With the surrender of the prefectures and counties and the dedication of the towns and cities, the situation in the states south of Zhenzhou has gradually stabilized, but here, more and more refugees have gathered. Many people, after hearing about the situation here, regarded Zhending as a place of refuge and survival, and came one after another.
Most of these refugees come from the four prefectures of Ding, Mo, Tai, Yi, and Ding in the north. These prefectures and counties have been at the crossroads between the two countries before. They have been invaded by wars all year round. The fields are deserted and the population is lost. There are not many people in Nantou. However, rough statistics show that there are more than 60,000 people in Nantou this time, which accounts for almost 10% of the population. The population of each state accounts for 30% to 40%.
Although the population has been continuously losing, the sudden concentration of people rushing south is obviously abnormal, and it doesn't take much thinking to guess that it must be related to the Khitan people.
Based on careful investigation and reports from He Fujin in Yingzhou, as well as what he heard from the refugees, Liu Chengyou discovered that tens of thousands of barbarians raided various states, fell into cities, burned houses, and destroyed farmland. They seemed to have given up on these states and counties and shrank northward. The appearance of power.
What was different from the past was that this time the Khitans did not take the Han people as slaves, nor did they even kill many people. They only stole money and food and expelled the Han people.
There was something obviously fishy in the actions of the Khitans. After intensive discussions and collective efforts, the Khitans came to the conclusion that the Khitans were on defense and preparing for Liu Chengyou's army. A no-man's land was cleared between Youzhou and Zhenzhou to prevent them from going north to attack Youzhou.
As the Hu soldiers from various states gradually withdrew northward, Youzhou slowly gathered a large number of troops. Yelu Ruan also used some means to soothe the morale of the troops, and their morale recovered. In this case, it was Liu Chengyou who should be nervous. However, it was obviously not easy for Yelu Ruan to issue this order.
Yelu Ruan is ready to lead the army north to seize the throne of Liao Kingdom! This is the judgment of Guo Rong and Wei Renpu, and Liu Chengyou also thinks so. This can also explain his strange behavior of destroying the four states.
Originally, if Yelu Ruan could completely take over the Khitan's army to destroy the Jin, with hundreds of thousands of troops in hand, he would have enough strength to control the situation in Hebei. While maintaining coercion, he could also mobilize troops to return to Beijing and seize the throne.
However, after the Battle of Luancheng, the Khitan suffered heavy losses and its military strength was greatly reduced. With the strength Yelu Ruan has in his hands at this time, it is impossible to take care of both sides. If you want to go north, soldiers and horses are indispensable, so Youzhou's defense will inevitably be weakened.
Although looking at the world situation, it is unlikely that Liu Jun will go north, he has to guard against it. In the eyes of Yelu Ruan and others, Liu Chengyou dared to attack the Khitan army of more than 100,000 troops with 8,000 troops. There was nothing else he did not dare to do. Liu Chengyou sent He Fu into Yingzhou, and even though he adopted a defensive posture, it still irritated the Khitans in Youzhou. Zhending is only more than four hundred miles away from Youzhou.
Of course, in order to concentrate his efforts to seize the throne, Yelu Ruan may choose to abandon Youzhou. However, this is obviously impossible. In these years, the Liao army was able to give full play to its cavalry advantages, galloping freely and plundering wantonly, taking advantage of Youyan's favorable geographical location and attacking south without hindrance.
Such strategic advantages cannot be seen by the knowledgeable people among the Khitan people. Over the years, the Khitan cavalry basically hit Jin troops on the head, riding on their faces. How could they easily give up the advantage they had gained?
Or, thinking about his country and the overall situation, in order to maintain the stability of the country, Yelu Ruan can be selfless and express his surrender to Beijing. But obviously, Yelu Ruan couldn't do it, so he could only try to ensure You Yan's safety while fighting for the throne.
Liu Chengyou couldn't control Yelu Ruan's thoughts, but he was a little happy to guess the general direction of his actions. Although he was an enemy, Liu Chengyou was very supportive of Yelu Ruan and went north to seize the throne. He had even been thinking about it.
But what has to be said is that the sabotage actions of the Khitans in the four prefectures of Yi, Ding, Mo, and Tai really caused great trouble for Liu Chengyou. A large number of refugees came to seek refuge, which put great pressure on Zhending, especially food pressure. There were tens of thousands more mouths, and it was not that easy to satisfy them.
Before welcoming Liu Chengxun, Liu Chengyou devoted most of his energy to managing the army, the people, and the government.
It's not that no one suggested that Liu Chengyou disperse the defecting people and leave them to fend for themselves. This kind of thing is not uncommon in these troubled times, but Liu Chengyou still chose to tolerate the pressure and contain them.
Although the process will be difficult, once you get through it, the rewards will be huge. Not talking about fame and the like, but because of the kindness of the "living person", after this incident, Liu Chengyou will be able to gain tens of thousands of fans and influence hundreds of thousands of people. At any time, never underestimate such seemingly ethereal things as the hearts of the people.
Of course, if Liu Chengyou hadn't seized a large amount of supplies before, which gave him some confidence, he wouldn't have dared to do this. After all, even a clever woman cannot make a meal without rice.
Even so, Zhending's food consumption has accelerated, even if the supply has been tight. For this reason, Liu Chengyou was also worried. While saving money, Liu Chengyou racked his brains to collect grain.
In addition to organizing the refugees to go to the mountains and rivers to find food, they also coordinate with the governors and generals from other states to transport food and support. Although life is also difficult in various places, they can always provide some support to Zhending. Most of the newly attached state generals He wisely gave Liu Chengyou face and gave him some support. At the same time, he borrowed money and food from wealthy families in private Wubao and manor houses.
Even after being exploited and plundered by the barbarians, the landlord's family always had a surplus of food. Anyone who does not have three or five secret money and grain storage warehouses is not a qualified landlord. Compared with the barbarians' rough looting, killing and stealing goods, Liu Chengyou's methods were naturally very gentle and reasonable, and they only needed food.
If it is said to be a borrowing, then it is a borrowing. Several "food envoys" were sent out to borrow from large households with IOUs stamped with Liu Chengyou's seal. Because the IOU is blank and the amount is filled in when borrowing, people call it "white note".
However, due to Yelu Deguang's previous policy of "borrowing people's money", people in various states suffered deeply. Liu Chengyou is here again. Even though he is borrowing money, it is still unpleasant. Therefore, there are many "borrow-resistant" situations.
During this process, it was natural for some soldiers to rob and oppress them. Liu Chengyou was already prepared for this, and he decisively arrested and beheaded all the soldiers who violated military discipline. Afterwards, it was widely publicized. After the matter spread, the officials and the people praised it, and the matter of distributing food was indeed much easier.
In this matter, Liu Chengyou did a very good job. It can be said that he achieved many things in one fell swoop, borrowed food, settled the people, and established prestige. At the same time, military discipline was once again tightened to intimidate the three armies. Although the previous expansion of the army has been improved, the overall quality of the Longqi Army has definitely been reduced.
Although those Jin soldiers were originally the Shi Jin Forbidden Army, their military discipline could not be said to be good. Although it had improved in the short period of time after being annexed, it was far from strict. Previously, in order to stabilize the morale of the army, Liu Chengyou only used appeasement. When the situation stabilized, he implemented strict rectification through the matter of food supply, and the three armies were in awe.
The family had plenty of food and did not panic. With the help of civil and military officials, Zhending always maintained a stable situation. In this process, Liu Chengyou's political management ability has been greatly improved.
Although he was very tired, Liu Chengyou enjoyed the feeling of coordinating hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians.
If you can't govern the state, how can you govern the world? This is Liu Chengyou's firm idea before. In Zhending, he has gained enough experience.
