Chapter 227: Layout of Huaibei
Zheng Shandao was silent for a while after hearing this. Whether it was the Zheng family of Xingyang or him, Zheng Shandao, it was most reasonable to bet on the Li family.

First, the Li family and the Zheng family are relatives and old friends.

Second, the general situation of the world. The Li family has a very good hand.

However, Zheng Shandao's father Zheng Guo has now been promoted to the rank of General-in-Chief, the highest-ranking military commander in the central army, and is relied upon by Emperor Guangping.

In this situation, if Zheng Shandao bets on the Li family, it would obviously be against his father.

So he was very conflicted and embarrassed.

After a long while, he sighed and said, "Shilang, I understand what you mean. You can select someone from the shogunate and appoint him as the county magistrate. I will return to Beijing at the end of the year to report on my work. Before I leave, I will let the county magistrate act as the governor."

Li Yuanhui nodded and said, "In that case, I'll leave it to Brother Zheng."

Zheng Shandao gave up his position as prefect and returned to Luoyang.

Li Yuanhui was naturally aware of his concerns, but he would not waver in his determination at this time. Shouchun's location was too important.

He must hold this position in his hands.

Rather than waiting until the imperial court and the Li family fall out and then forcing Zheng Shandao to make a decision, it is better to get it done early.

As for Gao Zhixing, although he is also a hidden danger, Li Yuanhui is not that worried.

The reason was that the strategic position of the old city of Hefei had greatly declined, and the troops of the Yangzhou governor's department and the commander Gao Ang had always been with Li Yuanhui.

Even if Gao Zhixing wanted to do something, he wouldn't be able to cause any waves.

Zheng Shandao was different. Huainan was a top county in the world, with more than a dozen counties under its jurisdiction and a population of nearly one million. It was a prosperous place.

Huainan has 7,000 well-trained county soldiers, and also has two strategic locations, Zhongli and Shouchun.

No matter what, this position must be filled by someone you can trust.

As a family friend, Zheng Shandao was definitely considered one of his own. But now that the situation has changed, Li Yuanhui has to take precautions in advance. He actually didn't expect that his two brothers could be so strong.

After making an agreement with Zheng Shandao, Li Yuanhui did not delay and went straight to Xunyang. However, before leaving, he wrote another letter to Zhang Gonglie, asking him to "be careful behind him."

When passing by Wankou, he stopped to meet with Zhang Jian and Zhang Zhen'e, and then went all the way to Xunyang.

Li Yuanhui's journey took nearly three months. During this period, Lu Qin led the navy to harass the Wei army on the south bank many times, making full use of the advantage of controlling the river.

The Wei army fought very conservatively because of the defeat a few months ago.

And because of the navy's continued provocation, the Wei army did not realize that Li Yuanhui was not in Xunyang.

After all, their idea is that if the head coach is not there, they should be more cautious, right?

However, they did not expect that Lu Qin would do the exact opposite. He repeatedly sent troops to harass the Wei army, making it extremely anxious. He did not suspect that the commander of the Yan army had been away for several months.

Not to mention the Wei army, even the soldiers of the Yan army thought that since the commander was not in the camp by the river, he must be in Xunyang City.

Naturally, the generals and staff were vague about the whereabouts of their commander and kept silent about it.

As a result, Li Yuanhui's return did not cause any waves, and the situation between the two sides did not change.

After returning to the camp by the river, he conducted a major inspection, then summoned a group of generals and questioned them one by one.

In general, although they had been away for several months, the Yan army had maintained a relatively high morale and had not become sluggish due to the long confrontation.

Li Yuanhui was very satisfied with the situation, so the conversation was mainly about encouragement. Of course, some teams were more lax, so they also had to give their leaders some warnings. Finally, he summoned Lu Qin, Li Qinglian, Guo Fenghe, and Xie Xun, and informed them of the situation of the return trip to the north, mainly talking about Pei County, but not Zheng Shandao.

Li Qinglian said: "Wagang has occupied Qingzhou and half of Yanzhou and Xuzhou. In this way, they already control the territory of Qi in the past, or even larger. Zhai Rang has heroic ambitions, and he has the assistance of Yang Sui and Cui Xiaotong, who are wise and prudent. He has many brave generals under his command. Sooner or later, he will be a great enemy of the governor, and should not be underestimated. Now that Yuzhou is in chaos and no one is in charge, we should recruit refugees to cultivate land in Huaibei and build forts to guard them. This can not only enrich the treasury, but also garrison Huaibei with military settlements to resist Wagang."

Although Li Qinglian kept talking about Wagang, in fact he was not only talking about Wagang, but also the Luoyang court.

They established military farms in Huaibei and built forts for defense. This was called surrounding the military farms, but in reality it could prevent the northern army from advancing southward.

In fact, if we just want to be on guard against Wagang, there doesn't need to be so many twists and turns. Relying on Liu Yuanqing and others in Pei County and the danger of the Huai River, we can largely resist Zhai Rang's steps to the west or south, thus leaving enough time for the Jianghuai Group to react.

As for the military farms under the jurisdiction of Runan County, they were just to guard against the north. Originally, a large area of ​​the land was left uncultivated. If it was cultivated well, a lot of grain could be harvested in a year.

But the problem is that the southern part of Yuzhou, that is, Runan County, has a population of nearly one million but now it is sparsely populated.

The western part of Runan is now the main battlefield for the confrontation between Ding Jingzhen's Jingzhou Army and the coalition forces led by Lou Jushi.

Both sides stationed their troops in Ancheng and Yiyang respectively and attacked each other. The eastern part was relatively peaceful, but a large number of people were lost.

The impact of war is too great. The rich and powerful are fine, but ordinary people have a hard time dying.

Therefore, they still had to recruit refugees and gain the support of local powerful people.

No matter in prosperous times or troubled times, there is no powerful person who does not absorb refugees and hide their household registration and land.

Finally, Li Yuanhui decided to let his chief secretary Guo Fenghe go to Shouchun to coordinate the matter and secretly contact the powerful families in Yuzhou.

In addition, Li Yuanhui also gave him some instructions in private.

"This time when Chief Secretary Guo goes to Shouchun, in addition to coordinating the affairs of Huaibei, he will also serve as the magistrate of Shouchun as the prefect of Huainan."

Guo Fenghe was a little surprised when he heard this, because before this, the post of Shouchun magistrate was concurrently held by Huainan prefect Zheng Shandao. Now he was asked to take over. What was going on?
"Commander-in-chief, is there any incident in Huainan?"

Li Yuanhui said: "Zheng Taishou will return to Luoyang at the end of the year to report on his work. His return date is not yet determined. After he leaves, you will temporarily take over the post of Taishou. Keep an eye on the north for me."

Hearing this, Guo Fenghe frowned, then nodded and said, "As the governor has entrusted me, I will do my best. However, Shouchun is located at a strategic point, and we still need a great general to take charge, so that the governor can rest assured."

Guo Fenghe meant that it was okay for me to go to Shouchun, but that place had been run by Zheng Shandao for several years, and I was afraid that I would not be able to control the place if I went there alone.

Li Yuanhui thought about it for a moment and understood it, then said: "At that time, let General Zhang send several thousand soldiers to station in Shouchun, and then appoint Xiao Ke as the lieutenant of Huainan County."

General Zhang is referring to Zhang Gonglie, the fifth master of Zhang, who currently leads more than 10,000 people stationed in Yulou and Anfeng areas to guard against the Western Wei army in Jingzhou.

Judging from the current situation, it would not have much impact to send 3,000 people out of the more than 10,000 people to Shouchun.

If something happens on the front line, Shouchun can quickly use the navy for support.

As for Xiao Ke, his surname was Li and he was Li Yuanhui's cousin. Naturally, he went to Huainan County on behalf of Li Yuanhui.

With this arrangement, there is basically nothing to worry about.

After all, Zheng Shandao is a smart man. Since he took the initiative to give up the management of Huainan, he was also doing a favor to Li Si.

If the Li family gains power in the future, they must remember him well.

But if you still want to leave some hidden tricks behind, that's not a favor, that's an enemy.

(End of this chapter)