The Qilian Mountains, which stretch for thousands of miles, are like a natural barrier, lying between Hexi and Hehuang, and the only connection between the two is the Dadoutu Valley that splits the mountains from east to west. This is a dangerous place to control the pass.

It's just that due to the high terrain and perennial snow, there is no large garrison, and only a few key positions have been set up sentry posts and beacons. However, even so, it was possible to report the movements here to Shanzhou in the south in a timely manner.

Especially since the beginning of summer, the Longyou garrison has sent a large number of exploration horses to distribute at the north and south foothills of the mountain pass, and the more and more urgent pressure has made everyone cautious. The news that Zhangye was besieged has spread, and the imperial court still has a reaction, and only lightly ordered not to act rashly, but in order to deal with the possible enemy attack next, Chen Changjie, the soldiers and horses of Shanzhou, is really broken.

Just three days ago, the envoys of the imperial court arrived in Shanzhou, and the so-called Tocharian envoys who had been sent back to Beijing were really spies.

However, what Chen Changjie complained about was that what was the use of him asking for this? It was better to send him another 5,000 elite troops.

"Report, more than 1,000 Great Eaters have been found at the northern foot of the Great Douba Valley!"

The fireworks of Fengsui came from afar, and the rangers and horses were also worthy of returning, Chen Changjie was not panicked after the report, although the big food soldiers went deep into the hinterland of Hexi, but Zhangye and Liangzhou, the important towns of Hexi, were still in the hands of the imperial court, as long as these two places did not fall, the big food soldiers would never have the courage to cross the mouth of the flat capital, otherwise once the back road was cut off, it would be self-defeating.

"Probe, report again, and monitor closely!"

Despite this, Chen Changjie still felt the strong pressure from this strange soldier. Shanzhou has now become the gateway to Longyou, and the situation in Longyou is even worse than that of Hexi. Hexi can still have 10,000 or 20,000 border troops, and the entire Longyou border army is still between 10,000, and they are all scattered and distributed in several key towns.

With 5,000 soldiers and horses stationed in Shanzhou City, it is already the largest force.

Originally, there were about 30,000 border troops in Longyou, but when they invaded Tibet, these 30,000 people also died and scattered.

"Send a letter to the imperial court, the big food soldiers are approaching Shanzhou!"

……

Qin Jin's desk was an urgent report from Liangzhou asking for help, and the big food soldiers bypassed Zhangye and besieged Liangzhou again, which made his brows twist into a lump.

Liangzhou has been used as the seat of the Hexi Jiedu envoy, is the Tang Dynasty's first important town in Hexi, although to the German year, the Jiedu envoy moved from Liangzhou to Zhangye, still can not shake its status.

Once Liangzhou fell, Zhangye became a completely isolated city, and Miao Jinqing, who was trapped in the city, was in a precarious situation.

In fact, in the past few days, military reports from Hexi, Longyou, and Shuofang have all flown to Chang'an like snowflakes. The vast majority of these military reports were about the crisis in Hexi, and Qin Jin was anxious, and he had to put on a calm and relaxed appearance on his face.

Hexi as the arm of Guanzhong, once it falls into the hands of the big cannibals, it can threaten Shuofang in the northeast, and attack Longyou in the southeast.

Therefore, the military situation from Hexi was blocked to the greatest extent possible, and it was only discussed in a small area between the prime minister's office and the high-ranking officials of the political affairs hall.

Fifth Qi and Yan Zhuang came one after another, and each of them had different official affairs to Qin and Jin, but they were more or less involved in the military situation in Hexi.

"Prime Minister, the 400,000 stone grain transported from Luoyang has arrived in Chang'an, and the register prepared by the people has also been prepared.......

Speaking of this, Fifth Qi paused and said:

"However, there is another major drought in the east of Tongguan, and it is very likely that the output of large fields will be reduced or the harvest will be lost, so we must be prepared in advance! Otherwise, it is inevitable that the tragic situation of the displaced people in Hebei will be repeated!"

This is not the Fifth Qi sensational, Hebei and the Central Plains have experienced nearly a decade of war, the population has withered, production has stagnated, in addition to a large number of fields have been abandoned, even the irrigation channels of farmland have been mostly silted up with poor maintenance.

As a result, in the event of a major drought, it is impossible to cope with it at the bare minimum. Coupled with the natural and man-made disasters for many years, the food stocks in the people's homes have long been exhausted, and now they are barely able to sustain their lives.

Now the situation is only slightly better, all the people have basically returned to the township, and the household registration books in various places have been sorted out, and there are the latest and complete household registration books, even if the disaster relief can be done in mind.

In the vast land of Kanto, the situation is slightly worse, and the resettlement of the people to their hometowns has not been completed, and the registration of the household register has naturally not been completed.

"Transferring grain from Luoyang's Hanjiacang, and then transferring grain from Huaixi and Huainan, must make the people of the Central Plains survive the disaster year that may come, starting next year, the imperial court can provide grain for free, as long as God opens his eyes, one or two years of hard work can persist in the past......"

After the Prime Minister's Office took over most of the government affairs, Qin Jin discovered that the state of reserves in various parts of the Tang Dynasty far exceeded his imagination, especially in the areas around Lianghuai that had not yet passed through the war, and the only problem was transportation.

Therefore, the best means of transportation of grain can only be water and land transportation, but the canal dug by the former Sui can only go to Luoyang, and from Luoyang to Guanzhong, it still has to go through a long land route.

For Guanzhong, where the demand for food is increasing day by day and the grain production is decreasing, this pressure is increasing day by day.

A faint thought kept popping up in Qin Jin's mind, that is, moving the capital.

However, it is obviously inappropriate to move the capital now, the world has just stabilized, and the westward expedition is imminent. For now, ideas can only stay on ideas for the time being.

All in all, although there are places where various man-made and natural disasters have continued since the beginning of the year, the general trend is gradually improving. This made Qin Jin feel a little at ease.

After having a general understanding of the basic situation in the Kanto region, Qin Jin set his sights on Yan Zhuang again.

As the head of the Prime Minister's Office, Yan Zhuang is mainly involved in the liaison between various ministries and departments, especially in the last half month, he has also been responsible for the liaison preparations with the New Army of the Western Expedition.

"Prime Minister, the firearms battalion has consumed 20,000 catties of copper in recent days, and Qing Xuzi claims that there is still a shortage of 20,000 catties, and the subordinates ......"

Recently, Qing Xuzi changed the iron cast cannon to copper casting, which Qin Jin also knew, because the iron cast cannon barrel always failed to reach the established indicators, which was also one of the reasons why the cast iron technology in the world was backward.

It is not impossible to improve the technology of cast iron, but even if it is to increase the research efforts, it will take at least a few years, and of course Qin Jin can't wait. Therefore, Qingxuzi changed to copper casting with relatively mature technology.

As a result, although the cost increased, a qualified and usable barrel was quickly cast.

The five barrels used as a test were fired seven hundred times in total, and the barrels showed no cracks or any abnormalities.

This result had already made Qin Jin very satisfied, greatly exceeding his expectations.

However, the basic requirement of Qin and Jin for cannon building is that it is miniaturized, and the fundamental purpose is to facilitate transportation, so as to ensure that the artillery can keep up with the long-distance gallop.

"For the requirements of the firearms battalion, the Prime Minister's Mansion must have full support, if you want money, if you want iron, if you want copper, you can give copper, just report!"

Yan Zhuang nodded in agreement.

Qin Jin looked at the two of them again and pushed the several military reports on the desk forward.

"Look at the two of you, the military report from Hexi is here again!"

As he spoke, an attendant had already stepped forward and helped with the military reports separately, handing them to Fifth Qi and Yan Zhuang at one time.

The two of them have long been a little surprised, and when they first heard that the big food soldiers had hit Hexi, they were still a little anxious, but now they are a little bit of lice and are not afraid of biting. Anyway, now that the preparations for the imperial court's westward expedition have not been made, what is there to do if you are in a hurry?

Reading the strike report, Fifth Qi pondered for a while and suggested:

"The imperial court may send a partial division, or through Lingwu, or through Hehuang, to make a gesture of assistance to Hexi. One can stimulate the morale of the border army, and the other can test the reality of the big food soldiers......"

When Qin Jin heard this, he couldn't help but nodded.

……

Chen Changjie personally led 800 cavalry to arrive at the Dadou Bagu Valley at the mouth of Biandu, and sure enough, a large number of Hu soldiers and rangers appeared at the southern foothills, although they didn't look like the so-called big cannibals, but he really felt the threat to Longyou.

For this reason, Chen Changjie hunted and killed these rangers, but whoever entered his field of vision, he would never let go of one, and the only one who escaped was only saved because Chen Changjie did it deliberately.

These cavalry under Chen Changjie have fought against the Tibetans all year round, and they are by no means comparable to those newly recruited rabble, and they are second to none in both riding and archery.

At the southern foot of Biandukou, Yousufu looked at the cliffs and turbulent water in all directions, and suddenly felt a chill on his face, and it was a snowflake floating on his face and turning into snow water.

At this time, although it is almost midsummer, it is still said that if it snows, it will snow, Yusuf couldn't help frowning a little, if the army is passing through the valley of the big fight, a sudden snowstorm falls, without the Tang soldiers attacking, this ghost weather alone can make him lose more than half of his soldiers and horses.

Yusuf now understands why Tang Bing didn't set up a pass here.

"Let's go, go in and have a look!"

The so-called Dadou Ba Valley is not a valley in the general sense, this valley is just because the terrain is lower than the Qilian Mountains on the east and west sides, but it is much higher than the terrain of Hexi or Longyou.

Yusuf and his party went deep into the valley like climbing a mountain, and at the same time, the snow became heavier and heavier.