After returning from the inspection of Dali City, Shi Du Ruhui, the governor of the Governor's Office, and Huangfu Xu, a staff member, immediately found Yang Yuanqing and brought him an important piece of information.

"Chief, I just received news that the imperial court has stopped all our material allocations, and has also forbidden caravans to come to Fengzhou to trade."

In the room, Du Ruhui reported the progress of the situation to Yang Yuanqing, since the garrison of Fengzhou, it has always relied on the imperial court to allocate money and grain, and now the imperial court has interrupted the distribution of money and grain and private trade, which is undoubtedly the beginning of severe sanctions against Fengzhou.

Yang Yuanqing walked a few steps with his hands behind his back, and asked, "What impact does Du Changshi think this move will have on Fengzhou?" ”

Du Ruhui was in charge of the government affairs of Wuyuan County, and he knew the economic situation of Wuyuan County very well, he thought about it and said: "In fact, since the beginning of the seventh year of the Great Cause, our grain can be self-sufficient, which is also the main purpose of the original immigration to develop the Hetao, so that the army can be self-sufficient in food, after all, it is inconvenient to transport grain over long distances, and every household has hemp fields, and cloth can also be self-sufficient, although it does not produce silk, but I think the impact is not great, the key is salt, tea and pig iron, these three things embargo has a great impact on us." ”

At this time, the emperor next to him said: "Actually, salt is not a problem, beyond the Ulan Desert to the west of us, about five hundred miles away, there is a salt pond, called Qinglan Salt Pond, where the salt reserves are abundant, which can fully meet our needs, but tea and pig iron are indeed a big problem." ”

Yang Yuanqing thinks more about the problem of pig iron, if there is no tea, they will not drink tea, they are not grassland Hu people, they can't do without tea, but pig iron is a strategic material, the army's weapons and armor all need pig iron, the war consumes a lot of pig iron, their current surplus equipment is only 40,000 sets of armor brought back from Liaodong, if they want to expand the army, they can't do it.

At present, in addition to the regular army, there are 200,000 militia groups in Fengzhou, these 200,000 militia groups only have 80,000 ordinary weapons, and there is no armor, according to Yang Yuanqing's idea, it is best to arm all 200,000 people, and the regular army, there is a complete set of armor, which can not only defend against the Turks, but also become his capital to compete for the world.

He pondered for a long time, and then asked, "What about the craftsman?" Do we have enough blacksmiths and armorers? This is also something that Yang Yuanqing is extremely concerned about, there are no weaponsmiths in the Fengzhou army, and all the equipment is uniformly configured by the imperial court.

Du Ruhui and Huangfu glanced at each other, they had not been in contact with local government affairs for several years, and they did not know much about this aspect.

"You may need to ask Cui Juncheng about this."

Yang Yuanqing immediately ordered a personal soldier, "Go and invite Cui Juncheng, and also call Zhang Sima." ”

Zhang Sima is Sima Zhang Ting of the Governor's Mansion, who has followed Yang Yuanqing for many years, is more than thirty years old, shrewd and capable, and is one of Yang Yuanqing's henchmen.

Yang Yuanqing told them about the situation, in fact, Cui Junsu already knew about the imperial court embargo, he smiled and said: "General don't worry about craftsmen, the population of Wuyuan County is all moved from the mainland, there are at least thousands of blacksmiths and armor craftsmen in it, and there are also many archers who have escaped from Mayi County and Loufu County, those two places are famous for making bows and crossbows, if the general manager is interested, I can arrange for them to be gathered." ”

Du Ruhui also smiled: "There is an ordnance supervisor in the imperial court, why don't we also set up an ordnance department and concentrate the craftsmen in Jiuyuan County to live, what does the chief think?" ”

The so-called three stinkers, race Zhuge Liang, everyone brainstormed, you say a word to me, gradually, many plans have been considered, Yang Yuanqing felt very relieved in his heart, and smiled at Du Ruhui and Cui Junsu: "These plans are troublesome for the two of you to sort out and formulate, and introduce them as soon as possible." ”

Du Ruhui and Cui Junsu nodded in agreement, and at this time, Zhang Tingdao, who had been silent, said: "Boss, maybe the pig iron problem can be solved." ”

Yang Yuanqing was overjoyed and hurriedly said, "Please speak!" ”

Zhang Ting smiled and said: "I am a native of Yanchuan County, about fifty miles west of the county, there is a mountain range, more than ten miles long, because the mountain is reddish-brown, the official name is Chiling, the locals call it Red Iron Mountain, rich in iron ore and copper ore, the quality is excellent, the imperial court set up a mine supervisor there, there are thousands of prisoners there all the year round to mine ore, sent to Lingwu County to smelt iron and copper. ”

When Zhang Ting said this, Yang Yuanqing suddenly remembered, last time He Liujia reported to him, Bai Yusa and Liu Jialun, two bandits and two bandits were fighting fiercely in this area, could it be that they were fighting for this iron mine?

Zhang Ting seemed to understand Yang Yuanqing's thoughts, so he smiled and said, "The last time the two bandits fought fiercely in Yanchuan County, it was to fight for this iron mine, and they also needed to build weapons. ”

Yang Yuanqing frowned slightly, speaking of which, this mine should now be occupied by Liu Jialun, Yang Yuanqing walked a few steps behind his back, although the mine was not too far from them, but it was south of the Great Wall, and his cavalry could not rush through.

At this time, Du Ruhui said slowly: "Chief, if you want to get this iron mine, you must first take Yanchuan County." ”

……

The Wuyuan County controlled by Yang Yuanqing does not only refer to the Hetao area, in fact, the vast area south of the Hetao is also under the jurisdiction of Wuyuan County, but most of it is desert and barren beach, and there is also a part of the grassland in the south of the desert, where a small number of Xiongnu, Xianbei, Qian, Di, Qiang and other Jihu ethnic groups and farming Han people live, and then to the south is Lingwu County, Yanchuan County and Shuofang County, and to the east is Yulin County.

Due to the erosion of wind and sand, the natural conditions in this area are harsh, the land is barren, and the population is not large, most of them are Han and Hu mixed people.

Liu Jialun is the Huns, he led the Jihu rebellion, with Yan'an County as the center, active in Diaoyin County, Shuofang County, Yanchuan County and the southern part of Yulin County and the northern part of Honghua County, with 100,000 people, mainly Jihu, he called himself the Son of Heaven, Jianyuan Dashi, completely became the emperor of this area.

Of course, this area is still the territory of the Sui Dynasty, and the government still exists, but the Sui Dynasty controls the city, and outside the city is the world of Liu Jia's theory.

What Liu Jialun has always been eyeing is the rich Hetao area, where there is a large population and sufficient food, but he is afraid of the Fengzhou army and does not dare to go north into Wuyuan County.

And although Yang Yuanqing did not consider occupying the Guannei, but Liu Jialun was a big threat to him, after controlling Wuyuan County, his eyes naturally turned to the south, the side of the couch, how could he allow others to snore, he would sooner or later eradicate Liu Jialun's tumor.

Although he does not directly occupy Yanchuan County, Diaoyin County, Shuofang County and Yulin County, these areas must become his sphere of influence.

The jurisdiction of Yanchuan County is very small, there is only one county seat within the jurisdiction, the same is also the county government, the county seat is also called Wuyuan County, it is a small county seat, there are more than 1,000 households with a population, across the Great Wall, it is actually a part of the Great Wall, it is an important pass that enters the pass from outside the Guan, there are more than 2,000 garrisons for a long time, and it is managed by the Taishou.

Due to the rampant bandit Liu Jialun, the Han people living in Yanchuan County fled to the county seat for refuge, making the county town extremely crowded, the small county town was crowded with more than 10,000 people, fortunately, the county city wall was tall, Liu Jialun could not attack it several times, and the iron mine that Yang Yuanqing urgently needed was fifty miles west of this county seat.

Yanchuan County's Taishou is named Zhou Yuan, Guanzhong Jingzhao people, born in the army, about forty years old, he has served as a Taishou in Yanchuan County for ten years, his wife is a fellow Han countryman, in addition he married a girl as a concubine from the Xiongnu, Xianbei, Xia, Di, Qiang five Jihu, life is good, he originally planned to do another ten years, but at this time the trouble of banditry, so that his head is as big as a fight, he does not want to do it for a day.

Taishou Zhou Yuan's biggest headache at this time was the lack of food in the city, and he gave more than 10,000 people rations every day, and it could only last for half a month at most.

In fact, Zhou Yuan also knew that there was another way to survive, that is, to ask Wuyuan County for help, with the strength of Fengzhou, he could completely save him, but Yang Yuanqing ....... he was really afraid that the imperial court would punish him.

Zhou Yuan paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back, he was depressed and at a loss, at this time, an attendant reported outside the door, "Taishou, Zhao County's order is here, saying that there is something urgent to see!" ”

Now the county order and the Taishou are in the same city, and the functions of the two are duplicated, but the Taishou is in charge of big things, and the county order is in charge of small things, Zhou Yuan is most afraid that Zhao County will find him, either something happens here, or there is a problem, a bunch of tricky things.

But he couldn't see it, Zhou Yuan had to sigh, "Let him come in!" ”

After a while, Zhao Xianling walked in, followed by a person, dressed in black and wrapped in a turban, this is the costume of the Jihu people, Zhou Yuan felt that he was a little familiar, stared at it for a long time, and suddenly recognized, "You are...... Zhang Sima? ”

Fengzhou Governor's Mansion Sima Zhang Ting, Zhou Yuan was stunned for a moment, Zhang Ting is a native of Yanchuan County, was the Cangcao Xu official of Yanchuan County, participated in the public election examination held in Fengzhou in the first year of Daye, won the second place in the examination, and served as the Cheng of Dali County, Zhou Taishou knew him.

Zhang Ting bowed down and said with a smile: "Zhou Taishou, I haven't seen you for many years." ”

Zhou Yuan's heart suddenly ignited a glimmer of hope, he didn't dare to ask Yang Yuanqing for help, but he hoped that Yang Yuanqing could help him.

"Sima, please take a seat!"

Zhou Yuan hurriedly asked him to sit down, and Zhao Xianling also sat down, he and Zhang Ting are fellow villagers, they grew up together since childhood, and they have an excellent relationship.

Zhang Ting sat down and said unhurriedly: "Not long ago, a group of Liu Jialun's bandits ran to Wuyuan to loot, a village was destroyed by them, more than 50 people were killed, and thousands of cattle and sheep were robbed. ”

"Borrow?"

A wry smile swelled on Zhou Yuan's face, it stands to reason that cross-border bandits need the approval of the Ministry of War, but is this useful to Yang Yuanqing?

He didn't dare to refuse, and said after a deep sigh: "The Great Wall in this area is built in the wind and sand area, and the wind and sand have eroded for many years, and many sections have collapsed, and there is no danger to defend. ”

Zhou Yuan's implication was that the Fengzhou cavalry could cross the Great Wall from many places, and there was no need to go to the county seat.

Zhao County Ling hurriedly said on the side: "Taishou, Chief Yang said that not only to borrow the way, but also to provide us with 20,000 stone of grain assistance." ”

Hearing that there was food, Zhou Yuan showed a complicated expression on his face, food! Now it is their lifeline, how can he refuse, he asked cautiously: "Must it be through the Tao to give food?" ”

Zhang Ting nodded unequivocally, "This is a must." ”

"Okay!"

Zhou Yuan's heart was crossed, and he finally agreed, who told the court to ignore his request for help, "We will make a decision." ”

……