The war may start soon, but how to fight it and where to do it are just conjectures for lower-level senatorial officers like Guo Shuhua.

However, with this conjecture, it is also an excellent comfort to Lu Dalei, and the current depression is naturally alleviated, and only then can he have the energy to look at Guo Shuhua, but seeing that the other party is haggard and full of dust, if it is not for the glittering light in his eyes, it is really not like the previous Guo Shuhua.

"What's the matter with you?"

Lu Dalei was shocked when he saw this, and asked, "How did you make yourself like this?" ”

"Ahem, you really don't know."

The friend only realized his strange appearance now, and Guo Shuhua also shook his head and smiled bitterly. He spread his hands and said: "Qingjiang to Yangzhou is a canal, how many rivers are there in Yangzhou, how many big rivers and tributaries are there in this Qingjiang all the way north, do you know?" ”

"This, how can I know?"

"I know pretty much!"

Guo Shuhua seems to be overwhelmed, but he is also very proud. Blinked his eyes, his face was pale, and he smiled at Lu Dalei: "Tang Ruowang said that he would drive the forging machine with water power, and the Military and Political Department took the lead, as well as the Quartermaster Department and the General Staff Department, all of whom sent cadres to participate, and there were more than a dozen missionaries. ”

"I see."

This kind of thing, a pure soldier like Lu Dalei doesn't pay much attention to it, even if the Firearms Bureau and the A Battle Bureau pass by every day, he is not interested in those things inside.

A lot of things, I have a headache when I hear it, and I have to learn arithmetic or something, and if I learn it well, I can't kill the enemy right away. How can a soldier who believes in fame but takes it right away can kill the enemy and make meritorious contributions?

"Forget it, I won't tell you."

Guo Shuhua said stupidly: "I'm just coming back for a day or two, and then I'm going to escort some forging beds from the Firearms Bureau away, you see, you idiots who ride horses and cut people, what Lao Tzu is doing now is a big thing related to the overall situation!" ”

Hearing him say this, Lu Dalei just continued to sharpen his knife again, and only said happily: "I wish it was good like this." To put it mildly, in the future, the crown prince will be enthroned as the emperor, and the whole world will be under the control of His Royal Highness, and we people will really have hope. ”

Of course, this is very taboo, even if the current emperor was rescued by the crown prince, the relationship between father and son is deep and trusting each other, as a new army officer, it is very unaware of the importance of saying this.

It's just that Guo Shuhua stared at the same time, but he couldn't help but nodded.

From Qingjiang to Huaiyang and Xuzhou, he has already run all over, how the prince governs, why do you need to say more!

As far as what he is doing now, if someone said in the past that he was doing chores hydraulic presses, forging, and having a screw can suppress helmets and plate armor, there are many key points, and the most important thing is to mint money!

The silver standard of the Ming Dynasty is actually a joke, the key is that there are too few copper coins minted, and the silver is not convenient to circulate, and a large amount of silver pours in the hands of a few people, and is stored in a large number of cellars, and the scattered silver in the circulation field is easy to lose, and it is lost in vain in the melting again and again, so the private economy is not much richer because of the sea trade, and the silver standard is really the main reason.

But now it's too late to change silver to copper, or to the gold standard. This is a matter for the future, and it will be corrected slowly.

The prince built a dam and installed a machine, but it was just a silver coin with a grain edge! The circulation of silver coins in the market can reduce the loss of cellaring and smelting, and there are different denominations, which is convenient for the common people to use, and of course, it is also convenient for the payment of military salaries.

There are half taels, one tael, two taels of equal weight, there are threads on the edge of the silver coin, to prevent the silver edge from being worn off, and the use of the equivalent weight is also very convenient for the people.

When the gold reserves are enough in the future, it is not too late to adopt the gold standard when the time comes.

Of course, Guo Shuhua is not as profound about the way of economy as Zhu Cihong, a guest of later generations, but as soon as he heard about the press coinage, he also keenly felt the importance of this matter, although it was very hard, he could not go to the battlefield, let alone what he imagined before he joined the prince...... Lupine scarf, talking and laughing, the thief and the Dongyu disappeared together, this is the ideal of this young man before joining the army.

Although he is now a small member of the military, he is also doing chores that are not related to direct military affairs, but this Guo Shuhua has no dissatisfaction, on the contrary, he is also happy to work in it.

............ "Shao Sima, it is already the boundary of Shanyang, and Chen Shuai sent someone over in front of him, which means that he wants to take a break for a while, take a stop and move forward...... I don't know what the adults think? ”

After all, 100,000 stone of grain is too much, and it is not necessary to go north under the current conditions, but it is strange that there is no pimple in the heart of laboring a lot of manpower and material resources to send supplies to the enemy.

At the beginning of the country, it was originally the prosperity of Haicao, the Yuan Dynasty was dominated by Haicao, and the ocean-going ability at the beginning of the country was first-class, from Jiangnan to Yanjing, and even the sea journey from Fujian and Zhejiang to Yanjing was very easy and not difficult.

Later, for various reasons, the sea was abandoned and the river was abandoned, but the loss of the ability to sail in the open sea does not mean that the sea is completely abandoned, at least, at this time, it is not a problem to mobilize some ships to transport 100,000 stone grain to the north.

It's just that when they saw the ships heading north, the people in the mission were different, but most of them didn't feel good.

The one who was called Shao Sima was the chief envoy of the mission, Zuo Maodi.

He was originally just a four-rank governor, because his mother died in Yanjing a while ago, so he volunteered to send an envoy to the country and mourn for his mother, and prepared to support the coffin to go south, which was considered a public and private penny.

Although he has selfish intentions, but it is rare to be voluntary, and his qualifications are actually enough, although his ability is not obvious, it is not too bad to be a governor when this kind of national disaster is at hand.

As for the surname, it is known to the government and the opposition, and he is a model figure among scholars.

Now that he has been added to the third rank of the squire, according to the habits of the Ming Dynasty, the senior official who has been added to the military department also has another name, and the young Sima who is suitable is another name for the military department.

Zuo Maodi is looking north from Xiao Ran, this time the northern envoy, in addition to the main purpose of good-neighborliness and friendship, there are also many tasks such as commensurate uncles and nephews, and taking the Yellow River as the boundary.

That's what he said when he received the order in the cabinet, and in private, Shi Kefa and Ma Shiying both summoned him.

Shi Kefa looked worried when he was in his private residence, and what he was most worried about was that the Donglu and the thieves were reconciled with each other and dealt with the Ming Dynasty together.

And he couldn't come up with any way, and he didn't modify the big purpose, but just asked Zuo Maodi to act on his own.

Summoned in the private residence, it was just to add more confidence to Zuo Maodi as the head of the cabinet.

The language is boring, empty and weak, Zuo Maodi usually has very few opportunities to deal with Shi Kefa, but this public reputation has always been the first in the southern capital, and Shilin commented that it is also called the Dinghai Shenshen Needle of the Ming Dynasty.

After a while, he was extremely disappointed.

Ma Shiying's summons was mainly about practice.

The bottom of his penetration is that he can use the Huai River as the boundary, and the Ming army may take back Sichuan in the future, if it can't be recovered, it might as well be left to the Qing army.

Anyway, where Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong are now entrenched, the court and the Ming army have little confidence to take it back. In this case, it is better to give it to a friendly country with the place where the thief is entrenched, which can be regarded as borrowing the thief.

Lao Ma's proposition, Zuo Maodi did not agree, but this person is a military foreman, and he does not beat around the bush when he speaks, in the secret room of Mafu, Ma Shiying just sighed: "What is the emperor's surname, you and I are clear." suffered a loss when the Beijing division broke the siege and went south, and now he is willing to discuss when he encounters trouble. But how long has it been? If it's been a long time, the emperor's self-righteous surname has returned, and my generation wants to do something independently, but can I get it? ”

Even Zuo Maodi had no way to answer such a question, so he could only remain silent.

He was silent, but Ma Shiying was reluctant to end the topic, and talked eloquently, but he looked like he was in his heart. From the prince's point of view, Ma Shiying's ability to govern and manage money is admired to the core.

Even if he kills the enemy in battle, the prince is also a rare brave general.

However, Ma Shiying did not believe in the tens of thousands of new troops that the prince trained in Qingjiang, and was full of doubts.

He is also a person with an old soldier, and as the governor of Fengyang, he doesn't know how many wars he has to endure. Not to mention anything else, Huang Degong, who is also very powerful in the four towns, is the town general he single-handedly used, with great prestige and countless meritorious contributions.

How could such a governor enter the court as a military foreman without his own views on military affairs?

The current Qing army is on the rise in Ma Shiying's view, and even Li Zicheng's strength is far above the Ming army.

The rebellion is claimed to be one million, but in fact there are at least about 400,000 Ding Zhuang, including about 150,000 to 200,000 veterans, and about 100,000 elite warriors.

Li Zicheng entered Beijing, deployed defenses along the way, and there were only 60,000 people when he arrived at the Battle of a Stone, even so, it was also pressing the Guanning soldiers to fight, until the Qing army suddenly appeared and was defeated.

Although the losses were heavy, they still fought and retreated, and at least quite a few elites still fled with Li Zicheng.

At this time, gather people and horses to wait for the battle in northern Shaanxi, just imagine, with the performance of the Guanning army, which town of the Ming army is Li Zicheng's opponent? I'm afraid that there are very few people who dare to fight head-on.

And the strength of the Qing army is even higher than Li Zicheng, now at this time, do not pay close attention to the two sides to fight each other, and negotiate a peace situation as soon as possible, and the Qing country is a northerner after all, the water network in the south of the Yangtze River is vertical and horizontal, and the place is hot, as long as the conditions can be negotiated, I am afraid that the other party may not necessarily have to mix Yuan Yiyu.

If you don't work hard now, you will regret it too late in the future.

The two auxiliary ministers are bent on seeking peace and making a treaty, and even the territory in the hands of the Ming Dynasty may as well be ceded.

Of course, Zuo Maodi could not agree, but he also knew in his heart that the negotiation of a specific treaty was probably the responsibility of Deputy Envoy Ma Shaoyu, and that it was the responsibility of Chen Hongfan, the chief military officer, to reconcile with the enemy.

And he insisted on the bottom line when it was broken, without losing his style.

There is a lot of pressure, and these days, it is difficult for people around me to see this master smile and smile.

(To be continued)