I, the queen and the father, start with a deer as a horse

Just one month.

At least [-]% of the people in Jizhou prefecture have contracted this strange disease similar to wind-cold and rashes on their bodies.

Moreover, at least [-]% of the patients could not stand up after falling ill on the bed.

Such a terrible strange disease is even worse than the plagues recorded in the past!

no doubt!

This is a new plague!
And it has begun to spread in the city.

When the magistrate of Jizhou City realized this, it was too late to stop the spread of the plague!

At this moment.

In the main hall of Fucheng Yamen.

The prefect Shen Lian paced back and forth with an incomparably solemn expression.

Several officials on the side also showed anxiety, not knowing what to do.

"My lord, if this goes on like this, within a month, tens of thousands of people in the capital of Jizhou will die of illness! If the court finds out by then, we will all be blamed!"

Jizhou Tongju said anxiously.

When Shen Lian heard this, he glanced at him, and said angrily: "Who doesn't know this truth, if you want to tell me, no matter how anxious you are, what's the use? This disease will disappear because you are anxious?
The most important thing now is to keep the disease in Jizhou and prevent it from spreading to other states, and to find a cure for it!

The official asked you to send people to the Zhaozhou Yamen and tell their people that no one is allowed to approach Jizhou, and people from Jizhou are not allowed to leave. Have you done it? "

The judge said: "The lower official sent someone to talk about it, but the prefect of Zhaozhou said that this matter is very involved, and he can't do it without official documents from the court."

Shen Lian frowned when he heard this.

He knew in his heart that the prefect of Zhaozhou was right.

In the final analysis, they are just small fourth-rank magistrates, and they have no right to make such a decision at all.

Unless everything that happened here is reported to the imperial court, but once it is reported to the imperial court.

The imperial court sent an imperial envoy to investigate the source of the plague, and he imposed a sea ban privately, so the business with the Ouluo people must not be concealed.

At that time, even if he does not die, he will have to shed a layer of skin!

However, do not report to the court, and wait for the plague to spread.

The imperial court was also able to find out that the plague first spread from Jizhou!
If you do not report what you know, the crime will be aggravated.

The plague had to be reported, but business with the Euros must not be discovered.

Thinking of this.

He gritted his teeth, looked at the people beside him, and said, "I will report the plague to the imperial court today. If His Majesty sends an imperial envoy, where did the plague come from? Do you know what to say?"

The officials in the yamen more or less got a share of the business with the Euro people.

Therefore, they were tied to Shen Lian by a rope, so naturally they would not report him.

The next two hours.

Shen Lian and the others were all discussing how to conceal the matter of doing business with the Ouluo people.

It took another three days to kill people and destroy evidence.

three days later.

The memorial to the plague in Jizhou was written and sent to the capital of Yan.

By the time Emperor Yan, Prime Minister Zuo, and Prime Minister Right received this memorial, it had been nearly two months since the plague spread.

The place where the plague occurred is no longer limited to Jizhou, but has spread to the entire eastern part of Yan! …

at the same time.

the other side.

Fang Xiu, who had already returned to Chang'an, was still thinking about how to deal with Yan.

Royal Palace.

In the Nuan Pavilion of Zhongshu Provincial Yamen.

Fang Xiu sat in the first seat.

Sitting on the two sides were Du Chen'an, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, Qin Xingyan, Minister of the Ministry of Households, Qian Haonan, Minister of the Ministry of War, and Xie Qian, the Chief Assistant Minister of Zhou's Cabinet who followed Fang Xiu to Chang'an.

"Although Yan State doesn't pay much attention to the research and development of firearms, their iron cavalry is very strong.
Han, the southern part of the Yan Kingdom is a plain, the terrain is conducive to cavalry operations, and when the logistics supplies are sufficient, it is difficult to defeat them head-on. "

It was Qian Haonan, Shangshu of the Ministry of War who spoke.

Since defeating Zhou Guo, he has been thinking about how to deal with Yan Guo in his spare time.

On weekdays, he often looks left and right with the map of Yan State, so he knows the situation of Yan State best among the few people present.

As Minister of the Ministry of War, although he is not as good at strategizing on the battlefield as Bai Qi is, he is good at fighting, but he also has his own understanding in terms of strategy. He is not top-notch, but he is definitely first-class.

aside.

Hearing this, Xie Qian nodded in agreement, and said: "When I was the Minister of the Household Department ten years ago, I was an envoy to the Kingdom of Yan and saw the Emperor of Yan inspecting the Kingdom of Yan with his own eyes. Iron cavalry are indeed very powerful, and no one is their opponent in plains."

The meaning of the two is very clear.

Even if Qian and Zhou form an alliance, it will be difficult to threaten Yan in a short time.

Fang Xiu didn't have any expression on his face, looked at Du Chen'an and Qin Xingyan, and said, "What about you two? What do you think?"

The two looked at each other.

It was Qin Xingyan who spoke first: "I don't know anything about military affairs, and I can't judge whether the coalition forces can defeat the cavalry of Yan State in the plains, but as the secretary of the household department, I can assure Fang that if the war starts, There will never be any problems with logistical supplies!"

Hearing this, Xie Qian opened his mouth, wanting to say something.

When the words came to his lips, he didn't open his mouth after all.

Du Chen'an, who was on the side, saw this scene, thought for a while, and said: "The state of Zhou was greatly affected by the war last year, and the national treasury may not be as full as I did. If we start a war, we have to consider whether the people of the state of Zhou can bear."

These words really touched Xie Qian's heart.

He didn't dare to speak just now because he was afraid that the regent would think too much.

After all, attacking Yan State was something that the Regent had planned for two or three months.

It's enough for him to splash cold water once.

If you pour cold water one after another, it will inevitably be annoying.

Fortunately, Du Chen'an spoke his mind for him, which made him feel a little less guilty towards the common people.

Fang Xiu, who was sitting in the first seat, had a thoughtful expression on his face when he heard the words of the four political councilors.

A few days ago, Shangguan Haitang gave him the information about Yan Kingdom.

He studied for several hours and finally came to a conclusion.

Now is indeed not the best time to crusade against Yan.

Yan State has not encountered any natural or man-made disasters in recent years, and its food reserves are sufficient.

Although the [-] Dayan Iron Cavalry was defeated once in Yongzhou.

But that is based on many factors.

First of all, Yongzhou has hilly terrain, which is not conducive to heavy cavalry. …

Secondly, Fang Xiu chose to fortify the wall and clear the field, not giving the Yan army a chance.

In the end, it was Yan Jun's coach who was greedy for merit and rushed forward, revealing his flaws.

Even so, Fang Xiu relied on hot air balloons and newly developed firearms to repel the Yan army.

Moreover, the Yan army suffered the most losses from the 20 ordinary soldiers.

The [-] iron cavalry of the Yan Kingdom were not affected too much.

In the territory of Yan State, facing a plain, without city walls, and without fortifications, it is very difficult to win the cavalry of Yan State again.

In addition, Emperor Yan has been in power for decades, and he is quite prestigious among Yan people.

With him around, the people of Yan State will be united, and if they want to defeat them, it will never be as easy as defeating Zhou State.

of course.

This does not mean that there is no chance of conquering Yan.

Emperor Yan is old, and if nothing happens, he won't be able to last for many years.

Therefore, they will not easily launch large-scale wars, and will only do some unscrupulous assassinations.

This gives Daqian and Dazhou room for development.

In addition, the Academy of Engineering has created Bai's

The musket, or Gatling, is trying to figure out how to mass-produce it.

The Maxim made by the firearms workshop according to the drawings already has a prototype.

It won't be long before it's on the shooting range.

It can be produced in a maximum of one year.

Of course, it does not mean that after the mass production of Gatling and Maxim, the new army will be invincible.

Because the cost of raw materials for making these muskets is not low, and the firearms workshop also produces projectiles and ordinary rifled guns, so even if it is mass-produced, it will not produce too many.

In the face of how effective the [-] cavalry can be, a series of experiments and evaluations are required before a reliable conclusion can be drawn.

all in all.

The time for the Northern Expedition to Yan was not yet ripe.

If you want to win the country of Yan at a relatively small price, you have to wait at least a year later.

Moreover, it must be the case that there are no large-scale natural and man-made disasters in the Qian and Zhou countries.

Thinking of this.

Fang Xiu finally made up his mind, looked at the few people, and said calmly: "In this case, the Northern Expedition will be put on hold for now, and we will discuss it in a year."

The voice fell.

Xie Qian was obviously relieved.

He was the only Zhou person in the meeting of ministers of state affairs, so he naturally wanted to consider the people of Zhou.

Zhou Guo had just experienced a war. Although the main battlefield was limited to the south, the people were still greatly affected.

If there was another war after less than a year, I'm afraid Zhou Guo would poke him in the back and scold him.

By comparison.

The three of Du Chen'an seemed relatively calm.

They were the core of Fang's party. They had followed Fang Xiu for many years and discussed these important matters without too much psychological burden.

"That's the end of the Northern Expedition. The next step is the trade with Wu. Three years ago, Prime Minister Fang signed an agreement with the Wu people. I will make an agreement on the commercial tax at the border of Wu. The result of the original agreement was to pay [-]% business tax!

However, half a year ago, the State of Wu raised the commercial tax from [-]% to [-]% without my approval. During the past six months, the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Household Affairs sent envoys to the State of Wu for consultations. None of the results.

Now because of the business tax issue, the merchants I have been working on have been unable to open the Wu country's market for a long time. …

The white sugar and refined salt produced by Zhenbaozhai have even become unsalable.”

Before Du Chen'an raised the topic, he first told the whole story of the incident.

Mainly for Qian Haonan and Xie Qian.

In the past, there was a high probability that such a matter would be decided by His Majesty in the early court.

Now that there is a meeting of ministers of state affairs, it is up to them to draw up a rough plan on how to deal with it.

Then put it in the morning court, and let those officials find fault.

If those officials can't find any big loopholes, His Majesty will make the final decision.

In fact, the latter step is more like a formality.

After all, apart from Hai Rui, who is a core member of the Fang Party, not many of the speech officials in the court would dare to pick on the Fang Party's loopholes.

"According to everyone, how should we deal with this matter?"

Du Chen'an looked at Qin Xingyan and the others, and asked.

The matters that are handed over to the Council of Ministers of State Affairs are difficult to decide or difficult to resolve.

There are only two things in this month.

One is the Northern Expedition.

The second is the business tax of Wu State.

Qin Xingyan, as the Minister of the Household Department, naturally has the most say in this matter.

really.

It was also Qin Xingyan who spoke first.

"The people of Wu didn't believe what they said. They procrastinated time and time again. They were not prepared to properly resolve this matter at all. According to the wishes of the Ministry of Household Affairs, they must be taught a lesson!"

When Xie Qian heard this, he couldn't help but glance at Qin Xingyan, curious in his heart, the country of Wu is rich in products, and the most important thing is money and food, how can you teach them a lesson?

Is it sending troops to crusade?
Just thinking about it, I heard Qin Xingyan say loudly:
"According to the orders of the lower officials, if Wu Guo insists on going his own way and refuses to lower the business tax, the imperial court can send troops to attack!"

"."

When Xie Qian heard this, he didn't know what to say for a while.

However, this matter mainly involves the Qian country, even if it really wants to send troops to crusade, it will be the Qian country.

He didn't have to get involved.

aside.

Hearing this, Qian Haonan followed up and said: "Wu was attacked by Yue last year, and 30% of its fertile land was lost. The [-] army lost more than [-]%, which can be said to be a heavy loss. There is at least a [-]% certainty that the imperial court will send troops to attack. win!"

When discussing the Northern Expedition just now, Qian Haonan firmly opposed it, and the object changed to Wu State, and his attitude changed immediately.

In the final analysis, it is human nature to pinch persimmons softly.

Fang Xiu thought for a while, looked at Du Chen'an, and asked, "What do you think?"

Du Chen'an replied: "According to the idea of ​​the subordinate, it is not impossible to send troops to crusade, and there are even many benefits. First, it can shock the whole country of Wu, second, it can hone the newly recruited [-] soldiers, and third, it can solve the business tax issue."

The three of them agreed on this issue.

Fang Xiu glanced at them and said calmly: "Besides this, there should be other benefits."

Qin Xingyan smiled awkwardly when he heard this, and said: "If you go back to Prime Minister Fang, there are indeed other benefits for the subordinates. Wu's business is developed and the people are rich. If Zhenbaozhai and other shops can enter Wu's , the lower officials can get more dividends.

Because of this, all the officials in the imperial court, as long as they can receive dividends, all hope to solve the business tax issue of Wu State as soon as possible, and everyone agrees on using troops against Wu State.

In addition, many merchants also thought the same way. As far as I know, if the imperial court uses troops against Wu to solve the business tax issue, many merchants are willing to donate money and food to the imperial army. "

In the final analysis, Wu's business tax involves their direct interests.

Coupled with the fact that Wu Guo is a soft persimmon who is easy to bully, using troops is the simplest and most direct solution.

Fang Xiu was silent for a few seconds, and said: "Since this is the case, the Ministry of War will make preparations and draw up a regulation to prepare the supplies for the southern expedition to Wu."

The deployment of troops will be a matter for the Metropolitan Government.

The Metropolitan Governor's Mansion is under the command of Fang Xiu.

Therefore, after the Council of Ministers of State Affairs made the decision to march south.

Fang Xiu also called the people of the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion to discuss specific plans.

Of course, before that, you have to discuss it with the little empress first, and then discuss it in the morning court.

Even if Wu Guo is a soft persimmon, he can't be beaten with just a word.
.