Hearing what Guo Ning said, all the teenagers burst into laughter.
Everyone knows that no matter how bad Guo Ning's handwriting is, after all, he has practiced a lot in grading official documents on a daily basis. To ordinary people, the horizontal and vertical lines are straight, the writing is sharp and less restrained, and they all feel that the writing is just like the person he is, and some are flattering and even praise him for being unique in his own way.
However, when the military school was first established, Guo Ning wrote the teaching materials himself and narrated them to everyone every day. The students generally remembered that the situation at that time was written by the Metropolitan Marshal. This was what Guo Ning, who was now the Duke of Zhou, was talking about to build a relationship with his friends from the old army, so there was no need to take it seriously.
The last batch of young men who bore the title of Guo Ning's disciples are now going their separate ways. Some have become mid-level officers, some have begun to familiarize themselves with government affairs in yamen, and some have talents that are not in military and political affairs. Guo Ning also has special arrangements for them.
For example, Aduo, a Bohai native who is particularly fond of various miscellaneous studies, has now become the supervisor of Qushan Shipyard, responsible for building new ships for the navy together with the master craftsmen hired with large sums of money from the Southern Dynasty.
The mountains and seas in Haizhou are connected, and there are many good harbors. In particular, Qushan Mountain is a chain of mountains that corresponds to Yuntai Mountain standing in the sea. It is both a good harbor and a fortress guarding the access to mountains and seas. In the early years, Wei Sheng, a native of Suqian, raised troops in Shanyang. He used this place as a base and surrendered to the Song Dynasty. King Hailing used tens of thousands of boatmen to attack it and was unable to defeat it. As a result, the old sites of the naval camp and shipyard remain to this day.
Since the end of last year, Guo Ning has reorganized the navy and gradually abandoned the old Tongzhou-style single-masted ships and introduced designs by famous craftsmen from the Southern Dynasties. However, shipyards are easy to expand, skilled shipbuilding craftsmen are rare, and there is less wood that can be used on sea-going ships. Even the materials used to fill the gaps between wood mortises and tenons are better from the Southern Dynasties.
Therefore, the shipyards in Tianjin and Gaizhou could only start slowly, while the shipyards in Haizhou developed very quickly due to the convenient communication with the Southern Dynasties and the ease of attracting manpower.
In this, Ado has a lot of merit.
As for Xu Zhuer and other young men, their qualifications in the military school are one year lower than A Duo. They are scheduled to join the shipyard after June this year and become Ado's colleagues, so they have to adapt to the environment in advance.
When these young people saw the scale of the Qushan Shipyard, saw the layers of wood purchased with huge sums of money from the southern part of the Song Dynasty, and saw the gradually improving blueprints of seagoing ships, they naturally had a lot of expectations in their hearts.
At this time, Guo Ning suddenly came here, and everyone among the teenagers was even more happy. When Guo Ning opened his mouth, it was just a joke, and the original tension caused by the disparity in status was gone. They all came together to talk about what they saw and boast about their recent progress.
There were also people who behaved really badly and couldn't help but bite their tongues. As a result, Guo Ning dragged them over, held their necks with their elbows, and beat them on the top of their heads until they begged for mercy.
Guo Ning inspected Haizhou this time, surrounded by light cavalry and simple servants.
Although his status is getting higher and higher, he doesn't like the feeling of being deep in the nine-fold cloud, and he is often worried that his eyes and ears are obscured. Therefore, when he has a little leisure time in military and political matters in the Duke of Zhou's mansion, he brings two to three hundred retinues with him. Traveling around and exploring, sometimes traveling hundreds of miles in a day.
Even so, Haizhou is the border after all, and big figures like Guo Ning rarely come. The officials and garrisoned generals who were stationed in the local area suddenly received the news, and they were inevitably worried that they would make some mistake and be caught by Zhou Guogong. People who feel that they can do things effectively and have made great achievements always want to show off in front of Duke Zhou.
If you can seize the opportunity at this time, it is different from flattering in front of other bosses. You may be following the dragon!
It was Xu Zhuer's youthful nature that made him concentrate on carving his big ship on the stone wall. While Guo Ning stopped to watch, many people arrived one after another, and more and more people gathered.
Not only civil and military people came, but also local tycoons from far away, wealthy businessmen stationed at the port, ship owners, etc., all gathered around Guo Ning and the teenagers and formed an increasingly tight crowd. lock up. Seeing that Duke Zhou was in a good mood, everyone smiled.
Since the navy took control of Haizhou, the trade between the local area and the Southern Dynasties has been prosperous, and many merchants have made a fortune. Among the merchants gathered outside, many are from the Southern Dynasties, who have lived here for a long time and run business.
After the Marshal's Mansion began to build naval camps and shipyards, it also promoted local prosperity. The local people have been in poverty for many years, and they usually rely on sea fishing to support their families. After the Ding navy officers settled in, not only did they have big buyers for their catch, but they also made money by working hard in response to the recruitment.
There are so many advantages: the locals have a very close relationship with Ding Haijun, so they are willing to come to flatter him.
Many people on the outside of the large circle couldn't hear what Guo Ning and the teenagers said. Anyway, when they saw the teenagers laughing, they thought it was not a bad thing and started laughing along with them.
Before Guo Ning paid attention to them, the attendant noticed that several local officials had grabbed the staff to give orders, and hurried over and said, Duke Zhou will only see the shipyard and the military camp next, don't organize a crowd to welcome them, let alone arrange anything vain. Content, if found out, you will be severely punished, don’t make mistakes.
The local officials were nodding their heads, and the sound of hoofbeats sounded in the distance. A messenger rode straight into the inner circle and delivered a letter.
Guo Ning opened it and took a look, and his expression immediately changed.
The attendant next to him asked: "Why is the Duke worried?"
Guo Ning was so angry that he sighed loudly: "The puppet emperor of Kaifeng raised his troops and went south to fight with the Song Dynasty! From Jinghu to Huaixi, the battlefield spread for hundreds of miles. There were no less than 100,000 troops on both sides, and they were killed in rivers of blood. La!"
When these words came out, everyone outside immediately became uproar.
The local people just paid it back, and the merchants were always well-informed. There were vague rumors about Kaifeng's troops going south a few days ago. At that time, everyone felt that it was a common minor conflict on the border between the two countries.
This kind of conflict is naturally invisible to the two imperial courts. In fact, the interests of smuggling, or the bandits and water bandits who cross the border to plunder, occur almost every year. As long as the scale of the troops is not large and the regular armies of the two countries are not involved, both sides of the court will pretend to be deaf and dumb.
But according to Guo Ning, the conflict turned out to be a big one? Is it really going to be a big war?
Is it that the people in Kaifeng are so poor that they are crazy, or is it that Lin'an is being hijacked by some high-profile lunatic? Wouldn't it be better to stop these two things?
A merchant in luxurious robes bravely asked: "Dong Zhou, is this true?"
Guo Ning waved the letter and asked, "How can this be false? The envoy from the Song Dynasty is called Xuan Zhen, and he has already taken a sea ship to Zhongdu to beg me, Da Jin, for justice!"
"Zhou Guogong, the two Huaihe Rivers are one. If the war continues, not to mention Haizhou, those of us who are merchants will also be affected. I am afraid that our business will not be able to sustain... Since the Song Dynasty wants to be fair, we will quickly give him justice." Let him be fair! The key is not to fight and not to affect the people in Huaidong who live and work in peace and contentment!"
The merchant was considered a prominent figure in Haizhou, and he was not very afraid when meeting local officials. At this moment, I was worried about the war, so I inevitably shouted a few more words.
After he finished shouting, he found that Guo Ning suddenly raised his eyes and glanced at him.
Only then did he remember that the seemingly ordinary young man in front of him was actually a murderous, warlike and notorious tycoon with thousands of lives under his command.
This Duke of Zhou was chatting and laughing amiably with his cronies. Could it be that he was also polite to outsiders? What does the big policy of setting up the navy have to do with me, a merchant selling tea? I have only had a happy life for a year, and I have a lot of money in my pocket, so I dare to give advice to Duke Zhou? Do you think there are too many heads on your neck?
Suddenly he was shocked and frightened, and his mind went blank. When he reacted, his legs were weak and he fell to the ground, while the crowd that had originally gathered around him dispersed.
Guo Ning was silent for a moment.
Everyone waited with bated breath.
After a while, Guo Ning said with emotion: "Everyone, although I, Guo, have been in the army since childhood, I have never been a fighter in my life, but I only like to resolve fights. What's more, the people have been suffering from successive disasters in recent years. It will be even more difficult if there is another war. ! I will rush back to Zhongdu overnight to meet with the envoys of the Southern Dynasty to discuss a way to quell the war... To take a step back, no matter what, I will never allow the Shandong territory to be involved in the war. You can let it go. A hundred hearts!”
When everyone heard this, some praised, some boasted, and they all said that everyone must be relieved if Duke Zhou takes action. Some people looked happy, guessing that the current business would not be greatly affected, and maybe if they found the right context, they could make a lot of money. Some people left immediately, planning to take Huainan's family members to Haizhou for refuge.
The gathered crowd suddenly dispersed, and a war horse was fetched from the crowd. Guo Ning got on his horse and galloped away.
After galloping for several miles, he asked: "Is that okay? I'm afraid it's a bit too hard?"
Xu Jin replied respectfully from the side: "I have selected this group of merchants in advance. They all have families and businesses in Huainan, and each of them is most afraid of war. Since my lord has said this, they themselves He will add fuel to the fire and turn a three-point statement into a ten-point statement, so people can’t help but believe it.”
"I'm afraid that with so many mountains, rivers, and military states in between, the news won't spread fast enough..."
"There is a hidden secret from Kaifeng in Haizhou City. Li Yun specially forwarded it to us and asked us to keep it. They have a channel for rapid communication with Kaifeng. If we set off tonight on a quick horse, the news will be available within five days at most. To Kaifeng.”
Guo Ning nodded: "Zhongdu also has to make a grand gesture to welcome Xuan Zhen as a response...Zhongdu also has a hidden line from Kaifeng. It is probably easier for them to send a message than Haizhou."
As for Zhongdu, the Recording Department made some omissions and was severely reprimanded by Guo Ning. Xu Jin said solemnly: "Lord, don't worry, that group of people are all in the palm of your hand. If the message is a little slow, my people will come forward to grind and write the letter for them!"
"good."
The cavalry ran northward for several miles, when the road forked. The main trunk of the road continues to the north, running through the hinterland of Shandong; the other branch goes west, close to Yizhou and into Cangshan Mountain. Because to the west and north of Cangshan Mountain are the places where the Red Coat Army Liu Erzu and other tribes have long been entrenched, this road is seldom traveled. , Chaotic wives.
And Guo Ning turned his horse here and galloped westward.
