And in Jicheng, the capital of Youzhou, the aftermath and news from Anton's changes have finally affected here;

However, the white rice shop, the slaughter shop, the oil shop, the five harvest shop, the fruit shop, the charcoal shop, the pig iron shop, the mill shop, the silk shop and other street markets in the city are still in a depressed and scarce situation. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Jicheng, as the hub and commercial port of the Northeast in the past, whether it is the fur cattle and horses from outside the Jiubian Saiwai, or the medicinal materials and mountain treasures from Andong Silla, or the pearl shell treasure goods from the East China Sea, or the silk cloth from the south, and the foreign goods in the northwest, it is a long time since a slightly large-scale business travel has transited.

And after spending the whole winter suppressing many Jiangmen families and cleaning all the big and small mountains, Han Zhongyan, the acting governor who has mastered the power, does not have any sense of joy and joy in his power.

Because, as the biggest enemy and threat to the north, Huaizhen also suppressed and pacified the land of Liaodong in the past spring, and unified and integrated the most elite areas in the south of Andong Province, becoming the biggest help to Huaizhen; Then, in terms of geographical victory, the remnants of the Northern Dynasty in Pinglu Dao formed a natural north-south encirclement trend.

Not to mention the Huaizhen Naval Division, which had been lingering in the waters off Fanyang throughout the spring, just at the mouth of the sea and a few outer harbors, it restrained considerable resources and attention from the Pinglu Dao army; Not to mention the local population who fled in large numbers because of the spring famine after the snow and ice melted; Some of them were lured by Zhang Bangchang, who occupied most of Hebei, and the other part was divided into northern and southern routes, and fled into the Liaoxi Corridor controlled by Huaizhen or along the canal south to Cangzhou.

Among them, there is even one of the foundations of the four towns of Pinglu, the origins of those lineages of military families and small generals; But he couldn't take care of these anymore, and even sent all the roads and checkpoints of the Terracotta Road to intercept and block them, which was really a bit reluctant;

As the price of cleaning the fifteen prefectures of Pinglu, although he was able to master the resources that had been monopolized and controlled by the Jiangmen for a long time, and further grasped the tens of thousands of soldiers and horses inside and outside the mountains, he also became extremely short of qualified middle- and upper-level generals, and could only rely on those middle- and lower-level young generals who were quickly promoted to fill the number;

And expect them to be ruthless and to restrain and stop those who have all kinds of problems with themselves? The local fathers and elders involved in the relationship, don't run away and obediently starve to death in my hometown, it is also unrealistic for me to be safe.

Today, the area inside the Pinglu Dao Mountains can be said to be full of devastation and abandonment, while the areas outside the mountains are poor and have few fields and poor land, so they can only give priority to meeting the needs of the army, and they cannot take care of the people's livelihood in the short term. Therefore, even if he knew that after letting these mouthfuls not go elsewhere, it would undoubtedly be a drink to quench his thirst for the future and situation of Pinglu Dao, he could only pinch his nose and accept it.

After all, for him, the current Huaizhen has become a general trend, and it is definitely not something that he can provoke and offend by the troubled and tired division who barely controls a corner of Pinglu Road.

Instead, they could only sit back and watch the operation of the Huai army in Cangzhou, and with the rebuilt fortress stronghold and cantonment encirclement, the roads and canals that were built were advanced to the north little by little; And even those who had privately instigated and supported the local rebels and bandits in Hebei to harass and sabotage the Huai army's reclamation activities in the southeast of Hebei have been stopped due to their lack of strength and lack of support.

At least before this year's autumn harvest, he didn't have the intention of continuing to use troops, let alone involve the attention of Huaizhen who had just pulled out of the land of Anton, and grant him the excuse and reason to reopen the offensive.

But another thing that bothered him even more was the news sent from the west, and there were people in the northwest and Hedong Province who had established a country one after another; And he, who is still under the banner of the Northern Dynasty, is the governor of Pinglu Province and the envoy of the four towns, so he has become embarrassed and unable to deal with himself.

Moreover, the Northern Han Kingdom, which had not been established for a long time in Hedong, had already sent people out of the Datong army to bypass the Saiwai, and sent him a proclamation and a book, so that all the generals and soldiers of Pinglu Dao would submit to this Northern Han court, and canonize him as the ambassador of the general capital of Yanshan, and give him the title of Youyu......

It sounds majestic, but once you accept it, it's like putting your house on the fire and roasting it.

Not to mention how much substantive action and influence Zhang Dekun, the remnant of the Northern Dynasty regent Zhang, was like, and how much substantive action and influence he could have after stealing the title of king in Hedong; The difference in size between the traditional Hedong Land and Pinglu Road alone makes it difficult for him to live rashly, even if it is only an inferior person in terms of name.

This is a long-term weakening and damage to his already barely commanding prestige and control after completing the internal purge and integration. The famous weapon of the Northern Dynasty, which has been reigning in the Central Plains for a hundred years, is it comparable to a grass-headed king who has a private tie; Moreover, in terms of selfishness, since there are such similar capital conditions, can't he stand on his own?

Even if he wants to defect to a certain force, the title and identity of the last important minister of the Northern Dynasty that he insists on are also important bargaining chips that can add a lot of money. But if it involves this small Northern Han regime in Hedong, I am afraid that not only will it not be able to use it as a reinforcement and echo, but I am afraid that it will also cause greater trouble and hostility for its own side.

It's just that this news is wrong, his own momentary negligence and hesitation, as well as the other party's deliberate propaganda, have been spread and spread in Youzhou Jicheng and other places, which has also brought a series of repercussions and movements;

At least a considerable number of his newly promoted young generals have been tempted by this, compared with those conservatives with deep generals' backgrounds, they were born as low-level generals, and their sense of belonging and traditional inertia to the Northern Dynasty is much weaker, and they have not enjoyed the last glorious era of the Northern Dynasty that is nostalgic.

As a result, the controversy and disagreements within the four towns of Pinglu caused even Han Zhongyan, who was the governor of the capital, did not dare to express his position easily. On the one hand, we can step up the installation of cronies and replace important posts in order to complete our control over the local yamen at all levels.

Of course, in his heart, he would prefer to be able to obtain conditions from the Southern Dynasty Liang, even if he lowered many conditions and treatment standards, and made a more humble gesture for this reason, as long as he could continue to preserve his power and strength in substance.

It's a pity that, on the one hand, because of the existence and deterrence of Huaizhen, his requirements have always lacked enough confidence; On the other hand, there is already a subordinate Zhang Bangchang of the Northern Dynasty who changed banners in Hebei as an example, and there is no need for more examples;

Therefore, the south was not interested in his demands and conditions, and the messengers and secret letters sent were never heard of.

Therefore, the only thing he could wait and hope for at the moment was the messenger who once again made a detour through the Songmo, Jinwei Prefectures, Yunzhong, and Beiyuan to the Xinli Xining Imperial Court......

As a result, I missed both of them at breakfast the next day, and it wasn't until it was time for lunch that someone outside the door asked for instructions and reminded me if I wanted to bring a portion of lunch in.

Then the still lazy enigmatic creature continued to retract into the sheets to make up for her beauty sleep, while I simply washed and soaked in a refreshing, supposedly healthy medicinal bath, and then sat down at the lively disc table for lunch, listening to Su Su, the concubine who managed the maid, and Mei Mei, who was in charge of the household accounting, and reported on the situation in the family.

There are also girls of all ages around me, who talk about the recent events at home from time to time.

For example, Schrödinger, my family's number one pet cat, was forced to learn to swim; The eldest daughter, Hatsune, is already sitting and climbing the blanket, while the second daughter, Ayane, is starting to have baby teeth; With a new greenhouse and conservatory built at home, little Gajia completed the expected courses ahead of schedule, hoping to take economics as an elective student......

The meal was also unusually long, and it was not until about four o'clock in the afternoon (about two o'clock in the afternoon) that I returned to the official hall in the front yard and began to deal with the recent backlog of pending affairs.

Of course, the really important, urgent, and critical matters have already been made and dealt with by the exclusive messenger of the foreign relay on the way back, far away; Therefore, what is left after returning home is mainly what must be seen and known by me, some procedural daily chores.

For example, after the expansion of the territory this time, a more obvious problem was also exposed.

Huaidi is still obviously lacking in high-level talents; Although in recent years, through cramming mass production education, a large number of grassroots personnel who can respond to emergencies have been cultivated, but it has also caused the lack of potential and pattern of most people, and the corresponding growth space and upper limit are also limited. In the end, only a few people will be able to stand out and move on to higher levels of work and meet the corresponding needs.

After all, from the grass-roots position to cultivate a suitable for middle-level and even upper-level positions, it urgently needs enough time and cycle, as well as corresponding luck and opportunities; Therefore, most of the high-level officials in Huaizhen's civil official system are still the old people who followed or defected to me at the beginning;

The corresponding positions are also relatively tight, and there is a lack of candidates who can be replaced; After all, how many years have passed since Huaizhen started, and it is not easy to have this pattern and weather from another point of view.

And I am not willing to easily retain those old subordinates and old-school military generals and officials, but would rather send them to the joint school, and isolate them in disguise in the name of study; In the daily process of screening and selection one by one, in order to get a small number of people who can really be used, and have a sense of self-motivation and identity.

Therefore, under this system, it is inevitable that there will be a shortage of manpower in the near future;

Otherwise, as long as I maintain the basic status quo for the time being, and only ask for money, food, and forced labor, I will let go of my hand and recruit rebels in foreign expansion, and I am still afraid that there will not be enough people to take refuge?

However, by making the help of the old local system, the ruling foundation obtained by such comers is undoubtedly quite fragile and not reliable enough, and it is only by the deterrence of force that they can be guaranteed, otherwise they can not only submit to us in the face of strength and situation, but also naturally betray and switch to the possibility of others in the face of greater costs and interests;

And after absorbing a large number of such old things, it is also a long-term and potential harm and negative impact on the basic plate and the new system that I have already consolidated.

After all, the set of things I built and the traditional system and political rules between the traditional Northland feudal towns are completely incompatible.