As he said that, Zhou Xian turned his head and looked at it, and asked Xie Qian, "Why didn't you see Lewu today?"

Xie Qian said, "He! He followed Gao Yi to the front line, saying that he would let his soldiers adapt to the battle with the Qing army."

Zhou Xian nodded and did not ask any more questions.

Yu Qi was appointed as a guerrilla general and was under the command of Xie Qian and led a regiment alone. In order to take care of him, Xie Qian assigned him many experienced middle-level generals.

However, because the army led by Xie Qian had suffered heavy losses before, the old soldiers were scarce. Especially in the Qixinjian regiment, about 70% of them were newly recruited soldiers.

Yu Qi probably wanted to improve the combat power of his soldiers as soon as possible through this method. After all, a practical battle is better than more than a month of training, Zhou Xian thought in his heart.

Zhao Xusheng said: "General, the day is getting colder and colder. Should those trenches be excavated as soon as possible? My subordinates think it is best not to mobilize the troops of the Qinghebei camp to allow them to preserve their strength and concentrate on dealing with the capitulation. They can transfer the troops from the rear camp and the baggage camp to cross the river and be responsible for digging these trenches."

Zhou Xianxiao said: "This kind of physical work is time-consuming and labor-intensive, not what the soldiers are good at. Now that the autumn harvest is over, most people are idle at home, so let them dig it!"

Zhao Xusheng frowned and said, "General, it takes at least 10,000 or 20,000 people to dig such a trench. When transferring the people from behind, the food and drink along the way is not a small amount. At present, the whole army is full of food and grass, so I will support them..."

Zhou Xian waved his hand and said, "The autumn harvest has just ended. How can the people lack food at home? Let them bring their own dry food and bring their own tools. In the name of the government, they will give the army a day and pay 300 million yuan in labor."

Zhao Xusheng was stunned on the spot. Isn’t this just changing the food given to them directly for money?

It is no wonder that Zhao Xusheng is surprised. He is a military general and also supervises political affairs in southern Liaoning, but he does not directly contact the financial affairs. In fact, what Zhou Xian lacks the most now is silver.

Through Huang Zongxi's tax system reform, mining tax, salt tax, land tax, etc., a lot has been increased. Although the sea trade towards the South Ocean has decreased due to the war with the Dutch, Ma Shaoyu's sea trade from Qiongzhou to Annan, Dongxu and other countries has been proceeding in an orderly manner. These have all increased a lot of taxes to Zhou Xian.

The most important thing is the vigorous development of the three major banks, People's Silver Bank, Huaxia Money Bank and Nanyang Money Bank.

The military pay of soldiers, the salaries of officials, and the trade of merchants are basically carried out through the storage business of the three major money houses. Although some people exchange their money for cash, most people choose to store the money in it, so that there is enough cash in the three major money houses.

The money Zhou Xian could call was more than three times that of the current silver in the three major banks.

In a word, Zhou Xian is not short of money.

Of course, if Zhou Xian is defeated in the end and the money he calls cannot be paid back, what will happen will be the collapse of the entire system. On the contrary, if he seizes the whole world, then what is this little money compared to the entire country?

From this perspective, the money he calls is all those depositors who store the money in the three major banks, and the risks are also borne by everyone.

This is undoubtedly like a liar, but everything is working well at the moment. If you mess around in the future, the people who trust him the most may also be the people who want to eat him alive the most.

Therefore, Zhou Xian cannot lose, nor can he afford to lose.

He no longer represents himself, but also bears everything that countless people have.

Seeing that Zhao Xusheng didn't say anything, Zhou Xian continued: "General Zhao, both the rear camp and the baggage battalion, should be prepared to start a war with the Manhu. Training should be strengthened and their combat power should be improved as quickly as possible. In addition, the work of training the village tycoons in Liaonan should also be carried out quickly. If the war is urgent, such as defending the city, may be handed over to them. We must call all forces as much as possible to give the Manhu a fatal blow."

The sun sets, and the archery competition also decides the outcome.

Sun Chuan was a role model, and Wu Lin was a role model. But the top scholar was not a member of the two divisions, but a cavalry chief named Liu Wence.

He was originally one of the three cavalry squads in Li Kai's hands, but later he was promoted to Qianzong for his military achievements.

Juehua Island is hanging overseas, and the cavalry is not very useful. When Li Kai left, he only took away three hundred cavalry, and Liu Wence stayed and temporarily returned to Wu Zhiying's command.

Zhou Xian personally distributed prizes to them, and originally planned to hold a banquet with those who entered the top 12 to have a meal together. But before it even started, Fu Yijian and Xia Wanchun came over the pontoon bridge.

Xia Wanchun and Jiaozhou Magistrate Zhang Qi came to southern Liaoning not long ago on a grain ship.

Now the political affairs in southern Liaoning have been supervised by Zhao Xusheng, and there is a lack of a real ruling leader. Zhou Xian is preparing to temporarily establish a prefect of southern Liaoning to strengthen control over Jinzhou and Fuzhou.

Zhang Qi was recommended by Wan Ji, and Zhou Xian agreed to take office in southern Liaoning later. Xia Wanchun felt that it was too boring in Shandong and wrote a letter to Zhou Xian for request.

After hearing what they reported, Zhou Xian had to let Xie Qian stay and accompany him and return to Yulinpu with Zhao Xusheng.

The sky was dark, the cool breeze was blowing, and it was very cold. Torchs were erected around the seven floating bridges built along the river, which was very obvious in the dark.

When he reached the middle, Zhou Xian suddenly turned over and got off the horse, reached into the water, and it was very cold. He asked Zhao Xusheng, "Are there any people who are in the army nearby? Bring a few. In addition, those responsible for building the floating bridge also brought them. I have something to ask them."

After a while, several people were brought over from the fort.

Zhou Xian looked at them, and his heart felt a little indescribable.

There are nearly 20,000 soldiers in the Hebei camp in Qing Dynasty, which belongs to the elite army. Basically everyone is equipped with exquisite cotton armor and other equipment is also available.

Staying on the south bank of the river and guarding the pontoon bridge is a little worse.

Just like these in front of us, although they were wearing armor, they were all leather armor. Moreover, because they did not participate in the war, their food, clothing and food were not as good as those of the former army.

Just like the few people in front of them, except for one wearing a long robe, which was thicker. The others were wearing thin cotton coats, and the frozen ones were tightened at this time.

If they continue to be colder, they may be frozen to death by relying on their clothes.

Zhou Xian stepped forward and picked a young man who looked at him, touched his clothes with his hands, and asked, "Are you a local? What's your name?"

The young man replied, "Go back to General, my name is Liang Xiaofu. My home is less than a mile away from the Qing River. I used to play in this river."

Zhou Xian nodded, "Then I ask you, when will the river freeze? How long will it take to wait for the frozen ones to pass by."
Chapter completed!