Why did Yelu Yanxi stay in Xijin Prefecture without moving?

Of course it’s for eating! Eating is the bottom line!

If he did not let down his face and plunder the powerful Yan Yun, his 100,000 army and at least hundreds of thousands of soldiers and generals in Xijin Prefecture would have to rely on the food transported from Liaodong to fill his stomach. The Liao grain transported from the east is on the line of sea route and boundary river. But whether it is the Bohai Sea or boundary river, it is under the control of the Dasong Sea Road Maritime Control Fleet.

As long as Wu Haogu ordered the blockade of the coastline and boundary river in Liaodong, Xijin Prefecture would immediately cause a food shortage, and Yelu Yanxi would be in trouble!

Why not grow grain in Nanjing?

The land on Nanjing Road was not very fertile and the quantity was limited. Before the rise of Jiehe Commercial City, it had to rely on the grain supply from Liaodong. Later, due to the great development of the marine transportation industry of Jiehe Commercial City and the rise of southern Liao grain transportation, Xijin Prefecture also easily obtained cheap (because of low transportation costs) Liao grain from Jiehe Commercial City.

The large area of ​​land on Nanjing Road has gradually become a ranch for raising cattle and sheep. Because beef, mutton, cattle and sheep skin and wool, there is a large market in Jiehe Commercial Market, and all cattle and sheep can also be sold in large quantities to the Central Plains through the commercial market, and even cow and sheep are in a considerable demand.

Therefore, buying cheap Liaodong grain and raising cattle and sheep that can sell high prices has become a way for a considerable number of Yanyun's powerful families to make money.

However, this economic structure that relies on the Song Dynasty market and marine transportation had a big problem during the war! The 100,000 troops that caused Yelu Yanxi could only spend time in Xijin Prefecture every day and could not join the war.

Because they could not cross the boundary river at all, and they could not open up the boundary river - the Bohai Sea transportation line. So once the war started, Xijin Prefecture would immediately lose its food supply.

As for the cattle and sheep raised by the powerful Yanyun, you can eat meat. However, meat is not banned! The same land is used for animal husbandry and farming, and the population that can be raised is much different.

Moreover, Yelu Yanxi did not have the money to buy so many cattle and sheep... It would be impossible to let those powerful Yan Yun contribute cattle and sheep in vain. They did not love the Great Liao Kingdom so much.

Therefore, Yelu Yanxi could only study the arrangements for the southward battle, while stepping up the transportation of grain from Liaodong.

Wu Haogu certainly knew the troubles he encountered. In fact, this was the result of Wu Haogu's careful arrangements over the years.

He wanted to make the Liao Kingdom's economy revolve around Jiehe Commercial Market!

Therefore, the first enemy Yelu Yanxi encountered now was not the Genghis Emperor Zhao Ji of the Southern Dynasty, but the Heshang City, the center of the economy of the Great Liao Kingdom...

Wu Haogu did not cut off the grain route of Xijin Prefecture. If he did this, perhaps Yelu Yanxi would not go south to oppress Jiehe Shang Market, which would not work. However, he did not allow Liaodong's grain to be continuously transported to Xijin Prefecture. His method was to purchase grain and cattle and sheep at high prices, and use money, rather than using swords to create a grain shortage for Yelu Yanxi.

Therefore, Yelu Yanxi can still accumulate food slowly now, but the process is a little slower...

In addition to spending money to "grab" grain, Wu Haogu also used money to "grab" the source of troops with Yelu Yanxi. It was impossible for the Khitan and Xi people to bribe, but the Han people, Bohai people, and mature Jurchen heroes from the Liao Kingdom could all be bought!

Therefore, although the Song and Liao countries have not really started a war now, the economic war has actually been fought for many years.

"Your Majesty, the Liao people are short of food, so they cannot go south to start a war for the moment."

In Chongzheng Hall, Wu Haogu revealed the puzzle to Zhao Ji, Zhang Shuye, Wang Bing and Ji Yi.

"Food food?" Zhao Ji frowned, "How could it be? Isn't Liaodong rich in grain?"

When talking about grain, Zhao Ji remembered Wu Haogu, a tyrant businessman, has been using the wheat from Liaodong to pretend to be Jiangnan wheat for money over the years... He has to "miss" millions every year! He has known it for a long time, and he has turned a blind eye to himself, but he has cheated him ten thousand more.

It’s really a businessman! It seems that the words of the ancients are very reasonable!

"Your Majesty," Wuhao Ancient Road, "It is true that Liaodong produces a lot of grain, but the grain from Liaodong is transported to Xijin Prefecture by Jiehe ships. A considerable part of it has been bought by Jiehe Trading City. Now, the grain transported to Xijin Prefecture every month is under the control of Jiehe Trading City, ensuring that Yelu Yanxi will find it difficult to accumulate a large amount of grain reserves."

Is this possible!?

Too treacherous!

The businessman is indeed treacherous!

"Don't Yelu Yanxi know?" Zhao Ji was a little surprised. "He couldn't even get all the food, so why didn't he give up?"

Stop? Where can I put my face?

"Your Majesty," Wu Hao Ancient Road, "In fact, Yelu Yanxi can collect all the food. Now it is just that the official treasury of Xijin Prefecture is empty. Who doesn't have a surplus grain in the strong family of Yanyun for one or two years?"

Of course, the landlords have surplus food. Even if they don’t farm and change to raising cattle and sheep, they will save a year or two, or even three or four years of food for emergencies.

But the question is... Yelu Yanxi was embarrassed to plunder the surplus grain from the powerful Yan Yun family? If he ignored his face and forced himself to ask for food, and finally he was defeated, and there was no spoil to compensate everyone. Then there would inevitably be a gap between the powerful Yan Yun and the Liao Dynasty!

"Yelu Yanxi will definitely plunder the stored food from the powerful Yan Yun family!" Zhao Ji said confidently.

"Your Majesty is wise." Wu Haogu complimented.

This is obvious. Yelu Yanxi is an arrow on the string and has to be fired. If there is always someone who cannot collect enough food, of course he will order the powerful to contribute.

"Can the Hebei Xuanfu Department block the Khitan army by then?" Zhao Ji asked.

"There is no big problem in Cangzhou along the Jiehe River." Wu Haogu replied, "The city of Jiehe Shang City is very strong, and there are a large number of houses and workshops outside the city that can be converted into castles. Moreover, there are many strong men in Jiehe Shang City. You can build more paper armor and crossbows to arm them, so that they can guard the castle at that time.

If the castle can be defended by the township militia, then the new imperial guards can gather together to carry out field maneuvers and deal with the Khitans."

"The militia defended the city?" Zhang Shuye was a little suspicious, "The people of Hebei are no better than those of Shaanxi archers. Can they do it?"

"The matter depends on people!" Wu Haogu said, "First, we must build a strong city; second, we must prepare strong crossbows and arrows; third, we must train young men and women; fourth, we must reserve food and grass; fifth, we must use military officers as the heads of the border prefectures and counties; sixth, we will naturally spend money and spend all the military expenditure allocated by the government on the blade."

Zhao Ji frowned, as if he was reluctant to give up money.

Wu Haogu quickly shook Ji Yi, who had not seen him for many years. Ji Yi understood and hurriedly said to Zhao Ji: "Your Majesty, in fact, we are also dealing with Western thieves in the northwest. We have to spend 20 to 30 million a year. We have been fighting for decades. In terms of expenses, we spent 20 to 30 billion.

This time, it is worth spending tens of millions of dollars at a time, as long as it can reach the blade."

"That's right..." Zhao Ji turned his head to look at Wu Haogu and Ji Yi, and his tone suddenly became louder, "Dalang, Ji Qing's family, you are Hebei Xuanshu, and the other is the transferee of the Transportation Army. I will entrust you to the Hebei affairs first. When Yelu Yanxi's spirit is exhausted, I should personally promote the six armies and lead the troops north to fight with the Northern Lu!"

When Wu Haogu and Ji Yi heard this, they hurriedly bowed and said, "Your Majesty is wise, I am willing to die for Your Majesty!"

...

"How many?"

"Your Majesty, it's ten thousand..."

"Ten thousand million?"

"It's ten thousand pieces!"

"ah……"

At the Imperial Palace of Xijin Prefecture, the Emperor Yelu Yanxi of the Great Liao Dynasty was really confused when he heard the military situation of the left-behind Ma Renwang in Nanjing.

That Rausch-Genghis Emperor Zhao Ji was completely crazy. He didn't give him three million, so he took out ten million for military expenses to fight him!

Ten thousand! How could there be so much money? Has the whole world been plundered by Zhao Ji?

"Hey, what's the use of having too much money? War is not about making money. They have too much money, so they just go to grab it for us Khitan men!"

The person who spoke was a Khitan general named Yelu Zhangnu. He was appointed as the Right Central Chief, and was the chief general of the guard Yelu Yanxi.

Yelu Yanxi glanced at the nonsense card Yinsu's straightforward thing, and his eyes were cold and harsh, which made Yelu Zhangnu tremble. He quickly took a step back, lowered his head and lowered his hands and stopped talking.

Yelu Yanxi no longer argued with Yelu Zhangnu, but continued to discuss military affairs with Ma Renwang.

"Ma Qing, it's still summer now, and it's impossible to cross the Border River - Jumahe and the Song army are fighting, and it's not easy to raise food. Otherwise, go south from Dingzhou and Zhending Prefecture and break a few cities first."

"Is it not right." The horse man looked at him and shook his head repeatedly, "The Song army is good at defending the city. If there are too few troops, it is not enough to break the big city. If there are too many troops... what should the Song army crosses the border river? Now is the time when the river can pass through large ships. The Song people's soldiers can take a boat directly to the bottom of the city of Xijin. Could it be that we are going to fight the Song army in Xijinfu? If we don't win, we will be in chaos in the world!"

Yelu Yanxi's troops were actually not sufficient. The army he brought from Shanbei was all cavalry, with nominal 100,000, but they were one and two auxiliary soldiers (the second auxiliary soldiers were one guarding the shop and one hit Caogu). Therefore, the elite combat soldiers were more than 30,000, of which there were about 10,000 armored cavalry.

In addition, Yelu Yanxi also has 5,000 Khitan soldiers stationed in Xijin Prefecture and 18,000 Han army guards. The total number of soldiers is only 50,000 or less than 60,000.

These people gathered together, and Wu Haogu did not dare to take the initiative to fight. After all, Wu Haogu's new army had 30,000 combat soldiers when the number was full, which was only half of that of the Liao people. Moreover, there were only 6,000 armored cavalry that could rely on in field battles.

But if Yelu Yanxi divided his troops into two groups, it would be hard to say whether Jinfucheng would become Wu Haogu's target.

Although the city walls of Xijin Prefecture seem solid, they are not a solid foundation for Wu Haogu's engineers.
Chapter completed!