Obviously, Zhu Youzhen wanted to cut off Qinchuan's trade routes.

While rewarding Qin Chuan's generals and wanting to win over and divide his subordinates, he also gave him a salary and completely cut off his territory from the Ming Dynasty.

This trick is not without viciousness.

Today, Qinchuan is completely self-sufficient in grain, cotton, fur, iron, kerosene and other substances, but copper, lead and tin, paper, salt, saddles, silk and many other substances still need to be purchased from all over the Ming Dynasty.

There are many copper mines in Shanxi, but they are all in the area of Anyi, Jiangzhou, Wutai Mountain and Lingqiu, which is some distance from the territory of Qinchuan.

There are also some associated copper and associated lead and tin in iron ore, but the associated quantity is too small, and the existing technology is also difficult to separate during smelting.

Therefore, copper and lead and tin still have to be obtained by trade.

Lead, in particular, is used to make bullets.

Iron rusts, and the mass is not heavy enough to affect shooting accuracy, and it can't make mini bullets, so it's not suitable for bullets, copper can, but it's much more expensive than lead.

Therefore, only lead can be used, and it is in great demand.

Paper is also a substance that needs to be obtained through trade, there is a rough paper workshop in Qinchuanzhi, but the output is very low, and the quality is difficult to describe, the documents of military and political institutions, school books, etc., the paper used is purchased from other places.

As for the salt...... If this thing is broken, it will simply cost Qin Chuan's life.

Because one cannot go without salt.

The 300,000 people under Qin Chuan's rule had to eat more than 2,000 catties of salt every day, not including the salt needed to marinate bacon and pickles.

There is no salt lake in his territory, and there are a few small salt wells in the area of Lanzhou and Sanchacheng, and the total output is less than 200 catties per day, which is not enough to eat at all.

In the past, some salt merchants relied on some salt merchants to exchange salt for iron pots to ensure the supply of salt in the country, but now, ......

Zhu Youzhen actually wanted to cut off his salt!

If there is no salt, these 300,000 people will surely rebel.

Moreover, Lou Fu iron materials and iron pots were originally able to exchange for more than 100,000 stone of grain every year, and after all trade was cut off, the losses caused were simply immeasurable.

This cannot be tolerated.

has to beat Zhu Youzhen, if he knows that it hurts, it's okay if he is willing to take the initiative to give in, if he refuses to ...... Then keep beating.

On the same day, Qin Chuan began to dispatch troops, and asked Bobcat to lead the Tiger Guard Battalion to Gujiao Town, preparing to send troops to Shouyang via Taiyuan.

And from the Qingshui River, Luo Daniu's two battalions with a total of 2,000 troops returned, stationed along the Yellow River.

Ordered Li Dingliang to take over the old camp fort and the Bitou Pass where Luo Ba was stationed, because the Qingshui River north of the Bitou Pass was stationed with Liao Sangun's tiger and leopard battalion and part of Luo Daniu's first camp, and no enemy could threaten the Bitou Pass, so Qin Chuan asked Li Dingliang to only put 300 troops to garrison the Bitou Pass.

Luo Ba's 2,500 square battalions were all transferred to Gujiao Town.

Also assembled in Gujiao Town, there were also three troops of Liu Youzhu's Wudang Battalion.

In the meantime, 8,000 troops will be assembled in Gujiao Town.

The border with the Ming court will be completely blocked, and no one will be allowed to enter or leave, so as to prevent spies from passing on news to the Ming army.

Qin Chuan wanted to take these 8,000 Guan Emperor troops to Shouyang, recapture 100,000 silver, and then loot Shouyang City again, and then rob all the way south and all the way, all the way to Siyan City.

Just like the slaves entering the customs and looting, robbing money, grain, and population.

However, Qin Chuan will only rob the big ones and insist on doing nothing to the ordinary people in order to preserve his reputation.

At the same time, Qin Chuan also issued a conscription order, and the army had to be expanded again.

After Huang Taiji retreated, he once recruited a small number of troops to supplement the battle losses caused by the fight against Jiannu, so that the total strength of Emperor Guan's army was maintained at 25,000.

But now, he has to defend everywhere to guard against the counterattack of the Jiannu, Tartar and Ming armies, and he has to send troops to plunder the Ming Dynasty, and next year he will go north to occupy the Hetao area, and his troops are already stretched.

This time, he wanted to recruit 15,000 recruits, bringing the total strength of Emperor Guan's army to 40,000.

At present, the population of the government is just over 300,000, and there are only about 130,000 young and strong men, of which there are 40,000 troops, accounting for nearly 30% of the total number of young and strong men.

This ratio is very unreasonable, because the more the army, the less labor force engaged in production.

The only way to solve this problem is to massively increase the population in a short period of time.

But recently, the number of displaced people who have come to take refuge has also decreased, and it may be that the Ming army blocked the road and prevented the displaced people from coming.

Therefore, Qin Chuan can only go out to rob, in addition to grabbing money and food, he also has to rob the population.

In addition, Qin Chuan also sent urgent orders to Wang Jizong, Yan Sanqi and Luo Wentian, ordering them to immediately start looking for copper, lead and tin mines, silver mines, gold mines and other minerals, and to encourage the people to develop various light industries such as papermaking, paint, wax, porcelain, and saddles by means of interest-free loans and tax reductions and exemptions for a certain period of time.

In order to achieve stable and long-term development, we must not rely too much on trade, but should be as self-sufficient as possible, and it is best to let trade only play a role in enriching the supply and demand of people's livelihood and promoting technological development through healthy market competition.

As for the salt...... This thing won't have to worry about next year.

The Ordos Plateau has dozens of salt lakes, large and small.

In those Ordos Plateaus, salt is not only self-sufficient, but also sold in large quantities for grain.

Qinchuan's Hetao strategy originally included the Ordos Plateau.

That place used to be the land of the Western Xia Kingdom, and it used to be a rich and beautiful steppe with abundant water and grass, Genghis Khan also had a soft spot for this place, and threw his horsewhip there, and buried there after his death.

However, due to climate change, as well as hundreds of years of continuous war, overgrazing, and large-scale logging, the Ordos Plateau is no longer rich in water and grass, but has become a desert, and the land is very desertified and salinized.

Due to the harsh living conditions, the Ordos Department there is also weak, even more unbearable than the Tumut Department, and it is estimated that there are less than 3,000 strong men who can fight on horseback.

With only one battalion of troops, the Ordos Plateau can be taken.

But not now, the most important thing now is to find the field, and after hitting Siyancheng, just grab so many million catties of salt and come back to resist it.

……

Shenyang City, Taizheng Palace.

The emperor sat on the top extremely, her brows furrowed slightly, and her face was gloomy.

The Baylor and many ministers standing below also looked solemn, and the atmosphere was extremely tense.

Because the news had just come from Guihua City, Qinchuan's Guan Emperor army suddenly went north to build a city in the area of the Qingshui River, and sent troops to attack the Tumut tribes.

Yue Zhen, who was stationed in Guihua City, saw that the enemy army was strong, so he took the initiative to retreat eastward with the Tumut troops, but more than 3,000 Tumut soldiers still died in the attack of the Guan Di army, and the captive population was nearly 10,000, and there were countless cattle, sheep and horses.

As soon as he heard the news, Huang Taiji's face immediately sank.

Huang Taiji knew that Qinchuan's goal was the Hetao area, and he was advancing while building the city, step by step, steadily and steadily.

In this case, it was difficult to defeat Qin Chuan, because the military forts he built were too strong, and his artillery was extremely sharp, and there were still a lot of them, if he defended the military forts, he would not be able to help him at all.

The huge casualties at Ningwuguan and Shenchikou are a lesson from the past, and that tragic scene is still vivid in my mind.

But if you don't fight, you are unwilling to watch the Hetao area fall into the hands of Qin Chuan.

What's more, Ezhe is still in the Qinghai area, and it is said that he has the Maha Kala Golden Buddha in his hand, and even has a jade seal of the country.

If the Hetao area falls into the hands of Qin Chuan, these two treasures will inevitably have nothing to do with the Dajin Kingdom.

"Great Khan, please send troops, I am willing to lead the warriors of the blue flag as the vanguard and uproot the two military forts in Qinchuan for the Great Khan."

When the atmosphere was tense, Azig suddenly came out of the crowd and said in a rough voice to Huang Taiji.

Huang Taiji didn't speak, only squinted and fell into deep thought.

"Great Khan, in the opinion of the ministers, it is not appropriate to send troops at this time, and it is appropriate to negotiate peace."

Fan Wencheng, who was increasingly trusted by Huang Taiji, suddenly came out of class and said to Huang Taiji slowly.

"Oh?"

Huang Taiji frowned slightly: "You can talk about it." ”

Fan Wencheng replied without thinking: "Great Khan, not long ago, the elite of the Dajin Kingdom just returned from Xuanda, and when the righteous people were sleepy and tired, and they were physically and mentally exhausted, Shenyang City was two thousand miles away from the Qingshui River, and the soldiers and generals had been fighting for many years, and they were already exhausted, and they had to travel a long distance to the Qingshui River...... I'm afraid morale will be low. ”

"This is not the reason why it is not appropriate to send troops, but it is advisable to negotiate peace...... Great Khan, Qin Chuan is by no means a mediocre person, dare to go north to the Hetao, must have been prepared, if my Dajin Kingdom and him fight a decisive battle in the Hetao area, it will only be the result of both defeats, and it will only let the Ming court benefit from the fishermen on the side. ”

"In this case, a decisive battle with Qin Chuan is very unfavorable to our Dajin Kingdom, it is better to negotiate peace with him first, give some gifts, and let him aim his gun at the Ming Court."

After hearing this, Huang Taiji nodded thoughtfully and said, "What Fan Qing said is reasonable, but what kind of gift should Dajin Kingdom give to Qin Chuan?" If you give less, I'm afraid Qin Chuan won't be able to look down on it, and if you give too much, it will damage the interests of the people of Dajin Kingdom. ”

Fan Wencheng frowned and thought for a moment, then suddenly said, "Great Khan, why don't you give him the Hetao area?" Anyway, that place was also taken down by our Dajin Kingdom. ”

"Huh?"

Huang Taiji frowned instantly.

Give up the Hetao area to Qinchuan?

That's what he got after all the hard work he got after driving Lin Dan Khan away.

walked a Lin Dan Khan, and now there is another Qinchuan.

If he doesn't negotiate peace, Qin Chuan is afraid that he will not give him a stable life.

If peace is negotiated, I am afraid that only the Hetao area can impress Qinchuan.

Could it be that the Dajin Kingdom is destined to have no chance with the rich and beautiful Hetao region?