In the inner hall, Chen Ling and Lai Hu'er sat opposite each other, Zhang Xuan asked Lai Hu'er to accept Chen Ling's army this time, and also took into account that Lai Hu'er and Chen Ling were originally fellow villagers, and they had a friendship for decades, Chen Ling's resistance would be relatively small, so as to smoothly transfer military power.

Lai Hu'er poured Chen Ling a glass of wine and sighed: "I really envy my brother for abandoning the army to join politics and enter the center of power in the imperial court in his later years, and I am almost seventy years old, and I am still fighting in the south and the north, working in military affairs, I don't know when I will be freed." ”

Chen Ling took a sip of wine and said with a slight smile: "On the commander of the water army, no one in the world can compare with his brother, such a talent, how can the king of Qi be willing to let his brother enter politics, besides, the twelve tiger nephews are all Wen Tao Wu strategy, they are all rare talents, my brother assists the king of Qi to fight the world, let the nephews be in the court!" ”

Lai Hu'er laughed, Lai Hu'er was extremely energetic, married dozens of wives and concubines for decades, these wives and concubines gave birth to him twelve sons and eight daughters, twelve sons known as the Lai Twelve Tigers, both civil and military, all of them are promising, especially the fifth son Lai Hong was a high-ranking official in the Yang Guang era, and was named a servant of the Ministry of Officials in Zhongdu, and the eighth son Lai Tao served as a tiger tooth general under Luo Shixin.

The two drank a few more glasses of wine, and Lai Hu'er asked, "I received a letter from General Pei at noon, saying that Du Fuwei led the army to attack the cavalry camp the night before, is Du Fuwei the biggest threat to Jiangdu?" ”

Chen Ling sneered and said, "Among the three major threats to Jiangdu, he ranks second, not the biggest. ”

"So who's number one?"

"The number one threat is food!"

"Grain?" Lai Hu'er couldn't help but be stunned.

Chen Ling nodded, "Jiangdu is a big city in the world, once had a population of one million, even now there are 500,000 people, only one county in Jiangdu cannot feed so many people, food must be transferred from outside, generally through trade, Xuzhou, Jiangnan, Jianghuai and Jingxiang grain, and Jiangdu commerce and handicrafts are extremely developed, silk, cloth, oil, paper, lacquerware and other items are marketed all over the world, and now the dilemma is that Jiang is blocked, the north is Yu Culture and Zhai Rang, the west is Du Fuwei, and the south is Jiangnan Hui, As a result, Jiangdu's goods cannot be sold, and the grain from outside cannot come in, so the price of grain has soared, and it is urgent to solve the food dilemma, and it cannot be delayed for a day. ”

Laihu'er pondered for a moment, "Then where should I break the game?" ”

"Gangnamkai!"

Chen Ling smiled faintly: "It is also the third major threat to Jiangdu, my brother must use force to force him to let go of the grain trade, so that the grain in the south of the Yangtze River can flow into Jiangdu, and the grain shortage will be solved immediately, if I am not mistaken, His Royal Highness the King of Qi is planning to move the naval army to Jiangdu, right!" ”

Lai Hu'er did not deny it, and nodded slowly: "His Royal Highness the King of Qi believes that China needs logistics centers that can supply a large amount of food and materials, and Jianghuai and Jiangnan are the most ideal places, and there is no doubt that this is the world of the naval army." ”

After a pause, Lai Hu'er said: "Jiangdu is the best place for material transit, and bulk materials can be transported north by water here, either by river or sea." ”

"If Jiang Du is so important, I have a suggestion, please ask my brother to convey it to His Royal Highness King Qi as soon as possible."

"What advice, Brother Xian said bluntly as soon as possible."

Chen Ling bowed slightly, lowered his voice and said: "I am not belittling Lu Zhuo, although he is the father of the princess and the head of the Hebei family, he is still a white-faced scholar, with his ability is not enough to control the Jiangdu Rebellion, I suggest that Li Qingming be transferred to Jiangdu County Cheng or Sima, and let him sort out Jiangdu." ”

"Li Qingming?"

Lai Hu'er and Li Qingming are not familiar with each other, only know that he is a soldier of the military department, and he doesn't know anything about his ability, Lai Hu'er is a little puzzled: "Is he too young?" ”

Chen Ling shook his head and said: "Brother doesn't know this person, he was a scout leader in Jiangdu before, very courageous, now Jiangdu has been infiltrated by major forces, and commerce is almost controlled by the Jiangnan Society, and there are also the forces of the Long nobles here, as well as the forces of the Bohai Society, the forces of Xiao Milling, and even foreign forces such as the Wa Kingdom and Silla, Lu Zhuo is too gentle, weak, and lacks the means to act vigorously and resolutely, only Li Qingming can govern Jiangdu well, and the imperial court wants to control Jiangdu, it must be him." ”

Lai Hu'er knew that Chen Ling was relatively arrogant and didn't look down on people very much, since even he praised Li Qingming so much, which meant that this person had something extraordinary, Lai Hu'er nodded, "I was about to send an eight-hundred-mile expedited military report to Zhongdu, since Brother Xian recommended him so much, then I will recommend him as well." ”

When Zhang Xuan returned, it was the summer harvest season, and food was so important to the people and the army that even Zhai Rang and Yu Wenhua, who were engaged in a tug-of-war in the Xuzhou area, also temporarily ceased war, so that the people could harvest grain.

Wei County and Ji County are the largest granaries in Hebei, where the fertile fields are thousands of miles, the water source is abundant, and the endless wheat fields stretch for hundreds of miles, and there was a reputation of 'Wei Ye in the world' during the Cao Wei period.

Although after the fall of the Northern Qi Dynasty, the economy of the Wei Ye area was devastated, the city was burned, people were relocated, and the grain output plummeted, which can no longer be compared with the heyday of the Northern Qi Dynasty, but the grain output of Wei County and Ji County still has a significant impact on Hebei, at least it can be called 'Wei Ji is ripe, Hebei is full'.

In this Goguryeo campaign, the Sui army finally almost swept away the treasury, arsenal and granary of Goguryeo, and obtained more than 400,000 stone of grain, but this grain is still far from enough for the 200,000 Sui army, according to the calculation that a Sui soldier consumes five stone of rice a year, their annual military food is at least one million stone, so the annual grain output is very important for the Sui army and the government and the opposition.

In order to maintain the stability of grain production, it is necessary not only to build a large number of water conservancy, but also to ensure sufficient labor, but due to the annual wars and turmoil in Hebei, the population loss is too great, and agriculture is far from recovering, and the food problem has always been Zhang Xuan's biggest problem.

In an official field about ten miles east of Zhongdu, Zhang Xuan and more than a dozen officials were sweating in the wheat field to harvest wheat, and almost all the court officials were assigned to various places to participate in the harvest, which was a tradition of the imperial courts for thousands of years, and Zhang Xuan was no exception.

While cutting wheat with a sickle, Zhang Xuan looked at the open space not far away, where his precious son Zhang Ting, accompanied by several personal soldiers, was busy picking up ears of wheat.

Although the child was still young, less than four years old, Zhang Xuan still brought him to the wheat field to let him feel the atmosphere of labor since he was a child.

No one knows whether the little one felt the atmosphere of labor, but he must have been playing happily, pouting his little butt and picking up the ears of wheat into the little basket.

"Your Highness can let the prince read!" Su Wei, who brought them water, looked at the child and smiled.

"His mother taught him to read at home, three words a day, and now he knows hundreds of words."

Without waiting for Su Wei to speak, Zhang Xuan smiled and said, "I know what Xiang Guo means by reading, let him officially start his education next year." ”

Su Wei nodded, "Children should be taught from an early age, and the prince has too much hope for us." ”

At this time, someone not far away said to Zhang Xuan: "Your Highness, Qingzhou has begun to plant rice in the summer and autumn season, we have more abundant water sources here, and the light is long, I think we should be able to grow rice too!" After all, rice yields much more than corn. ”

It was Laihong, the servant of the Ministry of Officials, who had just returned from accompanying Cui Huan to Beihai County to take up his post, and was extremely impressed by the beginning of rice cultivation in Qingzhou.

Su Wei was a little dissatisfied with Lai Hong's interruption of his words with King Qi, he glared at Lai Hong fiercely, Lai Hong was stunned for a moment, and he was too frightened to speak.

Yu Shinan, the imperial historian next to him, said: "The waiter is still a southerner, how can it be so easy to change dry land to paddy field, soil moisture, farming habits, farming equipment and technology, and even ploughing cattle are different, or honestly plant wheat and millet!" In case of a large reduction in grain production in Wei and Ji counties, it is not a joke! ”

Zhang Xuan stood up straight, wiped the sweat on his neck, and said with a smile: "Of course, it is a good thing to be able to increase grain production, but Dr. Yu is right, it does have to be done step by step, this year Qinghe County will do rice experiments first, if Qinghe County succeeds in planting rice this year, then next year it will be the turn of some counties in Wuyang County, and the best way to plant rice is with buffalo, and you have to find a way to go to the south to buy a batch of buffalo back, anyway, things will not be so easy." ”

The anger in Su Wei's heart calmed down slightly, and he took over and said: "I remember that in the early years of the emperor, in order to hoard grain to attack the south, everyone tried their best, and the imperial court also specially issued a bean and melon order, requiring every household to plant winter melons on the roof, beans in front of and behind the house, lotus root in the pond, yam in the mountain soil, and then grind them into flour and mix them with wheat flour. ”

Su Wei's words made everyone unanimously praise, "This is a good way to encourage farmers to plant, and the government will pay for it, whether it is used for disaster relief or famine preparation, as long as there is food in hand, everyone's pressure will be much less." ”

Everyone looked at Zhang Xuan together, Zhang Xuan nodded and said, "I think it is feasible to restore the bean melon order, Su Xiangguo went back to draft a plan, and the beans and yams can be planted first." ”

As he was talking, several cavalrymen wearing red armor rushed to the official road from a distance, and Lai Hong hurriedly said: "Your Highness, it seems to be an urgent military report!" ”

Zhang Xuan also saw it, and he said to the surrounding ministers: "It is estimated that the news from Jiangdu is here, let's take a rest together!" ”

Zhang Xuan picked up his son and walked towards the official road with more than a dozen ministers, and a messenger cavalryman saw Zhang Xuan, turned over and dismounted, stepped forward and knelt down on one knee, and presented the battle report with both hands: "Jiangdu sent an eight-hundred-mile urgent express, please take a look!" (To be continued.) )