Han Qian picked up a small piece of crunchy pickled cucumber with chopsticks and chewed it. Seeing Yao Xishui sitting across from him with no appetite at all, he put down the porridge bowl and asked:
"What's the matter? When Miss Yao mixed my wine with magic poison powder, she wasn't as intolerant as she is now. Could it be that Miss Yao thinks that I used my own money to support more than a dozen prostitutes in Wanhong Mansion, so I deserve to die, and that
Four guys who disobeyed orders, slacked off in combat, and watched their team lead so easily for the enemy to counterattack, shouldn't they die?"
"The crime is not as bad as his wife and heirs!" Yao Xishui said.
"The crime is not as bad as the wives and children?" Han Qian snorted coldly and said, "These four people died because of their crimes. I will not punish their wives and children. Do you think that their wives and children are in the camp, and their situation will be better?"
Is it better than being a slave? If you have sympathy for them, you can buy them all back."
Yao Xishui was blocked by Han Qian's words and was speechless. He also doubted whether Han Qian's last words were implying something. He looked at him coldly and lowered his head again, snoring and swallowing half the bowl of porridge. He really couldn't understand how famous ministers were.
How could Han Daoxun, who was so hopeful, have such a weird son? Could it be that the years he spent fostering Xuanzhou really twisted him into such a cold-blooded and ruthless person?
Han Qian saw Yao Xishui's dislike in his eyes and just sneered in his heart. If the historical trajectory does not change, it is no wonder that after the death of Emperor Tianyou, the third prince was so easily uprooted by the Anning Palace, Wanhong Mansion and Xinchang Houfu.
, except for Li Zhigao, there are really few characters who can hold up the stage!
To be honest, Han Qian didn't think that Li Pu, the Marquis of Xinchang, was a great man of his generation. Otherwise, he would have been secretly supported by Wan Honglou early on, and his achievements would not be inferior to those of his brother, Li Yu, the Prince of East Zhejiang Province.
Even among Li Yu's family of military figures, the status of Xinchanghou Lipu is slightly worse than that of Li Yu's first general Zhang Wei; and looking at the current situation, Xinchanghou Lipu is still a woman in black gauze.
They failed to pull Li Yu, who was living in seclusion in Hongzhou at this time, and Zhang Pei, who was serving as the governor of Tanzhou at this time, on their pirate ship.
Lin Haizheng and Fan Dahei sent over yesterday's summary of gains and losses in writing, and Han Qian asked them to rest as well.
If the Ministry of Officials' report fails to be submitted by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, they cannot relax.
Han Qian looked at the recorded gains and losses and found that they were not much different from what he expected.
Last night, in such a large area, in order to prevent Zifangsi's spies from infiltrating, Zuosi Binghu's less than eighty spies were divided into sixteen groups to search Baohua Mountain.
The children of the family soldiers who were incorporated into the army were all still young. Even though they had received rigorous training for more than half a year, as the leader of the team, they still could not suppress those brave veterans who were carefully selected from tens of thousands of hungry people.
Three people were able to be killed in an ambush last night, Zhao Wuji killed one, Fan Dahei killed one, and Guo Hong, who was wounded and died, was sentenced to kill one. The two injured were also family soldiers, and the family soldiers' children contributed.
It's about those "brave" veterans who originally had high hopes. Their personal strength is definitely not weak, and they also have the experience and ability to deal with complex situations. But if these people are accompanied by equally brave soldiers from the Han family, they will be more or less capable.
Be obedient; if you are led by a young soldier who is fourteen or fifteen years old and is of a weak body, most people will be perfunctory.
They suffered one death and two losses last night, which was actually caused by the slackness or disobedience of these brave soldiers.
Where does Han Qian have time now to discipline them step by step?
Zhao Mingting's men only suffered minor injuries yesterday, and tonight is the most critical moment. He must use thunderous means to shock these newly recruited scouts so that they can obey orders, and tonight he must release them to guard the camp.
On the periphery, casualties are difficult to control.
The third prince wanted to bring his bride into the palace before noon. Li Zhigao did not leave until noon and rushed to the Qiuhu Mountain Villa with a group of people to meet Han Qian.
Chai Jian still stayed in Longhua Port, fighting against the elite scouts gathered in Longhua Port, but with more than forty experts around him, it was destined to be a stalemate there.
Li Zhigao stepped into Qiuhushan Villa again after four months and found that the interior of the villa had changed a lot compared to four months ago.
In fact, Qiuhushan Villa has been undergoing renovation and expansion since then.
For this reason, Han Qian also opened a new piece of land on the east side of the craftsman's workshop and built a brick kiln.
Although Jinling City is said to be the most prosperous city in the south of the Yangtze River, the main houses in the city are built of rammed earth. Even most of the city walls are made of rammed earth and are not covered with bricks.
Houses built with felled wood as beams and pillars and bricks with mortar are naturally much stronger than rammed earth walls and thatched roofs, and can withstand the torrential rains of Jiangnan in the summer and autumn. However, the cost of burning bricks is still too high at this time.
In the past, the east courtyard of Qiuhushan Villa was the main courtyard. Among the more than ten rooms with three spans, only six rooms were made of green bricks with small tiles and wooden beams. The rooms were paved with square green bricks. It was already quite good in that era.
The monastery is gone.
Within the Imperial City Palace, except for a few main halls which are more luxurious and use a lot of stone, the other courtyards are just like this.
Heavy rains often poured down in the south of the Yangtze River, so Han Qian expanded the villa and insisted on using blue bricks. However, even if he built a brick kiln and hired craftsmen to go to the back mountains to cut wood and burn charcoal, the cost was still too high.
It takes more than 500 kilograms of firewood to burn one thousand kilograms of lime, but more than four thousand kilograms of firewood is needed to burn one thousand ordinary green bricks. Fortunately, the wood in the back mountain is sufficient, and the people hired from the camp military mansion
Labor is even cheaper. Later this year, more than 30 green brick and tile houses were added to the villa, which is barely enough for now.
Li Zhigao met Han Qian and saw that the situation was under control. He felt relieved a little. Even if Yao Xishui said that Han Qian executed four newly recruited scouts without permission, Li Zhigao didn't care.
According to the rules, Han Qian could only execute soldiers who escaped from the battlefield without asking for instructions only on the battlefield. After that, they should be tied up and sent to Li Chong, the concubine of Jianli Fa Cao, who joined the army for treatment.
In addition to Han Qian's request for exclusive authority when he agreed to establish Secret Cao Zuosi, more importantly, the situation they faced was extremely dangerous. If they were not careful, everything would be lost. Rather than paying attention to these details, they
What is more urgent is the need for someone who can control the situation to take charge.
Shen Yang was not on the same side as them, and there was no expectation that he would participate in the overt and covert fights with Anning Palace and Chuzhou. Besides his father, himself and Chai Jian, Li Zhigao believed that Li Chong, Yao Xishui and others were far from qualified.
Stand alone.
Han Qian has now become an indispensable part of them, and he also plays a role that is difficult for others to match. Li Zhigao doesn't think he should demand more from him; and when manpower is scarce and people's hearts are unstable, he uses thunderous means to defeat the unruly people first.
The decisive and resolute method is to suppress it with tame and fierce soldiers.
Considering that Zhao Mingting might dispatch more elite spies to lurk in tonight, and the manpower brought by Li Zhigao were not very familiar with the terrain of Baohua Mountain, Han Qian discussed with Li Zhigao and finally decided that the manpower brought by Li Zhigao would work with the soldiers.
Together, they are responsible for the security inside the camp; while the counter-infiltration and hunting on the outside are still left to Lin Haizheng, Fan Dahei and Zhao Wuji, who lead the scouts belonging to Zuosi Binghu.
In any case, it is impossible for Zhao Mingting to openly lead a large number of troops to attack. Even the slackness of the newly recruited scouts last night may very well create some misleading for Zhao Mingting. The situation is still extremely favorable to them.
Han Qian was able to control the situation, and Li Zhigao was happy to be free, and focused more on the construction of the camp military mansion and the Longque Army.
Naturally, Han Qian once again raised the issue of building a fort below the villa, with the military office as the center. In addition, there were six gaps in the ridges outside the villa to build defensive outposts, so as to form a complete defense system. If necessary,
We can gather seven to eight thousand soldiers and horses, and withdraw the families of thirty to forty thousand soldiers to hold on.
Han Qian proposed this plan when he met Li Zhigao and Chai Jian the day before yesterday. After Li Zhigao returned, he discussed it with his father and felt that Han Qian's proposal was very good. It was definitely necessary to build such a strong fortress to prevent the situation from suddenly getting worse. The third prince was outside the city.
Having a place to stay can gather troops and horses.
However, the key to the problem is the cost.
Seeing Li Zhigao frowning and thinking, Han Qian was neither impatient nor impatient.
What he mentioned are all matters that cannot be delayed. Now we have to see how much potential the Wanhong Mansion and Xinchang Hou Mansion have that can be exploited.
This also made it easier for him to estimate how powerful the late Honglou and the Xinchang Hou Mansion had been operating under the water over the years.
"The six defensive outposts are located right at the gap of the mountain ridge. The terrain is dangerous and can be called a pass. Construction should start as soon as possible. Moreover, these six places are easily affected by rain and need to be built with masonry and glutinous rice slurry mixed with lime. As for the city fortress below, if
If it is too wasteful, we can build the earth wall first and wrap the city bricks later." Han Qian gave a compromise suggestion.
"Approximately how much additional food needs to be allocated each month?" Li Zhigao asked.
Seventy or eighty thousand acres of land have been reclaimed here in the Tunying Military Mansion, and harvests have begun to be harvested by the end of April. However, since only dry land such as wheat and beans can be grown for farming, and it is even strictly prohibited to catch crabs and snails to satisfy hunger, so even in the sunny Baohua Mountain
At Nanlu, the total annual output is only about 100,000 shi.
This is only enough for the families of the 23,000 to 23,000 soldiers to avoid starving to death. However, weddings and funerals, health care medicines, and even the military government of the camp want to repair houses, villages, roads, ditches, and isolate the epidemic that will last for many years.
In order to maintain the resources and the internal public consumption of the camp military mansion, it still needs to invest 10 million yuan every year.
In addition, the training of 7,000 soldiers cannot be stopped. In addition to the 20 million yuan of military funds allocated by the court every year, they must also provide at least an additional 60,000 shi of food a year.
The armor of the Longque Army was allocated by the Weiwei Temple Arsenal, but in addition to more than 12,000 crudely forged swords and spears, only 500 sets of various armors and 300 strong horses were provided.
, five hundred mules and horses, and twenty pieces of horse armor.
If the Longque Army wants to become an elite force, Wanhonglou and Xinchanghou Mansion will need to purchase a large amount of additional sophisticated equipment.
In addition to the 70 to 80 million yuan invested by Xinchanghou Mansion and Wanhonglou in the first six months to build the Longque Army and Tunying Army Mansion, another 78 million yuan will be spent every month thereafter to build the Longque Army and Tunying Army.
Only then can the government barely continue to operate normally.
If you want to build kilns and burn bricks and build forts in the camp, you can requisition cheap labor from the camp. However, no matter how cheap it is, you still have to provide three full meals. Then you will need to allocate thousands of shi of more grain or equivalent at least a month.
Just enough money and stuff.
Han Qian made some calculations in his mind and said to Li Zhigao: "Leave this matter to me. I will allocate an additional thousand shi of food every month and it will be completed within a year. In another half a year, the outer wall of the military city fortress can be covered with city bricks."
.
Li Zhigao led the army to fight. In addition to attacking the city, he also set up weapons to build the city. Knowing the number reported by Han Qian, it was quite economical.
In fact, they had already considered this matter. The Cangcao, Gongcao, and Bingcao who were stationed in the camp were all sent by the Xinchanghou Mansion. They also had construction officials under them. They had estimated the cost of building the brick-clad fortifications.
The cost is actually more than 30% to 40% higher than what Han Qian spent here.
Li Zhigao thought that Han Qian could save so much by taking charge of the affairs, so he should let the workers cooperate with him. He gritted his teeth and said:
"We have to squeeze out money and food for this matter no matter what, and get it done as soon as possible. Don't delay on your side. Make preparations first..."
Although after calculation, the Xinchanghou Mansion and Wanhonglou invested six or seven thousand cakes of gold into the Longque Army and the Tunying Military Mansion in the first six months, and the absolute value is not terrible. However, Xinchanghou Mansion and Wanhonglou have not only secretly maintained five
The elite fighting force of 600 people has also cultivated a group of people with deep secrets to lurk in the government and the public. The consumption is not a small amount.
After Han Qian expanded the number of his family soldiers and intended to train them towards elites or even elites, he found that the consumption was too terrifying.
Seeing that Li Zhigao didn't look like he was faking it, Han Qian thought that getting an extra thousand shi of food every month would really be the limit for Xinchanghou Mansion and Wanhonglou.