The Flourishing Tang Dynasty: Beginning with Marrying Yang Yuhuan

Chapter 166 The problem of food and grass
At the same time, Li Heng was also very clear that Li Longji asked him to serve as the governor of Helong concurrently just to let him take Shibao City, and would not let him govern these two places for a long time.

In this regard, Li Heng had an idea before, which was to slowly take Shibao City so that he could stay in Helong for a longer period of time.

But later he rejected this idea, because no matter how slow he was, he had to complete it within the time limit given by Li Longji, otherwise Li Longji would replace him without hesitation.

So, instead of procrastinating, it is better to conquer it as soon as possible, gain some fame, and then think of other ways.

Based on this idea, Li Heng had no intention of rectifying the economy and administration of Longyou. He just wanted to devote himself to military affairs, with the main focus on capturing Shibao City.

Li Heng pondered for a while, and did not directly answer Gao Xianzhi's question. Instead, he called everyone back to the hall and asked, "Generals, do you know the situation in Longyou?"

"I know a thing or two." Gao Xianzhi answered first, and came to the map and drew on it: "The Tubo people failed to plunder Hexi before, so they went back to Longyou to plunder. However, the place they plundered was not the Heyuan area close to Shibao City, but Guzhou, Hezhou, and Taozhou."

Chen Wulang, whom Li Ying met when he first entered Hexi, was from Fenglin County. Fengjin County previously belonged to Hezhou and was only assigned to Lanzhou during the reign of Li Longji.

Feng Changqing continued, "This is understandable. As Your Highness expected before, Guzhou, Hezhou and Taozhou have more military farms and are richer than Heyuan. If Tubo wants to plunder, it must be targeting the rich places. But the performance of our army is somewhat surprising..."

Feng Changqing changed the subject, came to the map, and continued:
"The Tubo entered Longyou this time through two routes. One route went from Dafeichuan through Shibaocheng and went south to Kuozhou. The other route went from Mohuanchuan into Taozhou and then went north to Hezhou. The court set up military garrisons on both routes, but the military garrisons on both routes only defended the city and allowed the enemy to come and go. Some even let the enemy pass through Dalaigu all the way to Weiyuan County and worship at Taohe River on their way back. If General Xue knew about this, I wonder what he would think."

The General Xue that Feng Changqing mentioned is Xue Rengui's son Xue Na.

After Xue Na defeated Tubo in the front, he joined forces with Wang Hui to encircle and suppress the Tubo army in Dalai Valley, defeated the Tubo army and chased them all the way to Tao River.

The Tibetan soldiers "died in piles, and the Tao River stopped flowing." Emperor Xuanzong of Tang had no choice but to order the Longyou prefecture to clean up the bodies of the Tibetan soldiers in the Tao River.

Feng Changqing couldn't help but feel angry as he saw the achievements of his ancestors before him and now they were being trampled under the feet of the enemy.

Gao Xianzhi said: "The performance of the Longyou Army is indeed infuriating, but as a general, you must not act on impulse. You need to analyze the reasons why the Longyou Army is defending the city and not leaving. Only in this way can you prescribe the right remedy and turn defeat into victory."

"Yes." Feng Changqing calmed down and asked, "General Gao, why do you think the Longyou Army is staying in the city?"

"There are three reasons." Gao Xianzhi said bluntly, "The first is the difference in military strength. Tubo has gathered its elite troops, while Longyou has suffered heavy losses due to the recent defeat of Dong Yanguang. It is inevitable that they will be afraid of being outnumbered. The second is morale. In the past year or so, Longyou has not won a single victory. I am afraid that the soldiers of Longyou don't know how to defeat Tubo at this time. The third is food and grass. When we took the initiative to attack, the court was able to supply food and grass with all its strength. Now that we have turned to a defensive position, the court's focus is on General Wang Zhongsi in the north, so naturally the supply of food and grass is insufficient. Under the triple attack, it is considered good that the soldiers can defend the city. If it continues, I am afraid there will be mutiny."

Feng Changqing said: "That makes sense. If we can't solve the problem of food and grass in Longyou, it will be difficult to stabilize the morale of the army."

Gao Xianzhi and Feng Changqing found the crux of the problem, but how to solve it was beyond their ability.

Not only was it beyond their capabilities, they even felt that Li Heng might not be able to solve the problem, so they all shook their heads and sighed.

Gao Xianzhi and Feng Changqing both shook their heads. Naturally, there was nothing the others could do. Everyone was in low spirits for a moment.

Li Heng glanced at everyone and said with a smile, "Regarding food and grass, I do have some ideas."

"What's your plan, Your Highness?"

Gao Xianzhi asked hurriedly, and the others also looked up at Li Heng.

Li Heng said: "I think it can be divided into two steps. The first step is to let the big families in Longyou Road pay money to alleviate the urgent need. The second step is to report to the court and ask the court to transfer grain."

Gao Xianzhi and others looked a little subtle when they heard this. Because everyone could think of these two steps, the key was how to get the big families in Longyou Road to pay and how to get the court to transfer grain.

Li Heng continued, "The first step is to ask the big families in Longyou Road to pay. I will go and negotiate in person. If that doesn't work, I can lend it to you. As for the second step, the grain that the court transferred to General Wang Zhongsi came from the Jiangnan, Hedong, and Hebei areas. We can ask for grain from Hexi and Jiannan."

Letting the big families in Longyou Road pay is just the official statement.

Li Ying had previously signed a contract with the He clan, the second largest clan on the Silk Road. He improved the Li Te brocade for the He clan, and the He clan gave him a share of the profits. Now, more than a year has passed, and he has not only improved a lot of techniques for the He clan, but also used Yang Xuanlu's connections in Jiannan to open up the Silk Road in Jiannan for the He clan.

This huge amount of money was all in Yang Yuhuan's hands and was enough to support the Longyou Army for a short period of time.

But Li Heng couldn't say it clearly.

As for requisitioning grain from Hexi, he was also the governor of Hexi, so it would not be difficult for him to do so.

The situation in Jiannan is a little more complicated.

Jiannan was a prosperous place, and the imperial court often transferred grain from Jiannan to other places for disaster relief and military supplies. However, Jiannan had inconvenient transportation and numerous clans, so it was difficult for the imperial court to transfer all of Jiannan's grain.

But Li Heng can avoid the above two problems.

In terms of transportation, it is not convenient for Jiannan to go to the Central Plains, but there are three roads to Longyou.

One route starts from Songzhou, passes through Fuzhou, Dangzhou, and finally reaches Minzhou. One route goes north from Songzhou, passes through Diezhou to Taozhou. The last route also starts from Songzhou, passes through Gansongling and reaches Qinghai.

As long as he first used the money he got from the He family plus the money from Hexi to stabilize the situation in Longyou, unlike Dong Yanguan whose grain route was blocked by Tubo, he would be able to open up transportation.

As for the problem of numerous clans, Yang Xuanlu, because of his connections, became bigger and stronger in Jiannan, and the Yang family almost became the largest clan in Jiannan. Therefore, as long as Yang Xuanlu puts in the effort, there should be no problem in solving the problem.

The generals didn't know about Li Heng's twists and turns, but since Li Heng said he could solve it, they had no choice but to believe him.

"Since Your Highness has a plan in mind for the food and grass issue, it should not be difficult to stabilize the morale of the Longyou army." Gao Xianzhi expressed his trust in Li Heng and asked, "Your Highness, what is the specific deployment for Hexi and Longyou next?"

Li Heng said, "It will still take three days. After three days, General Gao, General Li, and Assistant General Zhang will follow me to Longyou. General Feng and General Wang will stay in Hexi."

Li Heng kept Feng Changqing.

"Yes."

The generals stood up, received the order, and dispersed.

But Gao Xianzhi stayed and did not leave.

Li Heng was used to Gao Xianzhi staying behind to have secret talks with him, so he said bluntly: "General Gao, please tell me what you want to say."

(End of this chapter)