Chapter 528 A Journey of Ten Thousand Miles (11)

In early winter, the north wind picks up again, the temperature in Hebei and Henan begins to drop, and some small rivers begin to freeze.

According to legend, all this was caused by Lord Tunfeng. He is the number one true dragon under the Black Emperor. He is the type who listens to orders but not propaganda. He has been entrusted with the entire Daxing Mountains and can reveal his true nature without hesitation.

This is because He has a special responsibility, which is to drive the cold wind from Daxing Mountain to the entire world every winter so that the four seasons can rotate throughout the year.

Some people even say that He is the source of the Ice Qi that is widely spread in the North. He always swallows too much cold wind and then turns it into Ice Qi in his body to control the cold and heat in winter.

.

Otherwise, even Jiangnan will be frozen.

But Zhang Xing now knows that the truth of the matter may not be like this.

But that’s not necessarily the case.

In the north wind, Chief Zhang began his third march to the north this year. The momentum this time was incomparable to the previous two. It was just Yu Chirong leading a hundred cavalry... Grandmaster came to fight but did not come. His enthusiasm and

The blood energy has been destroyed in Cao Che's era. Maybe some blood energy can be raised in the future, but that is a matter of the future.

Xie Minghe, the director of foreign affairs, did not accompany him. He set off directly from Wushui to Nanyang, and then to Dongdu. This was because the Gang, or the newly established Ming Dynasty, wanted to negotiate a contract renewal with Da Wei - although the distance was three years.

There is still a year and a half left in the no-fight agreement, but we can’t wait until the end of the year to talk about renewing the contract, right?

As for whether the Ming Dynasty sincerely wants to live in peace with the Wei Dynasty for a hundred years, it depends on the negotiation process.

Of course, the great master, Qianjin Cult Leader Sun Siyuan, accompanied by dozens of new disciples, really strengthened people's hearts.

Back in front of us, Zhang Xing and others officially headed north, but they did not rush on their way... In fact, they had just started their journey and stopped at Jiyin because Zhang Xing found that General Manager Cao, who had a high status in the gang, was dealing with a situation here.

A piece of temporary official work that interested him.

The matter is very simple. A large number of fur goods were sent from the North and asked to be made into hats here in Jiyin.

"How many deerskin hats should I make?" Zhang Xing asked seriously in the public house of Jiyin County.

"Forty thousand hats." Cao Xi immediately gave a detailed reply, and at the same time couldn't help but glance at the old man with a white beard sitting at the far end of the public room. "It was the document issued by Chief Xiao Su, giving the materials for about fifty thousand hats.

Anything more is considered as remuneration to our department."

"The 40,000 caps are for the deployment of twenty battalions. This is preparation for the official establishment of the Western Northland Army next year."

"Of course...if a battalion really wanted so many things, General Manager Xu wouldn't approve it."

"When can you make it?"

"Within this month." Cao Xi replied quickly. "The chief told me when he came back last time that the army expansion next year can be carried out step by step, so this winter is really free..."

"If we let it go...not talking about hats...just buying warm clothes, how much can we do here in Jiyin in two months?"

"If you are doing military uniforms and there are no temporary employment here in Jiyin, 50,000 hats and 30,000 sets of military uniforms will be the ultimate desperate effort... Work in winter is no better than in spring."

"What if it's temporary employment?"

"It would be easy to hire people on a temporary basis. We can send the materials to two female workers in each village who have official duties or sacrifices in their household registrations in the three counties of Henan. Once the money is paid and the money is collected, we can get it back in two months.

We need to make 100,000 sets of military uniforms... But this requires special funds from the Ministry of Household Affairs, and although there is a lot of fabric in the warehouse now, there is not enough fur to keep out the cold. If we have to make winter clothes, it is not impossible, but it will suffer from uneven distribution."

"What if we don't care about military uniforms, but only about keeping warm from the cold?"

"Our sergeants actually have a lot of means to keep out the cold..." Cao Xi hesitated for a moment, then glanced at the white-haired old man who looked like an ordinary wandering Taoist priest. It was obvious that she had realized something. "What is the chief worried about?

What?"

"This winter, the gang is going to take advantage of the unpreparedness of all parties to attack Lord Tunfeng. Regardless of success or failure, we have to consider the celestial phenomena. What if this winter is particularly cold?" At this point, Zhang Xing did not continue to cover up the plan, and Cao Xi also

Become the first insider outside of the people involved in the matter.

Of course, from the time Zhang Xing started asking about keeping out the cold, in a sense, she was also a relevant person in this matter.

After hearing such shocking news, Cao Xi did not lose his composure. He just paused for a moment and then tried to give a relevant plan: "If the chief is worried that this winter will be too cold and just wants to protect the people from the cold, there is no need to worry about winter clothes.

From the perspective of my subordinates, the simplest and most effective way now is actually to put up walls."

"Paper the wall?"

"The most appropriate way to repair the house is to use straw, wheat straw and mud, and then add reed poles to repair the house." Cao Xi continued to explain. "In addition to the cloth collected as taxes after autumn, there are also a large number of reeds in our warehouse.

The stalks, wheat straw, and straw... were originally kept for fuel and to feed livestock, and are now properly used."

"Can you protect the poor people all over the world and make them happy?" Zhang Xing couldn't help but laugh.

"Of course not." Cao Xi also smiled. "We can only protect the poor people in Henan and Hebei... Chief, in fact, our old leaders before this year were not that weak, especially since you forcibly postponed it for half a year last year and did not take action, which made the civil affairs lay out.

Deli, among the old territories, if we do not take into account the orphans and widows, they are the poorest people. They have been stable under the land grant system for several years, so how can they freeze in the winter? At most, the people are poor and cannot repair their houses. "

"So help them build a house." Zhang Xing smiled and nodded, and at the same time couldn't help but think of the first village he settled in after coming to this world. At that time, his job was to help people build houses. "Then the orphans and widows gather together to settle down?

"

"yes."

"What about our new leaders this year?" Zhang Xing continued to ask. "Beijing is not included, Youzhou, Hejian, northern Shanxi...how do you say?"

Cao Xi took a deep breath, and the smile on his face disappeared: "Then we can only do our best... If these newly arrived places really want to worry about the cold disaster, instead of making small remedies, it is better to allocate bulk materials as much as possible and make an overall plan.

Assistance... food, firewood, clothing, all needed."

"Okay!" Zhang Xing was greatly appreciated when he heard this. "It's better if you have your own ideas! Put down the hat thing for now. Let's go to Yecheng together now. I will make an explanation in front of Manager Chen and Lord Wei. You will be responsible for winter defense.

Regarding the disaster, I will ask other departments to cooperate with you."

Cao Xi was not a person who pushed things to the outside, so he nodded naturally.

However, he still couldn't hold back and asked a question that had been on his mind just now: "Chief, many people in our gang have stabbed a dragon with your own hands at Luolongtan with you and Manager Bai. They should know the details of the real dragon. This

Are you sure you can depose Lord Tunfeng once and for all?"

Zhang Xing laughed again: "Actually, the situation is very simple. If we go by the experience of fighting Fenshanjun and Pi Haijun, and use common sense to calculate, we should have sufficient advantages against Tunfeng Lord. However, we only have one experience.

Moreover, we are a group of people fighting against the real dragon, not an army against an army. The so-called common sense does not exist at all. Wouldn’t it be self-righteous to insist that we are absolutely sure?"

"That's true." Although it was an uncertain answer, Cao Xi still breathed a sigh of relief.

"So we need to make more preparations." Zhang Xing also gave his own reasoning. "But we must not overreact, which will in turn hinder the battle."

Having said this, Zhang Xing turned around, looked at Sun Siyuan, who had listened to the entire conversation, and gave his final judgment: "No matter what, we have another great master, and the advantage is ours!"

Sun Siyuan opened his mouth, but in the end he did not say a word in this room.

The team set off again, this time traveling a little faster, and quickly arrived at the riverside. But here, Chief Zhang got confused again - after crossing the river, he asked someone to set up a table and put some simple meals on the table.

Bring some incense and candles and prepare to worship the river god at the ferry.

And this embarrassing project soon encountered real problems.

"Who is the God of the Great River?" Zhang Xing asked the people around him seriously.

Then he got no less than ten completely different answers. Some said it was the ancestor emperor, some said it was the Tang Emperor, some said it was the founder of the Wei Dynasty, some said it was Emperor Shenwu of the Eastern Qi Dynasty, and some even said it was Xie Minghe, General Manager Xie

The ancestors of... It can only be said that most of the stories are about heroic deeds on the banks of this river, heroes who are believed to be able to climb the dragon after death, and they are concentrated in the thousand years after the four emperors were clearly recorded.

However, Yu Chirong gave a rather special answer: "We all say that there must be no real dragon attached to the river now, because the Black Emperor must be in charge of it himself."

In the cold wind, Zhang Xing hesitated for a moment, then turned to look at Sun Siyuan: "Dean Sun, what do you think?"

Sun Siyuan pondered for a moment and gave an answer: "The big river is the most important river in the world. It is the most prosperous river in the world. Without the intervention of the Supreme, it is impossible... For example, on the other side of the big river, it is indeed the Red Emperor Empress.

Take care of it, the Han River is the result of the White Emperor killing the real dragon to establish the situation, and the Huai River is the Qing Emperor killing the real dragon and taking it for himself... Therefore, if there is a real dragon hidden here, it must be a promise from the Supreme, or simply

Subordinate to the Supreme.”

"Since we don't know who it is, let's sacrifice them together." Hearing this, Zhang Xing was straightforward. "Hei Emperor is the main one, and everyone from the ancestor emperor down will carve a tablet with their names, and let's worship together...

Get the wooden sign and I’ll carve it myself!”

With Chief Zhang's habitual style, everyone was naturally speechless and quickly got busy under the command of Manager Cao.

After a while, the wooden sign was in hand. Zhang Xing took out the golden awl and began to carve words. However, he remembered something and without raising his head, while carving, he curiously asked: "Dean Sun, since Dajiang is under the care of the Red Emperor Empress, why did he do it back then?"

How can Yang Bin swim down the river and beat your True Fire Sect to pieces? And he also became a Grandmaster by the way, right?"

"If the Supreme Being can take care of you all the time, why should I go north with you?" Although Sun Siyuan was a great master, he was a little angry at this time. "Long after Emperor Bai, there were few magical places in this land of the Central Plains. Don't you

Know?"

Zhang Xing nodded, changed a new sign and continued writing: "But if that's the case, why do you say these rivers still belong to the Four Emperors?"

"Belonging is not to reject people, but to reject the gods and true dragons..." Sun Siyuan explained briefly. "For example, if the Red Emperor wants to go to Hebei to show her majesty, and the Black Emperor wants to go to Jiangdong, wouldn't it cause chaos, and the rivers will naturally flow into each other?

Pick

There is a limit. Another example is Huyunjun. He is a real dragon born at the end of the river, but he does not belong to the four emperors. Now he is running around. It is said that he has a lair by the Huaihe River, but no one dares to occupy it.

to the Huai River."

"There is no establishment..." Zhang Xing muttered something, and then continued to carve words. "But if you say so, why is there nothing wrong with Dean Sun's Thousand Gold Monument being erected in Hebei?"

"I was the one who wanted to erect the Thousand Gold Monument, and I am only a human being, and it was not the Supreme Being who personally intervened." Sun Siyuan was extremely helpless.

In this way, no one around them interrupted, and the two talked repeatedly for a while. Chief Zhang finally finished carving more than a dozen wooden plaques, and asked around again, adding another person who died in Dongdu that year.

After reading the names of the famous generals of the previous dynasties, he pressed the tablet with Duanjiang Zhenqi on the table. When some simple sacrifices were placed, he also took three sticks of incense from Yu Chirong.
To be continued...