The imperial capital of Luojing.

Outside the study room of the mansion, a group of servants and maids stood silently beside them, their faces frightened, and the air was filled with a suffocating sense of oppression.

Lord Shoufu is in a bad mood, from early this morning to now, two subordinates have been ordered to be dragged out and beaten to death because of minor negligence.

Of course, it seems that since the beginning of last year, Shousuke-sama has not been in a good mood. The world is already an eventful autumn, the smoke is everywhere, the imperial army is not effective in encirclement and suppression, and the four seas are becoming more and more erosive, Zhang Minxin, who feels more and more pressure, is strange to have a good mood.

A moment later, Cao Yun came in a hurry, said to the head of the guard at the door, and went straight into the study.

The candlelight in the room was bright, and Zhang Mincheng was writing behind the bookcase, his expression was still calm, but there were a few more wrinkles on his forehead, and a faint melancholy lingered.

Seeing Cao Yun come in and salute, he didn't say anything, just nodded casually and refocused his attention on the calligraphy in front of him.

Cao Yun's eyes were dark, and he stood quietly aside.

After a long time, Zhang Min put down the brush in his hand and said expressionlessly: "The news from the Jingcheng Division is that the war situation in the south is not optimistic. Yu Hualong's command is not effective, Nuoda Xiangyang City, more than 30,000 elite soldiers, and he has not been able to defend it for even a month, which is really hateful! ”

There was a chill in his tone, which made Cao Yun couldn't help but be moved.

Zhang Minzhen took a stack of folds placed next to him and threw it to him, and said: "You can also take a look, the north and south sides do not stop, and the ambitious guys of the wolves on the grassland, it is really not worry-free." ”

Cao Yun took it and read it one by one, and his heart sank more and more.

Zhao Yuanjin occupied the entire Jingzhou, proclaimed himself the Duke of Chu, wantonly added his subordinates, and established a strict and complete military system and civilian system. Recruits were recruited and trained on a large scale in the counties, and the number of people spread to 150,000.

As a first-class strategist in this era, Cao Yun can naturally see how terrible Zhao Yuanjin is. The reason why it is difficult for the peasant uprisings of all dynasties to achieve positive results is that the people in charge have limited vision, and it is difficult to establish a set of effective and strict systems in a timely manner.

What Zhao Yuanjin did meant that he had truly gotten rid of the limitations of his identity as an ordinary exile rebel in the past, and began to degenerate into a mature and stable regime. Such an adversary can no longer be expected to collapse on its own due to internal problems, and can only be destroyed by relying on strong military strength.

The expansion of the new army of 150,000 surprised Cao Yun and puzzled him at the same time. After Zhao Yuanjin accepted and reorganized the surrendered army in Xiangyang City, together with the remaining forces of each county, the total military strength under his command was close to the threshold of 150,000, if you count the newly recruited 150,000, it would be 300,000.

Although the land of Jingchu is rich, with the economic conditions of this era, it is already the limit to be able to support 150,000 troops to fight, and it is impossible to afford to raise more. Where did Zhao Yuanjin get the financial and material resources to dare to expand the army so unscrupulously?

Under normal circumstances, even if the imperial court had to raise 300,000 elite soldiers, it would be a big burden, and if Zhao Yuanjin occupied the entire south, he might have the ability to expand the army to this number, but now it should be impossible at all. If this is forcibly done, most of the people in the entire Jingchu Land will be afraid of starving to death.

Of course, the good news is not without that Luo Yanxiong led the army to engage Wu Zhence, and after the initial setback, the situation has begun to improve in the recent period. Not to mention winning several games in a row, he also killed two generals of the Wu army, forcing Wu Zhence to temporarily shrink his forces.

"My lord, Zhao Yuanjin's threat now is no less than Wu Zhence, and even more terrifying, the imperial court should deal with it as soon as possible." Cao Yun's expression was solemn.

He regretted it a little, if he insisted that the lord give priority to encircling and suppressing Zhao Yuanjin, maybe there would not be this trouble now. After killing Zhao Yuanjin, he will deal with Wu Zhence, there should be time to deal with it, right?

Zhang Minxin was silent for a while, and sighed: "The imperial court is becoming more and more difficult, and all the deposits of the household department add up to less than 60 million taels, and now hundreds of thousands of troops are fighting in various places, and the daily expenditure on food and ordnance will have to spend 100,000 taels, how can there be extra financial resources to send troops to encircle and suppress Zhao Shun again?" ”

Sixty million taels of silver sounds like a very large number, but the imperial court has a big business, and there are countless expenses of all kinds, especially to support hundreds of thousands of troops to go out to fight, and the gold and silver are not enough to consume.

At this moment, in fact, one-third of the territory of the Great Qi world is not under the control of the imperial court. In other words, the tax money and food that can be collected every year are decreasing more and more, and for the first assistant Zhang Minzhen, this family is becoming more and more difficult to do.

If you decide to send troops to Jingzhou, it will definitely not work if there are fewer people, which is equivalent to giving Zhao Yuanjin food for nothing. At least 200,000 troops are barely enough, and they have to be elite troops, and the commander of the army must also be a famous general.

But now the elite troops stationed near the Gyeonggi Stronghold, together with the forbidden army, are only about 350,000 in total, which is the last capital of the Great Qi Imperial Court, and if another 200,000 are transferred, the safety of the imperial capital will be difficult to guarantee.

If hundreds of thousands of new troops are to be reorganized, not to mention whether the financial resources of the imperial court can afford it, it will definitely be too late in time.

"Maybe you can let Luo Yanxiong divide some troops to deal with ......"

Cao Yun shook his head and denied his plan halfway through his words. Now that Luo Yanxiong has encircled and suppressed Wu Zhence, he has finally gained some upper hand, how can he divide his troops at will? If one is not careful, maybe both ends will fail.

"In this case, the lord can send more masters to assassinate Wu Zhence, end the war in the Huaiyang area as soon as possible, and then order Luo Yanxiong to move to the land of Jingchu and make every effort to encircle and suppress Zhao Yuanjin." Cao Yun said in a deep voice.

The Great Qi Imperial Court has been established for hundreds of years, and the heritage is profound after all, and there is naturally no shortage of some hidden resources and connections. Not only did the Imperial Capital have a number of top grandmasters, but even Lord Shoufu's mansion had a lot of masters and dead, and if he tried to recruit a group temporarily, even if the cost was greater, it would not be more expensive than sending hundreds of thousands of troops.

Zhang Min thought about it for a while, and finally nodded: "Okay, this is the most feasible way at present." ”

……

Xiangyang City.

"Is the gentleman going back?"

In the study, Zhao Yuan, who had already entered the position of Duke of Chu, asked.

"Well, there won't be any new wars in the land of Jingchu for half a year, and I'm just going back to deal with some things,"

Qin Feng handed him a thumb-sized light blue prismatic crystal and explained: "If the situation in the south changes, or if there is a crisis that is difficult to deal with, as long as you crush this thing, I will receive the news and rush over as soon as possible to share the worries of the country." ”

Zhao Yuanjin relieved his heart slightly, he was not hypocritical, now most of his foundation was supported by this immortal with a mysterious origin, once Qin Feng was no longer here, he really didn't know what to do.