Liu Xuande sat in the middle, looking at everyone in the hall, his eyes full of exhaustion.
"Everyone, the Huainan soldiers and horses are still refusing to retreat. If it continues, the consequences will be unimaginable. Do you have any way to defeat the enemy?"
Although everyone heard Liu Xuande's words, they all bowed their heads and remained silent.
The situation in the city is like this. It is as difficult as climbing to the sky to defeat the enemy.
At this moment, a person stood out from the crowd. When Liu Xuande saw this person, he was overjoyed and said hurriedly, "Gongyou, do you have a way to defeat the enemy?"
The person who spoke was none other than Sun Qian, Liu Xuande's counselor. He was a well-known scholar and was very resourceful, so he won Liu Xuande's trust.
Sun Qian was stunned for a moment, then said with a wry smile, "Shijun Liu, what I want to say is not to defeat the enemy, but to do something else. If it is not resolved, the consequences will be unimaginable."
Hearing Sun Qian's answer, Liu Xuande was a little disappointed, but seeing Sun Qian's serious face, he asked tentatively, "Gongyou, what is it, please feel free to tell me?"
Sun Qian cupped his hands and said slowly, "Liu Shijun, after such a long siege of Huainan, although the city has coordinated food, it has been consumed too fast, and now there is not much. If you don't want to solve the food problem, Once we run out of food, the consequences will be disastrous."
At this point, Sun Qian paused for a moment, but then, without waiting for Liu Xuande to answer his words, he sighed and said with a wry smile.
"Mr. Xuande, if we don't resolve this matter, our army will be defeated without any attack."
When Liu Xuande heard these words, he couldn't help being surprised, "Gongyou, is there no food?"
Sun Qian shook his head, "Although there are still some, if we continue, I'm afraid I can only last for half a month at most."
"Half a month?"
Hearing this, Liu Xuande couldn't help but take a breath of cold air.
If he remembered correctly, he was worried about the food problem at the beginning, but he collected all the food in the city. In other words, the food shortage Sun Qian mentioned was not a food shortage for the army, but a food shortage for the whole city.
Imagining the scene without a grain of food in the whole city, cold sweat gradually broke out on Liu Xuande's forehead.
Based on his experience, it can be said with certainty that once there is a shortage of food in the city, the city will inevitably be in danger.
What should you do if you really get to that point?
Thinking of this, even Liu Xuande, who had always been calm, became a little flustered at the moment, "Gongyou, what should I do? Do you have a way to solve it?"
When Sun Qian heard the question, he frowned and wanted to speak, but after hesitating for a while, he still shook his head and said, "Shijun Liu, I have no choice but to report this matter to Shijun Liu."
Jian Yong hesitated for a moment, then took a step forward, cupped his hands and said, "Mr. Liu, in fact, the city is short of not only food, but also a lot of soldiers."
Although Jian Yong did not explain the matter carefully, Liu Xuande already knew the meaning of his words.
As fewer and fewer soldiers are recruited every day, defending the city becomes more and more difficult.
Short of soldiers and food!
Liu Xuande felt a terrible headache, and wished he could look up to the sky and roar filial piety.
Why is this happening!
When he came to Xuzhou, he still wanted to make great achievements, but he never expected that he would fall into such a passive situation.
Tao Qian, the previous Xuzhou Mu, only encountered a strong enemy, Cao Mengde, and reluctantly hoped that the enemy would retreat, but he also died in depression.
Liu Xuande thought that he was already miserable enough, but Liu Xuande never expected that he would be even worse than him. Tao Qian only encountered a strong enemy, but did not encounter other crises.
Now, not only did I encounter a stronger enemy, I also had no food, and I encountered the most fatal double crisis.
what to do?
Everyone present also had ugly expressions on their faces, but they couldn't help but bowed their heads and remained silent.
After a long time, Liu Xuande raised his head and looked at Sun Qian, and said slowly, "Gongyou, if the food is really not enough, why not change the time of distributing food to the people to once every two days, mainly to supply food to the army, see if it can be more relaxed a period of time?"
Sun Qian sighed and said, "Shijun Liu, food is distributed every two days now."
Hearing this, Liu Xuande was even more surprised, "Gongyou, food is distributed every two days, is this the case?"
Sun Qian nodded, "That's true, otherwise the persistence time would be shorter?"
Chen Gui suddenly stepped forward and said, "Liu Shijun, why don't you distribute food every three days to alleviate the food crisis?"
"Three days?"
Liu Xuande frowned. Two days was already the limit. If food was distributed once every three days, something big might happen!
"Mr. Chen, is there something wrong with doing this?"
Chen Gui cupped his hands and said slowly, "Shijun Liu, just for some common people, even if the news is delayed by one day, it will not affect the overall situation."
At this point, Chen Gui paused and sighed, "But if the army is short of food, I'm afraid the city is in danger. Please make a decision, Commander Liu."
Hearing this, Liu Xuande's brows furrowed even more.
Although Chen Gui is right, if he is really wrong, then the reputation he has worked so hard for so long will be in vain!
Just when Liu Xuande was having a headache, he suddenly saw something strange in Sun Qian's eyes. He suddenly felt something in his heart and waved his hand, "That's it for today. Let's go back and rest first. We have to deal with the siege tomorrow."
When everyone heard this, they immediately felt relieved and resigned one after another.
After everyone left, Liu Xuande returned to the backyard and ordered people to find a few of his cronies for discussion.
Not long after, Liu Xuande's most trusted men came to the room.
When Liu Xuande saw everyone gathered, he turned to look at Sun Qian and asked tentatively, "Gongyou, I just saw that you had something to say. I wonder if it is true?"
Sun Qian hesitated for a moment, then raised his hands and said, "Shijun Liu, do you know why the food in the city cannot last long?"
Liu Xuande was stunned and asked doubtfully, "Gongyou, is there a hidden secret in this?"
Sun Qian smiled bitterly and said, "When we first raised food, it was all poor people in the city. They didn't have much food in their hands, so naturally they didn't get much."
At this point, Sun Qian paused, but then, without waiting for Liu Xuande to answer his words, he continued.
"But when the time came to receive food, there were more people than people sending food. As a result, the consumption of food naturally accelerated, and it could not be sustained for too long."
Hearing this, Liu Xuande frowned and said, "Gongyou, why is this? How is it possible that there are more people receiving food than sending food?"
Sun Qian cupped his hands and said, "At first, the big families and their cronies had various reasons for not sending out the food. But when it came time to receive the food, they all stepped forward."
