Wang Quan took his head to Xuzhou Prefecture to seek merit, and also gave jewelry worth 10,000 taels of silver, and made some money. Finally, he spent 3,000 taels of silver to donate a hundred households. This total cost 13,000 taels of silver and obtained the status of a hundred households. After spending so much money, he got a military status, but it was not a real shortage. In the eyes of others, it may be a loss, but only Li Guodong and Wang Quan knew that the transaction was not a loss at all. With the official status, the city he built by Tawau Lake was legal, and it would be much more convenient to do anything in the future.

The Dadewang Shop already has a supervisor and a hundred households, and there are all civil and military officials, laying the foundation for future development.

Although there is a little deviation from Li Guodong's long-term plan, it is not too much. Li Guodong originally knew that the situation in the north would soon become hopeless, which was an unstoppable trend. If he wanted to be invincible, he needed to have a base in the Lianghuai River. If he defended the river, he would have to defend the Huai River. Developed in the Lianghuai River, he could stop the bandits and Jiannu from going south.

Wang Quan lived in Xuzhou for a month and a half. When he came back, he wore an eight-petal pointed iron helmet and a hundred households' official uniforms. There were also hundreds of households' self-reported edicts, military household registration letters, one hundred household waist tags, another set of hundreds of household official uniforms and a set of Shanwen armor, imperial edicts, household stickers, waist tags and official uniforms were all issued by the court, but Shanwen armor and helmets were purchased by himself. It cost him more than a hundred taels of silver to buy this set of armor.

The six old men who brought Xuzhou together and ten personal soldiers selected from the new recruits of the guard team also returned. Each of them wore red tassel hats and mandarin duck battle jackets. Wang Quan also bought them one of them an eight-petal red tassel iron helmet and a set of cotton armor, which cost a lot of money. These sixteen people have since become Wang Quan's servants.

"Brother, it's not bad. Wearing this official robe makes people feel much more arrogant." Li Guodong smiled at Wang Quan, who was wearing a slutty official uniform embroidered with a slutty official uniform.

"But one hundred households are still low. It would be great if they could be promoted to a thousand households. Just donating a thousand households directly will cost a lot of money. Donating a thousand households is not much, but you have to give more money to those officials."

"You have to be a thousand households, brother, you can find a way to cut off more thieves' heads and change them."

"It's all. But this time I sent these heads to Xuzhou. The prefect smiled happily. These thieves have caused trouble to the Xuzhou government for several years. Now that we have been destroyed, they naturally have to report them as great contributions. I can't afford such a great contribution, so I can give them most of them. This matter is too great. Later, even the Inspector Censor of the Southern Zhili, the Inspector Censor of Henan and the Shandong Governor of the General Administration came."

It is indeed a big deal to destroy Cheng Jikong and his bandits. This bandits harmed Nanzhili, Shandong and Henan for many years. The officers and soldiers went to encircle and suppress the enemy many times, but they all returned in disgrace. It was not because the bandits were so strong, but because the water transport naval division was too bad, and the terrain of the bandits was good. There was a group of bandits who were good at water battles, so it was difficult for the officers and soldiers to break through the bandits' nest. The government also wanted to recruit the amnesty, but the bandits refused to accept the amnesty and could not be wiped out, so they could only stare at them.

Now that someone helps them solve this group of thieves, it is naturally a good thing. Moreover, this person is very sensible. Not only does he take out the credit, but he also takes out the seized property. Naturally, these officials will say good things to him.

After destroying Cheng Jikong and his bandits, the refugees could also feel at ease to reclaim wasteland and cultivate fields outside the city. There were still two months left before spring plowing, and Li Guodong had already started preparing to grow sweet potatoes. This time he came to the south, in addition to helping Wang Quan stabilize the city of Hongze Lake, the most important thing was sweet potatoes.

Originally, Li Guodong was planning to stay in the Toutu City Village to wait for spring plowing, but the caravans he stayed in the north went south and came to the Toutu Mountain Village.

"Shopkeeper Zhao is here." Ye Busuo reported to Li Guodong.

"Which shopkeeper Zhao? Is it from Hangzhou or from the west entrance?"

"It's from the west entrance. I've come back from the north and said I've brought three important news."

"Let him in."

After a while, Zhao Feng walked into Li Guodong's study. When Li Guodong asked everyone around him to retreat, he spoke: "Brother, I brought back three news, two bad news, and one good news."

"What two bad news?"

"The first one is that Lin Danhan escaped and fled to the west of Mo. He heard that he ran to the West Sea again. Jiannu killed Guihua and burned Guihua City with a torch."

Li Guodong nodded: "Lin Danhan is tyrannical and unrighteous, and his failure is reasonable. However, Jiannu burned naturalization and this is an opportunity for us."

"There is an opportunity to take advantage of it. Let me tell you the good news later. Let me tell you the bad news first. The second bad news is that the bandits rushed out of Shanxi and Shaanxi and entered Henan! They are harming the people of the Central Plains, and our caravan's land route has also been cut off, leaving only water route safety."

"Sooner or later! But this bandit broke out of Shanxi and entered the Central Plains. I wonder how many people in the Central Plains will be harmed by them! Wherever the bandits pass, like locust plagues, no grass will grow, and horse thieves in the Central Plains will join one after another. It can only be seen whether the court can use capable people to wipe out the bandits."

This is not a problem that Li Guodong has to worry about. The Ming Dynasty has been rotten long ago. It is better to let the thieves make a fuss. Kill a group of corrupt officials, local tyrants, evil gentry, especially civil servants' interest groups, use bandits to deal with them and eliminate a group of them. When he becomes strong in the future, he will lose many enemies. In short, Li Guodong has long understood that there is no need to be a foolish and loyal minister.

Then Zhao Feng said the good news: "The good news is that we started trading with the Tumots. We not only contacted the Tumots, but also went to Mobei to lend a batch of cattle and sheep for Tumots. In addition, the inside line we placed around Tumots also played a role, and just took advantage of the burning of the Guihua City to inspire the Tumots hatred for Jiannu. Also, we went to Mobei Mongolia and met the three Khan kings, Zasaktu Khan, Tushetu Khan and Chechen Khan. They also said that as long as the Tumots are willing to deal with the Jurchens, they are willing to help."

"The Three Khans in Mobei, plus the Tumots, let's find another opportunity to win over Lin Dankhan's generals, so that the five Mongolian Khans can concentrate the troops of the Jurchens." Li Guodong nodded.

Then, Li Guodong called Wang Quan and told him that there was a major change in the north, so the sweet potato matter was left to Wang Quan, and he wanted to bring people back first.

Sweet potatoes need to be cultivated first. Before the spring plowing time has arrived, Li Guodong first asked someone to store the sweet potatoes in the cellar and take them out of the cellar to cultivate seedlings after spring begins. He taught Wang Quan the way to cultivate seedlings: first pick out high-quality sweet potatoes that are large and not moldy, put them in a warm room. When they sprout, they buried the sweet potatoes in a piece of seedling field, covered with an inch of soil, and then poured with water to wet. After about ten days, the sweet potato seedlings can be taken out of the field, cut into pieces according to the sweet potato seedlings, planted into the field, and then you can wait for the harvest.

When choosing a seedling bed, you should choose a land with wind and sunshine, with good drainage, low ground water level, flat terrain, loose and fertile.

Li Guodong left half of the sweet potatoes for Wang Quan, and he would take the rest back to the north for planting. If this plant can be successfully planted in the north, it can solve the food problems in the north in the future.

——
Chapter completed!