The weather cooled after the rain. Xu Ping and the prefect Cao Keming sat on the stone table in front of the head office of the Yongzhou official office. There was a pot of strong tea on the table, and the two of them drank and chatted.

After more than a year of running-in, the initial conflict between the two had disappeared, and their cooperation became more and more tacit. When Xu Ping arrived, Cao Keming followed him and he was also promoted to the next level, which was considered to be a favor from Xu Ping. The promotion of the military minister was much slower than that of the civil minister, unless he had great military achievements, he was even more incomparable to his Jinshi like Xu Ping. According to the current development situation in Yongzhou, Cao Keming might have promoted the envoys here and touched the edge of the county officials of Yao County. For this veteran, this was something he had never dared to even dream of in his dreams.

Since the beginning of the year, the two have a rough division of labor. Xu Ping takes Ruhe County as the foundation and is responsible for the Zuojiang Road area, mainly building roads, bridges, embankments, and reclaiming farmland, and increasing the income of money and grain for Yongzhou. Cao Keming is responsible for Youjiang Road and the two major counties, and the most important thing is to open a passage along the Youjiang River upstream. With the help of gunpowder provided by Xu Ping, the road from Yongzhou to Wuyuan County was leveled, but it could be over a large cart. The Lechang County, which was sandwiched in the middle, was withdrawn into Wuyuan County because the people and households did not develop.

The two of them talked about the gossip and got to the point.

Xu Ping said to Cao Keming: "A few days ago, I had a familiar man there. Because I still had relatives in Zhongzhou, I was sold to the Huang family when I went back to visit, and almost got angry. Zhongzhou and Ruhe County have roads connected to each other and it is convenient to get around. I am afraid that there will be more and more such things in the future."

"Tongzong thinks how to deal with Zhongzhou? It's not a solution to continue like this."

Xu Ping nodded: "I can't let the Huang family do whatever they want in Zhongzhou anymore. Not only that, Shendong has also planted sugarcane this year, and some land is intertwined with Zhongzhou. I don't know how many battles have occurred. Judging from this year's situation, the sugarcane land in next year may have to be expanded to Guwanzhai, and I can't stay in Ruhe County. Besides, there are no mountains in Zhongzhou, and it is also a good fertile land to be opened."

"What the magistrate means - is to withdraw Zhongzhou?"

Xu Ping shook his head: "It's not easy to withdraw it directly now. As soon as Zhongzhou is withdrawn, Shangsizhou and Longdong are moved to Simingzhou. Simingzhou has no hope, for fear that they will lead the wolf into the house because they will instead lead the wolf into the house. Huang Chengxiang, the governor of Zhongzhou, was not the eldest son of the family. He also has a eldest brother Huang Chengji. Huang Chengji is weak and has been suppressed by Huang Chengxiang. I think I will not be very satisfied with his brother. This person is in the court. If he is in power, he should not cause any trouble to us."

Cao Keming smiled and said, "It turns out that the judge wanted them to fight, so we can make profits from the side. But I heard that Huang Chengxiang was ruthless, so his brother was afraid that he would not be able to compete with him."

"So we have to help. I have sent someone to contact Huang Chengji's son Huang Congfu. I have dealt with this person before, but it's good to speak. But his temperament is the same as his father, and I can't count on him. We have to rely on us to make efforts to help them get to power."

Cao Keming pondered for a while before asking Xu Ping: "Party Tong wants to use force against Huang Chengxiang?"

"There is no other way. This person is not a good person. He is used to being rampant around him. With him in Zhongzhou, the surrounding areas will be peaceful. In another month or two, the rainy season will pass, and it is a good time for us to take action. What I mean is to let Huang Congfu help the middle and create an excuse to attack Zhongzhou. Then, he will go straight out of Zhongzhou with a heavy army, and fight the rabbit with a full blow. Be sure to succeed in one battle, fight quickly and do not give Huang Chengxiang the opportunity to move around. Afterwards, let Huang Chengji and his son take the throne. We will support him later, and Ruhe County will have no worries."

Cao Keming closed his eyes and pondered, and after a while, he asked Xu Ping: "There are about 600 to 800 soldiers in Zhongzhou, but the barbarian soldiers are not familiar with the battle formation and do not know the flags, so they are not as good as the regular army. The magistrate thought, how many people we have to send to ensure that there is no accident?"

Xu Ping smiled and said, "Didn't the magistrate ask me about this kind of thing? I have been fighting for decades, and who knows better than you? I can only prepare for this matter. As for how to mobilize people, I have to follow the arrangements of the magistrate. When it comes to sending troops, I will send someone to report back to Yongzhou. You just take people to pacify Zhongzhou. I will prepare all the food and grass and rewards afterwards."

Cao Keming smiled and picked up the teacup and took a sip. Then he said, "Since the judge is afraid of causing panic in the other prefectures in Zuojiang, the noise cannot be too loud. Let's do this. In the name of re-shu, I transferred a thousand brigade troops from the prefecture city and other places to temporarily arrange them in the inspection village. The food and grass residences of these brigades must be arranged one by one. Don't leak the news, let him wait there. As soon as Huang Chengxiang from Zhongzhou was taken by us, he went straight from the inspection village to Zhongzhou. He could arrive that day and broke his city for dinner!"

In front of Xu Ping, the only thing that can be proud of this veteran is the ability to command troops and fight. When he said this, he was full of energy and became energetic.

Xu Ping agreed as soon as possible, without mentioning his own opinion. Cao Keming had been in the army for decades, and most of his age had fought against these Xidong barbarians. He was extremely experienced. Even if Xu Ping came up with some tricks, it would only add icing on the cake and had no impact on the overall situation. Why should he say it out loud and make this old general hate it? Zhongzhou is not as good as other wilderness areas. It is less than a day away from the army's garrison. There is a direct road to the valley. This cannot be slapped to death with one palm. Cao Keming's battle for so many years has been in vain.

Xu Ping accompanied Cao Keming to drink tea for a while and said, "When it comes to the inspection camp, when inspector Zhang Rong and his subordinates arrived at the time of the garrison, they heard that they were going to be transferred to Jingnan. Two days ago, I told him that they should not be transferred. Everyone just left their homes in Yongzhou except for military origin. We have been prosperous in the past two years and have no shortage of money and food. Even if the soldiers go to the fields to grow sugarcane, they are no worse than joining the army. They have been in the army for many years, so I will assign them a local soldier position and subsidize some money. I think there will be many people left behind."

"This is also a solution. Recruiting people from Fujian Road seems to ow them. Every time I send people to their place, the superiors say so much, and we also ask them to supplement sugar. I don't know what it takes. We will leave the Changjun who changed defenses here and let Fujian Road recruit them again, so we don't have to owe them favors!"

Speaking of this, Cao Keming became interested. As a magistrate, most of the gossip was about him. He had long heard enough of the various complaints from the letters from the magistrates of Fujian. He could not take the money for selling sugar home.

"When it comes to the Xiang army from Fujian, not only Zhang Rong's troops, but Yongzhou has a whole command. There are many states on Guangxi Road. There are more than 2,000 people who change defense every year, so they can just stay! We don't have to recruit people from Fujian Road, and we don't have money to make a deposit. I've seen that they will come to our Yongzhou for two years!"

Cao Keming was so excited that Xu Ping was startled, but he opened his mouth wide and said, "This - the work of more than two thousand people is so big, the Privy Council will not agree to this, right?"

Cao Keming waved his hand: "Let the Sansi go and tell them that we just need to raise it. This year, we will raise two million kilograms of white sugar from us. How many soldiers can't raise it? The imperial guards can also raise tens of thousands! We are suffering and we have to gossip about it here. Thanks to them, how can such good things happen?"

Although that is the case, if it is normal, given the current situation of Privy Councilor Zhang Qi, if you dare to oppose the Three Sessions, you will definitely be drowned by the saliva of the ministers in the court.

The problem is that the top leaders of the Sansi are not much better than Zhang Qi.

No one liked him. Zhang Ruogu, the deputy envoy of the Three Divisions, relied on Zhang Shixun's promotion in his career. Not only did Zhang Shixun become the prime minister, but Cao used his reliance. Empress Dowager Liu and some ministers in the court were jealous of him. Tang Su, the deputy envoy of the Duzhi branch, was also a related person to Ding Wei. Although it was not a reliance, it was not fake. These people were without exception. The bureaucratic network that they had previously relied on had become burdens, and they were all dependent on the down-to-earth officials to stay in that position. The only remaining one was Zhong Lijin, the deputy envoy of the Ministry of Revenue, was considered innocent, and the family was chanting Buddha's name.

With just these people's voice, Xu Ping thought that it would be good to keep hundreds of people from Yongzhou. Unexpectedly, Cao Keming's appetite was even bigger than him, and he actually wanted to cover all the more garrison troops on Guangxi Road.

He asked for a price all over the place and paid back the money. What if he did, this kind of thing would still make the upper party a headache. Xu Ping just collaborated with Cao Keming to report the idea of ​​Yongzhou, and the transshipment commander Wang Weizheng went to the Sansi and the Secretariat to discuss with the Privy Council what he was like, so he should not worry about local officials like him.

Cao Keming said to Xu Ping: "Prime Minister, if we want to mention this to the top, we must have confidence. Give me a clear idea. How many kilograms of sugar can the state produce this year? If it doesn't reach two million kilograms, don't mention it to embarrass you, and just wait for punishment."

"I don't care about the magistrate, and the sugar has not been received by Curry. Who dares to say it to death?"

When Cao Keming heard this, his face suddenly became dark.

Xu Ping smiled and said, "But I'm back, I've started to squeeze out now, and there are roughly a few. Last year, more than 5,000 acres can be harvested this year, which is not worse than last year. More than 16,000 acres are planted, and the time is different. I think it will be the spring of the next year. The planting in Shendong is messy and there is no number. Even if it's a big deal, it's not included. The prefect, how many are you doing?"

"What am I doing? How much can I charge?"

"I think it will cost at least three million kilograms. We have the confidence to come from Sansi."

Cao Keming breathed out: "That's good. As long as there is no less than two million kilograms, the Sansi has an explanation, and we have confidence in everything we say to the above. If there are really three million kilograms and hundreds of thousands of kilograms to pay, who will dare to talk about us? This is all real money. How much money and grain does the wealthy places in Jianghuai pay to the court in a year? Our Yongzhou is equivalent to taxes all the way, so what is the point of a person!"

Xu Ping smiled and didn't say anything. Sometimes it was not calculated like this. In the first two years, it was fine. Sansi suddenly spent so much more money in his hands. He was in a hurry and said it. After a few years, it became the money that the court deserved. I was afraid that the reward would be replaced by a board, so how could he be confident? But at that time he was no longer in Yongzhou, so he naturally had a headache.

Isn’t this the case? Sugarcane is not as sweet as both ends. It’s so happy that it comes first, but then it has to taste the scum.
Chapter completed!