choke element

Chapter 501

The main reason why the Mongolian army was able to go deep into the hinterland of Dajin last time was that the water transport warehouses in the six states of Qing, Cang, En, Jing, Xian, and Shen were controlled by the Mongolian army at the beginning of the war.

In the 21st year of Dading, the imperial court ordered the six prefectures along the river to donate millet because of the lack of reserves in the capital.Relying on the Caohe River, the six prefectures dispatched more than one million shi of grain at a time, transported it to Tongzhou, and sent it to the capital to relieve urgent needs.

By the first year of Zhenyou, dozens of grain warehouses in the six prefectures gathered grain and fodder materials from 22 counties in Hebei Dongxi Road, Damingfu Road, Nanjing Road 76th Road, Six Prefectures, [-] Junzhou, and [-] counties.Not to mention the huge amount of materials to be transshipped, the shady "color loss" and "waste" that Cao Si officials and subordinate officials have stored in private warehouses in various places over the years are no less than a million stones.

With this, the Mongolian army will naturally be able to provide iron cavalry to gallop freely. Even in the deep winter, there is no need to worry about lack of food.Many Mongolian horses have eaten grain all winter, and they are fatter than they used to be when they ate hay on the grassland.

After the Mongolian army retreated, what was left to the Dajin Kingdom was an unprecedented mess.

Warehouses, which were the lifeblood of the central capital, were looted and burned to the ground, and nine out of ten of the boats, boats, and even the boats on land were also damaged.And because many facilities were left unmaintained for a long time, or were set on fire by the Mongols, the paralysis of the entire water transportation system could not be reversed at all.

The imperial court appointed Hebei Xuanfu envoy San Anzhen to also manage the Jingzhou Water Transportation Department, originally hoping that he would resume water transportation as soon as possible to ensure the supply to Zhongdu.When Pu San Anzhen was in Zhongdu, she also made a good promise to the emperor.

But when he got to the place, Pu San Anzhen felt the difficulty of being in charge of the place.

Hebei Lianglu was the place that was most severely damaged by Mongolia last time, and the surviving household registrations in various places are less than [-]% of what they were back then.Servant Anzhen tried her best to recruit exiles, and resumed production a little bit, so how could she have any leeway to support Zhongdu?
Even if there is such a little margin, Pu San Anzhen can't raise soldiers herself?

After all, he was disgraced in Shandong!
In the end, Pusan ​​Anzhen not only failed to resume the water transportation as soon as possible, but also transferred part of the grain sent from Nanjing Road to Zhongdu from time to time.

And King Sui, who controlled Nanjing Road, had the idea of ​​buying a small gold in the territory of Dajin from the very beginning, and the grain and supplies transported north were always so little.

As a result, there is always a large gap in the source of materials in the central capital.To fill this gap, we had to rely on Guo Ning, the promulgator of Shandong, and the maritime trade routes controlled by Guo Ning.

Since the emperor ascended the throne, the fear of Shandong cannot be concealed from anyone.All the higher-ranking officials in the entire Zhongdu city knew that the envoy Guo Xuan acted recklessly, killing an official of the imperial court was like killing a chicken, and he was a real traitor.Even compared to Cao Cao and Zhu Wen, Gao Huan, Yu Wentai and others, they are only one step away from hijacking the emperor.

Even thinking about it carefully, this envoy Guo Xuan had hijacked the emperor a long time ago. If it weren't for him, he was only in favor of the old prime minister, and he still doesn't know who is sitting in the Da'an Hall now.

Then Guo Ning is indeed a big traitor. Everyone understands the truth. If the real food demand cannot be met here, the problem of feeding millions of people on Zhongdu Road must be solved.

Over the past year, the trade between Shandong and Zhongdu has been thriving.Many well-to-do households with a little money in the central capital tried to do business with the Shandong caravan, turned around and took the grain and donated it to the imperial court, and then applied for official positions and promotions according to the expedient rules set by the imperial court. .

It's not that people in Zhongdu like being an official that much.It is because the emperor has poured out high-level military positions such as Dutong and Meng'an in order to win over warriors this year, so that there were more than 1 Dutongs in the city at most, bullying the market and robbing men and women at every turn.

In order to fight against more than 1 capitals, the people of Zhongdu can't rest assured if they don't hold an official position in their hands.Fortunately, Xu Ding presided over the formulation of the expedient grace rules, and Xu Ding was not unscrupulous. At least 150 shi was needed to be promoted to an official position and appointed as an envoy.

So in the past few months, the entire operation chain around the Bohai Sea has become like this: the imperial court sends out officials, rich households pay money, the Southern Dynasty sends out food, Liaodong sends out horses, Shandong people don’t send out anything except a few weapons and armor, relying on their own families The fleet is busy going back and forth, no matter what the benefits are, they will pay first.

It's a pity that even the fleet is the property of the Wanyan clan king in Zhongdu, and it was snatched by that rebel Guo Ning!

At that time, the three His Royal Highnesses, King Yonggong of Yue, King Yongsheng of Kui, and King Huo Congyi, were once able to compete with the current emperor for the throne in Zhongdu because of their wealth and power.But at that time, the capital was in turmoil, and the three highnesses were all killed overnight by thieves. These fleets, and even the foundation of Zhigu Village, were taken advantage of by Guo Ning, who was the fastest and most ruthless.

After Guo Ning took over the foundation, this place has continued to expand as the center for the assembly and transshipment of many maritime merchant fleets.

At the point where the three branches of the river converge, on the opposite bank of the Xin'an Sea, the original convex-shaped Tufu highland has long been unable to accommodate so many buildings, ports and manpower.

When the river swelled last summer, a group of merchants were fed up with the threat of flooding their property, so they pooled their money and recruited a large number of strong men, who forcibly drove piles and filled the river beach, and continued to expand the convex south side.The area of ​​the entire plateau has thus expanded to four or five times its original size, and it is said that the back is divided into eight grids to look like a turtle.

However, after all, this place is a commercial center, because the Mongols attacked again.A large number of merchants living here fled one after another, some went to Zhongdu, some went to Hebei states south of Lushui, and some felt that Shandong was safer, so they followed the fleet to Laizhou.With the rapid separation of personnel, a large number of manpower and facilities had to be moved to Shandong for refuge.

After all, the family is big and the business is big, and the speed of the top can't be fast at all.

Chen Ran stared at the two hundred people in Dongyang City, Yidu, who had completed five days of special training, and when he led his men to Zhigu Village, many key locations had just been demolished, and many places were quite messy.

At this time, if the Mongols went deep into the range of Zhigu Village, it would be like a tiger joining a pack of wolves, regardless of the loss of human, financial or material resources.

So Chen Ran had no choice but to kill this Mongolian cavalry squad.This approach can at least ensure the immediate stability and leave time for successors to camp and prepare for war.

The soldiers and horses he brought, under the banner of King Qin, are the top elite in the Ding Navy, and they are well equipped.Moreover, they all knew that this trip to the north was related to the great policy of the navy, and they had great responsibilities. Even on the ship, they were still on the alert and never slack off.

Chen Ran gave an order, and all the soldiers disembarked in advance and set up a pocket array skillfully. After a while, they brought back more than 20 Mongolian cavalry heads, and their own casualties were very slight.

Seeing this, the generals all laughed and said, "Qianju, this is indeed a good sign."

The fleet stopped for a while in the south of Xin'an Hairu, and Chen Ran had people round up a group of refugees, and personally asked about the recent movements of the Mongols.Then the fleet continued westward and arrived at Zhigu Village half an hour later.

The person who went out early to greet him was Li Yun's capable subordinate, a person in charge of the operation here, named Yan Ming.

Of course Guo Ning himself knows that sea trade routes are the lifeblood of the Ding Navy; but due to the inertia since ancient times, his subordinates, civil and military, do not all pay attention to this aspect.

Li Yun, the magistrate of the Group Animal Husbandry, is actually an important person who controls huge wealth and power, but many people in Yidu Mansion still regard him as Li Ting's younger brother.Even with many of Li Yun's subordinates, their status is not very high at this moment.

It is inevitable that this Yan Ming will do the same.He is a son of a merchant in Baodi County, and he has known Li Yun since childhood, but he seldom has direct contact with the senior officials of Dinghailing.In name, he wanted to meet Du Shisheng from Central Capital, but in fact, he didn't see Du Shisheng a few times in a year.

A few days ago, he was notified that Chen Ran, a close confidant of Guo Xuanshi, was going to bring a fleet of people to Zhigu Village. He was so shocked that he waited inside and outside every day.After meeting Chen Ran, there seemed to be endless words to say.

"Look! That area is the timber area in our Zhigu village. It is responsible for making wood into various parts of the ship, such as masts and planks. Those piled up are huge logs brought from Liaodong, and they have just begun to dry. , so it is not suitable yet, I will arrange a ship to transport them to Shandong. The next area where the hemp tendons are piled up is the production area for the raw materials...and those warehouses! The newly built place was originally used to store expensive Materials, but it has been emptied at the moment, I plan to dismantle these pieces, and increase the height and thickness of the fence of our stockade..."

"Yan Tikong! Yan Tikong!"

Chen Ran called him several times, Yan Ming finally realized, wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "What's your order?"

"I'm not here to inquire about the affairs of Zhigu Village. I'm going to Zhongdu." Chen Ran said, "At this time, Lushui is shallow and narrow, so it may be difficult for sea ships to pass directly? Please arrange other ships as soon as possible, or, There are enough people to hold hands. I have enough troops here, and I will be able to guarantee the safety of Tsunado."

Yan Ming looked at the size of the fleet, and wrenched his fingers.

"Is there any difficulty? Is there not enough manpower?"

"Ample, very ample!" Yan Ming said repeatedly: "To tell the truth, there is a fleet coming here in the morning, and it is also going to the Central Capital. It is the most convenient for the two to set off together."

(End of this chapter)