Geling is adjacent to the West Lake, the carriage travels all the way, the blue waves reflect the green bamboo mountains and forests, and the landscape is like in a painting. Drive across the Xilin Bridge, go north into the mountains, and see a pavilion in the mountains from a distance.

There is a plaque hanging at the gate with the words "Korakuen" written on it. This is the Kaifu Yitong Three Divisions, Taishi, Pingzhang Military and State Affairs, and Ge Lincidi, who is like a Taoist in defending the country.

The carriage and horse did not stop at the gate of the back garden, but galloped in from the gate without stopping, and the wheels rolled all the way through the extremely luxurious and elegant courtyard pavilions, and then came to the Yangyuan Garden from the back garden, and the scenery also went from the mountains to the lakeside, and the pavilions and pavilions were still looking at each other along the way.

The visiting carriage is very wide, not a traditional two-wheeled car, but a four-wheeled car that has been popular since Yangzhou, the inside of the carriage is very spacious, and two people sit side by side in the back seats, which are the envoys of Mengyuan Liu Xiaoyuan and Pu Shougeng. There were also two people sitting opposite them, namely Liao Yingzhong and Weng Yinglong.

The four of them talked and laughed along the way, but the topic of talking and laughing was not the wind and snow, but the triumphal ceremony in Bianliang more than ten years ago. Because the news of the triumphal ceremony had already been released, not only did the feudal towns of Jinghu and Huaixi send Xizuo to investigate, but even Jiang Wanli, who was running a group exercise on Jiangnan West Road, secretly sent Xizuo to Bianliang to inquire about the news.

Yesterday, Jiang Wanli's messenger had arrived in Lin'an and reported to Jia Rudao about the grand occasion of Kublai Khan's triumphant military parade. That's really a great king's teacher, and Song Kai is still in court! It was a prisoner again, and he leaped into the Bianhe River, which was mighty to the extreme. Moreover, the Mongol generals who entered the Bianbian were all highly motivated—or at least they looked high—and they were accompanied by large bags of booty, and the saddled horses and horses were all plundered Han slaves and maids. Where is there still a little bit of defeat?

It's just that the merchants who come and go to Yanyun are all in the same mouth, and Yanjing City has clearly been occupied by the Northern Ming Dynasty. From Tanggu Port to Haijin Town and then to Yanjing City all the way. All of them are in the Han world, and there is no longer a Mongolian or Semu who shows off their might.

And. These merchants from the south also brought news that not only Yanjing Road was occupied by the Northern Ming. Liaoxi, Pingluan, Baoding, and Hejian roads, which originally belonged to Mongolia, have also completely fallen into the hands of the Northern Ming, and even the Beijing Daimyo Mansion of the Great Song Dynasty in the past has now become a large stronghold of the Northern Ming Dynasty in the south of Hebei.

In addition, most of Shanxi is now also occupied by the Eastern Tang Dynasty. Although the army led by the Eastern Tang Emperor Li Pu was defeated at Jingcheng Pass, Kublai Khan did not take the opportunity to counterattack Taiyuan. Instead, he went east to fight, and now he has "triumphantly" returned to Bianliang, and it seems that he has forgotten that Dayuan still has a Shanxi province.

“…… Don't hide it from the two, the current war in the north is actually stalemate. My Dayuan is one against two, and I am outnumbered against the public. It's not a long way to say it's a hard fight. If the army is divided again, the gains and losses of fighting for an inch of land will inevitably be taken advantage of by the pseudo-Tang Dynasty, and it will be difficult to take care of things, and it will be difficult to complete the whole thing. Therefore, the Great Yuan Emperor will gather heavy troops, fight between the two thieves, do not fight for land, and take the destruction of the enemy soldiers as the top. This is a strategy for people to lose their land and abandon their land to compete for the first. ”

Inside the carriage. Dressed as a scribe, Liu Xiaoyuan, who was not suave, was shaking a folding fan and talking eloquently, analyzing the confusing battle situation in the north.

And Liao Yingzhong and Weng Yinglong, who listened to this analysis. He nodded again and again, seemingly quite convinced. Now the Three Kingdoms War in the North has lost half of Henan Province. The Eastern Tang Dynasty, whose land was divided into two, naturally did not have the face to declare victory. However, the Northern Ming Dynasty and the Western Yuan Dynasty both claimed to have won a great victory. For Da Song, who acts as an audience. It's really a bit difficult to accurately judge the outcome of the battle in the Northland.

However, Liao Yingzhong and Weng Yinglong have not heard of wars. You can just fool Liu Xiaoyuan. If Liu Xiaoyuan insisted that Meng Yuan had won a landslide victory, Liao and Weng would definitely not believe it.

However, the explanation of the three-way stalemate and the difficulty of separating the winner from the defeat is what Liao Yingzhong and Weng Yinglong can accept and are willing to believe - the three countries of the north are the most in line with the Southern Song Dynasty. For an explanation that suits his heart, even a smart person like Liao Yingzhong is willing to believe it.

"Save people and lose land, abandon the land and compete for the ......first," Liao Yingzhong whispered several times, as if chewing on the meaning of these words. I'm afraid that Chen Ming will get the land and the population will grow day by day, and it will be even more difficult to deal with in two years. ”

Weng Yinglong also said: "In the past, Chen Ming only relied on 200,000 people and more than 20,000 soldiers and horses from Jiangnan and Huainan to start his business. In the blink of an eye, there is already a large population and land, and the soldiers and horses under his command are probably more than 100,000 early. If he is given a few more years, Pingluan, Yanjing, Hejian, Baoding, Daimyo and other places will be sorted out. I'm afraid that 300,000 soldiers can be pulled out, everyone is armored and iron-ridden, supplemented by H medicine big guns, can Dayuan still resist? ”

"I can't!" Although Liu Xiaoyuan's tone was flat, he was still vaguely sad. Liao Yingzhong and Weng Yinglong glanced at each other, and also saw similar expressions on each other's faces.

Now Mongolia and the Great Song Dynasty are no longer mortal enemies, but friends who depend on each other - if Mongolia is driven out of the Central Plains by the Northern Ming Dynasty, the Great Song Dynasty will be lost in an instant.

Although Jiang Wanli, Li Tingzhi, Ma Guangzu, Xiang Shibi, Shi Yanzhi and others all played and said that "the group training has been a small success, and it will be called a strong force in time." However, Jia Rudao is a true soldier, and knows that this regimental training is only a force for self-protection and emergency response, which can only ensure that the Great Song Dynasty will not be bullied by Fang Zhen, and can also resist Chen Ming's harassment from the sea. If you want to fight against Chen Ming, who dominates the northern lands, it is wishful thinking.

Therefore, hearing Liu Xiaoyuan say that Mongolia could not bear Chen Ming, who had integrated Hebei and Yanyun, Liao Yingzhong and Weng Yinglong's faces gradually became solemn.

I only heard Liao Yingzhong say: "Could it be that in two or three years, Dayuan will withdraw from the Central Plains?" ”

Liu Xiaoyuan smiled bitterly: "Now it can still be stubbornly resisted, if Chen Ming has Hebei Yanyun, with 300,000 people, all of them are steel armor, Mongolia can only go west to avoid the edge." But...... Whether Chen Ming can become so big is that the key is no longer in the battle of the North, but in how the monarchs of the Southern Dynasty decide. ”

Liao Yingzhong was slightly stunned: "In us?" ”

"Didn't Liu Chengzhi want me to send troops to the Central Plains in the Great Song Dynasty, right?" Weng Yinglong asked with a frown on his jet-black beard.

Liu Xiaoyuan shook his head and said lightly: "There is no need to send troops, as long as the food of the Ming Dynasty is cut off, and the country will be in chaos without a fight!" ”

Liao Yingzhong's eyes lit up, "Out of food? Yanyun is short of food? ”

"How is there no shortage?" Liu Xiaoyuan said, "Even if there is no shortage originally, Dayuan has a way to make Yanyun Hebei short of grain." The population of Liaodong is not large, the arable land is limited, and the grain produced cannot feed nearly two million people in Yanyun Hebei! Chen Dexing wants Yanyun Hebei to be stable, and the only way is to buy grain from the Great Song Dynasty. If the Great Song Dynasty is not sold, there will be a great hunger in Yanyun Hebei this year, and it will not be able to recover its vitality for 20 years. ”

It only takes a few days to starve a person to death, but it takes more than a dozen years to raise a person to adulthood! Starving people to death is obviously a good way, but the question is that Chen Dexing will obediently wait to starve to death?

Liao Yingzhong shook her head again and again, this thing is very difficult to do! Not only Chen Dexing will come to grab grain, but even on the side of the Great Song Dynasty, I am afraid that there will be a lot of opposition.

He frowned and said, "Chen Dexing will enter Kou Jiangnan from the sea to grab grain!" Is this thief a man who sits idly by? He does everything! ”

Liu Xiaoyuan laughed, turned his head to look at Pu Shougeng who didn't say a word next to him, Pu Shougeng said: "If you enter the prison to grab food, you must have food to grab!" If all the grain and rice in the market in Jiangnan are bought...... How else can Chen Dexing rob? Really go to the homes of ordinary people to search for food from door to door? ”

"That's not much." Liu Xiaoyuan added.

He paused, and then said: "Jiangnan is already short of grain, and it all depends on the rice trafficking from Huaidi and Jinghu to make the people have enough to eat. If there is a shortage of grain in the south of the Yangtze River, the price of rice is expensive, and the people are short of food, Chen Dexing can only go to the idea of other places. ”

"Elsewhere?"

"Or squeeze Goryeo, or plunder Japan." Liu Xiaoyuan said with a smile, "Sending troops to fight will consume a lot of food, and the thief Chen does not have much food in his hands, if he is not sure that he will return with a full load, how can he be willing to do useless work?" If there is no food in Jiangnan, he will probably not come and go elsewhere. ”

His gaze slowly swept over Liao Yingzhong and Weng Yinglong's two difficult faces: "And...... The Great Song Dynasty does not have to ban rice sellers in the north, as long as the south of the Yangtze River is short of grain, and the price of rice is expensive! ”

"You don't have to ban rice sellers?" Liao Yingzhong and Weng Yinglong glanced at each other. In other words, the Great Song Dynasty itself did not engage in any food war...... Only the Great Song Kingdom has no surplus grain, and the price of grain is expensive, and there is no way to export grain to Yanyun.

In this way, Chen Dexing will not come to Jiangnan to take the little rations of thousands of small people, right?

Weng Yinglong frowned at this time and said: "But Jianghuai, Jinghu, and Sichuan were all Dafeng last year, and the price of rice in Jiangnan was sluggish, and each stone was less than two. If you buy it directly in Yangzhou, it only costs a few hundred ......"

Unlike the grain shortage in the Southern Song Dynasty in the same period in history, now benefiting from the armistice between Mongolia and Song, Sichuan, Jinghu and Jianghuai have reclaimed a large area of land that had been reduced to battlefields. The grain output of the Southern Song Dynasty showed a trend of increasing steadily. At the same time, due to the sharp reduction in military spending, the finances of the Southern Song Dynasty were also balanced, and the Huizi began to be withdrawn, which greatly alleviated inflation, which further made the price of rice cheaper.

Moreover, there is a trend of getting lower and lower...... Many wealthy families who own large tracts of land are already complaining about the continuous decline in rice prices. If Chen Dexing is willing to buy millions of stone grain from the market in the Southern Song Dynasty, it will boost the price of rice. The landlords of the Southern Song Dynasty were too late to welcome it, how could they agree to the imperial court's ban on the sale of rice and grain to Yanyun?

If Jia Rudao dares to do this kind of thing that cuts off everyone's financial route, this throne of Pingzhang military and state affairs will definitely be unstable.

Pu Shougeng laughed and took Weng Yinglong's question: "Raising grain prices is a small matter, and Pu Mou can make the grain price of Song Kingdom double or triple with a little trick!" He paused, "As long as the Great Song Dynasty court announces the return of Pu's property!" ”

"Returning the property?" Liao Yingzhong smiled bitterly. Pu Shougeng's family property in the Song Kingdom has long been famous, how to return it? Is it to let Jia Yidao spit it out, or to let the emperor and his father, His Royal Highness King Rong, break the fortune?

Pu Shougeng said with a smile: "It can be announced to be returned, in fact, you only need to return Pu's mansions in Quanzhou and Lin'an, and then give Pu a meeting 5 million yuan." In this way, Pu has a way to leverage the price of rice in the Southern Dynasties. (To be continued......)