In March, spring is strong and everything is revived.
The vitality of Fengri City has always come from the busy traffic coming in and out of the four city gates.
In February, the money and food austerity had already begun to be relaxed on a large scale. Now that March has just entered, only one name is still left, and in actual implementation, all restrictions have been relaxed.
In terms of bulk goods, ordinary people have not directly felt it, but in terms of firewood, rice, oil, and salt, they can clearly feel that the country has almost returned to the way it was before the war.
I walked around some of the main roads in Fengli City again. All the shops on both sides were open. Even the wine shops, pubs, and flower shops that had been suppressed officially opened their doors on the first day of March. .
People who are more well-informed can find out a lot about the situation in the south without much effort, which shows that the control of information in the south has also been relaxed.
There are basically no battles going on in the south. Almost all the four front armies in the southeast and northwest have withdrawn into Zhuohuo Pass. What remains in the south are the troops of the frontier army itself.
The changes in the frontier army were similar to those during the previous war. Two permanent military strongholds were set up, one was the Shimen Military Stronghold close to the secret exit of Wanli Bamboo Sea, and the other was the giant military stronghold in Wuhu Lake. After the two sides shrink their troops, they will mainly be used as material transit, and their permanent troops will not exceed 30,000.
Focusing on the Huzhuyuan area to the southwest of the barbarians, the four major front armies swept back and forth several times in February. The large-scale main force of the barbarians had been wiped out or dispersed.
Nowadays, two wonderful patterns have been formed on the barbarian territory: the area east of Wuhu and Jianchuan has basically resumed the situation of small groups of barbarian tribes roaming, but they will be planned by slave caravans with the permission of the garrison. Looting, and the rest is a mixed situation of the barbarian tribes. After losing the main powerful ethnic groups and large tribes and clans, the leaderless and chaotic situation is the situation in the southwestern region of the barbarians today.
At a deeper level that most people don't understand, the Jingjiu Dynasty's first comprehensive plan for the barbarians has actually begun. The main ones in charge are the Ministry of War and the secret agents of the Black Flag Battalion under Shen Hao. And the "knives" in their hands are slave caravans that have been selected and approved.
People outside just watched the excitement. In other words, the slave traders looked at the huge profits from this business and scrambled to find connections to get the approval document for slave hunting from the Ministry of War, which was stuck.
It is a pity that the Ministry of War is very tough this time and has rejected almost all the lobbying of those who think they have dignity. So far, it has only issued slave hunting licenses for five slave caravans, and restricted each of these five slave caravans. The number of slaves hunted on barbarian lands by quarter. This limit cannot exceed 10%.
In other words, if you want to capture a hundred barbarian slaves, you cannot capture two hundred, nor can you only capture fifty, the minimum is ninety, and the maximum is one hundred and one.
This is adjustment, and the object of adjustment is the population of the barbarians.
Even the gender and age of the hunted barbarians were included in the calculation. This set of arrangements and plans did not come from the Ministry of War, but from Blackwater.
The establishment of the document system has made the analysis ability of Blackwater Division 4 almost unlimited, and these guys in the dark corners are extremely courageous. They directly put the "minimum conditions for the survival of the group" that Shen Hao mentioned once to test on the barbarians. . It is said that it will take ten years to continuously adjust and try to control the barbarian population to the most appropriate limit.
It can't be too low. If it's too low, if a natural disaster comes, the whole family will be wiped out. It cannot be too high, otherwise accidents may occur easily.
Of course, population size was only one aspect of the Jingjiu Dynasty's plan for the barbarians. The sword of the slave caravan is not just for this purpose.
For example, starting from the non-military level, the barbarian southwest region was dragged into a situation of perennial self-chaos or melee. This requires more than just handing over a knife, it also requires acting and a purse.
This aspect of errands is supported by the "Impermanence Department" of the fourth Blackwater Department, which has taken over the main errands of this part. Firstly, it was because the leader of the "Department of Impermanence" had petitioned several times to take over this job. On the other hand, it really needed the manpower from the Blackwater core to handle it.
The first test and penetration prepared by Zhang Liao was through the slave caravan Zhu Shou built. What Zhu Shou didn't know was that in addition to the slave caravan in his hands that was infiltrated by Zhang Liao's people, the same was true for the other four slave caravans. It's just that the caliber is not the Xuanqingwei Black Flag Battalion but the Ministry of War as a cover.
According to Heishui's plan, he would first bring in some of the rat tribe who had been killed miserably before and give them food, money, and even defective iron tools. In exchange, the Rat Tribe needs to help hunt down some valuable members of the barbarian tribe, or medicinal materials that are only available in the southwest.
Once the Rat Tribe relies on its fertility and the help of slave caravans, it will definitely arouse the remnant dissatisfaction of the Monkey Tribe and the Bear Tribe in the southwest, and the two sides can start fighting as long as they are overturned. At that time, if the Rat Clan wins, let other slave caravans go to the Bear Clan or the Monkey Clan, and then continue to fight against the fire. If the Rat Clan loses, then they will continue to increase their efforts to win over the Rat Clan.
Anyway, just do whatever it takes to muddy the water.
This is a long-term plan, and the preliminary layout will take several years or even more than ten years. No one can guarantee how long it will last. Although it will not appear in the official national policies promulgated by the Jingjiu Dynasty, its specifications are at the actual national policy level. The various materials included are definitely a large amount of money, and these must be allocated from the national treasury.
Now the south is gradually stabilizing. Even Zuo Yuliang has already started to return to the pass from Wuhu. Afterwards, according to the rules of the old Jing Dynasty, he needs to hand over the military talisman and commander's seal and then return to the imperial city to accept the emperor's reward. It's natural that he will be promoted to a higher position, but his future destination is not certain. This is also a gossip that the upper class everywhere likes to discuss recently.
You must know that Zuo Yuliang's prestige in the army is not ordinary now. After the victory in the National War, he can be said to be the number one person in the army, replacing Yang Yansi's previous position in the army. His whereabouts also affected the nerves of many people in the Jingjiu Dynasty.
Are you going to the four major front armies to change defenses? Or continue to stay in the border army? Or take over the Ministry of War directly? Or will he be put on a high shelf and directly support himself in old age?
In Fengri City, both the Xuanqing Guard Qianhu Office and the Black Flag Camp Command Yamen have been very lively recently. On the surface, Yu Bo was still busy with the previous attack on Shen Hao, and many finishing matters were still being worked on. And secretly or privately, many people are also talking about another thing: the war in the south is over, and it’s time to count the merits. I have heard that Commander Shen has repeatedly made great achievements in the border army. I don’t know how big he will be this time. Credit?
The most intuitive reaction is that Shen Hao's house has received more greetings and invitations during this period. However, according to Shen Hao's instructions, Hu Tian made excuses to reject all these greetings and invitations.
