Although Yuan Guizheng thinks very highly of himself, he was born in a clan and is a hereditary marquis, except for planning behind the scenes for the Liang family and the empress dowager, he has never had the opportunity to openly take charge of military politics. This time, Liang Chengchong trusted him and took charge of Xinyang's political affairs, and Yuan Guizheng cherished this opportunity very much.

Over the years, Yuan has not stopped returning to politics, not so much because he is ambitious, but because he is unwilling to let his ambitions not be realized.

There is food, iron, mules and horses, armor, ordnance, bows and arrows, recruiting elected officials, building roads, building cities, and building houses, everything can be done, and Nanyang soldiers and horses are no longer lost dogs. More importantly, a steady stream of materials was transported from Huaidong, and the hearts of the military and civilians gradually settled down and were no longer panicked.

In addition to Liang Xi's younger brother Liang Xianren who led his troops to defend Xinye City in the south of Nanyang in order to prepare for the Changle bandits on the Xiangfan side, Liang Chengchong personally led the main elite to garrison Fangcheng.

Fangcheng is located at the eastern foot of Funiu Mountain, west of the north ridge of Tongbai Mountain, Fangcheng Pass in the north of Fangcheng, is the first gateway of the Central Plains into Jinghu Lake, and is also one of the famous nine passes of the Central Plains.

To defend Nanyang, Fangcheng must defend Fangcheng, and Fangcheng Pass is not even more than 300 miles away from Ruzhou, where Chen Zhihu led his troops to station, which can be described as-for-tat.

In addition to the 20,000 soldiers and horses who were mostly brave and brave in Yizhou, there were also refugees who moved south with the army from Jining, Caozhou and other places, about 100,000 people.

Nearly 100,000 people who moved westward had to rely on relief to survive the famine year for a long time. Huaidong recruited people to soothe difficulties, and arranged workers and camps; There is also a kind of school in Huaixi, and Yuan Guizheng is naturally highly recommended by Liang Chengchong to learn this experience in Nanyang.

On the one hand, it will increase the supply of military resources, and on the other hand, organize Ding Zhuang of the displaced people as a reserve soldier to increase the military strength of Nanyang, so that when the enemy army is surrounded, he can help defend the fortress, and he can more thoroughly grasp the situation in Nanyang, and there is no need to worry about the rebellion of the displaced people.

In addition to the soldiers and civilians who moved westward, the local clan forces in Nanyang were destroyed, but there were quite a lot of displaced people or bandits or cowards, and Yuan Guizheng was also incorporated into Nanyang this time. In this way, in addition to the 20,000 soldiers and horses, Nanyang also organized 30,000 soldiers, distributed in Fangcheng, Nanyang, Yiyang, Xinye and other cities.

Even if the time is a little later, under the auspices of Yuan Guizheng, a larger-scale reclamation of land and cultivation will start after entering May.

Nanyang is in ruins, and there is no opportunity to return to politics, so naturally there is no time to run before and after in person, and is responsible for the westward transportation of Huaidong materials. This matter was taken over by Yuan Jinsheng, and Chen Xiaoyan ran along the Huai River and in the Baitong Mountains to ensure that the water and land transportation was smooth and smooth at any time - here in Nanyang, no one else has dealt with Huaidong much, Yuan Guizheng and Yuan Jinsheng father and son Although they have been entangled with Huaidong over the years, the status of his father and son in Nanyang at this time is irreplaceable by others.

The waterway transportation is fast, although it is a long way from Shanyang to Zhengyang, but Huaidong has mobilized 80 thousand-stone cargo ships for the transportation of these materials, and the transportation of goods can reach 80,000 stones, grain, grass, iron, etc. These materials were unloaded in Huaiyuan, Zhengyang County, and the mule and horse team of more than 1,000 people wanted to transport these materials to Yiyang, and they had to go at least seven or eight times in Tongbai Mountain, but fortunately, the Tongbai Valley Road was short, only one-sixth or seventh-of the waterway.

It was agreed that the materials that were shipped to Nanyang would be deducted by Huaixi as the capital of the guard, and they would also be delivered in Zhengyang County, and it was also convenient for the materials to be counted and transferred - Dong Yuan In order to restrict Xiao Kuian, the materials in Xinyang were taken over, and Cai Yi, the prefect of Xinyang, was responsible.

In April and May, Xinyang levied a total of nearly 30,000 stone of rice and grain, more than 10,000 catties of iron, mules and horses, ordnance, arrows, and armor. The sufficiency of materials made it impossible for the Huaixi military commander to put any additional supplies into Xinyang in the past two months, and such a good day could last until after the autumn.

As the prefect of Xinyang, Cai Yi rode on a big green horse, looking at the dense sail mast on the water surface of the Huai River, thinking that he had not seen so many boats on the Huai River for many years.

From the Huaisi rebellion in the ninth year of Chongguan, the merchant ships above the middle reaches of the Huai River are extinct, and there are occasional boats, which are also small military ships that venture into Huai to fish or wander Kou, and galleons with a load of thousands of stones, even before the nine years of Chongguan, are rare.

"I heard that Huaidong built a large sea ship that can carry 20,000 stones of rice grain, but I don't know what the situation is like in front of me?" Meng Zhi, who was wearing armor, rode a horse beside Meng Yi, and longed for the big sea ship in Huaidong. In his early years, he was running around, and he saw the big warehouse ship on the Yangtze River that transported rice from the east of Sichuan to the east, with a load of about 5,000 stones, and such a big ship was already amazing, but he didn't expect that the ship in Huaidong would be several times larger. /

"It sounds good that Huaixi supplies Xinyang/materials, and at the end of the day, it is still scraped from the heads of Huaidong and Nanyang," Jiang Bao, the magistrate of Zhengyang County and the defense of Zhengyang, said with some subtlety, "Now Liang Chengchong is like a lost dog, he will pinch his nose and recognize everything, but when he gains a firm foothold in Nanyang, will he pinch his nose and eat this loss?" ”

It is also the Xinyang clan, most of the Zhengyang Township soldiers are *** clan soldiers, they have suffered enough over the years, Dong Yuan's foundation in Huaixi is not thick, Jiang Bao will inevitably look down on him, especially in the future, with Nanyang Zhengzheng, Zhengyang will bear the brunt, no wonder Jiang Bao complained at this time.

"Don't say more about this kind ......of thing, even if there is a problem in the future, it will be Huaixi who will take care of it," Cai Yi said in a deep voice, complaining too much, and when it reaches Dong Yuan's ears, it will be suspicious. Xinyang is bordered by Yanlu in the north and Liukou in the south, the situation is extremely grim, and without the support of Huaixi at the moment, these big clans do not dare to go down the mountain at all. Jiang Bao's meaning, Cai Yi also understood in his heart, Huaixi scraped two percent of the flesh from Huaidong's supplies to support Nanyang, in addition to some falling into the well and increasing resentment, it also seemed that Huaixi was too small, indicating that Huaixi's situation was not very optimistic. Jiang Bao wanted to send people directly to Huaidong to rescue, maybe the Xinyang clan could be like Liang Chengchong in Nanyang, and he didn't have to look at Huaixi's face in everything, but the power of the Xinyang sect was too weak, how could it be seen in Huaidong's eyes? Even with Huaidong's support and a bad relationship with Dong Yuan, how could the five or six thousand township soldiers from the Xinyang clans gain a firm foothold in Xinyang?

"Chen Xiaoyan and Yuan Jinsheng are here......" Meng Zhixiang took two steps back and said.

Chen Xiaoyan represents Huaidong, Yuan Jinsheng is the son of the Marquis of Yongchang, and his status is not low, Cai Yi got off the horse, greeted him, and said: "The young marquis and Lord Chen have worked hard all the way......

"How can Lord Cai work day and night......" Chen Xiaoyan and Yuan Jinsheng replied, and Chen Xiaoyan asked Cai Yi again, "How many Xinyang medicinal materials have been prepared?" ”

Huaixi intercepted two percent of the materials to pass the tax, and the letter was transmitted to Xuzhou, and Lin Jian discussed with everyone, and he also recognized it for the time being. At least before the ice is thawed next year, Huaidong, Huaixi, and Nanyang must maintain a harmonious relationship, and they must guard against any loophole in the Huaidong defense line, so as not to disrupt the southern expedition after the autumn of Huaidong.

In addition, Lin Jian asked Chen Xiaoyan to purchase medicinal materials in Xinyang, so as to set aside Dong Yuan and Liu Tingzhou and have direct contact with the Xinyang clan.

Huaidong grain and iron and other materials can be applied, but the medicinal materials are in short supply, especially after the luxury soldiers and horses enter Jiangxi, Huaidong's medicinal materials are missing a source. Although there are medicinal resources on Yizhou Island that can be developed, the types of medicinal materials in Yizhou are somewhat different from those in the Central Plains, and it takes a long time to fully develop them, and they cannot be achieved overnight.

At present, you can buy some from Nanyang and Xinyang first.

Tongbai Mountain and Huai Mountain stretch for nearly 2,000 miles, which is the most important drug-producing area in the Central Plains, with sufficient medicinal resources, and is probably the most important material that Nanyang and Xinyang can take out at this time to exchange with the outside world; Cai's and *** were all big medicinal herb merchants in Xinyang, and in the old days, there were thousands of medicine people who lived by collecting medicines near Tongbai Mountain.

It's just that Huaixi was slaughtered by the flow of disasters, and the trade routes were completely cut off for several years, and there are not many medicinal materials stored in the docks and cities. However, experienced medicine people basically still control the hands of Cai, Jiang and other clans, so they can only purchase medicinal materials from Xinyang at the moment. There are no skilled medicine people in Nanyang, so it is difficult to produce much.

In mid-April, after the Huaidong ship docked in Zhengyang, Xinyang organized people to go into the relatively safe Tongbai Mountain to pick medicinal herbs for processing, and only then did they reserve the next batch.

Dong Yuan couldn't stop Xinyang's clan from trading medicinal materials with Huaidong, Tuntian was not something that could be effective for a while, Xinyang could exchange medicinal materials with Huaidong for grain and iron, and it could also relieve the pressure of two or three points. Dong Yuan's attempt to block it will only arouse the disgust of the Xinyang clan and directly push the local forces of Xinyang into Huaidong's arms, but the Xinyang clan has more contacts with Huaidong, which is also a very unstable factor.

Anyway, Dong Yuan can't manage so much at present, unless Weiyang's merchant ships can carry grain and iron to Xinyang to exchange medicinal materials, in order to weaken Huaidong's influence and penetration into Xinyang, but in terms of requisition price, they can't fight Huaidong, and Weiyang's medicinal material merchants are simply willing to rush to Xinyang.

Dong Yuan can't even collect taxes from the trade of medicinal herbs like scraping Nanyang meat.

Over the years, even the Xinyang clan, which has a dock to defend, has had an extremely difficult life, and the savings accumulated for many years have almost been exhausted. It is not easy to re-cultivate the land that has been abandoned for many years, and the farm tools are also used to refine into poor knives and guns, and there is a great shortage of iron. It was not easy to see Huaidong open up trade routes, so naturally he couldn't sell medicinal materials to Huaidong for grain and iron cloth because he was afraid of Dong Yuan's thoughts.

Hearing Chen Xiaoyan's concern about medicinal materials, Cai Yi replied: "The list listed by Huaidong, Xinyang will let people go into the mountains to prepare, the festival is not timely, and the preparation is also in a hurry, each with hundreds of catties to thousands of catties, a total of more than 300 stones, and there will be a little more next month......"

"The more medicinal materials the better, and thank Lord Cai for solving Huaidong's urgent need." Chen Xiaoyan said.

Cai Yi smiled bitterly, no matter how much Huaidong urgently needs medicinal materials, it is far less than Xinyang's desire for grain and iron, fortunately, Huaidong did not make any additional requirements outside of the medicinal materials trade, otherwise it would be really difficult to explain in front of Dong Yuan.

In terms of the price of medicinal materials, Huaidong will naturally not be harsh, and will also exchange for the price of grain and medicine before the war. Of course, the total amount will also be controlled, but the monthly input of nearly 10,000 stone of rice grain and tens of thousands of catties of iron can make the life of the local forces in Xinyang much better than before.

Xinyang's crops are mainly wheat, with an average yield of less than one stone per mu, and the monthly input of 10,000 stone of rice grain is almost equivalent to reclamation of more than 100,000 mu of land, which can barely feed 30,000 or 40,000 adult Ding Zhuang.

The remaining people in Xinyang are only about 100,000.

Cai Yi also knew that Dong Yuan was the most taboo in Huaidong, but as far as the transaction of medicinal materials was concerned, Xinyang officials and local clans were also saying more and more good things about Huaidong, and this situation could not be controlled if they wanted to.