The minister said to Emperor Zhao Xu of the Song Dynasty: "Your Majesty, the treasury is really gone, and all the money and grain accumulated since the reform of the law have long been exhausted, and now the grain and grass needed by the front-line army are temporarily requisitioned from all over the south of the Yangtze River, and now the south of the Yangtze River has been swept away by the Xia army, and our dynasty has been greatly injured."
"How can this be" Zhao Xu sat on the dragon chair and said: "That is to say, it is difficult for us to even supply food and grass for the front-line army now, and how can we go on the Northern Expedition."
"Your Majesty, now most of Hebei has fallen, the war situation in the Central Plains is eroding, Huaibei is still in the hands of the Xia army, and Jiangnan has been poisoned by Li Qing, the king of Yan; Although our dynasty seems to occupy an important grain-producing area in China, in fact, only Sichuan, Shu, Jianghan, and Huainan can still produce grain, and the land south of the Yangtze River will not be able to recover its vitality in three or five years, and there is a lot of wilderness on the shore of Poyang Lake that can be reclaimed into farmland, but if you want to produce grain, you will have to wait two or three years later."
Due to the perennial war between the Xia and Song dynasties, the most elite areas of China have been all destroyed, a large number of cities have been destroyed, the people have been displaced, and many people who fled have starved to death in the wilderness, according to incomplete statistics, the population of the two countries in the Song and Xia before the war was about 130 million, and there were less than 80 million at this time, that is to say, in the wars in the past few years, the people suffered nearly 50 million casualties, most of which were the people living in the war areas of the two armies in the Central Plains and Hebei.
These two places are the heavy tax places in China since ancient times, but now they are barren fields and white bones, such a major loss is heavy for China, although the Xia army occupies these suitable land, but there are no people to cultivate, this is no different from not getting, the war in the cold weapon period is to put it bluntly is the food and population, without these rest are nonsense.
And the loss of Jiangnan is a fatal blow to the Great Song Dynasty, in fact, the Yan King Li Qing led the Xia army to snatch from the Jiangnan whether it is grain, silk, cloth, medicinal materials, gold, silver and jewelry, craftsmen, women are just a drop in the bucket, a large amount of wealth and population are actually lost in the war, the loss of the Great Song Dynasty in Jiangnan can not be measured by wealth, the loss of Jiangnan This is the support of the tax-paying land, it is equivalent to pumping the tendons of the Great Song Dynasty and hurting the bones of the Great Song Dynasty.
Although Li Qing, the king of Yan, snatched only a dime a dozen from the south of the Yangtze River, but it was a shot in the arm for the Great Xia Empire, with the support of this grain and grass, the Xia army could go on the war, the consumption of grain and grass in the cold weapon war was very huge, since the establishment of the Great Xia Empire, the Great Xia Empire has never lacked a brave and good fighting army, nor is it short of sophisticated weapons and equipment, the only thing that the Great Xia Empire lacks is food, a lot of food, and the reason why Li Liangzuo kept attacking the Song Dynasty was actually for food, In order to have a piece of fertile soil that can produce a steady stream of food for the Great Xia Empire.
Qizhou City, Xia Huang Xingyuan.
Li Ke, the king of Qi, came to Li Liangzuo's side and said: "Father, the sixth brother has sent a letter, the last batch of grain and grass has been shipped from Jiangnan, and it is estimated that it will be a month before it can reach Majiazhuang Wharf." ” "I see."
Li Liangzuo said expressionlessly.
"Father, it's not a matter of hoarding a large amount of grain and grass at the Majiazhuang wharf now, do you think we should build a granary to store these grains and grass."
Li Liangzuo thought for a while and said: "This matter is handed over to Yang Shousu and Hao'er to do, build granaries along the canals such as Yongxing Military Town, Anling Town, and Changhe Town, and all grain and grass, silk, cloth, gold, silver, jewelry, medicinal materials and other things must be registered one by one, I have already ordered Zhou Shengcai to come and preside over the storage of materials, and it will be here in a few days, you don't have to worry about this matter, just take care of your own affairs." ” "Father and emperor rest assured, the army to the south has been prepared, and the army will rest for a day tomorrow, and the army will go south in the morning of the day after tomorrow; At the same time, the third brother will lead the army north."
"Just look at it yourself."
Li Liangzuo stayed in Qizhou for a few days and returned to Qingshui City, at this time, on the ice road from Majiazhuang Wharf to Yongxing Military Town, there was an endless stream of sleds, and Zhou Shengcai, who was in charge of statistics, and his subordinates were about to cramp, and this was just the beginning, a large number of ships were still waiting overseas, because there was too much grain and grass, and a lot of losses were also caused in transportation, but everyone was no longer concerned about these losses.
Speaking of the war on the eastern front, the king of Qi immediately led an army of 100,000 to the south, leaving an army of 100,000 to guard the city of Qizhou, for the Xia army in fact, the most important place for the southward operation is Yanzhou, as long as Yanzhou is taken, the connection between the northern army of the Xia army and the Yuzhou army is opened, and the army of 100,000 is immediately led to the south when the Song army has not yet reacted, and it took only one day to take down the Fengfu with less than 10,000 defenders.
At the same time, Li De sent 50,000 troops from Xuzhou to the north, all the way to capture Teng County, Zou County and other places, and finally captured Yanzhou City, and Li Ke's 100,000 troops on the North Road met in Gong County, the entire Eastern Front campaign lasted only ten days and ended, the Song army basically did not encounter any resistance, with Yanzhou being the same, the Song army's source of troops has been completely cut off, and Li De has also been increased.
The reason why the battle would go so smoothly was because Zhao Yan did not expect that the Xia army would suddenly change the offensive defense line, and the original Song army's defense on the two roads of Jingdong was not very strong, and there were not many troops at all; Zhao Yan pinned the hope of Jingdong and the two roads on the 150,000 army led by Xiao Yuanshan, indeed, as long as Xiao Yuanshan guarded Qizhou, the Xia army could not go south so easily, Zhao Yan's defeat was to believe in Xiao Yuanshan too much, and he had already reaped the consequences.
Daimyo Zhao Wang's Mansion.
Zhao Qun asked Zhao Yu: "The prince has completed the reinforcement of troops to Yunzhou and Jeju, and there are 50,000 troops stationed in each of the two places, and our flank defense line is temporarily safe." ” "What's the situation on Jingdong East Road?"
"Emperor Xia Li Liangzuo canonized Xiao Yuanshan as the king of Jiaodong, and gave him the entire Jingdong and West Roads, and Xiao Yuanshan is currently capturing the cities of Jingdong East Road, and most of them have fallen."
"It's all to blame on this king, if it weren't for this king's carelessness, how could Xiao Yuanshan take advantage of such a big loophole; Zhao Qun, look at it, Xiao Yuanshan will not end well, and sooner or later he will die in the hands of Li Liangzuo. ” "Lord Wang, now the war situation in the north has been very unfavorable to our army, how to do it, please make a quick decision, these hundreds of thousands of troops are the most elite soldiers and horses of my Great Song Dynasty."
Zhao Qun said to Zhao Ju very vaguely.
Time passed quickly, the Xia army did not make any big moves after opening up the eastern front, but the whole army entered a state of rest, during this period Yan King Li Qing returned, Li Qing's first thing after returning was naturally to go to Qingshui City to meet Li Liangzuo, Yan King is the hero of the Great Xia Empire in the eyes of everyone, and Li Qing is enough to crush the King of Qin and the King of Jin, which can be said to be the latecomer.
In the big tent of the Xia army in Qingshui City, a group of civil and military generals lined up on both sides; The news of Li Qing, the king of Yan, returning to the city today, came a few days ago, but Emperor Xia Li Liangzuo was stunned and did not send anyone to greet him outside the city, which made everyone very puzzled.
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