Compared with the continuous wars north of the Yangtze River, Yuzhang, located in the south of the Yangtze River, ushered in autumn in peace, but under this gentle appearance, the surging of the torrent never stopped.

The land is full of golden yellow, surrounding the rich valleys of Shangliao and the sea, and the heavy rice harvest is about to begin. This year, we no longer have to worry about insufficient manpower as we did last year. There are more and more refugees traveling south to escape war, and they provide a rich labor force that is almost unpaid.

Among these refugees who moved south, there are many well-known people. What makes me most happy is that one of them is Guan Ning.

Guan Ning, whose courtesy name is You'an, was from Zhuxu, Beihai. Like Hua Xin, he was a disciple of the great master Chen Zhonggong. The reason why Guan Ning came to Yuzhang was that he was invited by Hua Xin.

However, there is still a story between Hua Xin and Guan Ning. I heard Hua Xin tell this story during a free conversation.

It is said that when he and Guan Ning were studying together, they often had to integrate knowledge and action, that is, they were studying while farming. One day, the two were hoeing vegetables in the garden. It was a coincidence that there was a piece of gold buried by their predecessors in the vegetable field. As they were hoeing, the gold was churned out by Guan Ning's hoe.

Who doesn’t like gold? But Hua Xin and Guan Ning usually study to cultivate their nature, to eliminate the greed in human nature, and they cannot be moved when they see unexpected property, and they usually use this to show off. So when Guan Ning saw gold, he treated it as bricks of bricks and stones, and threw it aside with a hoe.

Hua Xin was hoeing behind him, and after a moment, he saw it. Although he knew that this thing should not be taken, he couldn't bear it, so he picked it up and looked it out before throwing it away. A few days later, the two were studying in the house. There were dignitaries passing by on the street outside, riding in gorgeous carriages and horses, beating drums and drums, which was very lively. Guan Ning continued to read his book seriously as if he hadn't heard it. Hua Xin couldn't sit still and ran to the door to watch it, envious of the dignitary of the dignitary. After the carriages and horses passed, Hua Xin returned to the house, Guan Ning took a knife and cut the mat where the two were sitting together from the middle, saying, "You, you are not worthy of being my friend anymore!"

These things were not very glorious for Hua Xin, but Hua Xin told me verbally, and I admired my integrity. From the incident between Guan Ning and Hua Xin, Guan Ning's moral integrity and sentiment were much higher than Hua Xin.

Of course, the so-called robe-cutting meaning is rather a breakup or an admonition. Guan Ning hoped that Hua Xin would not change his original intention, but the friendship between the two was still real. Otherwise, Guan Ning would not travel thousands of miles to Yuzhang. In the eyes of those scholars with high ambitions, Guan Ning's personal charm cannot be ignored.

But to my frustration, Guan Ning did not agree to my request to stay in Tianwei Academy to teach, but led a group of villagers who followed him to move to Luling, and lived in seclusion in a valley not far from the West City, reclaiming wasteland and garrisoning land and educating the people.

However, with Guan Ning's example, many refugees in the Central Plains were moved by Guan Ning's reputation and crossed the river to Yuzhang to surrender to him.

With the ever-changing changes of the world, time can really change many things. Under the leadership of Cang Ci, a large water diversion and irrigation canal that stretches from Haihun to Poyang for hundreds of miles was built. In addition to diversion of the Ganjiang River and flood discharge, it can also divert water to irrigate thousands of acres of fertile fields along the embankment during the dry season, so that the planting area of ​​rice will expand from the original Haihun along the lake to a hundred miles away. After eliminating the flood, the shores of Poyang Lake will eventually become a land of fish and rice.

Of course, in addition to this main canal, officials and people in Shangliao, Pengze and other places also widely cultivated farmlands, and built dams and ponds to irrigate rice fields to make officials and people live in animals. According to statistics, there are 100 dams and canals in the entire Yuzhang County, and more than 1,000 mu of land were irrigated. The people rely on their profits and benefited a lot.

After nearly a year of business development, the territory of Yuzhang finally showed a prosperous state. I felt an indescribable joy in my heart. I knew that farming is the foundation of the world. Only by building water conservancy and military farmland can we nourish the people. After experiencing the glory and failure of troubled times, the bloodshed, I knew that peace and fullness were valuable to the people. I used the rice planted to nourish my people, and used my talents to protect the people. Everything I did was working hard for such a purpose.

Outside the window, the fragrance of osmanthus flowers swelled, the wild geese were guests, and the chrysanthemums were yellow. October came in a hurry and was about to pass again. The golden cage was in the fields, and the harvest season finally came. Because of the concern that the rainy season suddenly came and the enemy soldiers were plundered, Gu Yong, Cang Ci and other officials who were in charge of the Diannong had already been assigned to various counties for supervision, and even the soldiers stationed in the military garrison participated in the ranks of harvesting.

As long as the ripe rice can be harvested successfully, the food and clothing of the people of Yuzhang will not be a problem. Moreover, according to Cang Ci's calculations, there should be no less than 500,000 hu of surplus. In addition, the amount of refugees who traveled south to eat is also quite considerable. Compared with the total amount of 300,000 hu of 400,000 hu last year, it is a total of 100,000 hu. Moreover, this is the result of the war in southern Henan without harvest.

During this month, Ganning led its troops to move along the Anhui River and Chaohu area, plundering wealthy families in this area, and the reputation of "Jinfan Pirate" has regained its reputation.

At the same time, the Jianghuai wars were frequent. The coalition forces against Yuan fought fiercely with the Shu army in Shouchun. Cao Cao personally urged the army to carry the earth and stones and climbed the city to fight to the death. During the fierce battle, Xiahou Dun was hit by a huge stone on the forehead, and blood flowed. Dun pulled his robe and turned back to fight. At times, the generals were afraid of avoiding defeat and retreating. Cao took a hundred swords and personally slashed the city. As a result, the army's power was greatly boosted. The defenders were defeated until dusk. Cao fought first to go to the city, cut the pass and lock it, and rushed into the city. The four generals including Li Feng and Chen Ji were all captured alive, and Cao ordered them to beheaded in the city.

Cao Cao originally wanted to cross the Huai River to attack, but withstand the drought of Jianghuai River and had no military food. He had no choice but to stop his troops and return to Xudu. Shu first escaped. However, most of the places in Huaibei belong to Cao Cao, and Sun Ce who surrendered to the counties in Jiangbei followed him. His old subordinates Lei Bo, Chen Lan, Liu Xun and others gradually became disinterested and waited for an opportunity to occupy the land to annex and expand their own power. Shu was defeated again.

In the midst of my nervousness and busyness, I was also worried about two things. First, Musa's condition never improved. Since returning to Luling, he had a high fever that did not subside for several days, and had no water or rice to enter, and his body was so weak that I felt so weak. Lu Xun diagnosed it with the prescription left by Zhang Ji that it was a disease that was overwork and needed to be carefully recuperated before he could recover. Second, Xu Sheng's troops stationed in Pengze arrested the spy who sent intelligence to the north bank. This person was not someone else, but a guest in Liu Ye's mansion, named Liu Fu.

If it weren't for Liu Fu, it wouldn't be a troublesome thing if it were someone else, but Liu Fu had been following Liu Ye from Yangzhou. That time I first met Liu Ye in Shangliao, and Liu Fu was also among them. On Liu Fu, Xu Sheng found a letter to Liu Xun in Wancheng. The letter detailed the deployment of my army and horses on the south bank of the Yangtze River and the distribution of military farms. If this letter came to Liu Xun's hands, the consequences would be unimaginable. Once Liu Xun had his strength to attack, our army would be mostly scattered everywhere, and it was difficult to gather, so it was almost impossible to guard against.

Since I met Liu Ye, I called my son-in-law Brother Yang. Liu Ye replied to me and I was Shaochong. Whenever the two talked about their feelings, they always met too late and had a happy conversation. When the second attacks were in harmony, Pengze fire plan, Fanyang defeated the enemy, and went west to Jingnan, every step of this was soaked in my and Liu Ye's hard work. I thought that Liu Ye and I would spend this life together.

In my heart, I understand that this incident of Liu Fu will never be instructed by Liu Ye, but in everyone's eyes, Liu Fu is a family member of Liu Ye's mansion. No matter from any aspect, Liu Ye cannot escape the suspicion.

These days, Liu Ye has been hiding in the mansion and is closed to thank the guests. Even Xu Shu who has always been friends with him went to see him and was turned away.

After thinking about it, I finally decided to go to see Liu Ye once. No matter what, I always have to figure out the matter. Besides, with the enemy in front of me, I cannot lack Liu Ye to assist me.

Liu Ye's mansion is located at the east end of the city. He passed by the military camp where I lived and found a distance of about two streets.

"Are Brother Ziyang here?" I knocked on the door a few times and asked loudly.

When a family member heard the sound, they were shocked when they saw that it was me. They probably knew that Liu Fu was arrested and then replied: "The master is in the mansion, please wait, I will report it now!"

Soon, the family hurried back from inside and panted, saying, "The master is waiting in the back room, please please!"

When Liu Ye heard me coming, he didn't pick me up. He was not waiting for me in the hall, but he was in the back room. It seemed that he was still angry at me and was very angry. However, today I put down my airs and listened to Liu Ye's words. He was angry and he would let him go.

While thinking about this, I followed the servants to the backyard.

The backyard of Liu Ye’s mansion was close to the city. The yard and the room were quite large. When I entered the yard, I saw some newly scraped wood chips scattered on the ground. When I reached the door of the room, the servant turned around and went back. However, Liu Ye had not been there to greet him. I hesitated for a moment and stepped inside, but I was shocked.

The air was filled with dust and smell of wood shavings. I looked at this huge house with a roof. It was not like an official's mansion, but more like a shed where craftsmen work. In fact, it was a shed, because I also saw several people dressed by craftsmen busy in the room.

Liu Ye leaned against a huge wooden chariot in a strange posture. When he saw me coming in, he glanced at me and continued to focus on the chariot. His eyes were full of confusion, which was an emotional expression that only occurs when his mother looked at her children.

The ejection rod on the chariot pointed obliquely towards the sky, giving people a sense of indifference to pierce the sky. In the center of the house, what is presented to me is indeed a powerful stone throwing tool. In terms of structure, it is actually a large projector that relies on the tension generated when the wooden board is bent to eject stones. Simply put, this is a stone throwing machine that relies on the torsional force. It consists of three parts, namely a solid and heavy rectangular frame and four wheels supporting the weight of the object, an upright ejection rod and two solid pillars equipped with beams on the top.

The lower end of the wooden ejection rod is inserted in a tightly twisted horizontal rope. The rope is tied to both ends of the rectangular frame, just below the support frame. Usually the rope makes the ejection rod tightly support the beam on the support frame. The top of the ejection rod is usually made into the shape of a spoon, and sometimes a elastic bag made of tough cowhide is installed at the top of the ejection rod.

When ejecting, first use a winch to pull the ejection rod to a close horizontal position, and then put a stone in a "spoon" or a bullet bag. When the trigger device is used to loosen the winch rope, the ejection rod returns to the vertical position with great force and collides with the cross beam, and use inertia to bounce the bullet body towards the target in an arc-shaped track.

Undeniable that what is presented to me is the most advanced weapon of this era. It can throw large stones and smash enemy city walls and weapons; it can also throw stone bullets that cross the city walls and enter the city, which can kill enemy soldiers guarding the city. At the same time, it can also throw logs and other heavy objects, or use ropes, cotton threads, etc. dipped in oil to wrap them on the stones, ignite them and then fired them to the enemy camp to burn and kill the enemy.

Unlike the rock throwing carts in Kuai Yue's army that I first saw under Changsha City, that type of stone throwing cart must be buried in front of the enemy's position. Because the range is not far, soldiers fired within the range of the enemy's bows and arrows when siege, which can easily lead to casualties. Liu Ye's this is more delicate and meticulous, and the tension when the ejection rod is tightened is greater, which shows that in addition to the longer range, the launch speed of this car is also faster. The most important point is that this stone throwing cart can move, which can adapt to the ever-changing changes in the battlefield situation than the bulky stone throwing carts under Changsha City that are inconvenient to move.

Compared with my astonished expression, Liu Ye's face was faintly filled with joy and sorrow. Liu Ye said: "People the handsome guy, how about this car than the stone throwing car in the Kuai Yue army in Changsha?"

I was shocked and said, "Either the launch speed or the range are much stronger. What's more important is that it solves the inconvenience of movement. It is really a powerful weapon for siege."

Liu Ye caressed the frame and said, "I named this car Pili Car, what do you think?"

I praised loudly: "Attacking is like thunder and thunder, guarding is like a solid soup, and it is a good name!" It turns out that Liu Ye is staying at home these days to study the Thunder and chariot. It seems that my worries are unnecessary.

Liu Ye said: "When I was in Changsha before, I saw the remains of the stone-throwing cart left by the enemy. I was unhappy. I devoted myself to research these days, but I was lucky to have gained something!"

After seeing Liu Ye, a big rock that had been uneasy in my heart was finally put down. The most important task next was to plan the major event of the Northern Expedition of Yuan Shu. This battle was the first time for our army to contact the mighty in the north. I could not predict what would happen.

But no matter what the result is, this Northern Expedition must be done.
Chapter completed!