One day later, the million yuan promised by County Magistrate Li was moved from a famous soldier to the open space in the Duwei Office. The dozens of large wooden boxes filled with copper coins were placed in full bloom.

For individuals, it is undeniable that one million yuan is a huge sum of money, but for the county army with nearly 30,000 people today, using this money to reward the army is simply a gap.

Just do it, you will know that this million yuan is distributed to 30,000 county soldiers. On average, each county soldier can get 33 copper coins. What can these 33 copper coins do?

Don’t forget that seven years ago, when Zhao Yu was fighting with the Zheng family in Ruyang County as the second son of the Zhao family in Luyang, the local rice price was more than 200 coins per stone.

One stone of rice can be eaten by a young man for 90 days. If it is a family of five, the food consumption is about one stone of rice per month. In other words, a family needs to earn money that can buy one stone of rice per month so that the whole family can support their family.

The problem is that now it is seven years later, due to the continuous natural disasters and wars in the world, the price of rice has soared. Even under the control of local governments, it has long exceeded the level of 300 coins per stone of rice. Even on the black market, that is, those illegal black merchants who hoard grain often sell grain at higher prices, four hundred coins per stone, five hundred coins per stone, and even six hundred coins per stone.

In this case, can the distribution of thirty-three copper coins to county soldiers play a role in boosting morale?

Obviously it is impossible? What can these thirty-three copper coins do?

Of course, Xuchang is the county seat of Yingchuan County. The rice price here will certainly not be exaggerated to the point of 400 qian, 500 qian or 600 qian. County Governor Li tried very hard to control it to within 350 qian per stone. According to this price, 33 copper coins can be purchased for about 9 jin of rice, which is not enough for one person to eat for ten days.

Not to mention Zhao Yu, even the officials of the Chief Commander Office such as Tian Qin and Liao Guang did not think that this little money could play a role in boosting morale.

"It's better to distribute food directly."

When Zhao Yu held a meeting within the Yu Duwei Office, a Gongcao muttered in a low voice, which attracted everyone's attention.

By the way, nowadays, food control has been taken in Xuchang City, but it is different from Kunyang.

In Kunyang, the "wartime control" proposed by Zhao Yu was implemented, that is, the county government collects grain and feeds all the people in the entire county according to three different standards. The local people unconditionally accept the arrangements of the county government. Men either join the army or work in workshops, while women and children do more work in insignificant work, such as sewing armor, boiling water and cooking, etc. In other words, this is a disguised "work-for-relief", which can be understood as the Kunyang county government "hiring" all the local people with grain.

The advantage of this is that although the people of Kunyang may not be able to eat enough, they will not starve to death. The county government can hold the grain of the whole county in its hands to facilitate regulation, and even fundamentally eliminate the possibility of the "grain black market". Of course, those black market grain merchants may not dare to go to Kunyang, after all, Kunyang has a group of bandit forces that are afraid of the rebels.

Xuchang is different. Xuchang adopts the "control law" commonly used by counties and counties in Jin. To put it bluntly, it stipulates the amount of grain purchased by each household in the month, and sends relevant officials to supervise it. At the same time, crack down on hoarding and black market grain and rice, strictly control the rice price within a certain range, and avoid huge fluctuations.

Compared with Kunyang, the advantage of doing this is that the government has relatively little pressure and does not have to bear the responsibility for food rations for the people in the entire city. As for the disadvantages, even if the government explicitly prohibits it, some people will try their best to hoard food, and the food cannot be maximized. At the same time, those people whose food ration consumption exceeds the standards set by the government can only purchase food through the black market, which in disguise stimulates the circulation of "black market rice".

Thinking about this, Zhao Yu felt that his "Kunyang model" was more favorable, although he was under great pressure as a county government.

Just when Zhao Yu and others held a meeting in the commander's office on "how to effectively use that million yuan to stimulate morale", in Yingyin County, more than ten miles away, a team under the banner of "Jiangxia Yishi" hurried into the city.

The leaders were the general of the Jiangxia Yi Division, Zhong Fei, who was stationed in Linying during this period, and Zhou Gong, who was stationed in Yanling during this period.

After learning about the news that Zhong Fei and Zhou Gong came together, Xiang Xuan and Yan Xiu personally welcomed the two into the city and formed the original county yamen.

In the room in the county yamen that originally belonged to the county magistrate's house, Xiang Xuan and Xuan invited Zhong Fei and Zhou Gong to take their seats. Immediately, Xiang Xuan smiled and said to the two, "Thank you for your hard work, especially General Zhou."

"Where are there." Zhong Fei waved his hand with a smile.

From the side, Zhou Gong smiled and said nothing.

As three generals sent by Jiangxia Yishi Qu coach Chen Xu to assist Xiang Xuan in attacking Xuchang last year, Yan Xiu, Zhong Fei and Zhou Gong have a good relationship with Xiang Xuan. This is due to the personal relationship between Guan Shuo and Chen Xu.

After a greeting, Xiang Xuan put away the smile on his face. After looking at Yan Xiu, he looked at Zhong Fei seriously. Zhou Gong and the other two said, "I'm asking you two to come this time to discuss a major event... Can you two know that Zhou Hu?"

"Kunyang 'Black Thief' thief' thief, Zhou Hu?" Zhong Fei asked in surprise.

The Black Trouble is a common name for the Black Tiger Thieves led by the Jiangxia two charity troops in Changsha. It was because the Black Tiger Thieves who were severely injured by the charity troops at that time were all wrapped in black scarves on their heads, so they were called "Black Trouble" by the soldiers of the charity troops. Even if it was clearly known later that people called themselves "Black Tiger", which was like "Black Trouble" and "Black Trouble" were difficult to correct because they were so easy to say.

"yes."

After hearing Zhong Fei's words, Xiang Xuan nodded and immediately said seriously: "Now this Zhou Hu is in Xuchang and has replaced Cao Suo as the commander of Yingchuan County."

“…”

Zhong Fei showed a look of surprise on his face, and Zhou Gong, who was not silly and smiled, immediately frowned.

You should know that since the Battle of Kunyang, although Zhao Yu's pseudonym "Zhou Hu" was not famous all over the world, it has spread throughout the army in Changsha and Jiangxia.

It’s no wonder. After all, Zhao Yu severely damaged Guan Shuo last year. It was because Guan Shuo was still beside him at that time. Qu coach of the two charity divisions was defeated by one person. How can this not shock the soldiers and generals of the two charity divisions of Changsha and Jiangxia?

Seeing that Zhong Fei and Zhou Gong both showed strange looks, Xiang Xuan no longer concealed it and said seriously: "Two, I originally planned to siege Xuchang. That was when Cao Suo was the commander of the commander of the army. I don't know that Cao Suo could do anything. However, Zhou Hu was different. Zhou Hu replaced Cao Suo and became the commander of Yingchuan County. We must change our previous strategy and take Xuchang as soon as possible. We must never give Zhou Hu the opportunity to completely control the army of Yingchuan County..."

Zhong Fei nodded and asked, "What are General Xiang's plans?"

Hearing this, Xiang Xuan and Yan Xiu looked at each other and said seriously: "I have discussed with General Yan. Although Xuchang's troops are weak, the number of people is not small. Only when the three sides of us launch a joint attack together can we capture Xuchang in one fell swoop..."

"storm……"

A few hesitation flashed across Zhong Fei's face.

Seeing this, Xiang Xuan immediately persuaded: "This matter must be as soon as possible!... The two of you must have not forgotten that last year, Guan Shuai wanted to reduce casualties, so he first surrounded Kunyang and then sent the Green Forest Army to attack the city. As a result, he gave Kunyang a chance to breathe. Not only did he fail to capture Kunyang in the end, but he trained an elite force for Zhou Hu... Zhou Hu had just arrived in Xuchang this time, and I don't expect that he had not yet gained the trust of the generals of Xuchang, so he should immediately send troops to attack. Otherwise, if Zhou Hu was given the opportunity to breathe, no one could guarantee whether Zhou Hu would train another 'Xuchang soldiers'. By then, it would be even more difficult for me to capture Xuchang and completely occupy this area."

“Um…”

Zhong Fei touched his beard and pondered. Suddenly, he turned to Zhou Gong and asked, "Zhou Gong, what do you think?"

"It's nothing wrong with attacking as soon as possible."

Zhou Gong glanced at Xiang Xuan, Yan Xiu and the others, frowned slightly and said in a deep voice: "Two days ago, when I sent the soldiers who were urging grain to Runan County back, I told me that Chen Shuai had led his army to Chen County. I calculated the days and should be in Chen County at this time..."

"So fast?"

Zhong Fei looked surprised and asked curiously: "Is there enough troops under Shuai Chen's command?"

No wonder he asked a question. After all, Chen Xu, the commander of the Jiangxia Yishi, sent 40,000 troops to reinforce Guan Shuo and Xiang Xuan last year, and after the beginning of this year, he transferred 50,000 troops to reinforce Guan Shuo. Although most of these 50,000 troops were newly recruited in Runan County last year, carefully calculated that it would be difficult to defend Runan County based on the forces under Chen Xu's current command, let alone attack Chen County?

"I don't know this either, I think Chen Shuai has his idea."

Zhou Gong shook his head, frowned slightly and said, "It's better to capture Xuchang as soon as possible. I can lead my army to reinforce Chen Shuai."

Xiang Xuan was overjoyed when he heard this and hurriedly said, "Since that's the case, then it is planned that three groups of our troops will jointly attack Xuchang in three days, and strive to capture Xuchang in one go!"

"Um."

Zhong Fei and Zhou Gong looked at each other and nodded solemnly.

On that day, Xiang Xuan, Yan Xiu, Zhong Fei and Zhou Gong completed the discussion. Then Zhong Fei and Zhou Gong returned to Linying and Yanling.

Two days later, on June 14th, Zhou Gong sent troops to Yanling, leading 12,000 troops, marched for more than 60 miles, and came towards Xuchang. Before the evening of the 14th, he marched twenty miles to the eastern suburbs of Xuchang.

Since there were no wolves in the east of Xuchang, the Xuchang County Army did not dare to leave the city, and no one knew about the entire Xuchang.

The next day, June 15th, Zhong Fei sent troops from Linying and led an army of 15,000. After two hours of marching, he arrived in the southern suburbs of Xuchang.

On the same day, Xiang Xuan and Yan Xiu sent troops to Yu Yingyin and led an army of 15,000.

As of the morning of the 15th, these three righteous troops, totaling 42,000 troops, appeared in Xuchang at the same time, and arranged troops outside the city to prepare for the siege.
Chapter completed!