The huge convoy came out of Yecheng and walked north for ten days, and then entered the area actually controlled by the Zhenwei camp in Jizhou, so Liu Hui, the driver of Jizhou, unceremoniously waited in the south of the city with people, inspected and received the materials contained in the convoy, and then gave Yuan Shao a receipt, which was the first step to complete this exchange.

There are hundreds of miles from Jizhou to Youzhou, in order to save food and costs, but also to prevent Yuan Shao from sending meticulous spies to the hinterland of Youzhou, Jizhou Acting Governor Liu Hui arrived in Gutao City early, and Tai Shici, the head of the Zhenwei camp, also made various preparations in the city.

Yuan Shao this time in order to redeem the four northern counties of Bingzhou from Liu He, but he ruthlessly made a bloody return, not only providing Liu He with 300,000 stone grain, but also wealth worth more than 500,000 yuan, and by the way, he also quietly released Zang Hong and allowed him to go north with Chen Rong.

After Liu Hui received this grain and wealth, he did not keep all of it in Jizhou, he would give part of the grain and money to Tai Shici as the military expenses of the Zhenwei battalion, and the rest would be filled into the official treasury of Jizhou, and then write receipts to Zhao Gai and Qi Zhou, who were in charge of finance and grain in the direction of Jizhou, and after Zhao Gai and Qi Zhou received Liu Hui's receipts, they only needed to appoint the merchants in the Jicheng trading company to transfer the equivalent value of wealth and grain from Jizhou to Macheng in batches within a year.

This process seems to be a bit complicated and cumbersome, but in fact, it greatly saves labor costs, and at the same time avoids the sharp fluctuations in commodity prices caused by the local influx of bulk materials.

If all the states of Dahan can stabilize prices and adjust the supply of commodities through this method, it will be a great thing for the benefit of all people. It's a pity that now the warlords in various places are fighting endlessly, and this kind of commercial circulation based on internal unity is destined to be implemented only in the territory controlled by Liu He.

Chen Rong and Zang Hong, who were mixed in the convoy, continued to march north, and the two of them will go to Jicheng to thank the eldest prince for his rescue, and at the same time meet Taifu Liu Yu to find a background. Yuan Shao is not stupid. He didn't want to affect his alliance with Cao Cao because of Zang Hong's affairs, as long as he didn't blatantly hand over Zang Hong to Liu He, even if Cao Cao knew the Tao in the future, he could pinch his nose and deny it.

Liu He is a very trustworthy person, as long as he agrees to other people's things, even if there is no agreement in black and white, he will conscientiously fulfill it. When he received Liu Hui's confirmation news, he immediately ordered Guo Jia, who was stationed in Macheng, to let Guo Jia end all the arrangements for the annexation of the state. Guo Jia then sent someone to Bingzhou to deliver a letter to Zhao Yun, asking Zhao Yun to hurry up and transfer the troops back from Bingzhou.

There are many people who can't figure out why Liu Hewei wants to return the four northern counties of Bingzhou to Yuan Shao. Because Liu He obviously has the ability to completely occupy the land of these four counties, if Liu He is willing, most of Dingxiang County, Xihe County, and the northern part of Taiyuan County are already under Zhao Yun's troops. In fact, in Liu He's view, the northern part of Bingzhou is now empty, and even if he sends troops to occupy it, it is not of much value, but it is better to shrink his forces and maintain the suppression of the northern desert and the northern part of Bingzhou at a small cost. Since Liu He was able to occupy these places once. Then he will definitely be able to occupy it for the second time in the future, and he will not be afraid of being sold to others by him in the hands of Yuan Shao.

After Zhao Yun received Guo Jia's news, he sent someone to get in touch with Wen Chou's subordinate Hao Zhao, and asked Wen Chou to follow behind his army to take over the territory of Wuyuan County, Dingxiang County, and Yunzhong County. Because last time Hao Zhao was in Linrong, he "cooperated" well with Murong Ping and Sun Li. Zhao Yun didn't mind that this time all the great credit for "recovering and recovering the northern counties of the state" was sent to his "old friend" Wen Chou.

Wen Chou's scalp tingles when he heard Zhao Yun's name now, he threw all the things about taking over the territory to Hao Zhao, and he hid in Linrong City and refused to go to Loufu to meet with Zhao Yun.

And so, a strange scene happened.

Zhao Yun withdrew with his troops to the east. Hao Zhao led the troops to follow behind to pick up the turf, and the two troops cooperated very tacitly, just like a gang. Yan Liang, who was hiding in the Yuanping area, also wanted to run out to pick up the bargain. As a result, the cavalry sent by Zhao Yun blocked the road to the north, and had to honestly wait for all the troops in Youzhou to withdraw to Youzhou.

Zhao Yun left 5,000 infantry in Pingcheng and 5,000 cavalry in Qiangyin, and then handed over the captured Fengji to Hao Zhao, who came to hand over the capture, and led the remaining troops to return to Macheng with more than 10,000 Yuan army prisoners. At this point, the war on the western front of Youzhou came to an end, and neither the Yuan army nor the Hu people had the courage and strength to attack Youzhou again in the next few years.

According to the principle of reciprocity, Yuan Shao handed over Zang Hong to Liu He, and Liu He returned Fengji to Yuan Shao, as for the other captured Fengji generals, they were not among the exchanges, and naturally they were to be taken back to Youzhou to wait for Liu He's disposal and fate.

For Yuan Shao's camp, Wen Chou undoubtedly made a great contribution this time, not only did he not lose a single soldier, but also recovered the four northern counties, while Yan Liang was without merit. Yuan Shao was very dissatisfied with Feng Ji, revoked his position as the governor of the North Route Army, and ordered Feng Ji to return to Yecheng to listen to it, but Yuan Shao was not generous enough to appoint Wen Chou as the governor of the North Route Army, he actually appointed Gao Gan to take over the post of governor of the North Route Army, and then let Chun Yuqiong, the governor of the East Route Army, take over the post of governor of the Gao Gan and West Route Army, and Chun Yuqiong's vacant post of captain of the East Route Army was taken by Yuan Shao.

When Wen Chou was transferred from the Northern Route Army to the West Route Army, he was squeezed out by the senior cadres, and now he actually ran to the North Route Army to pick peaches, and the resentment and dissatisfaction in Wen Chou's heart can be imagined how deep it will be. The two brothers, Wen Chou and Yan Liang, once again served as the left and right generals of the Northern Route Army, but after time passed, how much loyalty and obedience to Yuan Shao remained in the hearts of these two people, it was worth playing and pondering.

The successive battles have also caused a lot of casualties to several troops in Youzhou, and the total number of troops in Xiaocaiwei, Longhuwei and Youyan Army is more than 10,000 shortfalls, and in the next half a year, the losses of each army will be supplemented by the transformation of troops and the screening of local reserve forces.

According to Liu He's meaning, among the captured Han soldiers of the Yuan army, some can be selected to be available, and as for the captured Xianbei soldiers, they are all included in the official slaves, and they will be sent to the coal mine to engage in the hardest and most dangerous labor in the future, until they are buried and pulled down.

Don't blame Liu He for being cruel, it's really the capricious, greedy and cruel people of Xianbei, so they can't gain Liu He's trust. Wuhuan people and Xianbei people belong to the same northern Hu nationality, and now Liu He is relatively gentle and tolerant to the Wuhuan people, not only recruiting a lot of Wuhuan cavalry, but also helping the Wuhuan tribe to develop agriculture, culture and education, so it has won the support and followers of many Wuhuan people.

After the end of the war, there is a special person in charge of the follow-up pensions, merit evaluations, and rewards, and Liu He does not need to look at everything, he only needs to show up a few times on important occasions, say a few words, and increase his charisma.

In June, Liu He came to Macheng again, and this time he personally met with the generals of the middle and above of the various armies who had made meritorious contributions in combat, and awarded these generals medals symbolizing honor. Subsequently, Liu He announced several new personnel appointment decisions.

Du Ji, the former governor of Baishan, served as the governor of Jining, Cao Peng Zheng Hun of the Taifu Mansion replaced Du Ji as the governor of Baishan, Gaoliu County ordered Ma Tai to serve as the commander of Pingcheng County, and the scribe Chen Rong served as the commander of Qiangyin County, and the order of Gaoliu County and Qiangyin County were controlled by the governor of Jining.

Ma Tai, as Sun Li's fellow villager, has served as a county magistrate in many counties over the years, and this time he was entrusted with an important task by Liu He and served as the county magistrate of Pingcheng. Chen Rong has the courage and insight, on behalf of Liu He to envoy Yecheng, successfully completed the task assigned by Liu He, this time to get Liu He's reuse, the salt-producing city of Qiangyin handed over to him to govern, as long as you persist for a few years, naturally it is obvious political achievements, and promotion is expected.

After the order was announced, many civilian officials and generals were a little confused, because everyone had never heard of such a place as Jining before.

It turned out that in order to strengthen the jurisdiction of the Daqing Mountain area, Liu He, after obtaining the consent of his father, chose a site near the southern foot of the gray Tengliang in the Yinshan Mountains to build a new city, and named it Jining, which means a place of "peaceful gathering", which is also very appropriate. If you look at the atlases of later generations, it is not difficult to find that the site of Jining City selected by Liu He is exactly the same as the location of Jining District in Inner Mongolia in later generations......

Since it is necessary to select a site and build a new city, the first thing is to solve the problem of population. Before Zhao Yun led the army to retreat to Youzhou, he had already sent troops to move all the Han people in the four northern counties of Bingzhou to the vicinity of Daqingshan, and these people who survived under the ravages and oppression of the Xianbei people are now going to settle in Jining and usher in a new life and destiny.

In order to strengthen the construction of Jining, Liu He transferred the talented Du Ji from Baishan City to Jining, and at the same time asked Xiao Caiwei to select and transfer 5,000 veterans to the north of Jining to be responsible for the security protection of the entire Jining area, which shows that Liu He attaches great importance to the new city.

If the Baishan City that has been preliminarily built is a solid bridgehead fortress north of Youzhou Baishan, then the Jining City that is about to start construction is a nail in the northwest of Youzhou wedged into the state and the desert, once the construction of Jining City is successful, the defense pressure of Macheng and Ningcheng will be reduced by at least seventy.

The cost of building a city is undoubtedly high, but from a long-term perspective, it is a matter of merit and benefit for the present and future generations. If Liu He wants to control the grasslands of the desert in the north, he must continue to expand to the north and move the Han people to the north, and building a city is undoubtedly the most effective means, after all, without a strong city as a cover, the Han people cannot settle and live with peace of mind.

After being busy with these things, Liu He led 13,000 soldiers and horses of Longhuwei back to Jicheng, accompanied by Guo Jia, Tian Chou, Sun Li and Murong Ping. Liu He's orphan daughter Ma Xing'er, who was adopted in Macheng, also returned to Jicheng with him this time, and now Liu He has both a son and a daughter, which can be regarded as a child. (To be continued......)