After traveling for more than ten days to supervise farmers in spring, Yang Qing finally returned to Anshang. It was still April when he left, and by the time he came back it was early May.
Unknowingly, it has been more than a month since he came to Yuechu and took office. In this short period of time, he has been taking many actions. He has been investigating rapes, promoting agriculture, providing work relief, appeasing the homeless, and training the army. Now the city can be described as a busy and prosperous scene.
"Wen Ran, is the city okay after I leave?"
After returning, Yang Qing couldn't wait to summon the county magistrates to discuss matters. Before leaving, he asked Yang Xi and Wang Yi to jointly take charge of the county affairs, so he asked Yang Xi at this time.
"Reporting to Lord Fu, everything in the city has been fine these past ten days, and everything is running normally according to Lord Fu's plan." Yang Xi stood up and said with his hands in hand.
Yang Qing nodded and asked Wang Yi: "Wang Gongcao, how is the implementation of work-for-relief relief for the homeless people in the city?"
"Master Fu, the weapons workshop, farm tool workshop, and cloth silk workshop are all operating as normal. Now these three major workshops have more or less output." Wang Yi replied: "And the labor force has been centralized and arranged to repair the city wall. , and has begun to build fortresses in dangerous places outside the city."
When Yang Qing returned to the city, he saw that all the potholes on the city wall were gone, and the damaged turrets and collapsed parapets had also been repaired.
Now the laborers are building forts on two hills not far from the south gate. After they are completed, troops will be stationed to guard them. They can form a diagonal relationship with the city. In this way, the rebels will not be able to easily siege the city, and they can defend the city inside. Have a buffer.
"Very good, thank you for your hard work, Wang Gongcao."
Yang Qing praised him and then said to Wang Yi: "There is a serious shortage of officials in the county at present. As a meritorious official, you can choose one or two candidates based on your past talents, virtues and merits, and report them to me for my decision to fill the vacancies."
"yes."
"Master Fu, the food in the city can only last for half a month. May I ask how we should deal with it?"
Cangcao Li Changke always remembered that Yang Qing went out to supervise the farmers because of the food shortage. Now he has returned to the city to show how to solve the food shortage.
Yang Qing nodded and said with a smile: "You don't have to ask, I want to talk about this matter." After a pause, he asked again: "Li Cangcao, how many plows and overturned carts are there in the city now?"
When Yang Qing left Chengdu, he not only took away a batch of ring-shou knives and arm-opening crossbows from Pu Yuan, but also several craftsmen who knew how to make curved shaft plows and overturned carts.
As soon as he arrived, he ordered Lu Shen to select a group of honest, honest craftsmen from his officials to cooperate with the people he brought to make curved shaft plows and overturned carts.
Of course, for the sake of confidentiality, not only was this farm tool workshop set up in a separate place and troops were sent to protect it closely, but also the identities of these local craftsmen were no longer affiliated with the Anshang County Temple, but were directly transferred to the Sijin Zhonglang Mansion. prepared by.
This change is also a side benefit, which makes the selected craftsmen very happy.
Although Li Chang didn't know the relationship between this question and the lack of food, he quickly replied: "Including the original ones in the city, there are fifty-eight curved shaft plows and fifty-six overturned carts."
"Very good, my promise to Lord Qianwei can be considered fulfilled."
Seeing doubts on everyone's faces, he explained: "When I passed by Qianwei, I had a good deal with the prefect Wang. I, Yuewei, could use a curved shaft plow or an overturning cart in exchange for fifty shi of grain and rice, and a curved shaft plow." Counting fifty pieces and overturning carts each, they can be exchanged for five thousand shi of grain and rice."
Ignoring everyone's surprised expressions, he added: "And we can use part of the money to buy grain from Jianwei County. In this way, we can also get tens of thousands of stones. And this time I went out of the city to supervise the agricultural bank and went to Pingxiang to meet with The Qingqiang Guli tribe has negotiated a mutual trade, and we can use cloth, silk and other materials to collect leather from there and then sell it to Jianwei County in exchange for food."
He took a sip of tea and continued: "With such a multi-pronged approach, it should be able to last for several months. By then, the summer and autumn grains can be put into the warehouse, and there will be no worries about installing the grains."
None of the officials in the room expected that Yang Qing would be able to reach a mutual trading agreement with the Guli tribe during his outing. At this moment, after hearing him speak out three solutions in one breath, they were all overjoyed and immediately praised him in unison.
Yang Qing waved his hand and said to Xie Ning: "Xie Hucao, what we have agreed with the Guli Department must be implemented as soon as possible."
Except for the fact that the dispatch of troops has been kept secret for the time being, all other matters can be made public. Yang Qing hopes to implement them as soon as possible for future advancement. Xie Ning understood what he meant and immediately accepted the offer.
Yang Qing asked others one by one, and when he saw that everything in the city was normal, he immediately felt relieved and waved everyone away.
The summer rain passed by, and an hour later the clouds cleared and the sun rose. By dusk, there were almost no water stains on the bluestone streets, and Huo Jian felt particularly refreshed walking on them.
After Yang Qing finished dinner, he called Mulan to take away the dishes, and Yang Xi and Wu Que stood side by side in front of him.
"Master Fu, Huo Jian went to that guest house again tonight." Yang Xi reported.
Yang Qing was silent, and came to the bookcase and picked up "Spring and Autumn" and read it. When he saw that it was the same volume of slips he had read yesterday, he put it down and replaced it with another volume, then said, "How many times has he been there these days?"
Wu Que said: "Since we monitored him, including today, he has been there three times, almost once every three or four days."
Since Yang Qing deliberately startled Huo Jian with his words last month, he had not been to the guest house in the east of the city for ten days in a row. He did not contact him again until shortly after Yang Qing left the city to supervise the farmers.
Yang Qingdao: "It seems that he has almost given up his suspicion and boldly conveyed the news."
Yang Xi nodded: "Fu Jun is absolutely right. From this we can see that Huo Jian and the others don't know that they have been exposed."
In the past twenty days, Wu Que had found out the details of the guest house and the people who had contact with Huo Jian.
It turns out that the person Huo Jian meets every time in disguise is his brother Huo Chang, and that guest house is also the Huo family's secret liaison place in the city. This Huo family also has a surname in Yizhou County, and Wu Que has sent people to Yizhou to investigate its details.
However, Yang Qing has already speculated on the Huo family's intentions, which are probably similar to those of the Yong family and the Meng family, which are powerful people in the south. Now they just have to wait for the news to be sent back to verify it.
"Very good, Wu Que wants your people to be more careful in their actions. Don't let Huo Jian and the others notice. Huo Jian will be of great use in the future." Yang Qing warned.
"yes."
Wu Que has always been cautious and meticulous in his work, and now it seems that he was the right choice to be in charge of intelligence. After more than a month of hard work, Wu Que had more than a hundred people working under his command, and the detailed operations such as tracking and surveillance, undercover lurking, and spying on information were slowly on the right track.
At present, more than twenty special agents have been sent to Beishui, Dingzeo, Qiongdu and other places to investigate the news of the Soyi rebels.
According to the latest news, Gao Dingzi has not been idle these days. He knows that the court will not leave the rebellion alone, and the army in Shu will definitely go south in the future.
Therefore, this guy is also stepping up his efforts to build troops, build forts, and connect various tribes to join him in raising troops. Moreover, he also intensified his connections with the two thieves Yong Kai and Zhu Bao of Zangzhou. The three parties had become aligned and vowed to resist the imperial court to the end.
After the Nanzhong Rebellion broke out, Yong Kai asked Soochow for help from abroad. Of course Sun Quan would not let go of this God-given opportunity, and he acted very quickly.
Not only did he immediately appoint Yong Kai as the prefect of Yongchang, but he also appointed Liu Zhang's son Liu Chan as the governor of Yizhou and stationed him at the junction of Jiaozhou and Yizhou in an attempt to make some use of the original fame of Liu Zhang and his son.
At that time, the situation in Nanzhong was indeed extremely dangerous. Fortunately, Zhuge Liang made a decisive decision and re-established an alliance with Soochow. Now Sun Quan, the leader of Wu, can no longer cause trouble to Nanzhong.
Yongkai Gaoding and the others have lost their only foreign aid and are in a difficult situation. They also know that the only way now is for everyone to unite and rely on the favorable geographical conditions and obstacles in Nanzhong to have a chance to fight the imperial court.
Therefore, Gaoding also attaches great importance to his own people hidden in the Yuexi government. Only with them passing the news can he be invincible.
Therefore, when the news about the important craftsman in An Shang City came out again, Gaoding immediately summoned his closest confidants to discuss matters in the lobby.
