In the thirty-fifth year of Qin Shi Huang, in the month of Meng Chun, located in the "Donghai County" in the east of the empire, the willow trees by the Huaishui began to pull out tender strips, but the weather was still cold, Nanchang Pavilion was long in the house, roasting charcoal, lazily picking up the millet rice that his wife had just cooked, but heard a shout outside.

"Pavilion chief, an official ship is coming!"

The Nanchang Pavilion Chief hurriedly went out to take a look, and sure enough, a three-hundred-hundred-hundred-hundred-

This look is the official ship between Huaisi and Jiangdong, the sails are brand new, the ship is painted, and there are two middle-aged Qin officials dressed in black talking on the deck. A young gentleman shouted at the side of the boat and asked the pavilion chief to send someone to help tie the boat, and his attitude was very unkind.

The chief marquis of Nanchang Pavilion was on the shore, and he had clearly seen that one of the officials was wearing a crown on his head and a black ribbon with a copper seal on his waist, which was a sign of a rank of more than 600 stones.

"Xiao Lu."

Xiao He, the "big official" on the ship, frowned and reprimanded the young man: "You have no official and no lord, you are out of the house, and you should be polite when you talk to people." ”

"No."

Xiao Lu shrank his head, as the eldest son, Xiao He has always treated him very strictly, not to mention, this time he went south, his father didn't want to take him, he begged hard, and the Xiao clan also strongly persuaded him, saying that Xiao He went to the south, and he couldn't take care of his relatives without him, so Xiao He reluctantly agreed.

The official who was talking to Xiao He laughed and opened his mouth to say, "Xiao Jun, young man, Zhang ...... It's not uncommon to be a little arrogant. ”

This person's name is Zhou Chang, he is a soldier in Surabaya County, and he has a small problem, stuttering. Historically, it was Zhou Chang and Deng Ai who created the idiom "Ai Ai Ai" together......

Zhou Chang carried the mission on this trip to escort Xiao He, who was appointed by the Marquis of Changnan as the "Captain of Sosu", to the south. As the name suggests, this Sengoku official was in charge of collecting military rations, and was an important person in the shogunate.

The general Chang Nanhou went south by another road, passing through Nanyang to Nanjun, and let Xiao He join him in Yuzhang County......

Heifu's letter also mentioned one thing, that is, let Xiao He help recruit some talents along the way to make up for the lack of the shogunate.

It's a pity that Xiao He didn't catch the people named by Heifu.

Thinking that he would soon arrive in Jiangnan, Xiao Lu had a sad face:

"Father didn't get the dog Tu Fan, and told him to run away, and I don't know if Changnanhou will be angry."

Hefu is also bizarre, naming the person he wants, the first one is a dog butcher, and I don't know where he heard the name.

Xiao He knew that Fan Hao was Liu Ji's friend, he was arrogant, quite courageous, full of martial arts, and had ten enemies.

But as soon as Fan Xu heard Xiao He say that he wanted to recruit him to the south, he first supported him, saying that he wanted to go home and say goodbye to his mother. As a result, the next day, Xiao He sent someone to ask, but it was someone who went to the empty house, Fan He, with his family, ran to the mountains around Pei County overnight!

The little official who let Fan Hao out of the city was called Ren Ao, and he also ran away......

Fellow villagers, Xiao He didn't chase after him, but just sighed.

"Harsh government is fiercer than a tiger, and fleeing is like fleeing death."

As soon as Heifu's other person, Zhou Bo and Xiao He asked, they learned that they had already been far away from Saibei and had not returned for several years.

The rest of the officials in the county, such as Xiahou Ying and Zhou Cao, knew that the expedition to Baiyue was an errand, and those who went to the first war were not happy to go south. Not to mention the local nobles Lu Lu, Wang Ling, Yongya and other generations, their attitudes are negative and cold.

According to Heifu's proposal to Qin Shi Huang in his early years, "the southerners will fight the south, and the northerners will fight the north", this war was a tribute to the counties south of Huaihan, and it was not about Surabaya County.

However, Zhou Chang, who was a fellow student, had heard the name of the Marquis of Changnan for a long time, and envied Xiao He and Cao Shen's rapid promotion within four years, and he was very interested in serving in the Southern Army.

But a Zhou Chang, I don't know if I can satisfy Chang Nanhou, this is what Xiao He's father and son are worried about.

Zhou Chang suggested: "Xiao Jun, didn't the Marquis of Changnan say that he would levy another ...... in Nanjun Recruit a soldier, delay a little for ten days, and meet Xiao Jun in Yuzhang in March. Since you have plenty of time, it is better to see if there are any strong men in the counties along the way, and take them with you. ”

"That's it."

Xiao He bowed his head, and then called the Nanchang Pavilion Chief, and after asking, he learned that this place was called "Nanchang Pavilion", and he couldn't help but look at Zhou Chang and Xiao Lu and smile, and it was the same name as their destination, which was also a coincidence.

I also learned that the county seat of Huaiyin is two miles away from the river, and it only takes two moments to go by car.

Just do what he said, thinking about catching a few "strong men" along the way to deal with Xiao He, who was a black man, decided to let Zhou Chang look at the boat and take people to the city to take a look.

Before leaving, he also instructed everyone to take off the official clothes and put on regular clothes, so as not to cause local commotion, and the people's livelihood was difficult along the way, Xiao He was very reluctant to the extravagant reception of the local officials.

Although he was not very happy to go south, Xiao He, who was in his position and sat in the car, resembled a scribe, did not stop looking at the wilderness, observed the situation here, and said to his son:

"Huaiyin obstructs Huai by the sea, is the important place of the soldiers, in the Spring and Autumn Period, the husband wants to pass through China, out of the Jianghuai, that is, engaged in this."

In order to dominate the Central Plains, Wu Wangfu did not hesitate to use the power of the whole country to dig a canal "ditch" between the Jianghuai River, and the Wu ship was able to go north from here, and Huaiyin became the water and land rushing, and the plain washed by the Huai River was a fertile field, with the capital of colonization, the water network extending in all directions, and the benefit of Cao Yun.

"The Marquis of Changnan wants to level Minyue first, this place will be the hub of the Central Plains grain and straw to the south, and a large warehouse can be built in Nanchang Pavilion, and 100,000 stones of grain will be stored!"

After thinking about it, the group had entered Huaiyin County.

Although they were in civilian clothes, they were holding the talisman of the thousand-stone official, and the soldiers guarding the door hurriedly gave way.

Xiao Lu took the lead, and the young man was playful, and he couldn't help but look left and right.

At that time, the people took Surabaya, Chen, Runan, and Nanjun in Huaibei as Western Chu; The East China Sea and Jiangdong east of Pengcheng are East Chu; Hengshan, Jiujiang, Jiangnan Yuzhang, and Changsha are Southern Chu. The customs of Sanchu are slightly different, Xiao Lu, who went out for the first time, saw the clothes and products that were different from Huaibei, and felt quite novel, where to get together.

Xiao He stopped and asked his subordinates to inquire about the local prices, especially the price of grains.

After asking around, I found that almost all the grain was several times more expensive than Surabaya County, and it was as high as two hundred yuan per stone! It stands to reason that Huainan is also a granary, and the method of composting and composting has also spread here, so it should not be so.

When asked again, the locals said that it was because the government collected grain, and the grain was sent to the south through the canal, and there were 100,000 mouths waiting to eat in Jiangdong, and the local grain was scarce, so the price was naturally expensive......

Xiao He couldn't help but sigh secretly:

"The art of war is cloudy, and the reason why the country is impoverished because of the war is because the army has to go on an expedition and have to pull millet for thousands of miles, and when the people eat and chew the horses, and when the grain is delivered, it has long been gone, and a large amount of labor is required to go back and forth, which will make the people poor, the price of grain skyrocketing, and the strength of the wealth will be exhausted."

The country's finances are depleted, and in order to continue the war, they will rush to serve in the hills, and so on in a vicious circle, the people's expenses will be reduced to seven-tenths, and the public expenses will be ruined, and finally it will even lead to collapse.

Many years ago, the powerful state of Wu went into decline in this way, and Fan Juwen made a grain lending scheme, which made it even worse......

In fact, Sun Wu had already given a solution: because of the food to the enemy.

But that only applies to the Central Plains campaign, the southern expedition to Baiyue, when the Yue people burned the rice fields and fled into the forest, the Qin soldiers had no food to do, and could only look forward to the northern millet rice.

Relying only on the Jianghuai counties to transport grain for thousands of miles cannot quench the thirst of the near near by water, and if we want to end the war, we must first solve this problem.

Xiao He was squatting in front of the grain stall and pondering, but he heard a loud shout in the distance:

"There's a fight!"