At the beginning of the ugly moment, those friends in distress who had happily eaten a flower wine finally ushered in the final closing moment. At this time, except for Fang Junping, who was still responsible for escorting, all the people were already drunk and dumbfounded, crawling all over the ground.

After the second watch, four young men sat down in the Dongnuan Pavilion in the forbidden place of the palace. Each of them held a cup of ginseng tea for decanting the wine, and together they were seriously blowing away the mist wafting from the tea bowl......

"Shen Gui, you can tell me honestly now, right? Between us and Beiyan...... Is it really impossible to fight? ”

After Yan Qinghong asked, he casually put the ginseng tea on the receiving table; Then he stretched out his two fingers and kept rubbing his eyebrows.

“…… You've all drunk like this...... Can you still understand the words? ”

Shen Gui looked at Wan Changning and He Wendao suspiciously; I saw that these two 'new friends' who met late were replacing wine with tea, persuading each other to 'drink a few more glasses'......

"This is just a small talk in Dongnuan Pavilion, and it is not a court discussion, nor is it your 'Master Shen' teaching a class, don't think about it too complicated, tell me simply and directly, where are those 'can't do'?"

Shen Gui tilted his head and looked at Yan Qinghong, speechless for a while. It wasn't until he watched him drink all the decanting tea that Shen Gui opened his mouth and asked:

"It's better to tell me first, why do you Yan family members all want to go south?"

Yan Qinghong was asked by Shen Gui like this, and he was a little stunned at first; Then he looked eagerly into Shen Gui's eyes, and told his reasons endlessly:

"It's not just our Yan family! The reason why all the people of Youbei, including all the people of Youbei, have struggled for the 'Southern Expedition' for nearly a hundred years is to leave this cold and biting place in the far north! Who wouldn't want to live in an environment where the seasons are like spring and the birds are singing and the flowers are fragrant? Who doesn't want a beautiful wife and concubine, who doesn't want a thousand acres of fertile land? Moreover, those people in the Central Plains of Beiyan and Nankang have never taken our Youbei Sanlu in their eyes! Even if it's just for this breath, we have to teach those 'frogs at the bottom of the well' a lesson! I've got to show those who look down on us for themselves! What a tenacious arrogance there is in the body of our northern boys! ”

When Yan Qinghong said this, he stood up with a 'hula', and I don't know if it was because of the alcohol, the Xingping Emperor at this time, his eyes and face were all blood-red!

Shen Gui was not moved by these words, but also snorted coldly:

"Don't be busy making a high profile just yet, I understand! In other words, the reason why you want to level Beiyan and Nankang is because you covet the wealth and land of others; And then you want to take this opportunity to improve the prestige and status of Youbei Sanlu? ”

Yan Qinghong was a little embarrassed at first when he said this; Immediately, he probably thought about it in his heart, then straightened his chest and said confidently:

"That's right, that's it!"

Shen Gui nodded and said approvingly:

"Since you are the King of the North, this idea is indeed justified...... Then let me ask you again, do you know how many young and middle-aged men there are on Youbei Third Road today? ”

This question can be regarded as being asked to Wan Changning's mouth. He also replied as if reflexively:

"Judging from the most recent record alone: there are about 5 million people in the three roads of Youbei; Among them, about 4 million are displaced from all over the country; and those whose ancestral homes are in the north, about one million; All young men...... If I'm not mistaken, it's probably between two million and two and a half million. ”

Shen Gui nodded, turned his head and asked Yan Qinghong:

"Got it?"

Yan Qinghong asked in confusion:

"What do I understand, I understand?"

Shen Guiyi pursed his lips and frowned, got up and pointed to the map of the whole area of the Northern Hidden North hanging on the east wall of the room, and explained to him carefully:

"If you look at the map, this Youbei Three Roads has been a bitter cold land with vast and sparse people since ancient times; Even today, there are still large tracts of wasteland that can be used for cultivation in the fertile land that can be used for cultivation in the East Hidden Road. According to the calculation of the account books I read in the Prime Minister's Mansion at the beginning, I can also draw a conclusion: the total number of young and middle-aged men currently serving in the imperial court should be about 200,000 to 500,000; And this number, not counting the 'helpers'. And the army of our imperial court, there are currently 20,000 Flying Tiger Army, 50,000 Flying Bear Army, and 60,000 Zhongshan Governor's Army, totaling more than 100,000. And among the remaining men of working age, there are many 'professionals' who cannot be recruited, such as scholars, merchants, craftsmen, hunters, farmers, etc., ......"

Shen Gui snapped his fingers like this and took stock of Yan Qinghong's 'Youbei family property'! Even Wan Changning, who was still a little drunk at this time, was most sober after listening to Shen Gui's words; He closed his eyes and listened to the numbers, nodding his head and secretly wondering......

And Yan Qinghong obviously didn't think of what kind of deep meaning was contained in these accounts; So he just sat there honestly, waiting for Shen Gui to disassemble it for him in detail.

"Twenty years out of a generation, that is to say, at least between twenty years, the total population of our Youbei Three Roads should not have any big fluctuations. At the same time, it also proves that once we start the war, the reserve resources that can be replenished are actually extremely limited, and even described as 'overstretched'......"

When Yan Qinghong heard this, his eyelids suddenly rolled:

"You don't have to worry about this, although I haven't personally gone into battle, but I have also brought those veterans of the Golden Armor Army! We can fight all the way, capture all the way, and use the way of fighting to nourish the war, and eat away at the Northern Yan Dynasty step by step......"

Shen Gui looked at Yan Qinghong, who was a 'hard charge expert', sneered, turned around and walked to the side of the Huayu Continent map on the west wall:

"Encroachment? Okay, then let's take a look at this map of Huayu Continent...... Here, it is the capital of the Northern Yan Dynasty, Yanjing City. From this geographical location alone, it is not difficult to see: even if we can go south to the East Customs in one go, we can easily take down the solid Yanjing City in the blink of an eye; But once Emperor Tianyou chooses to retreat to Chang'an City in the southwest in advance, or it can also be said to be the 'Emperor's Southern Tour', then will we chase it or not? If we chase, then even if we go out of the customs together with the 2.5 million young and middle-aged men in Youbei, it will be as if the sand has fallen into the river, and we can't even lift up a little wave; If we don't chase it, but defend it with the solid Yanjing Fortified City, then we will be besieged by all the reinforcements near Yanzhou Road! When the time comes, not only will the grain route be completely cut off; I'm afraid that if you want to return to the dark north, it will be impossible to delusion......"

Yan Qinghong is not a stupid person, he carefully looked at the terrain around Yanjing, and carefully judged the difference in strength between the enemy and us, and also had the final conclusion of this war in his heart: even if the Northern Yan Dynasty gave up the capital, it would be impossible to defend it at all with the meager and pitiful family background of Youbei Third Road......

Yan Qinghong, the Xingping Emperor who had just figured out this, suddenly slapped the table again and exclaimed:

"Could it be this...... This Yanjing City ...... It turned out to be a bait! ”

Yes, after the disintegration of the Great Yan Dynasty in the previous year, the founding emperor of the Northern Yan Dynasty, Emperor Taiyuan Zhou Changji, announced the order to move the capital; He wanted to move the capital of the Northern Yan Dynasty from the Yan capital - Chang'an City to the current Yanjing City. This puzzling decision aroused unanimous opposition from the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty and even the people of Northern Yan at that time. However, this unfavored decision to move the capital was finally forcibly promoted by Emperor Taiyuan under the thunderous means.

A hundred years, in the blink of an eye. Today, what the people said was 'the boundary where birds don't' has become the most brilliant pearl of the Northern Yan Dynasty, and the Taiyuan Emperor Zhou Changji, who overrode public opinion and forcibly moved the capital, gave a statement on this matter that is a sentence of the ancestral motto of the Zhou family - 'The king dies and the Son of Heaven guards the country'.

This ancestral precept does sound exciting, but those great historians in Nankang do not have a high evaluation of Beiyan's behavior of moving the capital. At present, one of the views that is most recognized by the people and circulated in the world is because the Zhou family of the Northern Yan royal family and the ancestors of the ancestors live in the land of Youyan for generations; And his forced relocation of the capital this time is also in line with the old saying:

"Wealth does not return to their hometown, such as clothes and brocade at night, who knows?"

To put it bluntly, everyone thinks that the reason why Zhou Changji moved the capital to Yanjing is just to show off his great achievements with the 'old family'.

However, it is this act of moving the capital full of 'small peasant thoughts', in the eyes of Yan Qinghong today, he only feels trembling and falling into an ice cave!

He thought of the countless frictions between Beiyan and Youbei in the past hundred years! Although the result is that they win and lose each other, the loss of soldiers, horses, money, and food is also between the two sides; However, the same ten taels of silver mean different meanings to rich merchants and beggars!

Whether it is soldiers, horses, money, food, or land and population, in this boring and long 'martial arts', Youbei Sanlu has always played the role of a 'beggar'......

Twenty years ago, that is, the Youbei Third Road broke the East Customs for the first time, and the army of 200,000 tigers and wolves was just about to go south, but was cut back by a Qingmang Sword God Sanjian who was born out of nowhere......

This is obviously a loss at all, I don't want to eat it!

And that Yanjing City originally looked precarious and readily available; But if you look at it another way: it is such a close enemy capital that has been seducing the kings of the three roads in the north; induce them to join this war of attrition spontaneously and spontaneously; It also made the enthusiasm and good years of these northern boys consumed in the dream of 'chasing the Central Plains and unifying Huayu'......

It wasn't until the third watch sounded in the palace that Yan Qinghong, who was drenched, came back to his senses as if he was drinking......

Shen Gui looked at his sudden realization, and gently walked up and patted him on the shoulder:

"Don't think about it, it's not too late to wake up. Think about it, my father-in-law, when he returned from school, he only grasped the economic lifeline of Youbei Sanlu with a little trick; But why did he only give up the most important military power, and never had the idea of getting involved in it? ”

As soon as Shen Gui's words fell, He Wendao, who had also woken up at this time, yawned at the right time, and said in a flat tone:

"Now that you've finished talking about the world, why don't we talk about the gods and ghosts?"