Perhaps they have not resisted the temptation to regain military power, or perhaps the voices of the Jiangdong family clan clans are too strong, or perhaps the Tangyi Army's rapidly expanding strength is really frightening, and elites from various tribes are recruited to form a new third town.

The guards and troops, with Huang Lu as the capital commander, took charge of the expedition to Guanzhong. Before the end of October, Li Changfeng, the minister of the Ministry of War and the Marquis of Linjin, formally submitted a letter to the emperor.

Even though Han Daoming strongly opposed it, he could not stand alone in the court.

In late October, ministers Zhou Yuan and Zhang Qian, ministers of the Ministry of Industry, Wu Fan, the Hunan inspector, Zhang Han, the salt and iron transfer envoy, Zheng Yu, the Du branch envoy, Zhou Bingwu, the deputy privy envoy, Du Chongtao, the minister of the Ministry of War, and other ministers wrote letters to support his proposal.

By the end of October, the Political Hall officially requested an order to mobilize elites from each of the original left and right guards, as well as the left Shenwu Army, the right Wuwei Army, and the Youlongwu Army to form the Zuowu Xiang Army under the control of the Guards, Horses, and Infantry Pro-Army Division. Ren Huangli

, Li Xiu and Zhang Feng (Zhang Feng's son) served as the chief and deputy commanders of the capital and led the troops to Junzhou to prepare for the attack on Wuguan.

At the same time, the left and right bodyguards were also changed into the left and right Wuyi armies under the command of the bodyguard, horse, and infantry pro-military divisions, which continued to be responsible for the defense of the capital. The missing troops were recruited from the various camp military offices.

In addition to the troops and horses drawn from the Left and Right Wuwei Army, which can set off from Yiyang and Jingxiang, the troops and horses from Sandu drawn from the Left and Right Wuyi Army and the Youlong Wujun also rushed to ride on the navy of the Youlong Wujun in early November.

The warship set sail from Jinling and sailed along Jiangxi, moving at an astonishing speed.

There was light snow falling in the sky, and Han Qian stopped his horse on the river beach, frowning and looking at the warships sailing westward.

The newly-organized Zuo Wuxiang army attacked Guanzhong from Wuguandao, and all the ministers in the court almost unanimously approved it. During this period, the Zheng family, whose relationship with Tangyi had not yet come out of the honeymoon period, also specially sent people to East Lake to say hello.

After all, Zheng Hui's use of troops against the remnants of the Yongzhou rebels and his subsequent invasion of Lingnan were all inseparable from Huang Hua's support. This time, the Huang family benefited the most from the newly formed Zuowu Xiang Army. Even if Zheng Hui took a break after capturing Yongzhou City,

, Zheng also has to show support this time.

As for Huang Lu's lack of experience in commanding troops, the ministers in the court did not have too many worries.

In addition to two rising stars, Li Xiu and Zhang Feng, who served as deputy capital commanders, each leading an elite force as the forward, Zuo Wuxiang's army also served as a partial division this time, focusing on attacking Wuguan and the Shangluo area behind it, and did not consider the attack for the time being.

Rushing into the hinterland of Guanzhong.

In other words, the main purpose of the Chu army in this battle was to contain part of the Liang army from the side, so that the Shu army and the Mongols could severely damage the main force of the Liang army, so as to prepare for the follow-up Chu army to move north from Nanyang or along the Huaihe River.

Prepare your troops.

That is to say, they secretly reached an agreement with the Shu State that the Shu army would occupy Guanzhong and the Chu army would occupy the Central Plains area in the future.

Under this situation, Han Qian had no way to stop anything. He went to Junzhou and entered the Han River via the Yangtze River. The new sailing warships traveled very fast. The newly formed Zuo Wuxiang Army could reach Xichuan and Jingzikou in about ten days.

Wait for the military fortress to complete its assembly.

Unless there is heavy snowfall at the southern foot of the Qinling Mountains this winter, blocking the dangerous roads, Zuo Wuxiang's army can almost complete preparations to attack Wuguan by the end of November.

Even so, Han Qian still succeeded in delaying the Chu-Shu coalition's attack on Guanzhong for nearly two months, dragging it into a winter that was unfavorable to the attackers. This was all he could do for the time being.

After the navy fleet of Youlong Wujun passed by, Han Donghu, who was looking at the movement on the other side with a bronze telescope, said: "Sir, Feng Yi and his ship have weighed anchor."

Feng Yi and Guo Que were previously ordered to rush to Yuzhou to meet the Marquis of Changxiang Wang Yong, and today they secretly accompanied Yuzhou Sima Cao Qian back to East Lake.

Unfortunately, they were almost at the mouth of the Yuxi River by boat, and the naval fleet of Youlong Wujun passed through the Yangtze River. Even the ships of Chishanhui could not ram the reorganized naval fleet of Youlongwu Army without any reason.

The team could only patiently dock to the south bank and wait.

Han Qian happened to be in Dongguan Town with Wang Jun today. When he heard the news, he went to the riverside to greet Cao Gan and also took a look at the military appearance of the newly formed Zuo Wuxiang Army.

After the naval fleet passed, Feng Yi, Guo Que, and Cao Gan quickly came over by boat. They directly used the temporary trestle at the mouth of the river to go ashore and meet Han Qian and Wang Jun.

Han Qian saw that Cao Gan's thin chin was covered with dense stubble and a few white beards, and then he realized that Cao Gan was almost sixty years old. He frowned slightly, cupped his hands and saluted, "It's time to say goodbye again."

Nian, how are you doing, Mr. Cao?"

"I'm sorry to bother you, Lord Marquis. Everything is okay, but it's still far from being as good as Lord Marquis." Seeing Han Qian's reluctant attitude, Cao Gan said with a bow.

The number of times Cao Qian met Han Qian was extremely limited, but the last time he had direct contact with Han Qian's close relatives, Xuzhou secretly asked Yuzhou to cooperate in sending troops so that Xuzhou could hide under the water and force Si.

The Prefecture and Hunan Xuanwei Envoys recruited the Tianping rebels.

During that cooperation, Tianping, who was secretly supported by Xuzhou, completely controlled the Wuchuan Valley, and they also successfully eliminated the forces of the crown prince Wang Hongyi from the Zuo Qingjiang Army and Yuzhou. After that, the two families conducted border trade through the Qianjiang Waterway. In the past two years,

It has also been relatively stable at about one million yuan per year.

In the past two years, Yuzhou has made a profit of 300,000 to 400,000 yuan each year from the Qianjiang River border trade.

This is mainly because the millions of pieces of Qianyang cloth imported every year bring huge profits to Yuzhou.

Not only did they sell Qianyang cloth in the Sichuan and Sichuan areas through secretly controlled warehouses, they also transported tea, medicine, ironware and other items to the Xibo area, and traded horses, furs and other items back - even thousands of high-quality Western cloths were brought back every year.

The Tibetan war horses and three to four thousand other camels and horses were transferred to Xuzhou through their hands.

If they pass the Tibetan war horse one more time, they can make more money.

The Marquis of Changxiang not only controlled the annual income of Yukui and other states, but also used such a huge amount of border trade income to suppress Banan and the Liao people in southern Sichuan rebelled, and expanded the Zuo Qingjiang Army to nearly 30,000 troops.

Yin Ru can compete with the power of the crown prince Wang Hongyi.

But compared to the expansion of Xuzhou or Tangyi Army in the past four or five years, all this can be said to pale into insignificance.

Even for border trade on the Qianjiang River waterway, it seems that Xuzhou's annual profit is slightly lower than that of Yuzhou, but Yuzhou is not blind and will not just look at the superficial numbers in the accounts.

In recent years, the well salt purchased by the Wuchuan County Salt and Iron Supervision Bureau from Yuzhou has been lower than the previous year, but the amount of salt transported to central Guizhou for export via the Ruanjiang Waterway and Qianjiang Waterway

However, the amount of salt increased year by year - and the amount of salt imported to Xuzhou by the Dachu Salt and Iron Transport Department is well documented, which is only slightly more than 20,000 shi per year.

This shows that the area controlled by Xuzhou has been able to produce well salt on a large scale, obviously in the mountains near the Wuchuan River Valley.

Even if the 20,000 shi of salt were transferred from the Huaidong salt field, Xuzhou would still have to consume more than 20,000 jin of salt profit. That is to say, the salt and iron transfer envoy would give this salt to Xuzhou at the price of 2 jin of salt per shi.

The Yamen and Xuzhou Yamen would add one min per stone and resell them to several designated salt merchants for private sale.

This is the sales privilege of Jizhou County and vassal towns with independent economic rights.

Xuzhou only increases the price of one min per stone, which is very conscientious. At the same time, it also prohibits salt merchants from selling salt to the private sector at a price higher than four min per stone. If the price exceeds this price, the state government will directly open the supply to the private sector.

.

In addition to Xuzhou, with the expansion of the control area of ​​Tangyi Zhizhifu, the salt transferred from the Huaidong Salt Field every year has also surged from the initial 20,000 shi to 100,000 shi this year.

This part of the salt is priced at 1,500 yuan per stone, and is transported directly from the salt field by the Chishan Association. The price is increased by 1,000 yuan, and handed over to the county salt merchants for distribution. However, it is also required that the private retail price of salt should not be higher than 30 yuan per catty;

If the price exceeds this price, the government will directly open the supply to the private sector.

In other words, only the 120,000 shi of salt that Huaixi and Xuzhou normally take over from the Huaidong salt field every year. Han Qian will directly take away the 120,000 shi of salt profit. But other than that, Cao Qian can be sure that Wuchuan

The annual well salt production has actually exceeded 100,000 shi, or even as much as 150,000 shi.

This is mainly because the scale of well salt exported to central Guizhou is too difficult to estimate, and only an approximate number can be estimated.

There is no Salt and Iron Transfer Department involved in profit sharing from these well salts. After deducting production and transportation costs, each well salt is a net profit. Cao Gan estimates that Han Qian can earn a net income of up to 400,000 yuan from it every year.

In other words, through the civil unrest in Sizhou, Han Qian took control of the Wuchuan River Valley, and then controlled the border trade in the middle and upper reaches of the Qianjiang River. He could get a net income of almost 700,000 yuan per year, which was more than double that of Yuzhou.

Thinking about it this way, it's really frustrating.

And coupled with the strong support of Han Qiao and other families, it is no wonder that Han Qian was able to expand such a large-scale elite combat force in Huaixi.

It was getting late and it was not suitable to sit down and talk in the wilderness. Han Qian led people to bring horses to Cao Gan and his entourage. Surrounded by more than a hundred guards, everyone rushed to Dongguan Town.

Although Han Qian initially planned to build a remote embankment along the river, he considered that the failure to break through to the north would force Tangyi to develop on the south bank of the Chu River. At that time, it would be necessary to build a remote embankment and reclaim the river beach area, but the subsequent war went extremely smoothly.

, has now captured most of the Huaixi area, and does not need to worry about farmland at all. Instead, it worries about the vast land and sparsely populated areas. Therefore, the expensive construction of long embankments along the river has been temporarily shelved.

After landing at the mouth of the Yuxi River, Cao Gan saw that the river beach was still deserted, but when he arrived at Dongguan Town, he saw that the fields on both sides of the Yuxi River had been neatly organized, and large areas of newly built villages were not simply shacks or earthen walls built for shelter.

There are many brick and tile houses interspersed among the thatched huts, giving the impression of a prosperous land of plenty.

All this shows that in the three or four years since the Tangyi Army regained the east bank of Chaohu Lake, local people's livelihood has recovered to a considerable level.

Those who govern well know the importance of recuperating with the people, but according to traditional experience, in an area that has been severely and repeatedly devastated by war, even if it is governed well, it will take at least a long time to restore the pre-war farming level.

It takes more than ten years of rest and recuperation.

There has been no large-scale war in Shu for about twenty-five or six years, and the population has increased by about 40% compared with the founding of the People's Republic of China. However, the vast majority of households are still struggling to live in extreme poverty after paying taxes.

The land of abundant food and fish during the Central Dynasty was far from comparable.

Seeing this, Cao Gan could also understand why the Chu court officials reached a consensus in such a short period of time after Chai Jian's Zuo Shenwu Army was restrained and could not attack Wuguan, and decided to form a new Zuowu Xiang Army, led by Huang Hua's son Huang

I am considering leading the western attack to attack Wuguan.

Who wouldn't be afraid of having such an unruly tiger lying next to him, whose physique is getting stronger every day?

After arriving in Dongguan Town, Han Qian arranged for Cao Qian and his entourage to stay in a courtyard for a short rest. He first called Feng Yi and Guo Que to him and asked them about their trip.

The conditions in Dongguan Town are rudimentary and they only set up a township inspection department to patrol and supervise the rivers entering Xurukou.

More than a hundred guards and cavalry were stationed, and the Yamen was packed. Everyone sat in a small hall and talked.

In addition to Han Qian, Wang Jun, Han Donghu, Huo Li, Wang Che and other attendants and generals, Feng Liao also came back from Liyang temporarily.

At this time, he wanted to know more about what new information Guo Que and Feng Yi could bring when they accompanied Cao Gan this time.

"When we arrived in Yuzhou, we didn't see Wang Yong, the Marquis of Changxiang, at first. We didn't even see Cao Gan's face. It was Cao Zhe, Cao Gan's son, who came to deal with us. It wasn't until late last month that Wang Yong finally summoned us.

We didn't say anything to each other. Two days later, when we were planning to return to East Lake, Wang Yong suddenly decided to ask Cao Gan to accompany us back."

Guo Que and Feng Yi went to Yuzhou, and the information they could directly obtain was limited. Cao Zhe took different officials to eat and drink with him every day, which actually restricted their freedom of movement.

As far as we know so far, the Shu army's attack on Guanzhong from Liangzhou was mainly led by people from the lineage of Wang Hongyi, the prince of Shu. Wang Hongyi, the prince of Shu, served as the privy envoy and stayed in the capital of Shu to preside over the entire troop dispatch plan. The commander was the clan brother of Zhao Weisheng, the minister in charge.

After the Jinling Incident, Zhao Mengji served as the governor of Liangzhou and the general of Zhenbei. His deputy commander was Marquis Wei, who led 20,000 elite Shu troops to support the northern front. Wang Hongyi's brother Wang Xiaoxian mobilized a total of 60,000 Shu troops and tens of thousands of civilians.

They attacked Guanzhong from Ziwu Road, Baoxie Road and Luogu Road.

The attitude of Changxiang Marquis Wang Yong, Cao Qian and other Yuzhou generals towards the Shu army's alliance with Chu in the Northern Expedition seemed to Guo Que and others to be vague - this was a bit strange, unlike what Han Qian and others had predicted earlier.
To be continued...