stubborn thief

Chapter 374 Reliable
The arrogant soldiers from the northwest retreated to the north bank of the Yellow River like a tide. When the last cowhide raft crossed the Yellow River, Yang He, who was standing on the south bank of the Yellow River, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The turbulent Lanzhou City finally eliminated the military disaster when Master Yang entered the enemy camp alone twice, and Lanzhou City returned to peace.

The old head is kept.

It's just that Liu Chengzong is very annoying. Looking back at the ruins of Xigu City, which is a piece of white land, Master Yang fell into deep thought: Why did Liu Shishi take away the city bricks?
Because the bricks used in Xigu City are good. They are all big blue bricks that are one foot three inches long, seven inches wide, and four inches thick, fired in the third year of Wanli.

The defense performance of big bricks is better than that of small bricks. Small bricks will be broken when shot up, and the support on the top of three or five pieces will collapse if they are broken. But big bricks will only break when shot up, and they can still provide good support. .

It took a lot of effort for Liu Shizi's artillery to destroy the battlements of Xigu. It happened that the city was also built in the west. Anyway, the surrounding people were given rations. Good bricks are shipped to the west, and shipped to the carrier to receive them.

Liu Chengzong left Song Shouzhen in Shajingyi to build the Dongguan Fortress Group. The five sharp-angled enemy towers here have been designed, and the rest is just the task of supervision. Song Shouzhen also left sweet potatoes and potatoes to plant these things nearby, and so on. Breed new fruits and promote them to the mountains.

In addition, the elder brothers Liu Chengzu and Li Wanqing assisted in guarding the area from Dongguan to the Yellow River Ferry, leaving food and grass to arrange the strategy of the battle, recruiting civilians to repair the city and other affairs.

Liu Chengzong's mission to his elder brother was not to stick to it, but in fact it was a gamble that the officers and soldiers would not dare to raise their troops to the west. If they really wanted to go west, if the problem of the two Mongolian Khans in the west was not resolved, he would not be able to provide much support.

So in essence, Liu Shizi has already prepared in his heart to suffer from being dumb. Once the officers and soldiers make a big move in Lanzhou, Liu Chengzu will find out early, and the soldiers will withdraw westward decisively if the food is taken away.

Do not fight them.

The money and food that the Marshal's Mansion received in this war was very sufficient, which not only solved the problem of lack of rations, but also had spare capacity to help the people of Hehuang.

If the imperial court takes Hehuang back at this time, it will actually reduce the burden on Liu Chengzong. In the inherent territory of the Marshal's Mansion west of Xining, the food and grass obtained in this battle are enough for everyone to live like a fairy for two years.

Liu Chengzong did not leave Chengyun in Dongguan because the overall situation of Hehuang needed someone to preside over it.

The news from the west is not too bad. After Huduntu put the tent wife and children into Haibei, Chahar, who was traveling lightly, can run around in Qinghai, and he won't die for a while.

However, Hehuang still has complicated work to finish the war, and the smallpox brought by the imperial army is spreading in Hehuang.

Liu Shizi observed the people's sentiments along the way, inspected the food planting conditions of the people in various townships, and by the way found the reason for the spread of smallpox-weapons and armor.

This is a complete food chain.

The defeat of the officers and soldiers coincided with the epidemic of smallpox. Thousands of defeated soldiers scattered and fled. Some hid in the mountains and became bandits, and some scattered soldiers looted everywhere. Sometimes they successfully robbed the people, and sometimes they were hunted and killed by the people. Some people hid in villages and were taken in by the people, and some joined the people's hunt for the defeated soldiers.

Weapons and armor have become the things that the people urgently need to protect themselves in the face of war. They also bring smallpox to the people. It only takes one month to complete the change of infecting 1 people and [-] people infecting [-] people.

In Liu Chengzong's eyes, this thing is like a mountain fire, there is no way to put it out, and strictly speaking, he doesn't have anything to treat smallpox.

There is only one prescription of Sandouyin, which is to boil water with red beans, black beans, mung beans and licorice to promote blood circulation and detoxify. You can make the smallpox leave a pock mark a little lighter.

But to deal with wildfires, if you can't extinguish it, wait for it to be extinguished. The soldiers under his command who are immune to smallpox are the best isolation zone.

Yang Yao was temporarily appointed as the chief officer of Hehuang. He dispatched two village officials to each of the five towns, ten pus, twenty townships, and two hundred baos in Hehuang. Epidemic Book" was distributed to all insurances to curb the spread of smallpox.

The book mainly introduces the source of smallpox, symptoms, mode of infection, significance of vaccination, prevention methods and precautions. There are only three methods in the whole method. Get some pig skin and trotters to eat.

If the disease broke out in the west of Xining, Liu Chengzong would be helpless except to vaccinate, but in the traditional agricultural areas east of Xining, whether it is three bean drink or pig skin and trotters, it is easy to say.

When the soldiers of Shuai's mansion who went on an expedition heard that the commander-in-chief was going to distribute pig skins to the sick people in Hehuang, they were very happy, and they were puzzled by the prisoners who were scattered all over the place waiting to be vaccinated.

Later they found out that the group of veterans who had followed Liu Chengzong for several years were greedy. As expected, Liu Chengyun followed closely and issued a generalissimo's decree to Sanbaili, the five towns of Hehuang, to buy live pigs at official prices with grain at official prices.

In Hehuang, when food prices rose, meat prices also rose. However, when food prices nearly doubled, meat prices stopped rising and began to fall slowly.

According to the current food price level, buying live pigs by bartering at past prices is not bad for pig farmers.

Chengyun also moved westward with the army, and established Daguan City in Nianbo, and five towns and cities in Hehuang, Pingrong, Laoya, Jiashun, Binggou, and Dongguan from west to east.

Liu Chengzong left [-] shi of rice and grain for Nianbo's Daguan City. These grains will slowly flow into the market in the future, and wait for the merchants who are hoarding goods to jump out to search their homes, and then bring the price of Hehuang grain back to parity in one breath.

He wants to tell people that war, hunger and panic are over, and Hehuang will be better than before.

The purchased pigskin and trotters were sent to smallpox-ravaged villages, and most of the pork was distributed to each team as a victory celebration. The big-bellied man in the Marshal's Mansion could eliminate any meat in the shortest possible time.

The mission Liu Chengzong entrusted to Chengyun was to build these five towns and cities. They all occupied the post cities of the imperial court in the past, but only one post city was not enough. He needed these places to take on heavier functions.

Fortunately, after the construction of the Juerwan market in the past three years, the Marshal's Mansion already has a group of professionals who can barely cope with this kind of errand. The town and city will serve as a combination of post station, barracks, and market, and even assume some of the functions of the county government.

On the day when the army stopped at Nianbosuo to celebrate the victory, Liu Chengzong told Chengyun about his plan: "In addition to post stations, barracks, and markets, you will build county offices in five towns and cities, and all six houses will be equipped. In addition, a town school with a capacity of 400 people will be built.”

Chengyun stared and said, "Brother, that's five counties."

"That's just five counties. There are only 7000 people in Haixi and Haibei counties, and each of your towns has 4 people. There are probably [-] people in each town of Qimin.”

Liu Chengzong laughed and said: "This is still not counted as a county? But I think so about the town school. We require that each guarantor have a private school teacher, and the sociology school is in charge of enlightenment; each township must have a scholar who has taught it. If you pass the five classics, you can pass the test for children."

"Then we have the Xining House Academy, which can give these children who have laid a good foundation better learning opportunities, so the town school does not have to offer so many subjects. It is mainly responsible for the local talent gap in Hehuang, and it caters to those whose families are not well-equipped. Children who go out of production to go to school."

After careful consideration of this matter, Liu Chengzong thought that people who have studied should be useful, and it is a pity that they cannot continue their studies because of their livelihood, so he said: "I want to open four subjects in the town school, agriculture, engineering, calculation, and medicine." , These are all talents that the town can use."

"Each town recruits 120 people every year, and they are in charge of food and housing, and then three qian silver per month to subsidize the family. After three years of study, they will be stationed in various townships to improve and promote agriculture and craftsmanship skills, or study in the township traditional Chinese medicine center. I want to continue. Entering school can also pass the imperial examination and enter the government to continue studying."

Chengyun listened and took notes, and raised his head when he finished writing, and said, "Brother, the five town school gentlemen, at least 80 people, I have to recruit from the Xining Mansion Academy."

"You just recruit, when the business in the west is finished, we should set up six departments."

Liu Chengzong looked at Cheng Yun who put away his notes and said with a smile: "If you can understand the affairs of these five counties, you will be the Secretary of the Household Department of our small court in Xihai."

Chengyun was taken aback when he heard that, then blinked and said, "Brother, are you planning to become king?"

Liu Chengzong wanted to tease him, so he said: "Why, do you think the Minister of the Household Department is not good?"

"No, no, Hubu Shangshu...hehe!" Chengyun shook his head, then smirked twice, and then said: "I just think it's too early to become king at this time?"

"Yes!"

Liu Chengzong pointed at Chengyun and laughed, and then said: "Being king now doesn't do us much good. It's nothing more than recruiting and surrendering the enemy generals to confer titles and make a wish. But there are many disadvantages. At least we must cut off the threat of the frontier army in Gansu. Only by acquiring Lanzhou can one become king."

Gansu and Hehuang are separated by Qilian Mountains, and taking any of these two parts alone is incomplete. In Liu Chengzong's thinking, only by acquiring the entire Hexi and the Golden City of Lanzhou can he be geographically invincible.

"As for the internal desire to be promoted and rewarded, I still have the means to pay the military salary. As long as the morale of the army is stable, it doesn't matter if people are slightly dissatisfied with the title."

Liu Chengzong smiled, and then sighed: "But I really need the Six Departments, and I must set up a court-like airs, otherwise the powers of the various places will be unclear and the operation will not work well. If it doesn't work, we won't call it the Six Departments, but the Six Departments and the Six Offices. It doesn’t matter what you call it, the key is to be able to do things.”

"You think, just this year, there have been three visits, no, counting the imperial court's master Yang as four waves of envoys, the other three are my big ones to deal with them." Liu Chengzong shook his head and spread his hands and said, "How can I find a son?" I have to get a hut to shut them up because the tired old father entertains them every day."

Chengyun was happy when he heard it, and after a while he regained his composure, and said doubtfully, "But brother, why did you say that this Eastern captive Tartar sent someone to look for you? It's strange, the road is thousands of miles away, but they have the energy to run."

"It's not that far away, let me tell you, I can guess exactly what they are looking for." Liu Chengzong raised his finger, fixed his eyes and said: "I guess there are only two things, if you want to contact me, But that's unlikely..."

As he spoke, Liu Chengzong shook his head and said: "Compared with Houjin, our territory may be about the same size, but they have occupied Nurgan for generations, and their population, financial resources, and military strength are all stronger than mine. This world pays attention to strength, and Mongolia has no strength. Nobody takes Khan seriously."

"And it's too far away. If you only send people here when you hear the news of the defeat of the five towns, the news hasn't reached Shenyang yet. I guess it's mostly because of Huduntu. Calculate the time and come here from Guihua City." More or less."

Cheng Yun took it very seriously, and said with a smile: "Maybe I want to test whether the second brother recognizes their God... What's the matter?"

"Tian Cong, I guess I also have the same meaning. It's just a meaningless first contact, just to test the enemy and friends." Liu Chengzong shook his head and smiled: "I'll know when I go back."

Chengyun was very interested in this topic, because he couldn't go back, so he hurriedly asked: "Then second brother, if you test the enemy and friends, what are you going to do?"

"Chengyun, Houjin is our enemy."

Liu Chengzong restrained his smile: "If you want to win the world, anyone can be a friend. The imperial court will collapse sooner or later, but Houjin is a deadly enemy. Their geographical advantage is very similar to ours. There is no other way to survive except to capture the Central Plains. I fight to the death."

After Chengyun nodded slowly in response, Liu Chengzong's expression relaxed, and said: "Actually, I really want to make a joint attack plan with Houjin, and sell them later, but Daming... Sigh."

Liu Shizi is not afraid of Houjin at all. Even though the national power is far inferior to Houjin, Houjin can't reach him. Even if he really works hard to send troops to come here, he is sure to kill any expeditionary enemies outside Qinghai or even Gansu.

However, Daming's extremely exhausted organizational ability now makes Liu Chengzong really unbelievable. A normal army goes out with the sound of the drum, and if half of the plan is thrown away, at least half of the plan will be effective.

Daming had a good plan. When the war started, half of the plan was lost due to the situation, and the other half was thrown away.

Liu Shizi felt that even if he had made a plan with Hou Jin, and Hou Jin really believed his nonsense and planned to implement it according to the plan, if he disclosed the news to the court, the court would probably be known by Hou Jin without knowing it, and the incident would be reported by the court. Huang Taiji came up with tricks.

As a result, Houjin didn’t follow the plan. It’s okay for Houjin who was betrayed to feel that he was not a good person, and Daming who was beaten would also feel that he was not a good person. Maybe Huang Taiji’s very shrewd little brain would mix sand with Chongzhen Lord , can really make Lord Chongzhen turn his head west and deal with himself with all his strength.

Liu Chengzong even thought up the words, "Liu thief wants to be the emperor of the Han family, we are just Jurchens, but he can really take your throne!" '

It is very simple to make a plan, but the person who completes the plan must be very reliable, and Emperor Chongzhen and his friends... are the most unreliable candidates in the world.

"I'll go back and meet the envoy. You are here to build up the five towns, Minister of the Household Department."

Amidst the hearty laughter of the two brothers, the army finished its celebration and set off again, heading towards Xining City.

　good evening!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)