The Privy Council was ordered to organize the "Hedong Qianying Military Government", and the large-scale war between the Great Zhou and the Northern Han Dynasty was a foregone conclusion and inevitable. Wang Pu is still the head of the military government, which is a sign of the royal conquest. The military government mobilized officials to set up various divisions according to the shogunate during the Southern Tang War, sorted out the military situation, merits and demerits for the Chinese army, and provided suggestions, and there was a complete set of military order issuance system; In addition, the largest number of officials who were prepared to be sent to the military at all levels to collect and assist the generals in issuing written military orders.

Li Gu was appointed to take charge of the preparation and mobilization of munitions.

It is mainly the transfer of grain and grass from various places to Jinzhou, Liaozhou, Luzhou and other places for hoarding. In addition, craftsmen were recruited to mine stone quarries near these prefectures and counties to make round stone bullets.

The whistling artillery is scheduled to be mobilized north after the beginning of spring next year...... The time chosen by the imperial court to dispatch the army is the beginning of next year. Because considering the reinforcements of the Liao army; The horses of the cavalry of the Liao army are the fattest in autumn. The grass on the grassland bears seeds in autumn and can raise fat, at this time the grassland war horse is the most powerful time, and it is also the strongest time for the nomadic army, so there is a saying of "autumn defense" in all dynasties. The Great Zhou court took the initiative to attack, and of course it did not choose autumn when it took the initiative to choose the time, because the Central Plains war horses mainly relied on grain to feed their fat, and there was almost no seasonality.

There is also the preparation of **, the power of the whistling cannon far exceeds the stone-throwing vehicle used by the Zhou army before, but the efficiency of using ** is not high, and it needs to consume a lot of **. Charcoal is not a problem; Li Gu urged Zan Jurun to send people to supervise the sulfur mines in Hebei, Hedong, Shandong and other places, and Guo Shao also sent a letter to Chen Jiali, asking them to buy sulfur from Dali and come back to reserve...... Most of the sulphur mined in the mainland is impure and of low quality, so it can only be used in a suitable manner. At this time, the best sulfur was imported by the sea from Japan in small quantities.

Only saltpeter mines are in short supply, and open-pit mines with high output are only available in Hanzhong, and there are also in the Western Regions but not within the control of the Great Zhou.

Li Gu first collected and mobilized saltpeter from Hanzhong and other places, and the method used in the reserve was: using dung heap nitrate. He first set up a tank in the Kanda Manor on the outskirts of Tokyo, and some of the dung trucks from the city would transport it there.

Li Gu used the method of alchemy, first made a large tile jar, covered it with straw, and then piled up the manure into the jar, mixed with decaying animals and plants, slag, lime, grass and wood ash, and covered with straw. After that, every time the urine and water are poured to ferment, some nitrate frost can be scraped on the straw.

Then the purification method created by Guo Shao is used to melt the water with impurities, cook, dry, and screen with a sieve to obtain the crystallized saltpeter that is relatively pure.

…… Everything is being prepared, although Guo Shao has not handled it personally, he has been carefully paying attention to the progress of various matters. Even what Fu Zhaoxu, who was stationed in Liaozhou, did and how he got along with the generals, all of them were secretly played by the civil officials who accompanied the military and provincial envoys.

Guo Shao put down the paper in his hand, got up and walked to the wall to look at the map.

This is the Hall of Grace, a small courtyard to the west of the palace. Guo Shao is not very satisfied with this place, because he always feels that the surroundings are full of palace buildings, and it is very closed and stuffy here, but he still chooses this place as a place to rest and sleep.

Because of the big palace like the Long Live Palace, Guo Shao always has a feeling of "public". In fact, the palace maids and eunuchs there were indeed the places where the main halls were on duty, and their job was to manage the palace's property, clean it, and serve the emperor's daily life.

So Guo Shao chose the Hall of Grace, this small courtyard is at least like a private space. After a busy day, Guo Shao wanted to return to a place where he could relax mentally.

At this time, Yulian came over and went to clean up the messy table that Guo Shao had just turned over. Guo Shao turned around and said: "Those things are related to official business, you will hand them over to the eunuch who will pick me up tomorrow morning, and let him send them to the study of Jinxiang Hall for storage." ”

Yulian replied with an "um". When Guo Shao lived here, he usually asked Yulian to take care of her daily life, even if it wasn't when she was supposed to sleep. Yulian doesn't know much about literacy, she doesn't care what Guo Shao is doing, and she doesn't know much about state affairs...... This made Guo Shao very relaxed. And Yulian is a person he trusts very much, and some personal belongings are also kept by her.

Yulian wouldn't interfere with him doing his own thing, and after she finished cleaning up, she picked up the teacup and changed the cold tea for him. If there is one person dangling in front of Guo Shao, it will not affect him, and that is Yulian...... It's not that he's ignoring her, it's too familiar, too close.

Guo Shao stood in front of a map on the wall of the study, looking at the territory above, he could really feel what he had.

At this time, his mood was not mainly greedy and wanting more, but wanting to keep and worrying about losing. He won the Great Zhou Jiangshan, but the country was far from being stable and safe, and he was not at ease with what he was holding.

For example, the land east of the river. Since ancient times, there has not been a dynasty with a stable national defense, and there is a hostile force hanging over the capital...... From the east of the river to the south to the Yellow River, the Yellow River is the only fragile natural barrier, not to mention the Northern Han Dynasty behind the Liao State support.

Guo Shao understands that even if he wants to enjoy peace, now is not the time, unless he is mediocre to a certain extent, he has no sense of crisis.

His fingers tapped on the east side of the river for two days, then he put his hand down behind his back and paced back and forth in the room for a few steps.

……

Until October, a group of scholars and civilians with Hedong accents came to Tokyo, and they were released into the inner city, and gathered on the royal street to ask for an edict, saying that they could not bear the looting of the Liao army, and they were even more dissatisfied with the Northern Han court's collusion with the Liao people to ask the emperor to send troops to recover the lost territory.

In ancient times, the people could not gather together casually, so there was generally no petition (for fear of gathering together to rebel), not to mention that these people actually entered the inner city...... However, they scolded the Northern Han Dynasty and called the Great Zhou Emperor a saint, so they were not driven away by force.

At that time, the Great Zhou and the Northern Han were originally enemy countries and the relationship was tense, and there were even ranger raids and skirmishes on the border. The Northern Han sent a large number of scouts to inquire about the territory of the Great Zhou, although they were not spies, but they were clear about some obvious things; Although some local governments have captured some of them, they are not able to prevent this kind of meticulous work at all.

The Zhou army frequently mobilized a large amount of grain and grass, and the towns wanted to mobilize the town soldiers to participate in the war, and the signs were also very obvious; There are also some quarries that are mined to make cobblestone, which also seem to be used for siege.

In short, such preparations for large-scale war are completely impossible for neighboring countries to hide. The Jinyang court was already shrouded in the clouds of war.

…… There is a small incident in Jinyang, Yang Ye exchanged his mount for a beauty, and it was reported as an anecdote in the military general circle as an interesting story. Because Yang Ye is a celebrity in the Northern Han Dynasty, it is easy to attract attention.

It's just to buy a concubine, the process of buying is more interesting, and Yang Ye doesn't care.

But one day on the way to inspect the Jinyang city fortifications, he met Zhao Kuangyin, but Zhao Kuangyin mentioned it to his face.

There is no gap between Zhao Kuangyin and Yang Ye, although Yang Ye's brother is a military general in the Zhou State, but Yang Ye does not care about who is right or wrong in the Zhou State; Naturally, he doesn't have any opinion on Zhao Kuangyin, and even because Zhao Kuangyin is also a famous general, it is more talkative. (Zhao Kuangyin made several meritorious contributions in the Battle of Gaoping, the Battle of Huainan and other battle formations, and the use of soldiers was a beautiful talk, especially in Huainan's attack on Chuzhou and the single-handedly capture of the Southern Tang Dynasty generals is more famous.) ）

Zhao Kuangyin mentioned the anecdote first, and suddenly his tone changed, and he said: "There will be a word of persuasion in the end, and women should not be gullible." ”

Yang Ye felt that this was strange, and asked casually, "What does Brother Zhao mean by this?" ”

Zhao Kuangyin wanted to speak and stopped, and said in a deep voice: "The last general just has this sigh, especially those women of unknown origin, you have to pay attention." ”

His words were misty. Yang Ye tasted it, because at first the two of them talked about buying a concubine, and then suddenly mentioned that women of unknown origin should not be gullible, Yang Ye guessed that Zhao Kuangyin meant that there was something wrong with the concubine he bought.

But Zhao Kuangyin's situation at this time is equivalent to sending people under the fence after all, and the woman is a person in Yang Ye's room, Zhao Kuangyin may also understand that it is not good to say too ugly, so he did not continue. Yang Ye didn't ask much.

Yang Ye inspected the city defense for a long time, went home in the afternoon, and habitually went to the room of the red warbler. He already had three concubines at this time, and Hongying was one of them...... This woman is obviously much more beautiful than the other two concubines, and she is also very good at waiting for people, and Yang Ye likes to come here.

Looking at the red warbler's diligent and gentle appearance, Yang Ye remembered Zhao Kuangyin's words again. quietly asked the merchant who sold her in detail what details and where he was. The red warbler replied fluently, the smile on her face was very clean, and she didn't look scheming at all.

She just said a little aggrieved: "I know that I come from a bad background and am disabled, but do you think I am a bad person?" ”

Yang Ye remembered the relationship over the past few months and shook his head. There are not many literate women in this world, this woman can play the piano, chess, calligraphy and painting everything, if you want to say that she has fallen into the dust, it is possible, if she is a bad person...... What bad thing can a young woman do?

Hongying said softly: "Engong's money has also been spent, so don't dislike the concubine." The concubine is nothing in the Yang Mansion, just a slave at the disposal of the Duke of En, and it is difficult to even walk, what else can she do? ”

Yang Ye was relieved when he thought about it when he heard this, in fact, she was right. The only woman who can influence him is a wife, a concubine or a slave is like a thing, nothing to dislike. He will be more cautious when marrying a wife.

However, because of Zhao Kuangyin's words, Yang Ye still found an old slave for many years and asked him to inquire and confirm the words of the red warbler according to his origins.

The servant went out in a carriage and returned in the evening. He inquired about the existence of the merchant family who sold the red warbler, and admitted that he had sold a disabled lady who had been married to a debtor's family. And that shop has been in Jinyang for many years, most of the guys are from Jinyang, and the people around them also say the same, nothing strange.

When Yang Ye got the return, he no longer doubted it. Because he really couldn't think of what Hongying could get from him as a concubine, after getting along with each other day and night for so many months, he felt that Hongying had a good character, never asked for additional rewards, and she was also very humble when she gave her things.

After a long time, Yang Ye also had some feelings for the red warbler. As he said by chance, even a stone can be hot even if it is held in his arms for a long time.

.......