Life in Cangzhou is not as far away as those people here guessed. Every day is a struggle between life and death. Although the Khitans often launch attacks, Liu Ling, the master of attack, is also very good at defending. Yeluji
If you can't afford it, Liu Ling can afford it.
The allied forces of the Han people guarded Cangzhou, with millions of ordinary people in Hebei standing behind them. Even if they did not dare to go to the battlefield, they still did not hesitate to donate some food. There were no less than four food transportation routes to Cangzhou, including
Food and grass from dozens of prefectures north of the Daqing River. However, Yeluji could not do that. The food for the Khitan army was transported all the way from Youzhou. In addition, Dugu Ruizhi was hiding behind and came out to cause trouble from time to time. In ten times, there were
He burned the grain and grass six times. Even if 40% of the grain transported by the heavy troops was transported to the Khitan camp, the quantity problem still could not be solved. The grain and grass consumed by nearly 200,000 troops every day is an extremely huge number.
What's more, if the confrontation continues for a long time?
A smaller county has a population of less than 200,000. It is not easy for the county magistrate to solve the problem of feeding the entire county, men, women, old and children. There are often corpses of people freezing to death and starving to death on the roadside. Not to mention 200,000.
How many cows and cows should a man in his prime eat and feed every day?
After successive wars, the Khitan people's pastures were severely damaged. The number of cattle and sheep dropped sharply, and the lives of ordinary herdsmen fell into difficulties. The Khitan warriors were accustomed to eating beef and mutton, and carried them with them every time they went on an expedition.
There are a large number of cattle, sheep and livestock. If you want to transport cattle, sheep and grain over thousands of miles, the consumption on the road is a huge amount.
However, the difference between the grassland people and the Han people is that if the Han people's country is poor and hungry, it will be difficult to launch a war. But the grassland people are different. The poorer they are, the more they will find ways to launch a war and supplement it with the plunder of war.
Consumption, that's why they would go over one place and plunder all the land, and go over one city and slaughter all the cities. The habits of the Khitan people have changed a lot after they occupied the Sixteenth Prefecture of Youyan, but the things in their bones are still difficult to eliminate.
Even if they occupy a city and capture hundreds of thousands or even hundreds of civilians, they will not regard the city or these civilians as the land and people of their own country. Those who deserve to be killed will be killed, and those who deserve to be robbed will be killed.
They don't know what construction is, they just plunder.
This is why the grassland peoples have repeatedly defeated the Han people in the Central Plains and established countries in the Central Plains, but the countries they established often do not last long. Because they only know how to destroy and take, but do not know how to give and build. Relatively speaking, they do not care about cattle.
The importance of sheep and horses is even higher than that of Han people.
In their view, things like cattle, sheep and horses are their private property and need to be protected. The land, money and food of the Han people are public, and whoever takes them away belongs to them.
In order to deal with the food crisis, Yeluji temporarily stopped the high-intensity attack on Cangzhou, and instead sent out a large group of troops to search for the Han army that was causing trouble behind the Khitans. However, the size of that team was not very large, and Youzhou
In the vast land between Cangzhou, there are plenty of places for the elusive cavalry to hide. Moreover, the local people will not betray their whereabouts. Therefore, Yeluji even sent out 50,000 cavalry to conduct a blanket search.
, but nothing has been found for five or six days. The Han cavalry is extremely hateful. They are like a group of annoying flies. When they smell the good smell of food, they will pounce on them and bite them. When there is danger, they will flicker their wings.
Fly far away.
Yeluji became more and more distressed.
"Uncle, what should we do next?"
Hearing this sentence, Han Zhigu's expression changed, but he soon regained his composure. The reason why he changed his expression was because he heard the change in Yeluji from this sentence. Because this time he was defeated and
In the current unfavorable situation, it seems that Yeluji's self-confidence is getting weaker and weaker. This is a very bad change. If a person who must be an emperor in the future has his self-confidence become weaker and weaker, it will really
Not a good sign.
"Your Majesty, you are the commander-in-chief of the three armies. It is up to Your Majesty to decide what to do next."
Han Zhigu wanted Yeluji to know that he had to make his own decisions on many things, most things. In Han Zhigu's view, if one day Yeluji could make all his own decisions, then he would be
A qualified emperor.
Yeluji rubbed his sour brows and felt inexplicably angry when he looked at the white wine syrup on the table in front of him.
"I want to make up my mind? If I have an idea now, I will ask you!? I respect you as my uncle. When I am in trouble, when I can't make up my mind, you will just act like it has nothing to do with you.
What's your attitude? Don't say you don't have any ideas in your heart, I don't believe you!"
Han Zhigu lowered his head in fear and said, "The king is angry and his subordinates are scared."
Yeluji violently swept all the wine glasses and bottles on the table to the floor. It was as if the clanging sound did not ring in his ears, but directly in his mind, making him even more irritated.
"Afraid? Are you afraid?"
Yeluji gritted his teeth and said: "Why do you need to be afraid? Don't say such stupid things as I am a bet for your future glory and wealth. How can a person like you place a bet on one person? If I fail and fall out of favor, follow me.
You don't have any connections, do you? No matter who becomes the king of the South Palace, you will still be the chief minister. Perhaps because of the high regard your father has for you, he may even transfer you back to Beijing to become the prime minister. You
Afraid? Are you afraid? If I lose, I will lose nothing, but as for you, if I lose, you will not lose anything! So, uncle, please don’t act panicked, because you don’t have anything at all.
Terrified, seeing you like this will only make me sick!"
Such words were already very serious, but Han Zhigu didn't look angry at all. He still lowered his head humbly and said in a calm tone: "What the king teaches is that the subordinates will know their sins."
Such a lackluster performance would undoubtedly make Yeluji even more annoyed. Yeluji raised his hand, which trembled, but finally dropped it weakly.
"Yeah, I can't do anything to you."
Yeluji smiled bitterly: "Although I am angry that you are perverting me like this, what can I do? You are the Prime Minister of the South Palace assigned to me by my father. When you came to me, I knew clearly that you were here to assist me.
Yes, you were also sent by your father to monitor me. I believe that your every move in these years has been told to my father through your mouth, right? Although I have respected you very much over the years and even regarded you as my father, I have never
It warms your heart. Haha, unless I leave Daliao now, I will never dare to do anything to you. You know this well, so you are confident, right?"
Han Zhigu raised his head and said seriously: "Your Majesty, you are wrong."
"Am I wrong? Where did I go wrong?"
Han Zhigu looked into Yeluji's eyes and said: "The king is wrong. As the king said, I was indeed sent to the king by your majesty, and your majesty did trust me. Over the years, I have indeed told the king
I told you a lot about the king. The king was right about all of this."
He paused for a moment, ignored Yeluji's increasingly gloomy expression and continued: "Your Majesty, your fault is that you are not confident enough."
He smiled and said: "I am a Han, and even if your Majesty trusts me again, I will still be an insignificant Han after all. If I die, your Majesty may feel a little pity, but he will never be sad. And if something happens to the king,
Not only Your Majesty, but the entire Liao Kingdom will be shaken. Therefore, if Your Majesty kills me, at most, Your Majesty will just issue a decree to reprimand me, and there will not be any serious consequences. Your Majesty, you should be confident.
, no matter what, you are the eldest son of the king and the first heir to the Liao Kingdom."
"Even if the king now orders his soldiers to drag me out and behead me, there will definitely not be any big trouble."
Han Zhigu said: "I'm scared, really scared."
"Your Majesty said, Your Majesty's life and death have nothing to do with me. This is the second thing Your Majesty made wrong. You also overestimated Your Majesty's trust in me. Your Majesty, think about it, if Your Majesty abandoned Your Majesty, I would have been sent to His Majesty's side early in the morning.
How can the prime minister of Nanmian Palace survive? Your Majesty sent me to monitor the king, and I was also sent to bury the king one day. Not only me, but also if the king falls, not many of the officials in Nanmian Palace will be able to survive.
Can survive. Your Majesty, you know that if your Majesty wants to touch anyone, he will never leave any hidden dangers."
Yeluji said thoughtfully: "Are we going to eliminate the roots?"
Han Zhigu said: "Cut the grass and root out the roots. The word "king" is not used well."
He laughed self-deprecatingly: "We people are like grass. If you cut it off, we will cut it off. Even if you turn the soil over and plow it three times, it doesn't matter. Because we are not roots, we are just weeds floating on the ground. Your Majesty is the root.
It is the root of His Majesty and the extended root of the Yelu royal family."
He looked at Yelu Ji, whose eyes gradually became brighter, and said: "As I said before, the king should be confident. Even if you lose everything, you are still a member of the Yelu family. They are the most noble royal family in Daliao, and are among the top ten thousand people.
Your Majesty, Your Majesty, feels that the matter is difficult because Your Majesty has chosen the wrong opponent."
"Wrong opponent?"
Yelu asked in confusion.
"Well, although the king is fighting the Han army, he always regards his majesty as his biggest opponent in his heart, so he is worried and feels powerless. Because Daliao is your majesty's Daliao, and the army's loyalty to your majesty is difficult to shake.
. If all the king’s plots are aimed at targeting the king, then things will definitely be very troublesome. However, our opponents are obviously those Han people now, so why should the king think so complicated.”
"If we don't have enough troops, we'll mobilize more troops. If we don't have enough fodder, we'll mobilize grain and grass from Central Beijing or even Xijing to supply it. Your Majesty, you are still the Marshal of the Southern Expedition, the King of the Southern Palace, and... the Crown Prince!"
"When you are not targeting your Majesty, all the people of Liao are your king's subjects."
"If the king sends a document to Xijing, His Highness will be happy to help you."
"That's luring the wolf into the house!"
"Your Majesty is wrong again. Your Majesty thinks that His Highness is a wolf. Your Majesty, why don't you think that Your Majesty is a wolf?" (To be continued)
