The eighth place in the historical monthly vote list, one place, and one more chapter will be decisively updated!

Zhang Chao had enough food and drink, so he asked Cheng Chumo and the others to continue fishing, while he carried the big golden carp with a long spear and went to Li Shimin's mansion.

The main force of the Tang army surrounded Mingzhou City twenty miles away, but Li Shimin's base camp was located in Mingshui City.

After passing through the road without any obstacles, Zhang Chao successfully arrived at the General's Mansion.

"Hey, what a big golden carp."

The three cavalry on the right side of the Qin Palace, Sun Wuda, the grandfather of Qingshui County, looked up and down the golden carp, and mentioned that he had thought about it a few times. "It must be at least thirty kilograms."

"I think there are, too." Zhang Chao said with a smile. He is now very familiar with some generals in the Qin Palace. Gongsun Wuda, like Liu Shili, is both Li Shimin's guard generals. He seems to be not of high level, but he is deeply trusted by Li Shimin. Like Zhang Liang and Hou Junji, he is both a confidant.

"Is Your Highness inside?"

"Here, are you sending fish?"

Zhang Chao smiled and pointed at the carp with bronze bearded golden scales, "I dare not eat such a big golden carp. Only the King of Qin can eat this fish."

"Then you go in. Your Highness is a little unhappy today. Be careful." Gongsun Wuda whispered.

"Thank you." Zhang Chao nodded and carried the fish in. These guards and generals from the Qin Palace are now familiar with Zhang Chao. Not only because Zhang Chao has good medical skills, but also because Zhang Chao is good at cooking and good food. These people often go to Zhang Chao's medical camp to eat and drink. Especially Gongsun Wuda, not only delicious but also loves to drink a few sips. Zhang Chao often makes some Erguotou for him.

In addition, Zhang Chao's adoptive uncle was Qin Qiong's, so he was still very busy in the Qin Palace.

Li Shimin was in a bad mood today. The war was going well before, and he successfully surrounded Liu Heita in Mingzhou, and recovered all the land occupied by his periphery, cutting off his wings.

A hundred thousand troops surrounded a city guarded by 30,000 people, but for many days, there was no progress.

After only a few small tentative attacks, the siege generals were unwilling to attack hard. They repeatedly mentioned that the defenders were stubborn and fierce, and they could not attack hard.

Li Shimin wanted to fight early and return to the court for the New Year. The sooner he was pacified, the more he seemed to be powerful. The prince did not allow him to lead the troops several times, but insisted that Li Shentong and Li Xiaochang and others led the troops to lead the troops. The result was so badly defeated. If he had only quelled the rebellion in less than three months, it would show his true ability and it also seemed that the prince was not good at seeing it.

Besides, if so many troops stay here all day and have a long siege, the pressure behind them will be huge, with nearly 100,000 people, how much food will be consumed every day.

It's winter again. If we didn't take Mingzhou early, the Tang army might not be able to last longer than the rebels.

Especially now that the weather is getting colder and colder, this is very unfavorable for the Tang army in the wilderness.

Zhang Chao carried the fish in, and Li Shimin's face was gloomy and his face was as calm as water.

Sure enough, what happened was not the time, Zhang Chao quietly retreated and wanted to leave.

"Since you are here, why are you in a hurry to go? Come here, and have something else to do." Li Shimin called out Zhang Chao.

Zhang Chao smiled dryly, "Today I took everyone to catch some fish in the river outside. I caught a golden carp weighing more than 30 kilograms. I have no blessing to enjoy such things, so I specially sent it to Your Highness."

Li Shimin still had a dark face, "Your official position is to participate in the military and be in charge of the medical camp, why did you leave your post and go fishing without hesitation?"

If you say you turn against each other, you will turn against each other. It turns out that you are accompanied by the king as if you are a tiger.

Zhang Chao quickly defended himself, "When you go back to your highness, your subordinates did not leave their posts without permission. The medical camp was placed properly, but the wounded soldiers are now weak and lack nutrition and need to replenish their vitality. However, there are only some simple food in the camp, so the subordinates took time to organize fishing nets and go fishing outside the city to make fish soup and fish porridge for the wounded soldiers to replenish their vitality and let them recover as soon as possible."

"This reason is still mentioned in the past, how are you getting today?"

Li Shimin's tone was a little relaxed.

"The harvest is pretty good. I have caught three nets today, and I have harvested more than a thousand kilograms."

"Three Nets have gained more than a thousand kilograms?" Li Shimin's voice suddenly rose a little. His face looked very bad, and the generals below were disobedient, and Zhang San was bragging to him.

He went to Zhang Chao's place to eat fish a few days ago. That day he said that he only had dozens of fish in one network, but today he only had more than one thousand kilograms in three networks. This lies at the beginning.

"When you go back to Your Highness, your subordinates did not exaggerate it. It's really a thousand kilograms. However, we did not use ordinary fishing nets and ordinary methods, but made a big net, using the method of walking under the ice nets to trawl nets under the ice, so we could catch hundreds of kilograms of fish at a time."

"Walking under the ice? In such a cold day, the river is full of thick ice. Why do you guys walk under the ice?" Li Shimin asked strangely. Could it be that he could still smash the ice and then jump into the river to traw the net? Then he would not freeze to death. The weather was dripping into ice.

"Your Highness, it's not complicated to walk under the ice."

Zhang Chao took his silver spear and paddled around the ground, drawing pictures.

With the picture and Zhang Chao's explanation, under-ice fishing immediately appeared vividly in Li Shimin's head.

"Put through the ropes and pull the net under the ice." Li Shimin stroked his two beards, "This method is so clever, no wonder you can catch so many fish."

Li Shimin couldn't help but fall into deep thought after being able to catch thousands of kilograms of fish in a day.

The generals under Mingzhou City hoped to carry out a long-term siege, trapped Liu Heita to death, and were not willing to risk huge casualties to attack. But in this way, Li Shimin was under great logistical pressure, and too many soldiers gathered here. In the middle of winter, there was no water transportation. It was very difficult to transport grain and grass from Henan, Huaibei, Jiangnan and other places to Hebei, especially now, Xu Yuanlang in Shandong is hindering the transfer of grain and grass from Li Fuwei and others in Jianghuai.

It is difficult to transport grain and consume more. Transport a truckload of grain from Henan to Mingzhou. The consumption on the road, plus the loss, sometimes exceeds the transport.

If you transport grain from Jianghuai, even Jianghan, Guanzhong, Hedong and other places, you may consume more.

When Yang Guang conquered Liao, he transported a truck of grain to Liaodong, and consumed seven trucks on the way.

Li Shimin also thought about expropriating locally, but after fighting in Hebei for so long, several armies repeatedly tug-of-war, and the grain was almost over. In addition, Li Shimin also learned from the lessons from the last time.

At this time, forcing food from the people of Hebei will take away the last bit of food. At that time, the people of Hebei who have no food to eat may really fight the Tang army to the end.

Before coming, Li Yuan also told him that he had to use both suppression and appeasement, and to be both kind and powerful. Suppression alone could not be done, but he had to be gentle. After defeating the rebels, he would have to be lenient, exempt from taxes, and release food to appease him.

Liu Heita has not been destroyed yet, but he has to collect the last bit of food in their family. How can he comfort these Hebei people in the future?

Hebei people have always been incompatible with Guanzhong. Since the fall of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the Eastern Wei, Western Wei, Northern Zhou and Northern Qi have been fighting until the Sui Dynasty unified the world. When Yang Jian usurped the Sui Dynasty, the three generals were in charge of the rebellion, and the Hebei people responded the most actively.

Later, Yang Guang ascended the throne, and King Yang Liang of Han rebelled, and Hebei also responded positively. Anyway, these Hebei people like to follow Chang'an to fight.

Li Shimin understood that this was also because the political center of the north was originally in the east, but since the Northern Wei Dynasty, it gradually moved to Guanzhong to the west. Of course, the people of Hebei were dissatisfied and always wanted to overthrow the Guanzhong people and regain the dominance of the north. Even ordinary people had the same mentality.

In addition, since the Jin Dynasty, Hebei and other places have also been the most serious places in the north with Huhua. Although many of the gentry in Guandong have maintained the Han traditions better, relatively speaking, Hebei people are still much more serious than Huhua in Guanzhong, which has also caused the Hebei people to have always been fierce and rebellious.

It is difficult to achieve a quick battle and a quick decision. Li Shimin cannot stand up for a long-term siege.

Just now, Li Shimin was already considering a problem, repatriating most of the logistics supplies and civilians back home, and at the same time, letting Li Shiji and Li Yi and other former local troops in Hebei return to the defense areas, which may reduce some of the logistics pressures of the Tang army.

"If you can compile ten nets, wouldn't you be able to catch tens of thousands of kilograms of fish a day?" Li Shimin asked suddenly.

Zhang Chao thought about it and it was theoretically possible. Mingzhou is also in the southern part of Hebei, with many rivers and many lakes, so fishing in winter is not too difficult.

If you make the mesh smaller, you can catch a few thousand kilograms of fish a day with a large net, Zhang Chao believes it is possible. Then, if you make up ten nets and find a few big rivers, you can catch tens of thousands of kilograms a day with a large net, of course it is okay.

However, Zhang Chao didn't dare to make a promise about this matter, what if he didn't catch it.

"Maybe it is possible, but it's not a guarantee."

Li Shimin nodded.

Tens of thousands of kilograms of fish.

If he deports 20,000 civilians and lets Li Shiji and Li Yi's 30,000 troops return to his garrison, then his military combat assistants under Mingzhou City will be left with 50,000 troops.

It’s okay to draw some people to make nets and fish. Fishing is much more reliable than hunting. Even if you go hunting in winter, you may not get much harvest.

If you make more nets, wouldn’t you catch 100,000 kilograms of fish a day? It can be worth thousands of stones of food, but it is still not consumed.

This is a very simple task, with a reduced army of half. The Tang army still has a numerical advantage over the rebels in Mingzhou City, and their equipment and combat power are also advantageous.

At the same time, the number of people and horses has been reduced by half, and the demand for food has been reduced by half, and the pressure of supply and transportation in the rear has been reduced by half.

In addition, he was able to fish and fill some of the food needs, so his food problems were greatly alleviated.

Seeing Li Shimin's appearance, Zhang Chao almost understood what he was thinking. He wanted to use fishing to replace the difference that he could not get supplies on the spot.

He had to remind Li Shimin, "Your Highness, it is impossible to catch so many fish every day when fishing."

"I understand." Li Shimin's face turned gloomy and he smiled, "I'll give you a task. I'll leave it to you to take charge of nets and fishing. I'll catch as much as I can. If I catch more, I will remember you for your great achievements."

Zhang Chao smashed his mouth, King Qin, don’t always put on burdens, I can’t afford to take on my shoulders.

"Don't stand, why don't you kill the fish? The fish will be new after a while."

Li Shimin didn't have the idea of ​​releasing animals. No matter whether he was a carp or a crucian carp, it was edible. It would take until his great-grandson Xuanzong that he issued an edict to ban the fishing of carp. Now, carp is just a ingredient in Li Shimin's eyes. He hopes that by Zhang Chao's hands, it can turn into a delicacy, so that he can feel more depressed. To be continued.
Chapter completed!