With a pop, a puff of fire and pungent smoke erupted from the pit.

It worked!

Although Liu Qiming knew the result, he was still very excited, waving his hands and laughing loudly.

Just waiting for the raw materials to arrive, why worry about the injustice of the world with this sharp weapon?

Zhang Jiao, what else can you do to compete with Lao Tzu!

Liu Qi, who was in a happy mood, hummed the newly learned local tune out of the tent, patted the two guards who were ordered to guard outside the tent cordially, paced in all directions and walked leisurely, the two guards happily exchanged glances, today the general is happy It seems that there is wine and meat to eat!

Liu Qi's good mood did not last long, and the three post guards arrived almost at the same time that night, and the news came one by one made Liu Qi unhappy.

First of all, the news of presiding over government affairs in Nanchang, the purchase and replenishment of all kinds of military funds can no longer keep up with the speed of army expansion, and the grain, grass and ordnance that have just been replenished from Jiangzhou are about to bottom out again, especially the shortage of grain is the most important, although when he first arrived in Chaisang, he bought a batch of grain from Jiangxia, but now it is winter, and there is still more than half a year before the next wheat harvest, and no one can sell his family funds to others, not to mention that Jingzhou is still in a state of war.

The grain can't all be taken out and supplied openly, there is always some to accumulate for emergency, Liu Qi has just settled down and it is impossible to make an idea from the local clan in Yuzhang, otherwise the intensified contradictions will outweigh the losses, Luling and Jiaozhou in the south are full of uninhabited areas and Baiyue and other Yi people's territories, even if someone is willing to sell grain, no one dares to transport it to Yuzhang, and the traffic situation is extremely bad, if the troops are sent to transport, the food is not enough for the soldiers to eat, Liu Qi has no intention of dealing with them at all, This is also one of the reasons why Xiahou suggested not to rush to take down Linru, with Linru Heng in the middle, Liu Qi can avoid a lot of trouble.

There is only one county left in Huiji, and the main forces of Huiji County will not offend the powerful Liu Qi because of Liu Qi, who they don't know, so Liu Hong proposed to suspend the conscription, and disbanded some of the county soldiers to return home, which can not only alleviate the military food crisis, but also appease the county clans a little, which is an expedient measure to recruit those soldiers back when the grain and grass are sufficient in the future, and then it can be repeated in the future, so that the local clans can easily accept Liu Qi's conscription system.

Liu Qi had no idea but agreed, Liu Qi naturally understood the truth that soldiers are good and not many, but the strong sense of crisis made Liu Qi reluctant to give up even one soldier!

Reluctant to return, Liu Qi had no way to conjure up food, only to endure the pain and temporarily give up a quarter of the troops, seize the time and make a good relationship with Liu Biao, and ask Liu Biao to be the former general Jingzhou pastor, and sent an envoy to Xiangyang with rare gifts to pay a visit, but Liu Qi threw an olive branch Liu Biao was unmoved, a thin wine and a sentence of busy military affairs after a detailed discussion in the future, the envoy never saw Liu Biao's face.

Liu Biao didn't seem to be interested in things outside of Jingzhou, thinking about Liu Biao's actions in history, Liu Qi had to temporarily give up the idea of getting more help from Jingzhou.

The other two news came back from Shouchun, two months ago Liu Qi just settled down and immediately sent someone to Runan to inquire about Zhang Jiao and Sun Ce's news, after the encounter in Wuxian, Zhang Jiao really returned to Shouchun, but for some reason Zhang Jiao actually went back to Yuan Shao in Yecheng, Liu Qi wanted to quickly solve Liu Jiao and find a way to surround Shouchun to capture Zhang Jiao, this wishful thinking is a failure, if Zhang Jiao has not returned to Shouchun, will he want to fight to Jizhou?

Liu Qi couldn't help but feel a little frustrated, this is the feeling that he is powerless when he occupies half of Yuzhang County, and in terms of strength alone, even Liu Xuan, who didn't pay attention to it before, can swallow his scum in one bite!

Finally, Liu Qi has always been extremely concerned about the news of Sun Ce and Zhou Yu, this time Yuan Shu and Liu Miao teamed up against Liu Biao, and Sun Ce, who had a grudge against Huang Zu for killing his father, led all the way to be the vanguard.

Liu Qi himself was a little skeptical about the original idea, in history, Yuan Shu and Liu Xuan did not have such a good relationship as now, Sun Ce was able to get out of his own way because Yuan Shu wanted to conscript Liu Xuan, but now, even if he can contact Sun Ce to persuade him to vote, can Yuan Shu let Sun Ce go, once Yuan Shu is provoked to unite with Liu Xuan's army to suppress the border, his own people are not enough to stuff their teeth!

And Zhou Yu is still unemployed in Shu County, can he take the risk of dragging a family of hundreds of people to join him?

Every family has a scripture that is difficult to read, and it was only after Liu Qi became a family that he really realized the difficulty of running such a large family business.

The distraught Liu Qi walked out of the big tent and walked to the lake, and stood in the cold wind for a long time before gradually calming down.

The initiative of these three things is in the hands of others, the last two things can be slowed down, first send people to collect more news, but the problem of food is burning eyebrows, Liu Qi hurriedly asked Gan Ning to leave a few letters to send to Zhao Zhen and Su Fei, Jiangzhou is too far away, and it is inconvenient to act, so it can only alleviate the problem of food shortage but cannot cure it completely, and in the short term, he can only turn to Su Fei to help solve it secretly.

As for how to attract displaced people to reclaim wasteland or collect and buy from the big clans in various counties, Liu Hong will do it properly in nature, Liu Qi doesn't have to worry about it and has no interest in it, Yu Zhang, including Jiangdong, is just a springboard, he doesn't plan to stay here for a long time, and now the only thought is to occupy a base and train an invincible elite soldier with peace of mind, and when Zhang Jiao returns to Shouchun, he will kill him in Shouchun City and capture it!

The world is unpredictable, and the problem of food shortage that makes Liu Qi sleepless and unsafe has been miraculously solved, and the people who helped him are even more incredible!

After more than ten days of uneasiness waiting for Su Fei's reply, an uninvited guest came to the naval army camp, with five short figures, sharp-beaked monkey gills, two mustaches, and a pair of mouse eyes, and it was Wei Bin, the county lieutenant of Tongxian County!

After seeing the ceremony, Liu Qiqi said: "Why did the county lieutenant Wei come all the way to see me?" ”

Wei Bin looked a lot haggard, and the arrogance of the past was gone, and he replied respectfully: "Returning to the general, since the general rescued him to Quren, he has been following Liu Changshi in the next place, and the county lieutenant of Natong County has long abandoned him, and he is willing to follow the general to do a little less." ”

"This ......, Wei County Lieutenant, with all due respect, Captain Gan is now a general canonized by my lord Liu Yizhou personally, and the public is also an official, you should know that you can't abolish the public for personal reasons, and now I am on the order of my lord to raise troops to fight against thieves, it is the time to employ people, I hope that the public will temporarily put aside personal grievances with my lord's great cause first, what is the public will?"

Liu Qi didn't know what to say for a while, no need to ask, Wei Bin must have never forgotten to find Gan Ning to avenge the killing of his father, no matter why Wei Bin's father was killed by Gan Ning back then, Liu Qi would definitely not allow such a hidden danger to threaten Gan Ning's safety, thinking about how to send Wei Bin back, and comforted him perfunctorily.

Wei Bin sighed slightly and said, "Is the general afraid of assassinating this thief in secret?" If the eldest husband takes revenge and hatred, he is upright and upright, if he does this dirty villain, even if he kills the enemy, he will not be ashamed to face the spirit of his father in the sky, please do not doubt it. ”

Liu Qi is really not afraid that Wei Bin has the idea of assassinating Gan Ning, as long as he pays more attention to Wei Bin, he is still afraid that he will turn the sky upside down on his own territory, with Gan Ning's strong more than a dozen people can't even touch his side, even if he is not in the army, Gan Ning is always guarded by a team of personal soldiers, what will Wei Bin do to assassinate Gan Ning?

Liu Qi asked puzzledly: "In that case, why does Gong insist on staying in our army?" ”

Wei Bin replied word by word: "I know that I am not the opponent of this thief, and it is difficult to take revenge on this thief in person, so I came to make a deal with the general." ”

What are you kidding, do you think I look like a man who is short of money?

Wei Bin's words almost amused Liu Qi, and his patience has reached the limit, this Wei Bin is really persistent, the power of hatred is really too great, let's send him back to Yizhou quickly, who knows when he loses his mind and does something crazy, it will not only threaten Gan Ning but also the whole army.

Wei Bin obviously came prepared, and said first: "Please rest assured, the general knows that he is not the opponent of the thief, and he has no intention of hitting the stone with an egg. ”

"This ......, I would like to hear it in detail."

Liu Qi smiled slightly, swallowed back the words of refusal, and listened to what Wei Bin said first, maybe he could give himself some inspiration.

Wei Bin said solemnly: "This thief is brave and strong, frivolous and resolute, and sooner or later he will die in the chaos of the army. ”

Ahh

Liu Qi immediately pulled his face down, saying this kind of thing to the soldiers is undoubtedly the most vicious curse, no different from scolding the ancestors of the eight generations, in addition, the ancients attached great importance to the corpse, and the ancients believed that the soul could not rest if it could not be buried completely, so it was also a very heavy curse to die without a complete corpse.

If someone scolds Liu Qi like this, he doesn't care about himself, but Liu Qi regards Gan Ning as his best friend, how can he let people curse like this, Liu Qi shouted: "Shut up!" The generals of our army are in order to repay the Son of Heaven, uphold the law of the country, abandon their families and businesses to fight abroad, and have meritorious service in the community, but you eat the court but do not know that state affairs are greater than family affairs? If it weren't for your filial piety, this general would have punished you now, hum, come on, and blast this madman out of the camp! ”

The two guards at the door of the tent had already glared at Wei Bin angrily, and when they heard Liu Qi's order, they immediately rushed up and grabbed Wei Bin's arm and dragged him out of the tent.

Oh, you should first hear what ideas he has to solve the problem of food shortage before turning his face, Liu Qi patted his forehead with remorse.

Liu Qizheng couldn't help but regret it, and suddenly heard a noise outside the tent from far and near, it was Wei Bin's voice, why did this guy come back again?

It was Gan Ning who was the first to walk into the tent, Liu Qi looked at Wei Bin, who was still driving behind Gan Ning's feet off the ground, and was puzzled: "Why did Xingba bring this person back?" ”