After instructing Huang Xuan to deal with the matter of the people coming down the mountain in the snow field, Lu Yuan put the matter down.

With his own doppelganger, he believes that the other party can handle this matter.

And so it is.

A few days later, in the Meditation Palace, Lu Yuan was cultivating, and Huang Xuan contacted through his divine thoughts and sent over the specific information.

"In the winter disaster, a large number of cattle and sheep froze to death on the snowfield, and the Tibetan people who did not have enough food could not survive, so they took risks and went down the mountain to plunder. This time, the Tibetan people went down the mountain, but it was just some small tribes in the snowfields near Xichuan County, and there were no bigger forces intervening......"

After Lu Yuan received the information, he couldn't help but groan.

The news that Huang Xuan has collected in the past few days can be called good and bad.

On the good side, the people who went down the mountain this time were only small tribes of the Tibetan people, and there was no intervention of those powerful forces on the snow field behind them, which was definitely good news for the Chu State.

After all, the Zhou State is now facing the tragic situation of the four kings of the snow field attacking in turn, but it is vivid.

Lu Yuan didn't want his Chu State to suffer the same treatment as the other party.

But think about it.

The snowfield near Xichuan County has only a few small rivers and lakes, and the water resources that can be provided are extremely limited, and they can't support too many people at all.

Moreover, on the snow field, except for a small area near Xichuan County, there are many river valleys and grasslands, and the rest of the place is only a large area of snow and mountains, which can be said to be a natural dangerous place.

If you want to migrate to the snowfield area near Xichuan County, you must first step through the snow and mountains, and risk your life from these dangerous and rugged roads.

But this natural danger alone is enough to discourage any large army.

And if the army can't come, with a small force of hundreds or thousands of people, even if it is sent to Xichuan County, it won't be able to stir up many waves.

It is also reasonable for those who are migrating to the snowy fields and Tibetans not to choose Xichuan and Hanzhong counties as their targets.

"However, those Tibetan tribes in the depths of the snow field can't come over, but the valley and grassland near Xichuan County add up to an area of more than 2,000 miles, and there are more than 200,000 Tibetan people living on it.

If these Tibetan people are not properly handled, they will be forced to swarm down the mountain, and they can gather 50,000 or 60,000 people, which is also a trouble. ”

Since there was no external force to intervene, Lu Yuan was naturally not very afraid of those snowy people near Xichuan County.

As for those Tibetan people in the valley and grassland, they don't even need the forbidden army to take action, but the county government and county soldiers of Xichuan County can beat those Tibetan people and can't find the north.

It's one thing not to be afraid, but the trouble caused by those people is far more of a headache than their own strength.

Tens of thousands of people came down from the snowfield and poured directly into Xichuan, even if they could only loot some villages and towns, the damage caused was great.

If they are not solved, it is simply impossible for Xichuan County to resume production well.

Now that the Chu State has a rare opportunity to recuperate, Lu Yuan doesn't want his strategy to be ruined by a group of Tibetan people.

"These guys, we have to find a way to solve them properly."

Lu Yuan frowned and thought for a while, and then brought the Kyushu Kunyu map.

I saw that on the map, Yangzhou and the surrounding areas of Yangzhou, various prefectures and counties and the general terrain are extremely detailed.

Outside of Yangzhou, there is only a rough outline, depicting the specific orientation and area of each country.

His gaze directly skimmed over other places, and finally stayed in Yangzhou, which belonged to the region of the Chu State.

His gaze wandered back to it, and then he wandered to the snowfield near Xichuan County.

Looking at the 2,000-mile river valley close to Xichuan County, there is also a river valley that continues to the north, adjacent to Hanzhong County, and is cascaded by mountains, with only a few rivers passing through, washing out a few smaller valleys.

The long and narrow terrain, like a long snake, from south to north, travels through Xichuan and Hanzhong, and then continues to wind northward, straight into the hinterland of Zhou, a snake's head opens, peeking at Longxi County.

Just looking at the map, Lu Yuan felt a majestic momentum, and his eyes couldn't help but light up.

"Although it is only in the area near Xichuan County, the river valley is relatively wide. The remaining area near Hanzhong is only a few small river valleys with an area of only two or three hundred miles.

And between these river valleys and Hanzhong County, there are also mountains and natural dangers, except for martial arts masters, it is basically difficult for ordinary people to cross.

But these small river valleys continue to go north, and in the area near Longxi County, there are only dozens of miles of mountain territory left.

Although these mountains are steep, if you look carefully, you may be able to open up a trail or two.

Relying on these trails, although it is impossible to transport a large army, it should be no problem to send 10,000 or 20,000 partial divisions.

If people occupy this place, then when I take Hanzhong and prepare to attack the Zhou State in the future, this place may become a strange soldier and come in handy. ”

Lu Yuan looked at the map of the valley, and at the same time recalled in his mind that the information that the Imperial City Division had probed back from there in the past was confirmed by the two phases, and his heart couldn't help but move.

Because he remembered a piece of information that he hadn't paid much attention to.

That is, geographically, the mountain valley that should have been completely cut off from the Zhou State, when the Imperial City Division sent spies there, in some of these tribes, special goods from the Zhou State were discovered.

This piece of information originally attracted the attention of the Imperial City Division, and it was thought that the forces of the Zhou State had already involved the Snow Plains River Valley, and wanted to use this place as a springboard to pass through the Xichuan River.

But under closer inspection, in the river valley, there was no trace of the Zhou people.

This land of river valleys is still full of Tibetan people, and I don't see the slightest influence of the Zhou people.

At that time, the land of Xichuan was still in the hands of the three kingdoms of Chu, Xichuan, and Hanzhong, and the main energy of the Imperial City Division was still in the other two countries, and the ones sent to the river valley were just a few eyeliners, and there were not too many people.

So in the end, after a little search and confirmation that the Zhou people did not interfere here, they also regarded the Zhou people who appeared in the river valley as if they were passed from Xichuan County, and did not investigate deeply.

In the end, he just summarized the information and sent it to Lu Yuan according to the usual practice.

When the information arrived, he was busy passing through the southwest, and he didn't have time to pay attention to these trivial matters.

Therefore, at that time, I just glanced at it once, and I didn't care about it, and there was nothing to do.

But at this time, Lu Yuan looked at the map and looked at the overall situation of the world, and the information that was ignored at the beginning was suddenly connected.

Perhaps in the river valley, those things from the Zhou Kingdom were not introduced from Xichuan County. It is also possible that the tribes of the Tibetan people in the river valley obtained these things from another channel, from another road.

The Tibetan people hidden between the mountains and snowy mountains, and the Zhou State, there may be an extremely hidden and little-known trail connection.

"Check, send someone to check immediately. Send your envoys and petty envoys of the Imperial City Division to go deep into those Tibetan tribes, and you must find that unique path for me. ”

Lu Yuan called the commander of the Imperial City Foreign Division and personally gave the death order.

It is a matter of sending troops to the Zhou State in the future, if such a small road can really be found, even if it can only transport one or two hundred thousand people, it will be a great thing for the Chu State.

One or two thousand elite soldiers, at a critical moment, may be able to become a force to turn the tide of the war.

"Yes, my subordinates sent a deputy commander to ask him to personally lead someone to find it."

Seeing that the king attached so much importance to this matter, the commander of the Imperial City Outer Division immediately accepted the order, but in his heart, he regarded this matter as the most urgent thing of the year.

When I plan to go back, I'll do it right away.

After instructing the Imperial City Division to send people to the Snow Valley to find the path that was very likely to exist.

Lu Yuan thought about it again, and asked people to find Cui Changqing and ask about the current grain and grass reserves of the Chu State.

"King, now that the war in Chu has stopped, the 20 million stone grain and rice that were prepared last year are still a lot after the loss of the army. Combined, there are about 7 million stones. ”

Cui Changqing has long been aware of these government affairs, and answers truthfully at this time.

It's just that after finishing speaking, as if he guessed what the purpose of Lu Yuan asked this, he added another sentence: "But now there are immigrants from all over the country, and there are still a large number of garrisons in Xichuan and Qianzhong counties, and these people all need the imperial court to send food to support."

Now, in order to maintain the livelihood of these large army and people, the imperial court has to spend at least two million stone of grain every month.

Now it is April, and all parts of Dachu have been sown one after another, and in June, the summer grain can be harvested.

Therefore, in the past three months, at least six million stone of grain must be guaranteed in order to barely maintain the current situation.

If the king were to use these reserves, the imperial court would now only be able to squeeze out a million stone of grain at most. ”

10 million stone of grain, if you save a little, it is about enough for a million people to need a year.

A few years ago, Lu Yuan conquered Southwest Yi, although the forbidden army used was always only 100,000 people.

But the soldiers and horses that Chu really used on the battlefield in the southwest are actually far more than that.

In addition to the 100,000 forbidden troops, there are 30,000 county soldiers in Qianzhong County, as well as more than 100,000 captured Yi prisoners of war, and hundreds of thousands of Chu immigrants who have migrated.

Combined, these people numbered more than half a million.

Just to feed these many people, even if there are those immigrants who work for relief, and there are captives to help transport grain and grass, the state of Chu has to allocate an additional 200,000 or so people to transport grain.

The food and drink of 700,000 people, plus the consumption of grain transported on the road, to fight a war of conquest, not counting the money, but only the grain, it will consume more than 10 million stone a year.

Later, if you count the Kunhai Kingdom that Lu Yuan had helped raise for a period of time, as well as the hundreds of thousands of troops mobilized by Xichuan County, at the peak, the Chu army's consumption of grain and grass directly reached 20 million stone a year, that is, the annual ration of two million people.

It provides food and drink for two million people for a year, which is almost a suffocating number for the Chu State, which had a population of only about six million at the time.

A war directly emptied the accumulation of six full years of Chu from the eighth year of Yue Hongdao to the fourth year of Shenwu.

In six years, the tens of millions of stone grains accumulated by the Chu State for recuperation and recuperation, and the tens of millions of taels of silver in the treasury, were almost consumed.

If it weren't for the robbery of the southwest Zhuyi and a wave of blood, the Chu State would have gone bankrupt a long time ago.

And even so.

By last year, that is, at the end of the war, the state of Chu was still greatly affected by the war, and the domestic grain price rose by two-thirds, causing serious damage to people's livelihood.

It was precisely because he saw this that Lu Yuan gave up the Jianchuan Kingdom and gave up such a large piece of territory to Qiao Kangquan.

Because the remaining strength savings of the Chu State really can't be fought anymore.

Domestic food prices have skyrocketed, and the Chu State even has to buy grain from those vampire grain merchants in the South China Sea.

If you fight again, the state of Chu will be the next state of Su.

Lu Yuan naturally didn't want to see this situation.

So in the end, he chose to stop, quit the battle as soon as possible, and found Qiao Kangquan, the cannon fodder, to go up.

With three vassal states, the threat of the remaining two Dayi kingdoms, Nanzhao and Dali in the southwest region was blocked.

The state of Chu was also able to withdraw from it and began to recuperate now.

Only then did the original hoarding of grain, in addition to the garrisons stationed in various places, as well as the loss of the newly relocated people, still have a small half.

Otherwise, there will be no food.

"A million stones?"

Listening to Cui Changqing finish calculating this account, Lu Yuan also has a clearer understanding of his current family background.

On the side of Xichuan County, hundreds of thousands of people from the original Xichuan Kingdom, as well as 500,000 people who moved from all over the Chu State, adding up to nearly a million people, are now all waiting to be fed, waiting for the Chu State to deliver life-saving food.

On the side of Qianzhong County, there are also more than 100,000 new immigrants and more than 100,000 prisoners of war, who also need relief from the imperial court.

Counting the tens of thousands of soldiers and horses of the two armies......

Although the war has stopped now, the grain and grass consumed by the Chu State have become more because of the implementation of various policies.

But that's the time.

Just like Cui Changqing said, now that the grain has been planted, as long as he waits for another two or three months, he can harvest the summer grain.

At that time, with the wealth of the Jianghan Plain and the Dongting Plain, the two counties of Xiangyang and Dongting together will be able to harvest 70 million stone grains.

With so much food, even if the rations left for the local people are removed, there will be 10 million or 20 million stone of grain left in the end, which is enough to support subsequent consumption.

And wait until the golden autumn in the second half of the year, and another batch of grain can be harvested.

And when the grain is harvested, the immigrants who moved to Xichuan and Qianzhong will be able to obtain rations by themselves without additional subsidies from the imperial court.

At that time, everything will be on the right track, and the state of Chu will be able to slowly ease up, and there will be no need to pick and search like now, and it will be difficult to live.

In this way, you can also draw out food and go to the Soviet country to make a fortune.

Shaking his head in his heart, sweeping these thoughts away, Lu Yuan looked at Cui Changqing, and then said: "The remaining one million stone grain, you took out 500,000 stone, and all of it was transported to Xichuan for use by the army."

There is also the imperial court, which is also ready to transfer a group of officials to be ready to rush to Xichuan at any time. ”

Cui Changqing heard his own king say this, the corners of his mouth twitched, and he immediately understood what the other party wanted to do, and asked, "The king is going to move troops in Xichuan?" ”

This is why Zuo Xiang asked, and he stopped talking a little.

The Chu country is almost gone, and now it is in urgent need of recuperation, and the same is true of the national policy set before.

Why did the king regret it again after a few months?

As the left minister, Cui Changqing felt that he had to take responsibility to discourage the king's willfulness.

Lu Yuan glanced at him, instantly understood what the other party was thinking, and couldn't help but smile: "Don't worry, Prime Minister Zuo, Lone really plans to use troops, but he doesn't plan to use big soldiers." ”

After explaining a sentence and calming the other party's heart, he continued: "On the side of Xichuan County, the people on the snow field fell into the dilemma of lack of food because a large number of cattle and sheep froze to death due to the snow disaster, and they chose to run down the mountain and plunder Xichuan at this time.

If this trouble is not solved, Xichuan will never be able to stabilize itself, and it will be difficult to implement the original national policy of development.

So I'm thinking about it, I have to fight anyway, and it's better to take the initiative than to be beaten passively.

The people of the river valley near Xichuan are weak, adding up to only more than 200,000 people, and they are divided into dozens of tribes.

This kind of strength is not my opponent of the Great Chu Xiongshi at all.

So I'm going to let Huang Xuanzhen, who is guarding Xichuan, lead the troops, and I don't need more, with a forbidden army and the local county government and county soldiers, there are 30,000 or 40,000 people, which is enough to sweep the people in the river valley.

The land of the snowfield river valley adds up to more than 2,000 li, extending to the north, near the area of Hanzhong County, there are also three small river valleys, nearly a thousand miles of land.

These 3,000 miles of river valleys, if they are slightly separated, can also set up five or six mansions.

After Gu planned to sweep away the people of the river valley, he moved the people there, set up a prefecture and county, and set up another river valley county for Dachu to shield Xichuan. ”

Lu Yuan said with a smile.

The strength of the Tibetan people in the river valley is weak, and the combined strength of dozens of tribes is only more than 200,000 people. Even counting the small river valleys on the other side of Hanzhong County, the population is at most 300,000.

And among so many people, the strongest one is only first-class, not even a congenital.

With this bit of strength, the Chu State can easily assimilate.

Moreover, the place where they live, although it is also a snowfield area, is a relatively easy river valley to survive in the snowfield.

There are rivers and lakes, and fields can be cultivated on both sides of the river, and agricultural crops can be planted.

This kind of territory cannot be regarded as pure nomadism, but has agricultural potential. The state of Chu was able to perfectly digest and control, build cities on these territories, and set up prefectures and counties.

As for the established river valley county, the territory of five or six prefectures is only 300,000 people, which is too vast and sparsely populated to be too easy to develop and rule, so there is no need to worry about this.

On the Jianchuan and Jianchang prefectures newly established in Qianzhong County, the war ended early because the Dachang and the country surrendered too quickly, and it was too late to clean up.

Among the two prefectures, there are still more than 200,000 Yi people, distributed in various places, which has become a major hidden danger.

Originally, Lu Yuan was still thinking about how to deal with it, so he didn't have to worry about it at this time.

The more than 200,000 Yi people can be taken out of half of them, and then some of the families of the Yi people who have been drawn out of the Yi prisoners of war can be released and relocated to Hegu County together.

In this way, when they arrive in a strange place, surrounded by Tibetan people, these Yi people become the weaker side.

If they want to gain a firm foothold here, withstand the threat of those local snakes, and survive in the river valley, they must rely on the Chu State government.

At that time, a group of Chu people will be relocated to the past, as the core backbone, supplemented by a large number of Yi people, and then deterred by a large army, in less than one or two decades, Hegu County can be stabilized and become an important town in the west of the Great Chu inserted into the snow field and the Zhou State.