Fortunately, the 300,000 troops are now systematically maintained.
Otherwise, Han Xi would be in trouble.
"Why does the king keep sighing?" Military Advisor Xun asked strangely.
In the past three years, the development can be said to be very smooth.
Datong and Taiyuan were captured. At the same time, Hejian Prefecture also captured the land of two states, as well as the Hetao Grassland.
The population has also doubled significantly.
Han Xi did not hide anything and talked about the tax issue.
"Hahaha! It is also a good thing to bring the price back to normal. This is just a temporary gain." Military Advisor Xun said with a smile.
Hearing what Military Advisor Xun said, Han Xi felt the same. This was just a temporary measure, and it was impossible to keep food prices in Xuanfu and Yongpingfu floating.
After all, scholars, farmers, industry and commerce.
There is more than one farmer under the rule. The price of food is soaring. Although the people have made a lot of profits, the life of the blacksmiths, carpenters and soldiers engaged in handicrafts will become very difficult.
"The military advisor is right. Is the food harvest in Ningyuan, Yongping, and Xuanfu okay this year?" Han Xi asked.
It was October of the sixth year of Chongzhen.
It’s autumn harvest season again.
"Hahaha! It's a bumper harvest of grain. The price of grain has dropped from six taels and one stone to one tael and one stone." Military Advisor Xun replied with a smile.
Han Xi was a little surprised. It was not easy for food to fall back to this price, especially in the Xuanfu area.
In the past few years, it has been said that the grassland drought has been quite serious, and Xuanfu has naturally been affected, plus food has flowed into the grassland.
"Xuanfu was not affected by the drought this year?" Han Xi asked the question in his mind.
Military Advisor Xun thought for a moment and replied: "Xuanfu has indeed been affected by drought in the past two years, but we have built a lot of water conservancy projects in the past two years, and the population of Xuanfu is not very large, so the impact is not very big."
Han Xi nodded and immediately understood what was going on.
The actual cultivated area of Sanfu Land can reach 200,000 hectares.
And the population is three million.
Among the three million people, 20% are urban residents, those engaged in handicrafts, soldiers, and merchants.
That is a population of 2.4 million.
That's about 400,000 households. Each household cultivates 30 acres of land, which is only 120,000 hectares.
If 80,000 hectares of dry land are cleared, the damage will indeed not be too serious.
We have to thank the drought this year, otherwise the army would not be able to easily capture the northwest of Taiyuan Prefecture and Pingyang Prefecture in Shanxi Province.
While Han Xi was chatting with Military Advisor Xun, a guard hurriedly entered the palace and handed over a bamboo tube: "Xuanfu is eight hundred miles away, urgent."
Military Advisor Xun took the bamboo tube and handed it to Han Xi.
Han Xi opened it and checked it. He took a cursory glance at the letter inside and handed it to Military Advisor Xun.
Military Advisor Xun glanced briefly and then said with a smile: "This Huang Taiji is quite well-informed."
Han Xi got up and asked someone to bring out the map shelf.
Soon, two guards were seen carrying out a ten-foot-long screen.
This screen can be said to be a military secret.
There are distribution marks of Han Xi's army on it.
At this time, Han Xi had five armies and one navy under his command.
An army of 50,000 people was stationed in the south to defend against Ming Dynasty invasion.
There are two armies to the west, one is in Taiyuan, and the other is stationed in the Datong and Hetao grassland areas.
The capital was guarded by an army.
There is also an army located in Ningyuan, Shanhaiguan, Jizhen, Xuanfu, and fortresses along the way.
Therefore, there should be only 10,000 regular troops stationed in Xuanfu at this time. If auxiliary troops are included, there should be more than 20,000 troops.
Yes, Han Xi also had an auxiliary army, which was not recruited from the common people.
Instead, some good-performing officers and soldiers were recruited from the captured officers and soldiers.
"How many Mongolian cavalry can be temporarily recruited over the grassland?" Han Xi asked, looking at the map.
Military Advisor Guo, who had been silent on the side, said: "If we can recruit 50,000 people, and then transfer 20,000 people from Datong, it will not be difficult to expel Hou Jin. However, we still need to prevent Hou Jin from entering the capital and causing harm to the countryside."
"If Huang Taiji dares to enter the capital, I will knock all his teeth out. Yes, let the navy dispatch four hundred ships to help me enter Liaodong." Han Xi said with the corners of his mouth raised.
It is very convenient for Han Xi's navy to enter the hinterland of Houjin. It only takes two days to reach Liaodong Town and four days to reach Shenyang.
Han Xi wanted to see what Huang Taiji would do if he knew his lair was being attacked.
Han Xi was discussing how to deal with it.
Huang Taiji had already led the army to attack various passes of Xuanfu. The result was that Huang Taiji was depressed.
In order to reach the 200-man barrier, more than 600 casualties were incurred.
It took nearly half a day of fighting to capture it.
In other words, before Huang Taiji captured the pass, the news had already spread to the capital.
Xuanfu is only more than three hundred miles away from the capital, so if you hurry up, you can reach the capital in two hours.
Hauge, who had captured the fortress, approached Huang Taiji and reported with a smile: "Father, the people in the fort are all wearing good armor, and there are even ten pairs of heavy armor. There are also a hundred stones of food in the fort. I almost died." Let those people burn.”
That's right, Hauge and Yue Tuo, who were captured by Han Xi, were both ransomed.
For this reason, the price of grain in Houjin doubled, and at this time the price had risen to seven liang and one stone.
If the Mongols hadn't smuggled food over and sold it, the price of food would have remained at 10 taels per dan.
Therefore, the soaring prices in Houjin at this time are even more terrifying than those in Yichuan County.
When Huang Taiji heard about the harvest, his depressed mood improved. But soon he became worried again. If after entering the customs this time, he encountered such tenacious enemies, how many people would be lost?
"Enter the pass! I heard that Han Xi has some abilities. Not only did he defeat many counterattacks by the Ming army, he even defeated Lin Dan Khan and captured Datong." Huang Taiji said majestically.
"Father, don't worry. Last time we were defeated only by a sneak attack by these guys. If we have a head-on confrontation this time, we will definitely make this kid look good." Hauge said confidently.
Huang Taiji's face darkened when he thought of that failure. He was careless.
Soon, a hundred thousand troops led by Huang Taiji entered the Xuanfu territory.
Among the 100,000 troops, the old Han banners and the Mongolian servants accounted for a large part.
There were only about 30,000 Jurchen cavalry, plus Aha slaves, which formed the team for this plunder.
The reason why Huang Taiji launched the plunder this time was because the rising food prices caused the death of a large number of Han slaves who plundered, and the conflicts between the Jurchens and the Han people became increasingly intensified.
Secondly, they received a report from spies that the Xuan Mansion was empty of troops.
Therefore, Huang Taiji decided to enter the capital and plunder again.
Firstly, to plunder some resources, and secondly to weaken the power of the Mongolian tribes and the population of Han slaves to reduce the food pressure of Houjin.
The army was all cavalry and soon entered the Longmen area.
Huang Taiji left the fortresses and cities along the way to be plundered by the Mongolian servants, and he led the army to prepare to enter the hinterland of Xuanfu to plunder.
