The rise of the prince

Chapter 651
Li Xingzhou slowly realized that Yan Kun hadn't lost sight of it. Fang Xin had a great view of the big picture, or he could see problems with a high vision, and he didn't stick to trivial matters. This shouldn't happen to a scholar.

As the saying goes, reading thousands of books is not as good as traveling thousands of miles, so fermented bean curd nerds generally don't have a big picture. It seems that Fang Xin may have his own unique experience.

Naturally, Li Xingzhou didn't bother to ask these questions. The key is that he can grasp the most important and useful ones from the many cumbersome information.

He pointed out in his letter last time that in the past month, grain prices that had stabilized along Hedong Road and Qinfeng Road began to soar, and a large number of businessmen seized this business opportunity to transport grain northward from Jingxi Road.

Therefore, Fang Xin speculated that it was because the Jin people massacred the city in a fit of anger at the Datong Mansion. There was no population and labor force, and no one took care of the food, cattle and sheep. There is a famine.

Moreover, the famine was very widespread, causing food to skyrocket in the northwest.

He also pointed out that the Kingdom of Jin had just established the world and its foundation was not stable. Emperor Wanyan, the gold master, must be very anxious when such a thing happened, so he bought a large amount of food from the surrounding land for disaster relief.

Mainly in the northwest area of ​​Jingguo and Xixia, because these places are close to Xijing Road.But he didn't expect that at this time, Xixia would start a civil war for no reason, which would cause another increase in food prices in the borderlands.

Fang Xin's suggestion to him was that if the merchants were ordered to prohibit the sale of grain to the Kingdom of Jin at this time, or directly set up checkpoints in this area to strictly check the import and export of grain, the country of Jin would inevitably be in chaos, which would greatly weaken the Kingdom of Jin.

Li Xingzhou was also very emotional after watching it, Fang Xin thought so far.

He didn't know if there was a famine in the southwestern part of the Jin Kingdom, but Fang Xin's analysis was reliable. The Datong Mansion area was indeed slaughtered by the Jin people, and it was very likely that there would be a famine just before the autumn harvest.

Moreover, the all-out war between the Kingdom of Jin and the Kingdom of Liao has lasted for three years. Although it is not as long as many ancient wars, the loss must be very large.

In ancient wars, due to limitations in logistical supplies, combat methods, etc., wars were very long.

The war between Mongolia and Xixia has lasted for more than 20 years, and the war with the Song Dynasty has lasted nearly 50 years. This long period of war means that there may be several generations of people who have experienced and paid attention to war since they were sensible. , live for war, die for war.

It's brutal and can mean serious damage to productivity.

Speaking of being dragged down by the war, many people first think of the Han Dynasty, which was fighting everywhere. During the Han Dynasty, it was really uncomfortable to not fight for a few days.

But in fact, it was far from the Han Dynasty, and there were countless kingdoms that were dragged down by the war.The destruction of productivity by war is very powerful. It is not just the dead, but also a vicious circle. Even if it seems to be able to maintain a temporary prosperity by plundering at first, it will fall into a deep whirlpool after a long time.

And the Kingdom of Jin has already begun, especially in the area of ​​Datong Mansion on Xijing Road. The anger vented because of the heavy casualties in the siege has also begun to incur bad results.

Once it is impossible to deal with it properly, there may be various rebels.

At this time, the Kingdom of Jin had just been established, and the Wanyan Clan had only ascended the throne, so the foundation was not stable, so Wanyan Wugu was very anxious.

The Kingdom of Jin seemed to have the strongest military front, intimidating all directions. Goryeo, Mongolia, and Xia Kingdom expressed their surrender one after another, but at this time they were at the end of their strength and at their weakest.If you have to wait a year or two, and wait for it to recover, the Dajin Kingdom will be the same as the Dajin Kingdom that swallowed thousands of miles like a tiger a year ago.

It stands to reason that now is the best time to deal with Jin Guo, the reason is this, but it is a pity that Jing Guo is not doing well.

In the Northern War, although the New Army finally won, but before that, the Central Route Army and the West Route Army had been beaten to death by Yelu Dashi, and there were at least [-] to [-] soldiers who fled, or even more. .

Because the Wu Lie Army sent more than 5 troops at the beginning, and when they returned to Beijing, there were only less than [-] people left. Some of them died in battle, and most of them did not dare to return to the camp after fleeing.

The disappearance and death of these people is not as simple as 8 to [-] people. Many families are involved behind it. Social turmoil is inevitable. Coupled with the various losses of grass and luggage, it has actually touched the foundation of the country.

The reason why this war was able to start was because of the millions of taels of silver that he obtained from the generation of tycoons and officials in Jiangzhou last year. When the two armies were defeated, they were basically defeated.

The new army sent troops, the emperor did allocate a sum of money for him, but it was far from enough to support the new army. Most of the military expenses came from the palace, twelve large ships, a lot of food and supplies, bullets, shells, gunpowder, etc., the most important thing is The loss of the palace's business after the departure of the twelve large ships.

The sum of these is definitely a million taels!

This is a war, a money-burning war. The Kingdom of Jin has fought for three years before reaching the end of its strength. It needs to rest because they have won consecutive battles and won victories all the way.

But war means destroying production, and a large number of sources of productivity are lost in war. Where do all kinds of resources come from?It must be a vicious cycle, and the looted resources only temporarily slow the cycle.

Therefore, when the reserves of the cities of the Liao State were almost exhausted and there were no new resources to supply, the soldiers of the Jin State could not continue to fight no matter how fierce they were.

Wanyan Wugu must have understood this point, so he stopped fighting at the peak of Jin Guobing's peak.

From this point of view, Li Xingzhou was also very vigilant in his heart, Wanyan Wugu was worthy of a generation of heroes, there was a reason why the Liao Kingdom could not beat him.

On the other hand, Jingguo, not to mention Yanshan Mansion (Nanjing of Liao Dynasty), has long been an isolated city. A large number of Liao troops have been compressed by the Jin Kingdom for nearly two years. There is no surplus resource reserve for Jing Jun to supplement. At first, they were defeated one after another. Material losses are numerous.

After taking Yanshan Mansion, the treasury was basically empty.

In this way, Jingguo seemed to be victorious in this war, but actually spent a lot of resources. If the palace hadn't contributed money and directly took over the follow-up war, the treasury might owe millions of taels of silver at this time!
What should I do if I have no money?Increase taxes and exploit the people!Then the people will be dissatisfied, and rebels will rise everywhere, and they will fall into a bad situation of internal and external difficulties.

If it weren't for the palace, Jingguo would have almost fallen into this abyss.

So the Kingdom of Jin is, and the Kingdom of Jing is also at the end of their strength, even if they want to do something to the Kingdom of Jin, they are powerless.

At this time, Li Xingzhou couldn't stop the merchants from trading with the Kingdom of Jin. If the Kingdom of Jing was strong and the Chinese and Western armies hadn't been defeated before, then he would definitely order the establishment of checkpoints at the border to stop these trades.

The merchants will lose if they lose. Anyway, Jing Guo is rich and powerful. Killing one thousand enemies and losing eight hundred will also drag Jin Guo to death. But now the situation is that Jing Guo is not much better. It is time to revitalize trade.

So he chose to use it as a threat instead of breaking up with Jin Guoyu, and demanded that Wanyan Wugunai hand over the former Liao princess Yelu Yali, otherwise the grain trade would be cut off, and a grain of grain would not be allowed to enter Jin Guo from the border of Jing Guo.

Li Xingzhou is [-]% sure that Wanyan Wugu will be afraid. As for the final result, he still has to wait.

At the desk, Li Xingzhou continued to talk, Wei Yubai continued to write, and Wei Chaoren also came after a while, but he didn't interrupt, just sat and listened.

After Li Xingzhou finished writing the battle report, he said, "My lord, some of the veteran's subordinates should return to the south."

"what happened?"

Wei Chaoren said: "The autumn harvest is coming, the Guanbei area is short of manpower, and the food and wages can't support it now."

Li Xingzhou nodded: "How much can you keep?"

"About eight thousand, all of them are good players in the Guanbei Army." Wei Chaoren said.

Li Xingzhou thought for a while and asked, "What do you think about who will take over the Yanshan Mansion in the future?"

Wei Chaoren was stunned by what he said, and then his face became tense, and he quickly cupped his hands: "The prince is joking, the old minister is just a foreign general, and he dare not speak nonsense about state affairs."

"It's okay, just talk about it, this place is far away from the imperial court." Li Xingzhou smiled, and he also realized that this is indeed a taboo. Jing Guo is very careful about military generals, especially foreign generals.

Wei Chaoren thought for a while, then sighed and said slowly: "To be honest, if there is a chance, I would rather come by myself. There may be a lot of talents in civil and military affairs in the Manchu Dynasty, but the old minister who has come back after hundreds of years is not at ease in anyone's hands. .”

After listening to his words, Li Xingzhou just nodded.

"It all depends on the emperor's Sacred Heart dictatorship, but there is one thing that I still want to remind the prince." He said in a lower voice: "In the next one or two years, or even a few years, the world may be peaceful, and the Kingdom of Jin will be at peace with me. It’s all right. But please don’t let your lord be fooled by it, Jin Guo is a tiger and a wolf, and if you don’t move at this time, it’s just to recuperate, don’t let your guard down.”

"Don't worry, I will remember." Li Xingzhou promised the old man earnestly. This is the sorrow of foreign generals. They can't make mistakes, and they can't interfere with the court situation.

Li Xingzhou understood that what he was afraid of was not that he would relax his vigilance, but that he was afraid of the court ministers and the emperor, but Wei Chaoren couldn't speak for himself, so he had no choice but to tell him.

This is exactly what he thought, and the world will return to tranquility next, but it will also be a tranquility with an undercurrent, only about two or three years. In the past few years, the Kingdom of Jin has been hiding its strength and biding its time to recover, and so is the Kingdom of Jing.

Once one of the parties recovers, it must be a fierce battle.

At the end of July, the Jin Kingdom envoy finally sent a secret letter, saying that Yan Wugu agreed to return Yelu Yali, but asked Li Xingzhou to go north and meet at Shanhaiguan.

Regarding this matter, Wei Yubai strongly opposed it at first glance, she thought that the Jin people might be against her.

Yan Shen and Liu Ji expressed that they were willing to go together, but Di Zhi also objected to his going, and thought that Yelu Yali was not that valuable and not worth his risk.

In fact, Li Xingzhou also agreed with Di Zhi's point of view that Yelu Yali was not worth his risk, but he wanted to meet the legendary gold master Wanyan Wugunai, and the letter made it very clear that he would also be there.

"Your Majesty, after the last batch of military pay has been allocated recently, there are only 200 taels left in the treasury." In the small pavilion in the imperial garden, Xue Fang, the Duzhi envoy, said in a low voice. Back off from afar.

The emperor nodded: "Can you still turn around?"

Xue Fang nodded: "As long as we stay for another month or two, we will be able to turn around after the autumn harvest."

"If it doesn't work, we will increase the tax and increase the tax. This time, there will be no troubles in the north. After finally taking down Yanshan Mansion, we must hold it steady." The emperor urged.

"Yes." Xue Fang expressed her understanding, then thought for a while and said, "About the new army. Your Majesty, most of the money for the new army's troops comes from the Jin Palace. Will the Jin Palace not be able to support it now?"

The emperor opened his mouth and sighed first: "It is the sorrow of the court, he desperately went north to fight, but he has to figure out his own way for money, silk, food and salaries."

Xue Fang didn't speak, he really had no choice, the treasury was empty, and he could only replenish it after the autumn harvest, but even this replenishment was only for emergency, and there was still no surplus.

"Next month, let's transfer the new army back. Wei Chaoren's army has already gone north. The return of Xingzhou can just relieve the burden on the palace. There are still many things waiting for him in the court, so he can't stay in the north for long."

"The emperor is wise." Xue Fang said quickly, her heart skipped a beat. There are still many things waiting for him. Anyone with a discerning eye knows what is going on. Now that Li Xingzhou has joined Prince Jin, what else can it be.

"Also, recently the ministers have been arguing about how Yang Hongzhao and Tong Guan should deal with it. What do you think?" The emperor asked suddenly.

Xue Fang was suddenly asked, he hesitated and said: "I feel that Yang Hongzhao did not do much wrong, Tong Guan is an unforgivable crime."

The emperor glanced at him: "Why, many people in the court wish they could not kill Yang Hongzhao."

"Your Majesty, let me tell you the truth. Yang Hongzhao's mistake was delaying the battle. Some people said that he avoided the battle, but he was cautious. This is just a one-sided statement. Maybe Yang Hongzhao made a mistake. He misjudged the situation of the battle. The heart is good, nothing more than doing something wrong.

But as far as Tong Guan is concerned, his heart can be punished, he is greedy, and he is uncontroversial. "Xue Fang said, he is the chief official of the third department, so his words are naturally very important.

The emperor did not speak after listening, did not nod or shake his head, the emperor has always been like this, Xue Fang is not surprised.

"What about Yaoshi Guo?"

"Guo Yaoshi is a man of great courage. He first surrendered, and he was not afraid of death. It is an honor to lose. Moreover, I feel that rewarding Guo Yaoshi, a general of another country, will not only show the emperor's thirst for talents, but also show the emperor's favor. Greatness, set an example for future generations." Xue Fang said clearly.

The emperor still didn't move after hearing this, and then slowly stood up, looked at the pond behind him: "You did a good job as an envoy, and when King Jin returns to Beijing, I'll spare him the time to communicate."

Xue Fang was overjoyed, and quickly said: "Thank you, Your Majesty!"

At the end of July and the beginning of August, the news that Jin Wang conquered Weizhou and Anding and took over Yanshan Mansion has already spread widely.

People rushed to tell each other with joy, and the Mid-Autumn Festival was approaching, so people simply put up lanterns and festoons to celebrate, and it became a trend for a while, and the literary talents and martial arts of the Prince of Jin were also touted to the sky.

On the contrary, the bustling East Palace that used to come and go before suddenly became deserted. The prince scolded and threw things all day long in the mansion, but no one paid any attention to him, even the emperor never called him into the palace again.

The so-called warmth and coldness of human relationship is probably like this, but at this moment, an unexpected guest came to the East Palace.
(End of this chapter)