Xu Huai rested one night in Qingyi Ridge, and got up early the next day to take the Beiling Plank Road back to Huaiyuan.
There are new dangerous paths along the way, and there are several cliff paths that have just started construction. They need to go further and steeper paths. Xu Huai and the others are very strong on their feet, so they set off at dusk and arrived just before dusk.
Opposite Huaiyuan.
At this time, the Huai River Floating Bridge is under intense construction.
Huaiyuan is located in the center of the Tongbai Mountains and gathers mountain streams. The flow of the Huaihe River here is already large, but the terrain on both sides is gentle in the south and steep in the north, which adds a lot of difficulties to the construction of floating bridges.
The terrain on the south bank is low and flat, and a stone dam seven to eight feet long can be built on the river beach to connect the water surface to the road on the embankment. However, the terrain of the North Ridge near the Huai River is narrow, and the starting point of the Beiling Plank Road is almost close to the water surface.
With a drop of five feet high, it is necessary to build a stone dam ramp nearly thirty feet long using strips of stone to maintain a suitable slope and facilitate the passage of vehicles and horses.
Then, dozens of boats were connected between the north and south stone dams, and pallets were laid horizontally on the water, so that the pontoon bridge could finally be built.
The upper reaches of the Huai River are difficult to navigate due to the dense reefs and uneven terrain. However, the runoff in the summer and autumn rainy seasons is large, and the impact of the water is not weak.
At this time, there is no way to stabilize the main body of the pontoon bridge just by relying on the iron chains connected to the stone dams on both sides. It is also necessary to dig holes in the rocks in the river and connect the iron chains to stabilize the pontoon bridge.
At this time, the construction site for the stone dam ramp on the north bank was cleared, and tens of thousands of quarried stones were carried on shoulders and backs, in order to complete the stone dam ramp before the rainy season.
Liu Qiong'er, Su Laotang, Cheng Yi, Xu Wukun, Xu Wuliang, Zheng Tu, Di Niang and others stood on the stone dam on the south bank to greet each other. They looked at Xu Huai and Xu Wujiang. Wang Ju and others were delayed on the north bank for a long time.
, then went down to the river beach and took a temporary ferry to the south bank. I knew that he was also very concerned about the construction of the pontoon bridge.
Everyone came over, and Su Laochang, who was in charge of the workshop, said with emotion: "We returned south with more than 500,000 yuan in goods, which we thought was extremely rich. Who could have imagined that the final completion of the floating bridge in front of us would require four dollars?"
When the more than ten thousand dollars of money and food are actually used, we realize that no amount of money is enough for what we have made like this!"
"You all know now that some things have to be done for?" Xu Huai said with a smile.
It is getting dark, and there are still hundreds of young and strong laborers working non-stop at the construction sites on the north and south sides.
If such a large amount of effort had been invested at the beginning of the year, the stone dam ramp on the north bank would not be said to have been completed, but it would not mean that only part of the stone materials had been prepared...
After all, it was still Su Laochang. Cheng Yi and the others initially thought deep down in their hearts that the situation would not be so serious and urgent. Their previous investment in the pontoon bridge and the Huaiyuan-Qingyi Ridge plank road was insufficient, and part of their energy was mainly invested in other aspects.
Spending money was needed everywhere in Tongbai Mountain, and the amount of goods they brought back south was fixed, and the young labor force in Tongbai Mountain was limited, so various construction projects were arranged in order.
Although Xu Huai has always regarded the construction of the Huaiyuan-Qingyi Ridge Road as a top priority, before leaving Tongbai Mountain and heading north, he also told Su Laochang and the others to give priority to the Huaiyuan-Qingyi Ridge Road.
construction, but it was obvious that after he left, Su Laochang and the others still discounted his words.
Xu Huai had no intention of blaming them.
He is the one who reverses the effect and has a very clear understanding of the situation, but everyone else is in the game. No matter how bad the situation is, there will inevitably be a trace of luck.
Anyway, now it has been proven that he is the best.
Su Laochang and the others saw
Xu Huai also smiled bitterly and said: "I never thought that the imperial court would be so weak that it would not dare to fight with swords and guns. It would be ridiculous to expect the beast to go away after a good meal and not come back again! How ridiculous!"
It was only after everyone in Tongbai Mountain learned that Emperor Tianxuan decided to sue for peace at the instigation of Wang Qiyong, Wang Boqian and others that they truly realized the importance of managing Tongbai Mountain.
It was getting late, so Xu Huai did not greet everyone in front of the ferry terminal. After introducing Wang Hua, Wang Zhang and others, he went directly to Huaiyuan City.
Huaiyuan City, which had recovered from the banditry, now looked like a paradise. It had not been affected much by the Hehuai War. Even the refugees who fled south to avoid the war were sent to Qingyiling Camp, Zhouqiao Station, and Shimenling.
The village directly received them and then placed them in various villages and factories in the mountains, instead of flooding into Huaiyuan City.
Su Laochang, Cheng Yi, Xu Wuliang and others were mainly in charge of the newly established Chushan County Chief Registry, Households, Workshops, etc. Xu Huai also returned to Huaiyuan City and sat at the banquet to receive the wind and wash away the dust.
It is an opportunity to learn more about Huaiyuan's industry, wealth, and refugee recruitment before April.
Although he had maintained correspondence with Huaiyuan, Xu Huai had been busy with military affairs before and did not have the energy to care about them.
Hu Kai was in charge of Caizhou, with jurisdiction over Caizhou, Xu, Ru, and Chenzhou in southern Beijing. He basically ensured that the territory was not invaded by the captive soldiers. At the same time, the focus of the captive soldiers was Zhengzhou, Xingyang, Hulao, and Mengzhou on the north bank of the Yellow River, west of Bianliang.
, Wei and other states.
Therefore, the refugees fleeing from the disaster in the south of the capital had no intention of fleeing south. They mainly stayed in Chen, Cai and other places, hoping that the Japanese soldiers would one day withdraw and they could return to their homes.
Some people's homes were shattered, their houses were set on fire, and they had no land or houses to care about. They mainly migrated south through Fangcheng and Biyang, or crossed the Huaihe River to migrate to the southeast.
The geographical location of Tongbai Mountain is destined to be very embarrassing in accepting refugees.
In the past two or three months, Su Laochang and the others have taken in a total of more than 8,000 refugees with their families, and they only have a little over 3,000 young people.
Su Laochang and others thought that the situation was not that urgent, and their investment in money, food, and manpower for the construction of the Huaiyuan-Qingyi Ridge Road was insufficient, but they spent a lot of effort to open up sloping mountains and fields.
In the past, there were many cottages in Tongbai Mountain, and most of them were located in dangerous places.
This "danger" mainly refers to the steep terrain in and out of the Shanzhai's sphere of influence, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack. However, it does not mean that there are no valleys and gentle slopes within the Shanzhai's sphere of influence that can be cultivated.
These areas were previously occupied by copycat forces, and nearby villagers either joined the bandits and lived a life of robbing their homes or fled.
The banditry was completely eradicated in the past two years, but the loss of young and strong labor force in the mountains was too great. Only a small number of people spontaneously entered these areas, and they were far from being fully cultivated.
When Chushan County was newly established, Su Laochang and Cheng Yi directly brought these dozens of villages under their control, moved the population in in an organized manner, allocated rations, farm tools, and cattle, built houses and villages, and reclaimed grain fields.
Mainly dry land, Tongbaishan County has rapidly added nearly 20,000 acres of grain fields in the past two months.
The entire Tongbai Mountain has less than 30 acres of dry land, and 20,000 acres of new grain fields can be added in two months, which is already a large number.
However, now the land that is easy to cultivate in Tongbai Mountain has basically been cultivated, and the rest are hard bones.
On the other hand, to transform the existing dry land, it mainly involves building overflow dams on streams with small flows and stable terrain to raise the water level to facilitate irrigation of fields on both sides; it is even necessary to build overhead dams.
Tanks divert water to hillsides and valleys that were previously unreachable for irrigation.
These investments are very large.
However, everyone can realize at this time the short-lived "summary" brought about.
"Peace" will soon be shattered by the Chihu people's southern invasion again, and the front of the Chihu people's southern invasion will also be doubly sharp. By then, the four states south of Beijing will be unable to protect themselves, and the front of the Chihu cavalry will reach directly.
Dafu Mountain and Jinding Mountain line.
The Hehuai area is already in ruins. When the Red Husbands invade south again, everyone can foresee that food on the Huainan West Road and Jingnan Road on both sides of Tongbai Mountain will be in short supply with the outbreak of new wars.
At the same time, the Chihu people's cavalry is extremely mobile, and the Jianghuai area cannot compete with them in the Pingchuan area. When the Chihu people invade the south again, the connection between Tongbai Mountain and Liyiguang, Shou, Tang, Deng and other places will also be lost due to the
The raids by the Red Husband Cavalry became vulnerable, making it difficult to import food.
In addition to Tongbai Mountain needing to reserve a batch of grain in advance, what is more important is to further increase its total grain output.
The Chushan camp has a full strength of 5,000 soldiers, and there are more than 5,000 workers directly under the jurisdiction of the construction industry. In addition, more than 6,000 war horses need to be supplemented with a certain amount of refined materials. These items alone will consume 200,000 yuan every year.
Stone grain.
And if they do nothing, the food they can procure from the people is only about 60,000 to 70,000 dan, which is a very big gap.
This is because the clan power in Tongbai Mountain has been suppressed repeatedly and no one has the ability or courage to hoard food. Otherwise, it would be great to be able to squeeze out an additional 20,000 shi of food from Tongbai Mountain, which is short of land and little farmland.
"Considering that the refugee wave will really hit Chushan after autumn, our estimate of the food gap needs to be even larger. Existing reserves and increased production alone are simply not enough," Xu Huai learned about the current situation.
He frowned and said, "Once the Chihu troops reach the north bank of the Huaihe River, it doesn't take many soldiers and horses to restrict Guangzhou and Tangzhou from transporting grain to the mountains. We now need to transport food from Xieshan
Let’s open a mountain road to the south and connect it to Suizhou!”
Tongbai Mountain cannot be said to be dangerous, and there are still numerous dangerous and remote trails scattered among the mountains and valleys.
There is actually a passage from Lutai Dazhai to the south via Xiema Mountain to Suizhou.
These passages are usually only used by hunters and medicine farmers, or mountain bandits and bandits hide and wander around. Pan Chenghu fled from Xiema Mountain to Suizhou to hide, but these passages can really provide for three to five hundred soldiers or thousands of stones of food and other supplies every day.
To pass, you have to invest a lot of money, food, and manpower to widen the narrow path, build a bridge over the rift valley, dig holes in the cliffs, and set up pallets...
"I'm afraid that before autumn comes, all the money and food in our hands will be exhausted!" Su Laochang said with a bitter smile.
"Use them all, don't keep a single copper!" Xu Huai said, "The Red Husbands are going south again. If the court does not change the recruitment system, we will directly take our troops to Xiangyang Prefecture to ask for money and food!"
At present, the imperial court only recognizes 2,500 regular infantry soldiers in the Chushan camp, and uses this number to pay for food and grass. The consumption of 2,500 rural soldiers will be raised by Chushan County itself, which can exempt Chushan County.
The tax paid was based on the internal output of Tongbai Mountain and the food and salary allocated from Tangzhou and Dengzhou according to the imperial decree. It was far less than the consumption of 5,000 soldiers and 5,000 laborers, not to mention the almost crazy work.
Xu Huai and his companions used the large amount of savings earned in Shuozhou to make up for their shortcomings.
After this little bit of savings was quickly consumed, even if many construction projects stopped, the gap just for supporting people and horses would still be huge. They couldn't solve it by themselves, so of course they would have to force Jingxi South Road and even Jinghu North Road and Jinghu South Road to share the corresponding share.
Money and food.
Xu Huai had a clear prediction of the changes in the situation and told Su Laochang and the others not to worry about what would happen next.
They now have to prioritize ensuring access.
Otherwise, Jingnan South Road promised to provide this part of the money and food, but had no way to transport it in, which would be dumbfounded...
