Feng Ziying has a hunch that food supply may be the key to the future.
Once something unpredictable happens, given that the current foundation or supporters of the imperial court are still mainly composed of northern gentry, the Jiangnan forces that control Jiangnan and can even contain Huguang will definitely resort to the fatal move of cutting off water transportation.
As the food supply in the North was insufficient and it encountered a severe drought, without the support of water transportation from the south, including Huguang, the North would definitely be in chaos, which might even affect the life or death of the imperial court.
Once the water transportation to the capital city, including the capital city, is cut off and there is a shortage of food, the impact will be unimaginable. Many people and forces who originally supported the imperial court may even turn to the south of the Yangtze River. We must prevent this situation from happening.
, it is crucial to have a back-up, or to establish a grain transportation channel other than water transportation.
Of course, Feng Ziying also knows very well that in the short term, whether it is Shanshan businessmen or temporary speculators like Xue Biao, it is unimaginable to transport grain by sea to reach the same volume as water transport. All parties have not yet
Such preparations, from grain-producing areas to transportation capabilities to terminal storage, are far from being as complete as those along the waterway.
Therefore, Feng Ziying can only say to speed up the construction process as much as possible and make up for possible risk gaps as much as possible.
Once a crisis occurs, this channel can at least prevent the imperial court from being helpless and leaving the North without food. In other words, it can at least ensure that the Feng family's basic base has sufficient food.
In fact, the imperial court is not unprepared in this regard. For example, Jingtong Ercang has now begun to replenish its warehouse and purchase grain through various channels to fill the gap caused by the original deficit. However, everyone knows that this situation cannot be solved overnight.
, otherwise grain prices in Jiangnan and Huguang may rise to sky-high prices. Even so, grain prices in the south have been rising steadily and are not affected at all by the arrival of autumn grains.
Perhaps it is better to work with Master Qi and remind Master Qiao that at least he should fulfill his responsibilities.
When Bao Qin was waiting for Feng Ziying to go to bed, she could still feel her husband's absent-mindedness, and she couldn't help but feel a little resentful in her heart. There were rumors in Beijing that she was going to marry Xiao Feng Xiu Zhuan, but it would be a bit embarrassing to think about official affairs even when they went to bed.
, he deliberately changed into a pair of light clothes, but Lang Jun seemed to turn a blind eye.
It wasn't until Bao Qin pouted and came closer that Feng Ziying realized. She looked at the complaint in the other person's pretty eyes, and then looked at the scarlet bellyband, which was small and delicate, with slender ribbons like silk, covering the two collarbones and the slightly raised breasts.
Most of it is exposed, the lower abdomen is as white as jade, the jade navel is like a vortex, and the lower part is even more confusing...
Ignorant of style, Feng Ziying realized that she had neglected the beauty, so she could only make up for it through actions.
*******
It was already a bit cooler in Suzhou in August, and more than a dozen strong horses rolled up in a wild gallop, rushing across the Gobi sand.
The three yellow sheep rushed left and right, but were still unable to break through the cavalry that had formed an arc-shaped encirclement. They skidded sideways in panic, hoping to use such a sudden stop to escape the hunter's pursuit.
"Boom boom boom", when the bow strings sounded, two of the yellow sheep fell down and struggled painfully on the sand.
Among a few bushes, an unlucky Gobi bear seemed to be aware that the crisis was approaching, and started running hastily. However, how could it escape when it was caught in the sight of these knights? An iron gun flew out.
, went straight through the Gobi bear's neck and nailed it firmly to the ground.
There was also a yellow sheep that had a chance to escape. It ran in a beautiful arc and passed through the two riders in no time. It thought it had escaped, but soon there was a sharp pain in the neck and a leather rope was strangled around the neck.
Suddenly, it seemed that he didn't even have time to scream, and was dragged a few feet away, causing a cloud of yellow dust on the ground.
"Wenxiu, what a skill!" A hearty voice came from the group of knights. The first knight gently reined the horse, slowing down the horse that was starting to smell good. "You haven't given up on this skill."
.”
The knight with a yellow beard glanced at the knight who was following him, then at the other two knights behind him, with a strange expression on his face and said: "Bai Chuan, are you really not afraid of us attacking behind your back?"
The leading knight was close to forty, and his eyes seemed to be a little lonely. He laughed at the words of the yellow-bearded knight, and his lonely look suddenly disappeared. He glanced at the other two people behind him who were about ten steps away from him.
A knight, then said: "Wenxiu, do you think Dong Yang is so ignorant of current affairs? Or is Lao Xu lost his mind and going crazy?"
The yellow-bearded knight snorted, "Aren't you afraid of our revenge for what you did four years ago?"
"Haha, revenge? Why should you retaliate against me?" A sneer flashed across the middle-aged knight's lips, "Dong Yang didn't even dare to say this, even if he wanted to eat me alive at the time, but now he dares to say that I did something wrong?"
The yellow-bearded knight was speechless for a moment.
To be honest, after the rebellion, a few of them had reviewed the battle many times, but no matter how they deduced it, the results were not optimistic, or even extremely bad.
"Hmph, Bai Chuan, you are so confident." The yellow-bearded knight could only find a step to go down by himself, "Dong Yang and Lao Xu may not think so."
"Wenxiu, do you think so? Everyone knows in their hearts that if the Yangguan Road is really accessible, who would want to go to the single-plank bridge?" The middle-aged knight didn't care, "I said the same thing in front of Dong Yang and Lao Xu, from the beginning
We are on the wrong track. Kuaibai is unreliable, and the Mongols are even less trustworthy. Moreover, it is difficult to support ourselves in the land of Gan and Ning. Without relying on the Central Plains, it will eventually be a dead end."
A flash of anger flashed across the face of the yellow-bearded knight, "Then how did the rebel army survive in the Tang Dynasty? How did Xixia establish a country in the two Song Dynasties?"
The middle-aged knight laughed loudly, "Wenxiu, why are you so naive? Times have changed, can this be the same? How many people were in the rebel army in the Tang Dynasty? It was extremely difficult to raise even 10,000 people. As for the Li family of Xixia, can it be the same?
Huh? The confrontation between Liao and Song Dynasty gave them the opportunity. Now that the Zhou Dynasty is unified, how can they tolerate such a situation? What's more, the people's support and public opinion are not at all, and the attempt to separate the regime is even more idiotic."
The two people who followed behind obviously heard the conversation between the two parties. The expression of the man at the moment did not change, but the expression of the slightly older and capable general behind him was unhappy: "Baichuan, according to what you said, there is no chance at all?"
"Indeed, I had some extravagant hopes before that battle four years ago, but reality has taught me that I will no longer have any unrealistic hopes. Lao Xu, if you don't believe me, just ask Dong Yang. I believe Dong Yang also
You should have a deeper understanding, right?”
The middle-aged knight, also known as "Bai Chuan" in a few people's mouths, is also the current deputy general of the Gansu Town Association.
Liu Dongyang, the culprit who was forced to recruit troops to go out to recapture Hami and Shazhou to atone for his sins.
In that battle, Liu Baichuan was the first to surrender, leaving Liu Dongyang, Tu Wenxiu and Xu Chao with no choice but to attack Shazhou and Hami in a desperate attempt as a condition for recruiting peace.
Among the four, Liu Dongyang and Liu Baichuan are similar in age, Xu Chao is the oldest, and Tu Wenxiu, the man with a yellow beard, is the youngest.
At first, the four of them had the closest relationship, with Liu Dongyang being the most respected, but conflicts arose due to collusion with the Kuaibai family. In the end, Liu Baichuan's first surrender dealt a fatal blow to the group, forcing Liu Dongyang and the others to
In the end, the success fell short.
Liu Dongyang was the dark-faced man next to Xu Chao. Traveling between Hami and Shazhou for several years had made his skin much darker, but his eyes were like those of a vulture and his aura was still brave, but his words seemed to have become less frequent.
Seeing that Liu Baichuan was talking to him, Liu Dongyang shook his head, not knowing what it meant.
Xu Chao and Tu Wenxiu, a man with a yellow beard, both laid their eyes on Liu Dongyang, and Liu Baichuan had a look of determination on his lips, as if he had no doubt about his judgment of Liu Dongyang.
After Liu Dongyang was silent for a while, he seemed to feel that Tu Wenxiu and Xu Chao would not give up until they got his answer. Then he breathed a sigh of relief and nodded lightly: "Bai Chuan is right, we were too confident before."
We are optimistic. The Mughals are not as scattered and chaotic as we imagined. The Mongolian power in the West China Sea is not weak. More importantly, if we want to survive on this land, we must have enough brothers. As of now,
The situation is that we can’t support so many of our brothers here.”
After Liu Dongyang finished speaking, he turned his attention to Liu Baichuan: "Baichuan, do you want to draw this conclusion?"
Liu Baichuan did not evade and nodded: "Yes, I think so too. Let alone the support of more than 100,000 troops in the two towns of Gansu and Ningxia, it is reduced by half. Without the support of the imperial court, it is impossible to rely solely on supplies under the jurisdiction of Shaanxi Province.
To feed them, in the end we can only watch the brothers who follow us gradually lose and disperse."
"Then you mean we can only live here and be a guerrilla general all our lives?" Tu Wenxiu said angrily: "With Dong Yang's ability, is he not even qualified to be a general military officer?"
After the recruitment, even though Liu Dongyang captured Shazhou and Hami and contributed greatly to the restoration of the imperial court, the rebellion preceded the rebellion, so the imperial court only gave him the post of deputy commander-in-chief of Gansu town defense, and also gave Liu Baichuan the position of deputy commander-in-chief of assisting defense.
He was stationed in Suzhou as a soldier and placed Liu Dongyang, Tu Wenxiu and Xu Chao outside Jiayuguan, showing no signs of distrust.
Liu Baichuan sighed. In fact, the imperial court did not trust him very much, as the deputy commander of the army who was used to guard Liu Dongyang and others outside Jiayuguan. Otherwise, they would not have stationed a large army in Hongshan Fort.
Feng Tang had fought for him as the deputy commander-in-chief of the joint defense, otherwise he would have been the deputy commander-in-chief of the separate defense.