Now Li Yuanqing does not want to stay in the northwest and wants to return to Xunyang Mansion. General Zhao was a little disappointed at first, but he soon realized that this was not necessarily a bad thing.

The northwest army is important, but the construction of the navy is also very important. Li Yuanqing is responsible for these things, which is of great benefit to the Zhao family. At least there is no need to worry about Li Yuanqing dealing with the Zhao family. On the basis of maintaining good relations, there will be no military intersection.

More will make His Majesty more trustworthy.

After weighing the pros and cons, General Zhao nodded, "Yuan Qing, you think far ahead, and His Majesty is also far-sighted, so he will definitely accept your request. I will be in the capital by then, waiting for your good news."

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

General Zhao kept this in mind and planned to build a navy later and send some of the younger generations of the Zhao family there for training. He did not seek a high position, but wanted to gain experience. If he had the ability and the opportunity, he would have a good future.

While the two were talking, someone came to report that an imperial edict had come from the capital, and the two generals were invited to come and receive it.

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

Knowing that the enemy country was still unwilling to agree to Zhou's conditions and was determined to fight to the death, Li Yuanqing and General Zhao prepared to continue the war. As expected, not long after, Xiyun Kingdom sent another 200,000 troops to prepare for a decisive battle with Zhou.

.

Some people wanted to ask for a fight, but they were all rejected by General Zhao, "The one who is anxious now is Xiyun Kingdom, not us. Let's wait patiently, train our troops in peacetime, and rest well at the same time. Wait until the Xiyun Kingdom's exhausted enemies arrive.

, our combat power after recharging our strength will greatly exceed that of Xiyun Kingdom."

Vice General Zhou agreed, "It's just that Xiyun Kingdom came, but it didn't attack. We were always on guard and fearful. We took the initiative to attack and directly defeated Xiyun Kingdom."

"That is, Xiyun Kingdom cannot be allowed to be arrogant. Now those people are scolding us under our city gate every day, calling us a coward, which is ugly." Another general said, "Please give me one hundred thousand, General."

The men and horses will definitely be able to defeat the 200,000 horses of Xiyun Kingdom."

"My subordinates also invite you to fight."

"Subordinates, please fight!"

Everyone was filled with righteous indignation and wished they could 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. Only with military exploits can they be rewarded and promoted.

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

Li Yuanqing stood up, clasped his fists and replied: "Back to the general, I also think that this is not the time to take the initiative. Face the enemy head-on. We have 300,000 soldiers in the northwest city. We will fight against the 200,000 soldiers of Xiyun Kingdom. We will fight head-on with numbers.

, it is indeed possible to win, but the result is foreseeable. We will injure one thousand enemies and suffer eight hundred losses to ourselves. While Xiyun Kingdom suffered heavy casualties, our soldiers of the Great Zhou Dynasty will also suffer heavy casualties."

"A man who is loyal to his country will die a worthy death." One of the young generals, Meng Shide, shouted these words. He usually fought the most ruthlessly and was known for not being afraid of death. The soldiers under his command were also not afraid of death.

Bravery is good, but casualties are also very high.

Fighting a war not only relies on force, but also relies 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: "Yuan Qing, what do you think?"

Although Li Yuanqing admired Meng Shide's bravery, he did not like his fighting style that did not take human life seriously.

Li Yuanqing looked at Meng Shide, cupped his hands and said: "Let's discuss the matter without taking aim at each other. Being brave and not afraid of death and being loyal to the country are indeed very valuable qualities. There are obviously ways to reduce casualties, so why do we let the soldiers die? Every one of them.

My great son, Zhou, is the backbone of the family. If he were gone, my parents, wife, and children would not be able to survive."

Meng Shide had few people he admired, except General Zhao, who admired Li Yuanqing in front of him.

If someone else said this to him, Meng Shide would definitely sneer at it, but it was Li Yuanqing who said it. Meng Shide thought about it and then asked: "Brother Li, since you have a good idea, just say it. Hesitate and cover up."

very?"

Li Yuanqing smiled, "It's my fault that I didn't say it directly. What the general just said is that it is not our Zhou Dynasty that is anxious now, but the Xiyun Kingdom. If they have the ability to compete with us, we will follow them.

Now we are clearing millions of acres of wasteland, and in three or four months, we will not only have food and grass provided by the surrounding areas, but we will also be able to harvest food grown by ourselves."

"But in Xiyun Kingdom, they have to travel thousands of miles to deliver grain and grass outside the northwest city, and they will consume 40% of the food on the way. They will definitely not be able to consume us! If we persist for a few months, they can save the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers, and they can continue to do so.

Training, recuperation, the best of both worlds, why not?"

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

Li Yuanqing disagreed and smiled, "I am indeed a general, but knowing how to fight doesn't mean I can't farm. Based on Li's guess about Xiyun Kingdom, they will definitely not survive two months. By then, there will be a war;

Either the opponent retreats 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 the best result is to be able to defeat the enemy without fighting."

Meng Shide was speechless by Li Yuanqing.

General Zhao listened and said with a smile: "Then let's settle it. The soldiers will practice in the morning and work in the fields in the afternoon. So many prisoners have been clearing up wasteland. The number of wasteland clearing continues to increase every day. In the future, this place can really become a huge

's granary."

"Yes, General." Everyone agreed.

Meng Shide had no battle to fight and could not vent his excess energy, so he trained his troops and drilled the soldiers below. He waited for one day to rush to the battlefield and kill everyone.

General Zhao also wrote a special note, which was sent to the capital together with Li Yuanqing's letter on the importance of land reclamation. Of course, Li Yuanqing also said that the local drought was not that there was no water, but that the water flow was low and could not be used.

It flows into the fields. Carrying water manually consumes too much manpower and material resources, so Li Yuanqing felt it was necessary to build a waterwheel. The drawings of the waterwheel were given by Liu Pan'er. Li Yuanqing found someone to make several waterwheels at his own expense, and he worked day and night.

Pump water.

In some places, the height difference of the water flow can be used to automatically store water; but in some places, which are relatively flat and cannot receive external power, people can only use people to sit on them and pedal their feet, so that the water wheel can continuously pump the water from there.

In the river, pump it into a ditch higher on the bank.

Li Yuanqing could spend money to build the waterwheel needed for his family's more than 500 acres of land, but there were millions of acres of land here, and he couldn't afford it.
Chapter completed!