Duan Lintian was dressed in white, standing in the attic, looking at the royal tomb in Xishan, "Prime Minister Lu." The queen mother was critically ill, and my father and I sent more than a dozen letters in a row, why didn't the two brothers come back? The Queen Mother was calling their names before she died, why didn't they come back? ”

Lu Yiming saw that the little princess trembled slightly, and didn't dare to hide it, "The national capital has been officially divided, and the two princes can't leave, otherwise a big war is inevitable." ”

Duan Lintian's tears fell one by one, dripping onto the armor of the soldiers downstairs, "Could it be that the chair is so important, so important that you can even ignore the life and death of the queen mother?" ”

Lu Yiming lowered his head, "The two princes are also involuntarily, the Gao family is gradually dominating under the eldest prince, and the Dong family is also privately pulling the army ......"

Duan Lintian wiped away his tears, "Prime Minister Lu, my father handed over several mansions to you on the west side of the Great River, what are your plans?" The Lu family and the royal family have coexisted for two hundred years, and as long as the throne is still in the hands of the Duan family for one day, the Lu family will be stable for one day. Otherwise, the Gao family or the Dong family will be on top, and the Lu family will not be able to protect it, so please bother the prime minister. ”

Lu Yiming coughed twice, "The minister has checked the volumes of several prefectures and thought of a few strategies. First, he attracted displaced people from the east to farm, then exchanged medicinal materials and gold, silver and copper for grain from the south, and then used iron tools and war horses to buy salt, cloth, tea and vinegar from Sichuan and Shu. It is also necessary to win over large households and toasts from all over the country, so as to ensure the peace of one party. ”

From this moment on, the kingdom of Dali was actually divided into three. The east side of the Lancang River is divided into two parts, the north is the territory of the eldest prince and the south is the territory of the second prince. The west side of the Lancang River was occupied by the old king who ran away with his troops and became the "royal area".

The backward west bank of the Great River was controlled by the old king himself, but it became a haven for many gentry, large families and toasts, and a large number of displaced people came here to farm and work. Lu Yiming attracted many civil officials to cross the river, and after the purging of officials, the "Wangtong District" in the west of Dali was actually a little deformed and prosperous.

In Hangzhou, thousands of miles away from Dali, Fang La was sitting on the "throne" restlessly.

Fang La's army expanded to 50,000 people, and Fang La began to develop into the rich areas in the northeast and southeast of Hangzhou, attacking cities and plundering land. At first, everything went smoothly, and the hundreds of thousands of displaced people affected by the disaster became a huge help, but the situation quickly took a turn for the worse.

First of all, the big households in Jianghuai and Liangzhejiang began to digest the displaced people, which was a reserved program after the catastrophe. The homeless people who struggled to survive became tenants, sailors, miners, slaves...... When Fang La realized it, the situation was out of control. Since the old man has given him a way to live, who will tie his head to his belt and follow the rebel Fang La to the dark?

Then the Xiang army in various places could not shrink, and many areas began to clear the wilderness. Although the Xiang armies of Jiangnan and Lianghuai could not fight, the defensive city wall was barely enough, and the five county towns that Fang La finally captured lost a large number of elites. That's Fang La's old foundation, and after a few more battles, he will become a bare pole.

Finally, the gentry who posed the greatest threat to Fang La were armed. In recent decades, there have been many displaced people, bandits are rampant, and the gentry of the great clans in various places have raised a large number of villagers, and there are also many large landowners, workshop owners and big businessmen who have built forts in their hometowns to defend themselves, many of whom play three roles. When the landlords heard about the miserable situation of the gentry in Hangzhou, they all regarded Fang La as a beast of prey and resisted desperately.

The gentry and Xiang troops in various places soon found that Fang La's army was mixed, so they began to attack the weak brigades and baggage teams of Fang La's army. Fang La reacted after suffering several losses, shrunk his army on the north bank of the Qiantang River and near the city of Hangzhou, and sank dozens of ships in the Qiantang River to block the surprise attack of the Great Zhou naval army.

As soon as Fang La withdrew, the Xiang army, township soldiers and archers from all over the country were excited, and the Zhuang Ding armed forces of the big clan were also excited. The weapons of these scattered armed forces and the Fangla army were all varied, and the quality of the personnel was also uneven, so the new round of battles on both sides of the Qiantang River near Hangzhou and on the left side of the river was very exciting. What is strange is that in the new round of battles, few soldiers and archers participated, and both sides of the war were "illegal arms"!

There was a capital of the Xiang army "unauthorized troops", and actually defeated thousands of Fang La's army, so they chased after it, and was finally eaten by Fang La's large army; In one county, the Zhuang Ding joint army ambushed a Fangla army, and as a result, the Fangla elite broke the siege and chased the north to the city; There is a small mountain recess in the southwest of Hangzhou, first Zhuang Ding, archers and Fang La's baggage team started to fight, and then the Xiang army and Fang La's elite joined the battlefield, and the Zhuang Ding army and Fang La's army who came to help the battle gathered more and more. The battle lasted until dark, and the two sides gave up, leaving more than 3,000 corpses on the ground, which was extremely tragic and inexplicable.

Fang La saw his fatal flaw and began to reorganize the army, transferring a large number of brave men to enrich the weak brigade, and at the same time strengthening training. Everything else is secondary, but it is necessary to achieve the unity of the military system and orders.

The autumn harvest was approaching, and the Xiang army and archers from all over the country joined forces to compress the Fangla army to the north bank of the Qiantang River and the city of Hangzhou. The archers and squires returned to collect the grain, leaving only the van army trembling in the camp. This is the case in the agricultural era, where everything has to make way for the agricultural time unless it is absolutely necessary.

After Fang La gathered the elite troops and purged the weak brigades, he broke through the camp of the Xiang army several times, but it was useless. The Xiang army only retreated for more than ten miles, and then quickly established a stronger camp, which made the Fang La army sigh at the village. As the territory occupied became larger and larger, Fang La's army was also sprinkled everywhere, and soon he was unable to do anything.

Liu Chengdong returned to Mingyuezhuang, first talked about his friendship with a group of old brothers, and then was busy making friends with the gentry, clans and Haoqiang of Xunyang Mansion and Shiyan Prefecture. Liu Chengdong occasionally discussed with Li Xiang the progress of Mingyue Fort and the defense of the fortresses on the mountain, and never asked about other things, and he was beaten back by the back door when the old brother came to walk.

Liu Chengdong's network came into play, and Zhuangzi's workshop received a large number of orders. Friendship is secondary, if the goods produced by Mingyuezhuang can't be sold, it's useless to have friendship. In addition, Li Xiang is also preparing a big move, preparing to increase Mingyuezhuang's profits.

The tradition of doing business in the Xiang army is also due to the fundamental system of the Great Zhou. In the Great Zhou Dynasty, whenever a disaster was affected in a certain place, a large number of affected people should be incorporated into the Xiang Army, and the elderly, weak, women and children would also accompany the army. Although it has ensured general peace for more than 100 years, this system of the Great Zhou has also caused many hidden dangers, and the impact on combat power is the most fatal.

There is no guarantee of military salaries, training, or ordnance. After the complete erosion, the generals of the Xiang army were busy doing business, buying land, opening mines and running ships. The soldiers sold their weapons, either as tenants for the officers or as petty traders, and the worst soldiers would sell their coolies or flee.

Li Xiang's favorite thing about this place in Mingyuezhuang is that it is cool, especially in the hot night, the cool breeze blowing from the mountains and forests is very comfortable. Liu Chengdong drank a cold drink and explained the situation of the Xiang army to Li Xiang, Li Xiang's brain was buzzing, how did he feel so familiar?

Liu Chengdong received a military order to return to the Nanyang garrison as soon as possible, and then went to Hangzhou to encircle and suppress Fangla, and he would set off tomorrow. Seeing Li Xiang coming over with steel scale armor on his back, Liu Chengdong sneered: "What did the Thunder Blacksmith say? Figured out how to do it? ”

"I only know that the handling of quenching, annealing and tempering is troublesome, but I don't have a clue how to do it." Li Xiang hung Liu Chengdong's scale armor on the shelf, then sat down and rubbed his hands awkwardly.

Liu Chengdong showed an expression that was really like this, "The Great Zhou will be the supervisor and inherit the previous dynasty, and the accumulation of more than 100 years will make this kind of superb mountain armor sixty years ago." If you are beaten up by a bunch of boys and old men in three or two days, those masters will not live. ”

"The accumulation of the Great Zhou Imperial Court is really terrifying, and the skills of those knights are also very powerful, it is really a long experience." Skills are not as good as others, Li Xiang told the truth.

Seeing Li Xiang's sincerity, Liu Chengdong nodded, "That's nature, in terms of armor and ordnance, the Western Xia of the Liao Kingdom is far behind." It's a pity that the wealthy Da Zhou was repeatedly defeated, and then made peace. Always talk about how to govern martial arts with literature, those prime ministers are always afraid that a martial artist like Lao Tzu will repeat the chaotic times at the end of the Tang Dynasty, and there is no way to prevent this and that. ”

Li Xiangxin said that the Great Zhou Dynasty was not only to guard against military generals, but also to guard against craftsmen, merchants, and "heretical" doctrines. In short, if there is a slight threat to their monopoly position, Da Zhou must guard against it. If it weren't for the teacher's reminder and his quick opportunity, the current Mingyuezhuang would probably have been labeled as an evil demon, where would it be stable.

Liu Chengdong didn't know what Li Xiang was thinking, and he didn't understand many of Li Xiang's practices, but he could feel that his cheap son-in-law had been worrying about something and preparing something.

Liu Chengdong was about to set off, and he didn't have time to grind, so he asked directly: "First arithmetic and other strange knowledge, then the strange skills in the workshop, and now we want to build Mingyue Castle." What the hell do you kid want to do, rebel? Isn't this a good time? ”

"yes, it's not time...... Ahem, that's not what it meant. Father-in-law, what do you think of the situation in the last ten years? Li Xiang knew that Liu Chengdong asked this question out of concern for him and Liu Susu, and probably had some complaints about many of his practices, right?

Liu Chengdong thought for a while, "Natural disasters and man-made disasters continue, and displaced people are everywhere. The Manichaeism in the south has revolted several times, and Fang La also rebelled under the banner of Manichaeism, and I heard that there are also fierce thieves in Liangshanbo on Jingdong Road, but why hasn't it been the time of chaos in the world? The Great Zhou raised millions of soldiers and raised soldiers for a hundred years, so it won't be impossible to survive, right? ”

"And the time, that's important. According to the old people and farmers in the village, the winter has been getting colder and colder in the past ten years, and what if it continues to be cold...... "Li Xiang is kind and persuasive, he believes that this cheap father-in-law can figure it out.

Winters are getting colder and colder, and harvests are not good in many places. If there is another drought, flood or locust plague, and the displaced people rise again, the Xiang army will not be able to fight, and the situation in the north is unclear...... Liu Chengdong pulled off a few beards, and said with a frightened face: "It's Lao Tzu who miscalculated, I said that those Qiu Ba, who I met in the old days, how did they hoard food one by one." There are also those gentry and big families, building forts one by one, it turns out that this is the case, fortunately you are smart. Seventy percent of my share was taken out, and all of it was bought into food and hoarded, damn it, it was too dangerous. Alas, you're right, no matter what happens, self-preservation is the most important thing. ”

Li Xiang's voice was low, "I'm already doing it." Mingyueji has to withdraw and let those gentry and wealthy merchants build their own businesses and workshops, let's first build Mingyue Fort and granaries out of a silhouette. No matter what happens, our Mingyuezhuang must have the power to protect itself. Of course, Li Xiang can't directly say that he suspects that the Great Zhou will not last for a few years, and even suspects that the Jin people will go south, and the troubled times will come. In the name of self-preservation, he could only explain his behavior of attaching importance to craftsmen, gathering grain, privately manufacturing ordnance, and opening Mongolian schools, and he also gave an explanation internally and externally.

Coming out of Liu Chengdong's house, Li Xiang took a deep breath and looked at the starry sky. In the days when there was no air pollution, the night sky was so beautiful that it looked like countless fireflies blinking in the dome. Li Xiangxin said that he was an uninvited guest who traveled to this time and space, and with the knowledge and foresight of later generations, how did those gentry know that the crisis was coming?

Li Xiang underestimated the survival wisdom of the Great Zhou gentry for thousands of years, and judged that the signs of troubled times were recorded in detail in the family mottos of many families, but those hundreds of thousands of years of experience were always only spread in the hands of a very small number of people. Just like the recent rise in the price of rice in Bianjing, farmers on Jingdong Road, Jinghu Road and Jianghuai Road are overjoyed, cheering to earn a few more copper coins, but they can't imagine why the price of rice has risen......

"Be prepared, be prepared for danger in times of peace, and be wise and famous. I didn't expect that there were also people in Mingyuezhuang who understood, maybe it was Wang Qi who taught Li Xiang's kid. After Huang Liren inspected his granary, he let out such a sigh.