Chapter 707 Home and Work

Chapter 707 Home and Work

Chapter 707 Home and Work (Part )
Xingyang has recently resettled a lot of refugees, which, at first glance, looks a bit scary.

The vast majority of them are healthy men and women, and there are very few elderly people and children.

Shao Xun did not stay here.

He originally wanted to make a surprise visit to the countryside to see if the officials had deceived him, but he was persuaded by his subordinates.

The reason is simple: the newly resettled people in Bingzhou are even refugees from the Tuoba Dai Kingdom, they have ulterior motives and there may be some crazy people.

This is not places like Luonan and Chenjun where he has a high reputation, so it is better to be cautious in everything.

Shao Xun readily followed suit and only took a casual look when passing by. He also assigned several clerks with a background in martial arts to various places to check carefully.

Overall, the resettlement of refugees in the seven counties of Xingyang is quite good.

The local wealthy family, the Pan family, donated a portion of their land, totaling 300 hectares, to accommodate the refugees.

Because of his old friendship with Pan Tao, Shao Xun gave him an estate of his own in Luyang County, which was about 150 hectares.

Lao Pan suffered a little loss, but considering the overall situation of Dutian, it is already good.

The Zheng family of Kaifeng (a county under Chenliu) also gave away part of the land located in Xingyang, Juan and Zhongmou counties, totaling more than 400 hectares, all of which were occupied after the Yongjia period.

Since the investigation has not yet led to their involvement, it looks better if they offer it voluntarily.

Of course, even if these big families did not donate land, Xingyang would still have enough land resources.

This place had been the scene of repeated tug-of-war and had suffered great population losses. There was a lot of land and houses, and the refugees could move in at any time with their bags - if they had bags.

In addition, the seven counties of Xingyang have convenient transportation, the canal goes directly to the hinterland of Henan, and the post roads are also connected in all directions. Therefore, this year they received sufficient supplies for the resettlement of refugees, and all work progressed rapidly.

In the fall, they even harvested a crop of soybeans, but the yield was very poor. If nothing unexpected happens, they will have to distribute another batch of relief grain during the lean season next year until the wheat harvest in May.

Yes, after the autumn harvest, the refugees under militarized management were forced to plant winter wheat.

Many people have never grown this thing before, and they are a little confused, but since they have been given the green light from above, they can only ask around and grow it anyway.

Shao Xun slowed down his horse and walked around many farmlands. He found that the wheat seedlings had grown, but they were sparse and not very good. But this actually met his psychological expectations. There were always problems at the beginning, but they would get better slowly.

Before leaving Xingyang, Shao Xun visited several mansions to learn about the amount of grain stored inside - basically all the corn that was requisitioned and transferred in after the autumn harvest this year.

With this batch of grain, we will have the "start-up funds" for next year's war.

In May and June, winter wheat will be harvested.

By September, there is still a season of miscellaneous grains.

Supplies are relatively abundant, as long as there isn't another large-scale flood, drought or locust plague.

Shao Xun continued his journey slowly along the way, and on November 12, he returned to Bianliang, ending his four-month inspection.

******
After his belly grew bigger, Wang Jingfeng suddenly became "arrogant".

In fact, although this silly girl is not young physically, she is not young mentally. Her logic is very simple: I gave birth to your child, do you want to be nice to me? You really want to be nice to me, so I will take advantage of you.

In the Huang Nu Palace, she sat directly on Shao Xun with her big belly and complained: "This child is just like you, restless and moving around."

Shao Xun was a man of great strength. While he was comforting the silly girl, he said to Wang Huifeng, "Have you been sorting out intelligence these days?"

Even though he had prepared himself mentally, Wang Huifeng still felt a little embarrassed when he saw Shao Xun.

She had originally intended to just have a clean chat with him about important matters, but now that her belly was getting big, she felt a little ashamed.

But at the same time as feeling ashamed, a strange feeling surged in my heart, as if there was some kind of gentle concern from then on.

She gave him or her life, grew up with him or her, and experienced his or her joys and sorrows together...

But she was rational after all, and quickly adjusted her mood, saying: "I had already sorted it out before you came back, and rested for a few days."

"Let's take a rest from now on until the baby is born." Shao Xun said, "What are the important things?"

Wang Huifeng considered his words and said, "The Guanxi War is over. The Xiongnu and Liangzhou troops have won and lost, and the Xiongnu seem to have suffered a little loss, but they have defended Nan'an County. The retreat of the Liangzhou army was cut off by the Qiang people, and the army was shaken and forced to retreat. On the way back, they defeated the Qiang people, plundered a lot, and returned to Liangzhou."

Shao Xun thought for a moment and said, "We sent out troops this time, but it's not certain whether they will come next time."

With an internal situation as chaotic as that in Liangzhou, it might be really difficult to send out troops a second time.

At that time, Zhang Gui was not dead yet, but he had a stroke and was not in good health, so some ambitious people inside the army jumped out to rebel. It's like a tiger is about to die of old age. When people see it as weak, jackals are not so afraid of it anymore and will start to make trouble. Zhang Shi's expedition must have consumed a lot of favors, many of which were his father's legacy. As the saying goes, people are forgotten when they leave. After all, Zhang Gui is dead, so favors are used less and less - many old subordinates feel that they have repaid Zhang Gui's kindness by supporting you to send troops this time, and you should think about yourself in the future.

It's a pity that this expedition did not produce any results. The Qiang people's rebellion was also very strange. They did not rebel earlier or later, but had to cut off Liangzhou's retreat at the critical moment when the Liangzhou army was fighting with the Xiongnu. Was there any problem with this?
Shao Xun thought about it and felt that there was too little information to make a judgment.

"Sima Bao can no longer control his subordinates." Wang Huifeng added, "I heard that there is a warrior named Chen An who is very arrogant and disrespectful to his superiors. It would not be surprising if he imprisoned the King of Nanyang in a few days."

Shao Xun nodded. With Sima Bao's character, when there was order, he might be able to rely on the system to drive Chen An and his ilk. But in times of turmoil, he, who looked like a leader, could not control an ambitious person like Chen An.

"Where did you know this information?" Shao Xun looked at Wang Huifeng curiously.

"Chang'an."

Shao Xun was a little surprised: "I thought it was Pingyang."

"Many of the wealthy families in Chang'an served the Xiongnu, and many of them were old acquaintances of my father." Wang Huifeng said, "It's a pity that the old friends have died one by one, and there are fewer and fewer of them left."

"How did the news get here?" Shao Xun was embarrassed to ask before, after all, it was Wang Laodeng's private matter. Now that Wang Huifeng's belly was big, he was no longer polite.

"There is no separation between Wuguan and Lantianguan," said Wang Huifeng.

Shao Xun understood.

In ancient times, officials communicated through post stations, or by asking acquaintances who were working in other places to deliver messages, or by having caravans deliver messages. These were the only channels.

It is okay to send a messenger alone, but in troubled times, the scale cannot be small and the martial arts skills cannot be poor.

At the most basic level, you need to have a dozen experienced soldiers who are skilled in archery and horse riding to go with you, right? With horses, armor, and bows, ordinary refugees can't catch up with them, and there is no need for bandits to get along with such vicious people. The biggest danger is the local garrison, but there are too many bandits, refugees, and nobles roaming in the countryside. As long as they don't stay in one place for a long time, it is basically difficult to control them.

Wang Yan should have sent the message through the caravan.

"Inspections in Guanzhong will only become stricter in the future, so be careful. Some old relationships can be handed over to the Supervisor of Traitors to save the Wang family from losing manpower." Shao Xun said, "Let's not talk about this. Sima Bao won't be able to hold on for much longer, and Zhang Shi doesn't seem to like the Prince of Nanyang running over for refuge. Does he have any other choice but to die?"

"How pitiful." Wang Jingfeng, who had been quiet before, suddenly said something.

Shao Xun stroked her back gently, comforting her like he was petting a cat, and said, "Who isn't pitiful in this world? I killed Meng Chao back then, and Sima Yue made peace with the King of Chengdu, so rumors spread everywhere. Some people were jealous of my rapid rise, and secretly said that Meng Jiu had come to Luoyang, and Sima Yue would definitely hand me over. Am I not pitiful? If I'm like this, aren't those old, weak, women, and children who can't lift swords and guns even more pitiful?"

When Wang Jingfeng heard this, he turned sideways with great effort and said, "Sometimes you frown when you sleep at night. Are you very tired?"

"Not bad." Shao Xun thought to himself that Wang Jingfeng was careless, but his observation skills were really good. He didn't even know that he sometimes frowned when he fell asleep. Was that shallow sleep?
"It's almost the end of the year, so let's put aside the military and political affairs." Shao Xun looked at Wang Huifeng again and said, "When you have time, spend time with my parents."

Wang Huifeng nodded silently.

Shao Xun picked up Wang Jingfeng and placed him carefully on the couch. He was thinking about visiting the two pregnant women and then going to talk to Liang Laodeng.

War cannot be started by simply slamming the table. In fact, the preparation work beforehand is more critical, more tedious, and more lengthy.

Over the past decade, the war with the Huns has gone through strategic defense and strategic stalemate, and has turned to strategic counterattack since the past two years.

Shao Xun was very clear about his advantages: more soldiers and more food.

So how do we take advantage of this? Of course, we open more fronts.

Due to many factors, there is a limit to the resources that can be invested in one direction. Investing more will only waste manpower and money, and the marginal effect will be greatly reduced.

In ancient wars, many people felt that it was undesirable to attack from several directions at the same time, but this has its pros and cons.

For the larger party, I just need to come from several directions.

For the smaller party, it is actually very difficult to cope with it. They can only let the enemies come from several directions and go only one way, trying to create a time difference and defeat them one by one - this is also taking a risk.

"Are you going to lead the army yourself next year?" Wang Huifeng suddenly asked before leaving.

Shao Xun nodded and said, "Some wars can be let go and fought by others, but some wars cannot be fought. The Xiongnu cannot be destroyed in a short time, but I don't intend to throw this battle to others. Don't worry, I am not Jin Zheng, and I will not fight on the front line."

After leaving Huangnu Palace, Shao Xun thought about it and decided to go to Guanfeng Palace first, take his wife and children to visit his parents.

At this time, Cao from the palace came to report: General Yu Liang requested an audience with the emperor.

It turned out that Liangzi came to report on his work.

Shao Xun waved his hand and said, "Let him come to the Guanfeng Main Hall."

(Forgot to update automatically... Apologies for the third update today!)

(End of this chapter)