The last stop is Quwo. Here people from various countries are mixed, various forces are intertwined, and the situation is the most complicated. Since outside the mountain lies the Fenshui Plain, South Korea's main strategic area, the defense pressure is very heavy. But there are also advantages here: in other places, there is almost no response to recruitment lists. Here, counting from Zhang Lu's departure, in just one month, hundreds of people came to apply for jobs, and nearby residents also showed signs of moving here. . Qu Wo Ling was disturbed.
The arrival of Zhang Lu and Pi Wan solved a big problem for Qu Woling. Qu Woling lacked manpower, so Zhang Lu and Pi Wan used the people they brought to assist Qu Woling in arranging economic affairs, allowing Qu Woling to continue to be responsible for the city defense work that he was good at. Zhang Lu and Pi Wan divided their labors. Zhang Lu was responsible for handling immigration matters, and Pi Wan was responsible for handling agricultural technical talent issues.
Zhang Lu asked his men to register the skills that immigrants are good at, as well as general information such as family population. Those who are good at agricultural production are usually settled in the small basin in the south of Jiangshan Mountain; those who are good at handicrafts are usually settled in Anyi, and the Anyi order can arrange residence and workshops for them.
Zhang Lu followed the instructions in the recruitment list and awarded each of the immigrants who submitted a title. But it was strictly organized according to Qin law. Settlements and farmland were allocated, and we were busy for many days. These immigrants do not live far away from each other and are not acclimatized like the people of Qin.
On the way from Anyi to Quwo, Zhang Lu took a fancy to the small basin in the south of Jiangshan Mountain. The basin is sandwiched between Jiangshan Mountain and Taihang Mountain, and the Sushui River flows through the basin. To the north is a winding valley, and on the mountain is the cemetery of the king of Jin. Jiangshan is not too high, but not low enough to form a defensive barrier. Where the Su River flows out of the basin in the south, it also narrows into a valley. If we rely on the basin, as long as we guard a mountain pass and a valley entrance, the safety of Anyi can be guaranteed; if this area is lost, there will be enough early warning to build a second line of defense at the exit of the Sushui Valley! Although Quwo is strong, it is located on the front line of Jin's defense and guards the Jin's hometown in the land of Tang and Yi. It does not coincide with Qin's current strategic goal of guarding Anyi.
After assisting Quwo in formulating the resettlement strategy, Zhang Lu and Pi Wan returned to Anyi together. Dozens of handicraftsmen were resettled in Anyi, bringing their families with them and following Zhang Lu back. Zhang Lu deliberately led Pi Wan to pay homage to the tombs of all the kings of the Jin Dynasty and turned around the mountain pass as if he were traveling through mountains and rivers. Zhang Lu said: "If a county is established here, even a hundred thousand people will not be able to pass through."
Pi Wan said: "Today there are not enough people in the nine counties. If another county is established, there will be no people!"
Zhang Lu pointed to the basin behind the hill and said: "If we recruit people to farm here, we can gain tens of thousands of households."
Pi Wan's eyes lit up. Indeed, this place was very desolate, but it had the potential for farming. What particularly excites him is the huge defensive pressure Quwo faces. If the defense line is retreated here, the pressure will be significantly reduced. However, he said somewhat sadly: "Although the military strategists say this, it is a famous city, so there is no way to abandon it."
Zhang Lu said: "If we build a new city in the valley, will it be possible?"
When Pi Wan heard this, he immediately became happy and said, "If you don't build a city to defend Anyi, it will be fine!"
Zhang Lu said: "I hope the captain will carefully search for his traces and prepare a proper place for building the city."
The next day, everyone camped at the mountain pass of Suishui. Pi Wan pointed to the trumpet-shaped valley mouth and said, "I've got it! Build a city here, with the mountain behind it and the water facing it. Even if it's tens of thousands of people, it's enough to build it."
Zhang Lu said: "There are only 500 soldiers in Quwo today. The city cannot be wide, but it must be strong. If it is wide, it will be unprepared and the enemy will take advantage of it. If the people become more and more common, it will be slightly wider."
Pi Wan said: "Shou Zhi's words are true." He immediately planned the construction of the city by taking steps by the Sushui River.
Coming out of the valley is Anyi. Anyi Ling had already received a notice from Zhang Lu, asking him to set aside a piece of land around the city as a place for workers.
Outside the inner city of Anyi, a small river passes through the east part of the city. Because it is a large city at the capital level, it has planned ancestral temple areas, factory areas, residential areas, commercial areas, military camps, and schools. Although Wei moved its capital to Daliang a hundred years ago, Anyi was also an important strategic area for Wei and maintained the size of the capital for a long time until it was ceded to Qin eighteen years ago and all Wei people left collectively.
After the Qin people settled in, the population was seriously insufficient. They set up the government offices in the inner city, leaving the outer city to be abandoned. On both sides of the river, people from the Qin Dynasty moved in and developed the original settlements into acres of land. The rest of Guocheng has become almost a wasteland.
The Anyi Order designated an area in a corner of Guocheng for these dozens of families to live and work. The foundation of the house is still there, and the four walls are still there. With a little repair, people can live in it, which saves a lot of labor. These dozens of families selected the relatively complete ones from the remaining houses, moved in individually, and unloaded various tools and daily necessities.
Anyi is a key place in this area. It has a relatively large population, about thousands of households. Although it is far from the prosperous period of Anyi, it is much better than other counties in Anyi. The treasury cannot be said to be full, and it can barely provide enough food for dozens of households of workers. Zhang Lu asked Anyi Ling to find a man who knew how to work among the Qin people. Anyi Ling searched repeatedly but could not find him. In the end, Zhang Lu had no choice but to recruit one of the craftsmen who was a scribe of the Qin Dynasty as his workman.
After several months of continuous running, everyone was exhausted. Xiao Nu found that her menstruation had stopped, and she didn’t know whether it was because she was tired or because she was pregnant. He quietly told Zheng Anping, who comforted him: "She must be pregnant, and now she can live in peace, so it should be fine."
Gai Nie's figure quickly grew taller, and his voice became thicker. The iron sword hung every day has almost turned into a short sword. As long as he is lively and vigorous, he will definitely not look tired. Although he only eats fried millet every day, he still practices swordsmanship non-stop.
Chen Si still draws the mountains and rivers he passes every day into a topographic atlas. The albums he originally drew were taken away by Marquis Rang and handed over to masters from the Imperial Household to redraw dozens of sets. The contents were also painted on a complete piece of white silk. If he goes back now, Ranghou will probably be busy again for a while.
Among the four new subordinate officials, except for the Yi official who was a warrior, only the Pu official was a scribe. There were two others, one was a worker and the other was a businessman, and they were not even from Qin.
The post station in Anyi became Zhang Lu's temporary office. The Anyi order wanted to give up his official government, but Zhang Lu refused and insisted on living in the post station to facilitate the delivery of orders to various counties. Logically speaking, Lieutenant Hedong should organize the garrison in Hedong, but considering the food difficulties in Anyi, Pi Wan gave up the idea of recruiting sergeants from various counties. Everything will have to wait until the harvest is harvested this year.
Zhang Lu asked the clerk to draft a report to the King of Qin, informing him of his work in the past few months. The report was very long, using more than a dozen bamboo slips. After sealing it, it was sent back to Xianyang.
Ten days later, the order from the Prime Minister's Office came: "Hedong will guard Qinglu and do everything he can. I will set up a office in Puban, close to Xianyang, to prepare for consultation."
Zheng Anping and Xiaonu, who thought they could settle down, found that they were on the road again. Zheng Anping told Zhang Lu that Xiaonu might be pregnant. Zhang Lu told him that although this edict was issued by the Prime Minister, it might be the intention of King Qin and could not be delayed; if he really couldn't walk, he could only leave Xiaonu alone. Stay – that’s certainly not an option. There is no choice but to hit the road together. Zhang Lu wanted to take a carriage for his servant, but the servant said that it would be worse if he was shaking in the carriage, so he might as well walk. On the way, Zhang Lu asked Zheng Anping, Gai Nie and even Wu Wang to take care of the slaves and not worry about himself. The group hurried back to Pu Ban.
Everyone was not in a hurry along the way and observed the food production situation as they walked. I felt a little relieved when I saw that the millet and millet were growing well, and there were already cattle and sheep grazing on the hillside. Along the way, I went to the promoted officials in various counties and townships to tell them about food production, and told them not to relax. When arriving in Jiexian County, let the salt merchants purchase iron farm tools and young livestock and transport them to Anyi for delivery first.
But when they arrived at Puban, they realized that Prime Minister Qin's envoy had been waiting here for several days.
Wei Ran sent someone to find Zhang Lu to tell him that there was a serious drought in Shangjun this year. Except for a few acres of land near the river, other farmers had almost no production! In order to relieve the disaster, Wei Ran asked Zhang Lu to urgently start the road construction project, and sent the strong men of Shangjun to eat in Hedong.
Zhang Lu's face turned pale, he did not expect this result. The food supply in Hedong is not enough yet, and we have to support Shangjun again! He asked the envoy: "How many times will the army be conquered?"
The envoy said: "There are fifty thousand households in Shangjun. If they are all conquered, it may be difficult to support the troops east of the river. There must be ten thousand!"
Zhang Lu said: "I would like to discuss it with Wei Cheng."
In the dilapidated post in Puban, Zhang Lu, Pi Wan, Zheng Anping, Chen Si, Mang Wei and others began to make calculations. Among the nine counties in the east of the river, four are Guqin counties: Fenyin and Pishi are on the east bank of the Xihe River, and Wei and Wu are on the north bank of the bend of the river, just on the east flank of the river. The closest to Shangjun is Pishi, almost across the river. Zhang Lu first asked Pi Wan: "How many days can Pi's food last?"
Pi Wan answered honestly: "Pi's family is a border town. But its main purpose is to accumulate grain. If we don't use troops now, the warehouses will be full in a few years. A hundred thousand people can support us for three months."
Zhang Lu said: "If this is the case, the big plan can be settled. Anyi has a vast territory and few people, so everything will be ruined. If we can get its people, its power can be prosperous. Now that people from Shangjun have entered, it is the time to gather people and prosper. If If the Wei can serve for three months, things can be accomplished. Not only the Pi family, Fenyin, Wei, and Wu all came from Wei, but Qin had acquired it early and gathered the people to accumulate food, so they should also have this number. Anyi got the teachings of the Wei , In addition to millet, plant millet and millet to make up for the shortage. If there is a shortage, buy it with the salt merchant!" Pi Wan also thought about it in his mind and thought it was feasible. Everyone carefully discussed the details of the entire process, and decided to abandon the plan to go up the Sushui River from Puban, and start building roads from Fenyin and Pishi, leading to Anyi first, and then building roads back from Anyi.
The plan was decided, and Zhang Lu told the envoy that in ten days, ten thousand people could be picked up to cross the river from Chuzhou, Xia Yang to Fenyin and start building roads. The messenger went back very satisfied.
It was time to go to the construction site, and Xiaonu could not follow him, so he could only let him stay in Puban and entrust Pu Ling to settle him. Naturally, Pu Ling did not dare to neglect, so he made a small courtyard for Xiaonu and sent someone to wait on him. Everyone else headed north along the river to Fenyin.
