Zhao Junsheng and Hua Mulan didn't wait long in front of the town guard mansion, and a team of people and horses rode over from the street, led by the eunuch Zong Ai, and next to him was Tuoba Ke Xiling, the commander of the guards.

Zhao Junsheng and Hua Mulan walked down the steps to meet them, and were about to clench their fists at Zong Ai and Tuoba Ke Xiling, when they saw a familiar face among the entourage behind them.

Hey, that's not ······ Tuobajian?

Zhao Junsheng's face changed, and he was about to step forward to salute Tuoba Jian, but when he saw Tuoba Jian winking at him, he realized that Tuoba Jian came to Wuchuan Town without telling the outside world, and immediately hugged his fists to Zong Ai and Tuoba Ke Xiling and said: "The angel is coming, and the last general will wait for the disappointment, forgive the sins!" ”

Tuoba Ke Xiling jumped off his horse and said with a smile: "General Zhao and General Hua are polite!" ”

Zong Ai jumped off the horse and said with a smile: "Our family hasn't been here for a year, and a big city has risen here on the ground, so it's not lively, and it's unique outside this plug!" Hey, General Hua is much more beautiful than before, and his complexion is fairer, I don't know what kind of rouge gouache General Hua uses? ”

Hua Mulan was surprised: "Oh, Zhong Cao Jian also has a lot of research on rouge gouache? ”

Tuoba Ke Xiling coughed: "Ahem, if Zhong Cao Jian wants to discuss the matter of rouge gouache with General Hua, let's talk about it later, it's important to get down to business!" ”

Zhao Junsheng hurriedly turned sideways and said, "Please come into the lobby of the mansion to serve tea!" ”

The group then walked into the town guard mansion under the guidance of Zhao Junsheng and Hua Mulan, and bypassed the shadow wall to the lobby.

The entourage generals were all left outside, and only Tuoba Jian, Zong Ai, and Tuoba Ke Xiling followed Zhao Junsheng and Hua Mulan into the lobby.

Waiting for the little official to serve tea, Zhao Junsheng drove out all the idle people in the lobby, and then visited Tuoba Jian wearing ordinary armor with Mulan.

"Your Majesty!"

Tuoba Jian raised his hand and said: "The two Aiqing don't have to be polite, I came here this time, I don't want the people to get the news, let alone the Rouran people to get the news, so the two Aiqing remember to keep it secret, and pay more attention to their words and behaviors on weekdays!" ”

"Obey orders!"

Tuoba Jian asked everyone to kneel on both sides, and said to Zhao Junsheng and Hua Mulan: "The main reason I came this time is to see the defense of the three towns in Northern Xinjiang, the state of soldiers and horses, and the armament and military reserves. Start with Wuchuan Town, then go to Huaishuo Town and Woye Town. Before I inspected, I wanted to know about the situation in Wuchuan Town, Zhao Qing is the town general, you can tell me about it! ”

"Yes!" Zhao Junsheng promised, "According to the regulations of the imperial court, the supply of garrison ordnance and military salaries, Wuchuan Town currently only retains 2,000 cavalry and 1,000 infantry, these 3,000 men and horses were recruited a year ago, have completed the drill, can fight independently, the former baggage battalion has been disbanded due to insufficient military salaries, but most of them are still living around Wuchuan Town, if the war needs, as long as the military salary is paid, they can be re-recruited!" ”

"Unless the weather conditions do not allow, the garrison is currently a daily drill, the grain and grass supplied by the imperial court and the grain and grass harvested by our garrison itself in the tuntian, as well as the commercial tax collected by the border trade exchanges, can currently supply 5,000 men and horses, but the ordnance is greatly lost during the exercise, and the imperial court is often not supplied in time. Therefore, the minister asked for permission from the imperial court to let Wuchuan Town set up a armor forging workshop to repair the damaged weapons and armor to relieve the pressure of insufficient ordnance! ”

Speaking of this, Zhao Junsheng walked to a map hanging on the wall next to him and pointed to the location of a few circles on the map and said to Tuoba Jian: "Your Majesty, please see, in order to strengthen the defense of the Rouran people, the minister plans to build forts here, here, and here in the near future, and the three key road locations here, and when the fort is completed, soldiers and horses will be sent to garrison, with infantry to guard the fort, and cavalry to patrol the fort, each fort will send a garrison master, two deputy generals, and the subordinate soldiers will range from 300 to 500 people, and the status of the garrison lord is equivalent to Taishou!" As long as the fort is built, the situation that the Rouran people wanted to go south with three or five hundred men and horses to fight the grass valley and easily plunder a large number of people and livestock will be gone forever, and there are no three or five thousand people, with their siege ability, they will not want to take a fort! Just ······"

Tuoba Jian looked very happy when he heard this, and said loudly: "Zhao Qing's idea is very good, but what? ”

"It's just that if you want to do this, you have to increase the number of troops, you must increase all the troops in Wuchuan Town to five thousand, and the trade tax can only supply so many people, and it can't be handed over to the imperial court!"

Tuoba Jian thought about it for a while and agreed to Zhao Junsheng's suggestion: "Yes, I agreed, increase the strength of Wuchuan Town to 5,000 people, and all the commercial taxes collected by Wuchuan Town will be used for military expenditures, and there is no need to hand it over to the imperial court!" As for the armor casting workshop, I've got it! ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty! If Your Majesty has no other arrangements in the future, the minister will call the shots, please ask Your Majesty and the accompanying officials and generals to rest for a day, and tomorrow morning, the minister will order the soldiers and horses to be assembled in the military camp outside the city, and then please ask Your Majesty to go over and review the training status of the soldiers! ”

After running on horseback for many days, Tuoba Jian was also a little tired both mentally and physically, and promised: "It's okay, I'll rest for a day today, and then go to the barracks tomorrow to inspect, I don't know where Zhao Qing plans to place me?" ”

Zhao Junsheng replied: "There is a post house built in the city, which is convenient for arranging guards, and the accompanying soldiers can also be placed together, and it can also allow Your Majesty to hide his identity, and there is a special person in charge of food and accommodation!" ”

"Okay, that's it!"

Under the guidance of Zhao Junsheng and Hua Mulan, Tuoba Jian and his party were placed in the post house in the city, which has not been built since it was built, and the post soldiers and post chiefs here are also dutiful and clean, Tuoba Jian is very satisfied with this.

Tuoba Jian had a dinner in the inn, he was very satisfied with the taste of the food, and wanted to ask the cook to make it again, but his stomach was too full, so he had to give up.

"Your Majesty, during the day, the minister saw people coming and going in this Wuchuan City, and there was an endless stream of merchants and caravans, and it was very lively. In the opinion of the ministers, the commercial tax here is definitely more than enough to support 5,000 people! Tuoba Ke Xiling sent the tea to the table in front of Tuoba Jian.

Tuoba Jian put down the dishes and chopsticks, took the teacup and blew it, took a sip, looked up and asked, "Ke Xiling, do you like money?" ”

Tuoba Ke Xiling didn't dare to deceive the emperor, and said with an embarrassed smile: "Your Majesty said that you are laughing, who in this world doesn't like money?" Three-year-old children know that they can only buy rock sugar gourds with money! ”

Tuoba Jian smiled: "That's right, you like money, can Zhao Junsheng not like it?" Everyone in this world has advantages and disadvantages, and there is nothing wrong with liking money. Do you think your father, King Toyama, likes money? ”

“······” Tuoba Ke Xiling was dumb at this time, and he remembered another minister in the court, and said: "As far as the minister knows, the Duke of Ruyin does not love money, he has been an official for decades, and the title has been promoted to the duke, and now he is still serving as a court lieutenant, and their house is still a dilapidated small house, and his son took advantage of the fact that he went out to fight and knocked down the house and built it magnificently, and when he came back, he immediately found someone to push the house again, and then built a broken shed to live in."

Tuoba Jian also heard about this, and he smiled and said, "He really doesn't love money, but he loves fame!" This person has a little bit of a preference, as long as it doesn't hurt his temperament, as long as he doesn't have no moderation, there is no big problem. What's wrong with Zhao Junsheng liking money? Not every day there is a battle to fight, if there is no war, there will be no capture, there will be no income, and he also needs money to reward his soldiers and generals on weekdays, how to control his soldiers and generals without making some money? How to appease them? I'm not afraid that he loves money, as long as he guards this Wuchuan town for me to prevent the Rouran people from going south to invade the Seinai, he asks for money, I give money, and I give it to the people I want, if I let the Rouran people enter the Sei, I will lose even more! ”

Tuoba Ke Xiling bowed down and hugged his fists and said: "The minister has been taught!" ”

Early the next morning, Zhao Junsheng assembled soldiers and horses in the military camp outside the city, and when Tuoba Jian and others arrived, the generals were ready.

The soldiers in this barracks were indeed recruited a year ago, and the soldiers and horses of the baggage battalion had all been disbanded and retired in the past, some of the disabled were rewarded with some land and property for them to live, some of them were arranged by him to work in the official yamen, and some of the young elite men and horses of about 3,000 people were incorporated into the caravan by him as escorts, all of which were raised by him, which was a large expense, so he was short of money.

After Tuoba Jian rushed to the barracks with Zong Ai, Tuoba Ke Xiling and others, Zhao Junsheng ordered the infantry and cavalry to drill separately, the infantry practiced formations and killing skills, and the cavalry practiced cavalry archery and several basic cavalry tactics.

Tuoba Jian was very satisfied, although these generals had only been recruited for a year, they were not much worse than the Chinese soldiers.

In the past two years, Zhao Junsheng has set up a number of border posts within the jurisdiction of Wuchuan Town, especially near the edge of the desert.

After hearing this, Tuoba Jian proposed to go to these posts to inspect, and Zhao Junsheng was worried about encountering the Rouran cavalry, so he brought 300 cavalry to escort him.

When he returned from the border post, he was satisfied with what he had seen on this patrol.

Two days later, Zhao Junsheng and Hua Mulan sent Tuoba Jian and his party away, and he sent Gao Xiu with 500 cavalry to escort Tuoba Jian to Huaishuo Town.

After watching Tuoba Jian and his party go away, Hua Mulan asked: "Brother Junsheng, I always feel that the emperor's purpose of coming to inspect the border pass this time is unusual, is he suspicious of us border generals?" ”

Zhao Junsheng didn't think that Tuoba Jian had this leisure now, he shook his head and said: "It shouldn't be, the emperor's ass is not hot on the throne yet, he won't be suspicious of the general of the border town casually, I suspect that the emperor's micro-service patrol should have another purpose, maybe it has something to do with the south!" ”

"South?" Hua Mulan was puzzled, she seemed to think of something: "Brother Junsheng, are you saying that the emperor plans to send troops to counterattack Henan?" The purpose of his micro-service patrol this time is to ensure that there will be no problems with the northern defense line during the expedition? ”

Zhao Junsheng nodded: "It should be so, I think the timing of the imperial court to send troops to Henan should be chosen this winter, because the Yellow River is easy to freeze in winter, once the Yellow River is frozen, a large-scale cavalry can drive straight down to Henan!" ”

"Brother Junsheng, did you say that the emperor would recruit us to participate in the battle to the south?"

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