pei family, has agreed, and Yan Xing's side, Yan Shi is in charge of the marriage, and the procedures for marrying Nacai and asking for names and Najin Nazheng have been completed, and the date of the marriage has also been set, which is the auspicious day in the second half of this month.

At this time, Yan Xing saw Pei Ji, and his smile became even thicker. Sun Zi, General Zuo Peng, and several officials in the main secretary's room, also knew that the master Pei in front of him was about to become the wife and brother of the Taishou, and they all smiled and greeted Pei Ji.

"The prince of the house, the collection will be the same as the collection of Cao and Cangcao, and the grain that has been put into the warehouse has been registered, and today the account books will be brought together, and they will be placed in the wing, waiting for the prince to take a look."

Pei Ji knew the reason why everyone respected him, he followed his father, who was an official in the court, and had seen the ups and downs of the Huan Sea, so although he was young, he was not arrogant, and he also abided by etiquette to meet Taishou, and he saluted everyone and explained his intention.

"Is this a rollover that will be made by Cao Xin?"

Pei Ji approached and looked at the wooden instrument, and soon recognized that it was a dump used to draw water from the lowlands, but the dump was much smaller.

Overturned, in the time of Emperor Ling, was made by the skilled craftsmen of the eunuch Bi Lan led by Luoyang, and was used to divert water from low places and clear the streets. Pei Ji followed his father to Luoyang and saw this kind of water diversion tool that has not yet been popularized and is still novel.

Yan Xing smiled, nodded and said:

"Exactly, Hedong County implements tuntian, build water conservancy, how can this thing be missing, if this thing can be implemented in the county, weekday irrigation can save dozens of times manpower, and get the benefit of overturning, many barren land in the county can also be reclaimed as fertile land."

As he spoke, Yan Xing said to Jiang Zuopeng again:

"The overturned car is made by Ercao, and the reward of the county government for these two days will be issued as soon as possible, and the craftsmen who made the overturned car and the new plough should also be rewarded and promoted to the rank of craftsman."

Jiang Zuo Peng hurriedly promised that his general would be the main project of Cao Zhi, and he would be in charge of the hundred craftsmen under the control of the county government, and this new Taishou acted differently and paid special attention to the things that would be built.

However, he did not want to build large-scale construction, but to manufacture and improve military and civilian equipment, and he also established a rule that if a craftsman could make a military weapon, and pass the inspection of the county government, he would give a reward, regardless of his origin, whether he was male or female.

The position of the craftsman is set by the new Taishou, and the grading is set, and it is like Peng Shi, with a good reputation.

The overturned car had been shown before Pei Ji came, Yan Xing was very satisfied, and set the intention of production and promotion, but this matter also involved Tian Cao, Shui Cao and other Cao, and it was necessary to allocate manpower and material resources from Jin Cao, Cangcao, and Wei Cao.

So, everyone saluted and retired, Sun Zi was in front, and Zuo Peng was behind, and several officials carried a small overturned car out of the backyard, while Yan Xing and Pei Ji came to the wing.

Entering the wing, Yan Xing was not in a hurry to look at the bamboo book of accounts, but looked at Pei Ji and said with a smile:

"Wen Heng, has there been a letter from the DPRK and China back to Hedong recently?"

"Mr. Fu, since the letter came at the beginning of the month, there has been no letter so far."

The Pei family and Yan Xing married, and Hedong and the Chang'an court had an additional layer of close contact, and Yan Xing could also know more timely and detailed about the movements above the court, and Pei Ji was the liaison between Hedong and the Chang'an court.

"At present, the DPRK and the central government must focus on the division of Liangzhou and the juxtaposition of the six prefectures."

Pei Ji said to Yan Xing, and Yan Xing nodded when he heard this.

The division of Liangzhou is indeed a way to govern Liangzhou, the power of Liangzhou's counties and counties has been too big to fall, and it is impossible to send troops to attack and recover at the moment, and it is a safe policy to weaken the power of Liangzhou through this method.

As for the matter of the Six Mansions, Yan Xing thought about it and was still a little puzzled. This is the product of Li Dao, Guo Yan, and Fan Chou, led by the Xiliang Army, against the court scholars, and the Xiliang Army obtained the same right to eliminate the Three Princes' Mansion, and Li Dao, Guo Yan, Fan Chou and others can dignify their cronies and henchmen to the court.

But for Li Dao, it is a threat to his own status. When the generals of the Xiliang Army were celebrating and drinking in the big tent, there was an attack and infighting, and Yan Xing had already learned the details of the incident through the letter sent by the Ganling Kuaima.

Within the Xiliang Army, after the Fufeng War, the conflict between Li Dao, Fan Chou, and Guo Bian gradually became fierce, as evidenced by the battle at the celebration banquet.

So now, is it Guo Yan and Fan Chou's persecution of Li Dao to force Li Dao to give in, or is Li Dao retreating as advancing and has other plans?

According to Yan Xing's prophet, it is inevitable that Li Dao, Guo Yan and others will have conflicts, but after adding their own unstable factor, will the Xiliang army, which was originally constantly internal and eventually infighting, have other goals.

For example, to deal with Hedong like the Yiliang coalition army?

The Chang'an court was treacherous, the Son of Heaven, the courtiers and the Xiliang Army, the Xiliang Army and the Guanzhong surname, Li Guofan, Ma Teng, Han Sui and the Xiliang Army, the Xiliang Army and Hedong, the stakes were complicated, and Yan Xing had to guard against it.

"Fu Jun is worried about the soldiers of Xihe?"

Pei Ji saw that Yan Xing was silent in thought, and he was also thinking in his heart, so he couldn't help but ask. Yan Xing has already married the Pei family, and the children of the Pei family will be under Yan Xing's trusted and cronies in the future, so naturally they don't have much to hide.

"Well, a letter from Xihe once said that Guo Yan asked Shusheng for the city of Xihe, but he failed to do so, and he was afraid that he would use troops against Xihe."

"Li Dao, Guo Yan, Fan Chou and others are restraining each other, they seem to be of the same heart, each has different aspirations, and their subordinates also draw swords against each other, Guo Yan At this time, I am afraid that I will not dare to use troops against Xihe."

Pei Ji comforted softly, but Yan Xing shook his head and said with some concern:

"Li, Guo, and Fan attacked the infighting, but on the surface, the defeat of the Yiliang coalition army this time is enough to see that there are not no fierce generals and strategists in the Xiliang army, and it is not impossible to unite. Now that Ma Teng has been defeated, if he conspires with the outside world, I am afraid that there will be a fierce battle in the land of the West River! ”

Hearing Yan Xing say it so seriously, Pei Ji also became heavy-faced, he couldn't offer good advice to Yan Xing, and after the incident of Ma Teng in the court, the courtiers also stopped fighting to avoid the edge of Li Ji and others, although his father was in the court, he couldn't connect with the courtiers and help Yan Xing in Hedong in the court.

It's a tricky thing to do.

Yan Xing didn't think about it so much, seeing that Pei Ji's face was also heavy, he smiled suddenly, almost forgetting that the person standing next to him was not the resourceful and decisive drama Zhicai, but Pei Ji, who was still young, let his wife and brother worry about the affairs of the shogunate for themselves, but it was not something that his sister-in-law should do.

"Wen Heng doesn't need to worry about this matter, I forgot to tell you something, I am about to recommend your eldest brother as the Yang Order, and remove your third brother as the northern governor, the two of them are still in Wenxi's house at this time to handle the marriage of the two families, if you are resting, you might as well return home and inform them."

With the marriage of the two families, Yan Xing paid more attention to the children of the Pei family, and the newly acquired land of Luoyang could not be governed by Zhai Hao, a martial artist, how to recruit displaced people and resume production in Luoyang, but also needed a person with outstanding status, fame, talent and ability, Yan Xing decided to hand over this important position to Pei Qian.

Although Pei Hui had refused to be removed from the county government before, but now that the marriage between the two families has been completed, Yan Xing guessed that he should not refuse him again, so he decided to remove him to the county government again.

In this way, in addition to Pei Jun who was stranded in Shu and Pei Juan who was still young, the other children of the Pei family came out one after another, all of whom were prominent positions in the county, which can be said to have overshadowed the limelight of the Wei family, and their reputation became the crown of the scholars in Hedong.

Pei Ji hurriedly agreed, Yan Xing smiled, and thought of another thing, not talking about military and political affairs, and beckoned Pei Ji to come to the backyard.

In the garden in the backyard of the county hall, there is also a newly made iron plow. Although Pei Ji knew the overturned car, he was still a little surprised when he saw the curved short-wheel plow, which was very different from the long and straight iron plough that was common nowadays, and it seemed that there were a few more parts.

"This is the iron plough that will be made by Cao Xin, although it has not yet been perfected, but it has begun to bear fruit, and it will be finalized and promoted, and it will be promoted in the military and people's tun, and the spring ploughing in the coming year, the agriculture in the east of my river has one more sharp weapon!"

Pei Ji saw Yan Xing's enthusiastic appearance, and didn't know how to speak for a while, if it is according to the Confucian etiquette, "playing with people lose morality, playthings lose their minds", Yan Xing, who is too guarded, attaches too much importance to the use of utensils and equipment, which is definitely a good thing.

It must be known that Emperor Ling founded Hongdu Gate School, bringing together a large number of talented people who gave calligraphy and painting, as well as skilled craftsmen in camp construction, and created things such as overturning cars and thirsty black, but he endured the needle attack of the world's scholars, thinking that it was not beneficial to national affairs.

But Yan Xing is not for pleasure, and secondly, he does not delay military and political affairs, Pei Ji is standing here, a little embarrassed, and he really doesn't know whether to praise or dissuade.

Seeing Yan Xing fiddling with the iron plough himself, Pei Ji suddenly remembered that Xi Zhicai had transferred a group of craftsmen before, and suddenly chuckled in his heart, could it be that the prince of the mansion had already ...

···

Hedong, Pi's.

Xi Zhicai stood on a high ground by the water, set up a few sheds next to it, and stood a lot of people, including officials, soldiers, and craftsmen, etc., this high ground has a wide field of vision, just facing the big river, Biqiu Xing is holding the leading flag, and is standing beside Xi Zhicai.

"Let's get started."

Xi Zhicai turned his head to Biqiu Xing and bowed his head lightly, and said with an order, Biqiu Xing got the order, and immediately asked the soldiers to beat the drum to give the order, and he stood in front with the order flag in his hand.

The "booming" drum sounded, and the warship that had heard the order quickly approached the shore from the river, and the situation in the water suddenly changed.

The two Mengchong ships were long and narrow, with sharp metal ramming horns at the bow, covered with raw cowhides, with crossbow windows and spear holes, powered by oars, and the oarsmen were placed below deck.

They used a wooden boat for ferrying as a target, circling and rowing back and forth around the wooden boat, and the soldiers on Meng Chong kept throwing short spears and shooting arrows at the wooden boat through the crossbow window spear hole, and it was not long before the wooden boat was densely packed with arrows and short spears, as if a dense layer of black cow hair had grown on the surface of the boat.

Bi Qiuxing waved the flag with satisfaction, repeated the action, changed the flag, and when the two soldiers on the Meng Chong saw the flag on the high ground on the shore, they immediately swung the rudder and turned around, once again showing their fast speed, and rowed quickly into the distance.

The two Meng Chong were one south and one north, away from the wooden boat, and then aimed the angle of the bow at the wooden boat, the north Meng Chong was the first to go out along the water, and all the wood pulp under the deck was launched, and the oars were fast, and the whole Meng Chong was like a lightning gallop in the water, and quickly rushed to the wooden boat downstream.

"Bang-" Xi Zhicai looked into the distance, only to see the Meng Chong warship rushing towards the wooden boat, the bow of the collision angle aimed at the middle of the wooden boat, when the two ships collided, the wood pulp in the water of the Mengchong warship was put away together, and the sickle-like sharp collision angle entered the wooden boat, making a loud noise, the water splashed, and a layer of water mist was spread around the two ships.

When the mist dissipated, the giant beast of Meng Chong's warship was unscathed, and had already used his teeth to cut the wooden boat in two from the middle, and passed through the middle of the wooden bow and tail, and Meng Chong from the south also rushed over, hitting the bow of the ship that had not yet sunk into the river again, and the river suddenly flew with sawdust again.

This time, it was hit by the ramming horn, and the bow of the ship, which had been run over by the warship, turned into several pieces of wreckage, and floated around the river in all directions.

Biqiu Xing waved his flag, and when the two soldiers on Meng Chong saw it, they immediately swung their rudder again, and like arrows off the string, they all flew away quickly.

"Xi Sima, the drill of the boat master has been completed."

Biqiu Xing put down the order flag and said respectfully to Xi Zhicai, who nodded and said with a smile:

"Bing Cao Shi, the boat master is well-trained, you are the first place in the merit, I must show your credit to the Taishou."

"In this little bit of work, where can it be called the first merit, or Sima Strategizes, and the merit is the first."

Biqiu Xing hurriedly spoke humbly, but he still couldn't hide the smug look between his eyebrows. After receiving Yan Xing's order, Xi Zhicai rushed to Pi's with a group of craftsmen to prepare for the establishment of a dock and the construction of warships, and he was responsible for the implementation.

Supervising the construction and inspection of the dock and warships, groping for the golden drum flag of the boat division, as well as the water battle tactics of the boat division, Biqiu Xingdu and several of his subordinates did it personally, so there was a scene of practicing the boat division in front of Xi Zhicai today.

These two Mengchong warships can sail and drive by the wind in peacetime, and put away their sails in wartime, and they are all driven by the soldiers below the deck paddling with wood pulp.

In the event of a water battle, the use of the ship's bow and crossbow and spear can effectively kill and injure the enemy crossing the river, and when necessary, it can also directly use the ramming angle of the bow of the ship to destroy and sink the enemy ship crossing the river.

More importantly, in the process of training the boat division, Biqiu Xing has found a set of methods for commanding the boat division with a banner and golden drum, although Biqiu Xing is not a person who is proficient in water warfare, but there is no problem in directing the Mengchong warship to advance and retreat and change direction, encircle and attack the enemy ship.

And he himself became the commander of the Hedong Boat Division, and after the completion of the Hedong Boat Division, his status naturally rose, and he was no longer a soldier who could only be responsible for the transfer of grain and grass.

Not only is Biqiu proud, but Xi Zhicai's heart is also happy.

Xi Zhi is a scholar in the Central Plains, he has never seen a water war in the southern region, although it was not a fierce battle just now, but in the end, the Mengchong warship used the collision angle to cut off the ordinary wooden ship and sink it at once, the kind of roaring and earth-shattering, splashing, sawdust landscape, looking at the past, still gave him a great shock.

You must know that the shogunate has invested a lot of manpower and material resources in the construction of warships and the formation and training of boat divisions, and the dispatch of Qianbo and rice valleys is directly allocated from the army without going through the county government, and the craftsmen recruited by Guanzhong and the Jingzhou soldiers captured in Henan have also been selected by Xi Zhicai in advance, and the generals in this army still have some complaints, but they are all suppressed by Yan Xing.

Although there are only two Mengchong warships at the moment, the trainees have already had a glimpse of the way, and Xi Zhicai can also return to Anyi with peace of mind and report to Yan Xing the results he has achieved in the past six months since he came to the Pi clan.

However, before returning to Anyi, Xi Zhicai still had to tell Biqiu Xing:

"There are only two of this kind of Mengchong warships at the moment, and they are small warships of fifty people, so it is not difficult to practice, if the boat division is formed in the future, with ten Mengchong, and as the command flagship, the difficulty of training will be greatly increased, and the history of Bing Cao still needs to be cautious from the beginning to the end, and not to live up to the trust of the king!"

Xi Zhicai then added:

"If there are other difficulties, we must send fast horses to the shogunate as soon as possible. By the way, did you have all the timber for building the ship? ”

When listening to Xi Zhicai ask about the timber used for shipbuilding, Biqiu Xing immediately smiled, and he said to Xi Zhicai with a smile:

"With the full supply of the shogunate, craftsmen should have labor, money, food, and silk, but the timber for shipbuilding is not sufficient, and if it is cut and dried according to the usual law, it is only afraid that it will be protracted, and without five or six years of work, it will not be possible to complete the shipbuilding according to the plan."

"Thanks to the strategy of the king of the show, the warehouse is now full of timber for shipbuilding, and in the next five or six years, there will be no shortage of timber for building warships."

After listening to it, Xi Zhicai smiled faintly.

Originally, although the territory of Pishi was mountainous and there were good timber suitable for shipbuilding, if the original method was to harvest and dry the timber, and then use it to build warships, I am afraid that it would take five or six years to build enough warships.

If it is a big fanfare, it is purchased or forcibly requisitioned from all over the country, and then the people are recruited to transport it, it will disturb the livelihood of the people in Hedong, attract the attention of the surrounding strong neighbors, and be unanimously opposed by the officials who came to the county government.

Therefore, after Xi Zhicai arrived at Pi's, he declared that after the Son of Heaven moved the capital to Chang'an, he needed to build a palace, and Hedong would enshrine a large number of good trees, and ordered Pi's territory to open up the mountains and allow the people to harvest timber, and then the official temple would buy timber centrally.

At the same time, Xi Zhicai asked Biqiu Xing to raise the price of timber in Pusaka, and spread the official temple to buy good wood to supply public opinion for Chang'an to build a palace. Back then, in the spring of the fourth year of Guanghe, the imperial court set up a stable for the first time to buy horses and horses from the counties of the world, and the officials colluded with Haoqiang to raise the price, and a good horse was coaxed to two million yuan.

Now encountered the Hedong government to purchase good wood, transport Chang'an good opportunity, Hedong in the territory of the strong surname moved, their manor naturally stored mature wood, to build their own pavilion, make thick burial coffins and other needs, so a lot of Haoqiang, businessmen on the transport of timber to Puban to sell, Puban city in the traffic, for a time merchants gathered, wood piled up.

Helplessly, the Yiliang coalition army attacked Chang'an, Sanfu was alarmed, the county was under martial law, the Weishui Cao transportation was interrupted, and the officials of the government to purchase timber also announced a delay, many businessmen and heroes rushed to sell the timber, and the price of timber plummeted.

At this point, the shogunate did not spend much manpower and material resources, but the wood of Kasaka and the wood of the Pi clan were piled up in various warehouses, which was enough for the construction of boats in the next few years in Hedong, and Biqiu Xing was able to build two Mengchong warships so quickly and put them into the training of soldiers.

It's a pity that this plan can't be made public, and Xi Zhicai naturally can't ask for credit, so Bi Qiuxing also regretted him and said:

"The gentleman works hard, the villain works, I heard that even the craftsmen who will be Peng have been awarded the title by the county government because of their merits in making the overturned car and the new iron plow, but it is a pity that this trick of the drama monarch cannot be rewarded."

Xi Zhicai shook his head, and he said with a wry smile to Biqiu Xing:

"If you fish with all your might, you won't get it, and next year you won't have any fish." My plan can be used for the time of the shogunate, but it has also plundered the wealth of the common people, and there are advantages and disadvantages, so how can I be rewarded for my merits? ”

He climbed high and looked into the distance, with a panoramic view of the majestic mountains and rivers on both sides, and in the plains, there were scattered farmhouses and villages, and continued:

"The strategy of collecting wood, the business of the moment, the use of agricultural tools, the benefit of a hundred generations, how can there be a person who takes the interests of a hundred generations before the affairs of a moment? Need to be content with food and soldiers, it is the foundation of a rich country and a strong army, the prince of the government has a long-term vision, you and I, as a subordinate official, have to meet the master, unpaid work, not also lucky! ”