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Receiving the news that Wuchang was attacked by Ma Yongzhen, Zuo Liangyu was shocked and angry, and at the same time knew that he had no way to retreat, so he had to break the cauldron and storm Xiangyang. After three days of onslaught by his 70,000-strong army, regardless of casualties, the weak city of Xiangyang was finally broken by him.

Immediately afterwards, Zuo Liangyu was like a chicken blood, and first sent his general Lu Guangzu to meet Meng Changgeng, the general of the Dashun Army who returned from Jingzhou, and broke it in one fell swoop.

Another general Li Guoying was sent to attack Zaoyang, Xu Ensheng was sent to attack Gucheng, and Zhang Yingxiang was sent to attack Suizhou and Jieke.

Zuo Liangyu himself led Chang Deng, Xu Yong, Zhang Yingyuan, Xu Yuxian and other generals to the north of Xinye to meet Zheng Siwei, Zheng Siwei mobilized the defenders of Nanyang and other places, a total of more than 40,000 people and Zuo Liangyu fought in Xinye for three days, and it was difficult to distinguish the winner from defeat.

At this time, there was a civil strife in Nanyang, and Lu Teng, one of the hundred households in the Nanyang defenders who had surrendered to the Dashun army, connected with Wan Youcheng, the landlord and gentry in the city, and others, took advantage of the emptiness in the city to suddenly attack and overthrow the Dashun military regime in Nanyang in one fell swoop.

Zheng Siwei's back was on fire, the army was in turmoil, Zuo Liangyu took the opportunity to launch a fierce attack, defeated Zheng Siwei, beheaded more than 5,000 levels, and seized a large number of weapons and materials.

At this time, Li Zicheng was still busy sweeping Shaanxi, and Henan was out of reach for a while, Zuo Liangyu took the opportunity to expand the army and capture Shiyan, Ruzhou, Yichuan and other prefectures and counties, and the landlord armies everywhere also responded one after another, Zuo Liangyu's voice was shocked, claiming to have 300,000 troops, and the troops were approaching Luoyang.

In Jiangxi, after Meng Ke successfully occupied Jiujiang, he expanded the army by 10,000 people, 7,000 army and 3,000 naval divisions, increasing the water and land army of Jiujiang to 30,000 people. At the same time, the stolen boats were used to train sailors in Poyang Lake.

Qin Mu was worried that Zuo Liangyu would turn back to attack Wuchang and Jingzhou, so he hurriedly dispatched grain and grass weapons, ordered Ma Yongzhen and Ling Zhan to reorganize their armies, and he also went to Yuezhou to train sailors and supervise the construction of warships.

On the other hand, the Jianghan Plain north of Yuezhou has just been recovered, and the local administrative structure needs to be rebuilt, and the refugees who have no means of living due to the war need relief. All kinds of people's livelihood governance need to be started immediately, so Qin Mu can only leave Changsha and go to Yuezhou to sit down.

Before going to Yuezhou, Qin Mu held a meeting in the governor's yamen chamber.

Zhuge Min said happily: "When Zhang Xianzhong went south to Huguang in August, the autumn grain in various places had been planted, and during the occupation of Huguang by the rebels, although the field management was affected a lot, the harvest of autumn grain was reduced by at least 30 percent, but judging from the statistics of various states and counties, Huguang was still able to be self-sufficient in grain this year. Now General Ling and General Ma captured Wuchang and Jingzhou respectively. The 800-mile Dongting Lake and the Jianghan Plain have been under control, and the surrounding areas of Dongting Lake and the Jianghan Plain are the land of abundant fish and rice. If nothing else, Huguang will usher in a bumper year in the coming year, and the food strategy proposed by the adults will be guaranteed. ”

Since Qin Mu put forward the food strategy, it has been continuously improved by Zhuge Min and others. The grain strategy is no longer something that stays on paper, but has been implemented clearly and in a step-by-step manner, and one of the important steps in implementing this strategy is to use work-for-work relief to build water conservancy.

Qin Mu glanced at the more than ten subordinate officials sitting there. frowned and said: "A strong army should naturally be put in the first place, but the food strategy is also very important, as the saying goes, there is food in your hands." Don't panic. Only when food is guaranteed can we stabilize the morale of the army and the people, and this winter we will use work for relief to overhaul water conservancy. Be sure to do a good job. In this way, Mr. Zhuge doesn't have to go to Yuezhou with the official, you can bring someone to coordinate the construction of water conservancy, He Tengjiao is still working hard at the moment, but after all, he can't reassure the official. ”

Zhuge Min mentioned this matter, with the original intention of asking Qin Mu to increase his management efforts, and among the three staff, Zhuge Min's military strategy was slightly inferior to Li Yuan and He Liang, but he was slightly stronger than Li Yuan and Li Yuan in governing people's livelihood. Qin Mu entrusted this matter to him, just so that he could give full play to his strengths, so he agreed with one mouthful.

Qin Mu continued: "In addition, the Jianghan area has just been recovered, the state and county structure has been built, and in terms of people's livelihood governance, it is far from enough to rely on the remote control and command of this official in Yuezhou, so Mr. Lao Li rushed to the Jianghan area and took full responsibility for relevant matters." ”

"Thank you for your trust, and I will go all out to stabilize Jianghan as soon as possible."

Qin Mu nodded and said: "Mr. He, let's go to Nanchang, now that Jiujiang has been won, if the supply side is transferred from Huguang, the loss on the road alone will be incalculable, and Nanchang needs to cooperate." And Nanchang just ignores the waves, it is not a way, it is to unify the past, after Mr. He passed, it is necessary to calculate both soft and hard, how to do it, you go to Nanchang and then depending on the situation, I only have one request, let Nanchang transition smoothly, rather progress slowly, can not make waves again, we expand too fast, so now we must focus on stability, can no longer toss. The scale of this period will be grasped by Mr. He himself after he arrives in Nanchang. ”

"Yes, sir."

"You and the other masters have placed high hopes on the officials, and here the officials should warn you and others, remember not to be jealous of the virtuous and jealous, to form gangs, and to exclude dissidents. It is necessary to pay attention to excavating and promoting talented people who have real ability and real learning, so that all aspects can be restored as soon as possible. When Qin Mu said this, he paused slightly, and then said leisurely, "Since ancient times, the most important thing is to be open-minded and strong, he may not be a thousand miles, but he must have the vision of Bole; What he needs is not a blockbuster, but a high-rise position; Don't rush for quick success, but have the patience to accumulate sand into a tower, okay, the official won't say much, just wait for yourself to figure it out. ”

Zhuge Min and the others really need to ponder, think through Qin Mu's words, several people look at each other, and they all know in their hearts that Qin Mu is definitely not just warning them.

Qin Mu should have given them a question, this is a big test to test who has the ability to be a good person, they need to give full play to their abilities in this big test, and Qin Mu also pointed out what kind of talent he needs, not amazing, but to be able to coordinate the overall situation and focus on the long-term talent;

Then this needs them to ponder, acting too dazzling, maybe not necessarily a good thing, but the task handed over must be completed well, and there must be continuity, to put it bluntly, you can't just focus on the task assigned by Qin Mu, it's like chess, you can't take one step at a time, you must take into account the coherence and feasibility of the following steps.

For everyone, this big test is undoubtedly crucial, and whoever fails the test will lose the best opportunity to advance to the "phase". Therefore, several people responded awe-inspiringly, as if walking on thin ice, as if facing the abyss.

After Qin Mu made some other arrangements for Shao Hua, Liu Boquan and others, he took Yang Shen and his personal guards, and then Luo Yingzhang, the ambassador of the Ministry of Engineering who was specifically responsible for shipbuilding affairs, to Yuezhou by boat.

Qin Mu went to Yuezhou this time, mainly to supervise the construction of warships and train sailors, not to fight, he promised to take Qiao'er back to his hometown to worship her mother, this time he just took her with him, since he brought the little girl, he naturally took Yang Zhi with him, and Yang Zhi insisted on pulling Dong Xiaowan on board and went to Yuezhou with the ship.

Sima An sent Yang Zhi to Changsha last time, and although the letter did not say it explicitly, Qin Mu could also figure out what he meant. He reminded Qin Mu that at this point, it is time not to patronize military and political affairs, but to take care of the heirs.

It was Yang Shen who also reminded Qin Mu and asked him to pay attention to the matter of his heirs.

In this era, the prince is regarded as the foundation of the country, and without the prince, the country is unstable and the country loses its continuity. Qin Mu has come to this point, and he has become a hegemon, but he has no relatives and no reason, and he is still a "lonely person".

The subordinates who are willing to follow him naturally hope that he will have children as soon as possible, so that the "career" that everyone is engaged in can have continuity.

Qin Mu himself also understands this truth, so that bringing Yang Zhi on the ground is not only to avoid the problem of favoring one over the other, but really hopes that Yang Zhi can give birth to a noble son as soon as possible to stabilize the "national capital".

Yang Zhi brought Dong Xiaowan together, maybe there are also considerations in this regard. She originally felt sorry for Qin Mu, and now she has been in Changsha for some time, but her stomach has not moved, and she can't help but think more in her heart, she pulls Dong Xiaowan, and she may not have any hope of improving the probability of continuing the incense for the Qin family.

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PS: Happy New Year! Happy New Year! Happy New Year!.

(To be continued......)