"The horse actually crossed the river in person!"

In the afternoon of the second day of the ship's trip north, Shen Zhezi and his entourage met Du He, who came to greet him. After seeing Shen Zhezi in the fleet, Du He was also surprised, and then looked at Xiao Yuandong who accompanied him with some dissatisfaction: "This situation has not yet been calmed, Yuandong, you don't know, why don't you persuade the horse?" ”

Xiao Yuandong hung his head and was silent, although Du He was his superior at the moment, but in the early years, he practiced and fought under Shen Zhezi, and he accumulated great power, how could he dare to try his best to persuade and stop the horse.

Shen Zhezi got off the boat and said with a smile: "I'm not one of those idle children in the capital who don't know about military affairs, and crossing the river once in a while is not a big deal. Besides, Daohui, you have worked hard in this township, and you have worked tirelessly, so I should come and see you. ”

After hearing this, Du He couldn't help but be a little sluggish, and only then did he realize that in terms of martial feats, the horse was far superior to him. If there is any danger that makes the horse unable to move forward, then he will naturally be in vain.

In fact, although Yuzhou has collapsed at present, and Jiangbei has no danger to defend, it is not possible to encounter enemy attacks at any time. Especially at present, the internal situation of the Qiannu is not stable, and there is no sign of wanton use of troops in Yuzhou, even some of the Qianhu elite cavalry are concentrated in Shouchun, Hefei and other important towns, and there is no large-scale operation across the river.

But seeing Shen Zhezi's arrival, Du He was still inevitably a little anxious, on the one hand, Jiangbei was indeed not as stable as Jiangdong, if something happened to him, he would be to blame. On the other hand, he has been crossing the river for more than half a year, but he has never made any major achievements, which makes him a little embarrassed and cramped when facing his benefactor.

"Thanks to the use of the horses, the river has been crossed for more than half a year, there is no size to fight for the land, there is no two or three battles to kill the honor, I am really ashamed!"

Duch stepped forward and bowed, and said with no lack of shame.

Shen Zhezi stepped forward to help him up, and said with a smile: "When my grandfather crossed the river, he didn't create a meritorious career in an instant, and the erosion of Jiangbei was not overnight, and it was difficult to clean up the situation from scratch." There are many constraints, and if you want to hurry, you can't reach it. Daohui doesn't need to blame himself, as long as his fighting spirit is undiminished and he keeps his original intention, there will always be a time to shock China! ”

As he spoke, he looked at Duch. Compared with when he was in Jiangdong, Du He's appearance has changed a lot, his face is slightly dark and thin, his short beard under his jaw is like a hedgehog thorn, light armor and old clothes, he looks like an old pawn from Rong, and the whole person looks tough and resolute, which shows that he has also been deeply tempered in the past six months.

This time, Du He arrived with more than two hundred knights, and although the armor and blades were not very neat, they exuded a rough and iron-blooded aura. Their mounts and horses are not uniform, they are tall and short and their coat colors are different, and their coat colors are mostly dull, but they are vigorous, far stronger than those fat and lazy horses in Jiangdong.

"Colt."

"Alang!"

A group of people stood behind, and when they saw Shen Zhezi coming, their expressions were full of surprise. The composition of these people is very complicated, there are both the original guards and the soldiers of the Yuzhou army, but the main body is still the family soldiers trained by Shen Zhezi in Qu'a in the early years. After living in a guest house for a long time, it is conceivable that these people can see the old lord in a foreign land.

"Thank you for your hard work! The rise and fall of the rise and fall is not enough to celebrate. The husband's fame will be taken immediately, and General Du will be used in the future, and there will be a time to get it! ”

Shen Zhezi strode forward, his eyes wandering around these people, and he was very satisfied with their mental state. He didn't care too much about Du He's contributions, the most important thing was to hone a group of soldiers who could be used for him, and these people were the chassis for him to gallop in Jiangbei and compete for the Central Plains in the future.

The group exchanged greetings, and then they went their own way, either by ox carts or on rafts, to unload all kinds of baggage transported by the trip, and transfer them back to the camp.

There were a lot of materials transported this time, including more than 30,000 pieces of grain, a lot of consumables such as salt and cloth, and a batch of weapons such as bows, knives, armor and arrows. The more than 200 people brought by Du He, plus the more than 500 people brought by Shen Zhezi with the team, were still busy for several hours before they completed the transfer of these materials.

Seeing such a material subsidy, Duhe was not lacking in joy on the one hand, but also a little ashamed on the other hand. Taking advantage of the fact that the soldiers were busy, he led Shen Zhezi, Guo Yu and others to the camp first, and introduced the current situation along the way.

"At the moment, Tuzhong is relatively stable, and small infestations are inevitable, but there is no major war. At present, our unit is mainly stationed near Nantang, cultivating and guarding it, and by the way, we have swept away some bandits who are wandering around the left. Although there was no major war, there were also some gains, nearly 1,000 beheaded, and more than 2,000 people surrendered and captured......"

Because there are no major movements, Duch's introduction is inevitably a little trivial.

Hearing Du He's introduction, Shen Zhezi also had a specific understanding of the situation in Zuo Jin.

The first line of Tuzhong can be said to be the first front line of Dajiang defense, with Hefei as the center, from the west is Lujiang, Yicheng, Jiangxia, to the east is Chaohu, Liyang, Tuzhong until Guangling. If this line is breached, then except for a large river, Koto will no longer be in danger.

The current situation is that because of Zuyo's rebellion and defection to the enemy, Hefei, which is the core link in this line, has been lost. This is not accurate, because since Dai Yuanbeizhen Hefei was recalled and then killed by Wang Dun, since Yu Liang came to power, Hefei has not been under the direct control of the imperial court, but has been jointly managed by the nearby homeless marshal and the dock lords.

Tuzhong, where Du He is now located, is the area that Yu Liang used to focus on in his early years, in order to guard against Zuyue, who was in Shouchun at that time. However, as the situation in Liyang became tense, Yu Liang gave up the arrangement in this area and transferred his troops back to Jiangdong to guard Gyeonggi. Some of Tuzhong's original strongholds were destroyed by the Yuzhou army that went south, and some were occupied by local displaced people.

After Duch crossed the river, he was faced with such a situation. There are more than 10 armed groups of displaced people active in the vicinity, large and small, some of which have settled down and built strongholds on dock walls, while others are still wandering around like bandits.

Therefore, after crossing the river, before he had time to familiarize himself with the situation, Du He had already begun to use troops to suppress or appease those displaced people, and he was busy until this spring, when he completely recovered the entire Nantang area. Now, within a radius of 100 miles, in addition to Du He's department, there are only three dock wall masters left, and they can be regarded as having a full range of armed forces.

"Therefore, although Zhongshu has long been operating in Nantang, but in fact, to be honest, it has had little effect, and what I saw when I arrived was still full of desolation."

The prancing horse climbed a high post, and Duch pointed to a reed pond and tidal flat in front of him with a horsewhip in his hand.

Nantang is not an official title, but a general term for a large area of tidal wetlands in the middle section of Tushui. Because of its proximity to Jiangdong, it was difficult for boats and horses to travel, and in the early years, when Cao Wei confronted China and Korea and Eastern Wu, it was a buffer zone for the two countries to fight. Because of the tension between the confrontations, a large number of households did not live here in the early years, but as an area around Hefei's Guantun.

Later, the Western Jin Dynasty destroyed Wu and moved thousands of families in Jiangdong here, but because the time was too short and the north soon fell into turmoil, many families who crossed the river in the early years fled back to Jiangdong. Therefore, this area is still not fully cultivated, the land is vast and sparsely populated, but with the southward flight of a large number of people from the Central Plains, some of them cannot cross the river and have to stay here.

Shen Zhezi looked in the direction that Du He pointed, and only saw dense reeds in his eyes, and he could hardly see the color of the earth. Only in the midst of these reeds occasionally or abruptly stand a few earthen forts or wooden arrow towers.

It's just that these buildings are seriously damaged, and the remaining traces can still see how clumsy the construction techniques are, and the site selection is also messy, unreasonable, and full of perfunctory taste, as if the practicality was not considered at all from the beginning. This made Shen Zhezi feel like he saw those unfinished projects in later generations because of policy reasons, ignoring the practical significance.

When Yu Liang vigorously developed Nantang, Shen Zhezi was in the capital, knowing that Yu Liang was bent on going his own way and pushing the crowd to promote this matter, and therefore invested a lot of manpower and material resources in Jiangbei, and his hopes were not small. But now it seems that this arrangement does not seem to have much practical significance, except for aggravating Zu Yue's suspicion and centrifugation.

If Yu Liang was still alive now, and even crossed the river to take a look in person, the defense line that he had high hopes for and invested a lot of resources in was built like this, I don't know how he would feel.

Whether the idea is brilliant or not, if it does not take into account the actual implementation force, it can be called a stupid government. Yu Liang may not be shallow, but his problem is that he is too proud of his eunuch journey, and he gained fame early, and because of his relatives, he has almost no experience in local affairs, so he is in the position of Taifu. There may be a high-level vision to look at problems, but it lacks a down-to-earth perspective.

The group walked through the path in the reed pond for about half an hour, and the vision gradually widened, and in the distance many relatively rudimentary buildings could be seen, and around these buildings was a large amount of land that had been reclaimed.

"Although Jiangdong has resources, it is not a long-term solution if it completely relies on the back-up. Since the beginning of the year, in addition to necessary drills and patrols, we have also been vigorously reclaiming the famine. So far, the reclamation has reached more than 500 hectares, although most of them are small yielding thin fields, but after a round of summer harvest, it has been able to meet part of the consumption. If there is no major war, after two years, it will be enough to support itself. ”

Speaking of this, Duch couldn't help but have a few smiles on his face. He operated in Jiangbei, although he did not have any major achievements, but while maintaining training and warfare, he could still have such a reclamation achievement, which was already good.

"It's really hard work."

Because he is well aware of the inconvenience of transportation conditions, Shen Zhezi also understands the importance of reclamation and solving material use on the spot. More than 500 hectares of land, although it is only rough farming, it cannot be said to be a small number, it can be said to be a good start.

There are pros and cons to operating across the river, and the advantage is that there are not too many constraints, and you can let go of your hands and feet. The disadvantage is that in this undefended place, there may be war at any time, and it is difficult to obtain a chance for long-term stable development. It is easy to say that it is easy to use farming to raise war, but there are still too many difficulties in implementing it.