Huang Dagen and his party had just returned to Wanjiazhai, and were about to go to Ouyang Xuan to report on their trip, when they saw several strange men walking out of the Perak Army Assembly Hall with angry faces, and walked out of the village angrily. Huang Dagen entered the room and saw Ouyang Xuan, Lu Dezhi, Li Shuang, Cao Ergou, Yu Zhu and others talking together, so he gave an overview of the trip. When talking about using a trick to stabilize Pan Luohuan but sneaking away at night, Ouyang Xuan laughed loudly and said: "So it was you who tricked him! No, Pan Tongzhi sent someone with artillery."
It turned out that those angry strangers just now were Pan Tongzhi's messengers. When these messengers saw Ouyang Xuan, they were very arrogant. They first blamed the Pili army for not following the court's laws, and then ordered Ouyang Xuan to turn around and make peace. Without waiting for Ouyang Xuan to reply and defend, he put forward the conditions for reining in the situation. Pan Tongzhi demanded that the Perak Army must liberate deserters from the naval forces and return them to the Navy Yamen of Chongqing Prefecture, Pan Luohuan's place; return the people who were kidnapped from Chongqing City; and spend money and efforts to rebuild the burned facilities in the city, especially the government offices. ; In addition to providing twenty artillery pieces and ammunition for the defense of Chongqing Fucheng, fifty firearms craftsmen and tools will also be sent to Fucheng...
Controller Pan's harsh requirements were spoken so smoothly in the envoy's mouth without any sense of violation. In Ouyang Xuan's opinion, it was simply a sign of inadequacy. Ouyang Xuan knew that Pan Tongzhi's change of humble attitude in the past was simply because Chongqing City had been obtained and the Thunderbolt Army was no longer needed. Moreover, although Pu Zezhi has not yet captured Chengdu, the situation is excellent. If Ouyang Xuan didn't know how to praise him, he would ask Marshal Pu to send elite troops to defeat the Perak Army in one fell swoop after defeating the Xichuan Mongolian Army. Pan Tongzhi's petty thoughts have long been seen by Ouyang Xuan. In his eyes, Pan Tongzhi is so despicable and ridiculous, and these arrogant envoys are so ignorant and fearless. It's just that he didn't bother to waste more words, so he just said, "Please report back to Pan Zongzong, I'm sorry Ouyang Xuan can't obey the order", and ordered the messenger to be driven away directly.
Pan Tongzhi asked for such a high price, not because he wanted to force the Perak Army to rebel now and find an excuse for the next attack. He mainly wanted to force Ouyang Xuan to bargain on the spot and have to give up part of the benefits. Who would have thought that Ouyang Xuan wouldn't listen to him at all and dared to tear his face and flip the table. In Ouyang Xuan's eyes, it is impossible to agree to any of the above conditions. Will the surrendered navy be released and taken back? --impossible. After doing this, who will defect to the Perak Army and return the people who were kidnapped from Chongqing City? ——These common people couldn't stand the oppression of the government and came here on their own initiative; how about spending money and effort to rebuild the government office? ——The burned facilities in the city were set on fire by the Mongols. Governor Pan should have gone to the Mongols to provide artillery, ammunition and craftsmen? ——This is the core secret of the Thunderbolt Army and must not be provided. Moreover, the Pili Army's artillery itself is not enough, and the ammunition is still short of raw materials.
As for the population that Ouyang Xuan did not want to take in before due to lack of food, it does not seem to be a burden now. After all, Chongqing Fucheng is a big city. Although the war in the past twenty years has caused it to deteriorate, there are still three thousand nails in the rotten ship. During the screening process, the Pili Army unexpectedly discovered that among the refugees who came this time, in addition to craftsmen from various industries, there were even many managers. Actually, many of them were well-educated and literate. These were all from the mountains. Talents that are urgently needed right now. Especially the dozens of people with management experience made Li Shuang even more happy. Since he took over the political affairs of the Pili Army, the lack of management personnel has not only made him, Lu Dezhi, Yang Xiucai and others extremely busy, but some tasks have also been inefficient and slow due to lack of management. With a little more training, the scholars and managers among these refugees can be enriched to participate in management in various industries.
However, although population is the most important resource, without food it will become a burden. With such a large population increase at once, food has become a big problem, which worries Ouyang Xuan. In fact, since the autumn, he has put forward the slogan of taking food as the key link. In addition to reclaiming wasteland and purchasing food everywhere, he also asked all the soldiers of the Perak Army to participate in hunting. On the one hand, this is to protect the newly opened cultivated land from wild beasts, and on the other hand, it is also to train troops through hunting. The powerful firearms made the beasts in the mountains unlucky, and they were either hunted or driven deeper into the mountains. In the past few months, the Perak Army hunted a lot of bison, takin, rock donkeys, wild boars, wild sheep, muntjacs, pheasants and other wild beasts. They even hunted a dozen jackals and several black bears and Black and white bears - Ouyang Xuan calls them pandas. Of course, the number of wild boars was the largest among the prey, with more than 200 large and small ones captured. These animal meats were smoked and stored up, mainly for the needs of heavy physical personnel such as marching, fighting and mining. After the population increased, there was only enough food in the mountains to last until June. If the Perak Army is stationed in the plains under the mountains, there will be no food problem. The plains under the mountains can harvest two crops, and summer grain can be harvested in May. However, the climate in the mountains is cold and the light is insufficient, so the crops can only be harvested in autumn every year, leaving a three-month food gap.
When Huang Dagen talked about searching for Glauber's Salt in Yixing Township to no avail, and accidentally discovered the water bandit's den on his way back, Dong Hu slapped his thigh and shouted: "It turns out that the long search failed, and it turned out that he was hiding in Wugen Valley." After hearing this, the impatient Cao Ergou immediately requested that troops be sent to exterminate the water bandits and avenge Li Shuang and other dead and wounded brothers. Other personnel also agreed. To say that this water bandit was entrenched in a critical position in Yongqu Township, he repeatedly harassed the Perak Army and killed and injured several Perak Army personnel. Even Li Shuang was hit in the thigh by a water bandit's spear and became disabled. , which made the Pili army extremely angry.
What everyone was thinking was exactly what Ouyang Xuan was thinking. Killing the water bandits who were causing trouble would not only make the golden waterway of Wenjing River unblocked, but also give the navy who had defected to Xinjin City a place to stand. The navy that surrendered this time brought 20 warships, which are now temporarily parked in the river outside Yokohara Town. However, this section of the river is not wide. Although there is no problem in sailing, it cannot fully utilize the combat power of the navy. . The wide rivers in Yongqu Township and below are the most ideal battlefields for the navy. Ouyang Xuan knew that the navy would play a vital role in the future battle with the Mongols. Only by eliminating the water bandits can Yongqu Township be completely controlled. With a solid base, the newly established Perak Navy Navy can develop and grow. At this time, Lu Dezhi and Li Shuang proposed that this bandit suppression should not only eliminate the water bandits in Wugen Mountain, but also eliminate the surrounding bandits, and Ouyang Xuan also agreed. It is currently the slack season for farmers, and Pu Zezhi is recruiting all the troops from Sichuan to attack Chengdu. The Mongols are busy shrinking their troops for defense, and the states and counties in western Sichuan they occupy are empty of troops. This is the perfect opportunity for the Perak Army to deploy troops. On the one hand, it can pass Eradicating banditry to train troops, and on the other hand, fighting to support war to obtain food.
