Qian Shangduan did not believe that the situation would collapse like an avalanche and become irreversible during the Chihu people's second southern invasion. However, when Xu Huai mentioned the matter of money and food, Zhang Xin asked in disbelief:
"It's impossible for the imperial court to be unable to support itself with food and money for three months, right?"
Zhang Xin is in charge of the troops and horses. He usually does not deal with money and food matters, but Qian Shangduan. Qiao Jien led a group of officials such as Hu Yu and Zhu Tong to raise funds from various counties. Zhang Xin did not even know the daily expenses of the mausoleum guarding army.
how many.
He is still some distance away from being a qualified military commander.
In his opinion, more than a hundred people from Vietnam have a peaceful country and a prosperous people's livelihood. Even if the Chihu people's southern invasion brought heavy losses to the court, it would not be difficult to support Hedong's three-month supply of food and money?!
Everything is inseparable from the word money and food, but there are really not many people in this world who can clearly calculate the money and food account.
When Xu Huai saw King Jing frowning and keeping silent, he still looked at Qian Shangduan and asked, "Does Mr. Qian think the court can fully allocate three months of expenses to Hedong?"
The time left was limited, and he had to do his best within three months to prepare for the worst and most likely scenario. Xu Huai of course had to tear off all the veils of concealment and persuade them to
Qian Shangduan, Zhang Xin, Qiao Jien and others trusted his judgment without reservation.
Qian Shangduan, Zhang Xin, and Qiao Jien are now the direct descendants of King Jing. However, they have doubts and cannot cooperate fully. Many things will be greatly compromised.
Qian Shangduan could not conclude that Bianliang would not be defended in three months, but when it came to food and money matters, he was much clearer than Zhang Xin and other generals.
Of course, he had left Bianliang with King Jing in the past six months, and he did not know much about the current situation of the court, especially the details. He looked at Zhu Hang and asked: "Zuo Zang, how much savings are left in Neizang?"
"This is a secret held by His Majesty and other ministers. I have not heard about it, but it is true. There should be very few left." Zhu Hang said with a sigh.
In the previous dynasty, there were left and right Tibetan orders, which were under the jurisdiction of the Shaofu.
At the beginning of the establishment of the Dai Viet dynasty, tribute from all the states was lost to Zuozang. In addition, a Neizang treasury and a Jingfu Nei treasury were set up specifically for the palace.
Qian Shangduan asked Zhu Hang what he had stored in Zuozang, asking how much money and grain was left in the court at this time.
Although the treasury stores are under the jurisdiction of the three ministers and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, ordinary people are not allowed to inquire about secrets, but generally speaking, Zhu Hang is not only a relative of the emperor, but also the backbone of the main war faction in the court. These confidential matters should not be
Hiding it from him.
If even he couldn't get the slightest hint of the situation, it only means that the real situation is very serious and cannot be leaked out, lest the morale of the military be shaken.
"After twenty years of reform, the late emperor's treasury gradually became fuller. When the officials first came to the throne, they were very happy. Seeing the mountains of gold, silver, money, and silk in the treasury, they once lamented, 'What's the use of it?' How could it be empty?" Qiao Jien asked in shock.
.
"With redundant troops and redundant officials, the late emperor spent more than 20 years of his savings in the first expedition against Yan. During the two expeditions to the north of Yan, the internal government also spent a large amount of money and food, but when the Red Husbands surrounded Bianliang
At that time, Zuo Zang found that the money, silk and silver contained inside were gone.
A total of two million taels were shipped to the prisoner camp at the beginning of the peace negotiation. Although the payment of five million taels of gold and fifty million taels of silver was finally settled, in order to stabilize the prisoner troops at that time, every three days
Then he searched the city for gold, silver and treasures and sent them to the prison camp. Now, no matter how strict the ministers are in concealing it, who can they hide the fact that the treasury is empty?" Zhu Hang sighed and said.
Everyone thought that the matter of repayment and the use of women from the clan as compensation would be settled in the end, but they did not know that before the Kengong Incident, a large amount of gold, silver and jewelry had been transported to the prison camp in several batches under the leadership of the peace negotiators.
Although no one knows the exact number, it is definitely not as much as five million taels of gold or fifty million taels of silver, but it is definitely not a small amount like three to five million taels of silver.
This not only exhausted the few remaining reserves of the imperial court in Bianliang, but also basically squeezed out all the potential that could be exploited by the people.
Otherwise, you can still think of Mingmu squeezing one, two, and one emergency response from the private sector.
"Jinghu accounts for sixty-seven of the world's wealth in the southeast. The world is in the autumn of life and death. We should send envoys to the southeast and Jinghu to raise emergency aid..." Qian Shangduan said with a frown.
Zhu Hang was of course the clearest about the situation in Hehuai and even Jianghuai. He had communicated with Xu Huai in letters before, but this time he came to Jincheng to see that everyone was in such high interest, and he didn't want to rush to spoil everyone's interest, but he didn't expect Xu Huai to do so at this time.
Just pierce the last layer of window paper.
Zhu Hang thought for a moment and answered Qian Shangduan:
"This is the truth, but the soldiers and horses of King Qin from the southeast and Jinghu roads are still gathered in Chenzhou and Caizhou. The food and fodder for these soldiers and horses are also from the southeast. The supplies from the Jinghu roads are additional levies in addition to taxes.
Although it is said that everyone is responsible for the rise and fall of the world, when it comes to money, grain, rice and grain, buck-passing is indispensable. At present, the imperial court has sent envoys to the southeast and Jinghu roads. It is not known how effective they will be, but it is more urgent now.
It was the Hulu who stayed in Tongxu, Yanling and other places, which caused the surrendered troops to damage the banks of Caibian and other rivers. There was chaos in the DPRK and the Central Government, and they just urged the southeast to send this year's grain. The water level in Huaisi has not been rising, and Tong has been
Without the boat, we discovered that many large holes had been dug in the Caibian and other rivers. It was the flood season again, and the rivers were overflowing. It would take almost until the autumn to repair the river channels. However, more than thirty counties in the Hehuai River were invaded, and the Japanese soldiers invaded in May.
When they retreated, a large number of people missed the farming season, their stored grain was plundered, and the government could not come up with surplus grain for relief, so countless people ganged up to plunder the countryside..."
"..." Qian Shangduan took a breath of cold air and asked, "So, the grain currently needed in Hedong depends entirely on Guanzhong and Luoyang provides it?"
"As far as the current situation is concerned, the imperial court is indeed urgently transferring grain from Guanzhong to Hedong and from Jingdong East Road to Weizhou..." Zhu Hang nodded and said.
Only then did Zhang Xin truly realize how serious the situation was.
During the Qin and Han Dynasties, the Guanzhong Plain where the Jing and Wei Rivers intersected was a prosperous land with abundant grain production, and the shape of the Guan River was so beautiful that several generations of people settled here.
However, over the past hundreds of years, as the population has become denser and the land has been over-exploited, the trees in the surrounding mountains have been cut down for firewood or to build palaces, resulting in soil erosion and soil deterioration.
At this time, the Guanzhong Plain has already become a barren land, not to mention the border areas to the west and north of Guanzhong.
In this area, the agricultural foundation is even weaker.
However, to the west and north of Guanzhong, there have been frequent wars with the Dangxiang people for more than a hundred years. The total number of Qin Feng and other five banned troops and Xiang soldiers is as high as 300,000. Requisitioning food from Guanzhong alone is no longer enough. In addition to the need to collect food from Guanzhong every year,
In addition to transporting millions of stones of grain from the Central Plains, various troops and horses also actively carried out military settlements and reclamation at their bases to make up for the shortage.
There are many barren areas in the military camp, and hundreds of thousands of generals and soldiers need to take turns to work in order to achieve a certain harvest.
During the two northern expeditions against Yan, Xiao was victorious. Tens of thousands of Xuanwu armies died in foreign lands. The Red Husbands invaded the south. Soldiers and horses of all tribes were urgently put into active service. The tribes mainly relied on the old, weak, women and children in the barren farmland in border areas.
The shortage of young and strong labor force in farming will inevitably lead to large-scale production reduction.
Zhang Xinai was born as a general in Guanzhong and was very familiar with these situations.
It's okay now. Shaanxi's Fifth Road has been increasingly impoverished. This year's grain production is bound to be reduced. In the past, millions of tons of grain transported from the Central Plains every year will inevitably be wasted this year.
However, when the total grain supply in Shaanxi has been significantly reduced, a large amount of grain must be transferred from Guanzhong to Hedong. Unlimited additional levies will only worsen the situation for the already poor and weak people in Guanzhong, thus destabilizing the local area.
Even so, regardless of the various rewards needed to motivate the generals, the three armies of Hedong Province gathered more than 200,000 people, plus a large number of livestock and a huge amount of transportation consumption, which required additional levies from Guanzhong and Luoyang every month.
Five or six hundred thousand grains were needed to barely cover the war expenses.
Can Guanzhong and Luoyang mobilize such a huge amount of grain every month?
Although the Shaanxi Fifth Road established a certain amount of grain reserves as a buffer to ensure the supply of food and fodder to the border troops, due to years of corruption and shortfalls, the actual reserves were much less than recorded; and these grains were removed from the border
The military city returned thousands of miles to be transported to Hedong, and most of it might be consumed during transportation, leaving very little left.
Zhang Xin was born in Guanzhong, and Qian Shangduan also served in Xining Road for many years. They all know these inside stories. Of course, they know that Hedong depends entirely on Guanzhong and Luoyang for supply. They may be able to survive for a month or two, but they will definitely not be able to sustain it for much longer.
.
King Jing Zhao Tuan sighed at this time: "Zheng Huaizhong came to see him the day before yesterday and said that the government intended to abolish Chenzhou and Caizhou to defend the envoy's mansion and send King Qin's soldiers and horses back to the southeast and Jinghu roads. At the time, he thought it was incredible. It seems that
The DPRK and China have indeed reached a point where they have to compete with each other!"
"Chi Hu Ren is an extremely powerful opponent. The imperial court did not even dare to fight against him in Yanshi and Hulao, and his defeat was completely sealed." Xu Huai said with emotion.
When the Chihu people invaded the south, Dai Viet's only chance to save the defeat was for the main force of the Western Army's reinforcements to severely inflict heavy losses on the northern slopes of Songshan Mountain and surrender the vassal army. Only by using real military hard power to force the Chihu people back to the north bank of the Yellow River could they win a chance to breathe.
However, the Hehuai River is in ruins, and the empire is like a dilapidated ox cart that may fall apart at any time, and can no longer support large-scale military operations in Hedong and Hebei.
At this time, the imperial court ordered three troops to rush north to relieve the siege of Taiyuan. It was just a military adventure out of necessity, but the Red Husbands were waiting to join the trap...
