Troubled times: Start practicing spiritual practice by taking care of your sister-in-law

Chapter 211 Warmth

At present, the county's total military strength is 5,000.

That's right, when Chen Mo was still there, the county's military strength was five thousand (Shenwu Guards + Shenwu Guards + Reserves.)

Chen Mo sent troops and took away two thousand people, leaving three thousand people left.

During Chen Mo's absence, the number was gradually increased by two thousand.

In fact, the expansion of two thousand people was a passive expansion. About two hundred people were the remnants of the Qingzhou Army brought over from Gaozhou by Li Yunzhang. Later, about four hundred Qingzhou Army members gradually joined.

Later, because Qingting County was assigned to Chen Mo and due to the need for defense, Geng Songfu ordered the recruitment of 1,200 people.

Among these five thousand people, two thousand are divine warriors, one thousand divine warriors, and two thousand reserves.

Among them, the Qingzhou Army who joined in one after another were all charged into the Shen Yong Guards.

Li Yunzhang was a seventh-level warrior, so Geng Songfu put him in charge of the reserve team and transferred Wei Qing from the Divine Guard to serve as Li Yunzhang's deputy together with Gao Ming.

After returning to the yamen, after listening to Geng Songfu's story about the army, Chen Mo raised his eyebrows. Five thousand people, plus the 10,000 people from Quanyang County, if he wanted to later, he could form an army of 20,000. Down.

What makes Chen Mo most satisfied is the autumn harvest last month. The county's harvest of late rice reached 800,000 dan, and 100,000 dan were collected as reserves.

Moreover, the arsenal in the city recruited a large number of talents. After a period of study, they were able to independently produce crossbows and bed crossbows, but the yield was not too high.

One hundred and fifty pairs of Mingguang Armor have been produced, and now they are all equipped by the Brave Guards.

Moreover, the large amount of copper coins brought back by Chen Mo from Tianshui Town can be used to expand the arsenal, so that the output can also be increased.

There is good news, and of course there is bad news.

Affected by the war, the trade route they established with the Jiangnan Shenghuang Chamber of Commerce has been cut off.

And from Lu Yuan's mouth, Chen Mo learned something that he didn't know yet. The Tianshi Army had crossed the river, occupied Fengzhou, and sent a large army to surprise Huaizhou, causing King Qin's army to fall. A battle was lost.

It is for this reason that the trade routes through Jiangnan were cut off.

There is also the cold weather, and many people have frozen to death in Pingting and Qingting counties.

The two counties are in short supply of cotton, cloth, and firewood.

It should be noted that the more than 8,000 winter coats sent by Geng Songfu to Quanyang County were not cotton-padded clothes.

Most winter clothes worn by ordinary people are made of paper such as mulberry paper and rattan paper, also called "paper fur".

This kind of paper fur is soft and thick, but it is still not very good at resisting the severe cold.

As for clothing made of cotton-padded clothes, fox furs, animal skins, etc. to keep out the cold, only wealthy people could afford them.

After listening to what Geng Songfu said, Chen Mo tapped his fingers on the table, thought about it, and soon had an idea in his mind.

There is coal on Daze Mountain. You can dig the coal yourself to make briquettes.

The technical content of briquettes is not high. Before Chen Mo traveled through time, many civilians could make it.

The only thing with some technical content is the iron tool used to punch holes in the briquettes.

Thinking of this, Chen Mo immediately took action.

If briquettes are produced, not only can the people of the two counties survive the harsh winter, but they can also make a small fortune for themselves.

……

While Chen Mo was busy.

In the side room in the backyard of the county government office.

Xia Zhining had just finished taking a shower and put on a plain coat and skirt. Her hair was as wet as a hibiscus. She was sitting in front of the dressing table wiping the water stains on her hair and said, "I haven't had a good bath like this for a long time." ”

Xia Zhiqing could see her sister's pretty face through the bronze mirror. She walked forward, put her hands on her sister's shoulders, squeezed them gently, and said with gentle eyes: "Zhining, when we were in the army, Did he bully you?"

Xia Zhining paused, with a bit of shame and annoyance in her eyes. She was bullied to death, but she had the nerve to tell her sister about it.

She shouted: "How dare he dare to join the army this time? I... helped him a lot and taught the Yanyue Formation to his troops. How could he dare to bully me?"

"That's good." Xia Zhiqing breathed a sigh of relief, and then asked about the battle ahead.

Although Xia Zhining was out for a lot of time, she really didn't know anything about the war ahead.

She asked Geng Songfu, who only said everything was fine and told her not to worry.

"The terrain in Yuzhou is too complicated. There are mountains everywhere and there are many hulukou."

Speaking of this, Xia Zhining seemed to have opened up a chat box. She turned around and started talking about the combination of terrain and marching, and how to use the tactics in the military book.

"It is recorded in the military books that arrogant soldiers will be defeated. It is indeed not just talk. Yuan Youchun's tens of thousands of soldiers and horses were too arrogant, and Liang Song lured the enemy deeper step by step. Finally, he was deployed by Liang Song in Shiling County. The ambush was severely damaged. If it weren't for Chen Mo, the entire army would have been wiped out."

Talking about this kind of thing, Xia Zhining was particularly excited. She held Xia Zhiqing's hand and said:

"Sister, let me tell you, although Chen Mo is a bastard, he still has his own way of leading troops in war, and he also has a unique leadership ability, especially when he gives a speech, Very serious, with a kind of heroic temperament mentioned in the book.

If it weren't for him, the Tianshi Army would have suffered a terrible defeat in the entire Yuzhou battlefield."

Seeing the little expression on her sister's face when she talked about Chen Mo, Xia Zhiqing immediately noticed something was wrong and said:

"Zhining, didn't you really hate him before? Why do you admire him now?"

"And you seem to be looking much better recently?" Xia Zhiqing remembered that when Zhining left, she didn't look very good.

"Really?" Xia Zhining knew that she was too immersed in what she said, so she quickly restrained herself, and immediately explained: "Things come to an end. I do hate him for some things, but I can't ignore his talents."

Not right.

Something is wrong.

If Xia Zhiqing only caught a hint of something wrong just now, now she caught something deeply wrong.

When my sister hated him before, she didn't think about his talents or anything, she just hated him.

And I won't say a nice word to him.

Now that he has returned from the army, his attitude toward him seems to be a completely different person.

"Then the war is over?" Xia Zhiqing asked.

Hearing this, Xia Zhining's expression froze and she fell silent, remembering that on the eve of the war, she had discussed with her sister to wait until the war was over before leaving.

But now, he and that bastard have expressed their feelings to each other and agreed to let him bring his sister into the room, so he doesn't want to leave.

But she couldn't say this to her sister in person.

After thinking for a while, Xia Zhining said: "Not yet. Although the Tianshi Army has been defeated, Liang Song is well-prepared. It is unrealistic to go south from Yuzhou. If we take the waterway, the main force of the Tianshi Army is still fighting. The battle between the Toyosu Navy and the waterway to the south has been blocked, so I’m afraid I won’t be able to leave in a short time.”

"Yes." Xia Zhiqing nodded: "Safety is no small matter."

In fact, she also felt a little guilty.

Although she didn't want to admit it, her life in the county during this period made her feel attached to this place.

The two women fell into a brief silence.

Xia Zhining turned around, opened the drawer under the dressing table, picked up the pearl necklace from inside, and soon let out a light sigh.

Xia Zhiqing, who felt guilty, quickly asked: "Zhining, what's wrong?"

"It feels like the color of this pearl has faded a lot, and its luster is not as bright as before." Xia Zhining muttered.

Xia Zhiqing felt even more guilty. She knew about jewelry. If a pearl necklace is worn for a long time, the pearls will lose their original luster. Moreover, when she wore it, she often touched the pearls on it to see if the color would not fade.

"It hasn't faded. Ah, maybe it's because we haven't seen each other for a long time, but now we suddenly see each other, there is a difference." Xia Zhiqing said.

Fortunately, Xia Zhining didn't think much about it.

Seeing that she had been fooled, Xia Zhiqing breathed a sigh of relief.

Looking at the pearl necklace that was placed around her sister's neck again, Xia Zhiqing, who had never fought for it, suddenly felt a little uncomfortable.

"This necklace should have been mine."

……

Chen Mo drew a lot of drawings, and he picked out the one he was most satisfied with and thought it best matched the drawing of "briquette pounding" in his memory. He taught it to the blacksmith and asked him to type it out.

Although some details cannot be drawn on the drawings and can only be explained by Chen Mo's words, the technology is not difficult. He believes that with the wisdom of the working people, it should be possible to tinker with it.

After Chen Mo finished drawing the drawings and inspected the factories in the city, he learned that Xiaolu lived with his sister-in-law, so he returned to the village with Zhang He.

On the way, when he learned that Zhang He had taken a concubine, Chen Mo smiled and patted his shoulder: "Okay."

He understood that Zhang He was able to accept Wang's daughter because of his own reasons, but he also showed that his prestige and influence were rising from the side.

And when people outside saw that Zhang He was able to take the Wang family's daughter as his concubine because of him, would they also consider taking refuge in him?

As his first subordinate, now that he is back, of course he has to visit Zhang He's home.

He also saw the daughter of the Wang family. She was pretty and had good skin. After all, she was a woman from a noble family, and her skin was much better than that of village women.

After a few words of greetings, Chen Mo returned to his home.

The news that he had returned to the village reached Han Anniang's ears when he went to Zhang He's home.

When he arrived at the door, Han Aniang, Yi Shiyan, and Song Min had been waiting for a long time.

"Why are you standing outside? It's so cold."

As soon as the words were spoken, Yi Shiyan threw herself into Chen Mo's arms and hugged him tightly: "Husband, I miss you so much."

Han Anniang who was following next to her saw the deer and pounced on it, her cheeks reddening a bit.

"Uncle, you're back." Han Anniang stepped forward, patted the snowflakes off Chen Mo's shoulders and head virtuously, and then took the Tang knife and baggage from Chen Mo's hand.

Chen Mo took advantage of the situation and said: "In the baggage are gifts prepared for you."

"Brother Mo." Song Min called sweetly.

Chen Mo let go of Xiaolu and rubbed Song Min's head: "Min'er has grown taller again."

(End of this chapter)