Chapter 401: Chen County before the Expedition
Chapter 401: Chen County before the Expedition (Additional chapter for the leader of the alliance, Sanhuai Hall Master)
When the fleet coming from the south arrived in Chenjun for a rest, they brought news from afar.
Wang Dun once again took to the battlefield and took charge of the war against Jiangzhou.
The governor of Jiangzhou, Hua Yi, was formerly an aide to Sima Yue. After becoming a local official, he was quite respectful to the court, never lacking in tributes and performing very well etiquette. He seemed to be an absolutely loyal minister, much more loyal than Quan Zhong.
However, the imperial court wanted to transport money and grain, so it finally acquiesced to Sima Rui's action against him.
Wang Dun was the commander-in-chief of the army, and Gan Zhuo, Zhou Fang, Ji Zhan and others were responsible for the specific implementation of tactics and attacked Jiangzhou directly.
Many counties surrendered to Jianye, and Hua Yi's influence declined greatly, and his defeat was not far away.
Shao Xun was inspecting the fields in Chen County when he received the news. He had one feeling: northerners had no foundation at all to serve as officials in the old territory of Eastern Wu, and the relationships among their officers and subordinates were complicated, and they could rebel at any time.
The scholars in Wu actually had a collective will, or consensus.
They were bound together by marriage, interests, and classmates. After the fall of Eastern Wu, they felt sorry for themselves, clung to each other, and had a pretty good cohesion.
No wonder Sima Rui did not use the old money from Wu, but instead tried every means to improve the status of the new nobles.
The mainstay of his army now is actually the new nobles and powerful people in Wu, plus some of the private soldiers of old money. Their combat effectiveness is not bad, and with the bonus of terrain and climate, they can fight.
After taking Jiangzhou, Sima Rui really became the sole ruler of Jiangdong. He took over Yang, Jiang, Xiang, Jiao, and Guang, all the old territories of Eastern Wu in the middle and early period.
Where is the next step, Jingzhou?
There had just been another rebellion in Jingling, Jingzhou, and Liang Fen sent his subordinate, Yang Dan, to lead an army to suppress the rebellion.
Yang Dan was a cruel and violent person. Before the battle, he sacrificed dozens of his own men who had violated military discipline as sacrifices to the flag, and defeated the enemy in one battle. He then entered the city and looted for several days.
This guy has his own way of fighting.
Strict military discipline, coupled with unbridled venting of emotion after victory, the so-called combination of kindness and severity, but both "kindness" and "severity" are too extreme.
If he continues to lead the army for a few more years, it will become a unit that can cause great trouble to the people but is also quite combat-effective.
Let Liang Fen worry about this matter, but I guess he may not care too much, as long as he can fight.
"This place was empty when we came here two years ago." A troop transport officer muttered in a low voice on the canal boat.
The others had nothing to do so they sat on the side of the boat, fishing boredly while staring at the shore with wide eyes.
It was not uncommon to see such flat land in other places. What was strange was that there were almost no large manors in this area. If one was seen occasionally, there would be a wooden sign outside that read "Xinxian Xyingying".
Moreover, those "manors" were not big, at least not comparable to the big manors in Yangzhou and Jiangzhou, and they did not seem to belong to any one family. People came in and out, some walking, some riding donkeys, some sitting in ox carts, and from time to time there were people buying and selling goods. It was more like a market.
"My dear young man, when there was a locust plague two years ago, I passed by Chen County, and there were no camps like these yet..." said a transport lieutenant, pointing to the camp made of adobe and big wood more than a hundred steps away.
The "young man" was trying to sell him vegetables. Hearing this, he replied, "That's the stockade of the First Battalion of Chen County. It was built last year. This year, seeing that there wasn't enough space, they built some more outwards."
"what is inside?"
"There are warehouses, armories, shrines, blacksmith shops and everything. Sometimes there is a market outside. The battalion commander and deputy commander live inside. If you have any questions, just go to them. Do you want to buy some freshly cut leeks?"
"I'll buy it when I catch some fish," said the lieutenant.
"You should have said you didn't want to buy it earlier." The young man got angry and turned away.
"Buy it! Buy it!" The lieutenant waved his hand, took out a few copper coins, stuffed them into the young man's hand, and asked, "Why are you still reading?"
"Last December, we took in a scholar who was almost starving to death. The battalion commander and several team leaders gathered some food and meat and asked him to teach people in the village to read and write."
“Is anyone learning?”
"There are always seven or eight naughty kids."
"Why learn it? Isn't it good to help the family herd sheep?"
The young man skillfully took out a few bunches of leeks and placed them on the deck of the boat, saying, "Before there was no way out, so it was useless to learn. Now there is a way out, so we can learn."
"how you said that?"
"When Lord Chen goes to war, he may recruit us at any time. If we make merit, even if we cannot become an official, we can still be a servant in the government office and receive 50 mu of land as salary. If we are lucky, we can even become a minor official in the county."
"Is there anyone willing to be a clerk?" the lieutenant asked in surprise.
Contrary to popular belief, being a county clerk was not necessarily an easy job at this time.
Because the clerks were directly facing the aristocratic families and powerful clans, there was really no room for them to show off their power. In history, some officials in the Northern and Southern Dynasties ordered the disbandment of county clerks, which was considered benevolent. Some counties even had more than 500 clerks. Except for a very small number of people who were well-off, most of them were extremely poor, on the verge of family ruin and death, and often fled.
That's why the lieutenant was so surprised. Is it possible that being a county official is a good job?
"Of course I would." After selling the leeks, the young man laughed and left.
The lieutenant wanted to ask more questions, but was only slapped on the back of his head, feeling helpless.
He didn't dare to act rashly on someone else's territory, otherwise he would have caught the guy and interrogated him to satisfy his curiosity.
But he did see some clues.
These people seemed to be neither soldiers nor farmhands. In other words, they were not attached to any fortress or manor, but were just self-sustaining people.
If you really look into it carefully, it is a bit similar to the story of Cao Mengde defeating the Yellow Turbans and then taking over their tribes and establishing farming in Xu.
But the world is changing, and the world has changed dramatically. How many of the people that Cao Mengde once settled near Xu Du are still able to support themselves?
It's only been a hundred years, and in the end, didn't everyone just become a soldier or a farmhand?
Although Mr. Chen is famous, can he resist the trend?
"Splash!" A fish struggled and jumped onto the deck. The lieutenant was stunned. He didn't catch anything during his fishing, but here came a fish that was delivered to his doorstep.
After gently grabbing the fish's gills, he handed the fish to the cook, asked him to cook it, and then continued to look at the scenery on the shore.
In the distance are rows of neatly arranged houses, which obviously were built only a few years ago, because old houses could not be arranged so neatly.
Mulberry trees are planted in front of houses, on roadsides and even on ridges of fields.
Judging from their size, most of them are newly transplanted. With a little calculation, we can find out that the earliest of these mulberry trees were seedlings cultivated in the summer of the previous year, and most of them were even cultivated in the spring of last year and transplanted this year.
We have to wait at least two years before we can pick mulberry leaves in large quantities to raise silkworms.
However, Mr. Chen did have great perseverance and did not mind the trouble to create such a scene.
The young colonel watched and became fascinated.
Without the constraints of the Dawubao Manor, I can do whatever I want. I may even be exempt from rent and taxes in the next few years. With a few years of stability like this, my life will certainly be good.
The only thing to worry about was probably being plundered by the Huns.
Without the protection of the fort and manor, once the enemy invades in large numbers, these scattered people will be nothing but fish on the chopping board.
It all depends on whose knife handle is harder.
The junior was very curious and planned to come back to see it next year.
******
On the wasteland along the river on the east bank of Suiyang Canal, several orchards have begun to take shape.
These orchards are all Shao Xun’s properties. Since the largest one is a persimmon forest, it is called “Persimmon Garden”.
Yu Wenjun brought her four little sisters and walked in the small house in the forest, carefully decorating their new home like a butterfly flying through flowers.
There are some things that she prefers to do herself rather than delegate to others.
Outside the orchard, there were sounds of horse hooves; those were the cavalry of the Yicong Army.
At the end of last year, we recruited a lot of prisoners. Many organizations were incomplete after the Battle of Gaoping, so we reorganized them this year: the cavalry of more than 3,000 people was reduced to five groups.
In her spare time, Yu Wenjun watched the officers holding small flags of various colors, such as blue, black, and red, and practicing tactics in full swing.
Her husband would go into battle personally from time to time, leading the cavalry to gather and disperse, and he also did tactics such as "outflanking" and "rolling up the pearl curtain". She didn't quite understand them, but she could see that the soldiers admired her husband very much.
Whenever she saw the cavalry officers looking at her husband with admiration, Yu Wenjun felt as sweet as if she had eaten candy.
Hehe, you can only admire him, but I can throw myself into his arms and act like a spoiled child.
"Husband...when will my husband go to the war?" Yin asked as she tied a colorful knot on the cherry tree in the yard.
Her face was very tender. After asking, she turned around and lowered her head, touching the tree with her hands, and she didn't even know what she was busy with.
"After the grain ship goes north, it will probably leave." Xun said while wiping a high four-legged table.
"I'll be leaving in a few days." Pu Tao glanced at Yu Wenjun quietly, and seeing that she was far away, he smiled and said in a low voice: "Jiangxia, you helped your husband bathe last night, but you didn't succeed in the end?"
Xun blushed.
Her husband had someone make a bathtub that she could lie comfortably in. She and Xuanzhu naturally had to take off their clothes and go in to wash him. In the end, her husband actually fell asleep. When he woke up, he just smiled and said "little bun", then got up and went to bed, hugging Wenjun and fell asleep.
What does the little steamed bun mean?
"Where are you going in the next few days?" Xun asked, touching her hot face.
"You said you were going to Kaocheng to handle official business. After all, your husband is the military commander of the shogunate." Pu Tao said.
"Oh..." Xun was absent-minded and didn't think much about it. She just said, "We will stay in Kaocheng for a while before going to war."
"Yes." Pu Tao was also a little worried: "I heard that Jianye sent shipbuilders to the north and transferred ships from Yangzhou. This time there will really be a war."
Even though these people are still young girls, they are exposed to core secrets.
It is true that Jianye sent shipbuilders, but not many.
The same is true of ship maneuvers, which are also rare.
Most importantly, Sima Rui ordered a batch of wood that had been dried in the shade for many years to be sent to Luoyang.
The main body of the floating bridge is actually a series of wooden boats.
If wood is cut temporarily to build a ship or a pontoon bridge, and the moisture in the wood is not completely dried in the shade, the ship will sooner or later become deformed, damaged, and even unusable.
All the pontoon bridges during the war were of this type. They were not intended to be used for a long time at all. They were just good enough to last for a while.
The timber transferred from Jianye was of very high-quality ship material and had been dried in the shade.
The boat builders from Jiangnan mainly played a guiding role. The court also transferred some craftsmen, and everyone worked together to build a sturdy floating bridge that could be used for a long time.
None of them were fools. When they saw such a big move, they knew that this matter would not be resolved peacefully.
The most worrying thing is that as the fighting goes on, both sides will increase their troops, and the fighting will become more and more fierce, making it difficult to end.
The river outside the three cities of Heyang is not flowing with water, but the blood of soldiers from both sides...
(End of this chapter)