After instructing Huang Xuan to deal with the matter of the Xueyuan Fans coming down the mountain, Lu Yuan put the matter down.
With his clone here, he believed that the other party could handle this matter well.
This is also true.
A few days later, Lu Yuan was practicing in the Jingxin Hall, and Huang Xuan sent specific information through spiritual contact.
"In the great winter disaster, a large number of cattle and sheep froze to death on the snowfields. The Tibetan people could not survive without enough food, so they took the risk and went down the mountain to plunder. This time the Tibetan people came down from the mountain, only some small tribes in the snowfield near Xichuan County, no larger ones. Are the forces involved..."
After receiving the message, Lu Yuan couldn't help but ponder.
The news Huang Xuan has collected in the past few days can be said to be both good and bad.
The good thing is that the people who came down the mountain this time were just small tribes of Tibetan people, and there were no powerful forces in the snowfield interfering behind them. This is definitely good news for the Chu State.
After all, the Zhou Kingdom is now facing the tragic situation of the four kings of the Snowfield attacking in turn, but it is still vivid in their minds.
Lu Yuan didn't want his country of Chu to suffer the same treatment as the other party.
But think about it.
The snowfield near Xichuan County only has some small rivers and lakes. The water resources it can provide are extremely limited and cannot support many people at all.
Moreover, except for the small area near Xichuan County, which has many river valleys and grasslands, the rest of the snowfield is just large areas of snow and steep mountains. It can be said that it is a naturally dangerous place.
If you want to migrate to the snowfield area near Xichuan County, the main area where the Snowfield Tibetan people are active, you must first walk through the snow and steep mountains, and cross the rugged trails in these dangerous areas, risking a near-death experience.
But just this natural danger is enough to deter any large army.
And if the large army cannot come, just a small force of hundreds or thousands of people, even if it is sent to Xichuan County, will not be able to stir up much trouble.
There is a reason for the migrating Xueyuan tribes not to choose Xichuan and Hanzhong counties as their targets.
"However, those Tibetan tribes deep in the snowfields cannot come over, but the valley grassland near Xichuan County covers an area of more than 2,000 miles in total, and there are more than 200,000 Tibetan people living there.
If these Tibetan people are not handled properly and they are forced to swarm down the mountain, they can gather 50,000 to 60,000 people, which is also a problem. "
Since no external forces intervened, Lu Yuan was naturally not too afraid of the Snowfield Tibetan people near Xichuan County.
As for the Tibetan people on the valley grasslands, they didn't even need the imperial army to take action, but the county soldiers of Xichuan County were able to beat those Tibetan people to the north.
But it's one thing to be afraid. The trouble caused by those Tibetan people is far more troublesome than their own strength.
Tens of thousands of Tibetan people came down from the snowy fields and swarmed into all parts of Xichuan. Even if they could only plunder some villages and towns, the damage caused would be huge.
Without solving them, it will be impossible for Xichuan County to resume production properly.
Nowadays, Chu Kingdom has a rare opportunity to recuperate and recuperate. Lu Yuan does not want his strategic plan to be ruined by a group of Tibetan people.
"These guys need to find a way to deal with them properly."
Lu Yuan frowned and thought for a moment, then brought the map of Kyushu Kun.
I saw that on the map, Yangzhou and the surrounding areas of Yangzhou, the various prefectures and counties, and the general terrain were all extremely detailed.
Outside of Yangzhou, this only has a rough outline, depicting the specific location and area of each country.
His eyes passed directly to other places, and finally stopped in Yangzhou, an area belonging to the Chu State.
His eyes wandered around it, and then moved to the snowfield near Xichuan County.
Looking at the two thousand miles of river valley close to Xichuan County, there are also valleys that continue to the north, adjacent to Hanzhong County, which are layered with mountains and ridges. Only a few rivers pass through them, and several smaller valleys are washed out.
The long and narrow terrain is like a long snake, traveling from south to north, passing through Xichuan and Hanzhong, and then continuing to meander north, straight into the hinterland of Zhou State, with a snake's head open, peering at Longxi County.
Just by looking at the map, Lu Yuan felt a majestic aura, and his eyes couldn't help but shine.
"Although only the area near Xichuan County has a relatively wide river valley. The remaining area near Hanzhong has only a few small river valleys with an area of only two to three hundred miles.
Moreover, there are mountains and natural dangers between these river valleys and Hanzhong County. Except for martial arts masters, it is basically difficult for ordinary people to cross.
But these small valleys continue to go north, and in the area close to Longxi County, only dozens of miles of mountain collar remain.
Although these mountains are steep, if you search carefully, you might be able to open up one or two trails.
Although a large army cannot be transported through these small roads, there should be no problem in sending out a partial army of 10,000 to 20,000 people.
If people occupy this place, then when I take Hanzhong and prepare to attack Zhou in the future, this place may become a surprise weapon and come in handy. "
Lu Yuan looked at the map of the valley, and at the same time recalled in his mind the information that the Imperial City Division had come back from there in the past. After the two facts were confirmed, his heart couldn't help but be moved.
Because he recalled a piece of information that he didn't pay much attention to before.
That is the mountain valley that should be completely isolated from the Zhou Kingdom geographically. When the Imperial City Division sent spies there, special products from the Zhou Kingdom were discovered in some of the tribes.
This piece of information originally attracted the attention of the Imperial City Division, who thought that Zhou's power had already reached the Xueyuan Valley and wanted to use this place as a springboard for the Xichuan strategy.
But upon closer inspection, no trace of the Zhou people was found in the river valley.
This river valley is still full of Tibetan people, and no influence from Zhou people is seen at all.
At that time, the land of Xichuan was still jointly controlled by Chu, Xichuan and Hanzhong. The main focus of the Imperial City Division was on the other two countries. Those sent to the river valley were only some informants and did not have many manpower.
So in the end, after a little search and confirming that the Zhou people had not interfered here, they regarded the Zhou people's things that appeared in the river valley as being transmitted from Xichuan County and did not investigate further.
In the end, the information was just compiled and sent to Lu Yuan as usual.
When the intelligence was sent, he was busy traveling through the southwest and had no time to pay attention to these small things.
Therefore, I just glanced at it once and didn't pay attention to it, and there was nothing more to say.
But at this time, Lu Yuan looked at the map and looked at the world as a whole. The information that was ignored at the beginning was suddenly connected.
Perhaps the things in the river valley that came from the Zhou Kingdom were not introduced from Xichuan County. The Tibetan tribes in those river valleys may have obtained these things from another channel or another road.
There might be an extremely hidden and little-known connection between the Tibetan people hidden among the mountains and snow ridges and the Zhou Kingdom.
"Check, send someone to investigate immediately. Send your envoys and subordinates from the Imperial City Department to go deep into the Tibetan tribes. You must find the single path for me."
Lu Yuan called the commander of the Imperial City's Foreign Affairs Department and personally issued the death order.
It is related to sending troops to Zhou State in the future. If such a trail can be found, even if it can only transport 10,000 or 20,000 people, it will be a great thing for Chu State.
Ten or twenty thousand elite soldiers might be able to turn the tide of the war at a critical moment.
"Yes, my subordinates sent the deputy commander and asked him to lead the people to find him personally."
When the commander of the Imperial City's Foreign Affairs Department saw that the king attached great importance to this matter, he immediately accepted the order with dignity, but in his heart he regarded this matter as the most important matter this year.
I plan to do it immediately after I return.
After instructing the Imperial City Department to send people to the Snowfield Valley to look for the very likely existence of the trail.
Lu Yuan thought deeply for a while and asked Cui Changqing to ask about Chu State's current grain and grass reserves.
"Your Majesty, now that the war in Chu has stopped, there is still a lot left of the 20 million stones, grains and rice that were prepared last year after the losses of the army. Added up to about seven million stones in all places."
Cui Changqing has long understood these government affairs and answered truthfully at this time.
But after finishing speaking, as if he had guessed the purpose of Lu Yuan's question, he added: "But now there are immigrants from all over the country, and there are still a large number of troops stationed in Xichuan and Qianzhong counties, and these people need to be fed by the court.
Now in order to maintain the livelihood of these large armies and people, the imperial court has to spend at least two million dan on food every month.
It is now April, sowing has begun in various parts of Dachu, and summer grain will not be harvested until June.
Therefore, within these three months, at least six million stones of food must be guaranteed to barely maintain the current situation.
If the king wants to use these reserves, the court can only squeeze out one million shi of food at most. "
Ten million stones of grain, if saved, would be enough for one million people for a year.
A few years ago, Lu Yuan conquered the southwestern barbarians. Although he used only 100,000 imperial troops.
But the troops and horses that Chu State actually used on the southwest battlefield were actually far more than that.
In addition to the 100,000 imperial troops, there were 30,000 county soldiers in Qianzhong County, as well as hundreds of thousands of Yi prisoners of war, and hundreds of thousands of Chu immigrants.
The total number of these people exceeds half a million.
Just to feed these many people, even if the immigrants worked for relief and there were prisoners to help transport food and grass, the Chu State had to allocate an additional 200,000 civilians to transport food.
To feed and drink 700,000 people, plus the consumption of transporting food on the road, fighting a war to conquer the barbarians, not counting the money, but only counting the food, would consume more than tens of millions of dan in a year.
If we include the Kunhai Kingdom, which Lu Yuan helped raise for a period of time, and the hundreds of thousands of troops deployed by Xichuan County, at its peak, the Chu army's consumption of food and grass directly reached two thousand a year. Ten thousand shi is the food ration for two million people for a year.
To feed and drink two million people for a year, this was an almost suffocating figure for the Chu State, which had a population of only about six million.
One war directly wiped out the entire six years of Chu's accumulation from the eighth year of Yue Hongdao to the fourth year of Shenwu.
Within six years, the tens of millions of stones of grain and tens of millions of taels of silver accumulated in the Chu State's recuperation and recuperation were almost completely consumed.
If it hadn't been for robbing the barbarians in the southwest to bring back a wave of blood, the Chu State would have gone bankrupt long ago.
And even so.
Last year, at the end of the war, Chu State was still greatly affected by the war. Domestic food prices rose by two-thirds, seriously damaging people's livelihood.
It was precisely after seeing this that Lu Yuan gave up Jianchuan Kingdom and gave up such a large piece of territory to Qiao Kangquan.
Because Chu State's remaining strength reserves really cannot continue the fight.
Domestic food prices have skyrocketed, and Chu State even has to buy food from those vampire grain merchants in Nanhai State.
If we fight again, Chu will be the next Su.
Lu Yuan naturally didn't want to see this situation.
So in the end, he chose to stop, withdraw from the fight as early as possible, and find Qiao Kangquan, the cannon fodder, to take over.
Use three vassal states to stop the threats from the remaining two barbarian states in the southwest, Nanzhao and Dali.
Chu State was also able to get out of it and start recuperating and recuperating now.
This left less than half of the originally hoarded food, excluding the losses of the troops stationed in various places and the new immigrants.
Otherwise, we will definitely run out of food.
"One million stones?"
After listening to Cui Changqing settle the account, Lu Yuan also had a clearer understanding of his current family background.
Over in Xichuan County, there were originally hundreds of thousands of people from Xichuan Kingdom and 500,000 people who had moved from various parts of Chu Kingdom, totaling nearly a million people. Now they were all waiting for food, waiting for Chu Kingdom to send life-saving food.
In Qianzhong County, there are also hundreds of thousands of new immigrants and hundreds of thousands of prisoners of war, who also need relief from the court.
Counting the hundreds of thousands of troops from both armies...
Although the war has stopped now, the food and grass consumed by Chu State has become more due to the implementation of various policies.
But that's about it.
Just like Cui Changqing said, the grain has been planted now, and the summer grain can be harvested in just two or three months.
By then, with the prosperity of Jianghan Plain and Dongting Plain, the two counties of Xiangyang and Dongting combined can harvest 70 million stone grain.
With so much food, even if the rations reserved for local people are excluded, there will be 10 to 20 million shi of food left in the end, enough to support subsequent consumption.
And wait until the golden autumn in the second half of the year to harvest another batch of grain.
When the grain is harvested, immigrants who move to Xichuan and central Guizhou will be able to obtain their own rations without the need for additional subsidies from the court.
By then everything will be on the right track, and the Chu State will be able to slowly recover, and there will no longer be such a hard time getting by as it is now.
In this way, we can spare food and go to Su country to make a fortune.
Shaking his head in his mind and brushing these thoughts aside, Lu Yuan looked at Cui Changqing, and then said: "For the remaining one million stones of food, you can allocate five hundred thousand stones and transport them all to Xichuan for use by the army.
The imperial court is also preparing to dispatch a group of officials to be ready to rush to Xichuan at any time. "
When Cui Changqing heard what his king said, the corner of his mouth twitched, and he immediately understood what the other party wanted to do, and asked: "The king is planning to launch troops in Xichuan?"
This is why Zuo Xiang asked this, but he hesitated to speak.
The Chu State is almost wiped out and is in urgent need of recuperation. This is also the case with the previously established national policy.
Why did the king regret it again after only a few months?
As the left prime minister, Cui Changqing felt that he had to take responsibility and dissuade the king from his willfulness.
Lu Yuan glanced at him and instantly understood what the other party was thinking. He couldn't help but smile and said: "Don't worry, Mr. Zuo, I do intend to use troops, but I don't intend to use large ones."
After explaining and reassuring the other party, he continued: "Over in Xichuan County, the Tibetan people in the snowy fields were in a food shortage situation due to the snowstorm that froze a large number of cattle and sheep to death. At this time, they all chose to run down the mountain. Plunder Xichuan.
If this trouble is not solved, Xichuan will never be stable, and the originally planned national development policy will be difficult to implement.
So I thought, since we have to fight anyway, rather than being passively beaten, we might as well take the initiative.
The Tibetan people in the valley near Xichuan are weak, with a total of only more than 200,000 people, and they are divided into dozens of tribes.
This kind of strength is no match for our great Chu army.
So I plan to let Huang Xuanzhen, who is guarding Xichuan, lead the army. It does not need to be large. With a forbidden army and local county soldiers, there are 30,000 to 40,000 people, which is enough to sweep away the Tibetan people in the valley.
The total area of the snowfield valley is more than two thousand miles, extending to the north. In the area near Hanzhong County, there are also three small river valleys, covering an area of nearly a thousand miles.
If these three thousand miles of river valley are slightly divided, five or six mansions can be set up.
After Gu planned to wipe out the Tibetan people in the valley, he would move the people there, set up prefectures and counties, and establish another valley county for Dachu to shield Xichuan. "
Lu Yuandan smiled lightly.
The Tibetan people in the river valley are weak, with dozens of tribes totaling just over 200,000 people. Even counting the several small valleys in Hanzhong County, the population is at most 300,000.
And among so many Tibetan people, the strongest one is only first-class, not even talented.
With this strength, Chu State can easily assimilate.
Moreover, although the place they live in is also a snowfield area, it is a river valley where it is relatively easy to survive in the snowfield.
With rivers and lakes, fields can be cultivated on both sides for farming.
This kind of land cannot be considered purely nomadic, but has potential for farming. The Chu State was able to perfectly digest and control it, build cities, and set up prefectures and counties on these territories.
As for the River Valley County that was established, there are only 300,000 people in the five or six prefectures. It is too vast and sparsely populated to be developed and ruled well. There is no need to worry about this.
In the newly established Jianchuan and Jianchang prefectures in Qianzhong County, the war ended early because Da Changhe surrendered too quickly, and there was no time to clean up.
There are more than 200,000 Yi people left in the two governments, scattered in various places, becoming a major hidden danger.
Originally, Lu Yuan was still thinking about how to deal with it, but now he didn't have to worry.
Exactly half of the more than 200,000 Yi people can be extracted, and then some of the Yi people's family members can be released from the Yi people's prisoners of war, and they can be moved to Hehe County together.
In this way, when they arrive in a strange place and are surrounded by Tibetan people, these Yi people become the weakest party.
If they want to gain a foothold here, withstand the threat of local snakes and Tibetan people, and survive in the river valley, they must rely on the Chu government.
At that time, a group of Chu people will be moved there to serve as the core backbone, supplemented by a large number of Yi people, and then used as a deterrent with a large army. In less than ten or twenty years, the Hehe County will be stable and become the western frontier of Chu's insertion into the snowy plains and the Zhou Kingdom. Important town.
