"Refugees are a double-edged sword, one edge cuts others, and the other edge cuts themselves. If they are well resettled, they are productive and combative; if they are not resettled well, they are a disaster and the root of unrest," said a man standing at the north gate of Shanyang City.
On the top, Lin Fu looked at the Huai River in the distance. The flowing water turned white with cold in the severe cold season. "There are hundreds of thousands of homeless people in Huaidong. Hecheng and the wasteland along the sea dike are all used.
It will take two to three years to resettle so many people. To resettle more displaced households, in addition to rice, salt, iron, and livestock and animal power, we also need land!"
Song Jia looked at Lin Fu's side face, which was as cold and sharp as a rock exposed to the cold air, with sharp edges and corners. His eyes were staring at the land of Huaisi shrouded in light mist on the other side of the Huaihe River.
Even Suining and Suyu counties between Bianshui and Surabaya are nominally under the jurisdiction of Xuzhou. After the Huaisi war, Lin Fu came to Lin Fu and forced Sun Zhuang to be blocked.
When arriving in these two counties, neither Liu Tingzhou nor Yue Lengqiu clearly dared to let Sun Zhuang, who harbored alien intentions, lead his troops to the south bank of the Huaihe River. They could only let Chen Hansan endure the loss--Bianshui
To the west, Lin Fu is even more out of reach.
Liu Tingzhou's accusation was not wrong at all. Lin Fu just wanted to let the bandits flee eastward. If Sun Zhuang hadn't deliberately opened his mouth, how could the four to five million refugees have crossed the Bian River to come east?
If four to five million hungry people were not allowed to cross the Bian River to the east, how could Lin Fu get involved with them?
But how to get involved is even more of a headache.
The Red Coat Army led by Liu Miaozhen, Malantou and others is the core of this refugee group. Huaidong is inseparable from Liu An'er's death. As direct relatives, Liu Miaozhen and Malantou will obviously not accept Huaidong's recruitment easily.
Either wipe them out, force them to surrender, or drive them away - it is not easy to wipe them out or force them to surrender. At first, Qin Chengzu, Cao Ziang, Lin Mengde and others advocated sending the people into exile eastward and driving away Liu Miaozhen, Malantou and others.
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As long as Liu Miaozhen's troops are driven away, there will be three or four hundred thousand hungry people left, which can be easily appeased.
The serious problem is that Huaidong does not have enough land to accommodate such a large number of hungry people.
Although Liu Miaozhen and others were driven away, although it became easier to recruit them, they were all placed in Suining, Suyu, Huaiyang and other places north of the Huaihe River, not only in Huaidong, but also in Xuzhou and Chen Hansan in the north, and in Henan and Chen Zhinan in the west.
, and even Haosi Taochun in the southwest can reach out and get involved, and the situation will become extremely complicated.
In terms of jurisdiction, Huaiyang belongs to Haozhou Prefecture, Suining, and Suyu belongs to Xuzhou Prefecture—it is impossible for Tao Chun or Yue Lengqiu and Chen Hansan behind Tao Chun to watch Huaidong appease the hungry people.
These three places will be completely included in the jurisdiction of Huaidong.
"What I can't get, you can't even think about it", "What I can't do, you can't even think about" - this is the most common and true mentality of people in the world. Therefore, Liu Miaozhen's subordinates are subordinate to Huaisi
Expelling them will not improve the situation in Huaisi, nor will it allow Huaidong to effectively control the situation in Huaisi.
"I read a miscellaneous book when I was a child. The book told a story about boiled frogs. Let me tell it to you." Lin Fu put his hands behind his back and said, with Cao Zi'ang, Liang Wenzhan, Song Jia and others beside him, "I will tell you a story."
If you throw a frog into a pot of boiling water, the frog will probably jump out with all its strength. If you throw a frog into a pot of cold water, don't rush to boil it first. Throw the frog in, and the frog will probably not struggle, but will swim around leisurely.
It’s time to start a family. At this time, slowly add firewood and fire to the pot. By the time the frog feels the water is scalding, its body has already been cooked. This story is too complicated. In other words, you can’t eat the frog in a hurry.
Chicken, it’s the same thing!”
Song Jia glanced at Lin Fu and wondered where he could make up this ghost story. But Cao Ziang and others laughed.
Liang Wenzhan echoed: "My lord's clever idea, use Huaisi as a pot, use cold water and low heat to slowly stew Red Coat Girl's frog meat!"
Lin Fu smiled and said: "Li Wei recruited immigrants to cultivate wasteland in Suining and Suyu counties. He was diligent and diligent and had a high reputation in the countryside. He was familiar with the Huaisi area. When he recruited immigrants to help people in trouble, he came from the county to help them.
A group of capable officials were selected from the people - Liu Miaozhen wanted to stabilize the situation in Huaisi. It was difficult for them to do this on their own. If Siyang wanted to send people to help, it was necessary to send people to intervene.
, I think it’s very suitable for Mr. Li Wei to take charge of it.”
Zhang Gou and Li Wei have not returned from Suyu yet. Yesterday they sent someone back to deliver a letter saying they were going to Huaiyang to meet Liu Miaozhen.
There is no final result as to what the negotiations will be like. However, after entering Suyu early, the red-coated troops in Suining and Suining counties began to restrain themselves and temporarily stopped sending people out of the city to forcefully collect grain and grass, which was also an expression of sincerity in the negotiations.
Don't say that the conditions proposed by Huaidong are not harsh. Even if they are ten times harsher, facing the temptation of 40,000 kilograms of rice per month, what choice can the desperate refugee army have?
"It's not easy," Cao Zi'ang said with a slight sigh, "Firstly, Suining and Suyu counties have limited land for farming; secondly, in Suining and Suyu counties, there are as many as four local residents who have returned to their hometowns for resettlement.
With more than 10,000 people, the influx of a large number of hungry people, and the contradiction between local competition for land and land, will be extremely prominent in the future... Especially the refugee army is most lacking in this aspect, with neither experience nor manpower. Even if it is large
Most of the commanders and generals of the army are willing to give up their military power and return their troops to the countryside, but their arrogant and arrogant tempers are difficult to tame, which will cause great hidden dangers to local public security, and it is even more difficult to alleviate conflicts!"
"No matter how difficult the task is, we must work hard," Lin Fu said. "There are some conditions that need to be negotiated with Liu Miaozhen, Malan and other top commanders. They can retain an independent elite combat force of thirty to forty thousand to occupy Huaiyang, Suyu,
The three cities of Suining can also be used, but in order to recruit refugees, restore production and maintain local order, they must recruit as many people as possible from the local area, and they must also accept supervision from Siyang. With 40,000 shi of rice per month, you can
They reserve a quarter to support the army; the rest, it is best to distribute relief through Tuweizi in each township. Do not let the hungry people gather in the city, but disperse them to the countryside... resettle the displaced households as much as possible
Build an enclosed house and build more earthen enclosures!”
Building more enclosed houses and earthen fences is to prepare for restricting the Donglu cavalry from infiltrating into the Huaisi area in the future.
Perhaps a fortified city would not be lost so easily, but if the Donglu cavalry spread out and bypassed the fortified city to carry out infiltration attacks, it would be difficult to prevent it.
Several ships sailed from Feixiaji on the other side, where Siyang Walled City is located, and soon anchored at the pier outside the north gate of Shanyang County. As soon as Lin Fu returned to the camp, Zhang Gou and Li Wei came into the city with Malantou.
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Lin Fu immediately met with Malantou in the official hall of Xingyuan.
During the Huaisi War, Lin Fu and Malantou met each other from a distance, but they barely left any impression. After all, the two sides were too far away.
The fact that Malantou was able to cross the Huaihe River showed that the refugee army was indeed at the end of its rope and could not refuse the temptation of Huaidong. It was Malantou who came over, not Liu Miaozhen personally, so it was impossible for them to give up their guard against Huaidong.
Under the current circumstances, Liu Miaozhen, Malantou and others have to accept secret funding from Huaidong, and there is no room for raising conditions. Besides, Liu Miaozhen, Malantou and others attach great importance to military power. As long as Lin Fu does not ask them to completely give up military power, they will not accept other conditions.
Not that sensitive either.
In fact, especially the ration distribution proposed by Lin Fu, Liu Miaozhen, Malantou and others were even less likely to refuse.
On the contrary, if we reduce the number of soldiers and horses from more than 100,000 to 30,000, we can also get 10,000 shi of rice per month to support the army. Almost each soldier can have more than 30 kilograms of rations per month, which will ensure sufficient combat effectiveness. Combat effectiveness is absolutely necessary
It is stronger than the more than 100,000 soldiers who can only eat half full.
The other approximately 400,000 people each receive seven kilograms of food rations per month. It is difficult to eat half full, but it is not a problem to barely survive.
As for how to transport such a large amount of grain, there will be some problems. However, Siyang and Shukou are the military control areas of the Huaidong Army. Even if some news will reach the ears of Liu Tingzhou and Yue Lengqiu, as long as they are not arrested
If you stay on top of things, there won't be any big problems.
Even in Jiangning and in the imperial court, there were many officials who advocated recruitment.
The collapse of Yanbei's defense line is almost something that can be expected. Even if someone gets a handle on it, so what?
When Lin Fu met Malantou in the official hall, Song Jia came in with a document, which was in the form of a notice sent by the imperial court to local governments. She walked to Lin Fu and said, "The imperial court has appointed Zhou Zongxian as Minister of War!"
When the Donglu invaded the border for the first time, Zhou Zongxian was the Minister of War at that time. Later, because of this incident, he was demoted to the people. After that, Li Zhuo served as the Minister of War. When Li Zhuo was in charge of Jizhen, the court did not appoint anyone.
The new Minister of the Ministry of War has always had Wang Jiyuan, the left minister, in charge of the affairs of the Ministry of War. The sudden appointment of Zhou Zongxian at this time was actually the first step in the change of generals in the border army.
If he could delay the Songshan line until spring, Li Zhuo would definitely not begrudge his personal reputation, but he asked Gao Zongting to send a blood letter to Huaidong because he expected that there was no way he could delay it. The imperial court would seize his military power, send others or directly
Let Hao Zongcheng, the supervisor of the army, take his place and lead the border troops from Ji Town to attack Liaoyang - this is the biggest obstacle that cannot be overcome in the war on the northern front.
Lin Fu had expected this, but when the news actually came, it was still difficult for him to accept it. He said, "It's only been a few days, and the court doesn't even have this patience?"
Malantou glanced at Zhang Gou. He had no idea about Zhou Zongxian's appointment as Minister of War. The generals of the refugee army had a very narrow vision. Even a general like Malantou, who was considered very strategic in the refugee army, his vision was limited to the Hehuai or Huaihe River.
In the Jianghuai area, little is known about the war in the north.
It was only after Zhang Gou arrived in Huaidong that his horizons really opened up. Zhou Zongxian became Minister of War, which may mean the first step in the collapse of Yanbei's defense line.
Lin Fu seemed to be calm and threw the letter of complaint that Song Jia had brought to him on the corner of the table. He stood up and said to Malantou: "That's what happened. I also hope that the two families will fight each other and the lives will be ruined... You
Go back and if you think the conditions here are acceptable, send someone to Siyang in three days to collect the first batch of rice! After that, I will send Zhang Gou and Li Gong to supervise the implementation over there..."
After sending Malantou away, Lin Fu returned to the official hall and immediately signed an order to select Jianyong from the labor camp to expand the Changshan camp, and sent someone to ride quickly back to Chongzhou...