Chapter 349: The Next Big Game
As Cao was talking, he looked at him and found that Zhao Yulin actually laughed. He asked him what he was laughing at. He asked Baiyue to go to Yan'an Prefecture to stir up trouble and fight against Kuoduan, which was obviously wrong.
Zhao Yulin took the oil lamp from Lao Cao and asked him to sit down and talk.
He said that the general had seen it and there was obviously something fishy going on.
After Zhao Yulin gave a brief introduction to the military strategy, starting from Dunhuang and Shazhou in Gansu, to Pingliang, Yan'an Prefecture and Luoyang, Cao was shocked.
He asked: Brother, are you going to launch a full-scale counterattack and drive the Mongolian army back to the desert in one fell swoop?
Zhao Yulin shook his head and said that the Shenwei Army did not have that strength at the moment. The so-called war is all about deception. We still have to serve a few dishes to the Khan of the grassland, so that we can mobilize his troops to run until they are tired and then take action easily .
Lao Cao suddenly realized and said that the Shenwei Army now has six cavalry columns, and 30% of the columns can realize large cart mobility. If my brother's plan to mobilize the enemy to run around for their lives can succeed, it will definitely be easy to recapture Lingzhou.
He smiled and said that it depends on whether the Khan of the grassland will take the bait. Last year, when Kuoduan wanted to go south, we pinned Lu Huacai down and didn't give him a chance.
Lao Cao immediately hesitated again. He said that in this case, Lu Huacai and his men would be under great pressure, and it would definitely be a test for the infantry to deal with the impact of the Northern Barbarian cavalry.
Zhao Yulin nodded and said: So we must make adequate preparations.
He believed that our Shenwei Army was not afraid of death, but would not go and die, so we must be fully prepared. He would personally give instructions to Tan Yousan and let Yousan catch the enemy personally.
The next day, Zhao Yulin went to the Ministry of War to discuss the matter of retaking Lingzhou with Miao Gui and Lao Cao. He asked Miao Gui to break up the preparations into smaller pieces and first called back Hao Xiaoming to explain the details.
These commanders of the Shenwei Army seem to be less than 30 years old, but they have been fighting on the battlefield for more than ten years. They are all famous generals. It is time to let them come back to see the peaceful and prosperous Chengdu.
Lao Cao was in a good mood and said, yes, yes, let them come back and rest for some time.
He told Miao Gui that they had selected a piece of land in Qingcheng Mountain and planned to build a new military camp. They would move the officer training in Cuiping Mountain in Yibin and use it as a training camp for officers above the rank of squadron leader in the Shenwei Army. He asked Miao Gui to visit Qingcheng Mountain when he had time.
Miao Gui agreed immediately.
Zhao Yulin knew that he had explained everything he needed to, so he wanted to say goodbye and go home. However, Lao Cao asked him to wait a little longer and took out a military report from Leizhou to show him.
Haha, it’s from Zhou Ping.
Our naval chief commander found his feeling there, and happily reported to them how many ships and men he had collected, and that he had already sent a fleet to the Mayi Kingdom.
He told Lao Cao that he was planning to go south to Leizhou for a visit.
Lao Cao said there was nothing interesting to see in the south, just a few broken ships, and the military affairs in the north were urgent.
Zhao Yulin said that the strategy had already been decided and the general only needed to take charge of the deployment. If they all gathered at home to discuss the matter, it would be easy for the Mongolian spies to learn about it.
Besides, Mr. Ding has already assigned the task, and he also has to go to Cuiping Mountain to mint 100 million new coins.
Lao Cao couldn't persuade him, so he just let him go.
The next day, Zhao Yulin bid farewell to Ma Ling'er, Wu Yuqi and others and set off south to Cuiping Mountain.
In Lin'an in Jiangdong, the false emperor Zhao Bingzheng and the prime minister Shi Zizi were discussing state affairs.
A few days ago, they followed the advice of the Minister of Revenue and raised 10 million strings of cash to go to Jinghu to buy cheap goods from the Shenwei Army Cooperative. However, before they even arrived, the Chengdu Weekly, which contained Zhao Yulin's criticism of the hype surrounding Qian Yin, was delivered to Jinghu.
The cooperative adjusted the exchange rate of Qianyin in accordance with the requirements of the head office, and fixed it at last year's closing price. It also refused to accept new Qianyin issued after 1237. This meant that Zhao Bing's wishful thinking was dashed.
After the official came back to give his account, Zhao Bing cursed Zhao Qi'er for being so mean, saying that he didn't even say hello and didn't even give him a little difference in pay. He had no choice but to call together Shi Zi and other important officials to discuss matters, and he had to find a way to make ends meet.
The Minister of Revenue reported to him: last year's taxes had dropped by 30% compared to the year before, and the situation of tax collection at the beginning of the year was even worse than before.
After the Lingqu Canal was opened in Sichuan, a large number of sea traders went ashore in Leizhou to do business. The taxation in Fujian dropped by half compared with the previous year. It was said that Zhao Qi'er of Sichuan had a bumper harvest and a large amount of Gujing liquor was shipped to Southeast Asia by sea. Even Westerners were purchasing it and shipping it back.
His Ministry of Revenue was facing a significant reduction in income, and the Secretary of State suggested that the court save money and that officials donate two months' salary to the court for emergency response.
Shi's son had no objection. He thought that if he wanted to save money, he would save it; if he wanted to lower his salary, he would lower his salary. Anyway, someone would offer him silver as tribute, so he would definitely not starve.
The Minister of Revenue told them that the Northern Barbarians had issued wolf-head knife coins just like Sichuan and Shu, and that they could exchange them for money notes from the people at a 10% rate, which was basically a naked robbery in the North. They could go to Jiangbei to collect old money notes from previous years and exchange them for the new currency of Sichuan and Shu at the bank in Jinghu, and the interest rate difference would be huge.
Shi's son's eyes lit up and he said happily, "Okay, that's a good idea. We can also use the money to exchange for new currency in Sichuan and Shu, and then use the new currency to buy Zhao Qi'er's goods. Isn't it a good profit?"
The fake emperor Zhao Bing also thought that this idea was brilliant. It would allow him to fleece Zhao Qi'er without anyone noticing, so he immediately decided to do it.
Haha, it's true that three cobblers are better than one Zhuge Liang.
These guys have found a shortcut to make money. Zhao Yulin was on the boat for two days, and when he returned to Cuiping Mountain, he saw two beauties walking in the yard with big bellies.
His mother was worried about the safety of her two daughters-in-law, so she moved here from Jiangbei alone to take care of and prepare food for them. The two little women were extremely happy.
Yangjin also said that she just wanted to eat a plate of barbecue, but unfortunately there was no chili seasoning.
Zhao Yulin asked her to wait patiently, it would be ready soon. He used the existing seasonings and watched the chef roast a rabbit to reward the two women.
But his mother was extremely worried and kept telling him to eat less, saying that he shouldn't eat such spicy food since he had a child.
Yangjin, however, was very happy. She laughed and said, "I understand. I won't eat anymore after this meal." However, her hands were still constantly grabbing the rabbit meat.
After pacifying his two wives, Zhao Yulin plunged headfirst into the paper money trial production room to make coins.
This time it was easy. The craftsman had already reassembled and debugged the machine. After checking the paper in stock, he asked Dai Xianglong to start printing, while he went to debug the coding machine.
Another month of intense work, and the 100 million yuan in banknotes were ready. After the work was done, he burned the waste, sealed the machine, and asked Dai Xianglong to escort it to Chengdu.
After returning home, Zhao Yulin told the two beauties, Yangjin and Feiyan, that they were going to go from Guizhou to Leizhou to see Zhou Ping's South China Sea formation.
Yangjin refused to do it, saying that he had just arrived at Cuiping Mountain and wanted to leave again. She and Feiyan were tired and bored waiting for the birth of the child and would not stay with him for more than two days.
Just as he was feeling angry, his mother came in with Ma Yuan and a few other older children, and the yard immediately became lively.
After the children met the two young mistresses, Zhao Yulin took them to the study to talk. Ma Yuan said that Chengdu was not as good as Cuiping Mountain, so they would not go to Chengdu, but would study in Cuiping Mountain and go to the military camp to serve as soldiers.
Wu Jing and Zhu Fugui also followed suit and decided to go to the military camp to serve as soldiers.
Chen Liu was very happy to tell him that his grandmother had made new military uniforms for them.
Zhao Yulin saw that the children were all wearing small riding boots, and thought that if these kids wore small suits and tied bright red ties, they would look more handsome.
He felt that he spent too little time with his children, so he designed a set of clothes for them to wear.
That very day, Zhao Yulin took the children to learn how to make barbecue. After sending the children out, he quietly invited his mother to come and draw the patterns of the small suit and tie.
His mother liked it as soon as she saw it and asked him what the clothes were called. My son is really good at imagining.
Zhao Yulin told her that they hadn't come up with a name yet, and that this outfit would look good if worn with a shirt inside and a tie around the neck, so let's call it tie outfit.
He then drew two types of suit jackets, one with a wide lapel and one with double breasts, and told his mother that she could match them in any way she wanted and the effect would be absolutely beautiful when she wore them.
His mother was so engrossed in watching that she suddenly woke up and quickly called two skilled embroiderers to help her. She pushed him out to play with Yangjin and the others.
Yangjin saw that he was coaxing the children and busying his mother in the study, so she asked him what he asked the old lady to do.
Zhao Yulin smiled and said that this had to be kept secret. Anyway, his mother had already collected all the drawings and led the embroiderer back to the house to work. For the time being, it would be hard to tell what the two of them were doing.
Two days later, his mother made the clothes and ties, and the four children put them on immediately. However, they did not know how to tie the ties, so they tied the ties around their necks, looking very ugly, as if they were injured.
This made the two pregnant mothers laugh.
He told them all to go ask their mother Yangjin for help.
The woman first taught Wu Jing how to tie a tie, and then taught her sons one by one. Soon all four children learned how to tie a tie, and stood in front of him in high spirits. He happily asked, "Why don't you go and thank your grandma?"
The four cute kids immediately ran over to support their mother and thanked her repeatedly.
His mother was very happy looking at her masterpiece.
Yangjin went up and pointed at Wu Jing's clothes and explained, telling her mother that there were still areas for improvement. The most obvious one was that the girls' clothes should have a waist sheath, and the boys' clothes should also have a proper waistline. Such clothes could better show off their beauty and temperament when worn.
Zhao Yulin's mother nodded continuously as she listened, and then went to get busy.
He said that Ma Yuan and the others had already worn them, so there was no rush. Our mother should take a rest first and make new ones when she had thought it over.
Zhao Yulin asked the four children to stand in a line and walk. Ma Yuan immediately led the team to march in unison and then to goose-step. His mother was delighted to see this and felt that this set of clothes really made people feel more energetic after putting on them.
The four kids were so happy to get new clothes that they ran out hand in hand to show off to their classmates.
Zhao Yulin accompanied the woman in the yard to bask in the sun. The maid brought fresh lychees. Yangjin peeled one for him and ate it comfortably.
He thought of the bra he had made last time when looking at the clothes, and told Yangjin that since she knew so much, they could discuss with his mother about making some novel bras and panties for women, and open a specialty store in Chengdu to sell such women's clothing. Business would definitely be booming.
