The proud soldiers from the northwest retreated to the north bank of the Yellow River like a tide. When the last cowhide raft crossed the Yellow River, Yang He, standing on the south bank of the Yellow River, finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The turbulent Lanzhou City finally eliminated the military disaster when Mr. Yang entered the enemy camp alone twice, and Lanzhou City returned to peace.
The old head was saved.
But Liu Chengzong was very annoyed. Looking back at the white ruins of Xigu City, Mr. Yang fell into deep thought: Why did Liu Shizi take away the city bricks?
Because the city bricks used in Xigu City are good, they are all large green bricks that are one foot three inches long, seven inches wide and four inches thick, fired in the third year of Wanli.
The defensive performance of big bricks is better than that of small bricks. Small bricks will break as soon as they are shot up. If you break three or five bricks, they will collapse if they lose support. However, big bricks will only break when shot up and can still provide good support. .
Just destroying the battlements of Xigu took a lot of effort from Liu Shizi's artillery. It happened that a city was also built in the west. Anyway, the rations of the surrounding people were given to them. If they didn't use them in vain, they were left busy to take down the battlements. The good bricks were shipped to the west and shipped to a carrier to receive them.
Liu Chengzong left Song Shouzhen in Shajingyi to build the Dongguan fortress complex. The five acute-angle enemy towers here had been designed, and all that was left was to supervise the construction. He also left sweet potatoes and potatoes with Song Shouzhen, asking him to plant them nearby, etc. Breed new fruits and then promote them to the mountains.
In addition, his elder brothers Liu Chengzu and Li Wanqing assisted in guarding the area from Dongguan to the Yellow River ferry, leaving provisions and grass to arrange war and defense strategies, recruiting civilians to build the city, and other matters.
Liu Chengzong's mission to his brother was not to stick to it, but actually to make a bet that the army would not dare to raise troops to the west. If he really wanted to go west, he would not be able to provide much support unless the problem of the two Mongolian Khans in the west was resolved.
So in essence, Liu Shizi was mentally prepared to suffer a loss. Once the government and army made a move to start a war in Lanzhou, Liu Chengzu could discover it early, seize the food and the soldiers would retreat westward decisively.
Don't fight them.
The Marshal's Mansion received very sufficient money and food from this war. Not only could it solve the problem of expensive and scarce food rations, it even had enough energy to help the people of Hehuang.
If the imperial court takes back Hehuang at this time, it will actually reduce the burden on Liu Chengzong. In the inherent territory of the Marshal's Mansion west of Xining, the food and grass obtained in this battle will be enough for everyone to live like a fairy for two years.
Liu Chengzong did not leave Chengyun in Dongguan because the overall situation of Hehuang needed someone to take charge.
The news coming from the west is not bad. After Hu Duntu released his wife and child from the tent house in Haibei, Chahar, who was traveling lightly, was able to run around in Qinghai and not die for a while.
However, Hehuang still has complicated finishing work for the war, and smallpox brought by the imperial army is spreading in Hehuang.
Along the way, Liu Shizi observed the people's sentiments and inspected the cultivation of food for the people in various townships. By the way, he also found the reason for the spread of smallpox.
This is a complete food chain.
The defeat of the official army coincided with the epidemic of smallpox. Thousands of defeated soldiers fled in all directions. Some hid in the mountains and became bandits, while others wandered around and plundered. Sometimes they succeeded in plundering the people, and sometimes they were hunted and killed by the people. Some people hid in villages and were taken in by the people, while others joined the people in hunting down the defeated soldiers.
Weapons and armor became the self-protection items that the people urgently needed in the face of war. They also brought smallpox to the people. It only took one month to complete the change of infecting one hundred people and one hundred infecting ten thousand people.
In Liu Chengzong's eyes, this thing was like a mountain fire. There was no way to extinguish the fire. He strictly did not have anything to treat smallpox.
There is only one recipe for Three Beans Drink, which is boiled water with red beans, black beans, mung beans and licorice to activate blood circulation and detoxify. It is essentially not suitable for people. Other than that, there is only the old recipe of eating pig skin when you have smallpox. You can make the pock marks left by smallpox a little lighter.
But when dealing with mountain fires, if you can't put it out, just wait until it is extinguished. His soldiers who are immune to smallpox are the best isolation zones.
Yang Yao was temporarily appointed as the chief officer of Hehuang. He dispatched two village officers to each of the five towns, Shipu, Twenty Townships, and Erbaibao in Hehuang to engrave the first edition of "Generalissimo's Famine Relief Decision". "Epidemic Book" was distributed to various groups to curb the spread of smallpox.
The book mainly introduces the origin, symptoms, mode of transmission, significance of vaccination, resistance methods and precautions of smallpox. There are only three methods in the whole method, one is to vaccinate before the smallpox epidemic, the second is to distribute three-bean drink during the epidemic, and the third is to do it when sick. Order pork skin and pig trotters.
If the disease broke out west of Xining, Liu Chengzong would be helpless except to vaccinate people with pox. But in the traditional agricultural areas east of Xining, whether it was three-bean drink or pig skin and trotters, they would be good.
The soldiers who went out to the expedition were very happy when they heard that the commander was going to give pig skins to the infected people in Hehuang, and they were puzzled by the prisoners who were scattered around waiting for vaccination.
Later they learned that these veterans who had followed Liu Chengzong for several years were greedy. As expected, Liu Chengyun followed closely and issued the general's decree to 300 miles away from the fifth town of Hehuang, purchasing live pigs at the official price with grain at the official price.
Hehuang Previously, when food prices rose, meat prices also rose. However, when food prices nearly doubled, meat prices could no longer rise and began to slowly fall.
According to the current food price level, buying live pigs by barter at past prices is not bad for pig farmers.
Chengyun also followed the army westward, establishing Daguan City in Nianbo and five towns and cities in Hehuang from west to east: Pingrong, Laoya, Jiashun, Binggou and Dongguan.
Liu Chengzong left 100,000 kilograms of grain for Nian Bo's official market. These grains will slowly flow into the market later, waiting for merchants who are hoarding goods to jump out and raid their homes, and then bring the price of Hehuang grain back to parity in one fell swoop.
He wants to tell people that war, hunger and panic are all over, and Hehuang will become better than before.
The purchased pig skins and trotters were sent to villages where smallpox was rampant, while most of the pork was used as victory celebration materials and distributed to each team. The pot-bellied men in the Marshal's Mansion could eliminate any meat in the shortest time.
The mission Liu Chengzong assigned to Chengyun was to build these five towns and cities. They all occupied the post cities of the past imperial court, but only one post city was not enough. He needed these places to assume heavier functions.
Fortunately, after three years of construction of the Juerwan Market, the Marshal's Mansion already has a group of professionals who can barely cope with such tasks. The town and city will serve as a combination of post station, barracks, market, and even assume some of the functions of the county office.
On the day when the army stopped at Nianbosuo to celebrate the victory, Liu Chengzong conveyed his plan to Chengzong: "In addition to the post station, barracks, and market, you will build a county government office in five towns and cities, and all six houses will be equipped. In addition, Also build a town for four hundred people.”
Chengyun glared and said, "Brother, that's five counties."
"That's just five counties. The two counties of Haixi and Haibei have only 7,000 people. Each of your towns has 24,000 people. This doesn't count the mountain people in the southern and northern mountains and the people who fled the war. After the war, After half a year of compilation of households and people, there may be 40,000 people in each town."
Liu Chengzong laughed and said: "This is still not a county? But this is what I think of the town. Our requirement is that each village must have a private school teacher and a community responsible for educating students; each township must have a scholar who teaches students who have passed the elementary education. After passing the Five Classics test, you can take the test as a child student."
"Then we have Xiningfu Academy, which can give these children who have a good foundation a better learning opportunity, so the town does not have to offer so many subjects. It is mainly responsible for the local talent gap in Hehuang, and it is for those whose family conditions are not enough to leave the job. Entering Tongsheng."
Liu Chengzong thought carefully about this matter. People who have studied have to be useful, and it is a pity that they can't continue their careers because of their livelihood. So he said: "Zhen, I want to open four subjects, agriculture, industry, arithmetic, and medicine. They are all talents that the town and city can use.”
"Each town recruits one hundred and twenty people every year, takes care of food and housing, and gives three coins a month to subsidize the family. For three years, they are sent to various townships to improve and promote agriculture and craftsmanship, or to stay in the township traditional Chinese medicine clinic to learn. If you want to continue your education, you can pass the imperial examination and enter the government to continue your studies."
Cheng Yun listened and took notes. After he finished writing, he raised his head and said, "Brother, there are eighty less gentlemen from those five towns. I have to recruit them from Xining Academy."
"You feel free to recruit us. Once the affairs in the west are finished, we should set up six departments."
Liu Chengzong looked at Chengyun who put away his notes and said with a smile: "If you can figure out the affairs of these five counties, you will be the Minister of Household Affairs of our small imperial court in the West Sea."
Chengyun was stunned when he heard this, then blinked and said, "Brother, are you planning to become king?"
Liu Chengzong wanted to tease him and said, "Why, do you think the Secretary of the Ministry of Finance is not good?"
"No, no, Minister of the Ministry of Finance... Hehe!" Chengyun shook his head, then chuckled twice, and then said: "I just think it is a bit early to become king at this time?"
"Yes!"
Liu Chengzong pointed at Chengyun and laughed, and then said: "Being king now does not bring many benefits to us. It is just a way to recruit enemy generals to surrender and make wishes. However, there are many disadvantages. At least we must eliminate the threat of the Gansu border army. Only by winning Lanzhou can we become king."
Gansu and Hehuang are separated by the Qilian Mountains, and any one of these two areas is incomplete. In Liu Chengzong's thinking, only by acquiring the entire Hexi and capturing Lanzhou Jincheng can he be geographically invincible.
"As for the internal desire for promotion and reward, I still have the means to pay the military. As long as the morale of the military is stable, it doesn't matter if people are slightly dissatisfied with the title."
Liu Chengzong smiled, then sighed and said: "But I do need six departments, and I must set up a court. Otherwise, the powers of various places are unclear and their functions are not well-functioning. If that doesn't work, we won't call them six departments, six departments and six government offices." It doesn’t matter what you call it, the key is to be able to do things.”
"You think, this year alone, three, no, counting Master Yang as the four envoys from the imperial court, I will deal with them for the other three." Liu Chengzong shook his head and spread his hands: "How can I find my son? Well, my old and tired father has to entertain them every day, so I have to build a hut to house them."
Chengyun was happy when he heard this, and after a while he regained his composure and said doubtfully: "But brother, you Donglu Tatar, why did you send people to come here to find you? It's strange, the road is thousands of miles away, but they have the strength to run."
"It's not that far. I'm with you. I can guess pretty much what they want from me." Liu Chengzong raised his finger and said with a steady gaze: "I guess there are only two things. They want to work with me to attack, but This is unlikely..."
Liu Chengzong shook his head and said: "Compared with Hou Jin, the territory we occupy may be about the same size, but they have occupied Nurgan for generations, and their population, financial resources, and military strength are all stronger than mine. This world emphasizes strength, and Mongolia has no strength." Even Khan is not taken seriously.”
"And it's too far away. If we sent someone here after hearing the news about the defeat of the Five Towns, the news has not reached Shenyang yet. I guess it's probably because of Hu Duntu. Calculating the time, it's still a long time to come here from Guihua City. almost."
Cheng Yun was convinced and said with a smile: "Maybe he wants to test whether the second brother recognizes their god... What the hell is that?"
"Tian Cong, I guess that's what I mean. It's just a meaningless first contact to test friends and foes." Liu Chengzong shook his head and smiled: "You'll know when you get back."
Cheng Yun was very interested in this topic, because he couldn't go back, so he hurriedly asked: "Second brother, what are your plans to test friends and foes?"
"Chengyun, Houjin is our enemy."
Liu Chengzong suppressed his smile: "To conquer the world, anyone can be a friend. The imperial court will collapse sooner or later, but Hou Jin is a mortal enemy. Their geographical advantages are very similar to ours. There is no other way to survive except to capture the Central Plains. Even if we win the Central Plains, Hou Jin will still have to fight with us." I will fight to the death.”
When Chengyun slowly nodded in response, Liu Chengzong's expression relaxed and he said: "Actually, I really wanted to make a joint plan with Hou Jin to attack the Ming Dynasty and sell them later, but the Ming Dynasty...sigh."
Liu Shizi was not afraid of Hou Jin at all. Even though his national power was far inferior to Hou Jin's, Hou Jin couldn't reach him. Even if he really worked hard to send troops, he was sure to kill any enemy who came from Qinghai or even Gansu.
However, the Ming Dynasty's extremely exhausted organizational ability made Liu Chengzong really unconvinced that a normal military expedition would throw away half of the plan as soon as the war drums sounded, and at least half of the plan would be effective.
The Ming Dynasty had a very good plan. Once the war started, half of the plan could be achieved, but due to the situation, it was thrown away, and the other half was thrown away.
Liu Shizi felt that even if he and Hou Jin made a plan, and Hou Jin really believed his lies and was ready to implement the plan, and he disclosed the news to the court, the court would probably be informed by Hou Jin without knowing it, and the whole thing would be revealed. Huang Taiji came and took advantage of the situation.
As a result, Hou Jin did not carry out the plan according to the plan. After being betrayed, Hou Jin felt that he was not a good person. Daming, who was beaten, would also feel that he was not a good person. If Huang Taiji's very shrewd little brain could not mix things up with Chongzhen, , it really made Master Chongzhen turn his head to the west and deal with him with all his strength.
Liu Chengzong even thought of the words, "Liu Thief wants to be the emperor of the Han Dynasty, we are just Jurchens, but he can really take your throne!" '
It is easy to make a plan, but the person to complete the plan must be very reliable, and Emperor Chongzhen and his friends... are the most unreliable people in the world.
"I'll go back and see the envoy. You can build up the five towns here, Minister of the Ministry of Revenue."
Amid the hearty laughter of the two brothers, the army finished celebrating and set off again, meandering towards Xining City.
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