It is impossible for Dongzhou Village to conceal such a big move from leaders such as Jiang Xiong and Zhang Cong and carry it out quietly.
Therefore, in front of Jiang Ang, Zhao Shan strongly advocated returning to the stronghold to convene the leaders to discuss and make a decision.
Returning to Dongzhou Village and summoning Jiang Xiong, Zhang Cong and others, Zhao Shan also strongly advocated treating this matter with caution:
"After all, Chushan is a part of the imperial court. They are officials and we are bandits. I escaped from Bianliang and wandered around the mountains. I often heard people say that Marquis Jingsheng was good at using tricks. Who knows what traps are waiting behind him.
We are on the hook, I don’t think this is very reliable!”
Liu Fujin was still a dull man, but he said in a low voice: "I listen to my elder brother in everything."
"Does Chushan provide food?" Zhang Cong asked.
The Panlong Village suffered a disastrous defeat. Not only were all their men and horses lost, but all the dozens of boats they had managed to piece together were also lost.
Now Dongzhou Village is very poor, poorer than all of them. Even if they want to catch fish and shrimp for food, they lack enough fishing boats. They can only set nets next to the shallows, and the harvest is extremely limited.
Different from the previous big bosses of Dongzhou Village, Zhang Cong, Jiang Xiong and others brought dozens or hundreds of villagers to join Dongzhou Village, including their parents, uncles, brothers, sisters, wives and children—
—
Now that they are the big bosses of Dongzhou Village, their close relatives will not go hungry, but how can they bear to turn away the villagers who are more distantly related to them, with sallow faces and skinny faces, asking for a bite of food?
However, there are really not many grains of food left in Dongzhou Village.
In order to get food, they had just experienced a disastrous defeat and regrouped four to five hundred men and horses. They were not even equipped with soldiers and armor. It could even be said that most of them were unarmed. However, they still didn't mind obeying the orders of Tiansheng Island and going to fight against the Jingnan officers and soldiers. How could they still do it?
What kind of conspiracy could Chushan play against them?
What they are most concerned about is whether Chushan can provide food.
"This hasn't been discussed yet, but I don't think the problem will be too big."
Although Hualing County is not part of Chushan's defense area, after experiencing the suffocating and devastating combat power of Chushan's army, Jiang Ang is not worried at all about the ration gap for their six or seven thousand people in Bailu Lake. It is Chushan's army.
Mountains can't solve it.
If someone slips a little bit between their fingers, they can eat until they are full.
"Then fuck your mother first, or else you won't admit it in the future! Can Chushan bite our bird?!" Jiang Xiong was also a bachelor, and felt that trading with Chushan would at least help the seven or eight thousand people in the village survive first.
If something really goes wrong after that, the worst case scenario is that you will break up and refuse to admit it.
And they obeyed the orders of Tiansheng Island and fought hard with the Jingnan officers and soldiers. They might be able to get thousands of shi of food for the time being. However, they only had four to five hundred men and half of them were unarmed. If they suffered heavy casualties in the battle with the Jingnan officers and soldiers, Tiansheng would suffer heavy casualties in the follow-up.
Will the island continue to allocate food to Dongzhou Village?
After experiencing two disastrous defeats before and after the sneak attack on Hanchuan, both of which were vulnerable to attack, Jiang Xiong, Zhang Cong and others no longer had any confidence in fighting the officers and soldiers.
Although the officers and soldiers of Jingnan were not as strong as the Chushan Army, after more than two years of training by Xu Wei, they also fought several tough battles with the main force of the Dongjing Allied Army in South Dongting Lake and Dongdong Lake Court.
Advantage, otherwise the Dongjing Allied Forces would not have pointed their finger at Jingbei in this big move.
They are not qualified to fight with the officers and soldiers like this. The most they can do is to exchange a certain amount of casualties and human lives for life-saving pensions from Tiansheng Island.
Now that there is a new choice, they can't see anything wrong with it at the moment, so why can't they just cherish the lives of their brothers, nephews, and children?
As for whether Chushan really has any conspiracy, Jiang Xiong, Zhang Cong and others don't care much - they have experienced the strength of Chushan's army to their heart's content. Does Chushan really have any need to play tricks on them?
After Jiang Ang made an agreement with Jiang Xiong, Zhang Cong and other leaders, he and Zhang Shan walked into Jiang Ji's blacksmith shop in Changlin Town early the next morning.
As usual, Jiang Ping led the two of them to guard the shop.
The cutting edge of the knife blade yesterday had been hardened, and the sharp edge was polished with a cold light. Jiang Ping was sitting in the shop making a sandalwood handle for this straight-ridged knife, wrapping it with copper wire.
Seeing Jiang Ang and Zhao Shan walking into the shop again, Jiang Ping handed over the new knife: "I worked hard and slowly to forge this knife. I finally forged it. How much does Mr. Jiang think it's worth?"
Jiang Ang took the blade and slashed it casually a few times. The thick spine of the blade was very powerful in slashing and fighting. It may not be worth a million dollars, but it is definitely a rare good soldier on the market. In the past, it was indispensable to have dozens of swordsmen.
It takes ten taels of silver to get one.
"What, Mr. Jiang plans to sell the knife to Dongzhou Village at a price? Is this different from what he said yesterday?" Jiang Ang narrowed his eyes, stared at Jiang Ping and asked coldly.
"What we talked about yesterday was a face-to-face gift, so of course there will be no price,"
Jiang Ping said,
"However, all the grain, fodder, and weapons were given to Dongzhou Village for free. Wouldn't Mr. Jiang feel uneasy if he took them himself? Besides, without our cooperation, Mr. Jiang would have lost all the gold and silver he had accumulated over the years.
If you dig it out, where can you buy food and weapons?"
"..." Jiang Ang frowned and remained silent.
The Military Intelligence Department had already deduced the reaction to Jiang Ang in advance, not to mention that Zhao Shan had already told all the details about Jiang Ang. Jiang Ping just smiled and said:
"I also made it clear yesterday that Chu Shan doesn't look down upon the six or seven thousand old, weak, women and children in Dongzhou Village. Chu Shan hopes that Dongzhou Village can truly grow stronger and unite with those who have integrity and backbone in the rebel army.
Generals, work together to contain Sun Yanzhou, Hu Dangzhou and others to prevent the entire rebel army from becoming a pawn of the Red Husbands in Jinghu. Does Jiang Dajiang think that transporting two to three hundred shi of food to Dongzhou Village every month is enough?
Of course, the ambition of the head of the Jiang family is only as big as two to three hundred shi of food per month, but Jiang can make the decision and give it to you for free..."
Jiang Ang took a breath of cold air and asked:
"How much grain can Chushan transport every month?"
"First, the journey is long, and second, Chushan has to be somewhat cautious. It is impossible to transport large quantities of grain directly to Changlin, but we can help Dongzhou Village secretly dredge the channel of Changlin River across Hualing County, and transport it by ship.
Transporting 350,000 to 50,000 dan of grain within a year is not an eye-catching thing..." Jiang Ping said.
The transport volume of boats is large. An ordinary 100-stone boat can transport dozens of mules and horses, and 350,000 to 50,000 dans of grain. It only takes three to five hundred boats to transport it in one go. It only takes one transport every ten days.
A dozen boats are enough.
"Can Hualing County really turn a blind eye when the boat takes the Changlin River and enters Bailu Lake?" Jiang Ang asked.
The Changlin River originates from Jingmen, enters Bailu Lake in the south, and then enters the Jingjiang River. To the east of the Changlin River, the Huaze River connects with the Han River. In the previous dynasty, a large bridge was built between the Huaze River and the Changlin River.
The canal was used to transport ships and drain floods, and it still plays a role today.
However, the channel between Huaze River and Changlin River is separated by a sluice, located between Hualing County and Jingmen County. If you want to pass through this place, it is not a matter of Hualing County turning a blind eye, it is almost a matter of turning a blind eye.
They need to be bribed up and down.
However, Jiang Ang felt that it was unnecessary to ask, and thought to himself that what they thought was extremely difficult, what could it mean in Chushan's eyes?
Jiang Ang couldn't help but be overjoyed when he thought that 30,000 to 50,000 shi of grain would be transported into Dongzhou Village in the next year.
In fact, there are six to seven thousand people in Dongzhou Village. Excluding fish and shrimps for food, they only need two to three thousand shi of additional food every year, which is barely enough.
Transporting 350,000 to 50,000 shi of grain a year was a figure that Jiang Ang could not even imagine.
"Headmaster Jiang does not need to worry about the river transportation. We can ensure that the transportation reaches Changlin Town for delivery. At the same time, as long as Dongzhou Village promises not to disturb the countryside, it will only build embankments for reclamation in the Linjiang area south of Bailu Lake. We
You can even secretly convince the Jingzhou government office to turn a blind eye to this..."
"Building a settlement on the south side of Bailu Lake?" Jiang Ang asked in shock.
"Dongzhou Village has no foundation, so how can it strengthen itself and rise on the banks of the Jingjiang River? It's impossible to think about purchasing 300,000 to 50,000 shi of food from the outside world every year to make up for the gap, right? Is it possible that thousands and tens of thousands of small families will be crowded in the future?
Starving in a lake village three to four hundred paces square, you still expect the generals to fight bravely on the battlefield without any worries, instead of just grabbing a handful and running away? What if Chiang Kai-shek was in charge?
If you can't give many young families a place to rely on, what's the difference if the generals and soldiers take refuge in you, Jiang Da, today, and Hu Dangzhou tomorrow? I think Jiang Da, the leader, has been in Jingjiang for more than ten years, and he has thought about these principles, right?"
Jiang Ping stared at Jiang Ang and asked,
"Or maybe Master Jiang thinks that when we promised to sell 50,000 shi of grain to Dongzhou Village in the next year, we are going to let Master Jiang hoard it for ten years? Master Jiang, you are wrong. We will try our best to bring in so much.
We expect Dongzhou Village to use up the food within a year, and in terms of food, we will only help Dongzhou Village support it for one year. Then Dongzhou Village must have its own food output. That's the only way,
Mr. Chiang Kai-shek, you don’t have to worry about being controlled by us. How about it, are we sincere enough?"
"..." Jiang Ang was a little dazed. He only had the dream of asking for three to five thousand shi of grain from Chushan and then turning his back on it at any time. He didn't expect that Chushan would give him so much. He said, "Three to five thousand shi of grain.
Even if I am willing to exchange it with silver, I don’t have that much silver!”
The food supply in Jingfu and other places has already soared to more than ten guan per stone. Fifty thousand shi of grain is worth six to seven hundred thousand guan. Dongzhou Village cannot raise such a large amount of money. Dongzhou Village can only collect 100,000 guan.
Up to the sky.
"..." Jiang Ping said, "We have asked Xu Hou for instructions on this matter. Xu Hou said that Jiang Dajiang's temperament is acceptable and there is no need to kill everyone, so it is insufficient. Jiang Dajiang's signature will be enough. If Jiang Dajiang does not change it,
Idea, you can go to the yard at the east end of the back alley to have a deep discussion at night..."
