"It was originally to commemorate the civilian heroes who died in the construction and defense of Hefei..."

Long Xiang paused for a moment and continued: "The people of Hefei have all moved in from other places, and the graves of their relatives are not here, so they use this monument to pay tribute on their behalf, so that everyone can be regarded as a place to cry graves."

"That's what it is..."

While Zhang Zhao was sure, he suddenly remembered that Deng Dang and his entourage were also there, so he asked vaguely: "Then they..."

"They asked for it, so why don't you ask Zibu yourself?"

"Oh, yes."

Zhang Zhao took advantage of Long Xiang and Feng Zhong's conversation to pull Deng Dang aside to ask the reason, only to know that they were mourning Jiangdong comrades, and the doubts that were originally condensed in their hearts immediately dissipated.

In a short time, the ship's food inventory was completed.

Zhang Zhao refused Long Xiang's retention, and took the captives out of the city that morning.

Long Xiang and Lu Su went to the dock to say goodbye, and Zhang Zhao stood on the boat and said goodbye.

He had already dealt with Long Xiang several times, and knew that the other party was cunning and unwilling to suffer, so he never thought that the ransom would be so smooth.

After the fleet set sail, Zhang Zhao returned to his cabin and found that there were a lot of gold, silver, and cloth piled up inside, which were obviously "bribes" from Long Xiang.

Zhang Zhao picked up a piece of cloth and said to himself, "Long Yunqi, Long Yunqi, you are so sophisticated in dealing with people, why don't you want to demote my lord? What exactly do you want?"

Just as he was pondering, Deng Dang suddenly broke in, and when he saw the gifts stacked in the cabin, he didn't know whether to advance or retreat for a while.

Zhang Zhao reacted very quickly, and explained with a smile as if "borrowing flowers to offer Buddha": "This is a gift from Long Xiang to the lord, he is a shrewd person, is there something wrong with General Deng?"

"Uh... We have been trapped in Hefei for several months, and I wonder if the lord will use it now when we return to Jiangdong... Mr. Hope..."

Before Deng Dang finished speaking, he was interrupted by Zhang Zhao.

"General, don't worry, if the lord doesn't want to use you, why did he send me to ransom? You have learned a little bit about the situation in the past few months, and you will go back and tell me what you have seen and heard in Hefei, and maybe the lord will be of use."

"I'm not afraid of Mr. jokes, we were prisoners in Hefei, basically we were moving bricks and working, and we didn't find much useful news..." Deng Dang shook his head awkwardly.

Zhang Zhao had to remind: "As the so-called small see the big, even if you work, you will get something, just like the monument to the heroes in the city, it can also be said to the lord, at least it shows that Long Xiang is very good at gathering people's hearts."

Deng Dang was inspired and began to reflect on the labor reform experience.

"Long Xiang's reputation in Hefei is indeed high, anyway, we work every day, I haven't heard a word of complaint, and working in Hefei is not only about eating, many people and craftsmen can receive food..."

"Oh? It turns out that this is the root of Long Xiang's high popularity? Although this method works, it is extremely stupid, he spends the grain on the head of the Qian, what else can he use to recruit troops?" Zhang Zhao shook his head after hearing this.

Deng Dang replied: "Hefei does not recruit troops at all, I heard that there are only five battalions of seven or eight thousand people, but half of them are Feng Zhong's artisan battalions, and they go around building houses, repairing city walls, and recently I heard that the roads in the city are also leveled."

"He helps the people like this, and he can't afford to raise an army normally, the lord may have guessed correctly, this person acts with little wealth and peace, and has no ambitions..."

Zhang Zhao's tone was calm, and Deng Dang couldn't hear the praise or disapproval, so he added: "By the way, Hefei is burning bricks in a big way, and when building houses, he also likes to use green bricks instead of soil, and also uses a thing called cement, I heard that it was made by Long Xiang, which is used for bonding between bricks and bricks, and is as hard as masonry on the ground, and..."

"The general will stop for a moment."

Zhang Zhao interrupted Deng Dang's chatter and reminded him impatiently: "You'd better take a look at it first, and then talk to the lord together after returning to Jiangdong, there should be something to learn from, and it will not be in vain for you to work hard for months."

"Okay..."

Deng Dangyan left happily, and Zhang Zhao ordered people to move forward, wanting to go back to his life as soon as possible.

After entering the Yangtze River, the fleet did not go to the downstream Dantu (Zhenjiang), but entered the Zhongjiang River from the Wuhu Shuikou

(Lishui), and then take a shortcut back to Wu County by Zhenze (Taihu Lake).

At this time, Sun Ce was celebrating his mother's birthday in the rear, and gave the opportunity to fight Guangling to earn military merits to his second brother Sun Quan.

Last year, Liu Xun, Huang Zu, and Ping Yuzhang fought beautifully from their brothers Sun Ben and Sun Fu.

Sun Ce considered that he would fight on multiple fronts in the later period, so he focused on cultivating his own brothers, and wanted Chen Deng to be a whetstone for Sun Quan.

In late March, Zhang Zhao took Deng to meet Sun Ce in person, but found that his lord's face was not very good.

Sun Ce waved his hand and sent the two away, not even leaving a word of hard work.

Zhang Zhao sighed in his heart, and said in his heart that it shouldn't be Long Xiang bribing himself, someone slandered you in advance, right?

Walking out of the palace gate, Zhang Zhao happened to meet Gong Cao Yu, so he pulled him aside and asked in a low voice, "Zhong Xiang, what is the big thing in the county recently?" Why does the lord seem to be unhappy?"

Yu looked left and right, and replied in a low voice: "Just a few days ago, the second general was defeated by Chen Deng in Guangling, and he lost a lot of soldiers and horses, which caused morale to languish, and the lord may be troubled by this..."

"Oh? I see."

Zhang Zhao suddenly realized, immediately relieved his previous worries, and then made an excuse for Sun Quan.

"Chen Deng's wisdom is not shallow, the second general is young after all, and setbacks are inevitable, so I have to persuade the lord not to be in a hurry."

"I don't know about the long history, I heard that something big happened in the Central Plains, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao have started a war, and the lord wants to take the opportunity to attack Xudu, but he gave up Hefei last year, and now the battle in Guangling has been lost again..."

The sound behind Yu Flip became smaller and quieter.

"That's right..."

When Zhang Zhao was sighing, Sun Ce suddenly called someone out to look for him, and Zhang Zhao pulled Yu back with him.

The reason why Sun Ce gave Zhang Zhao a black face just now was because Sun Quan was defeated by Chen Deng, and when he saw Zhang Zhao, he remembered to find Long Xiang to ransom people, and inexplicably felt that both sides were being humiliated, but he quickly adjusted his mentality.

Summoned Zhang Zhao again, Sun Ce took the initiative to apologize and introspect in front of Yu Turn, and this sincerity moved Zhang Zhao.

Then several people sat down according to the table, Zhang Zhao re-introduced the trip to Hefei, he said that although he paid some grain and grass, but through Deng Dang to find out the reality of Hefei.

After hearing this, Sun Ce thought about it, frowned and asked: "Long Xiang has just collected grain and released people, he should be unwary of Jiangdong, if I transfer troops to attack now, how long do you estimate it will be to take Hefei?"

"This..."

Zhang Zhao was stunned when he heard this, and said in his heart that you really want to fight Hefei, why did you let me send food? Isn't this a near-war enemy?

"Deng Dang has been in Hefei for several months, and he is relatively clear about the situation over there, it is better for the lord to summon him to ask, and the lord chose to attack Hefei at this time, is it not because Yuan Cao started a war? Zhao thought that Yuan Cao's power was too large, and it was difficult to distinguish the winner in a short period of time, and now it was a little earlier to march into the Central Plains..."

"Is it early?"

Sun Ce frowned, and sighed: "Last year, we fought against Liu Xun and defeated Huang Zu's morale like a rainbow, but in the first two or three months of the year, Zhongmou lost to Chen Deng twice, which made the morale of the whole army low, and the attack on Hefei was not only to grab a waterway for the north to go to the Central Plains, but also to boost the morale of our army..."

"There's nothing wrong with grabbing waterways, but boosting morale is..."