Early the next morning, outside the palace of the king of Chu in Jiangling City, Ao Ji couldn't help but feel nervous, and walked into the majestic palace of the king of Chu alone under the guidance of a soldier guarding the palace.

And entering the power center under the rule of the Song Dynasty and Chu State, although Ao Ji has a bit of curiosity.

But looking up at the solemn palace and the guards in the palace with three steps, one post, five steps and one sentry, they are more restrained and nervous.

After being introduced into the palace by that armor soldier, Ao Ji, who was in awe, did not dare to look around.

He obediently followed the armor soldier and was taken to the high steps of the main hall of the palace, and waited silently in the square in front of the palace.

"Yo, this is General Ao Jiao. The king is invited, General Ao will go to the palace with him. "Fortunately, unlike yesterday, Zhang Shihua, the king of Chu, who had never met, did not let him wait too long. In about a quarter of an hour, a beardless eunuch with a slightly shrill voice came up to him and said the same thing to him.

In this regard, Ao Ji, who was dissatisfied and a little nervous, nodded, thanked him, and couldn't help but follow the eunuch in the green shirt from the side of the steps towards the majestic and towering palace main hall.

There is a saying that "if it is not magnificent, it cannot be powerful".

Therefore, the foundation of the main hall of this palace can't help but be repaired very high, and just the way up the steps can't help but make Ao Ji force down the little tension that swells in his heart.

Then he stepped on the most staircase, crossed the threshold, and bowed his head slightly, and he couldn't help but follow the eunuch into the main hall of this palace.

Walking into the main hall of the palace, Ao Ji couldn't help but feel that many eyes in the palace suddenly converged on him. And he, at this time, couldn't help but raise his head slightly, and subconsciously looked at the position sitting north and facing south.

It was a young man with a short beard on his chin and a face that looked to be around twenty-five or six years old.

But for some reason, when he saw the young man sitting on the throne and wearing the garment of the crown, a huge pressure could not help but envelop him at once. This kind of pressure is so familiar, it is exactly the same as when he followed his brother to meet Prime Minister Liu Cheng.

It's all the feeling that one's own life and death are all between the thoughts of others.

In such a situation, Ao Ji couldn't help but buckle his head heavily on the ground, "The last general will pay tribute to Ao Ji of Yuan Wanhu and meet the king." My king Chitose, Chitose, Chitose! ”

"Alright, excuse me."

Seeing him salute, the man sitting on the throne couldn't help but say this in a faint tone.

However, although the tone is indifferent, the feeling that cannot be denied in the words is also so strong.

Therefore, Ao Ji, who was kneeling on the ground, couldn't help but hurriedly thank him, and after deducting his head again, he stood up from the ground respectfully.

"Haha, General Ao doesn't have to be restrained. Come, come closer, and the king can see clearly. ”

"Yes!" Ao Ji didn't dare to refuse. With such a promise, he couldn't help but take small steps, narrowing the distance between himself and the king by more than a foot.

"Tall, beautiful beard, but a strong warrior!" Looking at Ao Ji, who was standing respectfully under His Royal Highness, Zhang Shihua habitually praised it. Then leaning on the throne and changing into a comfortable position, he couldn't help but say: "Why the general sent the envoy and what happened, this king already knows."

You are far away in Shaanxi Province, desperately fighting against the Yuanmeng Tartars, since you have asked for this king, then this king should also contribute to this. Therefore, 100,000 stone of grain is nothing. ”

"This, Xie Wang Longen, Xie Wang Longen." Standing respectfully in His Royal Highness, his heart can be described as a nervous and bumpy Ao Ji, and suddenly heard Zhang Shihua say this. His face couldn't help but show a touch of ecstasy in an instant, and his mouth naturally couldn't help but thank Zhang Shihua in a hurry.

However, in this regard, after Zhang Shihua smiled slightly, he couldn't help waving his hand and said, "Okay, you listen to this king first." 100,000 stone of grain, this king can get it. But in this regard, the king also has a request. ”

"This, I don't know what the king wants?"

For this sudden reversal, Ao Ji naturally had already been mentally prepared.

After all, in this world, no righteous army is a good church. If Zhang Shihua doesn't open any conditions, then this day will not have to be passed.

At this time, after taking a deep breath, Ao Ji was calm.

At least the king did not refuse, this kind of thing, some talk is the best result. At that time, even if you can't get 100,000 stone of grain, it's good to get 50,000 stone by discounting it in half.

So after asking like this, Ao Ji couldn't help but cheer up and pricked up his ears.

"Since you are far away in Shaanxi Province and fighting with the Yuanmeng Tatars, then the armor and horses, it is estimated that you may not be enough, and this king will naturally not use these things to embarrass you. There is only one thing that this king wants, and that is the people of Dingkou. ”

"Dingkou people!" Suddenly hearing this, Ao Ji, who was standing in the audience, couldn't help but raise his head suddenly, and his face showed undisguised ecstasy.

To be honest, he really didn't expect this king's request to be like this, and he always thought that this king would ask him for a war horse.

After all, Shaanxi Province is next to Gan Province, and it is also a place where the world produces good horses.

At the beginning, when they galloped through Shaanxi Province like a bamboo, in order to get the assistance of refining equipment, they traded plate armor and crossbow arrows with Dachu more than once.

And Da Chu is also a person who does not refuse to come, the more the merrier.

For this reason, he even expressed to them several times that he was willing to buy a large number of war horses from them at a price fifty percent higher than the market price.

But later, with several defeats in Shaanxi Province due to careless pride, the trade in war horses was terminated.

Therefore, this time, Ao Ji has always thought that this king is using this as a threat to exchange a large number of war horses from their hands.

And if that's the case, then it's really hard to come and ask for food this time.

After all, when the war is not going well, the importance of war horses to this group of people who are fighting far away in Shaanxi Province is definitely not less important than grain and grass.

Unexpectedly, this time the king only wanted people.

The people are the people. Although it is said that they are the foundation of the princes from all walks of life, for Li Wu, Cui De, Bai Buxin, Dadao Ao Aoji and others, who are almost burning their eyebrows now, their importance and urgency are much worse than that of grain and war horses.

Even at this time, they were desperately short of food, and they wished that the number of people under their rule could be reduced.

In such a situation, Ao Ji, who reacted, couldn't help but hurriedly nodded and said: "People, there is no problem with this. I just don't know, how much do you need? ”

"Is this ......" Seeing Ao Ji's reaction, Zhang Shihua thought about it, and couldn't help but stretch out a finger and said, "Just 10,000 households." Ten stones of grain for a household, what does General Ao think? ”

"Okay, no problem." When Ao Ji heard this, he agreed without thinking about it.

However, after agreeing, Ao Ji's eyes rolled, but he couldn't help but say, "However, the king." On the side of Shaanxi Province, the war is tight, but it is difficult to mobilize troops to send these 10,000 Dingkou people to you for the king. ”

"Haha, that's out of the way. The king can send troops to meet him, and you only need to gather the people and people that the king needs first. "Although I don't think that Cui De will not even be able to draw troops to escort these tens of thousands of civilians. But in this regard, Zhang Shihua, who initially achieved his goal, did not bother to study too much.

And seeing Zhang Shihua like this, His Royal Highness's Ao Ji's eyes couldn't help but light up again.

To be honest, even if they are not going well in the war in Shaanxi Province now, but escorting tens of thousands of Dingkou people, the pressure on them is actually not much.

And the reason why he refused was just because he didn't want to waste his own food and grass troops.

Now, since the king agreed, he said that he was willing to send troops to escort the people. Then after reducing such an expense, Ao Ji couldn't help but want to exchange it for more money and food from the hands of the Chu army.

However, after thinking silently for a moment, the thoughts in my heart did not show up now.

Although the people do not value it, if they want to gain a foothold in Shaanxi Province, then the people under their rule are really the foundation that they cannot replace. And even if 100,000 stone of grain is obtained, which temporarily alleviates the urgent need caused by the shortage of grain, many things can naturally be discussed in the long run.

This kind of thought turned around in his heart, and for Zhang Shihua's request that should have been so, Ao Ji naturally agreed to it in a hurry.

Then, above this great hall, Ao Ji talked with the king for more than a quarter of an hour. After seeing that the king no longer had the idea of continuing to talk to him, he respectfully took his leave and left the power center of this great Chu.

……

The next day, August 15, is the Mid-Autumn Festival.

And on this day, the autumn harvest is basically coming to an end.

Under such circumstances, under the rule of Da Chu, except for a very few yamen who did not take a vacation due to tight affairs, the other government yamen also took a unified holiday. In addition, Zhang Shihua has good governance and does not overly criticize and exploit the people under his rule.

Therefore, on this day, not only can you see many officials who have been on vacation in wine shops, Qinglou and other places, calling friends to feast and drink and sing. The citizens who had a lot of surplus money in their pockets also went to the market at this time, and it was not lively to buy wine and vegetables.

But at this time, Ao Ji, who had completed the task and returned to his heart like an arrow, was not in the mood to appreciate the unique prosperity of the southern country of Gangneung.

Instead, he informed Zhang Shihua early in the morning, and then under the escort of a group of great Chu soldiers, he left the Chu realm and went north to Xiangyang, preparing to return to Shaanxi Province.

As for the soldiers who escorted the people on the side of Great Chu, they would escort the first batch of 50,000 stone grain three days later according to the agreed side, and leave Chu to rush north to Shaanxi Province.

……

Three days later, Wei Tao, the commander of the Longxiang Army, who was ordered to escort grain to Shaanxi Province where to trade the people of Ding, could not help but lead the 3,000 soldiers and horses of the headquarters and tens of thousands of people who were requisitioned and transferred from the Xiangyang Road, and dragged the whole 50,000 stone of grain, took the official road in the inner countryside, and rushed straight to the direction of Shangzhou.

"In this transaction, the group of guys in Shaanxi Province really didn't suffer much." Looking at the team of people driving donkey carts on the official road or directly relying on manpower to push the kind of wheelbarrow carts that carry goods, stretching for miles, Wei Tao's deputy, Yi Shan, the deputy commander of the Fourth Division of the Longxiang Army, couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

Hearing his emotion, a brigade general who accompanied him couldn't help but echo: "Isn't it." The inner countryside is far from Shangzhou, and it is 500 miles away by taking this official road. And at the speed at which we are moving now. This trip will take at least half a month.

Half a month, back and forth, that's a month. And if all the 100,000 stone grain is sent to Shangzhou, it will take two months to come and go. In two months, we need to dispatch a full 20,000 people to transport grain and grass.

More than 20,000 people, plus two whole months before and after eating horses and chewing, this alone, we estimate that it will cost a small 20,000 stone of grain. In addition, we will also bring the 10,000 households and more than 40,000 people in Shaanxi Province.

Then the cost of organizing and relocating these people along the way is even more difficult to estimate. Brigade General Yu Wenge said, and couldn't help but smash his mouth.

"Okay, I know that you Yuwen has been in private school for a few years and is good at math, so don't show this to labor and management." Over there, hearing Yu Wenge's words, Shi Shuai Wei Tao couldn't help but suddenly say a lesson: "Whether this transaction is profitable or not, and how much grain and grass it needs to cost, it is not our turn to worry about this group of martial artists."

Our task is to escort these grains to Shangzhou City, and then from that place in Shangzhou, we will take over many households from Shaanxi Province. Other than that, it's not our turn to worry about other things.

Also, especially after arriving in Shangzhou, as long as it has nothing to do with our mission, don't give me such enthusiasm. There is a war going on in Shaanxi Province right now, and the situation is chaotic. So when I arrived at the place, I took a good look at the bunnies under my command.

Don't ask about things that shouldn't be in our hands, and the province will be used as a gun when the time comes. Do you understand? ”

"Yes, I'll understand!"

"Yes." Hearing the generals shouting and agreeing one by one, Wei Tao, as the commander of the division, couldn't help but nod with satisfaction.

Next, he couldn't help but withdraw his gaze from the generals, looked at the direction of the destination hundreds of miles away, and continued to urge the horse forward.

(To be continued.............................. ）