After seeing off the returning navy, Lu Yuan also began to be busy in the following days.
Regarding the reconstruction of Xichuan County, he did not need to worry too much.
Now, with the new imperial examination candidates and Jinshi in the country, the local government of Xichuan, headed by County Governor Shen Xin, is rapidly restoring the development of local people's livelihood.
However, by the time Lu Yuan regained the entire Xichuan, it was already the end of June, and spring plowing and summer planting had long been missed. In other words, in the second half of this year, the entire Xichuan County will not be self-sufficient to meet its own food consumption.
The remaining hundreds of thousands of people throughout the territory need the court's assistance to survive this difficult second half of the year.
Fortunately, for the Chu State, which now controls half of the Jianghan Plain and the entire Dongting Plain, it produces countless grains every year, which is not only enough to meet the consumption of the people in the two counties of Xiangyang and Dongting, but also can draw out a lot of surplus to support the needs of the people. other places.
Not only that.
Following Lu Yuan's warning to the envoys from the Nanhai Kingdom at the beginning of the year, the tribute that the Nanhai Kingdom owed this year was quickly delivered.
Three million taels of silver and two million stones of grain. This huge sum of money and the import of grain, especially the latter, greatly alleviated the food pressure of Chu State.
A large-scale million-level immigration project was launched successively to Xichuan and Qianzhong counties. The amount of food consumed during the period was simply astronomical.
You must know that all immigrants basically have no output when they arrive in the place of immigration, and they need the government to support them during this period.
It's easier to talk about money.
The Chu State, which plundered the entire Qianzhong County Yi people and also plundered the Nanzhao State, had no shortage of silver.
On the contrary, it is food. In order to maintain the hundreds of thousands of troops on the front line and the larger number of immigrants, the money and food consumed by the Chu State every month in the two frontline counties are calculated in millions of dan.
This huge number cannot be supported even by the wealth of the Dongting Plain and Jianghan Plain.
In order to alleviate the food pressure, Cui Changqing and the others at the Baling court had people return to Nanhai Kingdom with the three million taels of silver donated by Nanhai Kingdom to buy food there.
Three million taels of silver, but at today's Nanhai grain prices, you can probably get the same amount of grain, which is three million shi of rice.
In the past two years, the price of food in Nanhai Country has been increasing.
The reason is naturally because Chu, Su, and Song have been constantly going to the South China Sea to buy.
Because of the ongoing Xichuan War, the three cooperating countries have spent a lot of troops and manpower on the front line. Especially with the establishment of prefectures and prefectures in the newly expanded areas in the southwest, the three countries have more or less immigrated to the new prefectures and counties.
All of the above have greatly affected the domestic agricultural production of the Chu, Su and Song Dynasties.
Among them, Chu State is not bad. It is backed by two major grain-producing areas and coupled with the savings accumulated in the past few years, it can barely survive.
Domestic food prices have fluctuated around five cents per catty.
It's not that high, but it's not that cheap either. It's within the range that the people at the bottom can afford.
The same goes for Song Dynasty.
Jiuzhen County, where it is located, has a piece of Red River Plain, which is as fertile as Jianghan Plain.
Relying on this grain-producing land, although the Song Dynasty was also short of a lot of food due to the war, it could still support itself by going to the Nanhai Kingdom to buy some with the money plundered from the southwestern barbarians.
But that’s not the case with Su State.
The area in Yulin County is already mountainous, not much better than Southwest Yi.
Coupled with Su Xuange's series of tyranny, under the influence of turmoil, war, exorbitant taxes, etc., the people's livelihood production in Yulin County of Su State has already completely collapsed.
According to the survey report of the Imperial City Foreign Affairs Department, more than 100,000 people in Yulin County have been forcibly relocated by Su Xuange and resettled in the country's newly established Tonghai County.
At the same time, Su Xuange migrated more than 200,000 Yi people from Tonghai County and resettled them in Yulin County.
This mutual migration consolidated the foundation of Su's rule in the two counties.
But this would mean that the Su Kingdom had about 400,000 more people who were unable to produce and needed to be supported by the imperial government.
In addition to the 100,000 soldiers and horses of the Soviet Union on the front line, the tens of thousands of soldiers and horses at home, and the hundreds of thousands of civilians transporting food to the front line...
Counting many places together, there are about 700,000 to 800,000 people in the Su country. They are people who do not give birth at all and rely entirely on the government and the court to support them and suck their blood to survive.
Compared with this huge blood-sucking crowd, the real foundation of the Su State, that is, the people of the Su State in the native Yulin County. After a series of war-torn immigration, there are only about five people left who are actually continuing to produce. About 100,000 people.
And among these 500,000 people, there are also a large number of old, young, women and children, because the real adult men have either been conscripted into the army or taken to work as food transporters.
How much food can be produced and how many people can be fed just by relying on these 500,000 old, young, women and children?
I'm afraid they can't even support 50,000 troops and horses.
Therefore, since the Soviet Union started the war, the country's food consumption has been supported by external purchases.
Looking at the surrounding areas of Su State, both Chu and Song countries were short of food themselves, so of course it was impossible to sell food to it.
The only thing he can rely on is the Nanhai Kingdom, which has always been peaceful, not engaged in war, and also produces a lot of grain.
Therefore, in the early days of the war, after the Su State plundered the first batch of wealth from the Southwest Yi, they immediately sent people to the Nanhai State to buy grain.
Waging war, plundering wealth, spending money to buy food, waging war...
The entire Soviet Union fell into such an endless vicious cycle.
It is precisely because of Su's continuous purchase of grain that the price of food in Nanhai Kingdom has skyrocketed year after year.
From the price of three cents per kilogram of rice in the beginning, it has increased to nine cents and ten cents per kilogram of rice now, which is more than three times more expensive.
Under this situation, the people of the Nanhai Kingdom were uncomfortable, and the people of the Su Kingdom were also uncomfortable. On the contrary, the grain merchants of the Nanhai Kingdom made a lot of money.
In just two years, thanks to the continuous purchases of grain from the Chu, Su and Song Dynasties, there were more than a dozen billionaires in Nanhai, which shows the huge profits.
When Lu Yuan saw this information, he was a little jealous.
Relying on making war fortune, the rich businessmen and nobles of Nanhai Kingdom have lived a very comfortable and happy life in the past two years.
Precisely because of this, the three kingdoms of Chu, Su, and Song actually had a lot of dissatisfaction with the Nanhai Kingdom that was constantly sucking blood from them, and they hated these grain merchants.
But now because of the war and the special geographical location of Nanhai Country, it is really difficult to attack them, so I can bear it.
However, Lu Yuan believed that when the three kingdoms all took action, or when the Ning Kingdom was ready, then when the surrounding wolves swarmed up, the Nanhai Kingdom would be devoured and destroyed.
It's just that that day may have to wait a few more years, and it won't happen so soon.
And now.
Chu, Su, and Song all still had access to Nanhai State and needed to buy grain from there, so even though they knew they were raising prices, they still had to hold their noses and buy high-priced grain.
In fact, if possible, it is undoubtedly better to go to Ning, Zhou, Liang and other countries that are close to Dongting County and have convenient waterways of the Yangtze River to buy food.
These three countries, without exception, are either enemies of Chu or people who regard Chu as a competitor.
It is simply impossible to buy food from there.
Even the Ning State, the only country without a war among the Three Kingdoms, would rather have its own grain go moldy in the warehouse than transport it to the Chu State to do such a blatant act of aiding the enemy.
It is this lack of channels that makes South China Sea food so precious.
Because this is the only country willing and able to supply food to the three countries of Chu, Su and Song.
When you have no choice, you have to buy it even if it is expensive.
The only good thing is that the food gap in Chu State is not big. Just relying on the food provided by Nanhai State and the money purchased from the State can almost eliminate this gap.
There is no need to spend any extra money, which is a small comfort.
…
In addition to the food shortage, another thing Lu Yuan was more concerned about was the recruitment and construction of the army.
Although the overall victory over Nanzhao's army went smoothly this time, the enemy actually numbered more than 100,000, and there were many warriors among them. To destroy them, the Chu army more or less suffered a lot of casualties.
In addition, the imperial army that was sent to Nanchong Prefecture at the beginning of the year to assist Ji Hui in defending the city was directly disabled by half due to the continuous attrition of Nanzhao's army, leaving a shortage of 10,000 people.
The total number of casualties mentioned above totaled 17,000.
These vacant soldiers need to be re-recruited and paired with a certain number of veterans to train them to form combat capabilities as soon as possible.
In this regard, Lu Yuan has decided to mobilize 3,000 veterans from various ministries, plus the 17,000 new recruits, to build a separate Forbidden Army.
As for the other Forbidden Forces that are short of members, just break up the half-disabled Forbidden Army in Nanchong Prefecture and add them to various ministries.
In this way, except for the Forbidden Army, which is mainly composed of new recruits, the remaining four Forbidden Army can quickly regain their full combat power after a period of running-in.
This is what Lu Yuan has been doing these days.
In addition to handling government affairs and training every day, he would also take time out from time to time to inspect the Forbidden Army camp outside Jinguan City to confirm the training progress of each branch of the army.
Under his supervision, the results have been quite gratifying.
After replenishing the missing troops and horses, veterans joined in. After a little training, the various Forbidden Forces quickly got along with each other and formed a fighting force.
Even the newly built Forbidden Army, a large number of high-quality recruits who were carefully selected and led by veterans, quickly learned some simple arrays and flags, and mastered certain weapon usage skills.
Although the overall look is still very immature, but at this speed, if you continue to train for a year or two, and then drag them out to fight in one or two low-intensity wars, so that the new recruits can see blood, an elite force will be formed.
Seeing this, Lu Yuan has sent a message back to Baling, asking the Forbidden Army stationed there to expand the remaining two Forbidden Army in the same way, using veterans to lead new recruits.
The letter should have been delivered to Baling by now. I think the framework for the two new armies has almost been set up.
Now that Chu State is expanding rapidly, Xichuan and central Guizhou need a large number of soldiers and horses to guard them. Lu Yuan is in urgent need of more soldiers and horses to fill the defense gaps in various places.
At this time, we had to slightly speed up the military expansion strategy that was originally expected to take two years, and strive to complete it within this year.
Fortunately, Huang Xuan plundered the Jianchuan Kingdom and obtained a large amount of money and food. Even with this income, it could barely make up for the gap caused by the expansion of the army, but it did not bring much pressure.
Everything is still under Lu Yuan's control.
But in this case, he had to give Huang Xuan another order to squeeze out more money and grain from the Yi people of Jianchuan Kingdom to make up for the domestic deficit.
They are all barbarians anyway, so it doesn't matter whether they are miserable or not.
I think that compared to death, the local barbarians should be very reasonable and considerate of Chu's difficulties.
…
While the Chu State was busy arranging the place, purchasing food, and preparing for war, the surrounding countries were also making various moves.
The first was in early August, when Ji Hui and a group of monks from Baifeng Temple had just arrived in Qianzhong County and assumed the post of Master of Youguo Temple and the Protector of the Country.
From the southwest, two big news came one after another.
First, there was the Song Dynasty.
After the spring of this year, King Xie Ning of the Song Dynasty led his army to fight with the Dali army several times, but was unable to make progress.
Not only did they not seize more land, they lost tens of thousands of troops and lost some of their existing territory.
After that, Xie Ning finally realized that after Dali Kingdom had reacted, it was no longer possible for him to be as dominant and take advantage as he had been at the beginning.
In addition, two years after the war began, the Song Dynasty raised troops year after year, taxation increased day by day, and the country was exhausted. Coupled with the skyrocketing food prices, survival problems appeared, and the people gradually became unrest.
Some remnants of the original Jinghai Kingdom began to cause trouble in the local area, and even started several small-scale rebellions.
Although these rebellions were quickly suppressed, the impact they caused was undoubtedly huge.
This has reflected the Song people's aversion to war.
If it continues, it's hard to say whether it will eventually lead to a major rebellion like the one in the Soviet Union that spread across the country.
As someone from an aristocratic family, Xie Ning is not like a martial artist like Su Xuange, who likes to use force to do everything, and does everything based on his own preferences, regardless of the impact.
His political wisdom is quite sufficient.
Therefore, after realizing the hidden dangers at home and the frontline soldiers fighting continuously, they were really tired and tired.
Xie Ning decisively chose a truce.
He sent an envoy to Dali to discuss a ceasefire between the two countries.
The Dali Kingdom was also exhausted from this war.
Coupled with the destruction of Dachanghe State in the north, the behemoth Chu State suddenly bordered it, which also gave Dali State a great shock.
Dali State urgently needs to send more troops to the north to cope with the huge pressure brought by Chu State.
Therefore, facing the olive branch sent by the Song Dynasty, they did not hesitate for too long. After the two sides argued for a while, they officially signed the contract in early August.
The two countries agreed that each would use the territory they currently occupy as the boundary, recognize each other's right to rule their respective territories, and be neighbors in harmony from now on, without raising any more wars.
So after signing the peace agreement, Song State immediately began to withdraw its troops, apart from sending someone to Su State to say something.
One hundred thousand Song troops retreated from the front line with a roar.
In the newly established Yinsheng County of the Song Dynasty, in addition to the 15,000 local county soldiers, Xie Ning only left 20,000 forbidden troops and asked a trusted general to guard the place.
And he led the remaining troops and horses back to the country.
At this point, the Song State participated in this coordinated war, which lasted for two years and ended with the development of one county and five prefectures.
The Song State retreated, leaving only the Su State, which was naturally no match for the Dali State.
Therefore, after Su Xuange learned the news, even if he was unwilling to accept it, he could only curse the Song Dynasty for not being a human son, and reluctantly chose to negotiate peace with Dali Kingdom.
Compared with Song State, the situation in Su State was even worse.
Because of Su Xuange's misbehavior, people in the Su Kingdom fled almost every day.
The fleeing people included the remnants of the Su and Yi people, soldiers of the Shu Kingdom, and forcibly recruited civilians, as well as local Su and Yi people in Tonghai and Yulin counties.
It can be said.
Under Su Xuange's various manipulations, in the minds of the Su and Yi people, he had become a tyrant far surpassing Jie and Zhou.
Under such a king, no one would want to be ruled by him.
Taking advantage of this convenience, Chu State has received more than 50,000 Su people on the border of Yulin County and Dongting County. On the border between Qianzhong County and Tonghai County of Su State, there were also more than 30,000 refugees from Su State, including many barbarians.
As for the borders between Su State, Nanhai State and Song State, according to reports from the Imperial City Foreign Affairs Department, there are also many refugees, no less than tens of thousands.
Among the lowest levels of the Soviet Union, there are countless types of escapes.
The foundation of Su State's rule has completely collapsed.
The reason why it can still hold on and not be destroyed now is entirely due to Su Xuange's innate military force and the tens of thousands of elite soldiers under his command who are those with vested interests.
But now there is no way to plunder the Dali Kingdom, there is no sufficient source of money and food, and all internal production has collapsed. If no reforms are carried out, it will be a matter of time for the Soviet Union to perish sooner or later.
I just don’t know if Su Xuange has seen this and whether he has the courage to carry out reforms.
But in any case, in mid-August, following the Song Dynasty, the Su Kingdom and the Dali Kingdom also officially ended the war through peace talks.
It also took two years, and the Su State finally withdrew from the alliance with the results of one county and four prefectures.
In these two years of war, Dali, Song, and Su all paid extremely heavy prices, each losing tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of troops.
Although the Soviet Union and Song Dynasty had gained something, they still needed a lot of time to digest the results.
After Dali lost nearly a county and nearly 200,000 troops, it needed a long period of recuperation before it could regain its strength.
Although the peace talks are not what the three countries want from their hearts, it is already the best outcome for each other under the current situation.
After the war between them ended, the only war left in the entire southwest region was between the three kingdoms of Chu, Chili, and Kunhai, and the Nanzhao Kingdom.
However, before the outcome of this war came, another war in the north of Xichuan County had already taken a major turn.
…
The second day of September in the sixth year of Shenwu.
The Zhou Kingdom's 150,000 troops, led by Dongfang Wuyun, the general of the country's Nanzhu Kingdom, besieged Baishi City, the capital of Han Dynasty, for three months and broke the city on this day.
Qiao Kangquan, the king of Hanzhong, had no choice but to lead thousands of remnant soldiers when the city was broken, and he fled south in embarrassment, guarding his relatives and hundreds of officials, and retreated to Jianmen Pass in the south.
There are two remaining mansions in the south. Gather the remaining soldiers and continue to hold on.
Zhou soldiers took advantage of the situation and swept through the three northern prefectures of Hanzhong, recaptured the old land of Hanzhong that had been lost for nearly ten years, and once again took control of all ten prefectures of Hanzhong County.
At the same time, the barrier between Han and China was lost, and Zhou State was in the west, bordering Xiangyang County of Chu State.
Zhou's army has reached the western border of Xiangyang.
