After sending Zhou Yang away, Jiang Feng had to admit that Zhou Yang still had some vision this time.

At least he can see that his foundation is in Huainan. Although the general trend will be in the north, if he wants to support his strategy in the north, he must consolidate the foundation of Huainan and even Jiangnan.

Wuzhou, Shou, Lu, Hao, Chuzhou, Shuzhou, Hezhou and Guangzhou will be their own granaries in the future, and their own industrial and commercial bases. Grain, tea, silk, porcelain, ships, medicinal materials, and paper will be continuously produced from here and sold to various places to support their wars in the north.

Jiang Feng was of course interested in the two states of Qi and Huang and Xuanzhou. Qizhou is a famous medicinal material production area. More than 30% of the medicinal materials supplied by the Chinese soil are produced in Qizhou, and Huangzhou is also a famous granary. Xuanzhou not only produces copper, but also is known as the two major papermaking centers of the Tang Empire together with Yizhou. All kinds of paper produced in the two places account for 40% of the empire.

If you can get these three states, you will have a little more confidence in competing with the Hu people in the north to Heshuo in Central China.

Of course, judging from the current situation, these three states are not something that they can touch. Xuanzhou is the base for ant thieves. Crossing the river to attack ant thieves is to make wedding dresses for Li Bing and Qian Yuanguan. Qi and Huang states are the lifeblood of the Du family. The Du family is still an ally of its own, and they can't break their wings no matter how hard they are.

So judging from Zhou Yang's performance, he still has vision, but his actual ability is not easy to say. He has too many verbal tricks with a high eye and low voice. Even if he is Zhou Rui's younger brother, he cannot easily put it in an important position. In Jiang Feng's opinion, it is a safe move to put it in a certain state as a servant to polish and train it. To see what his ability is, it is a safe move.

Extending from Zhou Yang, Jiang Feng was also considering the appointment of officials in his territory. His desire to seek talents has really become his current feeling.

Although many gentry from all over the country recommended themselves and recommended each other, most of them were scholars who lacked practical experience, and it was difficult for them to adapt to their own rule now.

There are still too few students trained from government affairs schools, and they also lack experience. They need to polish at the county level for several years before they can slowly emerge. Therefore, many times, Jiang Feng can only hold his nose and endure the current governance pattern of various prefectures and counties.

Wang Pu is a talented person, and this has been confirmed by his trip to Haizhou. Jiang Feng also specifically asked about his thoughts.

According to Wang Pu's own ideas, he would rather start from grassroots prefectures and counties. Jiang Feng also intended to make great use of him. Of course, he had to be hard-worked before making great use of him, so he directly arranged for him to serve as the Chief Secretary of the Qi Prefecture.

The future status of Qizhou is very important. This will be the bridgehead for planning Heshuo in the future. When the Shatuo people went south and broke into the Central Plains, the Khitans might go south at any time. Qizhou was just at the convergence point where Heshuo and their own sides intersected. Jiang Feng believed that Wang Pu could make a difference in this position.

In addition to the students of the Government Affairs School, Jiang Feng was also forced to reopen the system of recommendation and inspection. This system that had gradually disappeared after the imperial examination system should have been abolished in the eyes of many people, but Jiang Feng had to reopen it.

Because the imperial examination system has been open for many years, even if it is a vocational examination, many scholars have studied poetry and books for a long time and know nothing about economic and people's livelihood. Therefore, a group of officials who are familiar with local practices are urgently needed. Therefore, in this case, Jiang Feng had to not adopt this retro method to solve the current prominent problems.

Of course, Jiang Feng could not do these things personally, so naturally Chen Wei and the others would do them. He just needed to determine the direction.

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Li Jin and his party left Chang'an on January 27th.

The mission was of extraordinary high specifications and large scale, with more than twenty people in a group. In addition to Li Jin and his best friend Yuchi Yanshan, there were seven officials of the third rank or above in the court.

Of course, this kind of genius may not have much significance to these local vassal families. In fact, the envoys themselves are very clear about this, but after all, going to the place is a courtesy.

In fact, four missions set out from Chang'an together, went to Luoyang to meet King Li of Jin (Zhu Xie) Conghou, walked along Shangzhou, met Yuan Huaihe in Caizhou, and met Liu Tong and Liu Xuan in Nanyang.

Of course, there is also a way, from Nanyang to Shenguang Prefectures, entering Shouzhou, then north to Xuzhou to Qingzhou.

The destination of the last journey was not yet clear, because it was not clear where Jiang Feng finally landed. He only knew that he was in Qingzhou now. Maybe when the mission arrived in Shouzhou, Jiang Feng might have returned to Xuzhou or Yanzhou. He didn't know.

However, for the delegation, this is not important. Taking advantage of this opportunity to take a good look at the situation of the states under Jiang Feng's rule is their most important task.

They need to use this to evaluate the Pengcheng County Duke. Oh, no, it should be the Pengcheng County Duke. To see if he has the strength to compete with Shatuo people or Nanyang and Caizhou, and then formulate corresponding policies.

It took Jiang Feng only a few months to get from the Duke of Pengcheng County to the Duke of Pengcheng County. Without any he could not only take down the three prefectures of Yan, Yun and Yi without bloodshed, but now he has gone straight to Pinglu. Wang Shouzhong was captured and Zhu Mao took the initiative to surrender. All this was enough to allow him to obtain the status of a prince, and even the status of a prince was not an exaggeration. For truly powerful people, the court must recognize and respect them.

When the delegation was sent to Qingzhou, the court had not received a report from Jiang Feng to request the change of the town and the establishment of the Xuzhou General Administration Office. However, Jiang Feng took down Pinglu and surrendered Zhu Mao and Wang Shouzhong, a prince of Pengcheng, who was definitely worthy of it.

The delegation can feel the change in the atmosphere when passing through Gwangju.

Although Nanyang seized Guangzhou from Huaiyou, the Chang'an envoys felt that the fighting spirit on the line of Wuzhou was not strong. This also means that although Nanyang pulled out his teeth and took Guangzhou away, it seemed that Huaiyou had no intention of regaining Guangzhou, which also made the Chang'an group of people mutter.

Of course, they also suspected that the sudden change in the Central Plains situation caused Huaiyou and Nanyang to temporarily shelve the conflict, but what if the situation in the Central Plains is clear?

The leader of the mission to Huaiyou this time was Guo Tao, the Tongzhi Privy Councillor. He was considered a very high-level figure. Guo Tao's status in the Privy Council was slightly higher than Xue Tong and Yuchi Wubing, and he was also a powerful figure. He was highly valued by the Privy Councillor Xu Mo, so he was also the leader of this trip.

After passing Shenzhou, Guo Tao could feel the situation different. Although Guangzhou was taken down by Nanyang, it has been under the control of Huaiyou for a long time. It has not been taken down by Nanyang for a long time and has not experienced any wars. So everything seems to be no different, but in Yuzhou, this feeling is obviously much more intuitive.

The first feeling is that the construction of water conservancy facilities in Guangxi Prefectures is far better than that of other prefectures and counties. The Huai River and its tributary, the ditches are vertical and horizontal, and are as fine and forked as the veins on leaves, spreading towards the surroundings.

Especially when you go to Shouzhou to Shaobi, this feeling is even stronger. Even in the bitter cold wind and the biting cold river water, many ordinary people repair and dredge the canals to prepare for the irrigation for the coming year.

Guo Tao is also a famous name for Shaobi for a long time. Now that he has witnessed it with his own eyes, he truly feels that this water conservancy facility, which was built in the Spring and Autumn Period for more than a thousand years, is still playing a huge role, making Shouzhou the most core area in the granary in Huainan, and the grain produced is enough for people in several states to eat.

When he entered Shouchun City, he saw the scene of merchants circling north and south of the streets inside and outside the city gate, and the sails on the dock were coming and going, even if Guo Tao had seen a big scene, he couldn't help but sigh. No wonder Jiang Feng dared to fight non-stop north. It was because of the support of a city like Shouzhou with sufficient food and developed trade that he dared to point his troops to Pinglu as soon as he took Xuzhou. If ordinary people consumed food and supplies alone, they would be able to collapse.

You can board the ship from Shouchun and go south along the Huai River, then go north from Linhuai along the canal, reach Tongqiao directly, and then go north from Tongqiao to Xuzhou.

Taking a boat is much easier than riding a horse. For members of the mission who have traveled thousands of miles, the Huai River and the canal during the dry season can be accepted. Even if they are all northerners, the stable sailing is still much easier than riding a horse. In addition, taking a boat can feel the different scenery on both sides of the Huai River and the canal, so everyone is very interested.

"Is Xuyi City over there?" Guo Tao stood at the bow of the boat and looked south.

Hou Chen, who accompanied the delegation to the north, stood behind the bow of the boat and said respectfully: "Mr. Tongzhiyuan, it is true that Xuyi City is basically abandoned now. The ant thieves captured Xuyi. Although they did not burn it all, the local gentry had already been scared out of fear. They had already escaped when the city broke. Although several months have passed, the population in the city has not yet recovered to 30% of the original ant thieves before the city broke, which is very depressing."

"Can there be garrisons in Wu?" Guo Tao asked in a pondering voice.

As far as he knew, Li Wu's main forces were concentrated in the Runchang Prefectures south of the river. The states in the north of the Yangtze River were weak. Could it be that Jiang Feng was not moved?

In Guo Tao's opinion, Jiang Feng is not a person who is indifferent to the opportunity.

"Not even before, the entire Chuzhou seems to have no troops except Shanyang, where the prefecture is located, and the ant thieves have gone south. Now the remaining bandits cannot become a climate. Well, it seems that the Wu Kingdom doesn't have much energy to manage now."

Hou Chen was stunned for a moment. He didn't expect Guo Tao to ask such a question, but he still answered this question frankly.

"How many troops are there in Huainan now?" Guo Tao asked again.

Hou Chen was secretly surprised. Could it be that the court hoped that the county lord would start a war in Huainan and take over the two states of Chu and Yang?
Chapter completed!