Supply of military rations? Moreover, it was directly completed in Liuzhou and supplied to the southbound army nearby, which is a good thing, a great thing!

Now Li Xuan is tired of his head in order to solve the problem of various material supplies for the army, not to mention that there is no food, and even if there is, to be honest, with the current logistics and transportation capacity of the Tang Dynasty, it cannot be transported to the front line.

In ancient times, when the army fought a war, it was purely dependent on the people to transport it by land, and the food carried by a citizen could only supply a soldier for eighteen days, well, this is still on the basis of the soldiers themselves carrying five days' rations.

In other words, if the troops continue to move for more than half a month, they must have the same number of logistics personnel as the combat force to supply military rations.

This is limited to military rations, not counting all kinds of weapons and ammunition needed for combat and all kinds of messy military supplies, if you count these, this number will be even larger.

And this is why the Logistics Department of the Privy Council has requisitioned tens of thousands of people to transport various logistics materials for the southbound troops!

That's all because the second baggage regiment of the southbound troops and the baggage units of each regiment and battalion carried a large amount of military supplies!

Well, among the more than 10,000 people in the southbound troops, in fact, there are almost 3,000 logistics troops, and the real combat soldiers are actually less than 10,000.

This shows how difficult the logistics and transportation were in ancient times!

In this way, it is difficult for you to understand why more than half of the more than 38,000 people brought by Zhu Zhihai are young and strong people, because these people are actually part-time logistics personnel, but Zhu Zhihai brought them with them when they like to fight!

In ancient times, if the armies fought for more than half a month or even longer, they often needed 300,000 or even 500,000 civilian men to provide logistical support!

Therefore, it is possible for hundreds of thousands of armies to fight in ancient times, but the vast majority of them are civilians who transport heavy loads, and the combat soldiers are generally only a fraction, and the larger the army, the smaller the proportion of its combatants!

If it is an expedition to the Indochina Peninsula and the northern grasslands, it is possible that ten or even dozens of people will appear to supply one combat soldier.

After understanding how scarce food was in the Tang Dynasty and how difficult transportation was, then you will understand why Ma Wei, Hao Bonian, and even Li Xuan himself attached so much importance to it.

On the day after receiving the report, Li Xuan summoned Yang Duwei of the Ministry of Taxation and asked the Ministry of Taxation to strive to reach a deal with the Huaiyuan Cen family, and at the same time, the report from Liuzhou also mentioned that the Huaiyuan Cen family may put forward some more difficult requirements, and may even be non-commercial, but involve some political requirements.

In this regard, Li Xuan also instructed Xie Waqian, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, to let the Ministry of Rites also send relevant people to participate in the negotiations!

Because in the Tang Dynasty, the Ministry of Rites is actually responsible for foreign affairs, and there is a Department of Domain Affairs under the Ministry of Rites, which is intended to be used to deal with foreign domains and foreign countries, but the Tang Dynasty is too awesome to disdain to establish diplomatic relations with other countries for the time being, so at present, this Department of Domain Affairs has nothing to do, at most it is to deal with a few Tusi.

Because there are actually a large number of toasts in the southwest region, and the strength of these toasts is not small, in order to avoid being dragged down by them, the current Tang Dynasty is to adopt a soft policy on these existing toasts, mainly to win over.

Like the pseudo-Ming, as long as they recognize the Tang Dynasty and pay tribute to the Tang Dynasty, then their hereditary status will be recognized.

Well, in fact, even if they don't pay tribute, as long as they don't raise troops to resist the Tang Dynasty, then Li Xuan will happily recognize their hereditary status, after all, the enemy of the Tang Dynasty is mainly the Ming Dynasty, and they are too weak to win over all the forces that can be co-opted.

In other words, admit it when it's time to admit it!

Well, admit it for the time being, when one day it's awesome, Li Xuan definitely wants to turn his face and return to the stream, at that time it was called: If you don't pretend to be forced in life, what is the difference between it and a salted fish, it's nothing more than a salted fish that can talk!

The Tang Dynasty, which had smooth government orders and efficient execution, sent a negotiation team of six people composed of three agencies, the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Taxation, and the Ordnance Department of the Privy Council, to Huaiyuan County on the same day, and also used a platoon of more than ten cavalry from the First Cavalry Battalion to escort them, so as not to be robbed by the blindless bandit gang on the road.

This negotiation team set off all the way from Xingquan Mansion, in the middle of which was to cross the mountains and mountains, take a boat and a car, and rush when the sun dares to come out, and will not rest until sunset!

It only took five days to rush to Huaiyuan County, and at this time, the military representatives of the southbound detachment sent by Hao Bonian, that is, several representatives of the southbound troops led by the deputy commander of the Second Baggage Regiment had just arrived in Huaiyuan County.

At the beginning of the negotiations, before the bigwigs on both sides could exchange views on the main conditions, and even before the Cen family had yet to say their main demands, Lu Jiafeng, the representative of the southbound troops and the deputy head of the Second Baggage Regiment, had already put forward a prerequisite for negotiations.

On behalf of the southbound detachment and on behalf of Hao Bonian, he proposed that he hoped that the Cen family would be able to transport a batch of military rations immediately, and it was best to transport it directly to Xiangzhou!

And this amount, it takes at least two hundred stones!

Two hundred stones, this figure is nothing if it is for these rich and major grain producing areas in the south of the Yangtze River, but for Liuzhou, which is already barren and more importantly, is now in the midst of war, it is not a small number.

After the southward army moved south, it mainly relied on feeding the enemy, but in recent days, it has become more and more difficult for the southbound army to raise enough military rations.

At present, the army that is fighting fiercely with the Ming army in Xiangzhou has less than half a month's food stockpile, and this figure is extremely dangerous for an army.

After Lu Jiafeng said this, he saw that several people on the Cen family's side showed a hint of playfulness, and immediately said with a straight face: "This is a prerequisite for this negotiation, and this negotiation can only continue after it is reached!" ”

After saying this, a middle-aged man from the Cen family on the side said: "General Lu, these two hundred stone grain is not a small amount, Liuzhou definitely does not have so much grain now, and we still have to transfer it from several prefectures and counties outside, and we can't do it for a while!" ”

However, as soon as these words came out, Lu Jiafeng's face immediately turned cold: "If you can't transport the military rations in time, what's the use of my Wang Shi's waiting?" If you want ten days and half a month later? Won't our army send troops to other prefectures and counties to collect grain? ”

As soon as these words came out, the Cen family glanced at each other, and then immediately a middle-aged man who took the lead said: "Since General Lu has already said so, if our Cen family shirks it again, it will be too unkind, we should do this, as long as the negotiation is reached, within three days, two hundred stone of grain will arrive in Xiangzhou!" ”

"However, we also have a few small requests, and I hope you can be accommodating, as long as you can agree to help our Cen family, not to mention these two hundred stone grain, even if it is two thousand stones, or even five thousand stone grain, our Huaiyuan Cen family can also raise and transport it for you!"

"Oh, I don't know what the request is? Tell me about it! ”

This time it was Cui Shenlin, the right attendant of the Ministry of Rites, a middle-aged man in his forties, who was not a scholar, but a shopkeeper, who was a shopkeeper before, and then because he looked at the daughter-in-law of the owner, needless to say, he was kicked out by the owner, not only that, but also used some means by the owner, attracting people from the government to make his family ruined, his parents died, and his brothers and sisters were separated, and then he sneaked into the owner one night in a rage!

Don't get me wrong, it's not that he wiped out the owner, he doesn't have the guts, but he ruined the owner's yellow flower daughter, and by the way, he secretly abducted the owner's daughter-in-law and eloped!

Then, he took the daughter-in-law of the owner to die in the world, and finally ended up among the bandits and became a dog-headed military advisor.

When the Tang Dynasty absorbed many bandits in the mountains, he also joined the Tang Dynasty like many bandits, and was slowly promoted to the position of the right attendant of the Ministry of Rites.

Let's not talk about whether it is a scumbag, but because of his shopkeeper background, this skill in dealing with people is good, otherwise he would not be mixed with the position of a military advisor among the bandits.

Of course, he wouldn't tell others about these past experiences, his identity within the Tang Dynasty is still very innocent, just a military advisor!

And this time the negotiation, because he has the highest rank, is also headed by him!

Hearing Cui Shenlin, who was sitting on the main seat, say this, the middle-aged man of the Cen family on the opposite side said: "My ancestral home of the Cen family in Huaiyuan is not in Huaiyuan, but in Wuxuan, the ancestors have always been hereditary local Tusi, but a hundred years ago Ming replaced the Mengyuan period, the traitor rebelled and seized the throne and was recognized by the pseudo-Ming, most of the descendants died, and the children of our branch were only saved under the Ganxuan of several other Tusi, and I have never forgotten our hometown for a hundred years, and I am thinking about returning to Wuxuan all the time!" ”

If you want to go back to Wuxuan, it's not simple, more than a hundred years have passed, even if a few children of the Cen family will come to Wuxuan, I'm afraid they won't be able to turn up any storms, and the local Wuxuan Tusi will not stop it, but seeing what he said so seriously, everyone can guess it, I'm afraid it's not so simple to go back!

So the crowd did not answer, but waited for him to continue!

Sure enough, his next sentence was: "Now that your army has swept Guangxi, the whole Guangxi is looking forward to the early arrival of the Wang Division, and I, Wu Xuan, are also looking forward to the arrival of your army, and will preside over justice for my Cen family!" ”

At this time, Cui Shenlin, the right attendant of the Ministry of Rites, said: "You want the position of Wuxuan Tusi?" ”

At this time, several people from the Cen family immediately stood up, then retreated to the side and bowed and said: "As long as your son of heaven is willing to restore the position of my Cen family, my Cen family is willing to be a loyal minister of the Tang Dynasty and pay tribute every year!" ”

At this time, Cui Shenlin said with a smile: "Your plan is very big!"