October 25, Xiangyang City.

"My lord, a letter from Xuzhou."

Yu Yunwen put down the account book in his hand and took the letter handed by the official.

I opened it myself, and after reading it, I was silent for a long time.

"My lord, but something big happened in Xuzhou?"

"Urging food and grass, dispatching troops." Yu Yunwen frowned.

"Do you want food and grass again? Didn't you just mobilize 80,000 quintals of grain and grass to go north last month? In the past two years, Dengzhou and Tangzhou have been fighting, and there has not been a month to stop, the fields are barren, the military rations are all supported by Xiangyang, and the granaries in the city have been empty last month. The official was shocked.

"How much more can you buy from large households? Can you get 50,000 quintals in half a month? Yu Yunwen looked up and asked.

"Don't hide it from your lords, after a few years of war, the ordinary people of Xiangyang don't have enough food to eat, and the big households won't have much grain in stock, if you pay a high price, you may be able to purchase one or two thousand quintals, and it will be impossible to have more. If you have enough time, you should be able to get together 50,000 quintals when you go to the Gangneung area. "The officials were very embarrassed.

"Then let's do it, act separately, the grain purchased in Xiangyang will be sent to Xuzhou immediately, and the grain purchased from Jiangling will also be sent directly to Xuzhou, as much as you can, this battle is estimated to be fought for a long time, and the front-line soldiers cannot be cut off from food and grass." Yu Yunwen was a little helpless.

"Is it on credit, or is it cash?"

"How can you take credit in war. Cash! ”

"There's not much money left on the account."

"I'll solve the problem of money, and you are responsible for the food problem."

"Yes, sir."

"How many more can the people expect to recruit?"

"Those who can be requisitioned have been requisitioned, from the perspective of household registration, at most more than 10,000 people, more than this amount, the people will abandon the fields and flee, in recent years, the fields have been barren and terrible, if the people are overwhelmed and flee into the wind, Xiangyang may have no one to farm, either to flee to Jiangling, or to flee to the deep mountains and old forests."

"Then levy another 10,000 people and send them to Xuzhou."

"Yes, sir."

The official had to order to leave, and Yu Yunwen's brows did not stretch for half a minute.

The Northern Expedition of the Imperial Court at this time is by no means the best time, the Imperial Court from top to bottom, is not prepared, wants money but no money, wants grain but no food, wants no people, the existing army is even reluctant to defend against the southern invasion of the Jin, where is the spare strength for the Northern Expedition?

Last year, Yu Yunwen was ordered to come to Xiangyang to preside over the Northern Expedition with Wu Gong, and after coming to Xiangyang to understand it for a month, he thought that he did not have the conditions for the Northern Expedition within two years, and continued to understand it for a month, and thought that the Northern Expedition could not be carried out within three years, and after three months, he felt that if he wanted to achieve the results of the Northern Expedition, he would have to prepare for at least five years.

The more he knew about the army and the locality, the less confident Yu Yunwen was in the Northern Expedition.

The DPRK and China only want to go on the Northern Expedition, but they don't make much preparations, and there are still many people who are hindered by it, the imperial court can't be single-minded, and the local people don't have the will to go on the Northern Expedition, everyone knows that once there is a war, the government will be affected and the people will suffer.

In short, from the court to the people, the vast majority of people did not have the will to go on the Northern Expedition, and there was little actual preparation from top to bottom.

In May, when he heard that the new emperor Zhao Yan had bypassed the three provinces and the Privy Council and directly issued an edict on the Northern Expedition to the generals at the front, Yu Yunwen disagreed, because the conditions for the Northern Expedition were not available at that time, so he immediately wrote to the new emperor, requesting that the Northern Expedition be postponed, claiming that it should be postponed for at least three years, giving the soldiers and civilians of Jingxiang and Jianghuai sufficient time to prepare, and then the Northern Expedition could be carried out again before it could succeed.

But the emperor did not follow his advice, and his letter was lost in the sea, and no one could stop the Northern Expedition.

Fortunately, at that time, the imperial court's Northern Expedition only had a large army in Xuzhou, and did not require Xiangyang, Caizhou, and Yingzhou to send troops together, so he and Wu Gong had more time to prepare in order to deal with the retaliation of the Jin people.

But when he heard in Xiangyang that the Northern Expedition presided over by Zhang Jun was victorious, captured Jeju in a short period of time, and was marching to Xingren Mansion, he began to doubt his judgment, because this was completely different from his expectations, in his opinion, it was impossible to capture Jeju from Xuzhou to the north, let alone the success of the Northern Expedition, but the fact that the Northern Expeditionary Army captured Jeju made him feel conflicted, and he couldn't figure it out.

However, only a few days later, the Northern Expeditionary Army was defeated, and the news of the failure of the Northern Expedition reached Xiangyang City, and Yu Yunwen's mood was very complicated at that time.

Of course, he didn't want the imperial court to finally raise the courage to break through many obstacles and hold the Northern Expedition to end in failure, but this hasty Northern Expedition, the result of the fiasco was as he expected, if the imperial court began to follow his advice because of this failure, and carefully prepared for five years, he would naturally be pleased.

But the imperial court once again ignored his suggestion, because of the failure of the Northern Expedition, the main battle faction in the court was suddenly replaced by the main peace faction, and 'peace negotiation' naturally became the next topic of the imperial court.

Once the imperial court decides to negotiate peace with the Jin people, it will no longer be possible to prepare for the Northern Expedition, and the land in the city that has been recovered with great difficulty will be returned to the Jin State, and the border army will also be dismantled at the same time, which is unacceptable to Yu Yunwen!

Just when Lin'an was arguing, he was anxious and helpless, so he discussed with Wu Gong at that time, whether he could launch a Northern Expedition from Dengzhou, seize Xuzhou, and let the main battle faction in the DPRK and China regain the power of Lin'an.

However, Wu Gong did not get the order of the imperial court, and did not dare to act rashly, and in the end he only increased his troops in the direction of Dengzhou and Tangzhou, in order to prevent the Jin people from forcing peace.

At that time, Yu Yunwen was desperate, he wanted the Northern Expedition, he wanted to restore the Central Plains, Zhang Jun was defeated, the Lord and the faction were in power, and everything he dreamed of came to naught.

Since the Battle of Taipingdu, he became famous, and then soon took charge of the military and political power of the military town, and his status was not the same as before, his status was different, and his thoughts were also different.

If the imperial court does not go on a northern expedition and continues to negotiate peace, the reputation he has gained from the army will soon become a drag that he will never get rid of in his career, let alone become the prime minister.

But fortunately, it didn't take long for good news to come from the direction of Bozhou, Yang Congyi led the army north and captured Xingren Mansion!

As long as Xingren Mansion is not lost, the Lord and the faction will not be able to control the Lin'an Dynasty, and the Northern Expedition will be able to continue.

Yu Yunwen, who learned the news, was excited for a long time, and admired Yang Congyi more and more, and wrote him a long letter at that time, mainly to tell Yang Congyi that no matter what, he could no longer lose Xingren Mansion, Xingren Mansion was here, and the Northern Expedition of the Great Song Dynasty would never stop, unless the Central Plains recovered!

After that, he plotted with Wu Gong to urgently prepare for the Northern Expedition, so as to respond to Yang Congyi from the west, so as not to lose Xingren Mansion again.

As he had speculated, shortly after Yang Congyi took the Xingren Mansion, the Lin'an Dynasty was recaptured by the main battle faction again, and the Northern Expedition was continued.

When he later heard that Yang Congyi and his subordinates had successively captured Guidefu and all the counties and towns under its jurisdiction, and drove the Jeju Jin army out of Jeju, and were wiped out by the Shandong Zhongyi Army, and there was no large Jin army south of Jishui, he was immediately encouraged by the excellent Northern Expedition situation.

In the east, the Northern Expedition army led by Yang Congyi surrounded Bianjing from both sides of Guide Mansion and Xingren Mansion, and as long as the imperial army arrived, it could clear the outer counties and towns of Bianjing with a snap of a finger.

In the west, as long as the whole army of Dengzhou, Tangzhou, and Caizhou goes north, captures Xuzhou, and then kills all the way to the northeast, it will not take long for the two armies to meet under Bianjing and restore Bianjing!

Yu Yunwen was inspired by such beautiful speculations, and immediately persuaded Wu Gong to prepare for the Northern Expedition, which suddenly accelerated.

As a result, without waiting for Zhang Jun to regain the power to preside over the Northern Expedition, he sent him a letter of agreement to conspire with Bianjing, and he had already supported Wu Gong to lead the army out of Dengzhou and Tangzhou dozens of days in advance, and captured Yuzhou in one battle, and then took Yuncheng again, and then went straight to Xuzhou City.

When Zhang Jun arrived at Guide Mansion and sent a letter of appointment, Wu Gong had already taken down the counties and towns around Xuzhou City and approached the city.

Not long after, Wu Gong conquered the city of Xuzhou, and then the army rested in Xuzhou, and when the logistics supplies kept up, they could advance in the direction of Bianjing.

But it was only after Wu Gong took Xuzhou City that he found that all the nearby Jin troops had retreated to Weishi, gathered 50,000 troops, built a camp, and closed the camp.

The Song army led by Wu Gong had less than 50,000 troops, and it was impossible to abandon Xuzhou City and go to a hundred miles away to fight hard with the Jin army who were waiting for work.

In the rear of Xiangyang, Yu Yunwen, who learned the news of the front, knew that it was impossible to defeat the 50,000 Jin army stationed in Wei with only Wu Gong's army, and it was estimated that it would be a long-term confrontation and wait for the opportunity, so he immediately asked Wu Gong to send troops to garrison the southern prefectures and counties of Xuzhou to consolidate the vested land, and at the same time, send troops to the east to connect the front with Guidefu.

Although Wu Gong accepted Yu Yunwen's suggestion, and the Northern Expeditionary Army of Guide Province also advanced westward and recovered a lot of land, the main forces of the two armies could not meet, because the Jin people lined up in three counties south of Bianjing, Qixian, Xianping, and Weishi, each with 40,000 to 50,000 troops garrisoned, no matter where they attacked, there would be troops from the two counties to counterattack together.

In this way, the Eastern and Western armies of the Northern Expedition formed a confrontation with the Jin people, and waited for more troops from the rear to arrive before they could launch an attack, so as not to be defeated in the case of weak troops, so that the results of the Northern Expedition fell short.

The front-line armies confronted each other, which made it difficult for those who raised grain and grass in the rear.

In Xiangyang, the Song and Jin armies fought for two years, most of the fields were barren, and there were not a few people who fled, and the grain and grass were simply not enough to support a protracted war, so the front line fought for a long time, and the rear convenience could not be resisted.

Now, Wu Gong once again sent a document from Xuzhou City urging grain and grass, how could Yu Yunwen not frown and have a headache.

But if you want the Northern Expedition to succeed, the front-line soldiers will shed blood and fight desperately, and they will not be allowed to eat enough, how is it possible!

Xiangyang has no food and no money, but he has to shoulder these problems.

"My lord, the head of the Fortune Money Village has arrived!" The clerk sent a message.

"Bring the principal in and talk."

A moment later, the director of Xiangyang, Hongyun Qianzhuang, entered the living room.

"Zhou Ge, the director of Xiangyang, Hongyun Qianzhuang, has seen Lord Yu!" The presiding officer saluted.

"This official came to you today to borrow some military funds from you, do you have any?" Yu Yunwen went straight to the point.