Number of People

  Chapter 1046 Zizi Juan Fubo

   "Yes." Feng Ziying said concisely.

   "Then Ziying means that as long as the imperial court finds a solution to this problem, neither the Mongolian tribes nor the Jianzhou Jurchen actually have the strength to pose a substantial threat to the Great Zhou?" Yang Sichang asked further.

   "Almost." Feng Ziying nodded.

   "Then Ziying seems to have some ideas in her heart?" Yang Sichang asked again: "Can you talk about it?"

"Well, I have some rough ideas." Feng Ziying was not modest. "In fact, it was raised before, and now the imperial court is gradually solving it. For example, the problem of shipping in the north, especially in the Liaodong area. The cost of material transportation has dropped by at least 70%, and it can be said that the problem of restricting logistics support in Liaodong can solve most of the problems,..."

"At present, Yongping Prefecture is trying to open Yuguan Port, and some practical results have been achieved. It is estimated that in the next three years, the transportation costs of grain, cloth, salt, tea and other materials in the entire Liaoxi Corridor can be reduced by more than 60%. It needs to be transported from the south of the Yangtze River to Tianjinwei or Tongzhou through the canal, but it can be directly transported to Yuguan, and landed from Yuguan to the Liaoxi Corridor. In the future, this situation can be replicated to Niuzhuang and Jinzhou Zhongzuo at the mouth of the Sancha River, so that The supply problems in Liaozhong and Liaonan can also be easily solved.”

  Zheng Chongjian didn't quite believe it was so simple, he hesitated for a while before he said: "Is the Jianzhou Jurchen issue that plagued the imperial court so simple?"

"Da Zhang, it's not easy." Feng Ziying shook her head. "Da Zhou wants to say how many elite frontier troops, but the nine frontier elites can't say less than six or seven hundred thousand? If you take half of it, it will be more than enough to destroy the Jianzhou Jurchen, but you can Can you take out half of it? Even if you can take out half, can these 300,000 to 400,000 troops gather in Liaodong? No, let alone fighting, even if these 300,000 to 400,000 troops stay in Liaodong for two or three months, Liaodong If they are all going to collapse, they will have to eat people!"

  Feng Ziying's tone was very serious, "The entire Liaodong is simply unable to supply such a huge population with food needs, no matter what aspect it is!"

  Zheng Chongjian was stunned, but Yang Sichang nodded silently.

In his letter, his father Yang He also talked about the looming chaos in the Southwest, and said that the imperial court is trying its best to raise all kinds of materials, including food, to prepare for the war, but the terrain in the Southwest is rugged, transportation is difficult, and the cost of logistics support is even higher. It's shocking. As the governor of Yunyang, Yang He is actually one of the members of the Southwest Counter-insurgency Core Team in the future. Naturally, he also knows the difficulty of logistics support, so he mentioned it in his letters with Yang Sichang.

  The southwest is like this, hanging alone in the northeast corner. In the absence of sea transportation guarantee, only the land route of the Liaoxi Corridor is the support. The difficulty and high cost can be imagined.

Just because the situation in the southwest is at stake, the imperial court is also eager to resolve the crisis on the Gyeonggi side and prepare for the next step to deal with the chaos in the southwest. Knowing that the Mongols can only bring a gust of wind and rain without the risk of overturning, the imperial court Of course, I hope to solve the problem as soon as possible.

   "Then besides shipping by sea, is there any other way?" Zheng Chongjian was a little unwilling.

"There is another one, but it is not urgent, and it can only be alleviated, and it cannot be solved fundamentally. The fundamental solution has to be shipped by sea." Feng Ziying briefly introduced Xu Guangqi's attempt in Tianjin, which also aroused great enthusiasm between the two. curious.

   "Since these new crops from outside the barbarians have such yield and adaptability, as long as Liaodong vigorously promotes them, can't they solve the problem at one stroke?" Both Yang Sichang and Zheng Chongjian were extremely excited.

With a wry smile, Feng Ziying gave a brief account of the difficulties that may be faced in the specific promotion of yield, adaptation and cultivation, and the two of them can roughly understand that this is not as simple as imagined. Gradual population growth cannot truly achieve a virtuous circle.

On the contrary, both of Zaisai's conditions for the redemption of prisoners felt that it was a good deal. Two hundred thousand taels of silver was compared to more than fifty thousand prisoners of war, and each person's share was less than four taels of silver. Others, or Yang Sichang knew some secrets inside, but pretended not to know, Feng Ziying naturally didn't mention it.

   While Yang Sichang and Zheng Chongjian were still discussing with Feng Ziying, messengers from Yongping Mansion and Liaodong also arrived at the capital city almost at the same time.

  The entire hall fell into a heavy and oppressive atmosphere, as if the candlelight burning around the hall suddenly dimmed a bit, and even the figures in the entire hall became gloomy and gloomy.

"Hey, well, Liaodong always reports good news but not bad news. What instigated Shu Erhaqi, who was named the right guard commander of Jianzhou can restrain Nurhachi, and what Haixi Jurchen will definitely be used by me to restrict Jianzhou Jurchen, what is it about competing for Donghai Jurchen then and now?"

Emperor Yonglong's hoarse voice echoed in the hall, "Feng Tang repays my expectations for him with such an ending? Give him whatever he wants, and I almost turned over the inner treasury and moved everything to him in Liaodong. The result? ?”

   All the ministers in the cabinet frowned. Ye Xianggao glanced at Zhang Jingqiu who was silent, and wanted to say something, but held back for the time being.

  "Lu Song, what do you say?" Emperor Yonglong's cheeks looked a little hideous under the flickering light and shadow, "Didn't your Captain Long not say anything to me about such a big matter?"

Frontier generals defecting to the enemy can be said to be the worst example, if it is an ordinary low-level officer, it will be fine, but a guerrilla general, and a general stationed in such a vital position as Fushun, defecting to the enemy, and even colluding directly with foreign enemies, switching the switch and allowing the enemy to enter , and joined hands with foreign enemies to loot a place, destroy the pass, and open the door to the enemy. This kind of behavior can be said to have never happened since the establishment of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

This is even more shocking than the tens of thousands of prisoners captured in the defeat of the Beijing camp. Perhaps in the eyes of ordinary people, the defeat of the Beijing camp is even more shocking. The most shocking.

   Moreover, the destructive impact of a side general defecting to the enemy is even more unimaginable. Its harmfulness may not be cleared and restored in ten or eight years, especially for veteran generals like Li Yongfang who grew up in Liaodong.

   "Returning to Your Majesty, Lieutenant Long Jin had a good understanding of the situation of the border generals in each town before, including the situation of the generals in Liaodong Town,..."

Lu Song's heart tightened. In the past, when the emperor asked about this kind of situation, he usually summoned him alone in the East Study Room. Such a direct question at the court meeting would only happen when he was extremely annoyed. This is true for Long. The forbidden captain is dissatisfied with his job, or he wants Long forbidden captain to give an explanation to the cabinet and the Ministry of War.

   "Oh?" Emperor Yonglong's eyes were burning, and they fell on Lu Song like sharp thorns, making him shrink subconsciously.

   "According to the situation of the humble official, the situation of the generals in Liaodong Town is similar to that of other border towns, and there are not many special circumstances."

Lu Song paused for a moment. Although the emperor was furious and lost his composure, Lu Song would not reveal the secrets of Captain Long in front of these important court officials. Some things can only be controlled by the emperor, and the important officials know it well. bright.

"Li Yongfang's subordinates are quite familiar with the situation. He was born in a military household in a border area and was promoted through meritorious service. When Li Chengliang was the commander-in-chief of Liaodong Town, he was gradually promoted from the commander-in-chief to the commander-in-chief, and later served as the capital. Served as a guerrilla general in Fushun for three years,..."

   "He has two sons and a daughter. His son-in-law Wu Changchun was born as a scout in the army. He is proficient in writing, skilled in martial arts, and quick-witted. Wu Changchun took Li Yongfang's subordinate Zhao Yihe's daughter as his concubine..."

   "Li Yongfang has a long history of contacts with Jianzhou Jurchen. Among them, most of the trade in fur goods, dry miscellaneous goods, ginseng antler, and horses in Fushun is controlled by him. There are also trades in spirits and salt tea,..."

  Lu Song didn't have much emotion in his tone, it was just a bland introduction.

   This is not a secret, which of the generals here does not engage in these businesses? As long as weapons, iron materials and bulk grains were not involved, Captain Long kept his eyes open.

   This is also an unspoken secret within the court of the Great Zhou Dynasty, otherwise, who would want to go to the frontier to work their lives? Especially those senior generals who are pampered.

   Even Feng Tang was not also engaged in the fur, ginseng and spirits trade, and even took the initiative to report to Long Jinwei.

   Senior military generals such as the chief soldiers, deputy chief soldiers, generals, and guerrillas of each town have dozens to hundreds, or even thousands of personal soldiers. What do they rely on to support them?

  Ordinary military generals do not rely on mountains to eat mountains. If they really have to rely on the little work at home to support their own soldiers and guards, that would really become a big joke.

  "Li Yongfang has a gloomy personality, but he is sociable, and he is very good at buying people's hearts, but his methods are sometimes cruel. He has many confidants under his command, and many of his subordinates are fearful,..."

  Emperor Yonglong interrupted Lu Song coldly: "So, Li Yongfang didn't defect to the enemy alone, but Fushun as a whole?"

   Lu Song choked, and his voice lowered, "The humble job has not been rewarded yet, but according to the situation of the humble job, it should be so. Even if there are those who are unwilling to surrender to the enemy, I am afraid that they will be dealt with by Li Yongfang..."

Emperor Yonglong snorted coldly, "This is the result of multiple supervisions by the Ministry of War, Captain Long and the Metropolitan Procuratorate. What did Liaodong Town do? Once Fushun was lost, the east gate of Liaodong Town was opened, and the eastern captives could drive straight in. ..."

"Your Majesty, although Fushun was lost, Liaodong Town has organized an army to take it back, but the pass city walls have been destroyed a lot and need to be repaired..." Chai Ke bit the bullet and explained for Feng Tang, "Feng Tang also used the Wula tribe to join Ye He The Ministry incident forced the Eastern Captives to fight, and Cao Wenzhao's Ministry defeated the enemy in one fell swoop outside the Zhenbei Pass, beheading nearly a thousand enemies,..."

   "Behead a thousand enemies? How many imaginary numbers are there?" Emperor Yonglong snorted mockingly, "Feng Tang has also learned to use such methods to fool me? I haven't said to pursue responsibility."

  (end of this chapter)