Fenghou

In the morning of the next day, Chen Qing held the last military-state meeting that Zhao Kai participated in. The content of the meeting confirmed two points. First, he agreed to Zhao Kai’s resignation from the positions of counselor and chief supervisor of the financial department, and resigned as the elder of the cabinet. Chen Qing immediately sealed Zhao Kai. He was named Cai Guogong, and his title was allowed to decrease for three generations.

The succession of titles in the Tang Dynasty adopted a descending method. For example, if the grandfather was the Duke of the state, the father's generation would be reduced to the county prince, and his own generation would be reduced to the county prince. .

However, the Song Dynasty abolished the inheritance of titles, and the titles were only for the person himself, and his descendants could not inherit them.

Chen Qing is basically based on the laws of the Song Dynasty, but there are also some fine-tuning, such as title inheritance, if Chen Qing’s approval is obtained, then the succession can be reduced, but no more than three generations, this is a kind of institutional flexibility, but this The power is in the hands of Chen Qing, and the power to confer titles is also in the hands of Chen Qing.

The Internal Affairs Hall is only responsible for conferring honorary officers, and there is a hidden hierarchy in it, ordinary commoners-gentry-nobles.

Of course, ordinary civilians are divided into poor, middle-class, wealthy, and wealthy. This is mainly measured by money. If ordinary people want to be promoted to nobles, there are only three ways. First, serve in the army and make meritorious service; , build bridges and roads, do charity, and run education.

Chen Qing said to the crowd again: "I'm considering transferring Lu Qingshan to the Internal Affairs Hall as a counselor, do you have any opinions?"

Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay, Jiang Yanxian asked: "Your Highness considers Lu Qingshan instead of Zhang Xiao, is it more out of consideration for revoking Sichuan Road Shangshu Xingtai?"

Chen Qing smiled and said: "I don't consider Zhang Xiao because Zhang Xiao still needs to continue to sit on Henan Road, especially this year there will be wars, and he can't leave the Central Plains. Of course, it is also directly related to the cancellation of Sichuan Road Shangshu Xingtai. As you all know, the establishment of Sichuan Road Shangshuxingtai is the result of our struggle with the imperial court for decentralization of power. Now that we have completely controlled Sichuan Road, Shangshuxingtai has completed its mission and will return to normal. The Ministry of Internal Affairs will directly manage Sichuan road."

Everyone is very much in favor of this point, although in name the Shangshuxingtai is an extension of the Internal Affairs Hall, but if there is a strong long history, it will actually emptied the Internal Affairs Hall, and Lu Qingshan is a strong long history, he sits in the Shangshuxing In Taiwan, the internal affairs hall's control over Sichuan Road is getting weaker and weaker, and most things are reported to the internal affairs hall after they are implemented.

Of course, the Internal Affairs Hall is dissatisfied, so everyone has been persuading Chen Qing to cancel the Shangshu Xingtai, but Chen Qing is very steady, he can't just cancel it, he must wait for a suitable opportunity, this time Zhao Kai retired, and Lu Qingshan entered the Internal Affairs Hall It is the best opportunity.

Everyone was discussing excitedly, and Zhou Kuan couldn't help but ask, "How does the Deputy Chief Shi Jiang Xin arrange it?"

Chen Qing smiled slightly and said, "I'm considering appointing him as the prefect of Chengdu. It just so happens that the prefect of Chengdu has been vacant for half a year. He is the most suitable to take up the post."

Zhao Kai pondered for a while and said: "Lu Qingshan is better at government affairs, is it appropriate for him to take over the Finance and Taxation Department?"

"We will discuss this issue later. Today we have to discuss more important matters. Next, we will discuss the second military affairs."

The second content of the military affairs is to discuss the second phase of the Central Plains strategic plan.

"As you all know, when we decided to attack the Central Plains the year before last, we divided it into two phases, with the New Yellow River as the boundary. In the first phase, we recovered the west of the New Yellow River. We achieved this goal. Last year and the year before last, we spent a year and a half Consolidate the occupied area, now the time is ripe and all preparations have been completed, then, the next step is for us to start our Eastern Expedition.”

Guan Shigu asked: "Your Highness decided to attack Shandong Road, did you consider the impact of the nomadic army's attack on Datong Mansion?"

Chen Qing said slowly: "This time I went to Datong Mansion to stay for more than a month, and basically solved all the hidden dangers. At present, Datong Mansion has more than [-] troops. As long as the defenders don't attack in a hurry, the nomadic army can't attack In Datong City, there is an old and steady Zhe Yanzhi sitting in the town, and there are nearly [-] barrels of kerosene in stock, so I am not worried about Datong Mansion."

"Your Highness, how many troops are you planning to send to attack Shandong Road?"

"It is estimated that 30 troops will be dispatched. The main consideration is that Jin Bing has 20 troops on Shandong Road, and more than 50 troops on Hebei Road. Now our total strength is about 5. It looks like a lot, but the distribution is scattered. There are 3 troops in Lulu, 32 in Datong Mansion, [-] troops in Lingxia, and that's [-]. There are also [-] troops on Hexi Road, [-] troops on Xihe Road, and [-] troops on Sichuan Road and Jingnan South Road. In fact, the army I can use is only [-].

However, Jingzhao's safety must also be taken into consideration. One hundred thousand troops must be kept in Guanzhong, and there is still a gap of [-] troops. "

Guan Shigu said: "You can also transfer [-] state soldiers to Guanzhong for training as before."

Chen Qing nodded, "I think so too. Generally speaking, the people in Guanzhong live and work in peace and contentment, and there will be no problem. It is enough to train the state soldiers. Jingzhao City has [-] troops guarding it."

Immediately, everyone discussed the issues of money, food, supplies, and transportation, and basically finalized the plan for dispatching troops.

……

At lunch time, Chen Qing invited Zhou Kuan to drink tea at Qingfeng Teahouse alone.

"It's been almost ten years in Jingzhao, time flies!" Zhou Kuan said with emotion.

"To be precise, in the seventh year, the princess became pregnant in Ganquanbao and gave birth to a son in Chengji County, Qinzhou. Two years later, we captured Jingzhao. Now the son is nine years old, but it is indeed almost ten years since the era of Ganquanbao. gone."

"Time flies, in a blink of an eye, Zhao Kai retired, and we are old too."

Chen Qing smiled slightly, "Counselor Zhou is very healthy, and he can work for another ten years."

Zhou Kuan raised his rough eyebrows, "Your Highness invited me to drink tea, it's not to count time!"

Chen Qing nodded, and said frankly: "I want you to take it back to the Finance and Taxation Department."

Zhou Kuan thought for a while and said, "It's no problem for me to take back the Finance and Taxation Department, but Lu Qingshan is not suitable to manage the Department of Officials!"

"Why?" Chen Qing was puzzled.

"He has too sharp edges and corners, and it can even be said that the horns of his head are ferocious. He is in charge of the Ministry of Officials, and countless innocent officials will be beheaded by him."

Chen Qing said with a smile: "You said he has a ferocious head, but I think he is jealous. Isn't it a good thing for such a strict official to be in charge of the bureaucracy?"

Zhou Kuan shook his head, "Your Highness is very powerful, and you can't rub any sand in your eyes. At this time, you need a gentle and smooth chief official to ease His Highness's sharpness. If two fires are set ablaze, there will definitely be countless injustice cases, so that everyone will betray their relatives, and I believe His Highness does not want to see such a result."

"You're right!"

Chen Qing praised Zhou Kuan's way of balance, so he asked with a smile, "I want to hear your opinion!"

"The humble post suggests that Zhang Miao be transferred to be in charge of the Department of Officials, and Lu Qingshan will take over the Department of Supervision."

"What if Lu Qingshan is put in charge of the Secretary of Government Affairs? Do you think he is suitable?"

Zhou Kuan took a sip of tea, and said in a calm manner: "Bizhi worked with Lu Qingshan in Chengdu for a few months last year, and found that he is very serious and persistent in his work, even if it is a small thing, he will do it It was clear and unequivocal that if His Highness asked him to be in charge of government affairs, his subordinates would be very tired, and he himself would also be very tired. With his personality, I think he is more suitable for supervisory supervision, and it is impossible to hide anything from him. "

Chen Qing nodded, "I will consider your suggestion!"

……

Chen Qing finally adopted Zhou Kuan's suggestion. Zhang Miao was in charge of the Department of Officials, Lu Qingshan was transferred to the Internal Affairs Hall to be in charge of the Supervision Department, and Zhou Kuan took over as the Finance and Taxation Department.

Chen Qing immediately issued the Yongwang decree, appointing Lu Qingshan as the counselor of the internal affairs hall and the superintendent of the Supervision Department, and called Lu Qingshan to come to Jingzhao to perform his duties as soon as possible.

The first thousand and 180 chapters and four preparations

Another month passed, and in late February, a fleet of hundreds of ships arrived in Xiangyang and began to unload at the newly built pier on Jiangzhong Island outside Xiangyang City.

The materials transported are grain and copper coins. These grains and copper coins are first transported from Sichuan Road, transported to Jiangling transit warehouse, and then transported to Xiangyang by Wanshi ship.

Then it was transported to Ruzhou by camels and carts, and transported to Kaifeng Mansion through Rushui. This was the first step in preparing for the war. A large amount of logistics materials were transported from Bashu to Bianliang.

On the official road north of Nanyang County, Dengzhou, it has just rained and the ground is covered with mud. The mighty transport team is heading north. The carts full of grain and forage, especially the forage carts, are as high as small hills Usually, it is tied with a rope, and a teenager is lying on it.

The large carts one after another were mainly pulled by oxen, and they walked very slowly. The line of carts could not be seen at a glance, and was more than [-] miles long.

Next to the cart team are [-] camels, also carrying food and other supplies, striding forward and walking steadily, and at the end of the official road are [-] cavalry, who are responsible for security and escorting logistics supplies to two hundred miles away Ye County.

This transport army did not come from Xiangyang, but from Nanyang County. It benefited from a large river, the Baishui River, which originated from Xiong'er Mountain, ran through the entire territory of Dengzhou, and poured into the Han River.

From Xiangyang, the grain, grass, materials and copper coins were first transported to Nanyang four hundred miles away by a flat-bottomed cargo ship of thousands of stones, and then from Nanyang to Ye County and then to Fengshui, a tributary of Rushui. Bears Ears Mountains.

The difficulty of marching by land has been greatly reduced. It is only two hundred miles, three days away, and the rest is by water, which plays a huge role in improving transportation efficiency.

In addition to the Yangtze River system, there is also the Yellow River system, starting from Guanzhong, passing through the Yellow River to Bianliang, but the Yellow River will not thaw until mid-February, so the materials sent out from Guanzhong are almost all copper coins and military supplies.

At this time, it is late February. According to the Gregorian calendar, it will be late March or early April. Except for part of the upper reaches, the Yellow River in the middle and lower reaches has thawed, and even the Weishui River, a tributary of the Yellow River, has also thawed. .

Hundreds of three-thousand-stone cargo ships are moored beside the Weihe River outside Jingzhao City in Guanzhong. Countless civilians are loading mountains of supplies onto the big ships. The heavy and bulging big bags are filled with silver coins. Each silver coin is worth five dollars. Hundreds of coins, a large amount of silver was minted into silver coins, distributed to soldiers and officials as salaries, and then flowed into the market.

At the beginning, this kind of silver money was collected, but after a few years, fewer and fewer people collected it, and more and more silver money circulated in the market, and people all over the world also accepted silver money. Silver coins minted by Zhao have always been in high demand.

However, the main body is still copper coins, and silver coins are just a currency supplement, which is easy to carry.

In addition to money, there are also a large number of weapons, armor, crossbows, arrows, large siege weapon parts, tents, kerosene and other materials. In addition, there is a ship dedicated to transporting iron fire mines.

Chen Qing, Zhou Kuan, Lu Qingshan, and Guan Shigu inspected the Weishui Wharf. Zhou Kuan said to Chen Qing: "The military expenditure for this Eastern Expedition is estimated to be about 150 million, including salary and various consumables. It will take two months, but I found that every war would be significantly overspend compared to previous estimates, so I have relaxed the bottom line to 300 million guns, if it exceeds 300 million guns, I am afraid we will not be able to support it.”

Chen Qing smiled slightly: "War is about national power. If we can't support it, can the other side support it?"

Lu Qingshan next to him asked: "Your Highness, I have always been confused. Wanyan Wushu also has 20 troops. How can only one Shandong Road support 20 troops?"

Chen Qing smiled and said: "The key is that the salaries of the [-] Jurchen soldiers are not paid by Wanyan Wushu, but by the court of the Kingdom of Jin. They use the sheep they plundered from the grassland to pay to the Jurchen soldiers' families, a few per month. The income of sheep and sheep, they actually only pay the [-] military salary of the signing army, and the military salary of the signing army is very low. not bad."

"In this way, Shandong Road can indeed support 20 troops, but the people will suffer."

"Of course it's very bitter. They rely on the sea, and they need four to five hundred yuan per catty of salt. Before, Wanyan Wushu pretended to be considerate of the people, but now he doesn't care about it at all. He does everything possible to squeeze and exploit him. Otherwise, how will his 20 troops support him?" ?”

At this time, they came to a large tent guarded by soldiers. This was a special tent for storing iron fire thunders. When they entered the tent, they saw a large box inside. The iron fire thunders were carried by soldiers. The ship is escorted by a special army, transported by a special ship, and each box is numbered, and the management is very strict.

"Is there two hundred iron fire mines in here?" Guan Sigu patted the big box and asked.

Chen Qing nodded, "250 in total, 150 for the iron hedgehog, [-] for the iron dog and [-] for the iron ox."

Iron Fire Thunder has been designated as a special firearm, and its scope of use is strictly limited to sieges and water battles. It must be approved by Chen Qing before it can be used in a certain war. The specific use is up to the commander.

The main purpose is to prevent the real iron fire thunder from being obtained by the Jurchens. Chen Qing is also worried about being obtained by the court. Once the Jurchens learn it, Jin Guo will have a chance to continue his life. For the same reason, once it is used in large quantities by the court, even Zhang Jun The Chinese army can also attack cities and loot villages, invincible, and the way of war has changed.

After walking out of the big tent, Chen Qing looked at the sky and said with a smile, "It's getting late, we should go back."

The people got into several carriages, and under the escort of the cavalry, they drove towards Jingzhao City.

Two days later, all the materials were loaded, and the fleet of more than 500 large ships was full of materials and headed eastward...

War preparation is not only food and materials, but also the mobilization of troops, and armies are also rushing to the Central Plains day and night.

There are quite a few of the busiest business districts in Jingzhao, such as the Four Big Wazi, but the most upscale business district is recognized by everyone, that is Dongdajie, and Zhuangyuan Bridge with the highest land price is located in the middle of Dongdajie.

In the west section of East Street, there is a Renhetang fur shop, which specializes in all kinds of high-end furs. It is quite famous in Jingzhao City. Even a fox fur cloak for the princess and a bear skin in Chen Qingnei's study were all bought from this shop. shop.

The proprietor of this store is unknown, but the shopkeeper's surname is Liang, and his ancestral home is Laizhou, Shandong Road, but he himself has been living in Jingzhao.

In fact, the background of this fur shop is very unusual. It is the second intelligence point established by Wanyan Wushu in Jingzhao. The first intelligence point was taken over by Neiwei three years ago. Last summer, Wanyan Wushu A second intelligence point was set up in Jingzhao.

This time they learned their lesson and no longer searched for classified information, but collected some important and easy-to-obtain information.

For example, during this period of time when the Western Army was preparing for war, the people in Jingzhao basically knew about it, but the Jin soldiers who were thousands of miles away did not know it. It's a few months away.

Therefore, setting up an intelligence point is to ensure that Wanyan Wushu can get important information in a timely manner. Since they do not involve confidentiality and are not illegal, it is basically impossible for the inner guards to find them unless they are exposed internally.

At dusk, a clerk hurried back to the leather goods shop on a donkey. He walked into the shopkeeper Liang and said, "I saw the situation on the wharf with my own eyes. There are about four or five hundred ships, and various military supplies are piled up like a mountain. Wang and several counselors are also inspecting there, and they are indeed preparing for battle."

Shopkeeper Liang nodded, "According to the news from Tongguan, at least [-] troops have passed through Tongguan. It seems that the Western Army is preparing for war and preparing to attack Shandong Road."

He immediately wrote a report and sent people to Lintong County. Their pigeon letter station was set up in Lintong County, and then transited in Shangdang County, Hedong.

The first thousand and 180 chapters and five explanations

Concubine Lu Xiu is not in a good mood these days, her husband has been home for less than two months and is about to go out again.

Although she understands the hardships of conquering the world, but understanding is understanding, it does not mean that she will feel better when she understands.

"lady!"

Yao Mei put a cup of tea in front of Lu Xiu's table, Lu Xiu nodded, took a stack of words written by her and said: "Although you have made progress these few days, I can see that your handwriting is a bit absent-minded. I was so serious before, but this is no good.”

In order to make Yao Mei into her confidant team, Lu Xiu personally acted as her reading teacher and let her study with her daughter.

Yao Mei lowered her head, and said for a while: "Madam is right, I heard that the master is going to go to war, so I was a little absent-minded!"

"No wonder!"

Lu Xiu nodded and said: "Generally, the prince will not bring his family members with him when he goes out to war, and neither will his maids, because women are not allowed in the military camp during wartime, but they are allowed to patrol in normal times, so you should not think about going out with the prince."

"I see!"

Yao Mei felt a little disappointed, with a gloomy expression, Lv Xiu smiled and said, "Your Highness often goes out to battle, we are all used to it, he is not here, you just use this time to read and write, and you can also learn to paint, you have to calm down and don't be half-hearted! "

Yao Mei nodded, and Lu Xiu handed her the manuscript, "I'm not satisfied with your words, I have to rewrite them, write them seriously, don't be half-hearted."

"Little servant remembers!"

Yao Mei took the manuscript and bowed to leave, but Lu Xiu stopped her again, "You can write again at night, the prince will be back soon, you go to make tea!"

"Yes!"

Yao Mei left in a hurry, Lu Xiu sighed, her husband went out to fight, disturbing the whole family!

……

Not long after, Chen Qing returned to the mansion, and went directly to the study as usual.

He has been very busy recently, especially since he is going to go to the Shandong Road in person, and there are countless things waiting for him to deal with, especially since he is going to lead the army in person, there are more military affairs.

Chen Qing was sorting out documents in his room when his wife Lu Xiu came in with a cup of tea.

"My lady came just in time, I have something to tell you."

Lu Xiu put the tea on the table and said with a smile: "It's so messy, let Qiao Yun tidy it up for you!"

"also!"

Chen Qing smiled wryly and said, "It's already a mess!"

Lu Xiu smiled sweetly, walked to the door and said to Yao Mei, "Go and invite the second lady!"

Yao Mei walked quickly, Chen Qing said with a smile: "Madam seems to like her a lot!"

Lu Xiu gave her husband a white look, "With her here, I don't have to worry about some people sneaking here to eat wild food and break my rules."

Chen Qing laughed twice, changed the topic and said: "This little lady is very smart, it seems that Xue'er and Bing'er also like her very much."

"Of course, we go to feed the deer and find little squirrels together every day. Which child doesn't like it, but I really like her intelligence. As long as I say it once, she will fully understand many things, which saves me a lot of trouble." Strength, my husband, why don't you give her to me, and I'll give you Chunxi?"

"You can arrange it by your side if you like, and it's more convenient for two personal maids."