The time finally entered October of 184 BC (the pre-Qin calendar takes October as the first month of the year), the disputes between the countries gradually subsided, the army of Zhao also retreated to Handan, and Nanyang finally entered the cold winter.

The isolated barracks, counties, townships, and pavilions have also been lifted.

The specter of the plague finally subsided, and Xiang Zhuang could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

With the lifting of the ban on sealing locks, the government soldiers stationed in Nanyang County can finally disperse to the counties, and with the departure of the county government soldiers one after another, the Nanyang camp soon fell silent.

Xiang Zhuang is scheduled to leave Nanyang with the last batch of Xiao Cavalry Army and Sky Wolf Army, compared to the county soldiers who suffered heavy casualties, the casualties of Xiao Cavalry Army and Sky Wolf Army are not large, which is probably related to the fact that the forbidden army is the elite of the elite and the body is particularly strong.

This is also reasonable, the wounded soldiers are weak and always susceptible to infection.

Looking at the devastated Nanyang Basin, Xiang Zhuang sighed: "This time, we are greatly injured. ”

The two successive wars in Surabaya and Chushui and the addition of a plague have indeed hurt the vitality of the Chu State, and the loss of Zhuang Ding alone will exceed 200,000, and the distribution of pensions will be an astronomical amount, and nearly 700,000 Zhuang men will be transferred to participate in the war, resulting in a large shortage of strong labor in various counties, which has seriously affected agricultural affairs, and this year's grain production reduction has become a foregone conclusion.

The reduction of grain production there is a foregone conclusion, but there are still more than 500,000 refugees waiting to be fed here, and most of the autumn grain just collected by the counties is not enough to feed the more than 500,000 refugees in Nanjun and Nanyang counties.

The soaring price of grain will definitely promote the rise in the price of cotton, porcelain, liquor, etc., and it is foreseeable that the entire Chu region will usher in a new round of soaring prices, and its severity will far exceed the impact of the last large-scale bounty distribution in Xiangzhuang, so that the handicraft industry in Chu will usher in a terrible winter.

Of course, Xiang Zhuang can also see death and let more than 500,000 refugees in Nanjun and Nanyang counties starve to death, so that the prices of the entire Chu land can be stabilized, and the handicraft industry will not be greatly affected.

However, as a traverser, Xiang Zhuang obviously would not do this.

At that moment, Xiang Zhuang turned around, looked at Wu Shi and said: "Bazhi, I have to trouble you to go to South Vietnam again, at least you have to buy 500,000 stone rice from Zhao Tuo, otherwise, this winter will be difficult." "Chu is short of grain, Xiang Zhuang can only hit the head of Zhao Tuo, the king of Nanyue, Nanyue rice is ripe several times a year, and the most important thing is rice.

Wu Shi replied: "The king can rest assured, the minister will do his best to lobby the king of Nanyue." ”…,

Xiang Zhuang nodded, and asked Xiang again: "Ziyi, have the officials sent to the six counties of Nanyang, Yingchuan, Chen, Dang, Surabaya, and Donghai all been pulled out?" ”

The six counties of Nanyang, Yingchuan, Chen, Dang, Surabaya, and Donghai have been officially incorporated into the rule of Chu, and now, under the rule of Chu, there are seventeen counties, and the pre-Qin world is divided into thirty-six counties, and Chu has nearly half of them, however, at least in three years, Nanyang, Yingchuan, Chen, Dang, Surabaya, Donghai and other counties can only be the burden of Chu.

In particular, Yingchuan Group, Chen County, Dang County, which originally belonged to the Liang State, and Nanyang County, which was devastated by the plague this time, can really be described as full of devastation and a hundred ruins waiting to be rebuilt, unless Xiang Zhuang forcibly issued an edict to requisition the people of various counties to fill these counties, let alone three years, I am afraid that ten years may not be able to restore the prosperity of the past.

But that's all for later, so let's get through this winter for now.

Xiang He hurriedly said: "Back to the king, the six county guards and eighty-six county commanders sent to the six counties have been summarily promoted, and they will go to their posts in the near future." After saying this, Xiang He added, "However, the king, the minister heard that the thieves are swarming under the rule of the six counties, and the law and order is not good, so a considerable number of troops must be retained to maintain law and order. ”

Xiang Zhuang's heart moved slightly, and he suddenly thought of the 40,000 Liang army prisoners of war.

Seeing that he was about to leave Nanyang, how to settle these 40,000 Liang Army prisoners of war had not yet been figured out.

These 40,000 Liang prisoners of war were originally Liang people, although they were all murderous veterans before they were captured, but after several years of training as prisoners, their ferocity has been reduced a lot, why not take this opportunity to release them back to Liangdi, and then train them on the spot to become the government soldiers of each county in Liangdi?

If this matter is done well, it can not only solve the garrison problem of the counties in Liangdi, but also add an elite division to Dachu out of thin air, no matter what, these 40,000 prisoners of war have been veterans of a hundred battles, but if you want to suppress this group of veterans, you have to send them a general, this matter is none other than Gao Chu.

At that moment, Xiang Zhuang instructed Xiang Tuo: "Ziyan, immediately send the flying horse to Wuguan, and let Gao Chu come to Wancheng." ”

"Whoa!" Xiang Tuo agreed, went down to arrange, Xiang Tuo just left, Qu Bucai hurriedly came to Xiang Zhuang again, and said, "King, this is the flying pigeon from Jiangling, which was sent from Xianyang." ”

After reading the secret letter, Xiang Zhuang sighed, turned back to Bai Lixian and said, "Ziliang, the plan to fall into the well has failed. ”

This secret letter was sent from Xianyang, saying that Bai Mo relieved Lu Tai of his military power with the help of the champion Hou Zhou Guanfu, and killed Lu Xuan, the defender of Jiuyuan County, with a thunderous force, and now the authority of the entire Han Dynasty has completely fallen into the hands of Bai Mo and Chen Ping, and the attempt of the monarchs and ministers of Chu to provoke civil strife in Han has failed.

In addition, the secret letter also mentioned that Chen Ping had rebuilt the pre-Qin spy agency Black Ice Terrace, and launched a purge of the spy agencies of various countries in the Kanto region.

"It's a pity." After Bai Lixian circulated the secret letter, he also sighed, "It's a pity that I have such a good opportunity." ”

After a pause, Bai Lixian said again: "However, this is also reasonable, if Bai Mo can't even cope with this crisis, what qualifications does he have to serve as the minister of Tuogu?" ”

Xiang Zhuang was silent, Bai Mo was so difficult, I was afraid that it would take another effort in the future.

Qu Bucai said in a deep voice: "King, I'm afraid that the activities of Ebony Cliff in Guanzhong will also be affected in the future. ”

Xiang Zhuang frowned and was silent, and after a long time, he suddenly asked, "How is the training of the spy personnel sent to the Xiongnu?" ”

Since learning that the Xiongnu from Yan, Zhao, Han land looting population, Xiang Zhuang has raised his vigilance against the Xiongnu, now the state of Chu has just experienced two major battles, the consumption of troops and material resources is serious, and then it is bound to recuperate for a period of time, during this time, the state of Chu is only afraid that it is unable to use troops on a large scale abroad. …,

But even so, Xiang Zhuang also hopes to understand the details of the Xiongnu as much as possible!

Obviously, with the successive demise of Liu Bang and Han Xin, the Xiongnu have replaced Qi and Han as the number one enemy of Chu, and the Xiongnu are still aliens, for Xiang Zhuang, a nationalist who crossed over from later generations, losing to Qi Han is nothing, but if he loses to the Xiongnu, he will become a sinner in history, which is categorically inadmissible!

Qu Bucai replied: "There are a few ebony dead soldiers who have infiltrated the desert as captive slaves, but it is not an overnight matter to send a liaison agency into the desert. ”

This is indeed a difficult problem, at this stage, there is almost no trade between the Xiongnu and the Central Plains, the Huns are basically lacking everything to rob, lack of food to rob, lack of salt to rob, lack of ironware, porcelain to rob, in this case, no matter what kind of body you pretend, don't want to break into the Huns.

Xiang Zhuang didn't care about this, and said arrogantly: "It's your business to think of any way, and the widow only needs the result." ”

As a traverser, Xiang Zhuang has always been full of vigilance against the Huns, and knows the serious consequences of a large number of Central Plains craftsmen being exiled to the desert.

Qu Bucai's heart was bitter, but he could only reply stubbornly: "King, the minister wants to go to Liaodong, and through the Beilu tribe, he may be able to think of a way to break into the Xiongnu." ”

"Yes." Xiang Zhuang said categorically, "You can find Qi to buy this matter." ”

Qi buy is the younger brother of the North Mink King Zhao She, Zhao She, begging to buy, eighteen years ago outside the city of Linzi was captured by Xiang Zhuang, Xiang Zhuang returned to Jiangdong to succeed the king of Chu, Qi bought became a red-capped merchant of Chu State, specializing in selling horses and slaves between Liaodong and Jiangdong, of course, his business was mostly by sea.

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This time they went south to fight the grass valley, and the Huns returned with a full load!

Taking advantage of the Yan, Zhao, Han, Qi, and Han countries attacking each other, the Huns took advantage of the weakness to enter, and actually broke through hundreds of cities in one fell swoop, in addition to more than 300,000 women and children, the Huns also grabbed a lot of property, just grain loaded thousands of carts, in addition to grain, there are a large number of iron, cloth and porcelain.

One day in early October, the mighty Xiongnu horse team finally returned to the Mobei royal court.

In the next half month, the entire Monan royal court fell into unprecedented joy, and Mao Dun rewarded more than 300,000 women and children, a large number of ironware, cloth and porcelain according to the merits of each tribe, but more than 30,000 craftsmen captured from the Central Plains were all intercepted by Mao Dun.

One day in late October, Mao Dun appeared at the foot of Yanran Mountain, more than 3,000 miles away from Jiuyuan, under the protection of three thousand Hun iron horsemen, accompanied by the military master uncle and a dozen old blacksmiths, these dozen old blacksmiths did not want to work for the Huns, but the Huns threatened their wives and children, and they had no choice but to give in.

After more than ten days of searching, more than a dozen old blacksmiths found a large area of iron ore veins at the eastern foot of Yanran Mountain.

After the harsh winter, Mao Dun requisitioned 50,000 slaves and 20,000 blacksmiths to come to Yanran Mountain to mine and smelt iron, for a time, Yanran Mountain became a boiling furnace, a furnace of molten iron was smelted, a sword was forged, and a handle of the fine bow was also made....... ）