Chapter 54

Luojing, the capital of the emperor.

Outside the study of the mansion, a group of servants and maidens stood beside them in silence, their faces were frightened, and the air was filled with a suffocating sense of depression.

Mr. Shoufu is in a bad mood. Up to now, two servants have been ordered to be dragged out and killed alive because of their minor mistakes.

Of course, it seems that since the beginning of last year, Shoufu has not been in a good mood. It's an eventful time. There are many wars around the country. The Imperial Army's encirclement and suppression are not effective. The whole world is eroding day by day. It's strange that Zhang Minzhong, who feels more and more pressure, is in a good mood.

A moment later, Cao Yun came in a hurry. He spoke to the leader of the bodyguard at the door, and went straight into the study.

In the room, the candlelight was bright, and Zhang Minzhong was writing behind the desk. His face was calm, but the wrinkles between his forehead were a little more, and the light sadness lingered on.

Seeing Cao Yun come in to salute, he didn't show any sign. He just nodded at will and focused his attention on the calligraphy in front of him.

Cao Yun's eyes are dark and deep, standing quietly on one side waiting.

After a long time, Zhang Minzhong put down his brush and said without expression: "the news from Jingcheng division is not optimistic about the southern war situation. Yu Hualong's command is not effective. The city of Xiangyang in nuota, with more than 30000 elite soldiers, has not been able to defend it for a month. It's really hateful! "

In the tone of voice, Cao Yun could not help but move.

Zhang Minzhong took a pile of memorials on the side and threw them to him. He said, "you can also have a look. The north and the south are all restless, and there are a group of ambitious fellows on the grassland. It's really worrying."

Cao Yun took over and looked at it. His heart sank more and more.

Zhao Yuanjing occupied the whole Jingzhou, claiming to be the Duke of Chu, wantonly granted his subordinates, and established a strict and complete military system and civil service system. In addition, a large number of recruits were recruited in various counties for training, and the number of people reached 150000.

Zhao Yun was a first-class minister, and he could see the terrible nature of his time. A perfect system is an indispensable condition for a political power. The reason why the peasant uprisings in successive dynasties have been difficult to achieve is that they have limited horizons and are difficult to establish an effective and strict system in time. Therefore, the internal organization and management are chaotic and disordered, and the brand of "grasshead King" can not be eliminated. As time goes on, it will fall apart.

What Zhao Yuanjin has done means that his power has really got rid of the identity limitation of ordinary refugees' rebel army in the past and began to degenerate into a mature and stable regime. Such an adversary can hardly expect its internal problems to collapse on its own. It can only be destroyed by its powerful military strength.

Cao Yun was surprised and puzzled by the expansion of the new army by 150000. After Zhao Yuanjin accepted and reorganized the troops in Xiangyang City, together with the remaining forces of the counties, the total military strength under his command was close to 150000. If the newly recruited 150000 was included, it would be 300000.

Although the land of Jingchu is rich, the economic conditions of this era make it impossible to support 150000 troops. Where did Zhao Yuanjin have the financial and material resources to dare to expand the army so wantonly?

Under normal circumstances, even if the court had to raise 300000 elite soldiers, it would have been a heavy burden. If Zhao Yuanjin occupied the whole south, he might have been able to expand the army to this number. Now it should be impossible. If forced to do so, most of the people in Jingchu would starve to death.

Of course, the good news is not without it. Luo Yanxiong led the army to fight with Wu zhence. After initial setbacks, the war situation in recent years has begun to improve. After winning several battles in a row, he also killed two generals of the Wu army, forcing Wu zhence to temporarily reduce his forces.

"Lord, Zhao Yuanjin's threat is no less than that of Wu zhence, and even more terrible. The court should deal with it as soon as possible." Cao Yun looked dignified.

He regretted that if he had insisted that the Lord give priority to encircle and suppress Zhao Yuanjin, he might not have this trouble now. After exterminating Zhao Yuanjin, we should have time to deal with Wu zhence, right?

Zhang Minzhong was silent for a while and sighed: "the imperial court is becoming more and more difficult. All the money deposited by the Hubu Department has been less than 600000 taels. Now hundreds of thousands of troops are fighting in various places, and one day's expenditure on food, salary and armaments has to be spent 100000 Liang. How can there be any surplus financial resources to send troops again to encircle and suppress Zhao's rebellion?"

Sixty million taels of silver sounds like a huge sum. However, the imperial court has a large family and a great cause, and various expenses are numerous. In particular, it is not enough to support hundreds of thousands of troops to go to war.

At this time, in fact, one-third of the territory of Qi is not under the control of the imperial court. In other words, the amount of tax money that can be collected every year is decreasing. For Zhang Minzhong, the first assistant, this family is becoming more and more difficult.

If we are determined to send troops to Jingzhou, we will certainly not use them if there are fewer people. That would be equivalent to giving Zhao Yuanjing a free dish. At least 200000 troops are needed to be barely enough. It also needs to be an elite army, and the commander-in-chief must be a famous general.

However, there are only about 350000 elite troops stationed in the vicinity of the capital, together with the forbidden troops. This is the last capital of the imperial court of the Qi Dynasty. If another 200000 yuan is transferred out, the security of the imperial capital will be hard to guarantee.If hundreds of thousands of new troops are to be reorganized, the time will certainly be too late, not to mention whether the financial resources of the court can afford it.

"Maybe let Luo Yanxiong divide some troops to deal with..."

In the middle of his speech, Cao Yun shook his head and denied his intention. Now that Luo Yanxiong has won the upper hand in encircling and suppressing Wu zhence, how can he divide his troops at will? If you are careless, you may lose both ends.

"In this case, the Lord can send many masters to assassinate Wu zhence, end the war in Huaiyang area as soon as possible, and then order Luo Yanxiong to move to Jingchu to encircle Zhao Yuanjin." Cao Yun said.

Since the founding of the Qi Dynasty for hundreds of years, the details are deep after all, and some secret resources and contacts are naturally not lacking. Not only did the emperor have many top masters sitting in the capital, but even Shoufu's residence had a lot of expert dead men. If they tried to recruit a group of them temporarily, even if the cost was higher, it would not be higher than the cost of sending out hundreds of thousands of troops.

Zhang Minzhong thought about it and finally nodded: "well, this is the most feasible method at present."

……

Xiangyang City.

"Are you going back, sir?"

In the study, Zhao Yuanjin, who had been admitted to the throne of the Duke of Chu, asked.

"Well, there won't be any new wars in Jingchu for half a year. I just go back to deal with some things."

Qin Feng handed him a light blue prism crystal the size of a thumb, and explained: "if the situation in the South changes, or if there is a crisis that is hard to deal with, as long as I crush this thing, I will receive the news and rush to share the worries for the Duke of China as soon as possible."

Zhao Yuanjin put down his heart a little, he is not affectation, now his foundation depends on this mysterious immortal support, once Qin Feng is not here, he really don't know what to do.

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