Jiang Xiaogongzi and Xiao Gong both came quickly, almost at the same time to Liu's Mansion, as soon as they entered the door of Liu's Mansion, they were led to the study by Dongmei, who had already been sent by Liu Xuan to pick up people.

Xiao Gong is Li Che's person, Liu Xuan has nothing to hide, and Jiang Xiaogongzi knows the roots, and now he is tied to Li Che's big boat, Liu Xuan thought about it and didn't shy away from him, and when she saw the two of them, she said: "Jiang Xiaogongzi, how long will it take for the grain of Shu to arrive?" ”

Jiang Xiaogongzi thought about it and gave an exact number: "It will take fifteen days, and we will arrive in the capital within fifteen days." ”

Liu Xuan breathed a sigh of relief, although there was not much grain in Shudi, but at this time, it would be better to have a little, and after getting Jiang Xiaogongzi's exact reply, Liu Xuan asked Xiao Gong again: "Xiao Gong, how much grain is there in our twelve grain and grass shops?" ”

Xiao Gong thought for a while and said: "Due to the lack of grain in winter, the grain in a shop is about 10,000 quintals. ”

Liu Xuan frowned when she heard this: "That is to say, the grain in our hands plus the grain transported from Shu is only 180,000 quintals." ”

Liu Xuan thought about it in her heart, but she didn't know anything about marching and fighting, she only knew that Deng Yushou led an army of 100,000 troops, but she didn't know how much food an army of 100,000 needed to consume in a month, Liu Xuan frowned and pondered for a long time or asked: "How long is 180,000 loads of grain enough for 100,000 troops, does Gong Xiao know?" ”

As soon as Xiao Gong heard this, his first reaction was to look at Jiang Xiaogongzi, and Liu Xuan said when he saw him like this: "Xiao Gong doesn't have to worry, Jiang Xiaogongzi is my old knowledge and knows the roots." ”

When Xiao Gong heard Liu Xuan say this, he retracted his gaze and pondered for a moment and replied: "An army of 100,000 people needs to consume 10,000 loads of grain a day. 180,000 quintals of grain can only last 18 days, and if you use it carefully, you can last 20 days. ”

It could only last for twenty days, and Liu Xuan realized how difficult it was to feed so many troops, no wonder Li Che was always free every day.

Liu Xuan's words made Xiao Gong and Jiang Xiaogongzi silent, the two were not stupid, as soon as Liu Xuan asked them, they knew that something must have happened at the border pass, and they may be in urgent need of food and grass now.

Jiang Xiaogongzi thought for a moment and said, "If you want grain and grass, I have a way." ”

Liu Xuan was overjoyed when she heard it. Urgently asked him what he could do. Jiang Xiaogongzi said: "Because my family is engaged in the grain and grass business, I have always paid close attention to the grain shops, and when I first arrived in the capital, I inquired about the major grain stores in the north. ”

He looked at Liu Xuan and asked, "I told you before that the grain and grass actually belong to the north. Elsewhere, cereals are one season. In the Northeast, however, cereals can be grown for two crops. In addition, the northeast is full of plains, and the land is vast and fertile, so this grain production is naturally much more abundant than elsewhere. ”

Liu Xuan nodded, but Jiang Xiaogongzi told her. Xiao Gong on the side also nodded again and again when he heard this: "Xiao Gongzi Jiang is reasonable. ”

Seeing the two nodding, Jiang Xiaogongzi continued: "There are seven major grain stores in the Northeast, which not only monopolize the grain and grass in the Northeast, but also monopolize the grain of the entire Northland, except for the grain of the capital controlled by the Fan family, the rest of the people who control the grain of the Northland are the Cao family, the Huang family, the Pang family, the Han family, the Tang family, and the Ren family, these are all families, among which the Cao family has the deepest foundation and the most grain in the hands, so to speak, if there was no Cao family to help, the Li dynasty may be its dynasty. ”

Liu Xuan has always known that the Cao family is powerful, but now after listening to Jiang Xiaogongzi's words, she knows how powerful the Cao family is, she doesn't know about these military affairs, and asks with some doubts: "Isn't the Li family relying on it?" ”

Jiang Xiaogongzi sighed: "Today's saint is the general of the previous dynasty, the tyranny of the previous dynasty so that the people can not live, the saint was invited by the people to send troops to overthrow the previous dynasty, although the Li family is considered a family but is a famous family, although the saint was invited by the people, but it is also regarded as betraying the king and abandoning the lord, so he was expelled from the Li family, after the saint ascended the throne, the Li family also quietly changed his surname, and now he has long disappeared. ”

Liu Xuan didn't make a sound after hearing this, and she can only empathize with Li Che's difficulty now.

Xiao Gongdao on the side said: "These old men also know what Jiang Xiaogongzi said, but I don't know what Jiang Xiaogongzi said. ”

Jiang Xiaogongzi opened his lips lightly: "Borrow grain!" ”

"Borrowed food?" Xiao Gong shook his head and sighed: "This matter is easier said than done, food is the foundation of the major families, how can it be easy to lend food, if it is so simple, His Highness will not personally order me to open a grain shop to collect grain, in case of emergency." ”

"This time and that time." Jiang Xiaogongzi looked at Liu Xuan and said: "If the frontier is unstable, it will definitely shake the country's foundation, and at the beginning of the country, the major families did not want to make waves again, and this is not internal strife but external trouble, there are many people of insight among the major families, and there must be people who are willing to borrow each other, now your identity is different from the past, if the prince comes forward to borrow grain, it will damage the national prestige, but you are different, you are the princess appointed by the Holy God, and the love between the prince and the prince is well known to the world, and you will not damage the national prestige, but also can properly represent the prince's position." ”

Liu Xuan thought for a moment and nodded: "What you said is reasonable, but if these families are not beneficial, I am afraid that they will not borrow each other." ”

Xiao Gong also nodded on the side: "These families are not short of money, if they just buy with money, they will definitely not impress them, unless there is enough profit, otherwise they will not borrow each other." ”

This matter is no longer within the scope of Liu Xuan's solution, she asked Xiao Gong to transport the grain stored in the twelve shops to the capital, and asked Jiang Xiaogongzi to urge the grain of Shudi, and then asked Dongmei to send Xiao Gong and Jiang Xiaogongzi out of the house.

After Xiao Gong and Jiang Xiaogongzi left, Liu Xuan immediately wrote a letter, explaining the current situation and Jiang Xiaogongzi's proposal, and asking Li Che what he meant. After the letter was written, he summoned Hu Yi and asked him to send it to Li Che.

Li Che's reply arrived in the afternoon of the second day, and he agreed in his heart that Liu Xuan would come forward to borrow food, but he also reminded Liu Xuan that according to Liu Xuan's identity, although those families would give some face, she was not him after all, and the face they could give was limited, and even if Liu Xuan promised them, they would more or less doubt in their hearts, after all, Liu Xuan was just the future princess.

Li Che gave Liu Xuan an idea in the letter. Let her go and meet the people of the Seven Great Families who are in charge of the grain store first, she will talk to them first, no matter what the conditions will not refuse or agree, he will return to Beijing soon, and then he will make a decision after weighing it.

In the letter, he also said that if there is anyone who refuses to borrow food and refuses to negotiate at all, let her watch it.

At the end of the letter, Li Che gave Liu Xuan a deadline, if he did not return to Beijing after ten days, he would let her enter the palace and ask the emperor to decide, and all the grain and grass must be transported from the capital to the border within fifteen days.

After reading the letter, Liu Xuan burned it. She thought about it for a while, and handed the letter to Hu Yi. Let him use the flying pigeon to send it to Chen Liang.

Liu Xuan was somewhat apologetic to Chen Liang, she bothered him again and again, but she really didn't know if she could borrow grain from the seven great families, and even if she could borrow it, she didn't know how much she could borrow. So she couldn't help but open her mouth about this. She asked Chen Liang for Chen's promise. Let him be sure to collect as much grain and grass as possible within 15 days and transport it to the capital.

She was not worried that Chen Liang and Chen would guess that the border was in an emergency, as Chen Liang said, since he accepted the right to sell official salt that Li Che gave him for one year. He and the entire Chen clan were tied to Li Che's boat, and Chen Liang was not an ignorant person, if the border was really lost, let alone the Chen clan, the entire Li dynasty was in danger.

After sending a letter to Chen Liang, Liu Xuan was silent in the study for a long time, Hu Yi had told her in the past that Li Che's secret guards were divided into dragon group, tiger group, wolf group and ground group, and the ground group was dedicated to collecting intelligence, she thought for a while and said, "Tiger Er." ”

Hu Er answered, and Liu Xuan asked him, "Can you ask the land group to collect for me, the affairs of the people in charge of the grain industry of the Seven Great Families?" ”

Hu Er nodded: "What does the girl want to know?" ”

"The situation in their respective homes." Liu Xuan said: "Whether they have some ulterior things, as well as their hobbies, their respective personalities, the more detailed the better." ”

Hu Er nodded in response: "There is some collection of their land group, but it is only some rough things, if you want to be detailed, I am afraid that it will take three days to hand over to the girl." ”

Liu Xuan thought that it would take at least five days to collect these, but when Hu Er said that it would only take three days, he immediately nodded and asked him to do it.

At this time, it was not early, Liu Xuan thought about it and wrote a letter of worship and handed it to Qiu Ju, asking her to send it to King Ning.

During the evening dinner, Qiu Ju came back and informed Liu Xuan that King Ning had received the letter and asked her to go to King Ning's mansion tomorrow.

Early the next morning, Liu Xuan came to King Ning's Mansion, this time he just arrived at the door of King Ning's Mansion and saw Steward Wei waiting, Steward Wei didn't say much when he saw Liu Xuan, and led her directly to the study, where King Ning was waiting.

Seeing Liu Xuan, the king of Ning, he saluted him, and the king of Ning waved his hand: "What are you doing with so many courtesies, what do you mean to come to see me by handing over the prayer post?" ”

Liu Xuan hesitated and asked, "Xuan just wants to know what happened at the border pass." Why did he continue to transport a large amount of grain and grass to the border pass, Deng Yu has not received a letter for a long time, is everything in order? ”

King Ning raised his eyebrows when he heard this, and his resolute face showed a hint of inquiry: "Are you worried about the instability of the border pass, or are you worried about my bastard boy?" ”

"It's both." Liu Xuan replied honestly: "If the prince wants to ask which one is more worried, Xuan is worried about Deng Yu more than the border pass." ”

The corners of King Ning's mouth raised lightly when he heard this: "Why? ”

Liu Xuan lowered his head and said in a low voice: "The matter of the border is a state affair, and Xuan is just worried, but Deng Yu is not only Xuan's friend, but also the god of war of the dynasty. ”

King Ning seemed to be a little disappointed when he heard Liu Xuan's answer, the corners of his mouth fell again, he sighed and said: "My bastard boy is fine, but I heard that you have been given marriage by the Holy Decree, and I don't know how to reply to your letter for a while, as for the border pass, the Liao State learned that his grain and grass were only enough to guard the border for a winter, so he deliberately came to harass him from time to time, so that he could not return to the court, seeing that the grain and grass were about to run out, the Liao State sent a large army to the border pass, although he never started a war but never left. ”

Liu Xuan was shocked when she heard this, she could understand the meaning of King Ning's words, if there was no grain and grass to transport to the border pass, Deng Yu would have to return to the court, and as soon as he left, the Liao army stationed outside the border pass would enter the army in a big way, and Deng Yu would become a sinner, but if he didn't leave, how would the soldiers on the frontier guard the border if the grain and grass were insufficient?

Liu Xuan frowned and asked, "Since that's the case, why don't you take the initiative?" ”

King Ning glanced at her, and there seemed to be appreciation in his eyes: "You and my bastard boy also coincide, but the Liao State knows that he only has 100,000 troops, so he specially sent 200,000 troops to be stationed outside the border, and the leader is not an incompetent person, but the god of war Ye Luqing of the Liao State, this person is a general, if there is anything in the Liao State that makes this king put it in his eyes, except for the third prince of the Liao State, Jin Yi, it is this Yeluqing." ”

It turned out that Jin Yi was actually the third prince of Liao, no wonder he was still talking and laughing in the face of Li Che's angry face, no wonder he was able to escape from Long Yi, I was afraid that Li Che would personally arrest Jin Yi when he went out of Beijing this time.

Liu Xuan was silent, she felt that the burden on her shoulders was getting heavier and heavier, and she could only succeed and not fail in borrowing grain this time: "If you get grain and grass to be transported to the border pass, will Liao withdraw its troops?" ”

"Withdrawing troops?" King Ning snorted coldly: "According to the warlike nature of the Liao people, they will definitely attack directly if they know that the delay will not be successful." As long as there is enough food and grass, and we are defending them and attacking, it is not easy to say who will win and who will lose this war. ”

Liu Xuan still had doubts when he heard this: "Even if the grain and grass are transported over, it is only a few months' grain, why doesn't the Liao State continue to use the strategy of encirclement?" ”

When King Ning heard this, he glared at Liu Xuan: "How abundant can you be when you are the grain and grass of the Liao Kingdom?" If they had abundant food and grass, they would not come to harass the border every winter. ”

Liu Xuan was a little embarrassed, she was raised in the deep boudoir and knew very little about these state affairs, hearing that King Ning said this, a stone in her heart finally landed, and nodded immediately: "Since this is the case, Xuan must do her best to raise enough food and grass for Deng Yu." ”

King Ning nodded, and then suddenly asked, "Did that bastard boy give you a token when he left?" ”

Seeing Liu Xuan nodded, King Ning said again: "That token can be adjusted to all the Deng family army, and the Deng family army is available everywhere, if you need it, just take the token and adjust it." ”

Liu Xuan thought that the token was just Deng Yu's private order, but he never thought that the token could command all the Deng family soldiers, so he didn't dare to accept it again at the moment: "I didn't know that this token was so valuable, and now that I know that this token is so valuable, how dare Xuan accept this thing again." ”

King Ning listened to Liu Xuan's words but was a little impatient: "Since that bastard gave it to you, you can take it, don't mention anything if you dare to say anything, he thinks that if you accept this thing, you will accept it." ”

When Liu Xuan heard this, she had no choice but to stop mentioning the return of the token, and only thought about returning it to Deng Yu when he returned. (To be continued......)