Shen Tang was holding an intensive meeting to discuss where to send troops and the personnel allocation. Naturally, Qiu Cheng was not idle either.
Qiu Cheng asked: "In your opinion, what should we do this time?"
The atmosphere in the conference hall was calm.
Someone tried to ask: "Can I borrow some food?"
Qiu Cheng frowned: "Who can I borrow it from?"
In this year's situation, the landlords have no food left.
Otherwise, I wouldn’t be eyeing Shen Tang.
Another person said: "Why don't you write a letter to the leader?"
The leader he mentioned was the founder of the Dragon Slaying Bureau——
Huang Lie.
Qiu Cheng recalled Huang Lie's old lair, curled up his lips, and thought to himself: "Huang Lie, this scoundrel, still owes his family money and food, and he has hundreds of thousands of homeless people and bandits. He is worried about how to feed so many mouths, how can he be willing to do so?" Borrow it?]
Everyone thought about the forces with whom they had good relations.
There is food in places farther away, but the delivery is not timely.
Some people in recent times are also poor and have to tighten their belts to get by.
After some discussion, the situation turned gloomy.
The core of their meeting was not to worry about how strong Shen Tang's soldiers and horses were - in fact, in Longwu County, no matter how many soldiers and horses were recruited, they could not recruit many soldiers and horses. To consolidate the pass, troops must be distributed.
If Shen Tang wanted to send troops, he could only mobilize tens of thousands of people.
Wouldn't he just take away the guards at Yonggu Pass and leave no one to look after his home just for the sake of conquering Sibao County?
Qiu Cheng is really not afraid of thousands of people.
What he is afraid of are the follow-up problems if the two sides go to war.
In fact, his current situation is even worse than Shen Tang's.
At least Shen Tang's side is not short of food.
He is not only short of food but also short of money.
The rich and powerful households in Sibao County had already escaped in the previous rounds of disasters. Qiu Cheng wanted to "borrow" money from the local tycoons but could not find anyone. The only good thing was that he was born in the Qiu family and was captured by Zheng Qiao in his big house. During the years when Nie was a hostage, he raised the flag of the Qiu clan early and pocketed most of the Qiu clan's resources. Relying on his in-laws and old friends, he was able to gather a batch of emergency supplies.
But it can only be done on an emergency basis.
The three armies went ahead without using food and grass.
The gap in the war cannot be filled with just this.
How to fill it out has become a difficult problem.
The batch of grain in Nanyu County can only last for a while.
At this moment, someone whispered a suggestion. Everyone present was a scholar/martial artist with sharp ears and eyes, so they naturally heard it clearly. They also went through this suggestion in their minds, but no one had the nerve to propose it.
Increase taxes on the common people within the territory!
Qiu Cheng was embarrassed: "Isn't this inappropriate?"
He said it was bad, but his heart was moved, and he sighed: "In recent years, the life of the common people has been difficult. The first two county governors were greedy and excessive, imposing excessive taxes and miscellaneous taxes, which made the people resentful... How can I do that? Learn their methods?"
There is also a drought this year, and grain output has dropped sharply.
"What's wrong? If my lord hadn't worked so hard in the past two years to help the people recuperate, the situation in Sibao County would still be unknown. Now that the thieves have invaded, and the war is coming again, if the people don't want their families to be destroyed, it is only natural that they should help."
The speaker was a burly middle-aged military general.
He was extremely violent.
When talking about the word "Shen Thief", he gritted his teeth.
Without him, the ninth-level and fifth-level doctor whose head was taken off by Shen Tang was his brother. When he suddenly learned of this bad news, he wished he could spread his wings and chop off Shen Tang. Others may not want to fight this battle, but he A determined militant with full fighting spirit.
At that moment, many voices echoed him.
Someone struck while the iron was hot: "My Lord, the benefits to us outweigh the disadvantages of starting a war with Shen Thief, and it may be able to solve an urgent need."
If he goes to war with Shen Tang, if he wins, he will naturally annex the entire Longwu County and obtain all of the other party's inheritance. Although Shen Tang knows that his wealth should not be revealed and has been keeping a low profile in the past two years, the people's cheeks and complexions have become increasingly plump and complex under his rule. It can also be seen that Longwu County is a fat sheep. Judging from the relatively frequent business activities in Longwu County, the other party's family background is not thin.
Successful annexation will restore full health in one go.
Qiu Cheng said: "How could I not know?"
If there is a win, there will be a loss.
It's good to win, but what if you lose?
With the tone of Shen Tang's letter, he was afraid that there would be no chance of a comeback, and he didn't think that the other party would stop at that.
In the current situation, he has been forced to the cliff.
In this battle, we can only win but not lose!
Thinking of this, Qiu Cheng couldn't help but feel bad luck.
I thought my neighbor was an embroidered pillow, with a reputation for kindness and a good temper. I didn't expect that the neighbor was small in stature but had a big temper.
After some discussion, everyone finally reached an agreement.
In extraordinary times, let the people under the rule suffer for a while, and then annex Longwu County after the immediate crisis is resolved, and then make compensation.
After that, we discussed how to defend, guess where Shen Tang would attack from, and who our side should send to resist and defend one side.
During the whole process, Miao Shu didn't say a word.
I just looked more silent than before.
She didn't speak until it was almost over.
Everyone's eyes turned to her: "...I have heard that since ancient times, arrogant soldiers often lead to defeat, but underestimation of the enemy rarely leads to success. Perhaps Shen thief's tent is really a crouching tiger, hidden dragon... That day, when we fought with his ambush, the warriors under his tent were the first to fight. Not to mention, scribes deserve to be vigilant..."
"I don't like to hear this. What does 'arrogant soldiers lead to defeat'? When did we become arrogant soldiers?" The general who was leading the battle frowned impatiently, intuitively Miao Shu was targeting He himself, and his brother's death was related to Miao Shu's incompetence, so he got angry and said, "Before the war begins, you have lost your fighting spirit. You are a coward who still tries to shake the morale of our army. You should be punished!"
"It is not advisable to embolden others' ambitions and destroy your own prestige."
"Aren't you completely timid after the first battle with Shen Thief? Are you frightened out of your courage? What is a 'arrogant soldier', what is 'underestimating the enemy'? When an ant looks at a stone, it feels like there are high mountains. When it encounters a puddle, it says it's a devil. Chongming... Huh! He's just an incompetent person!"
In fact, after she finished speaking, she realized that she had lost touch.
When he heard the ridicule from several people in his ears, his face turned pale.
Only one person supports himself.
It was an eighth-class bus that went and returned the same day: "What she said is not unreasonable. We were misled by the outside world and really thought that Shen Thief was no good, so we carelessly underestimated the enemy and harmed so many people. How dare Shen Thief If you let it go, you might be really confident."
Qiu Cheng looked at Miao Shu for his sake and said, "Shu Niang, do you have any countermeasures?"
When Miao Shu heard this title, she secretly clenched her hands in her sleeves, with a look of shame on her face. She didn't dare to raise her head for fear of seeing the strange looks in her colleagues' eyes - Qiu Cheng had never called herself this in public before, and had always addressed her by her position. .
Calling "Shu Niang" such an affectionate nickname...
It's somewhat playful.
She calmed down and said: "Just now there was a suggestion to borrow food from the alliance leader. Although borrowing food is not appropriate, borrowing troops is possible. Not only the alliance leader, but also all the forces participating in the alliance can borrow troops. Even if it is not possible, it is possible to borrow troops. , you can also put pressure on Shen Zei. My lord has sent troops to attack the tyrant Zheng Qiao with other princes in the past two years, but Shen Zei is attacking my lord at this moment. How do you know that this person is not a supporter of the tyrant?"
"Since you are a supporter, you should be equal to the violent lord and attack him!"