National color raw owl

Chu Huan naturally knew nothing about Xiao Huanzhang's death, but Chu Huan knew everything about Beishan's panic.

After this battle, Beishan's vitality was severely injured. Chu Huan knew very well that even if Xiao Huanzhang was ambitious, he would not be able to pose a threat to the southern line of Xiguan in a short time. He just ordered Xuanyuan Sheng to make a plan to attack at any time. Beishan's preparations, and he knew very well that with Xiao Huanzhang's temperament, after a defeat, he would never dare to fight again, and seeing that the Xiguan Army was about to move, the only way Xiao Huanzhang could choose was to seek peace from Xiguan.

Xiao Huanzhang wants to make peace, but Chu Huan wants to make peace even more.

It's just that he didn't know that Xiao Huanzhang was dead, and he didn't know that Luo Dingxi also had plans to seek peace, but Xiao Huanzhang had no choice but to seek peace, while Luo Dingxi's peace was a hidden trick.

In any case, Beishan is ready for peace talks.

In the name of Xiao Huanzhang, Luo Dingxi sent someone to Qingtang to meet Xuanyuan Shengcai and bring up the matter of peace, but Xuanyuan Shengcai naturally did not dare to make a decision, so he hurriedly sent someone to report to Shuoquan. Chu Huan learned that Beishan was as he expected That way of seeking peace is naturally in the right place, but seeking peace requires conditions. He knows that Beishan wants to make peace, but Xiguan is able to fight and make peace. Before the other party knows what he is thinking, even if he negotiates a peace, he must strive for enough benefits .

Xuanyuan Sheng just got the news and sent someone to send Beishan envoys to Shuoquan. However, Qingtang still followed Chu Huan's order and was ready to move, and sent soldiers and horses to wander on the north bank of Liangzi River almost every day, facing the opposite bank. Pointing and pointing, making a sign of crossing the Liangzi River at any time.

After the envoy from Beishan arrived at Shuoquan, Chu Huan did not summon him immediately. He waited for two days before summoning him. I felt that Xiao Huanzhang was sincerely asking for peace, and Chu Huan was a little surprised when he immediately proposed to compensate Xiguan with [-] shi of grain.

But of course he didn't show it on the surface, and he didn't give any answer. He only said that the government was busy and didn't have much time to negotiate. After that, Du Fugong, the new director of the Salt Bureau, was sent to the Xiguan side to negotiate.

Sometimes the conditions are too harsh, which makes the negotiation difficult, but if the conditions are too generous, it will also cause suspicion. Chu Huan has been waiting for Beishan to negotiate a peace, and from the beginning, Chu Huan has made up his mind, at least from Beishan. If Xiao Huanzhang refused to obtain the passage to enter the pass, even if he ordered Xuanyuan Shengcai to send troops to Beishan, he would have to open a passage.

It is a very embarrassing thing to cede land and negotiate peace, and Beishan is not considered an alliance under the city. Chu Huan estimated at the beginning that Xiao Huanzhang might not be stingy with gold and silver, but it would take a lot of trouble for Xiao Huanzhang to cede land, but He did not expect that the Beishan envoy who came to the peace talks this time had already exceeded Chu Huan's expectations at the very beginning. Not only did he cede the land in the three counties, but he even paid [-] shi for grain.

These two things are what Chu Huan needs most at the moment. He needs to open up business channels to trade with the customs. Only in this way can it be possible to solve the food and grass problem facing Xiguan.

Chu Huan has been under a lot of pressure recently. Although the southern front has won, the western front will have to endure a big battle sooner or later. Therefore, after the Koshu victory, Chu Huan's attention has been concentrated on the western front. To start the war, food and grass are naturally indispensable. Pei Ji has sent a letter. Although the morale of the soldiers on the western front is not low, the soldiers mentioned the cavalry of Tianshan in private, but they all had a hint of fear. They came to Zhu Lingyue Before, maintaining the morale of the Xiguan Army was an extremely important military preparation.

Undoubtedly, providing food and grass to the western front will naturally have a great effect on stabilizing the morale of the army. Everyone knows that the foundation of Xiguan is not strong. There is no way to continue the battle. If the food and grass are prepared early, the soldiers will see that the logistics support is sufficient, which will naturally boost their morale.

This is what Chu Huan has been worrying about recently.

There is not much food in the official warehouses of Xiguan, and it is very difficult to support the two fronts. Fortunately, the Xiguan army does not have too many soldiers and horses. There is one less grain to eat, and the government's food reserves are mainly grain borrowed from the gentry and wealthy families. These grains are used to prepare for the cultivation after the spring, and Chu Huan has already used part of it. If the war continues, what is needed? There is nowhere to get food and grass, so they can only use the food. If there is no food to grow at that time, there is no need to wait for the big famine next year, and the people will make trouble during the spring plowing.

Chu Huan wished he could become a fairy, and had the ability to turn grass into food.

The envoy of Beishan claimed that Beishan was willing to provide food, which made Chu Huan overjoyed. He was keenly aware that Beishan could put forward such a condition from the beginning, and of course Xiguan could continue to bargain. Okay, so Du Fugong was specially sent to negotiate with the Beishan envoy.

Chu Huan said that he was busy with official duties, but it was not entirely an excuse.

In addition to food and grass, logistics, weapons and equipment are also indispensable.

This point, Pei Ji had already reminded Chu Huan when Xiao Huanzhang was on the border with Chen Bing, and Chu Huan knew that this matter was also of great importance, so he did not neglect it.

The land in the northwest is very barren. Although there is a lot of arable land, due to the harsh climate in the northwest, the grain harvest is very low. A lot of grain was imported from the pass, so that the food problem in the three northwest areas could be solved.

Moreover, in the Northwest Three Roads, the area with the highest grain production is not in Xiguan, but in Beishan, Beishan, the six counties of Qingzhou, five of which have high grain production, and only one state in Qingzhou is the Northwest Three Roads Nearly half of the total grain output of Kyushu, so if we really want to say, the grain output of the three Beishan prefectures is enough to supply the rations of Beishan Yiyi. The ones who really need to import grain from the pass are Xiguan and Tianshan.

Xiguan used to be the strongest in the three northwest regions. In the final analysis, it was only because Xiguan did have a solid economic pillar.

Before Chu Huan developed new salt, the biggest economic pillar of Xiguan was ore. There were many Gobi in the northwest, but there were also many mountains, and there were not a few high mountains in Xiguan.

The imperial court has to transfer grain from the national treasury to support the northwest every year, but there are many benefits from Xiguan. In addition to getting gold sand from the land of Jinzhou, the most important thing is that the imperial court has set up a yamen in Xiguan to manage and develop ores. In the mountains of Xiguan, there are many minerals. In addition to the cold stone discovered by Chu Huan, iron ore is also a rich resource in Xiguan.

The imperial court has been developing iron ore in the northwest, and most of the empire's weapon casting is made of iron ore transported from the northwest. The weapons made of high-quality iron are first used to equip the Royal Guards , and then allocated to the Twelve Guards, so the guards in the capital are wrong, and the quality of their weapons and equipment is very high.

Back then, people came and went from Xigu Pass day and night, among which the convoys transporting iron ore to the pass were extremely frequent, and the salt and iron government was run by the empire. Mining is equivalent to buying and selling private salt. Under the laws of the Great Qin Empire, capital punishment is always imposed.

Therefore, although there are plenty of iron ore in the Northwest, the weapons and equipment of the Northwest Army or the local army in the Northwest are all distributed by the imperial court, and the local governments are not allowed to privately manufacture weapons, let alone open mines.

After the Xiliang people came in, they almost occupied the entire territory of Xiguan. While attacking the city, the Xiliang people also plundered the resources of Xiguan, forcing the people in the occupied area to mine ore, and even smelted weapons on the spot. Well, when the Xiliang people came over, they had already left the northwest in a flash. When the Xiliang people retreated, the northwest was in turmoil, and the ore yamen never recovered.

Following Pei Ji's persuasion, Chu Huan immediately summoned a group of people from the Ministry of Industry's Yamen to restart ore mining and weapon refining.

He is very clear that because of the previous inventory, the current weapons in the hands of the Xiguan Army are not in short supply, but the struggle for supremacy in the Northwest is inevitable, and the weapons currently in hand are not enough to support a war that is too long. Afterwards, a lot of weapons and equipment will be damaged, and the logistics must be on top of the weapons and equipment, and they must be supplied in time.

Although the empire forbids private mining in local areas, let alone private manufacturing of weapons, when Chu Huan summoned officials from the Ministry of Industry to discuss mining and refining weapons, none of the officials raised any objections, but they actively put forward their own suggestions. Many of these officials were once implicated by Gongsun Chu, the magistrate of Yuezhou, and were squeezed out and suppressed by Dongfangxin and other Zhu parties. Later, Chu Huan used Gongsun Chu, and Gongsun Chu recalled a large number of suppressed officials to return to their positions. .

Although the original mining and refining of weapons and other affairs were directly sent by the imperial court to manage here, but when it comes to the specific handling of affairs, people from the Ministry of Industry still need to do it. Among this group of people, many of the tour guides are familiar with mining affairs. They are very familiar, and Chu Huan gave an order, and these people will do their part.

No one said that this was prohibited by the imperial court decree. Everyone is not stupid. Everyone does not understand what the Great Qin Empire is like now. The pass is in chaos. The imperial court has no time to extend its hands and feet to the northwest, and everyone can see the situation clearly. Although no one raised the flagpole, everyone knows that the three heroes in the northwest are fighting for hegemony, which is already something that the blind can see. What is now considered is not the court's decree, but to do everything possible to win the battle for hegemony in the northwest. win.

So recently, Chu Huan has not only been busy thinking about food, but also thinking about mining and iron making. As early as a few years ago, the Ministry of Industry Division had already begun to prepare for the mining and forging of weapons. On the third day of the Lunar New Year As soon as it passed, under the leadership of Han Hai, the head of the Ministry of Industry, the Department of the Ministry of Industry worked day and night at full capacity.

After Chu Huan came to Xiguan, of the six departments, only the Department of Industry and the Department of Rites had not been deployed by Dongfangxin. The other four departments had all changed their principals. The forces in Xiguan were completely wiped out. Although many officials in the other four departments were reinstated, they were all ordered by Chu Huan. Speaking of which, they were all employed by Chu Huan.

Although the head of the Ministry of Industry and Han Hai, the director of the Ministry of Etiquette, are still in charge of the various departments, they really don't know what Chu Huan is thinking. Xia Jian made contributions and stabilized his position. At any rate, Fan Xuan, the head of the Ministry of Rites, recommended himself to go to Beishan once before. Han Hai was naturally anxious. When Chu Huan proposed to open a mine, it was naturally in his favor, and he found an opportunity to make contributions. Without hesitation, he patted his chest and promised that the things Chu Huan confessed would be properly handled.