Chapter 694 Bad News

On the tenth day of October, Xihai ushered in the first heavy snowfall of this winter.

It rained for five whole days and five nights. When it cleared up, we could see the mountains and fields, which were vast and vast, and everything as far as the eye could reach was completely blank.

At dawn, various officials entered the yamen one after another. After a while, they went out with pushers, shovels and other utensils to clear the snow in the street.

After a shovel was shoveled down, the snow was all the way to the bottom. When the pavement was dug out, it was actually a foot and a half deep.

This is true in the city, but what about outside the city, under the mountains, and in the wilderness?

Li Chengzhi sighed softly, and the mist disappeared in a blink of an eye.

"Could residential buildings collapse and civilians suffer casualties?"

Cui Guang bowed: "Don't worry, Lord, no matter whether it's Zhenyi or the two foothills of Heli Mountain, all the houses are not made of bricks, but made of rammed red earth. They are comparable to city walls. No matter how heavy the snow is, they will not collapse."

Yu!"

"Where are the factories? Are there any damages to the sheds or buildings? Are there any frostbites on the workers?"

"On the second day, the subordinate officials ordered all factories to stop working, strengthen factory buildings and sheds, and then sent the workers home."

Li Shiliang replied, "The factory buildings are not in trouble. They are places such as copper factories, paper factories, and clothing factories that need to use pools to store water for soaking materials. Since there is no time to drain water in the future, all the pools will freeze. The following officials estimate that after

With the freezing temperatures this winter, there will definitely be a lot of damage when spring comes!"

"It's just a few pools of water, so what does it matter? As long as everyone is fine!"

Li Chengzhi breathed a sigh of relief, "Where is the animal husbandry near Juyan Lake?"

Li Shixian paused subconsciously and bowed slightly: "The snow stopped at midnight last night, and the Ministry of Animal Husbandry sent an urgent report. On the third day of the heavy snow, snow piled on the tents and tents, and the herdsmen were injured. I immediately talked to

Chief Li consulted and ordered the herdsmen to move to the nearest military camp...

It was snowing yesterday and I came back with an urgent report: nearly half of the people affected by the disaster have been resettled. Later, I summoned all the officials to gather grain and forage. Once the weather clears and the roads clear, they will be transported to Juyan.

lake."

Li Shixian finally got what he wanted, and he was moved to be the chief of the Civil Service last month. Only after he took office did he know why Li Chengzhi would rather have him serve as a deputy, or even a sinecure, than to serve as the chief of the Cao.

This official is really not that easy to be, let alone a civil servant who has the most, most complicated and heaviest affairs?

Over the past month, he has been working very hard and forgetting to eat and sleep. He has just sorted out some clues, but he doesn't want another snowstorm to happen?

The grain farmers are okay, their grain has been stored in warehouses, and they live in buildings. But the herdsmen are in dire straits. You can imagine how difficult it is to encounter such a natural disaster that has not happened in ten years.

There was nearly two feet of snow, and smaller lambs could be smothered to death on the spot, and countless others suffered frostbite and frostbite.

And this is only second.

If the temperature does not warm up and the snow does not melt away as soon as possible, how can the livestock satisfy their hunger?

In just a few days, most of the cattle and sheep will starve to death.

Fortunately, it is wartime now, and almost all the people in Xihai are in the army. In addition, the emergency response mechanism is very complete, so the disaster response and efficiency of the military and civilians are extremely high, which can at least minimize the casualties of the herdsmen.

On the second night of heavy snowfall, Li Chengzhi ordered the Ministry of War to prepare for disaster relief. When the weather was getting brighter, Li Shixian's petition requesting the Juyan Lake garrison to assist civilians in disaster relief was sent to Li Chengzhi's desk. He also requested the warehouse department to transfer disaster grains and grass.

, to solve the urgent needs of the Ministry of Animal Husbandry.

It can be seen that Li Shixian has already thought of everything Li Chengzhi can think of.

Looking at Li Shixian's gray temples, Li Chengzhi secretly sighed: "Relying on the Ministry of Civil Affairs for disaster relief will undoubtedly be a drop in the bucket. It will take half a month for the grain and grass for the disaster relief to be transported to Juyan Lake. The herdsmen are okay, and there are still some

Food is being stored for emergencies, but the Ministry of Animal Husbandry may not have enough livestock left...Li Liang?"

Li Liang hurriedly bowed: "I'm here!"

"Order Li Zhang to mobilize new troops for immediate disaster relief: leave two guards in the camp (one guard five thousand, two guards ten thousand) in case of emergency. The other four guards will send two guards ahead to clear the road and clear the road. The rest

The two guards are responsible for transporting grain, and they must transport the disaster grain to Juyan Lake within three days.

In addition, he quickly informed Li Yongshou (who led two guards stationed in Juyan, Hubei) that only three days' worth of rations for the soldiers and fodder for the army and horses would be kept, and the rest would be transferred to Ren Guang (deputy chief of the civil service, in charge).

Ministry of Animal Husbandry), ordering them to provide relief to the victims..."

"promise!"

Li Chengzhi paused for a moment and then said: "In addition, I sent an envoy to Bo Gu Lu and ordered Li Feng to decide on the time. He should withdraw his troops as soon as possible and withdraw from Bo Gu Lu! Then I ordered Huangfu to just defend the city.

, don’t start a fight with Cui Yanbo..."

All the civil servants and generals standing on both sides of Li Chengzhi were all shocked.

Since early September, Li Chengzhi ordered Li Feng to cross the river. Although it was only a month away, Li Feng was so powerful that he defeated Xingluan in Liziyuan (today's Yinchuan).

If Xing Luan hadn't seen the opportunity early and used the oil sand dug from Jinming County to build a wall of fire under the side wall, Li Feng might have been able to attack Woye Town directly.

Since the north road was blocked, Li Feng made a decisive decision and turned south.

Although he only had 50,000 troops under his command, he still divided his troops into two groups. He sent 30,000 troops to Liziyuan first, and formed an artillery array three miles away along the border wall. It was like a knife, cutting the Northland and Guanzhong into two, making Xingluan

Yuan Yao, Xi Kangsheng and others did not dare to send their troops south.

Then deputy commander Zhang Xinyi led the remaining four guards and advanced towards Gaoping Town. All the counties and counties along the way collapsed upon hearing the news. They either fled into Guanzhong or followed to Jinming. If Li Chengzhi had not issued a strict order, this move would have been just a bluff.

Speaking of Gaoping Town, I'm afraid even Jingzhou has changed hands.

The war is going so smoothly and the situation is so good, but Li Chengzhi wants to withdraw his troops at this time?

Is it because of this heavy snow?

If we were afraid that Li Feng would send his troops to the field and the soldiers would not be able to withstand the wind and cold, and they would freeze to death or get frostbite, wouldn't it be enough to capture Gaoping Town?

Moreover, winter clothes have already been shipped to all armies. Those thick leather robes and felt boots are still cold even if you are in an ice cellar, let alone a heavy snowfall?

While he was secretly wondering, he heard Li Chengzhi say: "That's all, let Huangfu and Li Feng retreat. If the imperial court has no intention of counterattack, let them discuss and withdraw the six guards to the West Sea..."

"Why?"

Cui Guang couldn't bear it anymore.

He really couldn't figure it out: It was enough to just stop fighting, so why should we withdraw our troops?

Because Gao Ying pretended to be pitiful and was in tears, that private letter begging you to withdraw the troops?

Li Chengzhi, how dare you say that you and the Queen Mother are innocent and have no personal relationship?

Not only Cui Guang, but also Li Shiliang, Li Shixian, Wei Zijian, Li Liang, and even Zhang Jingzhi looked at him with shock on their faces.

Now there are 130,000 troops outside the Xihai Sea, and 20,000 are in Dunhuang, with Li Song as the commander, guarding the western frontier.

Fifty thousand people are in Bogulu, with Li Feng as the commander, and now they are about to enter Guanzhong.

There are still 60,000 people on both sides of the river, commanded by Huangfu, stationed in Wuwei, Shandan Racecourse, Shanshan, Wuhan and Qin and Liangzhou.

Calculated in this way, there are 110,000 troops on the eastern front. It sounds like a lot, but just to garrison many states and cities, to guard against Cui Yanbo to the east of Longshan, Xingluan and Yuanyao to the north of Bogulu, there will be at least six to

80,000. If the Six Guards are withdrawn, that is, after 30,000, Huangfu Cang and Li Feng will no longer be able to advance eastward...

"Why else?"

Li Chengzhi sighed leisurely and looked at the sky again, "It's just in Hexi that the snow is so heavy, let alone Tuyuhun south of the Qilian Mountains and Rouran deep in Mobei?"

"Whether the snow in these two places is heavy or not, what does the West Sea have to do with me... Well, that's not right?"

Cui Guangru dreamed and woke up, "Shouldn't it be that the heavier the snow, the more beneficial it is to our West Sea? In such a disaster, countless livestock will freeze to death and starve to death. It is not uncommon for smaller tribes to be exterminated.

As a result, the national strength of these two countries will inevitably be greatly damaged..."

Seeing Li Chengzhi's brows furrowed and his expression extremely strange, Cui Guang gradually couldn't speak anymore: "Is there something wrong?"

"It's not wrong. If we take a long-term view, it will definitely be beneficial to us, but for now..."

Li Cheng grinned and said, "The Hu people live with their livestock. If so many people freeze to death, wouldn't there be no way to survive? In other words, they are all about to starve to death. There is nothing they dare to do..."

Zhang Jingzhi's expression suddenly changed: "Raise troops to attack?"

Li Chengzhi nodded: "Nine times out of ten!"

Li Chengzhi is not surprised that these people have not thought of this for the time being.

Because there are relatively few records in the history books of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and these leaders were all very young, and they never served in Beizhen, so we don't know this section.

If it were replaced by Xi Kangsheng, Yuan Yao, Cui Yanbo and others, they would surely have thought that whenever there was a major disaster, the Hu tribe would definitely invade the border.

Just like the Han Dynasty, it is a truth that rebellions will continue during disaster years. If the Hu people do not rob, they will starve to death or even be exterminated.

Snow cannot fall in just one place. If one area is affected, seven or eight out of ten areas will inevitably be affected. Even if you want to grab something, there will be nothing to grab.

After counting, only the Han Dynasty is left...

Although they have just suffered a big loss, it is unlikely that Tuyuhun or Rouran will come to snatch Xihai, but they are afraid of the eventuality.

People are hungry and crazy and can do anything. Now the West Sea is empty and Hexi is the place of the Four Wars. There are no natural dangers to defend. If a barbarian army really comes to burn, kill and loot, the long border will only be

Li Yongshou's two-guard cavalry and Li Zhang's six-guard new army are really difficult to defend against.

So it’s better to make plans early...

Cui Guang, for example, was still a little skeptical. It was not that he doubted that Li Chengzhi was not telling the truth, but that he doubted whether Rouran and Tuyuhun had the courage.

However, it is always the best policy to prepare for a rainy day and take precautions. In addition, Li Chengzhi had already planned a strategy this time: just to show off his fangs and put pressure on the court, not to actually invade Guanzhong. Therefore, there is not much difference between retreating troops early and retreating late.
To be continued...