Chapter Fifty-Nine Movement and Stillness

  The selection of barracks and garrison points has been completed, what needs to be done next is the specific matter.

  Must get Lingzhou and Shen Zhou grasslands are training and newly recruited new recruits, all pulled to the prairie, so that they can take their positions. This still needs some time.

  At least wait until after the 15th of the first month, let the new recruits celebrate the festival. In this regard, Li Zhong still considers himself to be relatively humane.

  As for the direct commander of the Bai Shui River garrison and barracks, it was Zhang Shan. Two barracks, one east and one west, in charge of training, the north barracks were Wang Lao Hu, and the south was led by Xu Xiao Jiu and Lin Shi Tou. In charge of military affairs were Bai Lang and Nu Luo.

  However, due to the internal strife of the Xiongnu, the situation north of Lingzhou was temporarily not tense, and in order to guard against the rebellion of Han Sui in the south, Bai Lang and Nu Luo still had to be stationed in Fuping and would not move for the time being. Wang Lao Hu and the other three were to bring new soldiers to Caochang after the Lantern Festival, build barracks and prepare for training.

  As for military affairs, Li Zhong had already made a plan in his heart and would only need to give orders when the time came.

  Next is civil.

  Lingzhou County and the grasslands have already formed a kind of inertia, and with Li Lao and Xun Yu in control, there is no need for Li Jing to personally worry about it.

  But developing Baishui River is a process from scratch.

  Although Zhou Fei has some skills, he can't cover everything, so Li Zhong also needs to keep an eye on him at all times to check for omissions and fill in the gaps.

  The development of Baishui River, first of all, needs to build up its framework.

  In Li Zhong's view, this framework not only manages the team but also includes road transportation. On the grassland, no matter what kind of construction plan is to be done, most of the materials needed are transported from Lingzhou or Caochang.

  So for efficiency, the first thing to solve is the road traffic problem.

  Currently, Li Zhēng has a sufficient workforce under him. Although the majority of the tens of thousands of captives are old and weak, there are also several thousand able-bodied men. Since many basic infrastructure in Lingzhou County have not been fully constructed, the development of Baishui River is imminent. These several thousand able-bodied captives can only be assigned to Zhou Féi's command for now, to first clear the roads before anything else.

  As for the infrastructure construction in Lingzhou, it can be slowed down temporarily and there is no need to rush.

  The road is unobstructed, and the development of Baishui River has been accelerated. Once the basic construction is completed, we will consider specific development matters.

  Shirakawa River is for Battle Knights.

  Raising livestock and planting alfalfa are the main tasks.

  But the entire hundred-mile radius of land had to be planted with Miscanthus, and the scale of livestock breeding had to be rapidly expanded. This was no small pressure for Li Zheng.

  The main thing is that he doesn't have enough people under him!

  To swallow and digest this hundred-mile grassland, all aspects must be taken into account, at least thousands of people are needed to make it work!

  Li Zhong originally wanted to divide the pasture into many parts, set up contracts and lease it to the powerful or common people of Lingzhou, letting them help with development.

  But then thought again and denied it.

  At the beginning of his rise to power, Li Zhēn still believed that it was best to have everything under his own control. For example, with this White Water River, if he were to contract it out, the wealthy and powerful families as well as some common people would be delighted. But if these people, for various reasons or temptations, secretly did something behind his back, smuggling special products from the pasture to Li Zhēn's enemies, or even defecting at a critical moment, that would be equivalent to cutting off Li Zhēn's lifeline!

  This is absolutely unacceptable.

  After a long time, when Li Zhuang becomes powerful to a certain extent, he may come up with such a policy, but for the time being, Li Zhuang still feels that having everything in his own hands makes people feel more at ease.

  So we must recruit people.

  This time, Li Zhēn did not plan to recruit a house slave.

  But in the form of employment, paying wages, recruiting workers.

  In this era, whether it is a noble family or a powerful clan, or some merchant families, they generally recruit people, but in fact, they are recruiting house slaves.

  Once ordinary people become their family slaves, life and death are in their hands, to a large extent, they have abandoned their freedom.

  Li Zhong feels that this system must be broken.

  No matter what Li Zhuang thinks, to establish a brand new system, he must break all the old systems. Maybe the family slaves are used to it and there are many advantages, but Li Zhuang still has to do so.

  Even in the near future, Li Zhong will formulate laws to abolish the household slave system to a certain extent. Why? Because of the particularity of the household slaves, many powerful and wealthy families or aristocratic families can raise a military force in an instant. This is actually a huge potential threat to those in power!

  To eliminate this threat, the system must be abolished. Perhaps it cannot be completely abolished, but it can be restricted to the greatest extent possible. After all, you cannot ask these high-ranking officials not to use maids and servants, can you? Even Li Jing himself cannot do without them.

  It's just as well now, taking advantage of this recruitment to gradually popularize the employment system, and lay a foundation for breaking the household slave system in the future.

  After circling around Baishui River, when Li Zhong returned to the pasture, the Lantern Festival had already passed.

  Wang Lao Hu and the other three had already set off with the new recruits from Lingzhou County and Caochang to Baishui River, making Shen Zhou Caochang quieter than usual.

  In the past, the whole day's new recruit training, the loud shouts from the drill ground could be heard far away, it was lively but after a long time, it made people feel somewhat annoyed.

  But now this phenomenon has suddenly disappeared, making many people feel a bit uncomfortable.

  As soon as he returned home, a servant came to report that Xun Yu had written a family letter the year before and wanted to send it back to Yingchuan. The guards in charge of surveillance did not dare to take responsibility and intercepted it until now.

  Li Zhong couldn't help but feel a little amused in his heart. Probably Xun Yu wouldn't have thought that sending out a family letter would be so difficult for him.

  Taking the silk cloth from the hand of the attendant, Li Zhēng carefully read it from start to finish. Most of the family letter was inquiring about the well-being of his elders and brothers in the clan, with only a few sentences briefly mentioning the situation in Liangzhou.

  After deliberating for a moment, Li Zhong didn't find anything in the letter that shouldn't be said, so he let the guard send it out the next day. No matter what, you can't not let people's family letters be sent out, right? Moreover, if Xun Yu doesn't make any contact, I'm afraid the Xun family and the imperial court won't let things go easily either. Properly releasing some news about Xun Yu can also calm people's minds, isn't that so?

  Xun Yu arrived without being invited, just as the guards had left for less than a moment.

  The two men played host and guest well, then Xun Yu spoke up: "Commander Li, I suppose my family letter can be sent out now?"

  "Uh..." Li Zhēn felt a wave of embarrassment in his heart, having just found the situation amusing earlier. He hadn't expected to be the one being ridiculed: "Of course."

  "All right, here is another memorial to the imperial court. I'll trouble you, General Li, to take it along with you." With that, he pulled out a letter from his sleeve and handed it over to Li Zhong.

  Having said this, Xun Yu turned around and left without another word.

  Li Zheng helplessly shook his head, but still opened the memorial and read it carefully before calling someone to instruct them to send it out of Lingzhou along with that book.

  Li Zhuang stroked his chin, deep in thought.

  Xun Yu's behavior is still the same. Li Jing was somewhat puzzled, saying he didn't want to, yet he did the things Li Jing entrusted him with very smoothly. Saying he wanted to, yet showing such distance.

  Alas, the thoughts of these clever people are indeed hard to fathom.

  Before long, the day passed. Li Zhuang thought he could relax for a while, but unexpectedly, on the second day at dawn, there was a Blue Bird carrying an urgent letter from Fuping.

  Since the urgent report came from Fuping, it only concerns one thing: the situation in Liangzhou has changed.

  As soon as Li Zhong opened the letter and scanned it with his eyes, he instantly understood what was going on.

  Zhang Wen's tens of thousands of Han troops, in the area where Sanfu and Liangzhou meet, have been fighting back and forth with Han Sui's rebel army for several months, stuck in a stalemate. However, just at the beginning of the year, that is, a few days ago, the war situation has undergone a change.

  However, the more than 20,000 Korean troops who had been stationed at the borders of Anding and Beidi suddenly showed signs of unrest three days ago. The White Wolf of Fuping and Nuo Lu became tense, sending out scouts to investigate one after another, while also asking Zhou Lin for intelligence reports. The entire city of Fuping began to enter a state of war readiness.

  Li Zheng looked at the letter, his eyebrows slightly furrowed.

  What direction are these more than 20,000 rebel troops heading? Is it Beidi Commandery or the imperial army's expedition to quell the rebellion?!

  If it's Beidi County, then Li Zhong must rush to the Fuping front line immediately and prepare for a fight to the death. If it refers to the imperial army, then it means that something unexpected has happened on the Lanzhou front line.

  Or Han Sui suffered a great defeat and was at a disadvantage, urgently needing reinforcements.

  Or the imperial court is at a disadvantage and controlled by Han Sui, who wants to gather more troops and complete his achievement in one battle!

  Li Zhēng also couldn't think of a reason after racking his brains.

  Suddenly Li Zhēng spoke up: "Someone, go invite Mr. Xún over."

  There were attendants outside the door, and upon hearing this, they immediately went to invite Xun Yu.

  Xun Yu arrived, without being discourteous, but also not being overly polite. He made a bow and then sat down on his knees, taking care of himself.

  "What instructions does General Li have?"

  "Haha," Li Zhēng smiled and said, "Mr. Gongda, don't be so stiff, you're eating my food and living in my place, can't you just put on a good face for me?"

  "Don't eat yours and don't live in yours either, just let me go." Xun Yu's mouth twitched.

  "Alright, I didn't say anything." Li Zhong patted his forehead and handed the letter to Xun Yu, saying: "Mr. Gongda, take a look first and give me some advice."

  Xun Yu received the letter and examined it carefully, savoring the words for a moment before smiling and saying, "General Li's strategy is no ordinary one; what need has he of Xun Yu?"

  Li Zheng widened his eyes, truly helpless. These clever people are really difficult to get along with, why hold grudges like this?

  "Mr. Gongda," Li Zhong suddenly said, "This is a matter of great importance to the imperial court!"

  "Uh..."

  Xun Yu had no choice but to say, "It seems that General Li needs to prepare to go and calm the situation in Fuping... A few months ago, Commander Zhang did not give any orders to General Li. It's likely that he was waiting for this moment! This time, regardless of what changes there are in the war, I'm sure you won't be left unused. Once we receive news from the commander's office, the reason will become clear. There is no need to make guesses, just wait calmly and prepare."

  Li Zhēng heard this and was taken aback.

  Why bother to think deeply about the reason? If the imperial army gains the upper hand, when it needs Li Zhēn's help, it will naturally give orders and let Li Zhēn assist in besieging and annihilating. If the imperial army is defeated, it will certainly not let Li Zhēn idle around, giving orders to hold back the rebel army, creating an opportunity for the main force to retreat, and so on.

  All these things, basically don't need to think too much, just wait and it will be fine.