Hearing Chen Hongfan's request to meet, Zuo Maodi was not unavoidable, nodded and said: "There are still more than 20 miles away from Shanyang, it is not possible to rush to the city to eat, just take a rest, and the guys will bury the pot and cook now." ”

There were three envoys in the first and second deputies of the mission, accompanied by some officials, and then the family servants of the envoys, adding up to about 120 people, with more than a dozen carts sitting and pulling luggage, and dozens of horse teams, which were used as guards and guards.

Just as Shao Sima gave an order, the entire team stopped.

Although it is the end of July, there is no coolness under the sun, but when the wind blows, it is not so hot and uncomfortable, with a little coolness.

At this time, the official road from Huai'an to Yangzhou is still under repair, the mission team is walking on the canal embankment, all the way to see the past, although Zuo Maodi is full of worries, see the river area practice like a belt, sparkling, the river embankment is densely packed with various tree species, there are also countless boats and merchant ships in the river, and they are heading north.

At this time, there were also ships heading south, but there were very few, far less than the number of ships and merchant ships heading north.

Of course, it is not a peaceful season, and it is still in the midst of war, so the number of ships has been greatly reduced. If it was the early years of Wanli, the number of ships would have been ten times more than that.

On the left is the canal, on the right hand is scattered villages, at this time it is the middle of summer, Yangzhou has all been planted with rice, but the slope of the canal is inconvenient to irrigate, can not plant rice, in previous years did not restrict what to plant, now look at the past, the slope is a large variety of sweet potatoes.

Zuo Maodi knew that this was the idea of the Generalissimo's Mansion, and it seemed that he was vigorously promoting the sweet potatoes despite their sweet and low yields. Previously, it was only a few thousand acres planted in Huai'an, but it was ten times more popularized.

Seeing this situation, Zuo Maodi shook his head unconsciously, his face was also very ugly, and on the horse, he said softly: "Acting like this, Meng Lang is cut and unorthodox." ”

Of course, he was very dissatisfied with Chen Zilong.

After all, it is a good thing for the crown prince to persuade farmers to repair water conservancy, the king cares so much about agricultural affairs, but the courtiers let their surnames act in vain, which is a negative favor for the king, and Zuo Maodi is very discouraged.

While talking, someone in front rushed back, and immediately reported in a loud voice from a distance: "Master, Master Chen said that there is a garrison battalion in front of him, so please rest and eat there." ”

"Okay, I see, reply to him, so be it."

It was the Zuo family slave who spoke, so he used the title of a private residence, and Zuo Maodi had nothing to do, so he agreed immediately.

The reform of the military system in Fujian and Zhejiang has been carried out for more than two months, and most of the work of dismantling and merging has been completed, although there are many military towns such as Huang Degong and Liu Zeqing in Nanzhili, but the redundant generals and redundant troops have been abolished, and the work of setting up the town co-standard battalion and the Tangxun division is also in progress.

As soon as Chen Hongfan mentioned this, he agreed to come down and first watch the deployment of military towns in the area of Xuzhen, Huaiyang, which has matured in the restructuring, and after returning to Nanjing, he would not be untargeted.

And along the way, there is already a town in Huaiyang, a defense battalion, more than 20 defense ponds, along the way, it is already called Zuo Maodi is very satisfied.

After about a moment of effort, he had already arrived at the front of the security office.

From a distance, a small fortress was built on the side of the canal and in the center of two or three forked roads, and it was not very real from a distance, but along the way, he already knew that there were small firearms on the walls of these fortresses, but he didn't know how they were preserved, and whether they were trained according to military discipline every few days.

However, according to Jiangbei's custom, the Military Administration Department and the Military Training Department will inspect them every once in a while, and if the training and maintenance are not effective, the Xun Shou Officer will definitely be unlucky.

As for the annihilation of criminals, or as in the past, the officers and men of the Yingjiang Naval Division pretended to be river bandits and robbed, this is unthinkable in Jiangbei.

Along the way, Zuo Maodi saw at least dozens of groups of military police officers from the Judge Advocate General's Department passing by, more than a dozen people, as few as three or five people, inspecting Xuntang and the garrison camps everywhere, and inspecting the generals and soldiers walking on the road at any time.

This kind of military discipline and military discipline are still enforced, which is enough to make Zuo Maodi admire him very much.

"The last general will knock on the squire!"

Wait for Zuo Mao to be the first, the scarlet robe and jade belt, the tiger head card evasion card or something, the envoy honor certificate issued by the imperial court is the most important, as soon as he saw this, the leading interrogator had already knelt down far away, and behind him, all the military attachés and soldiers were kneeling on the ground in black.

"Get up, excuse me."

Zuo Maodi nodded slightly, and a servant beside him shouted loudly.

"Master Xie."

was shouted by a domestic servant, and after the guard got up to thank him, he also waved his hand behind him.

Under his order, all the officers and soldiers on the alert also stood up, and many of them showed displeasure on their faces.

Zuo Maodi naturally felt offended, and his eyes looked at the flood guard.

But I saw that this Xun guard officer was not wearing armor, but wearing the costume of a six-rank military attaché. This is a general officer of 100 households, about 30 years old, shrewd and capable.

Seeing the way he got up, he was neither humble nor arrogant, and the look on his face did not stammer, and then he gave an order on his own without asking for instructions. If it is in the south of the Yangtze River, it will inevitably be said that it is rude, but on the Jiangbei side, the rank of military attaché is already equivalent to that of civilian officials, and various service promotions have obviously boosted the courage of martial artists. As for the Martyrs' Shrine, the military rank system, and the military uniform system, Zuo Maodi has heard a lot.

Fortunately, the garrison town has not yet been implemented, otherwise, the arrogance of the military attaches may be longer.

If it is reprimanded and disposed of, I am afraid that the camp will still speak, and the northern envoy is imminent, and there will be many twists and turns. With this kind of thought, Zuo Maodi glanced at the interrogator coldly, and asked, "How many big guns are there on the wall?" ”

"Back to adults." The interrogator replied: "There are fifty-five officers and men in this interrogation, and there are four 160-pound Franc machine guns, and each of them has four large barrels of medicine. There are still twenty birds, thirty-five bows and arrows, no swords, and all the firearms and arrows are in the fort, please check them. ”

"Let's check it out!"

If it was in the previous Tang Xun, Zuo Maodi didn't want to commit the prince's jealousy, so he never checked when he passed by. The censor was too rude, so he decided to investigate thoroughly.

The Ming army is cheating, and he, a civilian official, is also well aware of it. Originally, when he was a governor, he led soldiers and had his own standards. Since this flood guard is in his hands, as long as there is a slight mistake, he might as well use it to make an appearance, which can be regarded as saving some trouble for the military judges in Jiangbei.

He gave such an order, and his own entourage went to investigate, Chen Hongfan greeted him at this time, and saw Zuo Maodi holding the identity of the squire of the military department, so he just smiled and quietly took a few steps back.

After a short while, I saw a few family members coming down from the village, and their faces were very ugly.

waited until Zuo Maodi came to him, and a family member reported: "Master, the number of weapons and the number of soldiers on their booklet are correct, the general maintenance is excellent, the oil is smeared, the medicine is also placed in a dry place, and the number and weight are also correct." The bow and arrows are all wound and maintained, and the number of arrows is also ......"

The man babbled and said, lest Zuo Maodi suddenly get angry.

Even Chen Hongfan and Ma Shaoyu, who rushed to hear the news, also glanced at each other...... The prince's camp is about to arrive, and it would be unwise to offend people plainly.

Moreover, Chen Hongfan still has a ghost in his heart, and Ya does not want to have much trouble here. He received a secret letter from Qingjiang yesterday, originally asking people to meet in Wangjiaying, but now he decided to meet in Qingjiang County for talks.

Although there is no real renegade yet, this time he took the initiative to ask for a northward journey, is it really to serve the Ming Dynasty?

That's a real joke.

Although he has no soldiers and no power now, his official fan is not so big. After many years as a general soldier, he ate empty salaries and drank soldiers' blood, embezzled food, salaries and ordnance, and drove military households to farm, robbing him of the largest share. In this last days, which of the Ming Dynasty commanders is not fishing for Wanguan furniture?

His trip is for the sake of his children and grandchildren, only money has no power, no shade to shelter, and the future of the family is difficult to say!

"Haha, yes, that's good!"

When everyone was worried, Zuo Maodi couldn't help laughing.

Seeing that everyone was stunned, Zuo Maodi smiled unconsciously, and said to the left and right: "The student has been an official for many years, and he has also served as a chief soldier. And the weapons can be kept intact and well-maintained, and there is no one in ten thousand. Besides, when we came over, there were swift guards sent troops to greet them, and it was obvious that there were ranger sentinels in the village, wasn't it? ”

"Yes, sir." At this time, there was a little respect on the face of the flood guard. In any case, the big official in front of him is still fair-minded and fair. He bowed down and said in a deep voice: "Benxun has a few fast horses, which are divided into four places, and the junction with other Xuntang is stopped. ”

"Sure enough." Zuo Maodi nodded, a smile on his face. He was also the governor who had the responsibility of defending the territory, if his subordinates, generals and colonels and various places were guarding the fortress and flood pond, why should he worry about the enemy army invading the territory?

Although there are more than 50 people guarding this small flood guard in front of him, there are so many big guns and shotgun bows and arrows, even if they are against a few hundred soldiers, they may not be able to hold it, even if the army presses the border, it can be easily done for a few hours. As long as the soldiers are diligent and dare to fight, even if the army is overwhelmed, these small fortresses can give the enemy a headache.

And all over the north of the river, at intervals, especially at intersections of several roads and rivers, as long as the enemy must pass through, or a place where the enemy can be warned, there will definitely be such small defensive fortresses. And from the south of the Yangtze River, the Yangzhou city defense battalion is even more fighting, the defense is very strict, the city is full of Franc machine guns and medicine, there are also quite a number of shotguns in the city to set up a bunk to guard, although such a city defense battalion is thousands of people, temporarily convene the reserve soldiers and people to go to the city, tens of thousands of elites are not allowed to break into the city!

"Ugh." Zuo Maodi sighed consciously and praised sincerely: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is also a true god, and the students are convinced." ”

(To be continued)