"Zijing, I remember that you hate red tape and extravagance more than I do? Why did you change your surname today and make such a big scene to greet me? ”

It is not to blame that Deputy Director Tao is a dog biting Lu Dongbin, I don't know Lu Su's heart, mainly because Lu Su, who has always liked to act frugally, made a welcome scene this time is really a bit big, leading tens of thousands of Hefei military and civilian gentry out of the city ten miles to greet him, but also on both sides of the road on the road on the way into the city of Deputy Director Tao, there are enough drums and silk bamboo to play non-stop, the soldiers of the Huainan Army of the Xuzhou Army with bright clothes and armor are lined up on both sides, swords and guns are like forests, military flags are like the sea, and the ground that has been repeatedly cleaned many times is also newly padded with delicate river sand from the Shishui River. It is not an easy task to get so much fine sand from the river in the cold winter.

"The lord forgives the sin, Su is a little extravagant this time, but it is also to fulfill the order of the lord's bus generation." Lu Su, who knew the intention of Deputy Director Tao, honestly pleaded guilty, and said with a smile: "The lord wants Su to make the momentum as loud as possible, so that our neighbors in the south know that the lord is coming, so Su simply tried to make the momentum to the maximum, and sent people to Shishui to wash the sand and pave the road early, so that the neighbors knew that the lord was coming, and by the way, dredge the channel, so that it is more convenient for our warships to enter and exit Chaohu Lake." ”

"Zijing will really be in charge, killing two birds with one stone, wonderful." Deputy Director Tao also smiled and asked again, "So what is the effect?" How did our good neighbors react? ”

"It works pretty well." Lu Su replied respectfully: "Not only Yuan Shu and Liu Xuan sent envoys, Jiangxia Liu Qi and Changsha Zhang Xian, but also Wang Lang, the old lord's old department, Zu Lang of Jing County, Jiangdong Yu, Wei, Gu, and Lu, all sent envoys or representatives, and even Yan Baihu, who was the farthest away from us, the envoy he sent also arrived in Hefei yesterday, waiting in line for the lord to receive him. ”

"What about Sun Ben and Wu Jing? Did they send a representative? "Deputy Director Tao still has a little conscience in the end, and he is very concerned about the situation of his future relatives.

"Nope." Lu Su's shaking of his head and reply made Deputy Director Tao quite surprised, and then Lu Su reported again: "However, our army has made a detailed report, saying that Sun Ben and Wu Jing are currently leading their troops to be stationed in Chungu to prevent our army from crossing the river from the mouth of the river. ”

"That's right." Deputy Director Tao blinked his evil eyes and thought about it for a while, and soon said with a smile: "Let them go, if you want to come to see them, you can come, if you don't want to come, forget it." ”

"After entering the city, I will immediately meet with Liu Xuan's envoy, and then tomorrow I will meet Liu Qi, Zulang, Wang Lang and the representatives of the envoys of the four major families of Jiangdong in turn, I don't see the envoy of Yuan Shu, Zijing, you arrange a ceremonial official to come forward to send it, if the envoy of Yuan Shu asks me about my intentions, you will tell him the truth frankly, I came to Huainan this time to inspect the reconstruction work of Huainan, and I have no other intentions. As for Zhang Xian's envoy, first invite him into the post house to eat and drink well, and then talk about other things slowly. ”

Deputy Director Tao's heart is indeed not only ordinary evil, deliberately received Liu Xuan's envoy as soon as he arrived in Hefei, and deliberately did not see Xiao Yuan Sangong's envoy, making it clear that it was to create contradictions, so that Xiao Yuan Sangong felt that he had once again hooked up with Liu Xiang to become a annihilation, and was ready to join forces to insult Xiao Yuan Sangong again, and even if Xiao Yuan Sangong had doubts about this, he did not dare to relax his vigilance against Deputy Director Tao and Liu Xuan's alliance with him, especially did not dare to relax the monitoring and defense of Niuzhu Ferry.

In front of Liu Ji, the eldest son of Liu Xuan, who served as the envoy again, our Deputy Director Tao desperately agitated like a spring, and shamelessly said some nonsense such as the good-neighborliness and friendship of the Tao and Liu families, a strip of water, and a friendship that lasts forever, and kept hinting that he was willing to form an alliance with Liu Xiangjun again and join forces across the river to crusade against Xiao Yuan Sangong, but Liu Ji, who had already suffered losses and was fooled, said that he would not dare to be fooled again. I just inquired and cautiously asked Deputy Director Tao about the purpose of going south this time.

The saliva is almost dry, and Liu Ji still doesn't see Liu Ji fooled, and invites his Xuzhou elite to cross the river to attack Xiao Yuan Sangong, Deputy Director Tao has no choice, so he can only tell the truth: "Don't worry, the eldest prince, this envoy Jun led the army to the south this time, just to inspect the reconstruction of the second county of Huainan, and to contact the neighbors around Huainan to have feelings, and there is no plan to implement any military action." Please also ask the prince to return to Liu Yuanjun, please Liu Yuanjun can rest assured that the two families have always been friendly, and the situation of friendly coexistence will not change now, and it will not change in the future. ”

"With an army of 20,000 to inspect the reconstruction of Huainan, is there really so much money and food for your Xuzhou thief army that there is no place to put it?" Liu Ji Gongzi muttered in his heart, he didn't believe the truth of Deputy Director Tao at all, but he didn't dare to say it, so he could only thank Deputy Director Tao and said: "Thank you for your teaching, and please rest assured, Ji will definitely truthfully echo the original words of the envoy to my father, and ask my father to send another envoy to cross the river to reward the army, and thank you for your friendship." ”

"You're welcome, the friendship between your and our two armies lasts forever, and it should be." Deputy Director Tao didn't give up and said another nonsense, "Please ask the prince to know Lingzun, he should never meet him again after parting with Liyang, and he misses Liu Zhijun very much, if Liu Yuanjun is free, he should be willing to meet Liu Zhijun in Liyang again, and the door of Ying will always be open to Liu Zhijun." ”

After sending Liu Ji away, Deputy Director Tao immediately summoned the civil and military officials who guarded the land of Huainan to understand the reconstruction of Huainan County in person, and what made Deputy Director Tao very helpless was that because it was too seriously damaged by the war and was too miserable by Xiao Yuan Sangong's wanton expropriation, although the people's livelihood and economy of Huainan County have recovered, it is far from reaching the peak level. If it weren't for the fact that it was next to Guangling County, Fujun County, Xuzhou, and the benefit of transporting grain from the Huai River, Huainan would have had a famine of cannibalism like the same period in history.

"I didn't expect that this year's drought in Huainan would be so serious, and the situation you reported to me was even more serious." Deputy Director Tao frowned and said: "Forget about other places, basically there is no big war in the northern part of the Lujiang River, the grain production has decreased by more than sixty percent, I remember that there are many rivers there?" Why don't you want to find a way to build some water conservancy and divert water from the river and Shaobi Lake for irrigation? ”

"The lord is rebuked, and Zhao is guilty." Lu Su in the civil affairs of the first deputy Zhang Zhao frankly pleaded guilty, and defended: "But Zhao and others are not without consideration of the construction of water conservancy, water diversion to irrigate farmland, this year, Zhao and others have built 28 miles of diversion canals, but the water conservancy project is not overnight, Yuan Shu was in Huainan that year, but also never repaired a section of the embankment, dug a foot of water diversion channel, two counties and twenty-five cities are all dependent on the sky to eat, Zhao and others started from scratch, so the effect is very slow. ”

"The lord forgives the sin, and I'm afraid the drought will still be the same next year." Lu Su said dejectedly: "The day after tomorrow will be Chinese New Year's Eve, but the central and northern grain-producing areas of Huainan Second County have not yet had a light snowfall, and the drought has appeared, and next year's Huainan Second County will definitely still rely on the five counties of Xuzhou to supply grain." ”

"Food is a small thing." Deputy Director Tao waved his hand and smiled, but there was not much happiness in the laughter, so he could only say with a swollen face and a fat man: "The northern front of our army is already peaceful, and it is estimated that there will be no major war in one or two years, and the problem of supplying grain to the second county of Huainan is not big, but you must seize the time to repair the water conservancy to resist floods and droughts, and strive to achieve self-sufficiency in grain and grass as soon as possible, and feed back to other counties." ”

Lu Su and Zhang Zhao and other Huainan officials sang their promises together, and then Zhang Zhao suggested: "Lord, Zhao has an idea, just now Lu Dudu has said that the disaster in the two counties of Huainan in the coming year has appeared, and the grain production is destined to be reduced. ”

"It's a good idea, to work for relief, not only to repair water conservancy for the benefit of the future, but also to let the hungry people have food to eat, so that they don't rise up to rebel and make trouble, and they are allowed to do it." Deputy Director Tao agreed on the spot.

"But the problem of money and food?" Zhang Zhao asked with some concern: "If the lord wants to launch a full-scale war to capture Jiangdong, then the amount of money and grain that the two counties of Huainan need to ask for from the rear of Xuzhou may not be able to afford it." ”

"Mr. Zibu doesn't have to worry about money and food, he should have already said that he will support you in terms of money and food to the end." Deputy Director Tao said it very beautifully, but he was worried in his heart: "It seems that the expansion plan to launch a large-scale attack on Jiangnan can only continue to be postponed, what kind of luck is Lao Tzu, the military general's luck has just improved a little, and Jiangnan's luck has rotted again-God, the director has always been honest and honest, and he only eats and drinks more than 30 meals a month with public funds, and the invoices issued for reimbursement in the bathing center have never exceeded 30,000 yuan a month, why can you bear to torture me so much?" ”

Although the plan to launch a large-scale war against the south of the Yangtze River in a short period of time is impossible, this does not mean that Deputy Director Tao has given up the plan to review the Xuzhou Naval Division, on the contrary, after the hasty Chinese New Year in Hefei, on the second day of the Lunar New Year, Deputy Director Tao personally led 10,000 troops to the shore of Chaohu Lake, climbed the Juchao Tower built by Lusu, and condescendingly inspected his Xuzhou Naval Division.

This is a relatively weak naval force, with less than 150 large warships carrying more than 200 troops, and only more than 600 light boats, and the ships are only about one-third of the small Yuan Sangong Naval Division, less than half of Liu Xuan's naval division, and most of the sailors have not been tested in actual combat, and there is a great lack of experience in water warfare, and most of the core forces are Jianghuai water bandits and a small number of Huainan naval divisions recruited by the Xuzhou Army, and the overall combat effectiveness is difficult to guarantee. So even Lu Su, who personally formed this water division, admitted that if he fought with Xiao Yuan Sangong or Liu Miao on the water now, then the winning side of the Xuzhou water division would be very pitiful.

However, this Xuzhou naval division was not completely useless, at least the military discipline was quite good, one by one stood straight on the deck, shouted slogans unusually neatly, commanded the banner of the generals, and was able to command the fleet to advance and retreat, charge and fight, and fight in formation, and also had a clear eye and skillful movements -- I just don't know if it can continue to be maintained in actual combat.

After witnessing the training and water warfare exercises of the Xuzhou Navy Division, Deputy Director Tao, who was barely satisfied, also nodded, recognizing Lu Su's efforts in the past year, and then Deputy Director Tao had a whim, ordering two thousand Qingxu soldiers to board the ship and set sail, trying to let the largest number of Qingxu soldiers in his team practice water warfare - of course, not technical work such as rocking oars and steering and lifting sails, but let Qingxu soldiers practice assassination and arrow release on the deck, to see if they are as unlucky as Cao Boss in history, encountered the unfortunate thing that the northern soldiers were not accustomed to the wind and waves.

The evil deputy director Tao is obviously more unlucky than Cao Laoda, two thousand Qingxu soldiers started to be fine after getting on the ship, and they can also have a decent actual combat drill on the deck, but it happened that a cold north wind blew, the water surface of Chaohu Lake was turbulent, undulating and undulating, and it stopped for a long time, and also blew a lot of warships carrying Qingxu soldiers to the center of the lake, and finally the wind stopped, and these unlucky Qingxu soldiers returned to Deputy Director Tao, almost all of them squatted on the dock and vomited violently as soon as they got off the warship, and many people even vomited out of the overnight meal, and their faces were pale, cold sweat and dizziness and nausea are countless, and almost every Qingxu soldier has a seasickness reaction.

"Jiangnan, it's really not so easy to take." Deputy Director Tao smiled bitterly, and suddenly had an idea, and suddenly remembered what he had overheard in the 21st century about the prevention and control of motion sickness - using ginger slices to stick on the navel to prevent motion sickness.

After the end of the two rounds of actual combat exercises, it was getting late, because there was still another drill to watch the next day, Deputy Director Tao was too lazy to take the army back to Hefei City 30 miles away for the night, ordered the army to camp directly on the shore of Chaohu Lake, rest on the spot for the night, and summoned Lu Su, Zhang Zhao, Jia Xu, and Liu Ye in his temporary tent to discuss the military situation with them, and discuss the next move.

"For at least a year, our army must not launch a full-scale war to capture Jiangdong."

This is the conclusion reached by several lackeys to Deputy Director Tao after careful analysis, and there are two key reasons for this conclusion, one is that the two counties of Huainan with serious natural disasters cannot take on the heavy task of attacking and occupying the rear of Jiangnan, and the other is that the current strength of the Xuzhou Navy Division is still too weak, if it cannot compete head-on with Xiao Yuan Sangong or Liu Xuan's sailors on the battlefield on the river, and effectively protect the Xuzhou army's waterway to cross the river, then the combat effectiveness of the Xuzhou infantry cavalry will not be stronger than that of the princes of Jiangnan. When the troop-carrying ship arrived on the Yangtze River, it was still a live target for the enemy's sailors.

Deputy Director Tao, who never takes risks, of course agrees with the judgment of Jia Lao Poison and others, but Deputy Director Tao did not give up hope, and said in a deep voice: "Then if we implement our original plan before, try to make the first army cross the river and occupy a city south of the Yangtze River, and establish a strong advance base so that the main force of our army can cross the river in the future, is this feasible?" ”

"Still not feasible." Zhang Zhao preemptively said: "Not to mention that it is very difficult for our army's naval division to break through the Yangtze River with troops now, even if it can send the army over, it is useless, there are fewer soldiers to cross the river, and it is impossible to take the cities along the river to hold on, and there is no food, no aid and no place to defend in the wilderness, no matter how elite it is, it will be annihilated by the enemy sooner or later; There are too many soldiers sent over, and the logistics cannot be guaranteed if the naval division does not have an advantage, and once it is impossible to obtain local supplies, it will basically not be far from the annihilation of the entire army. ”

After finishing speaking, Zhang Zhao added another sentence, saying: "Moreover, the land in the south of the Yangtze River is barren, and it is very difficult for the army to obtain supplies on the spot. ”

"The land in Jiangnan is barren?" Deputy Director Tao, who did not distinguish between grains, was a little surprised, and said: "Don't they all say that Jiangnan is good, the land in Jiangnan is fertile, the products are abundant, and the grain production is abundant?" What did Mr. Zibu say about the barren land in Jiangnan? ”

"Huh?" Zhang Zhao, Lu Su and Liu Ye and other locals were all very surprised, and after glancing at each other, they were all extremely puzzled and asked Deputy Director Tao: "Lord, who told you that the land in Jiangnan is fertile?" If one acre of land is planted with the same rice seeds, the land south of the Yangtze River will be harvested at least 30% less than that in Huainan? ”

"What? And what's going on? Deputy Director Tao was even more dumbfounded, he really couldn't understand how the legendary land of fish and rice, the land of Jiangnan, had become a barren land with poor mountains and bad water in the mouths of Zhang Zhao and Lu Su and others.

The book shows that Zhang Zhao and Lu Su and others did not lie in front of Deputy Director Tao, the red soil in the south of the Yangtze River is indeed the most barren soil in the world, and the reason for this is the leaching effect of soil science, a large amount of rainfall washes away the nutrients and minerals in the soil, which is very unfavorable to the growth of crops, so the water towns in the south of the Yangtze River in this era are indeed far less barbaric than the north.

Of course, Deputy Director Tao's words are not wrong, the later Jiangnan is indeed rich in the world, and it is one of the most important grain producing areas in the whole of China, and the reason for this is the hard work of our Chinese ancestors, with their sweat and diligence, with thousands of years of long time, in the barren red soil of the south of the Yangtze River, cultivated a kind of artificial soil suitable for the growth of crops - paddy soil! It turned the barren land in the south of the Yangtze River into a paradise on earth, and also laid a solid foundation for the reproduction and prosperity of Chinese civilization.

But it is a pity that the Jiangnan paradise that the Chinese nation has worked hard to build for generations has fallen into the hands of barbarian robbers several times, and has become the fish on the anvil for the ancestors, descendants and the same kind of people to take and take away the pig Gege, and has also become the most important financial source for the two Qing bannermen and the Mengyuan court, and the sweat and blood of the Chinese nation for generations have almost flowed in vain. As a public servant of a certain Qing Dynasty, Deputy Director Tao naturally could not know from the propaganda and introduction how much blood and sweat the ancestors shed for Jiangnan, and how much some so-called human beings that Deputy Director Tao's bosses sheltered and honored snatched from Jiangnan.

The words are far away, back to the point, because after coming to this era, he has not stepped on the Yangtze River, and he does not know the actual situation south of the Yangtze River in this era, Deputy Director Tao can only choose to believe in the introduction of Zhang Zhao, Lu Su and others to Jiangnan, and casually said a few words to cover up, and then looked at Jia Lao Poison, who was also not familiar with the situation in Jiangnan, and said with a wry smile: "Mr. Wenhe, it seems that if you want to realize the plan you proposed to me in Kaiyang, you can only count on one of the wise decisions of Yuan Shu or Liu Xuan, Took the initiative to ask us to cross the river. ”

Jia Lao Poison smiled a little embarrassedly, and said: "It seems that it has to be lucky, but fortunately, the purpose of scaring the snake has been achieved, and Yuan Shu, Liu Xuan and others are already afraid of the power of the main army, and there may not be no hope at this time." ”

Deputy Director Tao smiled bitterly and nodded, but he didn't have much hope in his heart, but Zhang Zhao poured cold water on Deputy Director Tao and said: "Lord, in fact, when Zhao learned about the lord's plan, he already wanted to remind the lord not to take this risk, from the spring valley to the Yangtze River estuary, it is the most densely populated place and city in Jiangdong, and it is also the place where Yuan Shu and Liu Miao attach the most importance to the essence of Jiangdong, even if our army has laid a nail in this line, it will inevitably find Yuan Shu and Liu Xuan's full counterattack, and even the two thieves will join forces to fight back!" ”

"What Mr. Zibu said is very true, and he should be taught." Deputy Director Tao nodded modestly as he seemed to be very humble and taught, but halfway through his head, Deputy Director Tao's heart moved again, and he hurriedly said, "Mr. Zibu, what did you just say?" Please repeat it. ”

"What do you mean?"

Zhang Zhao, who didn't spend much time with Deputy Director Tao, Lu Su and Liu Ye and other confidants of Deputy Director Tao were about to open their mouths to repeat for Zhang Zhao, but a herald suddenly came in outside the tent, knelt down on one knee in front of Deputy Director Tao, and hugged his fists and said: "My lord, the patrol soldiers of our army have captured a teenager outside the camp, claiming to be surnamed Sun Mingquan, and I have something important to do to play the lord, and I beg the lord to receive him, may I ask the lord to meet him?" ”

"Sure enough, it came." Deputy Director Tao grinned, first nodded in agreement to receive the meeting, and then turned to Jia Lao Poison and said with a smile: "Mr. Wenhe, it seems that the plan you proposed is hopefully successful." ”

(To be continued)