After accepting Gan's family, Zhang Yi rested at home for more than a month, with beauties and children, Zhang Yi was naturally happy. Most of the affairs of the General Mansion of Zhengdong do not need Zhang Yi to complete, and only a few affairs can be sent to Zhang Yi's Mansion.

Now Zhang Yi has entered a relatively peaceful morale, most of the wars in Jingzhou have been fought, only Wuling against Wulingman, and Lin Fengxiang against Cangwu County. However, Zhang Yi has not used troops in Jiaozhou for the time being, mainly because the roads are not smooth and the grain and grass are too far. As long as the grain and grass are delivered, Lin Fengxiang will directly attack Cangwu County.

However, Zhang Yi didn't just want to take a Cangwu County, he wanted to take the entire Jiaozhou. Jiaozhou has seven counties: Nanhai County, Cangwu County, Hepu County, Yulin County, Jiaozhi County, Jiuzhen County, and Rinan County. Of these seven counties, only Cangwu County and Yulin County are not near the sea, and the other five counties are near the sea. Zhang Yi has the intention of sending the navy to attack Jiaozhou, but now the navy is still trading with the Yuan brothers in Qingzhou and Youzhou in the north!

Although there was basically nothing left by the Yuan clan that could not cause too much trouble for Cao Cao, Zhang Yi was still ready to reap the last bit of benefit. As long as he can reap the benefits in the north, it is to block Cao Cao, of course he will do it. And Jiaozhou is already in his bag, so it doesn't matter if it's late.

Zhang Yi stayed at home for a few days and met a woman he had wanted to see for a long time, that is, Xiao Qiao, who was picked up by Lu Su.

Zhang Yi has never seen Xiao Qiao, but Xiao Qiao often comes to Zhang Yi's house to see his sister, but the two have never met. Lu Su went to Jingzhou with his family, and Xiao Qiao stayed. Xiao Qiao just lives near Lu Su's house, but she knows that Zhang Yi covets her, so she has been avoiding Zhang Yi all the time.

Da Qiao also knew this, and would send Da Qiao away before Zhang Yi came back, and would not let the two meet.

When facing a man, even if it is two sisters, they will not accept each other. There are too many such examples in history, Zhao Feiyan and Zhao Hede, two sisters, were jealous, and after the Great Zhou Dynasty, they didn't see her until they died because of Li Yu's secret acceptance of the Little Zhou Queen. Da Qiao has formed feelings for Zhang Yi, the two already have a son and a daughter, she can compete with other women for favor, but she doesn't want to compete with her sister.

But Zhang Yi never forgot Xiao Qiao, and as soon as he saw Xiao Qiao, he invited her to live at home. Xiao Qiao and Zhou Yu have no children, and the Zhou Xun she raised is the son of Zhou Yu and his main room. The history of Zhou Yu's main room is not examinable, and when Zhang Yi attacked the Dantu, Zhou Yu's main room died of excessive grief. Xiao Qiao has been raising Zhou Xun, how can Zhang Yi not admire such a character?

Xiao Qiao was met by Zhang Yi, so she could only obediently give Zhang Yi a salute, no matter what, this is her brother-in-law!

Zhang Yi didn't express anything, and when Xiao Qiao left, Zhang Yi stood up and said to send Xiao Qiao. When Zhang Yi sent Xiao Qiao to the car, Zhang Yi asked Xiao Qiao: "Now that the Zhou family has fallen, what should Zhou Xun do when he grows up?" ”

Xiao Qiao was stunned for a moment, she thought for a moment, and turned to look at Zhang Yi: "This depends on my brother-in-law." ”

Zhang Yi said with a smile: "There is not much I can help him, he is not my son, he does not have a strong backer, even if he has my help, he will not achieve much." ”

Xiao Qiao sighed softly, "I'll go back and think about it!" ”

Zhang Yi nodded, "I'll let someone send you back!" ”

After getting in the car, Xiao Qiao's mind began to spin. She understands what Zhang Yi means, Zhou Xun is Zhou Yu's son, Zhou Yu is Zhang Yi's enemy, Zhang Yi can't help the enemy's son for no reason. He still has thoughts about himself, as long as he marries him, Zhou Xun will be equal to half of Zhang Yi's son, and it will be logical for Zhang Yi to help Zhou Xun. And if Xiao Qiao doesn't agree, Zhang Yi may suppress Zhou Xun's development!

It's a bit despicable to coerce Xiao Qiao with a child! But Zhang Yi didn't have so much time to fall in love with Xiao Qiao, so he could only make a quick decision.

Xiao Qiao went back and thought about it for many days, and finally succumbed to Zhang Yi's coercion and agreed to marry Zhang Yi.

After accepting Xiao Qiao, Zhang Yi can really take the second Qiao, and he is now only short of Tongquetai.

Zhang Yi of Tongquetai will not build it, because it is meaningless, but he wants to do a bigger project. This project is beneficial to the country and the people, but in history, it has cost the people and money, this is the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal!

Of course, it is unrealistic to want to build the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal now, from the north of Huaishui, Zhang Yi does not have much territory, he can't even build Yanzhou, let alone Youzhou?

However, this project must be done, because there is no water between the river and the Huaishui, and the ships can only go by sea if they want to enter the Huaishui from the river. This is very labor-intensive, and it is not conducive to defending Huaishui. When Xiahou Yuan attacked Shouchun before, Zhang Yi wanted to build the Grand Canal, but at that time, Zhang Yi's strength was insufficient and could only be put on hold temporarily.

Now Zhang Yi felt that it was almost enough, so he decided to dig a canal along the river to connect the river and Huaishui. It is divided into two parts, one part to the north, along Chengde, Shouchun into Huaishui, and the other part along Hefei into Chaohu Lake. These two rivers are the same source, but they are not connected. As long as a canal is dug between these two rivers, the Jianghuai River can be connected.

However, there is one point, it is not easy to dig a canal between the two rivers, because the nearest place is their source, Jiangjun Ridge, and it is impossible to dig a canal in the mountains.

In the end, Zhang Yi came up with a plan, that is, to dig a canal between Chaohu Lake and Shaobi. Shaobi is a lake, just southwest of Shouchun, and it is a lake about the size of Chaohu Lake. Even if you take a detour, there are only more than 100 miles between the two lakes, and it is easy to dig a canal, and the amount of work is not very large.

Zhang Yi mobilized hundreds of thousands of people and began excavating in March. It took half a year to dig out a canal more than 30 zhang wide.

Zhang Yi did not waste money and money, Zhang Yi invested more than 30,000 soldiers in digging this canal, and the rest of the people did not delay the farming, and gave them three years of tax-free remuneration. Zhang Yi's taxes did not depend on the peasants, he had gradually established a commercial system, and the commercial tax was already much more than the agricultural tax.

Moreover, Zhang Yi himself has a large number of industries, which are all profiteering, and there are also state-monopolized industries such as salt and iron, which are professional enough to support Zhang Yi to build a large number of troops. In Shouchun's R&D department alone, Zhang Yi can be helped with an army of 50,000 every year, including food, armament, baggage, pensions and so on.