The next morning, Chen Qing inspected the training of new recruits in the military camp outside Xicheng. The military camp was the temporary camp where the family members of Ganquanbao lived before. They had all moved into the city, and it was changed into a new military camp.
The newly recruited 5,000 troops were recruited from various states, which brought the Xihe Army's strength to 35,000, but these troops were still far from enough.
It takes ten thousand people to guard Qinzhou, at least ten thousand people to defend Deshun Prefecture, Gongzhou, Lintao Prefecture and Hezhou, and three thousand more to guard the 22,000 Xixia prisoners of war in the iron mines. He can actually fight.
The army only has 12,000 people.
I wonder how many people Zheng Ping can bring back to Bashu this time?
At this time, Chen Qing really hoped that the puppet Qi army would come to attack him. Only the prisoners of war of the puppet Qi army could be converted into his own army. The other Xixia people, Jurchens, and Donghu people could not be used at all.
Under the leadership of Niu Gao, the new recruits rushed out of the military camp to conduct fifty-mile long-distance running training.
At this time, Wang Hao hurriedly found Chen Qing, bowed and said: "This morning Yang Qi found his humble position and said that someone came to his door last night and asked him to copy books at a high price, which was twenty times higher than the market price. He paid fifty guan to copy ten volumes.
Diamond Sutra."
Chen Qing smiled and said, "Then what!"
"Then the other party left twenty-five thousand dollars as a deposit. Yang Qi was very confused. He really needed money for his sister's dowry, but he also knew that the money was used to bribe him. He didn't know what to do!"
Chen Qing said calmly: "I would like to make two suggestions. First, with the upper limit of one hundred guan, the maximum the other party can get for bribing him is 100 guan, which is considered as my reward for him. The extra money will be used in the end.
It needs to be turned over.”
Wang Hao felt relieved. This was the best and solved Yang Qi's big problem.
Chen Qing continued slowly: "Second, you can't meet him directly, it will be easily discovered by the other party. If you arrange for someone to go to Jiedu Mansion to sort out documents, this person will be responsible for contacting Yang Qi, so that there will be no
You know how to alert others. You specialize in this business, so you should know better than me."
"Bizhi understands Dutong's worries. In fact, today I am the one who went to find Yang Qi. I was afraid that he would foolishly come to the internal affairs camp. I feel that someone must be spying on him now."
"Just do as I say, and never underestimate the Xixia spies."
"I will arrange for someone to go to Jiedu Mansion today to do some work."
Chen Qing nodded and added: "Be patient. The other party will definitely test Yang Qi repeatedly. Tell Yang Qi to stay true to yourself and don't pretend. People will see through it."
"The humble position will definitely be carefully arranged!"
Wang Hao bowed and left in a hurry.
.........
More than half a month passed, and winter finally entered Qinzhou. This morning, light snow fell in the sky. Today was a holiday, and it was rare for Chen Qing to have time to spend time with his wife at home.
Lu Xiu was about to give birth in about a month, and her body became heavier and lazier. She was half lying on a soft couch, covered very thickly, admiring the snowflakes falling in the courtyard.
"Husband, they said that there was a heavy snowstorm in Chengji County for several days and nights last year, which almost buried the entire county. Will it happen again this year?"
Chen Qing smiled slightly and said: "It's a bit exaggerated. The snowfall was a bit heavy last year, but it didn't bury the county seat. I guess the person who said this lived in a low-lying area, so the snow accumulation was relatively serious."
"My husband has no plans to return to Lin'an to report on his duties?"
"Not yet, and maybe I won't go back next year."
Lu Xiu saw that her husband was a little absent-minded, so she smiled and said, "If you have something to do, please go and do it! I asked Qiaoyun to accompany me. She also doesn't like to go out."
Chen Qing smiled and said: "There is actually nothing to do today, I just have my habitual random thoughts."
As soon as he finished speaking, a maid at the door reported: "Master, Jiang Zhizhou is here and says there is something urgent!"
"I see!"
Chen Qing helplessly spread his hands to his wife. Lu Xiu smiled and pushed her husband, "Go! When will you have time?"
Chen Qing quickly came to the living room. Jiang Yan stood up first and said, "I'm disturbing Jiedushi to rest!"
"What's important?" Chen Qing asked directly.
"I just received news that the second batch of food from Lintao Prefecture will arrive soon, and General Zheng will also arrive today."
Chen Qing was still worried that the river would freeze and the grain would be frozen in the river. He hurriedly asked: "How much grain is there?"
"This time I will send you 120,000 stones!"
Chen Qing was overjoyed that with the arrival of this batch of food, he no longer had to worry about food problems.
At this time, a soldier rushed to the hall and reported, "General Zheng's team is already ten miles south of the county seat."
Chen Qing immediately stood up and said to Jiang Yanxian: "I will pick up Lao Zheng. I will leave the food to Jiang Shijun. You go to Yang Yuanqing and ask him to send troops to help transport it."
"I understand the humble position, now go find General Yang!"
Jiang Yanxian and Chen Qing left separately. Chen Qing led a group of cavalry to leave the city and quickly headed south. After only running five miles, they met Zheng Ping's army head-on. He led 6,000 new soldiers heading north.
Zheng Ping hurriedly urged his horse forward to salute, "Zheng Ping, a humble official, comes to the capital!"
"General Zheng, thank you for your hard work this time."
Chen Qing stepped forward with a smile and looked at the soldiers. He felt that the recruits were all tall and strong, with sharp features. They looked more like soldiers from Sichuan and Shaanxi than soldiers from Bashu.
Chen Qing smiled and said: "They are all Shu people?"
Zheng Ping shook his head, "They are all people from Shaanxi Road and Xihe Road who fled to Bashu. They signed up enthusiastically. The 6,000 people I selected were former Western Army soldiers. Their quality is quite good. With a little training, they can go into battle and kill the enemy."
Speaking of this, Zheng Ping took out a letter and handed it to Chen Qing, "This is Wu Jie's personal letter to Dutong. He repeatedly asked me to hand it to you."
Chen Qing took the letter and put it in his arms, and asked with a smile: "But your last letter said that you had recruited 10,000 troops, how come it has been reduced to 6,000 now?"
Zheng Ping said quickly: "It's 10,000 people. This is the first batch of troops going north. There are still many soldiers who have to settle their homes before going north. It may be a month late. Then they will go north together with the people recruited by Zhou Kuan."
"How many people were recruited?"
"There are about 6,000 households this time. The main reason is that everyone is worried about safety. Many families are unwilling to go north and would rather work as sharecroppers in Bashu. Zhou Kuan and I both believe that as long as the safety of Xihe Road can be guaranteed and development is good,
More and more people will go north."
Chen Qing nodded, "First take the recruits to the recruit camp in the west. There are enough tents there. Take a good rest for two days and start training the day after tomorrow!"
...........
At the same moment when Bashu recruits entered the military camp, the Weihe pier began to become lively. The second batch of 120,000 shi of food was delivered, this time using super large rafts of the thousand-stone class, a total of 140.
Pulled by camels on the shore, the vast fleet of giant rafts was pulled to Chengji County. These giant rafts were also seized in Baochuan County, Huizhou, and never had the opportunity to be used.
This transportation is also the last voyage before the Weishui River freezes. The next transportation will not be until spring next year in February.
On the pier, bags of wheat were piled up like mountains. One bag weighed one hundred and twenty kilograms, which was exactly one stone. Soldiers continued to unload the grain bags from the rafts, and three thousand carts carried the grain back to the city.
go.
The general who escorted the grain this time was Hu Yantong, the military envoy of Gongzhou. Hu Yantong had kept a relatively low profile since he was reassigned from the Privy Council and followed Chen Qing.
This was also related to the fact that his army was not very successful. Most of the soldiers in his army were from Lin'an. Many of them came to Qinzhou in the northwest with the idea of making a fortune. When they found that it was not easy to make a fortune, the soldiers began to waver.
Therefore, the first deserter in the army appeared in his army. Although he strengthened the cohesion of the soldiers through intensive training, but this time when he moved from Ganquan Fort to Qinzhou, more than 200 people in his army proposed to retire and return.
Township, actually reached 10% of the army.
Chen Qing approved the soldiers to retire and leave, but Hu Yantong couldn't bear it. He applied for demotion, but Chen Qing reprimanded him, appointed him as the Gongzhou military envoy, and replaced all his troops with local Gongzhou soldiers. Hu Yantong
Only then did Tong slowly come out of depression.
When Chen Qing arrived at the pier, Hu Yantong quickly stepped forward and saluted, "For your humble position, please see the capital!"
"Thank you for your hard work, General Huyan!"
Chen Qing smiled slightly and said: "I have been worried that there will be ice on the way and the food will be trapped in the Wei River."
"The risk is indeed higher this time, especially when it freezes at night, so we didn't dare to stop and kept walking. Fortunately, the ice layer was very thin and cracked when we hit it. We barely managed to transport it to Chengji County. I guess we would have left later.
In a few days, it will really freeze in the river."
Chen Qing nodded and asked: "How is the situation in Gongzhou?"
"I came here this time because I have an extremely important piece of information to report to the capital."