More than 100,000 troops set out in more than ten days to head north, and Youzhou City became quieter from the previous hustle and bustle.

However, Li Ling, who did not follow the army to the Northern Expedition, was free for this. On the contrary, he is busier now than before. Because of the logistics of the army, the affairs of Youzhou, and various major or minor affairs that have actually fallen into him.

Although the army had brought military rations and supplies for more than three months when entering the grassland, it was obvious that relying solely on this little supply was far from enough to allow the Vietnamese army to destroy the Guirong and even destroy the entire clan. Therefore, Li Ling, who was in the rear, needed to provide them with endless logistics supplies.

Compared to transporting materials from the Central Plains to the Northern Xinjiang, sending various materials into the grassland and to the front-line army, it is undoubtedly several times more difficult. The unfamiliarity on the geographical path alone is enough for Li Ling to send a number of troops to conduct in-depth investigations, not to mention that once the front line is lengthened, the logistics route will be attacked by a small group of Guirong troops at any time.

Therefore, while the army was heading north, there were scouts who followed Li Ling and found out the situation ahead. After accompanying for a while, they would return to Youzhou and give full play to all the relevant geographical conditions. After considering it, he would formulate a faster and more stable route to transport grain.

This job alone made Li Ling exhausted his efforts, but in fact he still had many jobs at hand. For example, urging the rear to transport more food supplies to Youzhou. After all, relying on the current food storage in Youzhou is not enough to fight this battle. Especially when the food supplies really start to be transported, the back and forth consumption of the grain transport teams themselves is no less than the front line. Naturally, this expense has to be made by Li Ling carefully calculated and made arrangements.

There are also various local affairs in Youzhou, which also require him to discuss and decide with local officials.

With the great victory in Youzhou, the northern border gradually became stable, and the people of Youzhou who had to leave their hometowns to resettle other cities were returned according to the approval. The government naturally could not keep them out of the door, so they naturally had to ask for and settle them. At the same time, they had to take out some money and food to make up for their previous sacrifices. To this end, they had to identify the conclusive identities of these people and prevent some people with ulterior motives from taking advantage of the loopholes.

Half a month later, when more food and supplies in the Central Plains began to be transported, Li Ling's responsibility became even heavier. He checked whether there were any problems with the materials and arranged for these civil servants who came from afar to temporarily settle down in Youzhou. He not only needed to provide them with food and drink, but also had to prevent these young and strong men from coming from all over the place from causing any illegal things in the city...

It can be said that after entering July and August, Li Ling was completely busy dealing with all kinds of trivial matters, leaving him without any idle moments, which was many times more difficult than when he was an official in the local area.

As August was about to end, a large number of Central Plains officials were ordered to arrive and help defend the various passes of the Youzhou line. In the end, Li Ling was unable to even get out of meal time, let alone take the time to write to his family and report that he was safe.

However, there are priorities and the most important things at this time was the mobilization of military rations. The route to transport materials to the north has been continuously improved and opened up. But the problem is that it has been September, and Youzhou's grain storage has increased by 30%. Although there are a lot of people, the transportation volume of the civilians is not enough and they cannot send food for several months to the front line. This made Li Ling feel a headache. He sent documents to the capital several times, but he did not have a satisfactory reply.

It is because the speed of transporting grain from land is not slow, but the transportation volume is too small. Moreover, the grain production areas such as Huguang and Jiangnan are too far away from Youzhou, so it is too difficult to transport grain from land only. As for walking through the water, it is not abundant this year. After autumn, it is even more dry. The water in the canal river is shallow and there is no large ship at all. As a result, a large number of military rations are delayed on the road, but they cannot be sent to Youzhou in the short term.

"How could this happen? Didn't the court have prepared something before? Why did it tell me this now?" Li Ling looked at the receipt in his hand and slapped the table and angrily scolded.

The official of the Ministry of Revenue standing below had a little embarrassed face and could only salute: "Mr. Li calmed down. It was really difficult on the road. We tried our best to speed up the delivery. And you also know that ordinary civilians came from the north with the fateful grain, and the number was huge. Even the officers, soldiers and servants who accompanied them were not good at really getting into trouble, otherwise it might cause chaos and cause greater disasters. So please forgive me, Lord Li..."

"Can I forgive me, can the frontline soldiers beg me?" Li Ling angrily rebuked again, "What are the food in your Ministry of Revenue? Is this a good thing?"

"Mr. Li, you are a little sad when you stand and speak. If you don't have to worry about the tens of thousands of civilians transporting grain, you can naturally say whatever you want. But can you know our difficulties?" The official from the Ministry of Revenue was also a little annoyed and immediately stood up straight and questioned.

Although Li Ling is now in power and has the identity of a second-rank third-rank envoy, since he is not the boss of the Ministry of Revenue, he is really not afraid of him. When Li Ling heard this, his eyebrows raised and he was about to attack, but when he spoke, he still endured it.

He knew very well that this was not only the other party's attitude, but the attitude of the entire Ministry of Revenue and most officials in the Beijing-based government towards him. This time he was promoted quickly, which was obviously jealous of others. Especially for the officials of the Ministry of Revenue and Transport Department who had some relationship with him, his current identity as a commander of the three officials was even more difficult for them to accept. He was the immediate boss of the two real power yamen.

You should know that before that, whether it was the Ministry of Revenue or the Transport Department, they all had their own powers, and they only needed to be responsible for the emperor or the Political Affairs Hall. Now, there is a boss like him, and he is also a former colleague and subordinate. It goes without saying that everyone is unwilling to accept it.

Jealousy will make them unconsciously think about the big things about Li Ling. It would be even better if he made a mistake in the supply of military rations or even caused the failure of the Northern Expedition on the front line. Because once this happens, Li Ling will be the first to be the one who is responsible for the investigation. In the case of investigation, the official position of the Three Sessions will naturally be abolished...

As for the major events of the Northern Expedition and the interests of the country, in the eyes of most officials, how can their own interests be important? Anyway, the defeat of the Northern Expedition is not the end of the day. Didn’t the previous victory ensure peace in northern Xinjiang for more than ten years?

After thinking about this, Li Ling had no intention of getting into trouble with this guy. The other party was determined to drag him back. Even if one person was done today, it would be impossible for others to do it with all their might because of fear. Therefore, we still have to start from another place.

After thinking silently for a while, Li Ling only glanced at the other party coldly: "You go down first..."

The other party was worried that Li Ling would turn against each other, but he was ready to say something else, but he only waited for this sentence. This made him feel relieved and a little uneasy: "Mr. Li, the matter of food is really not something that I can do with the final say for a few officials. You must inspire the civil servants to work hard. But you know that this matter is not easy to deal with..."

"Well, I understand. By the way, where have you shipped your food now?"

"The grains from Jiangnan only cross the Yangtze River, and the rest should go to the surrounding areas of Luoyang at most..."

"Are you still going north along the Caohe River?"

"That's right, it's better to walk along the Caohe River."

"The water of the Caohe River is shallow and you cannot walk on a large ship, so you can only walk on land?"

"No, not bad." The man replied to Li Ling's words and was also muttering in his heart, not knowing what he was thinking about.

He didn't dare to ask about this, and Li Ling had no intention of saying it himself. It was not until the other party really stepped down that Li Ling stood up and came to the huge map hanging on the wall on his right hand.

This hall where he handles official affairs on weekdays not only has countless official documents and books piled up, but also two of the most detailed mountain and river maps of this era are hung on the walls on both sides of the left and right. On the left is the geographical map of the northern desert and the northern border that the Great Vietnamese Army spent decades to explore little by little, while on the right is the overview of the mountains, rivers and cities in the entire Great Vietnamese territory. What Li Ling is paying close attention to now is the latter.

His fingers were slowly moving on the waterway marked as Caohe. This artificial canal, which was officially connected from the Sui Dynasty and then spent a lot of manpower to improve and repair each dynasty, can be called the main artery of the Central Plains waterway. From Jiangnan to Youzhou, there are too many materials and commodities that relied on Caohe to the north every year.

But at this time, when the imperial court needed Caohe to be useful the most, it was difficult to walk on the big ship because of the dry water. This was not a good thing: "You can't walk on the big ship, you can't walk on the big ship..." Li Ling muttered something, and suddenly, a bold idea came to his mind. Before his fingers moved, his eyes quickly went down, and settled down to the south of the map, Jiangnan, and Suzhou!

"Mo Yun!" Li Ling suddenly turned around and greeted loudly.

Li Moyun, who had been guarding his door, responded and said, "Young Master!"

"You should clean up quickly, go to Suzhou, find my elder brother, and ask him to send all the small cargo ships that can be used by Cao Gang to the north..."

"Ah?" Li Moyun had just heard the conversation between the two outside, and immediately understood Li Ling's intention, "Does the young master want the Cao Gang to transport these foods to the court, and those small boats to transport them?"

"Yes. There are so many ships above the Caohe River, but there are no Caohe people. Moreover, they are more large and can be subject to orders and are not under the official army. So instead of letting ordinary civilians and official army come by land, it is better to let the Caohe Gang come."

"But..." Although Li Moyun has never been an official, he has been following Li Ling for so many years and is still very clear about some taboos in the officialdom. At this moment, he suddenly felt embarrassed and wanted to persuade him something else.

But immediately, Li Ling interrupted: "As I said, I can't make any mistakes! We can't afford to delay, and the frontline soldiers can't afford to delay!"
Chapter completed!