In the next few days, not only did the preparations of the merchant group be carried out in full swing, and messengers from Jingbei, Jingnan and Guangxi were sent to the road one after another, but the Military Information Department also selected a group of secret spies to sneak to the Dali border and the banks of Lushui to spy on the intelligence in advance.

Xu Huai no longer thought about the possible dangers that the Khitan troops and the merchant regiments might encounter during this trip, but focused his attention on the governance that needed to be urgently implemented in Nanyang Prefecture.

On the one hand, the three prefectures of Ru, Cai and Shen and the four war zones of Xichuan-Wuguan are all closely leaning against the Nanyang Basin;

On the one hand, the Nanyang Basin is located between Funiu Mountain and Tongbai Mountain, and has the richest arable land resources on Jingxiang Road—

Most of the territory of Xiangyang Prefecture is Jingshan. The mountains and ridges on the northeast foot of Wushan are far from comparable to Nanyang Prefecture. In addition to the geographical depth of Jingbei, the four counties in Jingbei cannot compare with Nanyang Prefecture, flood management east of Bailu Lake will not be effective in a short time.

All these determine the core position of Nanyang Prefecture on Jingxiang Road and are also the key reason why the General Administration of China was finally established in Yu Biyang; Xiangyang seems to have a more beautiful appearance, but the place is too narrow after all.

How to better manage Nanyang Prefecture in the future, fully dig out the land resources of Nanyang Prefecture, and further consolidate the core position of Nanyang Prefecture from road network, shipping and even engineering fields are the top priority of the system and the government, not just the responsibility of Nanyang Prefecture.

Xu Huai also required the Department to be directly responsible for the management of Tang Baihe River, as well as the repair of the Qin and Chu roads, the Fangcheng Pass roads, and the Tongbai Mountain Road.

Tongbai Mountain Road is the passage between Nanyang and Tongbai Mountain and connects Huaiyuan, Chushan, Xinyang and other places.

In the early years, under Lu Xiong's escort, Wang Bing was preparing to come to Nanyang via Tongbai Mountain Road, but he did not want to be caught up by the assassins sent by Cai Ying in Huaiyuan.

The Tongbai Mountain Road is located in Huaiyuan County. After several renovations, it has been very complete. Bridges and plank roads are built for the broken streams and slopes of the streams, which can be used to provide fast horses and carriages. Unlike in the past, only horses can carry people on their backs, and there are also several ferry crossings.

From Tongbai Mountain, along the north bank of the Bishui River to the section of Biyang City, the terrain is flat, and it is not difficult to widen or level the road. The main reason is that several tributaries on the north bank of the Bishui River need to be converted into bridges, so that the transportation of materials and figures in Nanyang Prefecture and Shenzhou will be completely smooth.

Fangcheng Pass Road is the core road connecting Nanyang to Ru and Caizhou in the north. From Fangcheng County to the south, the post road extends south along the east bank of Baihe River to the north bank of Han River, and is also the main road connecting Jinghu River to the south.

However, because Nanyang Prefecture has not thoroughly managed the Tanghe and Baihe River for hundreds of years, this post road is often invaded by floods and the road conditions are worrying; the repair of the post road needs to be combined with the construction of embankments along the Baihe River.

The old Qin and Chu roads crossed the Eastern Qinling Mountains, and in the pre-Qin period it was the main transportation route connecting Qin and Chu Mountains:

The old road extended east from Wuguan more than a thousand years ago, passed through Xixia, Neixiang, and was connected to Wancheng, an important town in Nanyang.

However, the previous dynasty vigorously developed the Han River and Danjiang shipping, opened up new post roads between Jingzizhai and Wuguan, and commerce and trade flourished. Although the old roads were not abandoned and there were always cars and horses passing by, as the importance of the declining, the prefectures and counties were not repaired properly, and the road conditions were also very poor.

The General Office has designated the Xichuan-Wuguan line as a war zone to resist the enemy troops entering Shangyuyuan in Guanzhong. The importance of this old Qin and Chu road is self-evident.

Not only should the old road between Wuguan and Wancheng be thoroughly repaired, but the post road between Wancheng and Biyang also needs to be widened-

The Tang River was crossed a few hundred years ago between Wancheng and Biyang. The post road was built in Baihe and a horizontal canal was also dug to connect the Tang River and the middle stream section of the Baihe River.

However, the cross-channels are negligently repaired and dredged, and only small boats can be passed through; not only does the post road lack repair, but the nodes broken by streams are also connected by ferries, and there is no floating bridge. The efficiency of trafficking and horses and materials is naturally much lower.

In the past, I would not feel that there was much inconvenience, but the materials between the prefectures and counties were very low in circulation and the scale was small. People in the world were used to slow and long-lasting rhythms.

The Department of Franchise takes Miyang as its core, so it naturally needs to further strengthen its liaison with the West Wing War Zone and counties and townships west of Baihe.

In addition, the Tang River flows through the hilly areas in the western part of the Nanyang Basin. The water in the flood season is large and the river channel is narrow. The flood disaster is more severe than the Baihe River. It is necessary to divert part of the river water into the Baihe River during the flood season. In this way, the long dike can be built along the Baihe River first, and the long dike of the Tang River can be slowly built.

At the same time, after entering autumn and winter, Baihe often stops sailing due to the decrease in rainfall in the upstream. At this time, it is especially necessary to divert flow from the middle and upper reaches of the Tangyou to ensure a certain water level.

These can be solved by building overflow dams in the middle and upper reaches of the Tang River and digging multiple cross-channels between the Tang River and the Baihe River.

In addition to the Baihe River, a large amount of fields are abandoned due to floods and disasters along the Tang River. In the shallow mountain areas of the edge of the Nanyang Basin, due to the slack water conservancy facilities, a large amount of slopes and mountain fields are also deserted, or barely cultivated but with extremely low output.

These places require the construction of a large number of ponds to improve irrigation conditions.

However, this set is a huge project in this world. A rough estimate is that I don’t know how many tens of thousands of kilometres of money and grain to fill in.

"After the enemy soldiers seized Tianshui and Weixian in Qizhou, they sent tens of thousands of troops into the Qinling Mountains. Western Qin and Dongchuan still tried their best to defend Qianyou, Wuzhou and other places, making it difficult for the enemy soldiers to break through the Qinling defense line. No matter what, the Chihu people will definitely gather heavy troops in the middle this autumn and winter. The management of Tangbaihe requires a huge amount of money and food. Will it be postponed for one or two years and wait until the situation is slightly slowed down before starting to implement it?"

The governance of Nanyang Prefecture consumed a lot of money and food. Shi Zhen, Han Gui and others all advocated a temporary suspension and concentrated all their limited money and grain on preparations for the two prefectures this fall and winter.

"This autumn and winter, the enemy soldiers are destined to march towards Ru Cai, but this battle should not be expected to end in three to five months, and it is possible for three to five years. Don't be expected to compete for the governance of Tang Baihe for a while. After the autumn this year, you should still start moving first." Xu Huai held his hands in front of his chest and said.

"The envoy intends to build a long base to confront the enemy soldiers, or will he refuse to attack actively?" Shi Zhen asked.

Xu Huai nodded and said, "Although the enemy soldiers failed to kill the Qinling Mountains, Guanzhong, Longyou, Hexi and other places were trapped. In addition to their existing forces, they can also sign and sign young men to enter the battlefield in the occupied areas. We do not have the strength to fight and consume, and it is a taboo to win..."

Although Jingxiang has the ability to fight a large-scale battle with the Chihu people in the middle, Xu Huai will never fight a battle easily.

A large-scale battle, even if it wins a complete victory, it will be difficult to avoid tragic casualties.

Just like in the Battle of Ruying, Dayue Jue can be said to have won a great victory, annihilated more than 100,000 enemies in front and behind, but the Chushan and Xuanwu armies accumulated as many as 50,000 or 60,000 casualties.

In the Huainan victory, Dayue successfully drove the enemy troops back north of the Huai River and annihilated 50,000 or 60,000 enemies, but the casualties of this body were as high as 140,000 to 150,000.

In this autumn and winter, if the General Office is determined to fight with the Chihu people in the middle, the scale will definitely be far better than the previous two wars, and the end of the two sides may invest as much as 400,000 or 500,000 troops.

Under such circumstances, even if the General Office successfully repels the captured soldiers, can the casualties of themselves be less than 100,000?

Such casualties are still too painful for Jingxiang!??????????????????????????????

If we do not rush to engage in a major battle, we will rely on Jishan and the currently built Xiangcheng, Zhaoling, Guangcheng and other cities to build Changzuo. When we push the enemy troops forward, we will mobilize 200,000 to 300,000 troops to defend the enemy defense line after the Changzuo defense line, and do not give the enemy troops an opportunity to take advantage of it and delay the situation.

Before the enemy's troops find a new offensive focus, they are likely to withdraw their troops easily. Both sides are likely to confront each other for a long time on the Yishui-Jishan-Rushui line.

It is impossible that the governance and construction within Jingxiang will stagnate, right?

Not only can we not stagnate, we must grit our teeth and persevere. Only in this way can Jingxiang not weaken due to the fierce consumption of the war, and it is possible to fight stronger and stronger.

"Then set up refugee camps along the Qin and Chu Pai Road and Fangcheng Pass Road, and fill in the refugees who escaped from Shangluo, Lantian and other places in order to prepare for the shortage of young and strong labor." Han Gui advocated.

Chushan has been in charge for so many years, and construction of dams and roads has long been more than just the job of men, but also strong women have also filled in - this means that 100,000 Shangzhou refugees can fill in, and almost 50,000 or 60,000 labor force is provided. At least for a short time, the Department of Management will no longer need to draw young and strong labor from other places.

Xu Huai nodded, agreed with Han Gui's proposal, and walked to the window with his hands behind his back.

Shi Zhen stood up and looked at Xu Huai who was staring at a branch of apricot that was poking out of the courtyard wall. He said leisurely: "The late emperor passed away unfortunately. Fortunately, the envoy made up his mind to get rid of Zheng. Otherwise, it would be hard to imagine how Chu Shan would face the battle situation this autumn and winter!"

Xu Huai turned around, smiled, and said, "It's not time to feel lucky. In the end, I don't know how many flesh and blood bodies I have to fill in to finally expel the captives and even completely eliminate them!"
Chapter completed!