northernbook Chapter 293: Forcing things to grow.
Chapter 293: Forcing things to grow.
Ye Kun nodded: "Tomorrow I will accompany you and lead the officials and generals at all levels to pay tribute to the fourth brother."
The next morning, Ye Kun led everyone to pay tribute to Shangguan Jifu and toast in front of his grave.
Shangguan Jifu's wives, concubines and children knelt down to express their gratitude.
Ye Kun returned the greeting and said:
"Sisters-in-law, Yizhou is my territory and also Fourth Brother's. You can live wherever you want, and I will arrange it for you. If you want to stay in Tianmen County, that's fine too. I will have everyone take good care of you and your son."
Shangguan Jifu's wife said:
"We will stay in Tianmen County. We can also worship General Shangguan during the four seasons and eight festivals. However, women like me are not good at educating children. Lord Ye, please take Lin'er to Chengdu and teach him morning and evening."
Although Shangguan Lin was young, he was very obedient and stepped forward to kowtow to Ye Kun.
Ye Kun pulled Shangguan Lin up and said with a smile:
"Lin'er is still young and can't leave his mother. Let me arrange a martial arts teacher for Lin'er first so that he can learn slowly. When Lin'er is twelve years old, I will take him to Chengdu to let him train."
It is cruel to ask a child of eight or nine to leave his mother.
We hope our children will become successful, but we can't force the issue.
Shangguan Lin was overjoyed when he heard this, and turned around and shouted, "Mother, Uncle Dalang asked me to stay with you..."
Madam Shangguan couldn't help but smile, then said with a straight face: "What Uncle Dalang? Call him Lord Ye!"
"Sister-in-law, it's most appropriate for Lin'er to call me uncle."
Ye Kun touched Shangguan Lin's head and said with a smile: "Study hard and practice martial arts. When you grow up, you should be like your father, a hero who stands tall and proud."
The next day, Ye Kun went to Xiping Mountain and Shuangya Mountain for inspection.
Yan Liuhai has built hundreds of fortresses in Shuangya Mountain, and more than a hundred are being planned.
So many fortresses formed a solid battle line, and there were marching corridors at the rear, so the army could gather or disperse and move quickly.
However, the fortress had not been tested in actual combat, so Yan Liuhai lacked confidence and asked:
"Brother, building a fortress is very expensive. Is it worth it? With this money, we can build a big city in Shuangya Mountain."
"It's worth it." Ye Kun nodded and said:
"If we build a big city, we will lose our strategic depth and be easily besieged. Scattered fortresses are more conducive to our war of attrition and annihilation of the enemy's manpower. Moreover, we can fight when we want and leave when we want. The initiative is in our hands."
Don’t underestimate these fortresses; in the era of cold weapons, they were tough nut to crack.
During the Qing Dynasty, the Qing troops suffered a lot in the Battle of Jinchuan.
Because there are thousands of fortresses in the area of Jinchuan, which support each other. There is enough food inside the fortresses, and there are wells, which makes it easy to defend but difficult to attack.
At that time, the Qing army already had powerful artillery, but still could not take down these fortresses. Finally, they transferred the strongest Kulun soldiers and fought hard for several years before they took down Jinchuan.
The predecessor of the Great Wall was also a fortress at first.
Later, city walls were used to connect the fortresses together to form the Great Wall.
Gongsun Erniang said: "You need to train the soldiers and do offensive and defensive drills, so that everyone is familiar with the fortress and cooperates with each other to play the greatest role."
Ye Kun nodded: "Junior Sister Gongsun is right, Liu Hai, you are in charge of the defense of the southeast, you must be careful everywhere."
"I know." Yan Liuhai nodded, then frowned and said, "But my subordinates now have more than 20,000 troops, relying on Pingye County, and it is difficult for them to be self-sufficient in food and grass..."
"Don't worry, Yizhou is the rear area, I will provide you with food and grass support."
Ye Kun smiled and said, "After the defense is completed, you can arrange soldiers and start production. Three years later, we will fight for the world again!"
Yan Liuhai was full of energy: "Don't worry, big brother. Three years later, I will be the vanguard and help you conquer Jiangdong!"
"Take care, brother!"
Ye Kun bowed and said goodbye.
It has been more than three months since Ye Kun left Chengdu on February 2 to attack Hanzhong.
If you don’t go back, there will be chaos!
Because all the food and fodder for the Battle of Hanzhong and the Battle of Xiangfan relied on support from Yizhou, the Yizhou gentry had been complaining about the supply of food and manpower for a long time.
Ye Kun originally wanted to go to Deyang to see Wei Caiqin, but in order to appease the Yizhou base camp, he had to give up.
When we returned to Chengdu, it was already mid-June.
Ye Kun first summoned Ma Zhao privately to inquire about the situation.
Ma Zhao said, "Don't worry, Lord Ye. The basic situation is still stable. Because the war cost a lot of money and food, the officials and gentry naturally have some complaints, but they dare not rebel. This time we have hurt our vitality, and we must rest and recuperate."
Because of the war, all trade between Yizhou, the Central Plains, and Jiangdong came to a halt;
There was still some trade between the Western Qiang, Jiaozhou and Nanman areas, but the transaction volume was small and the profit was not much.
Because of the war, people had to be organized to transport food, which also had a great impact on agricultural production.
Ye Kun breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile: "Yizhou is a land of abundance. It only takes one season to recover. Hanzhong also has large tracts of fertile land. The next season's rice harvest will be abundant and will also replenish the treasury."
Ma Zhao nodded and asked, "Master Ye has won many battles. Did he bring back a large amount of gold and silver this time?"
Logically speaking, if you win a battle, there will be spoils of war.
Ye Kun smiled bitterly: "Not a penny."
In fact, Hanzhong was rich, but half of it was taken away by Zhang Mi; the remaining half, Ye Kun distributed to the people or used it to reward soldiers in order to stabilize Hanzhong.
The victory at Phoenix Mountain did not gain a penny, but we only killed 20,000 enemies, stripped some of their armor, and seized countless swords, guns, bows and arrows.
Ma Zhao sighed, "Master Ye, it's hard to handle without a penny. As far as I know, the treasury is also out of money, and Wu Qiong will definitely complain to you."
Ye Kun shrugged: "It's okay, I have my own way to deal with it."
In fact, the Chengdu treasury is still rich.
They were all copper coins. Ye Kun didn't allow them to use any and only allowed everyone to use silver.
Copper is a strategic material that can be used to cast cannons and make cannonballs.
Sure enough, before Ye Kun entered the hall to discuss matters, Wu Qiong and Xie Tong came to ask for a meeting.
Ye Kun summoned them and said with a smile, "I was just preparing to discuss matters tomorrow, but the two adults came. Is there anything urgent?"
"No money, Lord Ye." Wu Qiong was very direct and presented the account:
"Due to the large-scale construction and war, all the gold and silver have been spent, leaving only 130,000 strings of copper coins; porcelain, Sichuan brocade, tea and sesame oil cannot be sold because the trade routes are cut off. The food in stock is only enough for the army for half a year, and we dare not move it. The workers in the factories and mines need to eat, and we will soon run out of food and fodder."
"Didn't we just harvest the wheat?"
"The wheat harvest coincided with continuous rain, which reduced the yield a lot. In addition, the laborers transported food and grass, which delayed the farming season, so the yield was reduced even more."
Ye Kun looked at the accounts and nodded, saying, "First, withdraw a portion of the military rations to support the major factories and mines. We will think of a solution during the meeting tomorrow."
Returning to the inner hall, Ye Kun was still frowning.
Yizhou, the land of abundance, was reduced to its original state after just one war.
Fortunately, he won the battle and his army was powerful; if he had lost this time, Yizhou would have been in a different situation.
Jiang Yourong asked, "Husband, are you worried about something?"
"I just have no money to spend, but I don't have any worries." Ye Kun smiled.
"Don't be afraid, I have money." Jiang Yourong smiled devilishly:
"The noble ladies in Yizhou often send me gifts. I give them some porcelain in return and make a lot of money. I calculated that it's probably... more than 20,000 taels of silver."
Xie Baochan had given birth to a daughter, who was just one month old. She smiled while holding the child:
"I will take as much as Sister Yourong takes to support my husband. If it's still not enough, I will go back to my parents' home to borrow money."