On the second day of the second month of February, the dragon raised its head, and it was a day worth celebrating for the subjects of Great Xia.

However, this year was very chaotic, first with the biggest natural disaster in a century, and then with the invasion of Beiyi.

With the arrival of the last day of January, Beiyi was unable to attack Great Xia after all, and could only withdraw its troops.

After learning of Beiyi's withdrawal of troops, Wuye Kingdom could only withdraw from Lushui Town, announcing that the plan to attack the Hexi Corridor ended in failure.

After experiencing this great war, the troops of Northern Mongolia and Zhongshan lost more than half, and in order to replenish the consumption of troops, they could only recruit a large number of troops.

In view of the current situation of few soldiers on the border, Ming Heng and Mu Shang could only give the same order and force conscription.

For a time, the border cities, the people who had lost their strong men were almost empty, and there were only some old and weak women and children, helpless, suffering and waiting for death.

Other relatively prosperous cities have not been affected, and people should do what they should do. As long as it doesn't happen to them, they are insensitive, and just treat it as after-dinner gossip.

After the invasion of Beiyi last year, Beimeng mobilized a large number of elites to go back, giving Chu some respite.

After Chinese New Year's Eve, the current monarch of the Chu State, Xu Hong, that is, Xu Xiang's cheap big brother, followed the advice of the Chu State named Qiu Xian, recovered five small county towns near Nanli City, and then stormed Yueling City at a huge cost, driving Northern Meng's army to the other side of Xiangshui Lake in one fell swoop.

It's just that Beimeng was busy resisting Beiyi at that time, and the supply of grain and grass couldn't keep up, so there was no follow-up counteroffensive plan, so it could only focus on defense.

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Xiangshui Lake is located in the hinterland of Chu State, and the Jiujiang Lake in the east is called the spirit of Chu State, and from the topographical map of Chu State, it is like the eyes of a crouching lion.

There are three big cities nearby, namely Jiangzhou, Xiangyuan and Yueling, of which Yueling is located in the south of Xiangshui Lake, it is an important city connecting the north of Chu and the south of Chu, the trade of this city is very developed in ordinary times, the aquatic products of Xiangshui Lake and all kinds of goods from the Nanjiang River, through the transit of Yueling City, are continuously transported to the various cities in the south of Chu.

At this time, the population of Yueling City had plummeted by half due to Northern Mongolia, and now Xu Hong attacked Yueling, causing the population to decrease again.

Even if he captured Yueling now, Yueling at this time was not as rich as before, and when Beimeng attacked Yueling, he plundered Yueling's treasures and grain.

Now Yueling is full of broken walls, and homeless people can only sit on the streets, waiting for relief.

For the Chu State, it is difficult to gather the people's hearts without a counterattack on Xingzhou, the capital of the Chu State, so now the loss of people's hearts, coupled with the capture of Yueling, nearly a million people are homeless, and they have to take out food to feed them, which is a huge burden for Xu Hong.

It's better not to take it down!

And if Xingzhou wants to be captured, it is not so easy, with the only remaining more than 30,000 troops of Xu Hong, it is difficult to capture Jiangzhou City in the north of Xiangshui Lake, let alone Xingzhou to the north of Jiangzhou.

Therefore, while Xu Hong appeased the people of Yueling, he also began to recruit soldiers.

In addition to the end of the war in the north and the beginning of the war in Chu, the East China Sea also took the lead in provoking the war, and the prince of the East China Sea, Jiang Fu, led 50,000 iron cavalry and 3,000 musketeers to capture the river city with lightning speed, and since then this ownerless river city has become the land of the East China Sea.

This sudden undeclared war made Zhongshan and Northern Mongolia extremely nervous.

For the Zhongshan Kingdom, they felt that the East China Sea had the intention of advancing west into Ningdu, so they urgently dispatched the Western Army, which had not yet recuperated after the end of the Wuye Kingdom, to several cities near Linhe City to prevent Jiang Fu from breaking through.

And the reason for the tension in Northern Mongolia is that Linhe City is the only place for the Northern Mongolian army to go to Chu, and now this road is cut off by the East China Sea, and Mu Shang is so angry that he jumps like thunder.

The nature of the Riverside Convention determines that Riverside City is a terra nullius.

The current occupation of Linhe in the East China Sea is tantamount to breaking the Linhe Convention.

Zhongshan and Northern Mongolia sent envoys to Linzi to denounce the East China Sea.

However, the royal family of the East China Sea forgave the envoys aside and ignored them at all.

Since Ming took the lead in tearing up the Linhe Convention, it means that several other countries do not have to abide by the agreements made at that time, and the skin between countries has been torn apart.

It's just a matter of meeting each other!

However, Zhongshan Kingdom and Beimeng did not dare to act rashly, and the lethality of the 3,000 musketeers reported by the spies was too shocking to be the first to attack Linhe City.

You can only send a large number of secret spies, hoping to crack the secrets of the musketeers.

However, after Jiang Fu occupied Linhe City, he did not have the next move, and stayed in Linhe City all day long, appeasing the people, as if he wanted to run it into his own territory, and had no intention of withdrawing.

After Xu Hong got the news, he was so happy that he didn't sleep for a few nights.

Northern Mongolia has lost this way of increasing troops, which means that the tens of thousands of Northern Mongolian soldiers in Chu are basically not supplied now, and as long as he slowly consumes, he will definitely be able to recover the entire territory of Chu.

On such an important festival as the dragon raising its head, Changhe Town, as in previous years, has a special event.

Although Changhe Town is now under the rule of Northern Mongolia, it does not affect the lives of the people.

After all, Beimeng intends to occupy Chu for a long time, not simply plundering, but also needs to operate for a long time.

Changhe Town was stationed with 200 Northern Mongolian soldiers, and the mayor surrendered after the destruction of Xiangyuan City, so that Changhe Town did not suffer from military disasters, and the people lived and worked in peace and contentment.

The Nanjiang River stretches for thousands of miles, Changhe Town is built in the south of the Nanjiang River, the Xiangyun Mountains that vertically span the Nanjiang River to the east, the Xiangyuan City in the southeast, the Shiyan City in the northwest, the Yichang City in the west, the Langjin City in the southwest, and the Nanli City in the south.

It can be said that the surrounding area of Changhe Town is the big city of Chu State, which belongs to the central area, and the transportation is very convenient.

This town has been built for thousands of years, and it has existed since the time when Great Xia was not unified.

In some ancient texts, there are vaguely detailed records of it.

After dealing with the affairs of Ningdu, Xu Xiang and his entourage spent more than ten days to come to this thousand-year-old town.

They were going to Nanjiang to look for Baige Island, and they could get certain clues from Changhe Town about the situation of this island, so they came to this ancient town after doing their homework.

There were only five of them in their group, including Xuanyuan Ding and Zhai Ling'er, as well as Lu Tianyao, and Xu Shaoling, that is, Yue Ling, who came over at the same time.

The five of them had just arrived today, and before they could find a place to stay, they saw a lively scene in the town.

Wander around the bustling street casually, and your feet are light. The brilliant sunlight shines between the green tiles and red walls everywhere, the abrupt horizontal cornices, the high fluttering shop signs, the sparkling carriages and horses, the endless flow of pedestrians, and the quiet and comfortable smiling faces, which seem to be the interpretation of the arrival of this festival.

As its name suggests, Changhe Town is a tiny branch of the Nanjiang River, known as the Changhe, which passes through the town and flows towards the Xiangyun Mountains.

Entering the center of the town, there is a rainbow-shaped stone bridge at both ends of the long river in the center, and judging from the mottled lines of the stone bridge, it has been a thousand years old.

On both sides of the long river are large and small shops, which are crowded and chaotic at a cursory glance; If you take a closer look, these people are people from different walks of life and are engaged in various activities.

There are some vendors and many tourists on the west side of the bridge. There are knives, scissors, and miscellaneous goods on the stalls. There are those who sell tea, and there are those who read fortunes.

There were also sons and ladies dressed in aristocratic costumes, leaning on the railings on the side of the bridge, or pointing, or watching the boats passing in the river. On the sidewalk in the middle of the bridge, there is a bustling flow of people; There are those who sit in sedan chairs, those who ride horses, those who carry burdens, those who drive donkeys to carry goods, and those who push wheelbarrows......

This prosperous scene was diametrically opposed to the situation in the town they had seen before crossing the Nanjiang River.

It can be seen that the Northern Mongols occupied this place, but it did not affect the lives of the people in the town.

The people here are immersed in a sea of joy, the sound of gongs and drums from far to near, and the crowd gives way to the main street.

Several men dressed in red cloth wore strange beast head masks, and held bamboo poles in their hands, and the bamboo poles were supported by a dragon sewn out of colorful strips of cloth, and the dragon's eyes were the size of human heads, which were extremely realistic.

"Master, that dragon is so beautiful!" Xu Shaoling looked at the parade Bulong with relish, and his eyes showed joy.

Xu Shaoling was still a child, full of curiosity about the excitement, looking at the children who followed the dragon team, there was a look of envy in his eyes.

"Maybe the people here are celebrating today's festival, let's find a place to live first, and then come out to play after we settle down!" Watching the team holding the dragon gradually move away, Xu Xiang comforted him and said.

Soon, they found a place to stay, and on the left side of the main street, they saw a three-story attic, and on the beam of the attic was a red sign that read "Changhe Inn".

Since it is named after Changhe, it must be the largest inn in Changhe Town.

When I came to the inn, I was greeted by a shopkeeper, and said with a smile: "Ke Ning, where do you live in the store?" ”

This shopkeeper speaks a Chu dialect, which means guests, are you going to stay in the hotel?

There is no one here who is from Chu, including Xu Xiang, although he is from Chu, but he is not the second prince of Chu before, Xu Xiang, naturally he can't understand it.

"Little Er, is there a guest room?" Xu Xiang asked.

The shopkeeper showed a look of embarrassment, and then replied in general language: "I'm sorry guest officer, I'm used to talking about Chudi, and I don't know how many distinguished guests are not from Chudi!" ”

"It's okay, a few of us are going to stay in a hotel, do we still have a room?" Xuanyuan Ding said.

"There is a room! Our Changhe Inn is the largest inn in Changhe Town, how can there be no room! I don't know what room you want? Our inn has superior rooms, medium ......"

"Superior room!" Before Xiao Er finished speaking, Xuanyuan Ding interrupted his introduction.

"Okay, a few guest officers, please come in! Our superior room is a tael of silver a day, I don't know ......"

"Four superior rooms!" Zhai Ling'er directly took out a silver ticket of one hundred taels and said.

After getting the silver ticket, the shopkeeper looked at it carefully, frowned deeply, and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, girl." Our store only accepts cash silver and Mongolian silver tickets, not Daxia silver tickets! ”

"What? I'm the Great Xia Silver Ticket! It can be used everywhere, is your inn special? Why don't you still collect cash tickets? ”

"I'm so sorry! If you don't have cash, please forgive us for not being able to entertain you! ”

Zhai Ling'er was about to say something, but was stopped by Xu Xiang.

They came from Ningdu, and the inns they stayed in were generally no more than thirty yuan a night, and their food was also traded in broken silver, and they had not yet used silver tickets.

And now, the more than 300 taels of silver that Xu Xiang carried have been used up, and he can only use silver tickets!

But the shopkeeper said that he couldn't use a silver ticket.

"Dare to ask the little brother, can Changhe Town only use cash?" Xu Xiang asked.

"Yes, not only Changhe Town, but the entire land occupied by Northern Mongolia can only be traded with cash and Mongolian silver tickets! Of course, you can take the silver ticket of Daxia and go to the Northern Mongolian Garrison Division in the east of the town to exchange it for a Mongolian silver ticket, and you can also do it! ”

Through the words of the shopkeeper, Xu Xiang understood something in his heart.

It seems that Beimeng really intends to occupy Chu for a long time, and even the silver money for trading has begun to be manipulated.

And the people here have no objection to the use of the silver tickets issued by Beimeng, and it can be seen that Beimeng is serious about business.

This is not a good thing for Xu Xiang.

Walking out of the inn, Xuanyuan was already very angry in his heart, he could naturally see Beimeng's wolf ambition, and said angrily in a low voice: "Beimeng is really a wolf ambition!" Even the silver ticket of Great Xia dares to start! ”

"Your Majesty, we can't do anything about this matter for the time being, we can only change the Mengyin ticket first, and we can't care about it so much now."