sent Zhou Yang away, Jiang Feng also had to admit that Zhou Yang still had some eyesight.

At least he can see that his foundation is in Huainan, although the general trend will be in the north, but if he wants to support his strategy in the north, then he must consolidate the foundation of Huainan and even Jiangnan.

The five states of Hu, Shou, Lu, Hao, Chuzhou, Shuzhou, Hezhou and Gwangju will be their own granary in the future, and they will be their own industrial and commercial bases, where grain, tea, silk, porcelain, ships, medicinal materials, and paper will be continuously produced from here and sold to various places to support their own wars in the north.

Of course, Jiang Feng is interested in Qihuang Erzhou and Xuanzhou, Qizhou is a famous production area of medicinal materials, more than 30% of the medicinal materials supplied to the Middle Earth are produced in Qizhou, Huangzhou is also a famous granary, and Xuanzhou, not only produces copper, but also Yizhou and Yizhou are called the two major paper industry centers of the Tang Empire, and the various types of paper produced in the two places account for forty percent of the empire.

If you can get these three states in your hands, then you will have even more confidence to compete with the Hu people in the north in the Central Plains.

Of course, judging from the current situation, these three states are not something that they can touch, Xuanzhou is the base of the ant thieves, and the ant thieves are attacked across the river, which is making wedding dresses for Li Yu and Qian Yuanjun, and the two states of Qi and Huang are the lifeblood of the Du family, and the Du family is still their allies, and they can't cut off their wings no matter how they do.

So judging from Zhou Yang's performance, there is still a vision, but the actual ability is not easy to say, there are more eyes and low mouths, even if he is Zhou Rui's younger brother, it is impossible for him to easily put it in an important position, in Jiang Feng's opinion, it is prudent to put it in a certain state as an official to polish and exercise, see how the ability is, and then consider it.

Extending from Zhou Yang, Jiang Feng is also thinking about the appointment of officials in his territory, and the thirst for talent has really become his current feeling.

Although there are many gentry from all over the country who recommend themselves and each other, most of them are scholars who lack practical experience, and it is a little difficult to adapt to the current rule of their own.

There are still too few students trained from the Government Affairs Academy, and they are also inexperienced, and they need to be polished at the county level for a few years before they can slowly come out, so many times, Jiang Feng can only pinch his nose and endure the current governance pattern of various states and counties.

Wang Pu is a talent, which has been confirmed from his trip to Haizhou, and Jiang Feng also specifically asked him what he thought.

According to Wang Pu's own ideas, he is more willing to start from the grassroots prefectures and counties, and Jiang Feng also intends to use him greatly, of course, he must also sharpen it before he is used, so he directly arranged for him to serve as the governor of Qi.

The future status of Qizhou is very important, this will be the bridgehead for planning Heshuo in the future, in the Shatuo people to break south into the Central Plains, the Khitan people sharpen their knives Huo Huo may go south at any time, Qizhou is just at the intersection of Heshuo and his own staggered convergence point, Jiang Feng believes that in this position, Wang Pu can make a difference.

In addition to the students of the Government Affairs School, Jiang Feng was also forced to reopen the system of probation and promotion, which had gradually died out after the imperial examination system, and in the eyes of many people, it should have been abolished, but Jiang Feng had to reopen.

The Geinke examination system has been open for many years, and even if it is opened, many scholars have been studying poetry and books for a long time and do not know anything about economic and people's livelihood affairs, so they urgently need a group of officials who are familiar with local practice, so in this case, Jiang Feng has to not adopt this retro way to solve the current outstanding problems.

Of course, these things can't be done by Jiang Feng himself, naturally Chen Wei and them will do it, he just needs to determine the direction.

Li Jin and his entourage left Chang'an on January 27.

The specifications of this mission are unusually high, and the scale is also very large, with a group of more than 20 people, in addition to Li Jin and his best friend Wei Chi Yanshan, there are seven officials above the third rank in the imperial court.

Of course, this kind of product may not have much significance to these local feudal lords, in fact, the envoy himself knows this very well, but after all, this is also a courtesy.

In fact, there were four missions that set out from Chang'an together, respectively going to Luoyang to meet Li (Zhu Xie), the king of Jin, Conghou, Shangzhou, Caizhou to see Yuan Huaihe, and Nanyang to see Liu Tong and Liu Xuan.

Of course, there is also a way, from Nanyang through Shenguang Erzhou, into Shouzhou and then north through Xuzhou to Qingzhou.

The destination of the last road has not yet been clarified, because it is not clear where Jiang Feng ended up, only that he is now in Qingzhou, and maybe when the mission arrives in Shouzhou, Jiang Feng may return to Xuzhou, or Yanzhou, it is not clear.

However, for the group of people in the mission, this is not important, and taking advantage of this opportunity to take a good look at the situation in the states under Jiang Feng is their most important task.

They need to use this to evaluate the strength of this Pengcheng County Prince, oh no, it should be the strength of the Pengcheng County King, to see if he has the strength to match the Shatuo people or Nanyang and Caizhou, and then formulate the corresponding policies.

From the prince of Pengcheng County to the king of Pengcheng County, Jiang Feng only took a few months, without him, he not only won the three states of Yanyun Yi without blood, but now he is even more straight to Pinglu, Wang Shouzhong was captured, and Zhu Mao took the initiative to attach, all of which is enough for him to obtain the status of a county king, and even the status of a prince is not an exaggeration, for the really powerful people, the court must recognize and respect.

When the mission went to Qingzhou, the imperial court had not yet received Jiang Feng's request to change the town and set up the Xuzhou Governor's Office, but Jiang Feng took Pinglu and subdued Zhu Mao and Wang Shouzhong, a king of Pengcheng County, who was absolutely worthy of it.

From Gwangju to Huju, the mission was able to feel the change in the atmosphere.

Although Nanyang seized Gwangju from Huai's right hand, the envoys from Chang'an all felt that the fighting spirit on the line of Huzhou was not strong, which also meant that although Nanyang pulled out his teeth and took Gwangju, it seemed that Huaiyou did not want to recapture Gwangju, which also made Chang'an and a group of people mutter.

Of course, they also suspect that it was the drastic changes in the situation in the Central Plains that made Huaiyou and Nanyang temporarily put aside the contradictions, but what about once the Central Plains battle situation became clear?

The leader of the mission to Huaiyou this time is Guo Tao, who is a member of the Privy Council, which is a very high-level figure, Guo Tao's status in the Privy Council is slightly higher than that of Xue Tong and Wei Chi Wu, and he is also a powerful figure, and he is deeply valued by the privy envoy Xu Mo, so this trip is also led by him.

After Shenzhou, Guo Tao can feel that the situation is different, although Gwangju was taken by Nanyang, but it has been under the control of Huaiyou for a long time, it has not been taken by Nanyang for a long time, and it has not experienced any war, so everything does not look different, but in Huzhou, this feeling is obviously much more intuitive.

The first impression is that the construction of water conservancy facilities in Guanghu and Hun Prefecture is far better than that of other prefectures and counties, and the Huaishui and its tributaries are along the Hushui River, and the ditches are vertical and horizontal, like veins on the leaves, and they are spread to all sides.

Especially in the area from Shouzhou to Shaobi, this feeling is even stronger, even in the bitter cold wind and icy river, there are many people repairing and dredging along the canal to prepare for irrigation in the coming year.

Guo Tao is also a long-known name of Shaobei, and now that he has seen it with his own eyes, he really feels that this water conservancy facility built in the Spring and Autumn Period for more than 1,000 years is still playing a huge role, making Shouzhou the most core area in the granary of Huainan, and the grain produced is enough to supply the people of several states.

And into Shouchun City, seeing the scene of merchants in the north and south of the streets inside and outside the city gate, the sails on the wharf, and the endless comings and goings, Rao is Guo Tao is a character who has seen a big scene, and he can't help but sigh, no wonder this Jiang Feng dares to go on a non-stop northern expedition, it is relying on the support of a city like Shouzhou with abundant food and developed commerce, that he dares to take Xuzhou, and the soldiers point to Pinglu.

Board the boat from Shouchun, you can go south along the Huaishui, and then go north along the canal from Linhuai to Tongqiao, and then go north from Tongqiao to Xuzhou.

Riding a boat is much easier than riding a horse, for the members of the mission who have traveled thousands of miles, the Huaishui and the canal during the dry season are acceptable, even if they are all northerners, but the smooth boat is still much easier than riding a horse, plus the boat can feel the different scenery of Huaishui and both sides of the canal, so everyone is very interested.

"Is Xuyi City over there?" Guo Tao stood at the bow of the boat, looking south.

Accompanying the mission to the north was Hou Chen, who stood at the back of the bow of the ship, and said respectfully: "Lord Tongzhiyuan, exactly, Xuyi City is basically deserted now, and the ant thieves captured Xuyi, although it was not burned and robbed, but the local gentry have already been frightened, and they have fled as early as the time of breaking the city, and now although several months have passed, the population of the city has not yet recovered to the original three percent before the ant thieves broke the city, and it is very depressed. ”

"Does Wu have a garrison?" asked Guo Tao with a deep groan.

As far as he knew, Li Wu's main forces were concentrated in the two prefectures of Runchang south of the river, and the strength of the northern states of the river was weak, so could it be that Jiang Feng was not moved?

In Guo Tao's view, Jiang Feng is not a person who sees an opportunity and is indifferent.

"No, the entire Chuzhou, it seems that there is no garrison in other counties except Shanyang, where the state is located, and now the ant thieves have gone south, and the remaining bandits can't become the climate, well, it seems that the Wu country doesn't have much energy to manage it now. ”

Hou Chenleng paused, he didn't expect Guo Tao to ask such a question, but he still answered the question frankly.

"Then how many troops is there stationed in Huainan now?" Guo Tao then asked again.

Hou Chen was secretly taken aback in his heart, could it be that the imperial court hoped that the county prince would start a war in Huainan and take the two states of Chuyang?

"My lord, the north is undecided, and the county prince here in Huainan has only retained five or six troops to be stationed, but Huainan has always been calm,......" Hou Chen said half-truthfully.