Suddenly, one day, a secret historian from Gusu, the capital of Wu, hurriedly entered the Xu Mansion and handed the secret document written by Wu Wangfu to General Xu.

I saw that the shaft handle of this secret document was a gold-plated shaft, so I can know that General Xu is a third-rank official. The secret history also took out half of the tiger talisman on the left, presumably Wu Guo was preparing to go to war.

The secret history sent the documents and tiger talismans to General Xu and left. After the secret history left, General Xu called Xu Cheng to his side, opened the file with him, and after reading it, handed over the half of the tiger talisman to Xu Chengtong.

In the evening, General Xu asked me to come to his room, presumably to discuss some kind of war.

I came to General Xu's room, Xu Cheng had already come, General Xu signaled Xu Cheng to close the door tightly, and then explained the situation directly: "I can't hide it, I invited Mr. to come tonight to give advice." We martial arts practitioners only know some strategies, and there is really no ink in our stomachs, and we hope that Mr. will help guide us through the maze. ”

"The general is polite, if there is any need, He must do his best." I replied respectfully.

"It's not a secret, the secret document sent by the secret history today, there is an instruction in it that King Wu asked me to be responsible for digging a waterway through the Jianghuai, called Hangou, the document also said that I was preparing to start a war with the Qi State, but I didn't explain the main purpose of digging the ditch, and I couldn't figure out what the digging of the ditch had to do with this matter for a long time." The general's left hand repeatedly touched his graying beard, and his right index finger tapped lightly on the tabletop, with a blank expression.

"Ditch? Is there a topographic map of the area around Hangou? "I want to find out the terrain around Hangou in order to deduce King Wu's plan.

"Yes! Cheng Tong went to fetch it for Mr. ”

"Yes!" Xu Cheng got up.

"General, you see, this ditch starts from the Yangtze River south of Hancheng in the south, passes through a series of lakes such as Fanliang Lake in the north, and turns to the northeast and goes straight to Sheyang Lake." My index finger and middle finger pointed to the Yangtze River and the Huai River respectively, "Wu is surrounded by a dense river network, the advantage is that it has a strong naval army, there are a considerable number of warships, if the crusade against the Qi State, it will definitely give full play to the advantages to engage in water battles, that is, to take the water channel, but there is no direct passage between the Yangtze River and the Huai River, but from the Yangtze River to the East China Sea, and then from the sea around the Huai River, not only the voyage is too long, there are often wind and waves, full of danger."

Therefore, King Wu ordered the general to dig a ditch, which was nothing more than to connect the Yangtze River and the Huai River, so that it would be convenient to transport the army to the northern expedition to Qi. Of course, on the other hand, the digging of the ditch may also be to show the strong strength of the Wu people to the Central Plains. ”

"I see, Mr. really woke up the dreamer with a word! Xu Cheng, you will quickly gather some strong men tomorrow to dig a ditch. ”

"Okay." Xu Cheng replied.

"General, Sui'er and I used to live in Hangou, and we haven't been back to see it for a long time, I don't know if we can dig Hangou tomorrow, can we move forward together? If you need help, you can also do a little bit. "I asked General Xu.

"If the gentleman is willing to follow, it is naturally a good thing, but the dog is dull, and it would be good if he could get the guidance of the gentleman. It's just that Sui'er is pregnant after all, and this time it's not a leisure thing such as sightseeing, so the old man thinks it's better not to follow along. ”

General Xu paused, "After Sui'er gives birth to a child, it's okay to go back and have a look, what does Mr. think?" ”

"What the general said is that Sui'er is pregnant, and it is indeed inconvenient to move around. Then I'll go pack up my things now, and follow Childe to Hangou early tomorrow morning. ”

"There's Mr. Law. Xu Cheng, you should also go and clean up, say goodbye to Sui'er, and don't let her worry about you. ”

We set off early the next morning with a few things.

"I think we'd better go by water." I recommend.

"What is this for, sir?" The general's father and son expressed their doubts, "The journey by water is extremely slow, and it is very slow, and it is really inconvenient." ”

"Although the boat ride takes longer than the horseback ride, it helps us to familiarize ourselves with the approximate size of the entire ditch in advance, and it is more conducive to making a detailed plan for digging the ditch." I explained to them.

"Mr. is really thoughtful, then according to Mr., let's take the waterway."

"Mr. He, what are we going to do next? Recruiting men? ”

"Sure, how many strong men can we get?" I looked at the vast Yangtze River and Huai River in the distance, and estimated that a lot of men would be needed to dig the ditch, "If there are few people, we will have to think of other methods." ”

"After all, this Han County is a place along the river, there have been frequent floods, drowning a lot of people, some people say that it is a water monster, three people become tigers, and then many people move their families, although there have been no flood disasters in recent years, but the number of people is not much, it is estimated that there are not many men." Xu Cheng shook his head helplessly, "If the number of people is not enough, is there any other way for Mr." ”

"Do you have to find the local government to issue a notice to recruit men?" I didn't answer him directly.

"Yes, we can go to the county government and ask how many men there are in this county."

We came to the Hanxian County Office, and the official standing at the door asked, "Do you have any disputes or grievances?" ”

"Tell the county order that General Xu's son-in-law has something to ask to see." I urged again, "Hurry up, you'll be in trouble if you delay the big thing." ”

After hearing this, the official immediately ran inside, and after a while, he ran back, panting and said, "The county commander is waiting for the two of you in the lobby." ”

"Okay, good work."

The building of the county yali sits in the north and faces south, the main buildings are all gathered on a central axis, from the south to the north, there are the wall, the gate, the instrument gate, the ring stone workshop, the square is six rooms around the place. The main building has a lobby, two halls and three halls, and is equipped with corresponding wings, which is where the chief and his subordinate personnel work, and its assistant and subordinate officials are all on the east and west side lines.

"I wonder what the two of you are doing?" The county commander asked in a low voice.

This county commander is short and fat, and lives like a watermelon.

"Yesterday, my father got a secret letter from King Wu, which contained an instruction to let my father be responsible for digging a river connecting the Yangtze River and the Huai River.

"No problem, this little thing is still bothering the son, so I'll arrange it." The fat county order summoned a servant, "Tell the county magistrate and ask him to issue a notice to recruit men." ”

"County order, I want to know how many men there are in Han County?" I looked outside the hall, the location of the six rooms is in front of the lobby, according to the left and right sides of the three rooms, the east column, the household, the ceremony, the west soldiers, the criminals, the workers, "that is, after excluding the old, weak, sick and disabled, the remaining people with labor, how many." ”

"There are about 500 households in Han County, and there are about 1,000 men."

"A thousand? Xu Gongzi, how long is the ditch we want to dig? ”

"I've sent someone to survey it in advance, it's about 200 kilometers."

"County order, I want to ask, how many people are currently in the county office?"

"The officials, county officials, county lieutenants, etc., add up to a total of one hundred and ten people."

"When you dig a ditch, you have to go too."

"Certainly, I will arrange someone to be in charge of command, security and other work, rest assured." The county magistrate said with a smile that there was too much meat on his face, and when he smiled, the meat was all piled up together, and his eyes couldn't see.

"I mean all of you are going to be involved in digging the ditch, everyone, including the county magistrate." I saw the smile on the county commander's face immediately froze.

"What, what? I'm the order of a county, I have to deal with a lot of things, and after all the people from our county government are gone, who will defend Han County? Who ......"

"Gongzi Xu is still the son of General Xu!" I directly blocked him with a word, "And the men of the entire Han County are going to dig the ditch, and the rest are old, weak, sick and disabled people, what can they do to kill people and set fires?" ”

"What Mr. He said makes sense, this matter is an order issued by King Wu, and it is urgent to make use of all human resources as much as possible, the county order, do you have any opinions?" Xu Cheng said, and took out half of the tiger talisman, "This talisman can dispatch troops, I don't know if it can dispatch people from this yamen?" ”

"Yes, yes, yes!" The county magistrate nodded vigorously.

"By the way, there is also the notice of all the men in Han County, it is troublesome to the county order." With that, we left the yamen.

"Sir, are we really recruiting all the men in Han County? It is unlikely that someone in this county will commit a crime, but if someone from another county commits a crime, and we have no one to deal with it in time, is it appropriate to do so? "Xu Cheng is very thoughtful.

"What I just said is a bit exaggerated, how can it be possible to let all the men come to dig the ditch, wouldn't that open the door to let thieves and criminals from other counties in? I just asked those lazy people in the yamen to work together, and by the way, let them get more familiar with the common people and experience the lives of the common people. ”

"Sir, clever!"