The Privy Council was ordered to organize the "Hedong Fore-Battle Army Office". The large-scale war between the Great Zhou and the Northern Han was a foregone conclusion and was inevitable. Wang Pu was still the general manager of the military office, which was a sign of the imperial commander's personal expedition. The military office mobilized officials to establish various departments like the shogunate during the Battle of the Southern Tang Dynasty to organize military information, merits and demerits for the Central Army, and provided suggestions. There was also a complete system of issuing military orders; in addition, the number of officials who were preparing to send troops at all levels to collect and organize and assist military generals to issue written military orders was the largest.

Li Gu was ordered to take charge of the preparation and mobilization of military supplies.

The main reason is that grain and grass are transferred from various places to Jinzhou, Liaozhou, Luzhou and other places to hoard. In addition, craftsmen are recruited to mine quarries near these prefectures and counties to make round stone bullets.

The whistling cannon was scheduled to be mobilized northward after the beginning of next spring... The imperial court chose the dispatch time to the early next year. Because the reinforcements of the Liao army were considered; the horses of the Liao cavalry were the most powerful in autumn. The grass on the grasslands were seeds in autumn and could raise fat. At this time, the grassland war horses were the most powerful and the nomadic army was the strongest. Therefore, there were all dynasties of "Autumn Defense". The Great Zhou court took the initiative to attack and chose the opportunity to choose the opportunity, of course not autumn, because the war horses in the Central Plains mainly rely on grain to gain weight, and there was almost no seasonality.

There is also the preparation of gunpowder. The power of the whistling cannon is far greater than the stone-throwing carts used by the Zhou army before, but the efficiency of using gunpowder is not high, and it requires a large amount of gunpowder to be consumed. Charcoal is not a problem; Li Gu urged Zan Jurun to send people to supervise the sulfur mines in Hebei, Hedong, Shandong and other places. In addition, Guo Shao also sent someone to send letters to Chen Jiali, asking their merchants to buy sulfur from Dali to reserve... Most of the sulfur mined in the mainland is not pure and of low quality, so they can only make do with it. At this time, the best sulfur is imported by the sea merchants from Japan and a small amount of it is imported from their own country.

Only saltpeter mines are in short supply, and open-pit mines with high output are only available in Hanzhong. In addition, there are also in the Western Regions, but they are not within the control of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

Li Gu first collected and mobilized saltpeter from Hanzhong and various places. The method used in the reserve was to use manure to pile up nitrogen. He first set up a pile of nitrogen in Guantian Manor on the outskirts of Tokyo, and some of the manure trucks from the city would be transported here.

Li Gu used the alchemy method to make a large clay tank first, cover it with straw, then pile up feces into the tank, mix it with rotten animals and plants, slag, lime, wood ash, and then cover it with straw. After that, every time it is filled with urine and water to ferment, some nitrate frost can be scraped out from the straw.

Then, using the purification method created by Guo Shao, melt the impurities of the nitrate frost, cook, dry, and screen it with a sieve to obtain the purer crystallization of saltpeter.

...All things were being prepared. Although Guo Shao did not handle them personally, he was always paying close attention to the progress of various matters. Even the civil servants who were stationed in Liaozhou had reported secretly what Fu Zhaoxu, who was stationed in Liaozhou, did and how they got along with the generals.

Guo Shao put down the paper in his hand, got up and walked to the wall to look at the map.

This is the Hall of Zuen, a small courtyard to the west of the palace. Guo Shao was not very satisfied with this place because he always felt that there were palace buildings around him, and it was very closed and stuffy here, but he still chose this place as a place to rest and sleep frequently.

Because of the big palace like Wansui Hall, Guo Shao always feels like a "public place". In fact, the palace maids and eunuchs there do regard the main halls as places for duty. Their job is to manage the palace's property, clean and serve the emperor's daily life.

So Guo Shao chose the Hall of Zuxiang, which at least looks like a private space. After a day of busy work, Guo Shao wanted to return to a place where he could relax in his mental state.

At this time, Yulian walked over and cleaned up the messy table that Guo Shao had just flipped. Guo Shao turned around and said, "Those things are related to official business. You can hand them over to the eunuch who came to pick me up tomorrow morning and let him send them to the study room of Jinxiang Palace for secret storage."

Yulian responded "Yeah". When Guo Shao lived here, he usually asked Yulian to take care of his daily life, even if he shouldn't be serving her bedtime. Yulian didn't know much literacy, so she didn't care what Guo Shao was doing, especially not very good at state affairs and government affairs... This made Guo Shao very relaxed. Moreover, Yulian was a person he trusted, and she also asked her to keep some of her personal belongings.

Yulian would not interfere with him in his own business. After she packed up her things, she picked up the teacup to change him to the cold tea. If someone was shaking in front of Guo Shao, it would not affect him, that was Yulian... It was not that she was too familiar and close.

Guo Shao stood in front of a map on the wall of the study, looking at the territory above, and he could truly feel what he had.

At this time, his mood was mainly not about greed, but about wanting more, but about keeping it and worrying about losing it. He had seized the great Zhou dynasty, but the country was far from stable and safe, and he was still worried about what he had in his hands.

For example, in Hedong, there has been no dynasty with stable national defense since ancient times, with a hostile force hanging above the capital... From Hedong to the south, we drove south to the Yellow River. The Yellow River is the only fragile natural barrier, not to mention that the Liao Kingdom was supported by the Northern Han Dynasty.

Guo Shao understood that even if he wanted to enjoy peace, it was not the time, unless a person who was fooled to a certain extent had no sense of crisis.

He knocked his finger at the Hedong position for two days, then put his hand down and carried it behind his back, paced back and forth in the room.

...

Until October, a group of scholars and people with Hedong accents came to Tokyo. They were put into the inner city and gathered on the streets to ask for an order, saying that they could not bear the plunder of the Liao army. They were even more dissatisfied with the Northern Han court colluding with the people of the Liao Kingdom and asked the emperor to send troops to recover the lost territory.

In ancient times, the people could not gather together casually, so there was generally no petition (afraid of gathering together to rebel), not to mention that these people actually entered the inner city... However, they scolded the Northern Han Dynasty and called the Emperor of Great Zhou saints, so they were not driven away by force.

At that time, the Great Zhou and Northern Han were originally enemy countries and had tense relations, and there were even ranger harassment and small-scale battles on the border. Northern Han sent a large number of scouts to the Great Zhou territory to find out the news. Although they were not spies, they could find out some obvious things clearly. Although the governments in various places arrested some, they could not prevent such detailed works at all.

The Zhou army frequently mobilized a large number of food and grass, and each town wanted to mobilize the town troops to participate in the war, and the signs were very obvious; and some stone fields were mining and creating round stones, which were also like things used to attack cities.

In short, this kind of large-scale war preparation is completely impossible for neighboring countries to hide. The Jinyang court is already shrouded in the dark clouds of war.

...There is a small thing in Jinyang. The fact that Yang Ye used his mount to exchange for beauty was spread as an anecdote in the circle of military generals as an interesting story. Because Yang Ye is a famous person in the Northern Han Dynasty, he is prone to attracting attention.

It was just buying a concubine. The buying process was a bit interesting, and Yang Ye didn't care.

But one day he met Zhao Kuangyin on his way to inspect the fortifications of Jinyang City, but Zhao Kuangyin mentioned the matter in person.

Zhao Kuangyin and Yang Ye had no gaps. Although Yang Ye's brothers were military generals in Zhou State, Yang Ye didn't care which one was right or wrong in Zhou State. Naturally, he had no opinion on Zhao Kuangyin, and even because Zhao Kuangyin was also a famous general, he was able to talk about it. (Zhao Kuangyin made several contributions in the Battle of Gaoping and the Battle of Huainan, and his military use was a good story, especially in Huainan attacking Chuzhou alone, he was more famous to capture the generals of the Southern Tang Dynasty alone.)

Zhao Kuangyin mentioned the anecdote first, and suddenly his tone changed, and he said seriously: "I will persuade you in the end, but the woman should not believe it."

Yang Ye felt that this was strange and asked casually: "What does Brother Zhao mean?"

Zhao Kuangyin wanted to speak but stopped, pondered for a while and said, "I will only sigh this way, especially those women of unknown origin, who should pay attention."

His words were chaotic. Yang Ye tasted it, because at first the two were talking about buying a concubine, but later he suddenly mentioned that women of unknown origin should not be trusted easily. Yang Ye guessed that Zhao Kuangyin meant that the concubine he bought had a problem.

But Zhao Kuangyin's situation at this time was like living under someone else's roof. The woman was also a person in Yang Ye's room. Zhao Kuangyin might also understand that it was difficult to say too badly, so he did not continue. Yang Ye didn't ask much.

Yang Ye inspected the city defense for a long time, and went home in the afternoon, and used to go to Hongying's room. He was not married yet, but he already had three concubines, and Hongying was one of them... This woman was obviously much more beautiful than the other two concubines and was also very good at serving people. Yang Ye liked to come here more.

Looking at Hongying's attentive and gentle appearance, Yang Ye remembered Zhao Kuangyin's words again. He asked the merchant who sold her in detail in detail and where. Hongying answered in a flash, with a very clean smile on her face, and she looked scheming at all.

She just said a little aggrievedly: "I know I have a bad background and I am disabled, but do you think I am like a bad person?"

Yang Ye shook his head when he remembered his time with him for several months. There are not many women who know how to read in this world. This woman can do everything in piano, chess, calligraphy and painting. If she is a bad person, what bad things can a young woman do?

Hongying said softly: "My husband has spent money, so don't dislike me. I don't count anything in Yang's house. It's just a slave whom I am dealt with. And it's difficult to walk. What else can I do?"

Yang Ye felt relieved when he heard this. In fact, she was right. The only women who could influence him were the same as one thing, and there was nothing to bother with him. He would be more cautious when marrying a wife.

However, because of Zhao Kuangyin's words, Yang Ye still found an old slave who had been for many years and asked him to inquire about Hongying's words according to his origin.

The slave went out in a carriage and came back in the evening. He went to inquire that the merchant family who sold Hongying did exist and admitted that he had sold a disabled young lady who had obtained from the debtor's house. Moreover, the shop had been in Jinyang for many years, and most of the guys were from Jinyang, and the people around him said the same thing, nothing strange.

Yang Ye no longer doubted after receiving the report. Because he couldn't think of what Hongying could get from him as a concubine. After spending so many months together, he felt that Hongying had good character and had never asked for additional rewards. She was also very humble in giving her things.
Chapter completed!