"I want to hear about it!" Zhang Xuan said with a smile.

Du Ruhui looked at a group of prisoners of war who walked not far away, and said to Zhang Xuan in a low voice: "Your Highness can buy some people among the prisoners of war miners to be eyes and ears, once someone tries to incite the miners to make trouble, we can know it immediately, and then ruthlessly suppress the leader." ”

Zhang Xuan nodded, this method is good, if Du Fuwei escapes, then it is very likely that he will come back and continue to rebel, and it is indeed a good precaution to plant eyes and ears among the miners.

"You just said that there are two strategies, but what is the other one?"

"There is also a strategy is to let the family monitor, Du Fuwei may be popular with the people at the bottom, but not necessarily popular with the family, Wechen thinks, in fact, the family knows everything, in the past, it was just because Du Fuwei had a strong army, the family had to endure humiliation and silence, but now it is different, if Du Fuwei makes a comeback, it will inevitably seriously infringe on the interests of the family, Wechen believes that the families around Jianghuai are more willing to nip Du Fuwei in the bud, the court governs the county and the gentry govern the township, it has been like this for thousands of years, Wechen implored His Highness to remember this. ”

Zhang Xuan did not speak, he did not agree with the statement that the gentry were in charge of the township, the consequence of this was that the small family controlled the township, and the big family controlled the county, which was also one of the roots of the fall of the Sui Dynasty, and it was necessary for the imperial court to firmly control the county to break this situation, but at present, Zhang Xuan did not think of any good plan.

Seeing that Zhang Xuan was silent, Du Fuwei immediately added: "At least in troubled times, His Royal Highness should rely on the family. ”

Zhang Xuan groaned and said, "You may have some truth in what you said, let me think about it again!" ”

At this time, a general urged the horse to gallop and whispered a few words to Zhang Xuan, Zhang Xuan laughed, and said to Du Ruhui: "Say Cao Cao, Cao Cao has arrived, the head of the Huang family is here, let's go and see each other!" ”

In the Sui army camp outside the city, Huang You, the head of the Huang family, accompanied by his grandson Zhao Wenzhu, waited for Zhang Xuan's reception in the guest tent, Lu Wenzhu was appointed as Hefei County Cheng, the ninth year of the great cause, about 30 years old this year, his father is the former Huainan Taishou Lu Di, and it is also a famous family in the Jianghuai area, their ancestor is Lu Ji in the Three Kingdoms era, their house moved from Wu County to Lujiang County more than 200 years ago, and took root here.

Although Lu Wenzhu accompanied his grandfather, he was actually very nervous, after all, after Du Fuwei occupied Hefei City, their government also worked for Du Fuwei, organized the people for him, and repaired the city.

Huang You felt that his grandson was a little restless, so he smiled and said, "Don't worry! King Qi is a sensible person, you are doing things for Du Fuwei in order to protect the people, he will not care about you, besides, now is the time to employ people, and there will be no change in the entire Jianghuai officialdom. ”

Grandfather's words made Lu Wenzhu's heart a little more stable, and at this moment, there was a sound of footsteps outside, and a guard shouted loudly: "Handsome is here!" ”

Lu Wenzhu hurriedly helped his grandfather to stand up, at this time, the curtain was lifted, Zhang Xuan and Du Ruhui walked into the big tent quickly, Zhang Xuan smiled and said, "Why did the old master come from Liyang County?" ”

"Hey! I am ashamed in my heart, and I have come to ask His Highness for my sin! ”

Huang You trembled and wanted to kneel, but Zhang Xuan hurriedly supported him, "No need! Need not! Please be seated. ”

Zhang Xuan asked Huang You to sit down, and at this time, Du Ruhui introduced Zhang Xuan: "This is Hefei Lu County Cheng, and he is also the grandson of the old head of the Huang family. ”

Lu Wenzhu hurriedly bowed and saluted, "Weichen see His Royal Highness King Qi!" ”

Zhang Xuan nodded, he had also heard a little, this Lu Wenzhu is the second son of the Lu family in Lujiang, in order to fight against the Jiangnan Shi clan, the Jianghuai Shi clan is very united, and the families of the county are very united, and they marry from generation to generation, one is prosperous, and the other is lost, and it is normal for the son of the Lu family to marry the daughter of the Huang family.

"Lu County Cheng is exempt, let's sit down together!"

Zhang Xuan was quite polite and asked Lu Wenzhu to sit down as well, he and Du Ruhui sat opposite each other, and said with a smile: "How did the old master Huang come over?" ”

"Back to Your Highness, I came by boat, and I can go directly to Chaohu Lake by taking Baiyu Water, and then enter Xishui to reach Hefei."

"Is there a river flowing through Chaohu Lake in Liyang County?"

"Of course! There are many small rivers that flow into Chaohu Lake, but there is more than a big river in Zha Shui, Bai Yushui can not be found on the map, a very small river, but a cargo ship that can exercise 300 stones, not the locals really don't know. ”

Zhang Xuan thought in his heart, Du Fuwei has been in Jianghuai for many years, and he must have known about these large and small rivers, could it be that he scattered and hid the boats, just to use these rivers to sneak attack the naval camp?

Huang You sighed, "Regarding the matter of the Huang family's warehouse, in fact, we also know that the warehouse was forcibly occupied by Du Fuwei, frankly speaking, I didn't dare to tell His Highness directly, I was afraid that Du Fuwei would retaliate, but I did want to find an opportunity to hint to His Highness, but the Sui army took the lead and took the warehouse away, so we lost the opportunity to confess, so I came to ask His Highness for guilt!" ”

"There is no need to apologize, no one will think that the Huang family will press the future on Du Fuwei, I said many years ago, bandits are rampant, in order to protect themselves or protect the people, many families or governments have to cooperate with the bandits, I will not pursue this situation, in fact, this situation is very common in Hebei, almost every family is not immune, and every government cannot escape, but I have never pursued anyone."

Huang You said gratefully: "Thank you Your Highness for your understanding, the Huang family has no future, and they will not put their future and fate on Du Fuwei." ”

Lu Wenzhu next to him also breathed a long sigh of relief, and His Royal Highness King Qi didn't say anything to him.

Zhang Xuan said again: "Now that Du Fuwei's army has been wiped out, then the iron ore mining in Liyang County should also continue, including the mines of the government and the mines of various families!" That's the most pressing thing at the moment. ”

Huang You's face was embarrassed, and he said for a while: "In the past two years, due to Du Fuwei's forced conscription, the mine has basically stopped production, and all the pig iron stocks have been robbed by him, I'm afraid it won't recover so quickly, can Your Highness give us a month?" ”

"What is the current state of the government's mines?" Jang Hyun asked with concern.

This is also something that Zhang Xuan is very concerned about, taking Jianghuai will not only expand the source of food, but more importantly, they will get a steady supply of pig iron, which can maintain the consumption of 300,000 troops and armor, which is an extremely important strategic resource.

Zhang Xuan had considered opening a mine in Liaodong before, but it would take at least three years from the completion of the mine to the production and the final production of raw iron, and if you want to get a supply of more than one million catties of pig iron every year, it will take eight to ten years to slowly accumulate, Zhang Xuan can't wait for such a long time, and a large number of immigrants are required, and the cost is too high, so Zhang Xuan and the important ministers finally decided to make full use of Jianghuai's existing production capacity to mine and smelt pig iron on a large scale.

At this time, Zhang Xuan suddenly became a little worried, if Du Fuwei completely destroyed the mine, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Huang You felt Zhang Xuan's worry and said with a smile: "Your Highness doesn't have to worry, the mines of the government are the same as ours, they are just suspended and have not been destroyed, as long as the labor force is sufficient, mining and smelting can be resumed immediately." ”

Zhang Xuan breathed a sigh of relief, he glanced at Du Ruhui, Du Ruhui understood, and said with a smile: "As for the labor force, the old family master, please rest assured, this time to destroy Du Fuwei, we have 80,000 prisoners of war in our hands, and we are ready to put all of them into the mine, of course, including the Huang family's mine, and there will be officials and the Huang family for specific affairs." ”

Huang You was overjoyed, the main income of the Huang family is mining, if there is sufficient labor, then mining will be worry-free, he hurriedly said: "Thank you Your Highness for your care, we will go all out to resume mining as soon as possible." ”

Zhang Xuan pondered for a while and said: "I just received news from the cavalry, although we annihilated most of Du Fuwei's remnant soldiers, but Du Fuwei escaped, I am a little worried that Du Fuwei will make a comeback. ”

Huang You's eyes also showed a sad look, "Isn't Your Highness going to garrison troops in Jianghuai?" ”

"Of course there will be troops, if Du Fuwei is leading the army to come, we will not hesitate to annihilate him, the terrible thing is that Du Fuwei infiltrated the Jianghuai and secretly recruited soldiers among the farmers, I'm afraid my army will not know."

Speaking of this, Zhang Xuan glanced at Huang You meaningfully, Huang You immediately understood what Zhang Xuan meant, and he said without hesitation: "Maintaining the peace and stability of Jianghuai is not only a matter of the army, but also the responsibility of all Jianghuai families. ”

Zhang Xuan smiled slightly, "With the words of the old master, Jianghuai has no worries!" (To be continued.) )