Cao Zheng Keshan Meng, who was in charge of business and shipping affairs, returned to Pengcheng, Xuzhou again, and only felt that there had been some changes with each passing day.

I saw a faint smell of coking coal floating in the air, and in the distance in the criss-crossing canals, the long hanging water wheel tugboat pulling out a long trail of smoke was surging and surging to see each other shuttling back and forth, constantly swallowing mountains of goods and transporting groups of people from all over the large and small wharves;

This couldn't help but make him move in his heart, once upon a time inland river ships were driven by coal, or the water steamer that everyone watched as a rarity, and now it has grown to this point. Of course, according to the inside information he knew, in the inner ring of the Bohai Sea, which had basically calmed down, he also began to use these white and hundreds of seagoing ships that had been transformed by pot and mule machines to undertake the daily task of transporting back and forth near the shore with less wind and waves, and let those original sail passenger ships and Haihu clippers have changed their routes to other places.

Moreover, some people in the shipping department under his leadership have also begun to see with their own eyes, and the sailors and military craftsmen from the Dadu Governor's Mansion are trying to install this kind of mechanism that can produce power for a long time as long as it burns coal on a ship with a larger load capacity in the demonstration and experiment, as a power assist and drive for ocean travel, and at the same time, after encountering the traditional windless belt or when the wind direction and current are unfavorable, there is enough auxiliary power to help the sea ship get rid of it.

However, when he thought that it would be possible to sail on the sea in the future, it would be this strange scene of thousands of materials and thousands of stone ships emitting black smoke, and he couldn't help but feel some inexplicable excitement and longing. Then, he quickly retracted his mind and returned to his realistic goal.

In the contradictions and conflicts between the north and the south in recent years, the department under his leadership has undoubtedly received the greatest impact during this period; Trade has shrunk, shipping routes have been cut off, finance and taxes have plummeted, and industries and fields related to ports have been in a depression.

In the most difficult and difficult period, he even personally took the lead in going out to sea with the ship to do the menial work of fishing abroad, and became one of those people who were covered in fish and sweat, instead of staying on the shore with peace of mind and doing nothing, enjoying the benefits and treatment that he would not lose a word.

It was easy to survive that period of extremely difficult years, and when the Huai Army sailors traveled in all directions, new sea routes and routes were reopened, and they were once again covered and spread between the sea and land of the East China Sea, the North Sea and the Yellow Water Ocean, and the Bohai Sea also became an inland sea surrounded by Huai Town; Those shipwrights and seafarers who had been busy avoiding or leaving without saying goodbye had to humble themselves and beg to do the work of recovering the water, just to regain that small place under the increasingly vast rule of Huaizhen, and not to be eliminated from the emerging maritime pattern;

But this bittersweet or revitalizing situation, which is far from enough for him; The former Dengzhou remnants and old people can be regarded as a force that contributed a lot and played a pivotal role when Huaizhen was first established. Although most of them have gradually settled down over the years, and many people have scattered all over the world because of their respective duties, some basic ties and ties still continue to be maintained in private.

Among the large and small factions and departmental groups formed by the internal history of Huaizhen, the identity of the local Tu tribe represented by these Dengzhou remnants is particularly subtle and special; Their influence and network resources are still mainly concentrated in the commercial field and overseas trade networks and layouts, but they have always lacked a sense of presence in the local power structure of Huaidi.

Originally, this was the basic attitude and detached stance of these people with the color of the old Dengzhou town to stay away from right and wrong and avoid getting involved in disputes; However, the time has come for this situation and situation, which has been somewhat detached, to change and reconcile.

With Huaizhen's continuous attack on the city and sweeping the huge northland over the years, the weather and pattern of the king's hegemony have gradually highlighted and formed, but these Dengzhou remnants are still in the same place to maintain the same old appearance, and they are about to fall behind and fall behind on the eve of the new era and new atmosphere, and may even be absent from the power structure after the great achievements in the future, and become a marginal group that has been eliminated and forgotten by time, how can he be willing.

Although he doesn't care about the gains and losses of his reputation, he does not hesitate to maintain many infamy and being ignored by many people, but he still remembers and cares about these old Dengzhou who escaped together and suffered the disaster of the principality. Therefore, even if he usually tries his best to avoid suspicion and stay out of the matter, so as not to give people the truth and suspicion of forming a party for personal gain, and even arouse the suspicion of the superiors; But now we have to show our faces and do something for the future and future of this group of potential groups.

Because, whether it is the Liaodong and Liaoxi factions from Andong, or the traditional Jiangning-Runju faction, or the Haidong faction that developed from the Silla Domain, and the Haifan lineage from Yizhou and other places, all kinds of new and old factions and regional groups have begun to gradually exert their strength and secretly compete, just to obtain a basic first move and position order in the new political pattern in the future.

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In Hebei Province, where the weather is gradually getting colder, the new fortresses and long walls distributed along the Taihang Mountains are also being built by the local people who have been requisitioned with grain and cloth.

After the news of the gradual reduction of the Western Army and the successive shift to the defensive was confirmed, I began to embark on the return journey back to Xuzhou under the escort of part of the Yaqian Army and the Qinzhi Battalion.

After all, these unexpected additional battles and unplanned targets had consumed a large amount of resources and mobilized personnel for the war; I need to make adjustments and remedies from the macro situation after I go back, so as to minimize the negative impact and potential losses in the future.

Moreover, after the non-stop northern expedition to Pinglu Road turned to Shanqian Mountain, it turned to Hebei to do the thunderous sweeping all-round advance, and finally fought several battles with the surging Western Army; The soldiers from the top down have also accumulated considerable fatigue and burnout, and they really need to rest and replenish well.

The local troops that have been requisitioned and mobilized also need to be rewarded and punished according to their performance, and the old, weak, and disabled should be eliminated to fill the locality, and the selection and strengthening should be reorganized and expanded, and they should be added to the local repression sequence;

Therefore, it is the so-called fatigue and sleepiness of "more than enough to keep and not enough to enterprising",

In spite of this, I continued to stay behind and maintain the "heavy army group" in Hebei, Henan, Huainan and other places, with two or three re-replenished and complete military orders each, totaling 100,000 people;

Strategically, it adopted a pincer attack posture of defending the south and attacking the west, and respectively took the commanders Wang Gui (sitting in the river **** Liangchen (running Henan) and Cui Bangbi (garrisoning Huainan) as the town guards, as the basic needs of the strategic front and long-term preparation for the enemy.

Then, in the border fortress area north of Yanshan, which had been taken over, three subordinate Yanbian defense envoys of Datong, Wuzhou, and Shuozhou were set up respectively to oversee the newly established 17 border defense battalions, as well as the subordinates of local garrison regiments, patrol teams, and armed cantonment regiments; At the same time, the Huaisi defense envoy and the Jibei defense envoy, which had become the hinterland area, were revoked.

In addition, the duties and scope of the Huaishang patrol envoy who was responsible for the waterway forces related to Hecao were expanded, and they were divided into four routes: Hebei, Huaishang, Henan, and Huainan, so that each could have its own responsibilities.

Then, in the news of the rebellions and riots that were constantly extinguished before the approaching of winter, the household registration and land clearance of the 21 prefectures of Hebei Province had just been counted;

What surprised me a little was that, compared with the withered and nameless Pinglu Road, after many wars and turmoil, there were still about 780,000 households and nearly 4 million people in Hebei, which really deserved to be the heart of the Central Plains, which was known as the world's first-class in all dynasties.

Although the vast majority of them were traditionally agricultural, very few were educated and skilled and therefore not immediately transformed into industrial workers or relatively qualified conscripts;

However, in any case, with such an agricultural population that can be controlled and adjusted, once the initial habit and acceptance of Huaizhen's domination are stabilized, it means that more skilled industrial workers and potential military service in Huaidi can be liberated in the daily agricultural production of industry, mining, forestry, animal husbandry, fishery, and salt.

It is said that the newly conquered land and population are used to produce the most basic agricultural resources, and the relatively tame, reliable and stable population of Huaidi is used as the cornerstone of industrial development and the potential basis for large-scale mobilization of violent soldiers and labor in the future.

In this way, with a relatively small population base, it will be possible to exert several times, tens, or even more powerful productive forces and mobilization efficiency than the traditional feudal social regime and production mode. Even through the so-called internal line operations, it is relatively easy and easy to form a local overwhelming advantage.