Out of concern for the navy, Zhang Yangquan personally went to Tongzhou. In order to train the navy, Shanzhu built a water camp on the riverside and recruited more than a hundred fishing boats to practice every day.
Zhang Yangquan stayed in Shuiying for two days, and then went to inspect the dock under construction. Seeing that everything was going smoothly, he returned to Jiangdu on the third day.
As soon as he returned to the General Manager's Mansion, Qin Lingjun sent someone to call him to the camp in the north of the city, and said solemnly: "Military advisor, Xu Shouhui has been defeated!"
Zhang Yangquan was shocked and asked, "Did Qizhou fall?"
Qin Lingjun nodded and said: "The agents sent to Qizhou have just received news that Qizhou has been occupied by the Jiangsu and Zhejiang armies. The Jiangsu and Zhejiang armies and the Jiangxi army have joined forces. More than 100,000 troops have marched north towards Anlu." Zhang Yangquan thought to himself: "We're finally here!" After thinking for a long time, he suddenly said: "Aren't they afraid that Xu Shouhui will make a comeback after retreating?"
Qin Lingjun said: "According to the news, the Jiangxi army seems to have left 50,000 troops, and has joined forces with the Huguang army that was crippled by Xu Shouhui. It is led by Weishun King Kuanche Puhua and is attacking the remaining forces of Xu Shouhui."
Zhang Yangquan nodded and asked: "How long will it take for the Jiangnan Army to march north to Xuzhou?"
Qin Lingjun calculated for a while and said: "It will take at least more than two months. What I'm worried about now is that they will directly attack Zhenzhou. Xu Baisheng has less than 15,000 people, so I'm afraid it will be difficult to resist."
Zhang Yangquan smiled and said: "Tuotuo spent so much energy just to shock the world in one battle. It is absolutely impossible to divide the troops to attack, so you can rest assured."
Zhang Yangquan's predictions were never missed, so Qin Lingjun felt relieved and said with a smile: "The late rice is about to ripen. I went to see it and it is growing very gratifyingly. We are going to have a big harvest!"
Zhang Yangquan laughed. With this batch of food in hand, he felt completely at ease. By then, even if the Yuan soldiers besieged the city for a year, they could still spend it with the other side to see who couldn't hold on first.
A chilly north wind blew, and before I knew it, it was late October, the end of autumn.
Starting from mid-October, Qin Lingjun sent many troops to strengthen patrols in the suburbs to prevent anyone from harvesting rice privately.
The farmland of every household is golden, forming a golden wave. When the people see the thick ears of rice in their fields, they are eager to see them, and they want to cut them off immediately and take them into their homes.
As long as these millets can really fall into their hands, they will not be hungry for at least two years.
In the next half month, there will be harvesting, threshing, drying, cleaning and other processes. When the people put the dried rice into the warehouse, their faces were filled with joyful smiles.
In late November, instead of the clerks from the General Manager's Office and the county government going to collect grain, the people spontaneously pushed their wooden carts to the General Manager's Office to collect grain.
Each village is led by the village chief or town chief, who leads dozens of young adults and pushes dozens of wooden carts to deliver the village's grain in several batches.
Zhang Yangquan had already vacated hundreds of large granaries in the General Manager's Mansion, waiting for the grain to be put into storage.
By the end of November, the grain harvesting work was finally over. The amount of rice harvested was more than Zhang Yangquan expected, with more than 500,000 stone grains stored in the warehouse.
Zhang Yangquan ordered the establishment of the Agriculture Bureau to select the plumpest seeds from the rice stored in the warehouse and carry out specialized breeding and breeding, thereby cultivating rice seeds with stronger genetic traits.
Since December, food prices in Jiangdu have slowly begun to fall.
Although the people did not sell grain, they no longer had to buy grain. The demand decreased, resulting in a decrease in the market price of grain.
After this autumn harvest, the people of Jiangdu became more and more supportive of the General Administration. It originally took only a month to recruit 10,000 reserve soldiers. However, within ten days after the grain harvest, another 10,000 reserve soldiers were recruited.
The production of artillery has never stopped, and the first batch of three-masted warships has been built.
Zhang Yangquan did not rush to send a fleet to buy iron ore from the Japanese or Koreans, nor did he attack the Yuanting shipping ships. Instead, he followed Wang Meng's suggestion and established a shipping department in Tongzhou, with Wang Meng as the chief minister. Just as Wang Meng predicted, after the establishment of the Shipping Department, many businessmen came over, hoping to obtain Tongban qualifications.
Finally, after Zhang Yangquan discussed with Wang Meng, ten merchants were allowed to trade, including the Shen family, the Bian family and the Cai family.
In order to protect the caravan and promote trade, Zhang Yangquan gave the Tongzhou Navy the first task, asking them to destroy the pirates on the sea!
……
While Zhang Yangquan was busy opening a sea trade in Tongzhou, the Jiangnan Army led by Dong Tuanxiao went all the way north and finally came to Hezhou.
When the army arrived outside the west gate of Hezhou, Dong Tuanxiao couldn't help but frowned. In addition to Timur, there were also King Xining and Brother Wang Meng who greeted him outside the city gate!
Dong Tuanxiao got off his horse, walked over, and asked: "King Xining, if you don't guard Jiqing, why are you going to Hezhou?"
The King of Xining, who had always been at odds with him, said with a smile, "Of course I am following Prime Minister Tuotuo's order to join forces with you here!"
Dong Tuanxiao said: "Prime Minister Tuotuo already has 100,000 troops in his hands. King Jing of Mobei also leads an army of 100,000 people southward. Together with the more than 100,000 troops led by me, it is enough to recapture Yangzhou. Why do we need to send more troops?"
”
First, Timur snorted and said: "General Dong, my brother not only recruited the King of Xining, but also Chahan Timur of Runing. He not only wants to regain Yangzhou, but also shocks the world!"
Dong Tuanxiao said anxiously: "Why is Prime Minister doing this? If Chahan Timur leaves Runing, Liu Futong will definitely take the opportunity to grow stronger!"
Ye Xian Timur said displeasedly: "Chahan Timur has been in Runing, but he has not eliminated Liu Futong. When my brother sent him over, he had already asked Henan Pingzhang to defeat Badulu to eliminate Liu Futong!"<
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Dong Tuanxiao was silent for a long time, knowing that the matter was irreversible, so he stopped asking and said, "Is there anyone guarding Jiqing now?"
The king of Xining said: "I have ordered Dr. Fushou to guard the place, and there are also troops from Chen Yexian and Kang Maocai gathering for the celebration. There will be no accidents!"
Dong Tuanxiao nodded and said: "Since Prime Minister Tuotuo insists on joining forces, we will join him as soon as possible. In my opinion, tomorrow we will join forces and head north to arrive in Xuzhou as soon as possible!"
King Xining stretched out his hand with a smile and said: "I have no objection at all, but can I ask General Dong to hand over the tiger talisman medal that leads the army?"
Dong Tuanxiao was stunned and said: "What does this mean?"
First, Timur said calmly: "My brother has issued an order. When you arrive in Hezhou, His Royal Highness the King of Xining will be the marshal and command the army and horses in the south of the Yangtze River. You will be the deputy marshal!"
Dong Tuanxiao's expression changed several times, his hands trembled slightly, and finally he handed over the tiger charm.
The army camped outside the city. That night, when Dong Tuanxiao was reading the military manual in the tent, a burly man walked in and said with a dark face: "Commander, I heard that they took away your position as commander?"<
/p>
This man's name was Yang Tongguan, and he was the only Miao general in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang armies. Because of the bravery of his Miao troops, he was deeply trusted by Dong Tuanxiao.
Dong Tuanxiao sighed: "The King of Xining is a second-class king, and he is also the Pingzhang of Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. He has a higher position than me, so it is normal for him to rule!"
Yang Tongguan said angrily: "What kind of battle will he fight? I think the imperial court is just trying to burn bridges across rivers. When Hangzhou fell, it relied heavily on your ability. Now that Tianwan's army has been defeated, you are no longer needed, so just abandon it like a worn out shoe!" p>
Dong Tuanxiao was silent for a while and said: "Your Majesty once issued an oral order not to allow the Han people to control too many troops. When the situation was critical, I was asked to lead the Jiangsu and Zhejiang armies. Now that the situation has turned critical, they want to take back their military power. What can I do?" Yang Tongguan thought for a while and said: "Most of our generals in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang armies only listen to you, otherwise we will jointly put pressure on the Prime Minister and ask him to take back the order!"
Dong Tuanxiao shook his head and said: "It doesn't have to be like this. This attack on Yangzhou will be personally directed by the prime minister. Even if King Xining leads the Jiangsu and Zhejiang armies, it won't have much impact."
Yang Tongguan thought for a while, nodded and said: "That's true. Counting the troops in Henan, our army is close to 500,000. The two bandit armies in Yangzhou only add up to 100,000. They should be able to deal with it easily!"
Dong Tuanxiao said sternly: "We must not underestimate the enemy. Let's not mention the Gaoyou bandits, but Jiangdu's bandits are definitely not easy to deal with. If we underestimate them, we are likely to lose the battle!"
Yang Tongguan was stunned for a moment and said: "You think too highly of them, don't you? Even if they defeated the Jiqing Army, it would be because the King of Xining was useless!"
Dong Tuanxiao put down the military booklet and said slowly: "The most terrifying thing about Jiangdu Army is not their soldiers, but their gunpowder!"
Yang Tongguan curled his lips and said: "So what if they have gunpowder? We will only have more than them!"
"What if their gunpowder is several times more powerful than ours?"
Yang Tongguan lost his voice and said: "This is impossible!"
Dong Tuanxiao sighed: "Judging from Wang Mengge's account and the battle of Changshu Navy's attack on Tongzhou, this matter is already certain!"
Yang Tongguan was stunned for a while and said: "I heard that they turned out to be just a small group of bandits in Jiangdu. Where did they get more powerful gunpowder? Or can the power of gunpowder be greatly increased after being mixed with something?" p>
Dong Tuanxiao shook his head and said: "I don't know either. Although I secretly sent a large number of agents to Jiangdu, I didn't bring back any useful news!"
Yang Tongguan frowned and said, "Even if they have more powerful gunpowder, they won't be able to have much impact, right?"
Dong Tuanxiao glanced at him and said, "Don't forget, both fire blunderbuss and hand blunderbuss are fired with gunpowder!"
There were a few drops of cold sweat on Yang Tongguan's face, and he forced a smile and said: "Even if they can seize some fire guns and hand guns, they won't be in large numbers. I can't remember how useful they are!"
Dong Tuanxiao said in a deep voice: "Don't always think too stupid of the enemy. Since they have this kind of gunpowder, they will definitely find a way to get fire blunderbuss and hand blunderbuss. Maybe they can make them themselves!"
Yang Tongguan took a deep breath and said solemnly: "What you said is that you don't know if the imperial court knows about this?"
Dong Tuanxiao sighed: "I have reported this matter to the court many times, but unfortunately it has not been taken seriously. I will report it to the Prime Minister again after I see him!"
After the King of Xining took charge of the army, he promoted Wang Mengge to be the former army commander. In the afternoon of the next day, the army was re-ready and began to march towards Haozhou.
First, Timur also led 10,000 troops to accompany the army, and seemed to want to participate in this battle.