GBP Chapter 261: The Army Detours
Chapter 261: The Army Detours
After seeing off Nalan Xiongying, Li Gengbao and others, Zhao Sheng convened the first meeting on business guidance in Weizhou.
"Everyone, as the northern gateway to Dingzhou County in our Great Zhou, Weizhou's importance is not only reflected in military matters, but also has a crucial responsibility, namely the distribution and warehousing of foreign trade."
Zhao Sheng spoke passionately to the officials from Weizhou who attended the meeting. "Weizhou connects Guangchang County and Guangchang County, and the latter will develop some processing industries. It extends north to Daijun and Zhangyuan, and Yiyu in the middle will become our new trade port."
Zhao Sheng's goal is to let the Nalan family come forward this time, and let the Huyan family and other grassland clans directly participate in the construction of the deserted city of Yi Yu and create a new free city.
In Yiyu, no force can stop the breath of freedom. Yiyu, this place will become a paradise for the rich.
"My Lord, last time you said that this military expansion would turn Huaian Town into a fortress. Our organization sent us news that even after Chen Zaocao organized the young and strong men in the village, there were only more than 30 people."
As soon as Zhao Sheng finished speaking, Sun Jiping, the magistrate of Weizhou County, hurriedly said:
"Prince Consort, the population of Weizhou is already small. After the last battle, many prisoners escaped or died, leaving the coal mines unused. We can only recruit within the city, and now we're facing a population shortage."
During the first month of the new year, the local population was already sparse, an unavoidable fact. Economic development in a region required a large population, and Zhao Sheng's brows were momentarily etched with worry.
……
After Guo Zi'an appeared in Wujiabao, General Li Jixian found a reason and had to let the Longxi Li family army cross the river and enter the Shizhou territory.
When marching across regions, it is usually necessary to report the route to local officials.
The Li family spans Qin, Jin, and even Yan and Zhao, and has quite impressive family power. Although they dare not claim to be in the top three, it is definitely no problem for them to be in the top five.
As the saying goes, the Li family holds up half the sky.
If you want to pass by Bingzhou, it is just like walking in your own vegetable garden. You just have to shout when passing by there - I am from the Li family.
Li Ke, the Tongzhi of Bingzhou, happened to be from the same clan, so he had to personally order his men to make all the arrangements. However, General Hong Kui was not happy about this.
"What are you talking about? Li Jixian from Longxi is passing through Bingzhou, bringing with him two hundred thousand troops? Is he planning a rebellion?"
During his time in Bingzhou, Hong Kui had gained a general understanding of the situation. Prefect Wang Danwang held absolute power, and the Wang family was a prominent and powerful family in Bingzhou, so all local officials obeyed the Wang family's orders.
Even Hong Kui, who came from the capital, still had a say in the army, but was ignored like air in the local area.
Now that the Li family has interfered in Bingzhou affairs again, he feels extremely depressed.
"General, the Li family is just passing through Dingzhou, not against us."
"With an army of 200,000, do you know how many civilians will be implicated along the way?" Hong Kui was the commander of the troops. He knew very well that the cost of food, clothing and other expenses for so many people was an extremely large number.
Even with strict discipline, there are still some who slip through the net.
"If we don't make things easier for them, won't it lead to even greater conflict?"
The visitor asked Xiang Hongkui in confusion.
"Well, whatever, send someone to tell Li Jixian to control his troops, otherwise don't blame me for abusing the general's privileges."
The privileges of a general are nothing more than a show of power among court officials and the army. If Li Jixian heard this, he would certainly sneer.
At the same time, Li Xin also received a secret letter about the Li family coming to support.
"Isn't this just causing trouble?"
Since the Zhao family conquered the world, they had been wary of the Li family and other powerful families that once held military power. After the Lu family's uproar, the Li family sent 200,000 men. Could Zhao Hengzhen really tolerate this?
"Your Majesty, they have already crossed the Yellow River, and we can't stop them." Yuchi Baowei said jokingly. He knew that the reason why the Li family was so powerful was that they could accurately grasp the situation and would not act recklessly.
"With 200,000 people coming here, there's a huge food shortage. This is like Longxi sending me 200,000 mouths waiting to be fed."
"What should I do?"
"What else can we do? Let's see what the Prince Consort has in mind. Oh, and I heard the Prince Consort sent 300,000 kilograms of grain to Luancheng?"
As he was talking, Li Xin suddenly remembered the news.
"Yes, Your Highness. I heard that the Prince Consort received a total of 400,000 catties. 100,000 catties were left for Weizhou and Guangchang County, and the rest was taken to Luancheng, of which 100,000 catties were left for our Dingzhou camp."
"He still has 200,000 jin, why doesn't he leave some for our county?"
Li Xin felt very disappointed. This son-in-law was too unconsiderate.
"Your Highness, have you forgotten? Our granaries in Dingzhou County are full, and there are large workshops in Luancheng where we can store grain."
"Hehe~" Li Xin grinned, revealing the leftover celery leaves, which almost made Yuchi Baowei nauseous.
"The prince consort hasn't returned yet?" Li Xin asked.
"Your Highness, the Prince Consort has arrived in Guangchang County and seems to be arranging and guiding the relevant work."
"Send someone to deliver a message about the 200,000-man army and see what he thinks."
"Yes……"
Li Jixian, who was passing by Shizhou, indeed ignored Hong Kui's order. It was not that he was not afraid of the court, but that the court would not ask about their transfer at all.
The Zhou Dynasty valued civil officials over military officials. As long as the military generals did not rebel, the imperial court would not intervene and the troops would be controlled by the local army.
Moreover, the imperial court would not be responsible for supplying food to these mobile armies.
This also provided a suitable environment for group fights to occur in the Da Zhou area.
In the Great Zhou Dynasty, some local riots were regarded as minor incidents in the memorials submitted to the court, and timely suppression of rebellions was also regarded as an achievement of officials.
When Li's army reached Fenyang and was heading towards Jinyang, they received a letter from Li Xin of Dingzhou.
The content of the letter roughly means that Pingyang will conflict with a new local force, and hopes that they will not cause disputes at this point. It is suggested to take a detour to Mayi and go to Weizhou.
"General, this will add another 700 miles. It will take us at least ten days to march this way, or even longer."
Left General Li Xianchu made a suggestion.
"It doesn't matter. We've already been walking for a month, so ten more days won't be a big deal."
With an army of 200,000, no one would trouble them as long as they were not fighting, at least that was what Li Jixian thought.
The marching route had been planned in advance, and Li Jixian made adjustments. The brothers Qin Ke and Qin Ming were still the vanguards, marching around Jinyang towards Mayi.
Little did they know that the imperial secret cavalry had already investigated all of this, and Luancheng's intelligence organization was also secretly guarding them all the way.
Zhao Sheng had been preparing for a long time to go deep into Bingzhou to collect intelligence. This time, he followed Li Jixian's army to prevent anyone from interfering and to get a clearer understanding of the major factions in Bingzhou.