Zhu Yuanzhang intends to seek to conquer western Zhejiang, and Liu Futong plans to kill three soldiers with two peaches, but of course Yidu does not know about these.

However, just as Ding Guozhen and others judged, the day after receiving the generals of Xu and Su Erzhou, someone really wrote to Deng She and made a suggestion, thinking that he should immediately send a song to An Feng and ask for a reward.

The person who wrote the book was not Hong Jixun, let alone Wu Henian, Luo Lilang, etc., but a person who no one thought of,—— Liu Shijiu.

Earlier, this Liu 19 was ordered to seize power in Yidu, but unexpectedly, he was easily subdued by Deng She, although he was still Liu Futong's "hidden pile" on the surface, in fact, he had already taken refuge in Haidong.

Since he has already invested in Haidong, for the sake of glory and wealth, he must make some contributions. It's just helpless, Liu Shijiu can't understand the text, can't do martial arts, can't recognize a few words, and has no outstanding general and martial arts. Other than that, nothing else contributed.

Liu Shijiu was very dissatisfied with this.

He is Liu Futong's younger brother, and he has a lot of status in the Song regime, and the reason why he is willing to abandon him and switch to Haidong is not because it seems that Haidong is more promising, and to put it bluntly, he can get more power? Today, with good news from Jining and Xuzhou, he suddenly remembered a task when he first came to Yidu earlier.

At that time, when he came to Yidu, he had two main tasks, one was to seize power, and the other was to promote the southeast of the sea to attack Xuzhou. Now Xuzhou has been down, although it is a little late, but for him, it can be regarded as completing the mission delivered by King Xiao Ming and Liu Futong; Second, for Haidong, it can also be said that he "obeyed" the holy decree. ——Now that you have obeyed the holy decree and successfully captured Xuzhou, wouldn't it be just right to ask for merit and reward?

He can represent King Xiao Ming and Liu Futong many times to make envoys to Yidu, first of all, it shows that he is not a stupid person; Later, he was able to decisively switch to Haidong, although he may not be a "junjie", but at least it shows that he is still quite sure of the current situation and current affairs. He has his own analysis.

Before writing to Deng She, some of his cronies did not understand and said: "King Yan Mingzun's court has different ambitions. Taking Xuzhou today has nothing to do with Anfeng's holy decree. The adult is a secret envoy of Taiwei Liu, although he is favored by King Yan, but his identity is inevitably embarrassing. At this moment, why bother to write and advise King Yan to ask the court for a reward? ”

The implication is that Deng She is not interested in the imperial court, and with the development of power, he has gradually become self-reliant; And you, Liu Shijiu, used to be Liu Futong's secret envoy, and at this time, he suddenly wrote a book, admonishing him to ask An Feng to reward him, isn't it boring to be self-deprecating? Plainly make him suspect that you, Liu Shijiu, are still on the side of the imperial court?

Liu Shijiu disagreed, and said: "This villain's opinion. ”

"What about adults?"

"King Yan is majestic, and when he sees me in this fold, he will not doubt it!"

"What do you mean by that?"

"King Yan has the inherent intention of self-reliance, but most of his forces are in Liaodong, Haidong and Shandong, which has not affected the Central Plains, and is far from Jiangnan and Huaisi. At the time of the bag, King Ming and Liu Taiwei revolted, occupied Henan, entered the pass in the west, crisscrossed Hebei, and galloped through the Three Jin Dynasty; Roll to the south, slightly Huaisi, down to the south of the Yangtze River, the world responded for a while, and all of them were the generals of my Song Dynasty. ......, although the situation is declining and the soldiers are scattered, as the saying goes: 'The tiger will not fall', how many rural heroes are still looking forward to Anfeng? How many heroes still regard Taiwei Liu as a hero? Although King Yan is famous in Haidong, compared to Taiwei Liu, he is far inferior! ”

After giving a general overview of Liu Futong's fame, he pulled the topic to the moment and said: "Don't talk about it, just talk about Huaisi." Let me ask you, now that the imperial court has retreated to Anfeng, it is located in a corner of the country, which is much inferior to the heyday, but why did the Tartars not continue to attack me after the capture of Bianliang? ”

"First, because King Yan was restrained in Shandong, Shandong was uneven, and Chahan did not dare to raise troops rashly; Second, there are many White Lotus believers in Huaisi, and there are many powerful people, even if the Tartars come to attack, it is difficult to win quickly. ”

"Not bad! I think that back then, Taiwei Liu was in Yingzhou, where is Yingzhou located? ”

"It's in the middle of Huaisi."

"Exactly! In the past, the imperial court was in Bianliang, although it was prosperous and empty; Today, the imperial court is in Anfeng, although it is small and strong. After the field battle in Shanzhou, King Yan raided Xuzhou, with obvious intentions, he wanted to go south to Huaisi and seek Jiangnan! Since I, Anfeng Imperial Court and Taiwei Liu, have a great reputation in Huaisi, how can he not scruple? ”

"What do you mean?"

"King Yan has strength, but he doesn't have too much fame in Huaisi. Therefore, I thought that when I asked An Feng to reward him, he would not be angry but happy! After all, with the reward of the imperial court, it is equivalent to the support of Taiwei Liu. With Taiwei Liu's support, the resistance to attacking Huaisi will definitely be reduced a lot. ”

Liu Shijiu's analysis is not unreasonable.

He is Liu Futong's brother, and he revolted with Liu Futong, and he is well aware of Liu Futong's prestige among the Huaisi White Lotus disciples.

Han Shantong and Liu Futong are both leaders of the White Lotus Sect.

For example, Han Shantong, who is known for the White Lotus Sect, his grandfather was once relegated for "burning incense to confuse the public with the White Lotus Society"; Another example is Liu Futong, who is the head of the Yingzhou realm, not only the head of the White Lotus Sect, but also the local wealthy. The Huaisi River Basin is indeed the place most affected by them. This is also why after Bianliang was breached, Liu Futong and others could still hold out in Anfeng for so long.

If Deng She is interested in Huaisi, this point must be taken into account.

Sure enough, after receiving Liu Shijiu's letter, Deng She was very happy.

In fact, Deng She had already had this intention, but he was never available and did not put it on the agenda. There is another reason for his happiness: after all, Liu Shijiu has the identity of a court envoy, and it is much better for him to take this fold than Hong Jixun, Wu Henian and others.

Therefore, he hardly delayed, and in the afternoon of the same day, he approved Liu Shijiu's invitation. And immediately selected the envoy to Anfeng, and was scheduled to go to Anfeng early tomorrow morning to ask for rewards.

……

Just after dealing with this matter, Shi Sanqian came in outside the hall and said, "General, your mount is ready." You can go at any time. ”

Deng She was stunned: "Leave? Where to go? ”

Shi Sanqian was even more stunned: "General, have you forgotten?" The day before yesterday, you drank with the generals of the camp outside the city, and at the banquet you agreed to the request of Guo Conglong and others, and made an appointment to go out of the city to hunt this afternoon. ”

Deng She said "ouch", increased his forehead with his hand, patted his forehead lightly, and said, "Look at my memory!" I forgot about it. As he spoke, he flipped through the piles of folds that had been placed on the desk.

"So, are you still out of town?"

At this time, it was still early, and looking at the sky from afar, it was as blue as a wash.

Deng She pondered for a moment, made a decision, and said: "Since the agreement is made, it is like military law, and it cannot be said and untrustworthy, of course I have to go." Anyway, since the start of the war in Jining, there has been no rest for many days, so I took this opportunity to relax. ......, it can be regarded as stealing half a day's leisure! Yes? Ha ha. ”

Hong Jixun, Wu Henian and others were all in the hall.

Wu Henian made fun of it and said: "'One piece and one relaxation, the way of civil and martial arts'." The lord is proficient in the art of war and is well versed in the principle of 'the old man is useless'. When it's time to rest, you should take a good rest! ”

"You're right! Lao Wu, these days, you are also tired, you should also relax. How about going out hunting with me this afternoon? ”

Wu Henian was taken aback, waved his hand again and again, and said: "With the minister's ability, it is already reluctant to walk on a horse, how can he compare with the lord, both civil and military?" ”

Deng She was in a good mood, joking with Wu Henian, deliberately sinking his face, and said: "I have issued an order, 'Teach Haidong Xiucai to learn to ride and shoot'." Lao Wu, although you are in a high position, you are also from a talented background. It's been a few months since I made this decree, what? You haven't learned the art of 'riding and shooting' yet? ”

"My lord, you can spare the minister." Wu Henian lifted his robe, showed his hairy legs in the hall, pointed with his fingers, stretched out to invite Deng She to watch, and said, "Lord, please see, this, this, and these injuries are all caused by learning to ride and shoot a while ago!" ”

"Haha. I'm joking with you. Deng She turned to Hong Jixun, "Is Mr. intentional?" ”

Hong Jixun compares himself to Kong Ming, high and arrogant, he has always looked down on military generals, although he can also ride a horse, but if he is asked to learn to ride and shoot, and dance with knives and guns like the martial artists, he can't, he shook his head with a smile, and said: "The lord is rare Yaxing, and please go by yourself." ......, it is estimated that there should be a military report from the Caozhou front line and the movement of Chahan reinforcements, so the ministers will have to go to the Xingyuan to have a look. ”

"It's good! If there is an urgent military report, you can send someone to call me back to the city. ”

Hong Jixun agreed, and resigned and retired with Wu Henian.

……

Out of the city, all the fields are green.

Although the wheat harvest is nearing its end, there are many other crops in the field, such as beans and cotton.

Beans don't need to be talked about, when it comes to cotton, cotton originated in India and Arabia, and was introduced to China during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, but it has always been mostly cultivated in the frontier. It was not until the end of the Song Dynasty and the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty that it began to be widely used in the interior, and Guan, Shaanxi, Fujian, and Guangzhou were the most planted.

Originally, Shandong did not grow much cotton, but because Deng She knew that this thing had extremely high economic value and practical value, as early as Haidong, he specifically asked the local government to promote it, and it was the same when he came to Shandong. It is stipulated that if there are 20 acres of private land, half an acre of mulberry, hemp and cotton shall be planted; Twenty acres or more doubled.

The silk industry in Shandong and Liaodong is underdeveloped, and cotton is planted, not to mention other benefits, first of all, at least the problem of clothing for the people, including the army soldiers, has been solved.

The north is not better than the south, the south of the Yangtze River is not only developed silk industry, because of overseas trade, the cotton textile industry has also been very developed, only Songjiang Mansion alone, in peacetime, can supply hundreds of thousands of military clothing for the imperial court every year. ——Why did Zhu Yuanzhang say that "among the princes of the world, Shicheng is the richest"? Can he not be rich? Although the area occupied is not the largest, it is also a grain producer, "the granary of the world"; There are also silk, cotton and textile industries, "clothing, food, housing and transportation", he occupies two "first in the world", it is strange that he is not rich.

This is also an important reason why Deng She covets Jiangnan.

Liaodong is remote, Shandong has been war-torn for a long time, and they are too poor. Although South Korea is a fairly rich place, to tell the truth, since the capture of the twin cities, in the past few years, Deng She has not been idle, almost ten days of a big battle, three days of a small battle, silver money, grain and straw has long been very embarrassed, stretched.

If you want to compete in the Central Plains, you will definitely not be able to do it without a solid economic foundation.

Counting on economic development in Liaodong and Shandong? Even if Chahan does not come to harass, not to mention that because of the topography, Shandong's code is dead, and the attack is established, as far as the current situation of Liaodong and Shandong is poor and white, it will be absolutely difficult to develop without three or five years. The world is competing, and time is running out. Deng She really didn't have the time or the opportunity to "close himself off the country" and bury himself in the economy.

So what to do? One word: grab. Therefore, the reason why he suddenly decided to go south to Xuzhou and wanted to get involved in western Zhejiang was that he really had internal hardships and had to do it as a last resort.

Deng She and his entourage rode their horses slowly, because he was only wearing civilian clothes, so when people met him on the road, they only thought that he was an "official" who came out of the city, and the timid knelt down to the side of the road, and the bold did not care.

All day in the palace of King Yan, Deng She was fed up with the sincerity and flattery of the people below, and suddenly saw this scene, and he didn't feel happy.

Everyone envies and wants to be a master, but in fact, after being a master for a long time, sometimes it is inevitable that they will be aggrieved and yearn for the life of the people. Of course, it's just "yearning", if you really want to suddenly change from a superior person to a flat-headed common man, and those who are used to enjoying the taste of power will be even more uncomfortable.

Anyway, at least for now, Dunsher is relaxed.

He pointed to the fields on both sides of the road and said, "Every time I go out of the city, I feel that the fields have changed again. It's green and lovely. ......, eh, look, don't you think there are more fertile fields? ”

The entourage echoed.

One of them smiled and said, "That's what the general said." I went out of the city the day before yesterday and heard a sentence in the village below, which was about Lord Wu of the Wu Governor's Mansion. I wonder if the general has heard of it? ”

"What?"

"Wu Gong is in power, and he is very happy."

Deng She was slightly stunned, laughed, knew it in his heart, didn't say anything, and said: "Lao Wu is really good at politics, and he has a lot of ability to manage things. Since he came to Yidu, the pressure on my shoulders has suddenly eased a lot. It is also reasonable that the people have a good reputation. ”

——In the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was an official named Zhang Kan, a native of Nanyang, Henan, who served as Yuyang Taishou during his tenure, not only made the Xiongnu dare not commit a blockade, but also cultivated a large number of rice fields, "persuading the people to cultivate, so as to become rich". The people made up songs to praise him for this, singing: "The mulberry has no branches, and the ears of wheat are two." Zhang Jun is in power, and he is very happy".

Obviously, the so-called "Wu Gong is in power, and he is happy" is exactly what changed from this song. Where do you think the common people will understand this? Nine times out of ten, it came from the mouth of the local gentry.

Maybe it's to shoot Wu Henian's sycophants, or maybe it's because Wu Henian has safeguarded their interests to a certain extent. No matter what, at least Wu Henian did manage Yidu well, and Deng She turned a blind eye and closed one eye, but he didn't know.

Referring to Wu Henian, Deng She remembered something and said: "When the house broke up just now, I forgot to ask Lao Wu. Earlier, I told him that the land is cleared, but the pasture still has to be left with enough space. He raised his head and looked at the sky, "I'm going to hunt later, I'm afraid I won't be able to see the pasture this time." ......, have any of you been there recently? How's it going? ”

"Please rest assured. By your order, every two days, the villain will go to the ranch to have a look. The situation is good on all fronts. Only last month, a batch of military horses was brought from Liaodong, although there are not many, and it is still necessary to increase reproduction, but in time, it will be enough for the use of the local army in Shandong. ”

Mengyuan has a total of 14 pastures in the country, of which Hebei and Shandong occupy three. The pastures in Hebei are in Zhending, Zhuozhou and other places, and the pastures in Shandong are in Yidu. In addition, Linzi and Jinan also have some grassland for grazing horses. Although a lot of pastures were gradually reclaimed later, there are still a lot of grasslands left.

Deng She started from Liaodong, and the cavalry was the main force, so he naturally attached great importance to the breeding and replenishment of war horses. Therefore, although he vigorously developed agriculture, he also maintained a very high level of attention to animal husbandry, and for the time being, he did not plan to reclaim all the Yidu pastures into farmland.

Walking through a field of wheat after harvesting, a large field next to it is full of corn. Corn, i.e. millet, is millet. Autumn and summer wheat are both crops and are one of the most important crops. Especially in the north, such as the Guanzhong Plain and other places, the production is mainly millet and wheat.

Wheat is harvested in June, and millet is harvested from November to January. At this time, in the middle of summer, it is the flowering period of millet, and it is very beautiful from afar.

"Although the wheat harvest is nearing its end, in a few months' time, the grain will also be harvested. I hope it will be a good harvest like wheat! ”

There are three important millet producing areas in Shandong, Yidu, Jinan and Jining. Jining has only experienced the war, and this year's harvest is not to be said; Jinan is the front line, and this year's harvest is not expected to be too good; If you want to have a good harvest in autumn, you can only see that the benefits are harvested.

An entourage said: "I often go to the left and right divisions, and I often go to the countryside, whether it is the local officials or the farmers, they all say that the growth of our Yidu Road millet this year is much better than in previous years." Don't worry, when autumn comes, it will be like a wheat harvest, and it will be a good harvest! ”

The yield of millet is also not low, from the Mengyuan Yuan to the late Yuan Dynasty, in the two Huai to recruit people to the deserted land, "the year can get hundreds of thousands of millet". "Hu" and "Shi" are connected, hundreds of thousands of Hu is hundreds of thousands of stones, only this "deserted place" a season's harvest is enough to raise elite soldiers, and it is more than enough.

Deng She looked at the four fields from afar, lush and green, because of wheat and millet, and thought of the fertile fields of Lianghuai and the richness of western Zhejiang and Jiangnan, and felt something, and couldn't help but sigh and said: "If I take the land of two provinces, millions of people, and a period of three years, although I am as strong as Chahan, what is there to fear?" Sweeping the world is as easy as a snap! The implication is that if Lianghuai and Zhexi are in his hands, then the world's nine tripods are at your fingertips.

Since he got up, he has been crisscrossing Haidong for many years, rarely defeated, invincible, and naturally developed a kind of sharpness, which can also be said to be self-confidence, and even proud, and it is normal for Zhang Shicheng to be a little unsightly.

All the entourages said: "The general is talented and heroic, and he is a hero of the world; Although Chahan looks fierce for the time being, sooner or later he will be defeated by the general's men. ”

Deng She laughed, whipped his horse, urged his mount, galloped, and said, "The generals in the camp may have been waiting in a hurry, everyone, and those who go quickly! ”