"So the general already has 600,000 troops in his hands?" Xiao Daocheng's face turned pale when he heard this number.

"Yes, after General Deng completed the 80,000 troops in Jiangdu, he can now mobilize more than 600,000 troops." Gao Yi took his clansmen to Jianye, and first entered the palace to meet Xiao Daocheng, and after some greetings, Xiao Daocheng asked about the situation in Chudi.

"Da Sima, how many troops can we mobilize in the Great Song Dynasty?" Xiao Daocheng asked Yan Chixing, who was standing beside him, again.

"In addition to the 100,000 people that General Deng took with him when he attacked Chu, we can mobilize less than 250,000 troops, of which 50,000 are in the hands of Deng Wenying in Yulin City." After Deng Yuanjue attacked Chu, the military power in the Song State was under the control of Yan Chixing.

"Then quickly order the conscription of troops in various places, and the number of troops in our territory must also be maintained at more than 600,000." Xiao Daocheng had a strong sense of crisis.

Before Yan Chixing could speak, Taiwei Yuan Chengce dissuaded: "By all means, a sudden increase in the army of 350,000 will make our finances unable to support it." Although the state treasury has had some surpluses in recent years, most of the silver has been invested in new production, and it is impossible to return so much money in the short term. ”

"Then borrow it from the hundred officials and the rich merchants in the city first, with the strength of my Great Song Kingdom today, are they still worried that I will not be able to pay it back?" Xiao Daocheng insisted on expanding the army.

Yan Chixing agreed with Yuan Chengce's suggestion: "What Taiwei Yuan said is right, we can't expand the army, the 600,000 army in the hands of the general is also our army of the Great Song Dynasty, if we recruit another 350,000 troops, not to mention whether the finances can support it, the total strength alone will be close to the sum of the three kingdoms of Qi, Yan, and Qin, which will make them have a strong sense of crisis, and it will not be good if they join forces to deal with us." ”

"If I call the general back now, tell me about it, will he agree?" Since he couldn't expand the army, Xiao Daocheng had to make a fuss about people.

Yuan Chengce thought for a while and said: "This is too risky, if the general is willing to come back, everything is easy to say, if he refuses to come back, then everyone will be embarrassed, and he will be more defensive of Your Majesty in the future." ”

"The minister still has something to tell Your Majesty, on the way back to Jianye, I found that General Deng sent General Wu Teng with an army of 100,000 to garrison Jingzhou City." At this time, Gao Yi dropped another blockbuster*.

"There is no Qi army near Jingzhou City, what does Deng Yuanjue want to do there, do you want to rebel or stand on your own?" Xiao Daocheng was furious when he heard this.

Yuan Chengce hurriedly comforted: "Your Majesty is angry, the three princes are still stationed in Xiakou, if Wu Teng dares to make a move, the three princes can send troops to cut off his retreat." ”

As soon as he heard the mention of Xiao Che, Xiao Daocheng became even more angry: "These two rebels, I sent them to Chudi to let them contain Deng Yuanjue, but the two of them were good, and in order to compete for merit, they all ran to the front line. ”

Xiao Daocheng's words made Yan Chixing a little embarrassed, he was the one who proposed to let Xiao Yin and Xiao Che go to Chu to contain Deng Yuanjue, but he didn't expect that Deng Yuanjue would catch the weaknesses of the two princes, and he easily sent them to the front line.

Yan Chixing coughed dryly twice: "Since it is not advisable to recall the general back, then let's call back the generals around him first." Wu Teng had just gone to Jingzhou, and if he was recalled, the general would definitely not agree. Now that the two deputy commanders of the navy are in Chudi, it is better for us to use the excuse of the lack of people in the navy army to call Xun Yuqing back first. ”

Yuan Chengce praised: "This plan is feasible, recalling Xun Yuqing will not exacerbate the contradiction between us and the general, and the remaining Yue Shouming is not the general's person, leave him in Xiakou, if there is really anything in the future, he can also cut off the connection between the general and Wu Teng by water." ”

"Taiwei, you will draft the order to recall Xun Yuqing back to Xianghu later." Xiao Daocheng agreed to the suggestion of the two, and asked Yan Chixing again: "Just recalling one Xun Yuqing can't affect the overall situation, does Da Sima have any other tricks next?" ”

Yan Chixing then said: "After Xun Yuqing comes back, Your Majesty can issue another decree to appoint Deng Wenying as the leader of the Central Army and transfer him back to Jianye, so that he can also take away the military power of the 50,000 army in his hands." ”

Xiao Daocheng was overjoyed when he heard it: "Clever plan, so that Deng Wenying and Deng Wenjie are in my hands, if the general dares to make a move, his two sons and the entire Deng family will not be able to survive." ”

Yan Chixing saw Xiao Daocheng's face overjoyed, and disapplauded: "Although you have arrested Deng Yuanjue's two sons, don't you yourself have two sons in the hands of others." You can ignore the life and death of Xiao Yin and Xiao Che, and Deng Yuanjue can also ignore the life and death of Deng Wenying and Deng Wenjie. ”

In the struggle between Xiao Daocheng and the crown prince Xiao Daoyuan, Yan Chixing, as the loser, although he recently returned to the mountain to serve Xiao Daoyuan, he did not agree with him in his heart.

"What about after solving Deng Wenying?" Xiao Daocheng couldn't wait to ask again.

"After that, there is only one way to wait, although the general has 600,000 troops in his hands, but the finances of Chu have long been bankrupt, and Chu has also been barren and economically depressed because of the war, if there is no new income, he will not be able to support it for long." Yan Chixing pointed out the hidden dangers of Deng Yuanjue.

"Then if he asks me for money and food, will I give it or not?"

"Of course I didn't give it, it was agreed before sending troops, the general has laid down so many cities in the past few years, and none of the money and grain in it have been transported back to China, so why should we support him." Yuan Chengce immediately gave an opinion of rejection.

"No, Chu is now also the territory of my Great Song Dynasty, if we don't give any support, what will the people there think? They will not regard themselves as the people of the Great Song Dynasty, don't we force them to fall to the side of the Great General? If you don't give anything more, it really annoys the general, and he has only one way to rebel. Yan Chixing gave a different suggestion.

"Although what Da Sima said makes sense, I really let me take out money and food to support the general, which always feels bad in my heart." Xiao Daocheng still didn't want to do this.

Yan Chixing smiled and expressed understanding: "Giving is definitely going to give, but they can't always expect us to give." ”

Xiao Daocheng became interested when he heard it: "Oh? What do you mean? ”

"We give money and food just to stop the mouths of the people of the world, after all, everyone knows that our Great Song Dynasty is not strong, and what we can give is limited. If the general wants to feed an army of 600,000 people, he has to rely on himself. However, if the economy of Chu wants to return to the pre-war level, it is not possible to do it in a short period of time, and Chu is still at war, so it will be even slower to recover. ”

Xiao Daocheng somewhat understood: "Da Sima is planning to carry out an economic blockade on Chu and prevent our country's merchants from going to Chu to trade?" ”

Yan Chixing nodded: "That's right, in addition, we are fighting with the Qi army, it is naturally impossible for the Qi State to provide any help to the general, the Yan State is our ally, and it can also be excluded, as for the Qin State, they are the allies of the Chu State, and the Chu State has just perished, so they will go to support the enemy army that destroyed their allies, aren't they afraid that the world will laugh at them?" ”

After listening to Yan Chixing's analysis, Xiao Daocheng was in a much better mood: "It seems that having more soldiers may not be a good thing, the general may be dragged down by this 600,000 army." ”

Yuan Chengce was still a little worried: "Wu Teng is in Jingzhou, will he fight our Jizhou County's idea?" After all, Jizhou County used to belong to Chudi, and the original agreement between us and the general was that all the materials in Chudi would be transferred by him. ”

Xiao Daocheng also looked at Yan Chixing with some concern, Yan Chixing lowered his head and pondered: "Anyway, now the county guard of Jizhou is our people, first transport all the materials there back to Jianye, and then say, in the future, the general will really fight Jizhou's idea, and there will be nothing there." ”

"Okay, so be it." Xiao Daocheng dealt with the affairs of Chudi, and suddenly remembered that Gao Yi was still by his side: "Mr. Gao, you served as the Great Sima in the former Chu, but there is no vacancy in the Great Sima of my Great Song Dynasty, so I temporarily wronged you to serve as the Great Si Nong first, and take care of the finances of my Great Song Dynasty with Li Situ, what do you think?" ”

When Gao Yi heard this, he hurriedly knelt on the ground: "The minister obeys the order, thank you for Your Majesty's grace." ”

Before coming to Jianye, Gao Yi was already mentally prepared, Xiao Daocheng would definitely reuse him and use him as a gunman. Now appointing him as the Great Si Nong is to divide the power of Situ Li Yuanqing, it seems that Xiao Daocheng intends to deal with Deng Yuanjue at the same time, but also attack Li Yuanqing, the weakest of the four major families.

"Father, the eldest brother has sent a letter, and His Majesty wants to transfer him back to Jianye. This General Xun has just left, and His Majesty can't wait to attack the eldest brother again. Deng Wenhao received Deng Wenying's letter and hurriedly reported to Deng Yuanjue.

Deng Yuanjue stroked his beard: "After we took Jiangdu, Your Majesty really couldn't sit still." But think about it, anyone sitting in his position will not allow any general to have more troops than his. ”

Deng Wenhao saw that his father was not in a hurry, and he was a little anxious: "The third brother is already in the hands of His Majesty, the eldest brother must not go back, you have to think of a way." ”

Deng Yuanjue said with a smile: "It's okay, Wen Ying still has 50,000 troops in his hands, and His Majesty will not dare to mess around." You now send a letter back to Wen Ying, and ask him to send a team of men and horses to attack Tanzhong City of Qin State, only defeat, not victory. Chen Pengcheng, the Taishou of Tanzhong City, will definitely join forces with Lin Peiyuan outside Yulin City to pursue, as long as they chase under Yulin City, Wen Ying can use this as an excuse to write to His Majesty that the Qin army is attacking and cannot return to Jianye for the time being. ”

Deng Wenhao was overjoyed when he heard this: "Wonderful, in this way, Your Majesty can't forcibly transfer back the eldest brother regardless of the safety of Yulin City." ”

Deng Yuanjue thought for a while and said: "In order to prevent accidents, you have people bring 50,000 troops to go around to Yulin from the Song-Qin border, so that Wen Ying has 100,000 troops in his hands, and if Your Majesty wants to send other generals to replace him, you have to weigh it carefully." We are short of money and food, and 50,000 people can also relieve some of the burden. ”