At the beginning of August, in the training ground outside the county seat, Zhu Yuanzhang's army was stepping up training. The 36th Battalion made a big havoc in Shanxi to buy precious time for everyone, and everyone was working hard to raise themselves to a level sufficient to dominate the world during this time.

Xue Hongqi quietly contacted several horse bandits in northern Shaanxi, and through the means of these horse bandits, he actually got more than 200 horses, expanded her cavalry team to 500 people, and with the help of Zhu Yuanzhang, 200 of them were trained into heavy cavalry, and the other 300 people continued to maintain the dress of light cavalry, but in addition to the scimitar, there were two more light bows. These horse bandits have not yet practiced their archery skills, which is considered very bad, and it is difficult to hit a single target when used to shoot them, but there is no problem in shooting a line of spears. Just like Xu Renjie once said when he joked, if you shoot an arrow at a military formation that is several zhang long and several zhang wide, it will really scare the enemy to death.

Wang Er, Yingshanhong, Miao Mei, Feishan Tiger, Big Red Wolf and others' equestrian skills have also improved significantly, of course, they have only learned for a few years, and it is still out of reach to compare with the horse bandits who have grown up on horseback for half their lives. But they have already learned a lot of basic knowledge, such as the way to fight in cavalry battles, precautions when charging into battle, etc., and now let Wang Er go to the battlefield, they will not be like the battle of Puzhou, directly into the crowd.

On the other hand, Xu Renjie's crossbowmen have also been trained with some results, and after a long period of cooperation practice, the soldiers can finally use the three-stage shooting more proficiently, and they will not knock over their own people when switching positions, but ...... When they and Xue Hongqi's banner soldiers conducted joint exercises, the crossbowmen were still a little flustered in the face of the oncoming cavalry, and made mistakes when switching positions, and were defeated by Xue Hongqi's cavalry team in the exercise, causing Xu Renjie to scold people in the barracks for a long time.

As for Yang Hong, he spent most of his time hiding in a ravine far away from the city, training the musket and artillery teams. At present, there are a total of seventeen Fulang cannons in Huanglong Cottage, of which sixteen are from Puzhou, one is from the Shenji Battalion, and there are one hundred and fifty bird guns, which are also from the Shenji Battalion. There were also fifty other firecrackers of all sorts. There are three-eyed eye guns, crutch guns, guns and the like. These fifty firecrackers of chaotic form were captured in several successive battles with the officials.

The ammunition for the Franc cannon was quite sufficient, because there was a lot of defensive materials in Puzhou. However, the musket faced the problem of lack of ammunition, and neither gunpowder nor bullets were available in the market. Zhu Yuanzhang didn't dare to ask Cao Baoxiang to write a letter to the imperial court, because it would easily expose that there was a problem in the county. Therefore, it is very difficult to train musketeers. Unable to shoot with live ammunition, Yang Hong had to let the firecrackers repeatedly train the array, as well as the actions of aiming with the guns and retreating from the guns. This kind of training is not very useful, but it is better than not practicing at all!

The above is military. As for the interior...... The sowing of autumn potatoes is proceeding in an orderly manner.

Unlike when the spring potatoes were planted, when the people were skeptical of this new crop and were not very energetic, this time it was different, the people were full of enthusiasm for sowing autumn potatoes, and everyone was smiling. And with the experience of planting spring potatoes in the past, the people are also more skilled, and they did something that they couldn't do well for half a day last time. Now it's easy to do.

There are farmers tossing in almost every field, and as far as the eye can see, the undulating ground of Baishui is full of human figures.

On the side of the official road outside the west gate of Baishui City, Cao Baoxiang was wearing an official uniform. With a group of servants, he was sitting on the side of the road and waiting for someone, and Zhu Yuanzhang actually pretended to be a squire in the city and waited here with him. Originally. The new county magistrate has already asked the post station to hand over the name sticker and allow time. I'll be here at noon today.

This new county magistrate is named Li Qingshui, only twenty-five years old this year, a genuine Jinshi, this is something that can be seen on the name sticker, as for what is not written on the name sticker, Cao Baoxiang doesn't know, Zhu Yuanzhang doesn't know, in order to control this guy who may make trouble for himself, Zhu Yuanzhang had to come to greet him in person, wanting to see where it will be.

Everyone sat on the side of the road and waited for a while, and when noon came, the main owner did not wait, only waited for the scorching sun, and several old farmers walked by them, muttering as they went: "This weather is not right...... It seems that it will not rain for a long time again. ”

The ancient farmers of our Celestial Empire knew how to look at the weather, they just looked at the clouds in the sky and the fish in the pond, and they knew whether the next days would be sunny or rainy, and they could even see the overall climate for many months or even a year! This is one of the essential skills of farmers who depend on the weather for food, and because of this, there are many children's songs that judge the climate and have been passed down to future generations.

Zhu Yuanzhang heard the conversation of these old farmers, his brows furrowed slightly, and after digging hard in his memory, he remembered that starting from August of the sixth year of Chongzhen, the great drought was about to start to abuse again. The climate that seemed to improve for two consecutive years will be even more out of control from this time, and there will be many places in the Central Plains and Northwest that have not rained for a year, which has also saved the thirty-sixth battalion that had fallen into chaos because of the death of King Zijin Liang for his own use. If the climate hadn't changed dramatically at this time, maybe Zijin Liang's death would have become an opportunity for the 36th Battalion to perish.

Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head, called a personal soldier, and ordered: "Go and gather all the well drillers in the city, and now start digging deep wells with all your might...... Be sure to ensure that the irrigation water is ......"

This is one of the benefits of potatoes, when the drought comes, the traditional crops don't want to live at all, even if the well is drilled, the well water is not enough to water, it must be a tragic outcome of no harvest. Potatoes, on the other hand, can live, but they are slightly smaller.

The soldiers hurried to find the well smith!

After waiting here for a while, the new county magistrate still didn't come, and it looked like noon had been a long time......

"Is that guy dying on the road?" Cao Baoxiang was dissatisfied.

Just as he was impatient, he suddenly saw a small donkey in the middle of the official road, and on top of the donkey sat a Confucian student, who looked about twenty-five years old, wearing a pale cyan long cedar, with empty hands, and his eyes kept looking in all directions. Behind the donkey followed a scholar, carrying a small package of floral cloth, and followed the little donkey panting.

"Isn't it the new county lord here?" A servant said.

"How could it be?" Another official shook his head: "If the county lord goes to work, he should come in a carriage, and there must be a few servants in the family, maybe he will bring his wife and concubine, plus the master...... What kind of school is this master, servant, and donkey? ”

In the midst of the discussion of the officials, the master, the servant and the donkey slowly approached, and the scholar who had originally followed the last ran up and asked respectfully to Cao Baoxiang, "Is this the county lord of Baishui?" ”

Cao Baoxiang nodded: "Exactly!" ”

The scholar hurriedly pointed to the Confucian student on the donkey behind him, and said, "Our master is here to hand over to you......"

"Huh? Is it really the new prefectural order? "Cao Bao is flustered, what about the family? What about the servants? What about the beautiful wife and concubine? What about the master? I didn't bring anything with this Li Qingshui brother, my sleeves were breezy, and I shook my hands?

The scholar saw that he didn't believe it, but he was not surprised, this way, every time he passed by some city or pass, when he was blocked by the officers and soldiers for questioning, the scholar newspaper his own master's name, and people didn't believe it! He was used to it, so he groped the ground from the package, found out a letter of appointment for the ministry, and handed it to Cao Baoxiang.

Cao Baoxiang glanced at it a few times, and now it was confirmed, it was really Li Qingshui who came! Is this man really a master, a servant, and a donkey to take office?

He walked to the middle of the road and saluted Li Qingshui, but he didn't slap his ass anymore, if it was a big official, he would habitually pat a few times, but the identity of the other party was on par with him, so there was no need to pat the horse.

Li Qingshui didn't care much about other people's eyes, got off the donkey, and also saluted Cao Baoxiang, and then accompanied by Cao Baoxiang, he walked towards the county seat, while walking, he still looked around, as if he was full of freshness to this place.

"Lord Cao!"

"Oh? Master Li has something to say......"

"I don't dare to be an adult, this is the first time I have been an official in a late life...... Li Qingshui said with a smile: "I was only admitted to the Jinshi in the late life, and there was no reason to be an official so quickly, but I was helped by my teacher to speak, so I mixed up with the errand of the county order, and I really didn't dare to ...... in front of a senior like Lord Cao, who was experienced in governance."

Hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang and Cao Baoxiang both lit up in their hearts, this person ...... There are people in the court to take care of them, but they are not outcasts...... In short, Shaanxi * West is safe, people only come to be the county commander, and Cao Baoxiang, just go to the dangerous Shanxi * West to be an official.

Thinking of this, Cao Baoxiang was really unhappy: "Dare to ask who your mentor is?" ”

"The late teacher is Mr. Yushan, also known as the old man of Dongjian." Li Qingshui said with a smile.

"Huh?" When Cao Baoxiang and Zhu Yuanzhang heard this name, they suddenly chuckled in their hearts, it turned out that this guy was Qian Qianyi's disciple, the new generation of the Donglin Party?

Qian Qianyi, the word is accepted, the number is Mu Zhai, the evening number is Mengsuo, and the old man of Dongjian is the same. Scholars call Mr. Yu Shan. One of the leaders of the poetry circle in the early Qing Dynasty. Acquaintances. The history of the Ming Dynasty said that he "was the time of enlightenment and Zhen, and the quasi-Northern Song Dynasty". In the thirty-eighth year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1610), he was one of the leaders of the Donglin Party, and he was dismissed because of the failure to compete for power with Wen Tiren. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, as the leader of the Donglin Party, he was already quite influential.

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