Now Li Yuanqing doesn't want to stay in the northwest and wants to go back to Xunyang Mansion. General Zhao was a little disappointed at first, but quickly realized that this was not necessarily a bad thing.

The Northwest Army is important, but it is also important to build a naval division soon. Li Yuanqing is in charge of these things, which is of great benefit to the Zhao family. At least I don't worry about Li Yuanqing dealing with the Zhao family, on the basis of maintaining a good relationship, there is not much intersection in the military, but it can make Your Majesty trust more.

After weighing the pros and cons, General Zhao nodded, "Yuan Qing, you think far, Your Majesty is also far-sighted, and will definitely accept your request." When the time comes, I will be in the capital, waiting for your good news. ”

Li Yuanqing bowed and saluted, "Thank you, General." ”

General Zhao kept it in mind, and later built a water division and sent some of the juniors of the Zhao family over for training. Don't seek a high position, but seek to be able to get experience. With the ability and opportunity, you will naturally have a good future.

While the two were talking, someone came to report that the holy decree came from the capital and asked the two generals to come over to receive the decree.

General Zhao and Li Yuanqing did not dare to delay and immediately went to receive the order.

learned that the enemy country was still unwilling to agree to Da Zhou's conditions, and he still had to hold on. Li Yuanqing and General Zhao were ready to continue the war. Not long after, Xiyun Kingdom sent another 200,000 troops to prepare for a decisive battle with the Great Zhou.

Some people wanted to ask for battle, but they were all rejected by General Zhao, "It's Xiyun Kingdom that is anxious now, not us, let's wait patiently, train troops in peacetime, and recuperate at the same time." After the exhaustion of the enemy of the Xiyun Kingdom arrived, our combat power after recuperating greatly exceeded that of the Xiyun Kingdom. ”

Vice General Zhou responded, "It's just that the Xiyun Kingdom is coming, but it is not attacking." We've been on guard, and we're on guard. took the initiative and directly defeated the West Cloud Kingdom. ”

"That is, you can't let Xiyun Country be arrogant. Now those people are scolding and fighting under our gates every day, calling us turtles with shrunken heads, which is unpleasant. Another general said, "Please also ask the general to give me 100,000 horses, and I will definitely be able to defeat the 200,000 horses of Xiyun Kingdom." ”

"My subordinates are also asking for war."

"Subordinates, please fight!"

The people were indignant and wanted to go to war now. The previous victory made them feel that Xiyun Kingdom was not terrible, as long as they sent troops, they could win. With military exploits, there can be rewards, and only then can you be promoted to knighthood.

General Zhao saw that everyone was excited, and looked at Li Yuanqing, who was silent, "Yuanqing, what do you think?" ”

Li Yuanqing stood up, clenched his fists and replied: "General Hui, the last general also thinks that this is not the time to take the initiative. Facing the enemy head-on, we have 300,000 soldiers in the northwest city, and we are fighting against the 200,000 soldiers of the Xiyun Kingdom. 1,000 wounded and 800 self-inflicted. While Xiyun Kingdom suffered heavy casualties, the casualties of our soldiers in the Great Zhou Dynasty will not be less. ”

"A manly man, loyal to the country, and a worthy death." One of the little generals, Meng Shide, shouted out such words, he usually fights the most ruthlessly, and is known for not being afraid of death, and the group of soldiers under his command are also not afraid of death.

Courage is good, but there are also a lot of casualties.

Fighting a war does not depend only on force, but also on strategy and deployment.

Therefore, General Zhao did not like Meng Shide's fighting methods very much.

General Zhao looked at Li Yuanqing and asked, "Yuanqing, what do you think?" ”

Although Li Yuanqing admired Meng Shide's bravery, he also didn't like his style of fighting without taking human life seriously.

Li Yuanqing looked at Meng Shide and arched his hand and said, "Let's talk about things and don't target each other." Being fearless of death and being loyal to the country is indeed a very valuable quality. There is a way to reduce casualties, so why send soldiers to their deaths? All of them are my good sons and daughters, and they are all the pillars of the family. If it is gone, parents, wives and children will not be able to continue. ”

Meng Shide rarely admired anyone, except for General Zhao, that is, Li Yuanqing in front of him, who made him admire.

If others said this to him, Meng Shide would definitely scoff at it, but this was said by Li Yuanqing, Meng Shide thought about it, and then asked: "Brother Li, since you have a good way, then say it directly." What do you do to hide and spit out? ”

Li Yuanqing smiled, "It's my fault, I didn't say it directly." What the general said just now is that it is not our Great Zhou who is in a hurry now, but Xiyun Kingdom. If they have the ability to consume with us, we will consume with them. Now we have cleared millions of acres, and in three or four months, we will not only have the grain and grass provided by the surrounding area, but also the grain we grow ourselves. ”

"But in this Xiyun Kingdom, they have to travel thousands of miles to send grain and grass outside the northwest city, and they will consume forty percent on the way. They can't afford us! If you persist for a few months, you can save the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers, and you can continue to train and recuperate, so why not do it? ”

Meng Shide heard Li Yuanqing's words and retorted in a low voice, "Brother Li, you are confused about farming, right?" You are a general, not an old peasant. ”

Li Yuanqing disagreed and smiled, "I am indeed a general, but I can fight, it doesn't mean that I can't farm." Based on Li's speculation about Xiyun Kingdom, they will definitely not last for two months. When the time comes, either war; Either the other side withdraws and agrees to our conditions. All we have to do now is defend the city and wait. General Meng, I admire you for your bravery, but being able to surrender the army without fighting is the best result. ”

Meng Shide was speechless by Li Yuanqing.

When General Zhao heard this, he said with a smile: "Then it's settled, the soldiers will practice in the morning and work in the fields in the afternoon." So many captives, all the time in the wilderness. The number of wasteland cleared every day is increasing, and it can really become a huge granary in the future. ”

"Yes, General." The crowd should go down.

Meng Shide didn't fight, and he couldn't vent his excess energy, so he trained the soldiers and trained the soldiers below. Waiting for the day when you can rush to the battlefield and kill all sides.

General Zhao also wrote a special excerpt, which was sent to the capital together with Li Yuanqing's excerpt on the importance of land reclamation. Of course, Li Yuanqing also said that the local drought is not that there is no water, but that the water flow is low and cannot flow into the ground. Manually carrying water is too labor-intensive and material-intensive, so Li Yuanqing felt the need to build a waterwheel. The drawings of the waterwheel were given by Liu Paner. Li Yuanqing found someone to make several water wheels at his own expense, and continued to pump water day and night.

In some places, the difference in the height of the water flow can be used to automatically store water; However, in some places, it is relatively flat and cannot catch the power of the outside world, so it can only be used to use people to sit on it and pedal, so that the waterwheel can continuously pump water from the river to the higher ditch on the bank.

Li Yuanqing can spend money to make the waterwheel needed for his own more than 500 acres of land, but there are millions of acres of land here, and he can't afford to sell iron.

If the Great Zhou Emperor approved of the practice of border tuntian, then let the household department allocate funds to build a waterwheel.