Officials in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces were shocked when they learned that the ship dedicated to the queen had been robbed.
They thought it was Fang Guozhen who ordered his men to do it, and immediately sent someone to question Fang Guozhen and ask him to hand over the tribute ship. This matter might be covered up.
Fang Guozhen naturally couldn't hand it over, but he was decisive enough to take a preemptive strike, raided the Changshu Navy, and then quickly led the fleet back to Taizhou.
He moved faster than Yuan Ting, and robbed several Taicang areas near Taizhou before the enemy came to encircle him. He also raided and captured Qingyuan, and once again raised the banner of anti-Yuan.
Both the Jiangdu army generals and other rebel armies in the world were very happy after learning about this.
Although Fang Guozhen is hateful, he is a Han after all. Now that the rebel army is in a bad situation, Fang Guozhen's rebellion is undoubtedly a good thing.
Only Zhang Yangquan is worried.
The next day, news came from Xu Baisheng that the Jiqing soldiers and horses in the south of the Yangtze River had also returned to Jiqing City. Two days later, Qin Lingjun, Shanzhu, Xu Baisheng, and Wang returned to Jiangdu, and he immediately presided over the reward ceremony at the camp.<
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It was September, the autumn breeze was blowing coolly, but the military camp in the north of Jiangdu City was solemn and solemn.
Guo Niansheng recited the names of the soldiers who died in the battle on the platform. The number of people killed in this battle was several times greater than in the battle for Jiangdu, so Guo Niansheng read the names for several hours.
After Guo Niansheng finished reciting, Zhang Yangquan ordered all the fallen soldiers to be buried in the Martyrs Garden, and invited some family representatives to hand over the pension money and food to them in front of everyone to express their comfort.
The next step is to reward based on merit. Now that the total number of Jiangdu troops has increased to more than 50,000, Zhang Yangquan has reorganized a naval force of 10,000 people, with Shanzhu as the commander of the navy.
At the same time, Shanzhu and Xu Baisheng were given the title of General Zhongyi. They became the only two generals in the Jiangdu Army with this rank, which attracted the envy of all the generals!
Wang Dasheng was promoted to one of the three major capital commanders, commanding an army of ten thousand people. Other soldiers also received rewards.
After the reward, Zhang Yangquan left the camp. He originally wanted to return to the general manager's office, but he was worried and for some reason, he suddenly wanted to go back to the village.
So he turned his horse around and headed back to Longtan Village.
Going up the mountain along the mountain road and coming to the village wall, Zhang Yangquan couldn't help but his eyes lit up. The original wooden wall had disappeared and was replaced by a solid brick wall, more than two feet high!
If it weren't for being located on a mountain, Longtan Village would be like a majestic pass, with the imposing manner that one man can't pass it but ten thousand others can't open it.
Seeing this strong camp, Zhang Yangquan felt relieved instantly.
There are currently only 300 defenders in the village, led by Hou Baiwu, the monkey brother. In addition to the soldiers, there are more than 800 villagers who are reluctant to leave.
These village residents are all allocated an acre or half an acre of mountain land, and they also work in textile workshops, porcelain workshops, and iron-making workshops.
There are only a dozen or so people left in the ironmaking workshop on the mountain. They don't make weapons anymore, they specialize in making some farm tools and ironware. The General Manager will send people to buy them regularly.
The scale of the textile workshops and porcelain workshops has increased, with hundreds of people, most of them women. The textile workshops currently produce gray cloth and ready-made clothes, and the porcelain workshops mainly produce porcelain for daily use.
Zhang Yangquan has handed over the management of the two workshops to Xu and Shu Ting, who will manage the two workshops on behalf of the General Manager.
Among them, Shu Ting managed better. After applying to Guo Niansheng, she used the profit funds to open several more branches, and the scale became larger and larger.
Mr. Xu is more honest and still quietly maintains the scale of his shop.
Originally, in this case, the quantity of cloth produced was much greater than the quantity sold, which would squeeze a lot of inventory and cause losses.
Fortunately, Guo Niansheng also handed over the production of military uniforms to them, which not only solved the problem of overproduction, but also saved a lot of expenses.
Walking along the village road, the old villagers would affectionately call them "strategist". The mountain fields are not deserted. Some people grow vegetables and some potatoes, and they can already plant them according to their own needs.
Zhang Yangquan walked around the cottage, then returned to the meeting hall, sat on the tiger leather chair at the top, closed his eyes, and silently analyzed the current situation.
Now that Fang Guozhen suddenly rebelled, the Yuan Dynasty's shipping would be greatly affected. If he were the emperor, he would have only two choices, either to open up water transportation immediately, or to resume shipping immediately!
Tuotuo has been preparing for the battle of Gaoyou for so long. Emperor Yuan could not possibly let him turn around and fight Fang Guozhen, so the most likely situation is that the battle of Gaoyou will come early!
This is exactly what Zhang Yangquan is worried about.
Although cement has been successfully produced, there has been no progress in the most important artillery.
Without the deterrence of artillery, Zhang Yangquan lacked some confidence.
Logically speaking, Zhang Shicheng had no artillery and still defended Gaoyou, but in the end the tens of thousands of troops were reduced to only a few thousand, and the price was extremely heavy.
In addition, the late rice has not been harvested yet. If the Yuan army suddenly attacks and cuts off all the rice, it will have a huge blow to Zhang Yangquan's grain harvesting plan.
All in all, Fang Guozhen's sudden rebellion made the situation worse in an instant. At present, we can only take one step at a time. If it doesn't work, we have to retreat to Longtan Village.
……
Qin Lingjun recently assigned military camp matters to his generals. He went home earlier and earlier every day and began to learn how to wash and cook.
For dinner recently, there was one dish that she made by herself every day. Unknowingly, her craftsmanship gradually improved.
She also came back very early today and cooked a dish of roasted mutton with potatoes. However, after waiting at home for a long time, Zhang Yangquan did not come back.
Qin Lingsi on the side couldn't help it any longer. She stretched out her chopsticks to pick up a piece of mutton, but she slapped her back with her chopsticks and yelled, "Why are you so anxious?"
Qin Lingsi wailed, put her face on the table, and muttered: "I fought with a wild horse for more than two hours this afternoon to train it. I don't know how tired I am! If you don't let me eat something, I will starve to death."
La!"
Qin Lingjun rolled his eyelids and asked: "How many foals have been bred on the racecourse this year?"
Qin Lingsi said feebly: "One thousand, seven hundred and fifty-three horses..."
"Including these ponies, are there more than 7,000 horses?"
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Qin Lingsi finally became interested, straightened up, and said proudly: "This is all my credit! Go and take a look at Zhang Shicheng. His military strength is not much worse than ours, but he only has more than 2,000 horses!"
Qin Lingjun said calmly: "He has been blocked from transporting water to the north, and we have bought all the horses from the south. Of course there is a shortage of horses!"
Qin Lingsi suddenly said: "Do you still remember Zheng Yongen?"
"Well, the number one horse dealer in Jiangdu!"
Qin Lingsi smiled and said: "I sent someone to inquire and found out that his horses were all transported by sea and bought from the Koreans. I think when our navy is trained, we can also buy them from the Koreans!"
Qin Lingjun was about to answer when she suddenly heard familiar footsteps outside the door. She quickly stood up and went to the door, and sure enough she saw Zhang Yangquan back.
"Eat quickly, the food is getting cold!" She stepped forward and took the coat that Zhang Yangquan took off.
Zhang Yangquan said: "I just went back to the village and had a meal with the villagers. You guys eat, I'll go to the study first." After saying that, he turned and left the lobby.
Qin Lingsi put a piece of mutton into her mouth and said strangely: "Sister, there seems to be something wrong with brother-in-law!"
Qin Lingjun also felt this way. He frowned and thought for a long time, then put down his bowl and chopsticks and said, "I'll go over and take a look."
Qin Lingsi curled her lips and had to eat alone.
After a while, Qin Lingjun came back. She quickly wiped the oil from her mouth and asked, "How was it?"
Qin Lingjun slowly sat down at the table, her eyebrows furrowed even more tightly, and she said, "It seems to be due to the failure of artillery research."
Qin Lingsi curled her lips and said: "Artillery is only useful for defending the city. To attack the city and seize the territory, I have to rely on my horses! Although my brother-in-law is very smart, he just doesn't know how to fight!"
Qin Lingjun glanced at her sideways and said, "If we can't defend the city, it's useless no matter how much we capture! Stop eating and go to Hu's Mansion immediately."
Qin Lingsi raised her head and asked, "What are you going to do?"
Qin Lingjun said: "Just tell the monkey, we are going to use high-ranking officials and generous salaries to recruit some talents from the court who can develop fire guns!"
Qin Lingsi clapped her hands and smiled: "I understand, you want to use this method to put pressure on Hu Guangcao!"
Qin Lingjun said angrily: "Hurry up and go!"
As soon as Qin Lingsi stood up, something suddenly occurred to her, so she sat back and said, "By the way, when I went to Wangchun Tower for a drink a few days ago, I heard someone discussing something, which seemed to be related to Hu Guangcao!" p>
"What's the matter?"
Qin Lingsi held her cheek and said: "It seems that there is a weirdo in our Jiangdu City recently. He gets drunk on the street every day. When he is drunk, he makes fun of our general manager's office!"
Qin Lingjun's eyes flashed slightly: "What's the joke?"
"It seems to be saying that the General Manager's Office selected the most useless official from the Ministry of Industry to be in charge of the Ordnance Bureau, but left talented people indifferent. It is simply ridiculous and pitiful!"
Qin Lingjun said in a daze: "The useless official that the weirdo said is not Mr. Hu, right?"
Qin Lingsi smiled and said: "I thought it was so when I heard it."
Qin Lingjun asked: "Where is that weirdo now?"
"How do I know?"
Qin Lingjun glared at her and said, "Don't you know how to be more careful about this kind of thing? Since that weirdo dares to speak nonsense, he is probably a capable person!"
Qin Lingsi curled her lips and said, "Maybe it's just nonsense. There are so many people like this, do we have to pay attention to everyone?"
"I'm too lazy to tell you!" Qin Lingjun stood up, put on a blue short coat, and walked quickly out the door.
Qin Lingsi quickly finished the food in her bowl and followed her out.