Fenghou

The two chatted about fate, Lu Xiu pulled her and smiled and said, "Go and sit with me! I have a donkey there, I will fetch water for you later, or I will ask my husband to fetch water for you."

"do not want!"

Zhao Qiaoyun waved her hands in fright, "Don't ask General Chen to help me!"

"Why?" Lu Xiu asked puzzled.

Zhao Qiaoyun whispered for a long time: "General Chen helps me, they will feel uncomfortable!"

Lu Xiu immediately understood why Zhao Qiaoyun was being bullied, and she immediately said angrily: "You follow me first, go to my place."

"I haven't washed my face yet! There's no water in the tank."

"I have hot water, hurry up and follow me!" Lu Xiu couldn't help saying, and pulled her away.

Zhao Qiaoyun didn't want to go to Chen Qing's house, but had no choice but to follow Lu Xiu.

"Miss Zhao, you haven't answered me yet! Why don't you want to restore your princess status?"

Zhao Qiaoyun shook her head lightly, "You haven't experienced that kind of unforgettable shame, you won't realize it. The most pitiful thing in this world is the daughter of the emperor's family. Although I am still young and have no experience, I have seen the misery of my sisters with my own eyes. In the end, even if I go back to the Song Dynasty and become a princess again, how will my fate be better?"

"Okay! Let's not talk about this topic. Anyway, don't worry, if you don't want to go back to Lin'an, my husband will definitely not send you there."

Zhao Qiaoyun nodded, "I have always been grateful!"

While talking, the two came to the door of the house, and happened to meet Li Qingzhao, Li Qingzhao said with a smile: "I said, where did Xiu'er go? The two little girls don't know, this is your friend?"

"It's my friend!"

Lu Xiu smiled and introduced to Zhao Qiaoyun: "This is my master, the famous Yi'an layman!"

"You are...Mr. Li from Xiao Xiao Wei Yu Wen Gu Guan?" Zhao Qiaoyun's eyes widened.

"Xiao Xiao Wei Yu Wen Gu Guan, I wrote it a long time ago."

Zhao Qiaoyun hurriedly gave Wan Fuli, "Mr. is the poetess I admire the most. I only regret not having the opportunity to worship Mr. as my teacher. I didn't expect to meet him here. Please accept Qiaoyun's gift!"

Lu Xiu whispered a few words to the master, Li Qingzhao's eyes were also stunned, and then filled with pity, it turned out that it was Empress Xiande, she knew it.

Li Qingzhao smiled slightly, "It is a kind of fate that we can meet in the small town of Beiguo. Come and sit in my room."

Zhao Qiaoyun just didn't want to go to Chen Qing's house, so she walked into Li Qingzhao's courtyard.

The three sat down, Li Qingzhao looked at Zhao Qiaoyun and sighed, "Why are you so thin? Don't they even give you food?"

Zhao Qiaoyun shook her head, "It's not that I can't afford to eat. This is actually my life-saving strategy. Only thin and weak can escape disaster."

"Why?" Lu Xiu and Li Qingzhao asked in puzzlement.

"About four years ago, when I was 15 years old, Wanyan Nianhan came to the palace to select someone, and I was on the list. I know, golden men like fatter women.

However, I tried not to eat as much as possible, and kept thin and thin. Later, I escaped the concubine selection twice. In the end, although I was rewarded with Wanyan and Lisa, he still thought I was thin and scolded me for looking like a starving ghost. It will make him have nightmares at night and never flip my brand name. Although the price I paid was high and I was always bullied, at least I kept my reputation. "

After hearing her story, Lu Xiu and Li Qingzhao sighed. Zhao Qiaoyun is 19 years old, but she still looks like a child of thirteen or fourteen, with a sallow complexion. She paid such a high price to keep her reputation.

Li Qingzhao said distressedly: "Now you don't have to be afraid, just eat and make yourself fat, child, you can't wrong yourself anymore."

Hearing the care like a mother, Zhao Qiaoyun couldn't bear it any longer, and fell on the table and burst into tears.

Lu Xiu's eyes were also red, and she secretly blamed her husband for being confused, why did Zhao Qiaoyun live with those concubines, they bullied her before, and they are still bullying her now.

She couldn't be allowed to live there anymore, Lu Xiu suddenly had an idea in her heart.

She waved to Master and called her out.

"You want me to adopt her as a righteous daughter?" Li Qingzhao was stunned.

"Whether it's a adopted daughter or an apprentice, you can do whatever you want, but she can't go back."

Lu Xiu recounted what she saw with her own eyes today.

Li Qingzhao was also moved with compassion, and said for a while, "I can accept her as a disciple, but it's her status."

"Master, don't worry. She doesn't want to go back to Lin'an, and my general won't send her back. Master, just agree!" Lu Xiu grabbed Master's arm and shook it desperately.

"Okay! I'll accept her as my closed disciple."

"Master is here, please accept the disciples!"

It turned out that Zhao Qiaoyun heard it from the side. She plopped down on her knees and kowtowed to Li Qingzhao as a big salute.

"Good boy! Get up quickly."

……

At night, when Chen Qing was scalding his feet with hot water, Lu Xiu triumphantly recounted the day's events, pointed to the next door and laughed, "I moved her here by force, my husband didn't expect that!"

Chen Qing was stunned for a while, then sighed: "She didn't say anything about being bullied. She originally had three sheepskins, but only one is left. Hey! It's because I didn't care enough for her."

"Every time my husband cares about her, others will envy and hate her, and he bullies her even more. Think about it, every morning she has to light eight stoves and do a lot of laundry. How pitiful! She was scared, so she refused. Husband's concern."

Chen Qing was really regretful, but fortunately Li Qingzhao accepted her as a closed disciple, and he was relieved of the sea of ​​suffering.

"That Bian Chunshui is arrogant for a reason. She is going to marry Hu Yanyun soon, and she will become Mrs. Huyan, so she has a bit of a superior mentality."

Lu Xiu's eyes widened, "That Bian Chunshui is a tigress! She is so tall and fat, how could Hu Yanyun fall in love with her?"

Chen Qing smiled wryly and said: "How would I know, anyway, Hu Yanyun likes her, or this is why Wang Ba looks at mung beans, right?"

"The bastard sees mung beans, right eye!"

When Lu Xiu heard her husband say such interesting words, she immediately covered her mouth and giggled, laughing so hard that the branches trembled, but Chen Qing's heart was burning hot when she saw it.

3 Chapter Eighty

A hard life not only brings hope, but also despair. Seven days after Huyantong’s army arrived, the first desertion occurred. Three soldiers on duty at night climbed down with the ropes prepared in advance. The city wall escaped under the cover of night.

This news caused an uproar in the entire army, and deserters actually appeared in the army, which has never happened since the establishment of the army.

Hu Yantong was under tremendous pressure. Although it is not uncommon for deserters to appear in Jiangnan, this is the first desertion incident in Chen Qing's army. It happened that this kind of thing happened to his subordinates, which made Hu Yantong hate and angry. Very frustrated.

Chen Qing was also deeply shocked. You must know that the army led by Hu Yantong was personally trained by him. He watched them reborn and won the No. 1 contest for recruits and generals.

He had deep feelings for this army, and he wanted to take it away with all his heart, but he didn't expect such a big event to happen in the end. You must know that in any army, deserters are a major event that cannot be tolerated. Downturn sign.

In the big tent, Hu Yantong lowered his head and said: "They are no longer the army they used to be. They have been training for a few months at most, but they can't change their nature. When they were stationed in Jiangning, sneaky things happened from time to time. Rape of women has also happened, and it is unwise to treat them with old eyes."

"You mean, this army is starting to degenerate again?"

"It's not degeneration, it's assimilation. It's slowly becoming the same as Zhang Jun's army. If you don't believe me, try their physical strength again. They can't even run half of the distance back then. This is the result of not training for several years. In fact, the decline in physical strength is still small. The problem, the key is that the mentality has changed, this group of people came to the Northwest because they want to get rich, so they don’t want to work in such a bitter and cold place, and there will definitely be deserters in the future.”

Chen Qing walked a few steps with his hands behind his back and said: "Go back and tell all the soldiers clearly that I will never force them to stay. If you want to leave, you can ask. I will give them travel expenses and dry food, and handle the withdrawal procedures for them. Then send troops to send them to Xianren Pass, without enough dry food, they can’t survive on the road, if they go to rob them, they will definitely be beaten to death by the local people.”

"Humble job, go back and call all the soldiers to make it clear!"

Hu Yantong saluted and left.

Chen Qing was distracted as he looked outside the tent. He had already realized the mistakes he had made. He always thought that they were still the same army as before, but in fact they were no longer there. The ideological education of generals at the bottom.

……

Two days later, a group of hundreds of golden soldiers came from outside the city. Xiao Dongsheng came to Oasis Castle again. This time he brought 270 concubines and maids, but unfortunately, he did not bring back the emperor. It is impossible to return to the Song army if they die, get married, or become a concubine in the palace. At the same time, Jin Guo took out 700 taels of gold as an additional ransom.

Twelve taels of gold to redeem one person, and send a concubine and maid, is the biggest concession made by the Kingdom of Jin.

Chen Qing accepted this concession, and like last time, he still did not allow the golden soldiers to enter the city, and sent people to bring back 270 palace maids and concubines, and at the same time received 700 taels of gold, and sent people to bring back the last 270 family members. Escorted out.

Chen Qing did a very good job. When these Jurchen family members entered the city, they were all brought into the city with hoods, and then they were placed under house arrest in Ganquan Fort, and they were not allowed to go out. They were also escorted out with cloth bags covering their heads. I don't know what it looks like inside Ganquan Fort.

Even the people living outside, who help to deliver things, are not allowed to enter the castle.

Xiao Dongsheng counted the family members of the Jurchens one by one, all of them were correct, but to his dismay, they failed to enter the city. This was actually another task of his, to understand the various military deployments in the city, and to prepare for the attack on Ganquan Fort after the beginning of spring. Good information preparation.

But now, not only his people couldn't enter the city, but even the redeemed family members didn't know anything about it. They didn't see what the inside of the city was like at all.

In desperation, Xiao Dongsheng had no choice but to lead the team to set off and return to Fengxiang...

At night, a thousand Jurchen soldiers and dozens of ox carts were stationed in a mountain depression about [-] miles away from Ganquan Fort. The area was deserted for dozens of miles, and there were no trees. Even small animals could not be seen, and the world was completely silent.

Xiao Dongsheng sighed and said to Wanyan Heishi, the captain of the team: "Now I know why Chen Qing chose Ganquan Fort as his base. No matter which army attacks Ganquan Fort, it will cost a lot, and the logistics alone is not ordinary. The army can take it."

"May I ask Xiao Sima, does the Fourth Prince want to attack Ganquan Castle?"

"Of course we have to fight. The fourth prince said, no matter Ganquan Fort or what kind of fort, as long as Chen Qing is in the northwest for a day, it will be a cancer in the northwest. If it is not dug up, there will be no occupation of the northwest."

At this moment, there was a commotion outside, Xiao Dongsheng and Wanyan Heishi hurried out of the tent, and soon, a soldier rushed to report, "Report to Sima, catch two Song soldiers who stole food!"

Xiao Dongsheng and Wanyan Heishi looked at each other, both of them looked puzzled, Xiao Dongsheng immediately ordered: "Bring them up!"

……

In the big tent, two men in Song Army uniforms were wolfing down meat pies. Xiao Dongsheng smiled all over his face, "Eat slowly, drink some water, don't choke!"

He never expected that he would capture two fugitive soldiers from Fort Ganquan. According to them, there were three of them, and one of them went to find water but never came back. They only found a pile of bones gnawed by wolves. The two men were frightened and ran for their lives, but they lost their way and hadn't eaten for three days.

Xiao Dongsheng was worried that he couldn't go back and explain. Now that he caught two deserters from the Song army, his mission was successfully completed.

No one knows the situation in Ganquan Fort better than the soldiers of the Song Army.

……

Chen Qing didn't know that two of the three deserters were captured by Jin Bing. To Jin Bing, these two people may be very important, but to Ganquanbao, the arrest of the two is only a trivial matter, and it will not trigger Ganquan. The defense crisis of the fort.

With the arrival of spring, Chen Qing now has several important things to do. The first is to store wood, the second is to store water, the third is to store coal, and the fourth is to plow in spring.

First, Chen Qing sent Hu Yantong and Wang Duo to lead 4000 people to Heishong Mountain, fifty miles away to the northeast. There are two mountains planted with pine forests. Although most of them have been cut down, there is still a little tail forest. There are at least thousands of pine trees, and even the branches are not wasted.

Wood is the most important strategic material. Only with wood can we make various combat weapons, such as fire kites, trebuchets and so on.

In addition, Chen Qing sent Hu Yantong's army to participate in the felling of trees, which actually gave these soldiers a chance to escape. Although everyone stated that they would not desert again, Chen Qing didn't know if this statement was their innermost thoughts.

Then simply give them a chance to escape, each of them took seven or eight days of water bottles and dry food, and went fifty miles away to cut down trees. At this time, it is easy for the soldiers to escape. If they do not escape at this time, it shows that their statement is convincing , Only if you successfully resist the temptation and test, can you be trusted.

The second major thing in Ganquanbao is to store water and burn coal. Needless to say, burning coal is the energy needed to maintain life and production. Chen Qing sent Zheng Ping to lead [-] soldiers to dig coal mines and transport coal back to the city. There are hundreds of soldiers to collect sulfur mines.

The key is water. Ganquan Fort got its name because it can dig wells to produce spring water. This is related to the rich groundwater in Huizhou. There is only one white water river for surface water, but there are several undercurrents for groundwater.

However, Ganquan Fort not only has tens of thousands of troops and civilians, but also war horses and a large number of livestock. They all need drinking water. It is not enough to get water by digging wells. Once the enemy is besieging the city, what should we do if there is not enough drinking water?Therefore, storing water to the maximum extent has become a top priority.

Storage of water requires containers, and water tanks and large urns are the best water storage containers. It was under the guidance of this kind of preparation thinking that the first large-scale handicraft workshop in Ganquanbao was established.

That is to use extremely rich loess resources and coal resources to burn pottery and bricks.

Two thousand soldiers turned into potters and started working in full swing three miles west of Ganquan.

Then, the third major event is spring plowing, which is the time for spring plowing.

Chapter 381 Spring Plowing

A few days ago, another major event happened in Ganquanbao, that is, the establishment of the government, that is, the establishment of the Ganquan County Government. Whether it is to solve the conflicts among the people, maintain order, run schools, or organize production, etc., the government needs to come forward and the army assists.

Chen Qing formally appointed Jiang Yanxian as the first county magistrate, Zhang Miao as the county magistrate, Lu Wei as the county lieutenant, and Yang Yuanqing's brother-in-law Wei Qun as the chief secretary. A hundred logistics soldiers are archers.

Chen Qing also turned the compound where the Jurchen family members were under house arrest in the north of the city into a temporary county government, and allocated a large amount of money, food and materials.

In this way, the requirements for people, money, things, and places are all complete, and the Ganquan County Government is officially established.

The first thing the county government established was to register the population and compile the household registration. At the same time, spring plowing was also mentioned on the agenda.

This morning, in the county government meeting hall, the first meeting to start spring plowing was held.

Chen Qing participated in the deliberations as the governor of Qinzhou, while Yang Yuanqing attended the deliberations as a representative of the military, including four county magistrates and three deputies.

Jiang Yanxian said with a smile: "In fact, our county government had already discussed it last night. The 120 hectares of farmland is quite a lot. I am afraid that the whole city needs to be mobilized, just like Chengji County the year before last, when the whole city went to farm. The elderly and children who really can’t go grow gourds and wax gourds in their own yards, please read the plan we have drafted.”

Jiang Yan first handed a plan to Chen Qing, Chen Qing looked at it and said with a smile: "The plan is good, but I would like to mention a few details, please ask the county government to improve it."

"Please tell me all!"

Chen Qing thought for a while and said: "The first is about the more than 300 rescued women. Their household registrations are all placed in Ganquan County, and they are normal county residents. Then, Deputy General Yang will arrange more than 300 young generals. Their The household registration is also in Ganquan County, and then these 600 people are divided into [-] mutual aid associations, and they are arranged to work together, do you understand what I mean?"

Everyone laughed, isn't this just pointing at the mandarin ducks?

Jiang Yanxian asked with a smile: "I understand the meaning of Dutong, how to assign mutual aid groups?"

Chen Qing said with a smile: "There were already thirteen mutual-aid groups in the briquette business before. The members of these thirteen mutual-aid groups will remain unchanged. The newly formed seventeen mutual-aid groups will be decided by lottery. Let fate arrange their marriages. Everyone Understand!"

Everyone agreed one after another, and Jiang Yanxian said again: "Please continue to explain the second detail!"

"The second detail is that mutual aid groups for ordinary people should be formed voluntarily. If they can't be formed, the government will arrange them for them. Then I want to know, how many varieties are planted in the courtyard?"

County magistrate Zhang Miao hurriedly said: "Currently there are only two types of vegetables, gourds and wax gourds, and grapes as fruits, but there is a difficulty that there is no fine wood for gourd trellises and grape trellises."

"This is not a big problem. The first batch of logging teams will return tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. This time they will bring back a large number of pine branches, and they can choose better branches from them to build scaffolding."