Chapter 128 Jiang Huai's Fundamentals
The post-war petition for merit was drafted by Li Yuanhui. After it was given to Pei Minzhi to read, he agreed to sign it without any objection.

Among them, Pei Xingyan was awarded the first place for breaking into the enemy line, Zhang Zhen'e was awarded the first place for capturing the flag, and the others including Zhang Shiwu, Zhao Teng, Ma Deyi, Wang Tong and others were awarded second place.

Li Qinglian and several of his staff members were credited with the planning.

Duan Chenghui's Liangjun soldiers helped in the battle.

Basically, it can be said that it was very fair, and the Pei father and son could not find any fault with them.

As for Zhang Zhen'e, who almost captured the fierce Wagang general Shan Xiongxin alive, even though Pei Xingyan was usually arrogant, he had to admit that this man's bravery was not inferior to his own.

If Li Yuanhui let Zhang Zhen'e be the vanguard, the effect would not be much worse than his.

After staying in Suiyang for one day, the fleet set out again on the 17th.

After passing Suiyang, it is not far from Pengcheng. It is a journey of several hundred miles and can be reached in just a few days.

Pengcheng is the seat of Xuzhou County and is now the territory of the Pei family father and son. Li Yuanhui politely declined Pei Minzhi's invitation to stop by Pengcheng and stay for a few days. The two groups parted ways after passing Suiyang.

It should be noted here that in history, the Tongji Canal dug by Guangshen flowed out of the Yellow River at Banzhu, entered the Huai River at Xuyi, passed through Xingyang, Junyi, Qixian, Suixian, Ningling, Suiyang, Yucheng, Xiayi, Yongcheng, Suixi, Suzhou, Lingbi, Sixian, Sihong, and finally entered the Huai River from Xuyi.

It did not pass through Xuzhou and Pengcheng. Later, the capital became the political center, and the extension of the canal to the Heluo area was no longer important, so it was straightened and changed to the route of the later Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.

However, due to historical changes, the river map drawn up during the reign of Emperor Xuan of the Former Wei Dynasty had already dug part of the route of the later Grand Canal, so the canal of the Former Wei Dynasty was basically dug and connected according to the route of the later Grand Canal.

The canal dug by Murong Ying of Dayan is not much different from the Guangshen Tongji Canal route. In order to connect the eastern section of the canal, the old Yellow River course can be taken from Suiyang to Pengcheng directly by water, and the Tongji Canal will lead to Yongcheng in Pei County. Both canal routes are now in use.

But in fact, in Li Yuanhui's view, the eastern route of the Grand Canal of later generations was not as useful as the Tongji Canal dug by Murong Ying at that time, because the political center of the world was Luoyang and Guanzhong, not the capital of later generations.

Almost ten days after leaving Suiyang, Li Yuanhui's fleet finally left the Tongji Canal and entered the Huai River, and then headed along the Huai River to Zhongli.

When Old Zhu, who had changed his name to Zhu Xingzong, heard that Li Yuanhui had returned, he took the 800 Huainan soldiers he had trained for nearly three months to the ferry to line up to welcome him.

"I'm glad to see the general back." When he saw Li Yuanhui, Zhu Yuanzhi was very happy and smiled.

Li Yuanhui did not get off the ship, but asked Zhu Yuanhui and Chen Qiong to board the ship. After reviewing his Huainan soldiers on the ship's deck, he gave them a camp name, "Huainan Zuoying". He also told them: "Your soldiers should be trained well, and they will surely be the best soldiers in the world."

Since the Three Kingdoms period, the Jianghuai area has been a warlike place with tough folk customs. After experiencing two hundred years of peace in the Former Wei Dynasty, it became a prosperous place again. However, after the Great Wei moved south to become the Southern Wei, the Southern Wei fought with the Great Yan that seized the Central Plains in Huainan for decades.

Years of war had forced the people of Huainan to become tough people. The wealthy gathered together to build docks to fight against the rebel army and bandits.

It was not until the Southern Wei was pacified more than a decade ago that the imperial court issued an edict to ban the construction of forts. The worst-affected area was the Huainan area, which repeatedly confronted the imperial army, although it was later wiped out by the imperial court's pressure.

However, the martial and bellicosity of the Huainan people has always existed, and many men practice martial arts.

Therefore, Li Yuanhui knew at a glance that Zhu Yuanzhang's 800 soldiers were all elite troops. As long as they were properly trained, they would surely become elite troops.

As for whether Zhu Yuanzhang could lead troops, Li Yuanhui never doubted this question.

Even if he doesn't know how to do it now, with his learning and evolutionary abilities, he can quickly build up the team.

If it weren't for the fact that his second and third brothers were not ordinary people, Li Si himself might not dare to use a strong man like Lao Zhu.

But at the moment, Old Zhu is far from being enough to make Li Si afraid.

After inspecting the dock, Li Si did not go to Zhongli County, but asked the two to accompany him to have a drink on the boat.

Old Zhu was still curious and asked, "Why didn't Brother Liu come back with the general?"

Li Si smiled and said, "Brother Liu has gone to Chang'an and is planning his wedding recently. It may take some time for him to come back. When he comes back, I will call him brother-in-law."

Old Zhu and Chen Qiong also laughed when they heard this, but they were very envious of Liu Xuanji for marrying the noble daughter of the Longxi Li family. Not to mention that Old Zhu was born into a peasant family and had been a monk, even though Chen Qiong was a local tyrant and a famous family in Xuzhou, he was still far inferior to the Longxi Li family.

Now Liu Xuanji was able to marry Li Yuanhui's cousin, who was said to be the niece of General Li Shenfu. Naturally, everyone was envious.

Li Yuanhui also took the opportunity to ask Lao Zhu, "Brother Liu is married. How about it, Brother Chongba, do you have someone you like?"

After hearing this question, Lao Zhu showed a confused look, then shook his head firmly.

"I haven't found anyone I like yet. I've only been a layman for a few months. Now I'm thinking about uniting my 800 men into an elite force and building a career. How does the saying go? A real man never has trouble finding a wife?"

Li Yuanhui slapped the table and said, "Okay, Brother Zhu, you are so ambitious. If you find a girl you like in the future, I will help you find a matchmaker. How do you think?"

Old Zhu smiled and said, "Okay, it's a deal then. I'll trouble you, General, when the time comes."

Li Yuanhui patted his chest and said, "It's just a small matter. Leave it to me."

After finishing the small talk, they got down to business. Zhu's eight hundred soldiers were going to collect ferry boats and go with him by water to Shouchun, the capital of Huainan County.

To replenish the missing armor and weapons, they would then head south from Shouchun and along the Fei River to Hefei.

Li Yuanhui decided to temporarily place the headquarters of his Pingnan General's Office in Hefei. The main reason for this was to deal with the big thief Guo Fenghuang, who was based in the Huoshan area on the northern foothills of the Dabie Mountains.

He gathered tens of thousands of people and repeatedly defeated the Yan army. He is currently the largest rebel leader in the Jianghuai area.

To be fair, Li Yuanhui still admired righteous men like Guo Fenghuang.

In the Huoshan area, they built strongholds and forts, took in refugees and fugitives, opened up fields for cultivation, restored production, and resisted county taxes and labor service.

Therefore, he has a high reputation in the Jianghuai area. He is the first choice for people who can't survive.

Calling him a thief is actually somewhat inappropriate.

Since this person is within Li Yuanhui's jurisdiction, he certainly cannot be left alone.

But to just send out troops to wipe out this group of people is not impossible, but mainly because there is no need to do so.

Even Li Si was thinking that if Guo Fenghuang was sensible, he would let him farm well in the Huoshan area, and he could even sell him some salt and grain if they were short of it.

But he had to stay in the Huoshan area and not disrupt Li Yuanhui's military farming plan in Jianghuai.

Li Si has already regarded Jianghuai as his own territory, and he wants to provide a stable source of troops and food for the Li family's ambitions.

Therefore, JAC must stabilize first, and if there are unstable factors, they must be removed in time.

If Liang Wang Murongzhan gets the support of Tuoba tribe and Turkic people, he will be a very difficult existence. The main reason is that Bingzhou has too great geographical advantages.

The situation is very advantageous over the two rivers, Luoyang and Guanzhong.

Moreover, Murong Zan is a very eccentric person. Once he really gains power, he will definitely take revenge on Li Yuanhui. Therefore, it is necessary to remind the eldest brother and persuade Crown Prince Murong Chao to beware of Prince of Liang Murong Zan.

On the other hand, as long as there was chaos in the north, Li Si would lead the troops from Jianghuai to the south and occupy Jiangdong. He would just guard the rich land in the south of the Yangtze River and wait and see.

While my father and second brother are conquering the world, I will provide them with logistical support. When they become successful, I will go back and become a prince of the Tang Dynasty.

If we fail to conquer it, wouldn't we be able to divide the country and rule it with the help of Zhu, Liu, and the Zhang family of Jiangdu?
With such a high starting point, it’s impossible for him to be worse than the King of Wu of Wei, right?

(End of this chapter)