After receiving the news that Yong's army was causing trouble in the Shaopi area, burning food and taking people captive, Liu Yu sat in front of the map with his back to everyone and said nothing.
Xie Hui, Wang Xiu and others looked at Liu Yu's back. Against the background of his gray hair, his usually upright body felt a little rickety in everyone's eyes.
Liu Yu's eyes were fixed on the map of Shouchun (Shouyang, 1) area south of the Huaihe River. When Qin Tianwang Fu Jian led an army of 800,000 to seize the Jin Dynasty, Xianwu Gong Xie Xuan led the Beifu here. The army defeated the Qin army and established the stability of the Jin Dynasty for decades to come.
That year, Liu Yu had just turned twenty years old and was still farming and cutting firewood in the countryside. It was only sixteen years later that he joined the Beifu Army and served under Liu Laozhi. During the Feishui War that year, Liu Laozhi led 5,000 Beifu elites to surprise the Liang Cheng tribe of the Qin army on the west bank of Luojian, and sounded the charge for the Feishui War.
Veterans in the army often spoke passionately about the past, but newcomers like Liu Yu couldn't help but get excited when they heard them talk about the scenes of the Feishui War, wishing they could be among them.
Decades passed in a blink of an eye. Xie Xuan, Liu Laozhi, Sun Wuzhong, He Wuji, Liu Yi, Meng Chang and others all passed away one after another. The Beifu Army had already been replaced. Liu Yu closed his eyes slightly and felt the warmth in his eyes. Sour, the dead are gone, the living are like this.
Seeing that Liu Yu was speechless for a long time, Xie Hui stepped forward and whispered: "Huainan is the granary of the country and there is no room for loss. The lord needs to send good generals to guard it as soon as possible."
Liu Yu turned around, with a resolute look on his face. From a recruit in Beifu to today, he has experienced many storms, and his heart has long been as strong as cast iron. Small setbacks are like the gentle breeze blowing off the hills and blowing off some yellow leaves.
Looking at everyone with piercing eyes, Liu Yu said: "To defend the river, we must defend the Huaihe River, and the land of Huainan must not be lost. Yu decided to recall Huaishen from Dongguan City and let him garrison Shouchun, and join forces with Liu Zunkao of Pengcheng to resist Si Yanyong's army. Waiting for an opportunity to attack Ruyin, Runan and Qiaojun."
Wang Xiu lost his voice and asked: "Then why don't we give up Dongguan County and Langya County hundreds of miles away?"
Liu Yusurong said: "Huaisu's lone army is stationed in Dongguan, which makes it difficult for us to form a joint force. It is better to give up Dongguan County and retreat to Kaiyang City, Langya County. With Kaiyang as the center, Linyi, Huaxian, and Zhen are surrounded by County, Feixian, Liaodu, Jiqiu, Licheng and other cities can form a snare to choke Yong's army from heading south."
"To the south of Langya County is Donghai County. Lanling, Tanxian, Houqiu, and Quxian constitute the second line of defense. Pengcheng, Xiapi, and Guangling form the third line of defense. Even if Yong's army has 300,000 troops, don't even think about it. Go south."
Liu Yu planned to use three lines of defense to secure Huainan and gain time to counterattack. Guangling is where the Beifu Army recruits troops. If they can recruit another 50,000 troops, they can reverse the decline.
Pure defense is not Liu Yu's character. The Dongguan army withdrew. There were 10,000 county troops in Kaiyang area, and another 10,000 people were left to defend the city. Liu Yu decided to let Liu Huaisu lead 8,000 soldiers and horses to garrison Shouchun City.
Shouchun is a battleground between the north and the south. It is a barrier to the south and a throat to the north. Defending Shouchun can protect Huainan. Liu Huaisu had 8,000 troops and 3,000 light cavalry. With him in charge of Shouchun, he no longer had to worry about Yong's army entering the chest and abdomen and protecting the Shaopi farmland.
Defending Shouchun will not only protect Huainan from worries, but Shouchun's army can also threaten the territory of Yanzhou, go north to attack Ruyin and Qiaojun, and jointly launch attacks with Pengcheng's army, allowing them to attack and defend with ease.
Liu Yu said: "Yang Anxuan defeated Yao and Qin and captured all the land in northern Yongzhou. He destroyed the Xia Kingdom and half of Hetao was in his hands. He recruited the Di and Qiang tribes and gained tens of thousands of light cavalry. It will be difficult to compete with them for a while. I'm afraid it will take a while. Inside, we can only rely on the city and take advantage of the Yangtze River and Huaihe River to shrink and gather momentum in order to work hard."
Everyone nodded and thanked Hui: "Yong's army took the people in Shaopi and Ruyin captives. When Liu Zhong leads his army south from Dongguan, he can move the local people to Shaopi to enrich Huainan."
Liu Yu said in a deep voice: "The top priority is to solve the food problem. The Yong army destroyed the Shaopi farmland by three million shi of food. If there is a disaster, famine will easily occur."
Wang Xiudao: "The Military Intelligence Department found out that Yang Anxuan ordered not to allow food to cross the river because he wanted to use food as a war and cause turmoil in the south of the Yangtze River. My lord can order farmers to plant some vegetables to reduce food consumption."
The Xie family has always had business dealings with Northern Wei and Northern Yan. Xie Hui suggested: "I heard that Wei has a good harvest of grain this year. We might as well send a sea ship to buy it."
Since Changyu's defeat at sea, the ship went to Wei State
, Yan Kingdom, Goguryeo, Baekje and other countries were often intercepted by Yongjun ships when conducting sea trade. Ordinary merchants would be allowed to pass, but if they were found to be imperial ships, they would be robbed with the ship, people and goods. During this period, the imperial court sent All ships avoided Beiqingzhou and detoured to Baekje and Goguryeo before heading to Wei.
As a result, the Xie family's shipping profits dropped by 30%, and Xie Hui hated Yang Anxuan deeply.
Not long ago, Liu Yu received a letter from He Lang who stayed in Pingcheng, saying that the Wei State's war against Yan had ended in early June. The Wei army captured many cities in Northern Yan and forced their troops to attack Longcheng, the capital of Northern Yan.
Feng Ba, the Heavenly King of Northern Yan, personally went to the city to defend the city and mobilized the army and the people. The Wei army attacked by force in recent months but could not conquer it. The eldest grandson Daosheng saw that the food and grass were running out, and robbed more than 100,000 Northern Yan people and returned.
Tuoba Si returned to Pingcheng, and He Lang once again asked the Lord of Wei to send troops south. The attack on Yan ultimately ended due to insufficient military rations. The grain harvest in Wei was bumper. Tuoba Si ordered Wei farmers to pay 50 dan per household and store it in Dingzhou, Xiangzhou and Jizhou.
After He Lang learned of Tuoba Si's will, he felt that Tuoba Si still focused his military efforts on Beiyan. While discussing with Ji Ba, he asked Liu Yuxian to send shipbuilding craftsmen to the Wei State to show his sincerity and urge the Wei State to send troops.
When Liu Yu sent the gunpowder captured by Yong's army to the capital, he asked Xu Xianzhi to gather the shipbuilding craftsmen. Of course, Xu Xianzhi would not use the craftsmen in the imperial shipyard, so he ordered the shipbuilding craftsmen to be recruited from the land of Sanwu to gather in the capital. In June, Xu Xianzhi Reporting to Liu Yu, more than 1,600 people had been summoned.
When the Wei Dynasty attacked Beiyan, the matter of sending craftsmen was put on hold. It happened that Liu Yu offered a reward for improving ordnance technology, and warships were a top priority. These more than a thousand people stayed in the Xuanwu Lake shipyard to figure out how to improve it. The combat power of the ship.
Many good ideas emerged from the wisdom of the crowd. Shi Heng, an old shipwright from Jian'an Shipyard, has been building ships for generations. His ancestor once served as a captain under Du Tao. When Du Tao rebelled, the imperial court ordered Tao Kan to crusade. In order to deal with Tao Kan's navy, Du Tao invented the orange to deal with the navy led by Tao Kan.
Shi Hengdao: "Ancestors once mentioned, 'One end of the tangerine is tied with a stone, and the other end is pulled by a rope and placed on the horizontal pole. When the enemy ship approaches, loosen the rope, and the stone will fall to smash and overturn the enemy ship. You can also pull the rope to throw boulders away and hit ships.”
This proposal immediately attracted the attention of Mao Jing, the official who managed the shipyard. He asked Shi Heng to install a set of oranges at the bow and stern of a building ship, and then let the Chong ship pretend to be a Yong ship to attack.
Many of the ships of the Song Dynasty were handed over to Lu Xun. Xu Daofu built tall ships and had the upper hand in the water battle with Liu Yi and He Wuji. Liu Yu believed that tall ships had an advantage in water battles, and from now on the Song army would build tall ships.
The ship pretending to be a Yong ship was more than half a foot lower than the building ship. When it approached the bow of the ship, Mao Jing gave an order, and a huge boulder hanging from one end fell down and hit the ship heavily, immediately smashing the ship's plank into pieces. The hull of the boat tilted up and almost capsized. The boulder was lifted high by the rope, and then fell heavily. The ship pretending to be a Yong ship fell apart in just a few moves.
This method was feasible, and Mao Jing immediately ordered that in addition to the bow and stern of the ship, another set of oranges be placed on both sides of the building ship. The boulder was difficult to control, so Mao Jing ordered his people to change the boulder into an iron block weighing 300 kilograms. The front end of the iron block was cast into a cone shape. When the cone fell, the boat was immediately smashed.
Seeing the birth of the new warship, and thinking of the reward promised by Liu Yu, Mao Jing laughed and said: "The orange is a thing for drawing water, so it is not easy to use this name. This thing can sink a warship, so it can be called 'shooting'." Rod."
Zheng Xianzhi, the Minister of the Fifth Army, was overjoyed after seeing the power of the racket pole. He ordered the shipyard to install racket poles on all five-foot-long ships. He ordered people to draw the ship's graphics, described the power of the racket stick in his own handwriting, and sent it to Liu Yu in Jiangling.
Liu Yu was overjoyed when he read the letter. In three to five months, his army would have dozens more ships carrying rackets. By then, it would be possible to defeat the Yong Navy and attack Xiangyang City along the Han River.
The shipyard craftsmen were installing racket poles for the ship. He Lang asked him to send five hundred boatmen to Wei State. Liu Yu was a little hesitant and simply waited for the racket poles to be installed before sending the craftsmen north.
Xie Hui continued: "The price of cotton has soared this year. I heard that the Wei people are buying cotton at a price of a hundred yuan per catty in the market. I might as well load more cotton and go to Wei to exchange for food."
Liu Yu had a vague feeling that something was wrong. Although winter clothes made of cotton could allow soldiers to spend the winter safely, the price of cotton and cotton cloth was so high that it was bound to seduce many people.
Abandoning grain to grow cotton. According to reports from the Military Intelligence Department, some of the wealthy families actually devoted half of their fields to growing cotton.
Although the fields of these wealthy families do not need to pay taxes, the grain they grow has to go to the market in addition to storage. If the fields are used to grow cotton, then there will be no excess grain flowing to the market. No wonder Xu Xianzhi wrote to inform him that the price of grain has risen sharply this year. .
The quantity of cotton must be strictly controlled next year. Liu Yu frowned. It was easy for ordinary people to control it, but those aristocratic families really gave him a headache. At present, there is a shortage of food, and he has to rely on the help of the family. Although he is a very popular minister and is only one step away from the throne, Liu Yu still feels that his hands are tied.
Thinking of this, Liu Yu couldn't help but sigh: "If the Tao and harmony are there, they will definitely be able to relieve the fool's worries."
Hearing that Liu Yu missed Liu Muzhi, Xie Hui felt a little worried. He had always been at odds with Liu Muzhi and considered himself not as talented as Liu Muzhi. If Liu Muzhi hadn't suppressed him, he would have been the No. 1 subordinate of Song Gong. A counselor.
Xie Hui knew that Liu Yu was worried about food, so he thought for a moment and said, "My lord, why don't you go south to ask for food."
Going south, Liu Yu was stunned. To the south were Jiaozhou and Guangzhou. Liu Yu heard Liu Muzhi mention to him that there is double-cropping rice (2) in the Jiaoguang area, but due to underdeveloped farming technology and a small population, the grain output is limited. Even if there is a surplus of food in Jiaoguang, I am afraid there will not be much left after traveling thousands of miles to Jiankang and eating it during the journey.
Xie Hui said with a smile: "The Yu tribe is doing business with Linyi, saying that Linyi will be ripe this year. The leader of Linyi often leads troops to invade Rinan, Jiuzhen, Jiude and other counties, killing many people. Why doesn't my lord order Du Huidu, the governor of Jiaozhou, to conquer Linyi south? The city will promote the prestige of our country."
Liu Yu said with a smile: "Xuan Ming is right. The small country of Zu'er does not know the power of God. If it dares to invade the border repeatedly, it should be attacked. He ordered Du Huidu, the governor of Jiaozhou, to conquer Linyi and incorporate it into the territory, collect its treasures, food, and people, and To fund the country’s use.”
"Note (1): "Book of Jin" uses Shouchun, and "Zi Zhi Tong Jian" uses Shou Yang. Looking at the map, it should refer to the same place - Huainan City, Anhui Province, not Jinzhong City, Shanxi Province. Feishui is A tributary of the Huaihe River should have the same origin as the word "Fei" in Hefei.
(2): Yang Fu's "Foreign Objects Chronicles" of the Eastern Han Dynasty: "Rice ripens again in Jiaozhi in winter, and farmers can plant it again at one year old." "Shui Jing Zhu": "Jiuzhen has had 'double-ripened rice' since the Eastern Han Dynasty." "
