After sending off the returning sailor, Lu Yuan also began to get busy in the following days.

Regarding the rebuilding of Xichuan County, he did not need to think too much.

Now, with the successive arrival of those new imperial examination personnel and jinshi in China, the Xichuan local government headed by the county shou Shen Xin is rapidly recovering the development of local people's livelihood.

However, by the time Lu Yuan recovered the entire Xichuan, it was already the end of June, and at this time, spring plowing and summer planting had already been missed. In other words, in the second half of this year, the entire Xichuan County will not be able to be self-sufficient and meet its own food consumption.

The hundreds of thousands of people remaining in the entire territory need the assistance of the imperial court to survive this difficult second half of the year.

Fortunately, for the Chu State, which now controls half of the Jianghan Plain and the entire Dongting Plain, the annual production of countless grains is not only enough to meet the consumption of the people of the two counties of Xiangyang and Dongting, but also to draw out a lot of surplus to support other places.

And that's not all.

With Lu Yuan's warning to the envoy of the South China Sea State at the beginning of the year, the arrears of this year's tribute from the South China Sea State were quickly sent.

Three million taels of silver, two million stone of grain, this huge amount of money and the import of grain, especially the latter, greatly relieved the grain pressure of the Chu State.

Successive to Xichuan and Qianzhong counties, a large-scale million-level resettlement project was launched, and the food consumed during the period was simply astronomical.

You must know that when all immigrants arrived in the land of immigration, there was basically no output, and they needed to be supported by the imperial court during this period.

It's okay to talk about money.

Plundered the entire Qianzhong County Yi people, and in the Chu State that plundered the Nanzhao State, there was no shortage of silver taels.

On the contrary, in order to maintain hundreds of thousands of troops on the front line, there are still more immigrants to consume, and in the two counties on the front line, the money and grain consumed by the Chu State every month are calculated in millions of stones.

This huge number, even with the wealth of the Dongting Plain and the Jianghan Plain, is somewhat unsupportable.

In this regard, in order to alleviate the pressure on food, on the side of the Baling Imperial Court, Cui Changqing and the others had already asked people to return to the South China Sea with the three million taels of silver provided by the South China Sea Country and go there to buy grain.

Three million taels of silver, but the current price of grain in the South China Sea can be exchanged for the same amount of grain, that is, three million stone rice.

In the past two years, grain prices in the South China Sea have been increasing.

The reason is naturally that the Chu State, the Su State, and the Song State have been constantly going to the South China Sea to buy.

Because of the continuous Xichuan War, the three countries of Hezong all spent a lot of troops and manpower on the front line, especially with the establishment of county governments in the southwest of the new frontier, the three countries more or less immigrated to the new prefectures.

All of the above greatly affected the agricultural production in the three kingdoms of Chu, Su and Song, and in China.

Among them, the state of Chu is fortunately, backed by two major grain-producing areas, plus the accumulation of reserves in the past few years, it can barely maintain.

As a result, the price of grain in the country fluctuates around five cents per catty.

It's not very high, but it's not very cheap, and it belongs to a range that the people at the bottom can afford.

The same is true for the Song Kingdom.

In Jiuzhen County, where it is located, there is a Red River Plain, and the land is fertile, not lower than the Jianghan Plain.

Relying on this grain-producing area, although the Song State was also in short supply of grain due to the war, it could still support it with the money looted from the Southwest Yi and go to the South China Sea to buy some.

But the Su State can't.

The area of Yulin County is already mountainous, and it is not much better than Nanxiyi.

Coupled with Su Xuange's series of tyranny, under the influence of turmoil, war, harsh taxes, etc., the livelihood and production of Yulin County in Su State have already completely collapsed.

According to the investigation report of the Imperial City Foreign Division, more than 100,000 people in the entire Yulin County have been forcibly relocated by Su Xuange and resettled in the newly established Tonghai County in the country.

At the same time, Su Xuange migrated more than 200,000 Yi people from Tonghai County and settled in Yulin County.

This mutual immigration strengthened the foundation of the Su State's rule in the two counties.

But if this goes back and forth, it is equivalent to about 400,000 more people in the Soviet State, who cannot produce and need to be supported by the imperial court.

plus the 100,000 soldiers and horses of the Soviet Union on the front line, tens of thousands of soldiers and horses in the country, and more than 100,000 people who transported grain to the front line......

In many places, there are about 700,000 to 800,000 people in the Soviet Union, who are completely inactive and rely entirely on the government and the court to support and suck blood in order to survive.

Compared with this huge blood-sucking population, the real foundation of the Soviet State, that is, the people of the Soviet State in the native Yulin County, after a series of war-torn immigrants, there are probably only about 500,000 people left who are still in continuous production.

And these 500,000 people, including a large number of old and young women and children, because the real adult men were either conscripted into the army or dragged to work as grain carriers.

Just relying on these 500,000 old and young women and children, how much food can be produced and how many people can be fed?

I'm afraid I can't even afford to raise 50,000 soldiers and horses.

Therefore, since the start of the war in the Soviet Union, the country's food consumption has been supported by external purchases.

Looking around the Soviet Union, Chu and Song were short of grain themselves, and of course it was impossible to sell it grain.

The only thing he can rely on is the South China Sea, which has always been peaceful, does not raise soldiers, and also produces a lot of grain.

Therefore, at the beginning of the war, after plundering the first batch of wealth from the southwest Yi, the Soviet Union immediately sent people to the South China Sea to buy grain.

Waging war, plundering wealth, spending money on food, waging war......

The entire Soviet Union fell into such an endless vicious circle.

It is precisely because of the continuous grain purchases of the Soviet Union that the grain prices of the South China Sea have skyrocketed year after year.

Directly from the beginning of a pound of rice and three yuan, it has risen to today's one pound of rice, and the ups and downs of nine and ten dollars have fluctuated, and it is more than three times more expensive.

Under this circumstance, the people of the South China Sea were uncomfortable, and the people of the Soviet Union were also uncomfortable, but it was the grain merchants of the South China Sea who made a lot of money.

In just two years, relying on the continuous purchase of grain in the south of Chu, Su, and Song, there are more than a dozen billionaires in the South China Sea, which shows the huge profits.

When Lu Yuan saw this information, his eyes were a little red.

Relying on the war wealth, the wealthy businessmen and nobles of the South China Sea Country in the past two years have really lived a comfortable and happy life.

It is precisely because of this that for the South China Sea Kingdom, which is lying on his body and constantly sucking blood, the three kingdoms of Chu, Su, and Song actually have a lot of dissatisfaction in their hearts, and they hate this group of grain merchants very much.

It's just that now because of the war and the special geographical location of the South China Sea, it's really hard to do anything to them, so I endured it.

However, Lu Yuan believes that when the three kingdoms all draw their hands, or wait until the Ning country is ready, then when the surrounding wolves rush up, it will be the period when the South China Sea Kingdom will be completely eaten and affected by the extinction.

It's just that that day may have to wait a few more years, and it won't be staged so soon.

And for now.

The three kingdoms of Chu, Su, and Song still need to buy grain from Nanhai, so even if they know that they are sitting on the ground and raising prices, they still have to pinch their noses and buy high-priced grain.

In fact, if you can, it is undoubtedly better to go to Ning, Zhou, Liang and other countries that are close to Dongting County and have convenient waterways on the Yangtze River to buy food.

But these three countries, without exception, are either enemies of Chu or people who regard Chu as a competitor.

If you want to buy food from there, it's simply impossible.

Even the only one of the Three Kingdoms that did not have a war in Ningguo would rather have the grain stored in their own warehouses moldy than be transported to Chu to do such a blatant thing of capital to the enemy.

It is this lack of channels that has led to the preciousness of grain in the South China Sea.

Because this is the only country that is willing and able to supply grain to Chu, Su, and Song.

In the absence of a choice, even if it is expensive, you have to buy it.

The only thing to be thankful for is that the grain gap in Chu is not big, and this gap can almost be erased by relying on the grain supplied by the South China Sea and the silver money to buy grain.

It doesn't cost anything else, it's a small comfort.

……

In addition to the food shortage, another thing that Lu Yuan is more concerned about is the recruitment and construction of the army.

Although the defeat of the Nanzhao army this time was extremely smooth on the whole, the other party had more than 100,000 troops, including many warriors, and if they wanted to destroy them, the Chu army more or less paid a lot of casualties.

In addition, the forbidden army that was sent to Nanchong Mansion at the beginning of the year to assist Jihui in defending the city was directly disabled by half because of the continuous consumption of the Nanzhao army, and there was a shortage of 10,000 people.

All of the above casualties add up to 17,000.

These vacancies need to be re-recruited, and with a certain number of veterans, through training to form combat strength as soon as possible.

In this regard, Lu Yuan has decided to transfer 3,000 veterans from various departments, plus these 17,000 recruits, to build a forbidden army alone.

As for the other forbidden armies that are lacking personnel, they will directly break up the half-remnant forbidden army in Nanchong Mansion and add them to the various departments.

In this way, in addition to the forbidden army dominated by new soldiers, the remaining four forbidden armies, as long as they run in for a period of time, can quickly recover their complete combat strength.

What Lu Yuan has been doing these days is this.

In addition to handling government affairs and cultivation every day, from time to time, he would also take time to inspect the forbidden army camp outside Jinguan City to confirm the progress of the training of each army and horses.

Under his supervision, the results are also quite gratifying.

After replenishing the shortage of soldiers and horses, with veterans joining, the forbidden armies of various ministries practiced a little, and soon ran into each other and formed a combat force.

Even the newly built forbidden army, a large number of high-quality recruits who were selected from the best of the best, under the leadership of veterans, quickly learned some simple arrays and banners, and mastered certain weapon use skills.

Although it still looks very immature on the whole, at this rate, continue to train for a year or two, and then pull out to fight one or two low-intensity wars, so that the recruits can see blood, and an elite will be formed.

Seeing this, Lu Yuan had already sent a letter back to Baling, asking the forbidden army stationed there to expand the remaining two forbidden armies in the same way, using the method of veterans leading new soldiers.

Now that the letter has been delivered to Baling, the shelves for the two new armies are almost set up.

Now that the state of Chu is expanding rapidly, Xichuan and Qianzhong need a large number of soldiers and horses to defend it, and Lu Yuan urgently needs more soldiers and horses to fill the gaps in the defense of various places.

At this time, we have to speed up the military expansion strategy, which was originally expected to be two years, and strive to complete it within this year.

Fortunately, Huang Xuan's side plundered the Jianchuan Kingdom and obtained a large amount of money and grain, even if this income was filled, it could barely make up for the gap caused by the expansion of the army, but it did not bring too much pressure.

Everything is still under Lu Yuan's control.

It's just that in this way, he also had to give Huang Xuan another order to suffer more for the people of Jianchuan Kingdom, so that he could squeeze more money and grain from there to make up for the domestic deficit.

Anyway, they are all Yi people, and it doesn't matter if they suffer or suffer.

Thinking about it, compared to death, the local Yi people should be very reasonable and understand the difficulties of the Chu State.

……

Just as the Chu State was busy sorting out places, buying food, and preparing for war, the surrounding countries were also making big and small moves.

First of all, at the beginning of August, when Ji Hui and the monks of Baifeng Temple had just arrived in Qianzhong County and took up the post of Youguo Temple and the Protector of the Country.

In the southwest, two major news came one after another.

First of all, it was on the side of Song Guo.

After the beginning of spring this year, Xie Ning, the king of Song, led his army to fight with the Dali army several times, but the results were unable to make progress.

Not only did they not seize more land, but they lost tens of thousands of troops and lost some of the existing territory.

Since then, Xie Ning finally realized that after Dali Guo had reacted, it was impossible for him to be as powerful as he was at the beginning.

In addition, after two years of war, the Song State continued to raise troops, taxes increased day by day, domestic exhaustion, coupled with the soaring food prices, there were problems in survival, and the people gradually became chaotic.

Some of the remnants of the original Jinghai Kingdom began to make trouble in the local area, and even set off several small-scale rebellions.

Although these rebellions were quickly suppressed, the impact was undoubtedly enormous.

This has already reflected the disgust of the people of the Song State for war.

If it continues, it is difficult to say whether it will eventually lead to a major rebellion that affected the whole country, as it did in the Soviet Union.

As a family member, Xie Ning is not like a martial artist like Su Xuange, who likes to speak by force in everything, and comes completely according to his own preferences, without considering any impact.

His political wisdom is quite sufficient.

Therefore, after realizing the hidden dangers in the country, there are also front-line soldiers who have been fighting again and again, and they are indeed tired and tired.

Shainin decisively chose an armistice.

He sent an envoy to Dali to discuss the truce between the two countries.

And Dali's side was also exhausted because of this war.

Coupled with the collapse of the Great Changhe Kingdom in the north, the behemoth of the Chu State suddenly bordered on it, which also gave the Dali Kingdom a great deterrent.

Dali urgently needed to send more troops to the north to deal with the huge pressure brought by the Chu state.

Therefore, in the face of the olive branch sent by Song Guo, they did not dwell on it for too long, and after a while of arguing between the two sides, they officially signed a contract in early August.

The two countries agreed that each would recognize each other's right to rule over its own territory on the territory it currently occupied, and that they would be neighbors in harmony in the future, and that they would not raise any more troops.

So after signing this peace treaty, Song immediately began to withdraw its troops, except for sending someone to the Su State to say a word.

100,000 Song troops retreated from the front line.

In the newly established Yinsheng County of the Song State, in addition to the 15,000 local county soldiers, Xie Ning only left 20,000 forbidden troops and let a trusted general guard this place.

And he led the rest of the soldiers and horses back to the country.

At this point, after the Song State participated in this battle, it lasted two years and ended with the results of opening up one county and five prefectures.

The Song State retreated, and there was only one Su State left, which was naturally not the opponent of the Dali State.

Therefore, after Su Xuange learned the news, even if he was unwilling, he could only scold Song Guo for not being a son of man, and reluctantly chose to negotiate peace with Daliguo.

Compared with the Song State, the situation in the Soviet Union was even worse.

Because of Su Xuange's inappropriate person, in the Su country, people fled almost every day.

The fleeing crowd includes the remnants of the Su and Yi people, the soldiers of the Shu State, and the forcibly recruited people, and the local Su and Yi people in Tonghai and Yulin counties.

Arguably.

Under Su Xuange's various operations, in the minds of the Su people and the Yi people, he has become a tyrant who is far beyond the Su people.

Under such a king, no one wants to be ruled by him.

Taking advantage of this convenience, on the border of Yulin County and Dongting County, the Chu State has received more than 50,000 people from the Su State. On the border between Qianzhong County and Tonghai County of the Soviet Union, there are also more than 30,000 fugitives from the Soviet State, many of whom are Yiren.

As for the border between the Soviet Union and the South China Sea and the Song Kingdom, according to the report of the Imperial City Foreign Division, there are also many fugitives, no less than 10,000.

At the bottom of the Soviet Union, there were countless escapes.

The foundation of the Soviet Union's rule has completely collapsed.

The reason why he can still hold on and not be destroyed now is entirely because of Su Xuange's innate force and the tens of thousands of elite soldiers under his command who belong to vested interests.

But now there is no way to plunder Dali, there is no sufficient source of money and food, and internal production has all collapsed.

I just don't know if Su Xuange has seen this, and if he has the courage to reform.

But in any case, in mid-August, after the Song State, the Soviet State and the Dali State also officially ended the war under the peace talks.

It also lasted two years, and the Soviet Union finally withdrew from the merger with the results of one county and four prefectures.

In these two years of war, Dali, Song, and Su all paid an extremely tragic price, each losing tens of thousands of soldiers and tens of thousands.

Among them, although the Soviet Union and the Song Dynasty have gained, they also need a lot of time to digest the results.

After losing nearly a county and losing nearly 200,000 soldiers, Dali also needed a long time to recuperate before it could recover.

Although the peace talks are not out of the heart's desire for the three countries, they are already the best ending for each other in the current situation.

And the war between them ended, and in the entire southwest region, the only thing left was the war between the three kingdoms of Chu, Chili, and Kunhai, and the Nanzhao Kingdom.

However, before the results of this war appeared, in the north of Xichuan County, another battle had already taken a major turn.

……

The second day of the ninth month of the sixth year of Shenwu.

The 150,000-strong army of the Zhou State, led by the general Dongfang Wuyun of the Southern Pillar State of the country, besieged Baishicheng, the capital of Han China, for three months, and it was on this day that the city was breached.

When the city was broken, Qiao Kangquan, the king of Hanzhong, had to lead thousands of remnants of the army, escort the hundreds of officials who were involved in the army, fled south in embarrassment, and retreated to the south of Jianmen Pass.

In the south, there are two remaining provinces, gather the remnants of the army, and continue to hold on.

The Zhou soldiers took advantage of the situation to sweep the three provinces of northern Han China, recaptured the hometown of Hanzhong, which had been lost for nearly ten years, and once again mastered all the ten prefectures of Hanzhong County.

At the same time, the Han-China barrier was lost, and the state of Zhou was to the west, already bordering the Xiangyang county of the state of Chu.

Zhou Guobing Feng has reached the west of Xiangyang.