Wednesday is like this, Liu Wen is like this, and so are those landlords and powerful little armies. Therefore, the Red Turban Army has won many battles, but the casualties are not large, weapons and equipment are one thing, and another very important reason is that they have not encountered an opponent who will never die.

And the intelligence obtained from Rizhao County showed that although there were several armed forces, they were not strong, which also made Meng Jiucheng full of confidence in the Eastern Expedition.

At that time, Rizhao County had only been established for more than 20 years (Rizhao County was established in 1184 and belonged to Juzhou, Yidu Prefecture), and compared with other counties, the land was narrow and the people were small, and the facilities were also very simple. Far from being famous in Rizhao City in later generations, it has jurisdiction over Donggang District, Lanshan District, Ju County, and Wulian County.

Of course, Meng Jiucheng will not be satisfied with a Rizhao County, nor will he be limited to any county or state. When his strength is still insufficient, in addition to avoiding conflicts with relatively powerful enemies as much as possible, he will not let go of the areas that he can occupy and effectively control.

Why should we not only be able to occupy, but also be able to effectively control, this is what makes Meng Jiucheng's thinking different from others. At that time, it was not a lack of land, but the chaos of war, which made it difficult to provide a safe environment for farming and production, and the people were displaced.

To resettle the displaced people and be self-reliant, Meng Jiucheng wanted to defend his own territory as much as possible and give the people under his rule a relatively stable environment. Therefore, when he is still in the initial stage of starting a business, he must expand in a solid manner, he must occupy a stable place, and he must weigh the size of the territory he occupies according to the number and combat strength of the army.

Such a steady development strategy not only conformed to the general situation at that time, but also made the Red Turban Army relatively low-key, so as not to attract the attention of a strong enemy in advance.

And so far, the Red Turban Army is only tossing in Junan County, and it is estimated that outside, no one has noticed this emerging army at all.

Back in the room, Meng Jiucheng summoned He Zhuzi, a more clever young man.

"You need to deliver these two wooden boxes." Meng Jiucheng pointed to the box that had been packaged, "You go to Crossroads Town first, and say that it is Master Wang's subordinates and give this to the Seventh Master." Then go to Lingyang Town and give this to Master Wang. ”

"Yes, my subordinates understand." He Zhuzi only regarded it as a gift from Meng Jiucheng, and responded disapprovingly.

"Don't send the wrong box, and deliver it yourself." Meng Jiucheng smiled and instructed again: "If the Seventh Master asks who sent it, you say that it is Master Wang; If Master Wang wants to ask, you will say that it is the Seventh Master. It's important to remember that you can't say I sent it. ”

He Zhuzi was stunned for a moment, scratched his head, and although he was puzzled in his heart, he still responded again.

Meng Jiucheng said it again, and saw that He Zhuzi remembered it, so he sent him away.

Speaking of the emotional entanglement between Wang Zhongfeng and Zheng Ruxin, it has been many years. At that time, the fourth of the seven people who worshipped was still alive and admired Zheng Ruxin very much. Wang Zhongfeng and Zheng Ruxin are interested in a man and a woman, although they did not show it to outsiders, but they only pierced the window paper, which is a couple's relationship.

At this time, they were attacked by a strong enemy, and in the bloody battle, the fourth child died to protect Zheng Ruxin, but before he died, he expressed his love for Zheng Ruxin. In fact, the fourth child didn't know that Zheng Ruxin and Wang Zhongfeng were already in love, and they were about to die, and they didn't have much meaning to confide in the truth.

But for Wang Zhongfeng, who is very righteous and angry, his brother died, and he was asked to marry the woman his brother loved, which was emotionally unacceptable; Zheng Ruxin also had a pimple in her heart, feeling that the fourth brother died for herself, she and Wang Zhongfeng kept their distance first, and it would be better to talk about emotional matters later.

But as soon as things were delayed, things went wrong. Wang Zhongfeng not only wanted to be worthy of his dead brother, but also felt that Zheng Ruxin was a little estranged, so he left home in a depressed mood; Zheng Ruxin was born recklessly, a little arrogant, and after all, she was an ancient woman, how could she take the initiative to go to Wang Zhongfeng to explain and confess?

In this way, although the two still thought of each other in their hearts, they didn't mention it anymore as if they were angry. After so many years, emotional matters have fallen into a thick layer of dust, as if they have become a forbidden area that cannot be touched.

When Meng Jiucheng heard about this, he felt a bit like a couple or a young couple who were having an awkward cold war, no one was willing to take a step back and let go, and simple things were complicated. With a cheeky face like him, what is it to apologize and explain and confess?

Now, Wang Zhongfeng is helping his apprentices, and most of the identity of this monk will not be asked for anymore. And Zheng Ruxin also settled here, providing convenient conditions for Meng Jiucheng and them.

Therefore, Meng Jiucheng first pretended to be the other party to send gifts to each other, showing his concern, so that the ice between the two would melt first. As for the future, he naturally has a way, but he is in a hurry, and he wants to promote this marriage as a matter of course.

If you want to talk about picking up girls and chasing girls, Meng Jiucheng naturally has a lot of tricks, Wang Zhongfeng is high in martial arts, but he is not even as good as Xiao Ying in this regard. Look at the people, they were carefully selected from the seizures yesterday and sent people to send gifts to Ming Niangzi and Ming Zhong overnight.

Meng Jiucheng is connecting the two masters here, and he is busy handling official business over there, which is really busy. Fortunately, Zhu Ming quickly arrived in the county seat with some government officials and took on most of the work for Meng Jiu.

Zhu Ming has both knowledge and experience in governance, and after seeing the various policies formulated and implemented by Meng Jiucheng, he quickly understood the profound meaning of them, and was able to put forward his own views and opinions, which is much better than those half-baked people who chase ducks to the shelves.

Therefore, Meng Jiucheng has gradually handed over the government affairs to Zhu Ming these days, and handed over many recruited scholars to Zhu Ming for training and training.

Zhu Ming took people to the mansion to see Meng Jiucheng first, and then he went to the county government to settle down and start the council. It's just that in a brief conversation with Meng Jiucheng, Zhu Ming expressed some surprise at Meng Jiucheng's confidence.

"Wouldn't it be too early to release the news now? If things don't go wrong, those greedy merchants will run away empty, and their reputation will stink. ”

Meng Jiucheng said with a smile: "Third Master, don't worry, this matter will never go wrong." ”

Zhu Ming looked at Meng Jiucheng carefully, smiled for a while, and said: "Okay, just do as you say, let the displaced people who go south spread the news, buy grain at ten times the high price, and transport it to Buddha's Hand Bay in Lanshan to pay at the price." ”

"The government affairs are complicated, but it will be hard for the third master." Meng Jiucheng thanked him and personally sent Zhu Ming and the others out of the mansion.

Buying grain by sea is exactly the purpose of Meng Jiucheng's eagerness to open up the sea.

If there were really Song merchants who wanted to make a lot of money, it would be more convenient and fast to take the Huai River into the sea, or transport it from the farther southeast. The Lanshan Buddha Hand Bay, which was later known as Lanshan Port, was very close to Banqiao Town, the former Song-Jin treaty port (in Jiaozhou City, now Qingdao), and most of the maritime merchants knew about it.