In the autumn ripening season of Jiangning, the coastal areas of Jiangxi are also golden rice ears, waiting for a bumper harvest, but between the rice fields, the sparse barren beach and barren fields, like the bald spots on the head of the leprosy, are very dazzling.

The outer prefectures and counties of Jiangning and the plains along Poyang Lake ended the war at about the same time and began to resume production.

In addition to exempting them from punishment and taxes, Jiangning, Yijiang, and Huizhou prefectures and counties also invested more than 1.5 million taels of silver after the war to help the displaced people return to their hometowns, resume local production, and survive the famine in the form of work-for-relief funds.

The Privy Council also set up large mines in quarrying, Lishui, Liyang and other places, opened wide canals, opened mountains and roads, and absorbed a large amount of labor. More importantly, there was a large amount of rice and grain imported from Huaidong to help the flow of water to tide over the famine, and the import of a large number of iron tools, as well as the construction of river canals and embankments, also promoted the restoration of agriculture.

Therefore, after the beginning of summer, the overall situation in Jiangning stabilized, and after autumn, seeing the rice ears between the fields, like gold, made people look at the dawn of rejuvenation - the rapid recuperation and recuperation, so that the people of the world were dumbfounded.

Extravagant flying bears galloped up the Guanshan Ridge in Sili and looked at the mountains and fields in the lower reaches of the Xinjiang River.

From the west of Zhejiang to the west, there are two main passages: one is the Wujiang River, which goes west from Wuyuan; The first is the Xinjiang River, which advances westward from Xijiangshan County, Quzhou. Among them, the Wujiang road is dangerous, and there are many dangerous mountains along the way; The Xinjiang channel is relatively spacious, from the northwest of Zhejiang, there is Yushan River south, into the Xinjiang River, and the east of Quzhou, is the core area of the central valley of Zhejiang, is the main road from the west of Zhejiang to Jiangxi.

Shangrao, located in the upper reaches of the Xinjiang River, is the real gateway to eastern Jiangxi.

Between the Wujiang River and the Xinjiang River, and from the Wujiang River to the north to the south of the Yangtze River, Huaiyu Mountain, Yishan Mountain, and Jiuzishan Mountain are high valleys, constituting the natural barrier of Jiangxi and Jiangdong counties.

But no matter how dangerous the mountains are, there will be no big problems for the scouts to pass through the secret room.

The recovery of agriculture on the periphery of Jiangning is also well known to the extravagant flying bear.

I thought that the plundering of Jiangning City and the outer prefectures and counties would make it difficult for Huaidong to stabilize the situation at least in two or three years, and it would be difficult for a large-scale war to start again, but who would have thought that Huaidong would straighten out the situation in Jianghuai in less than a year?

Huaidong Qianzhuang borrowed 5 million taels of silver from the Jiangning Prefecture and the household department on two occasions, which was the key to the rapid stabilization of the situation in Jiangnan. Although the amount of gold and silver obtained by the luxury family plundering Jiangning is not a small amount, Jiangxi's materials are scarce, and Jiangning and other places can import a large amount of grain, salt, iron horses, etc. from Huaidong.

In the early years, Li Zhuo led the Eastern Fujian Army to fight fierce battles in northern Fujian and northern Fujian, and in order to support the war, Jiangxi's financial resources were almost exhausted. Then the luxury family raised troops and horses into Jiangxi, and the war ignited all parts of Jiangxi, and Jiangxi's materials were even more scarce.

After successfully capturing Jiangzhou at the beginning of the year, the luxury family can be regarded as a complete grasp of the Poyang Lake Plain.

However, with the retreat of the soldiers and horses of the luxury family to Jiangxi, in addition to resuming agricultural affairs, the luxury family is more urgent to stabilize the outer defense line and raise enough grain and grass to raise tens of thousands of soldiers and horses.

If we can't import grain and grass from outside, we can only compete with the people for food. For the war-torn Poyang Lake Plain, it is to double the exploitation and expropriation, rather than investing a large amount of materials for relief.

After the beginning of spring, there was a famine along the shores of Poyang Lake, and tens of thousands of people died of starvation, and the recovery of agriculture in the Poyang Lake Plain was very unsatisfactory. Chaos has arisen in various places, and for nearly a year, Flying Bear has also raised elite soldiers and horses to extinguish the chaos everywhere, and there is no day to rest. This time, he raised troops to the east and reinforced Shangrao, and he was also deeply tired, and he didn't know when he would be able to reverse the disadvantage.

The luxury family can't invest a lot of materials to help the place, but rely on the local self-recovery, this tone has to be relieved, to say the least, it will take four or five years, but Huaidong will not give them so much time. After the autumn, Huaidong organized a large number of materials, soldiers and horses to gather on the border of Zhejiang and Jiangxi, and the war drums gradually became dense and the beacon smoke gradually rose.

"Young marshal, the front army has passed Hengfeng, should we rush to Shangrao first?"

Several horsemen galloped down the mountain, and the captain led by strode up to the extravagant flying bear to report it.

"Don't be in such a hurry, the movement speed of the Huaidong Chongcheng Army is not so fast!" Fei Fei Xiong said.

Huaidong soldiers and horses should be concentrated in Jiangshan County in the west of Quzhou, and the most spacious passage is to take the Qianjiang River, from the Lanxi River, through Lanxi County around a large circle into Quzhou - although this route is tortuous, to go around a large circle, there are many waterways to borrow along the way, and the terrain is spacious. Take the Yushan River to directly enter Jiangshan County, and there is a dangerous mountain road from Wuyuan to the upper reaches of the Yushan River, which will limit the number and speed of Huaidong soldiers and horses passing through.

Both of these routes determined that the Huaidong soldiers and horses could not quickly concentrate on the front of Shangrao, and the battle really began, perhaps until mid-to-late November.

Rather than worrying about Shangrao's frontal breakthrough to Huaidong's soldiers and horses, Luxury Feixiong was more worried that the Shangrao war would last too long.

Standing on the Guanshan Ridge, you can overlook the Xinjiang River in the distance, the water is dry after autumn, the Xinjiang River is thin and narrow, shining with sparkling waves, as if embedded in the silver light belt between the mountains and fields.

The thin river is full of ships carrying supplies to the east to aid Shangrao, and a large number of people have been forcibly requisitioned, barefoot in the increasingly cold river beach wetlands, thick hemp ropes are deeply cut into the meat, pulling the dead grain boats up the river.

The post road on the north bank of the river is all eastbound soldiers and horses, and the scale armor reflects the warm sun after autumn, so that people can see the last majesty of the elite of Fujian.

Including the north to guard the Wujiang River, Baizhou Zhuzhai, the luxury family in the southeast of Poyang Lake, Shangrao as the center, deployed more than 50,000 troops, in order to guard the gateway of Jiangxi, keep Huaidong soldiers and horses out of Jiangxi, and protect the passage between southern Jiangxi and northern Fujian from Huaidong.

The 50,000 garrisons, plus the men, mules and horses requisitioned by the army, will consume as much as 50,000 or 60,000 stone of grain and grass per month, plus the expenses of building fortresses and building war equipment.

In addition, the pressure on Jiangzhou will not be weaker than that on the eastern front, and Hu Wenmu of Jinghu has successively transferred eastward and concentrated more than 40,000 soldiers and horses in Ezhou and other places; And Chizhou Yue Lengqiu is not a fuel-efficient lamp, and is leading 50,000 soldiers and horses to expand westward along the southern foot of Huai Mountain.

When the soldiers and horses of the luxury family were pinned down to the two lines of Shangrao and Jiangzhou, the control over the inner side of the Poyang Lake Plain and both sides of the Ganjiang River would inevitably weaken. The remnants of the Pan family have not been completely wiped out, and they hide in the deep mountains and old forests in the upper reaches of the Gan River, waiting to counterattack at any time. It is still difficult to guess what kind of thoughts are hidden in the hearts of those local forces who have succumbed on the surface. Once the garrison of the luxury family on the inner line is reduced, it is difficult to ensure that there is no change in them.

The Flying Bear felt as if it was on a ship with leaky walls, and for now we could only hope that the ship would last longer. As long as Beiyan defeated the Cao family and captured Guanshan, the situation on the Jiangxi side could be completely alleviated.

At that time, Nanyang and Huaixi were in danger, and Suizhou would surrender to Beiyan at any time, and the main force of Huaidong soldiers and horses could only be forced to go north to defend against Beiyan and ensure that the hinterland of Huaidong was not attacked by Northern Yan cavalry.

Extravagant Fei Xiong is not the kind of person who will pin his hopes on others, even if he expects Beiyan to attract the main force of Huaidong's soldiers and horses, they must first survive this wave of Huaidong's offensive.

Yu Fei Xiong thought wildly, stood on the top of Guanshan Ridge again, looked at the marching team, and then went off the rails with his horse to catch up with the front army, and before the Chinese army, he entered Shangrao first and arranged the death in battle.

*************

Huichang and Changting in the southeast of Ganzhou, are at the intersection of Wuyi Mountain and Nanling, the mountains and ravines are connected, the peaks are strange and dangerous, but there are also many cottages distributed between the mountains, there are walking traders, taking mules and horses instead of feet, walking between the mountains, making a small profit.

In the winter, a light rain fell from the sky, and a caravan of more than a dozen old and young men and six mules and horses rushed to Lifangliao at the northwest foot of Zhupo Mountain in Huichang County to seek shelter from the rain and sell all kinds of goods.

The villagers of Li Fangliao, regardless of the rain, gathered downstairs in the village to select suitable objects.

In the past few years, there has been a shortage of soldiers, and there have been no foot traders coming over for a long time, and even Li Houjun, the owner of Li Jialiao, has personally walked out of the big house to join in the fun.

Li Houjun is fifty years old, thin and narrow-faced, and is a rare scholar in the four towns and eight miles. Although he failed to pass the imperial examination, with the ancestral industry left by his ancestors, Li Houjun is also one of the few people in the four towns and eight miles.

The goods spread out on the lacquered cloth by the caravan included rouge gouache used by the eldest girl and the little daughter-in-law, and the oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, sharpening stone, knife and iron used in daily households. It's just that this business face is very good, and it is not the business trip that used to take this road.

Listening to the elderly vendors squatting in front of the stall selling goods to the villagers, Li Houjun lifted the placket of his robe, squatted in front of the stall, picked up a stack of porcelain bowls on lacquered cloth, and asked, "Listen to the accent, my brother's family lives in Longnan?" ”

"The lord is really the tip of his ears, the small one lives in the small col between Longnan and Dingnan, and walks around to make a living," the merchant smiled and wrinkled, pointing to the porcelain bowl in Li Houjun's hand, "The lord's ears are pointed, and his eyes are also sharp, this porcelain bowl is a good product from Yongshan kiln, and this batch of goods is expensive in this stack of bowls, and a stack is counted as eight taels of silver ...... you."

"Oh, bite your hand!" Li Houjun put down the porcelain bowl with a smile, and asked again, "Since the elder brother can come from Yongshan, then he should also know the situation in Jiangzhou. ”

"It's fast, it's fast, and if it's not small, you don't dare to come out and beg for a living." The vendor replied casually.

"Is there salt and iron?" Li Houjun asked.

"Isn't it all here?"

"Is there more?" Li Houjun asked.

"Heh, salt and iron are not good, the official family allows this, and if you do too much, it is a crime to kill your head," the merchant said quietly, "Besides, there is a shortage of salt everywhere in the mountains, what does the lord want iron?" ”

"The farm tools in the village have not been replaced for many years, and there is too much damage, which will affect next year's farming. Li Houjun stood up on his knees and said, "It's not easy for you to walk the world to make a living. Everyone who comes is a guest, and I will go to the house to have a good meal at noon, which is considered Li Jialiao to thank you for still thinking about this place......"

"Thank you, sir, for your appreciation......" more than a dozen old men thanked together.

********************

The villagers saw a lot, and there were few who could afford to buy things, and most of the people dispersed in a small half of the day, and Li Houjun really sent the housekeeper to come over again to invite these foot merchants into the house to eat, and to take over the rest of the goods.

It's just that this housekeeper has a strong body, calluses between his palms, thick knuckles, and he doesn't look like a housekeeper in a big family at all, and he has a knife pinned to his waist, more like a military general who fights on the battlefield; Several Orion-looking people were walking around.

Li Fangliao is originally a cottage, and it is not surprising that there are many hunters.

More than a dozen merchants calmly dined in the side courtyard, and they didn't dare to stare at the people who looked like hunters. Although it was some coarse tea and light rice, an extra piece of bacon was given, and everyone was thankful. The leader of the foot merchant was a middle-aged man, his face looked old, and he looked weather-beaten, so he must go to Li Houjun to thank him, so he followed the housekeeper to the main courtyard.

"The lord wants salt and iron, the small one doesn't have it in his hand now, and he only has a few talismans in his hand, if the lord doesn't dislike it, he will make a price," the leader said, "Go back to Huichang City, report the loss to the officialdom, and then buy a few knives at a big price to become a ......."

"The hoe pot needs to be mended, and iron is needed, what do I want your knife for?" Li Houjun became vigilant.

"When I passed Huangbai Mountain a few days ago, I heard the old man Chen Jiashu of Chen Jiawa say that the young prince of the domain was in the Zhupo Mountain, and I thought that you were buying salt and iron on behalf of the young prince of the domain!" The leader smiled harmlessly, as if to say something insignificant.

Li Houjun was so frightened that his hands and feet were cold, but the housekeeper beside him was steady, pulled out the saber on his waist, put it against the waist of the leader, and said in a low voice: "Who are you?" ”

"Chen Jiawa's people introduced us to this side to find the young prince of the domain, we put a thousand taels of silver in Ganzhou City and didn't take it, and drilled into this deep mountain and old forest, Captain Chen, who do you think it is?" The leader didn't care about the knife against his waist, and looked sideways at the butler and asked.