As the saying goes, autumn is known from a leaf. From the equipment and treatment of Donghu soldiers, Chen Qing knew that Wanyan Wushu's current financial resources and strength had obviously declined.
In fact, this is inevitable. The cruel oppression of the puppet Qi State has exhausted the people and property of the people of the Central Plains. Wanyan Wushu was able to recruit hundreds of thousands of people at once. One of the most important reasons is that he can have enough to eat as a soldier.
.
Han soldiers do not have high requirements and are satisfied if they can eat enough. But Jurchen soldiers cannot do that. They must eat meat. But now, the meat reserves in Bianliang ice cellars are empty, and the butcher shops on the street have been closed and bankrupt. There is no meat.
However, Wanyan Wushu's army only had some livestock and several thousand sheep left, and this little meat was simply not enough.
There are 70,000 Jin soldiers in Bianliang, including 20,000 Donghu troops and 50,000 Jurchens. The Donghu troops are already the same as the Han soldiers. They only have flour cakes and at most some broth. The Jurchen soldiers used to eat big meat, but now they don’t have it.
, could only sprinkle a thin layer of minced meat into the noodles, so the soldiers complained and their morale was obviously low.
The wheat harvest has begun, and it will be finished within ten days at the latest, and the war will start in ten days at the earliest. Seeing the war is approaching, the soldiers are feeling depressed day by day. In the final analysis, the food is not good.
This is a big deal. Wanyan Wushu has been worried about this matter for the past few days. He sent two hundred sheep conquest teams to various places in Kaifeng Prefecture to search for sheep and forcibly conscript them for military use. Not only sheep, cattle, pigs and dogs, but also poultry.
They were all forced to conquer.
Of course, there would be no more mules, donkeys, and horses. They had searched round after round, but they had long since been emptied.
Fan Gong was worried and persuaded Wanyan Wushu: "Your Majesty, we will levy other conquests, but we still don't have to levy cattle. Cattle are the lifeblood of the people. Without cattle, the land cannot be cultivated. Big trouble will happen, so let's let it go."
The soldiers should not conscript the cattle, but return the cattle to the local officials."
Wanyan Wushu knocked on the table angrily and said: "Most of the soldiers have returned, but so far, we have only recruited 6,000 sheep, 4,000 pigs, 2,000 dogs, and more than 10,000 poultry.
Fifty thousand soldiers need 5,000 sheep for a meal. How many days do you think these things will last?"
The lord was already angry, but Fan Gong still had to bite the bullet and said: "But more than a thousand cows can't eat for a few days, and they have offended the people, so why bother? I suggest you ask Wan Yanchang for help!"
"What help can I ask for!"
Wanyan Wushu's eyes widened, "They have a large amount of mutton sent from Beijing. A large part of it originally belonged to us, but he made various excuses and refused to send it. Now he still wants me to beg him?"
"My lord, it doesn't matter if you lower your head once. You can get it back later. He broke the alliance and refused to rescue. If the Central Plains is lost, will the emperor let him go?"
Wanyan Wushu let out a long sigh and said: "The cow will wait a moment and get the mutton from Hebei. It will not be too late to return it to the government!"
Wanyan Wushu immediately wrote an eagle letter and sent it to Wanyan Chang in Daming Mansion.
At dusk that day, Wanyanchang received an eagle letter from Bianliang. In the letter, Wanyanwushu asked for 500,000 slaughtered sheep to be sent to Bianliang by ship.
There has been no contact between Wanyan Wushu and Wanyan Chang for nearly two months. The main reason is that Wanyan Wushu was very dissatisfied with Wanyan Chang's unauthorized attack on Taiyuan Mansion and ignored him. Wanyan Chang was naturally very angry and also
Too lazy to explain to Wanyan Wushu, the two ignored each other, which was equivalent to a cold war.
This time Wanyan Wushu took the initiative to write a letter asking for mutton, which was a sign of Wanyan Wushu's soft compromise. Although his tone was very blunt, he asked for half a million slaughtered sheep and asked for door-to-door delivery.
Looking at it from another angle, this is actually Wanyan Wushu asking Wanyanchang for help.
It was just Wanyan Wushu's wording and tone in the letter that a little annoyed Wanyan Jilisa.
"What does it mean to be necessary? What does it mean to be sure? We are his logistics camp. If you want anything, you can send it to him. You don't even need to say a word of invitation. What does he think of us? Marshal, in my opinion, we won't send it to him.
, see if he changes his tune?"
Wan Yanchang said slowly for a long time: "Wushu has always been proud and will not bow to me unless he has to. It is estimated that his stock of meat has been exhausted, and the Jurchen soldiers started to make trouble. That's why he wrote to me. The war is about to begin. Now is not the time to make trouble."
When you are in a mood, you should support him when you should, otherwise he will complain to the emperor and I will not be able to live with him for a long time."
Wanyan drank and Lisa didn't expect Wanyanchang's attitude to compromise, so he could only say gloomily: "Even if the marshal wants to send it away, the Yellow River has been blocked by the Song Army, and we can't send it away!"
Wan Yanchang said calmly: "The Song Army only has more than 200 ships. How far can he blockade it? Let's send it to another place instead of Kaifeng Mansion. We will cross the Yellow River from Jezhou and then take Jishui to Juyeze.
It can be transported to Bianliang. As for safety along the way, he will figure it out by himself. I am only responsible for transporting it across the Yellow River."
"Although we delivered frozen mutton, we were afraid that it would take too long to get to Bianliang and the meat would smell bad."
This is indeed a big problem. It takes at least half a month to walk on the road, and the meat will already smell bad. Wanyanchang pondered for a moment and said: "Then send it to Puyang. There is an ice cellar there. They can store it in the Puyang ice cellar first, and then they can
Find a way to transport it back to Bianliang."
This is a good idea, as it makes Puyang a transit point and the distance across the Yellow River is the shortest.
Wanyan shouted at Lisa and bowed, "I'll make arrangements for you now!"
There is a Yuanhe Restaurant near the east gate of Daming City. This is the intelligence point set up by the Western Army Intelligence Department in Daming City. In addition, there is also a shop selling sheepskins. There are a total of twelve scouts at the two points.
The leader is Liu Zhen, the shopkeeper of Yuanhe Restaurant, and shopkeeper Liu Da. He is the real commander of the scout battalion. He is about forty years old. Because of his body weight, he is very rich, has an amiable appearance, and smiles all day long.
So the Intelligence Department took a fancy to him and transferred him there. He once served as the intelligence chief of Hedong City. After Hedong was recaptured by the Western Army, he was sent to Daming City and continued to serve as the intelligence chief. He was not only the intelligence chief of Daming City, but also the entire intelligence chief.
Except for Yanshan Mansion, all intelligence points on Hebei Road are under his jurisdiction.
Liu Zhen also received a pigeon letter from Xuchang, asking him to pay close attention to the sheep storage pens and mutton warehouses in Daming City, keep an eye on the other party's mutton delivery, and contact Niu Gao's fleet at any time.
Jin Bing's Sheep and Horse City is located in the northeast of Daming City, covering an area of more than 1,000 square meters. There are two million sheep here, and thousands of Jin Bing are responsible for taking care of them. Liu Zhen immediately sent five of his men to monitor the nearby hills and woods.
But apart from Sheep and Horse City, the focus is still on Jin Bing's meat warehouse. Liu Zhen also considered that it is unrealistic to transport live sheep from Daming to Bianliang. If the freshly slaughtered sheep are sent to Bianliang, they will also rot. The only way
The solution is to transport frozen mutton.
Jin Bing's meat warehouse was the ice warehouse of the palace in the past. There were three in total. During the summer season, the palace consumed a lot of ice every day. Now these three huge ice warehouses have become Jin Bing's food warehouse, which stores a large amount of mutton.
and wine.
Liu Zhen also focused on these three ice cellars.
Of course, the ice cellar is also transported to the outside through the Cao River. Every day, ships transport mutton to the military camp. The time is usually at night. The ice cellar is taken out of the warehouse at the first watch and transported to the military camp around the fourth watch. Then the chef starts busy packing the mutton.
This happens almost every day, and then fresh mutton will be transported to the ice cellar in large trucks.
That night, in an inn on the Caohe River, several spies were staring intently at the Caohe River. During the day, signs had appeared, and hundreds of flat-bottomed tugboats had already sailed into the ice cellar area.
There began to be movement on the Caohe River. A group of two thousand cavalrymen had already arrived at Caohe and were waiting by the Caohe River.
"Here we come!" a scout shouted pointing into the distance.
I saw a long fleet of ships appearing two miles away, with a lantern hanging on each ship, and they were continuously sailing out of the ice cellar area. It was the same fleet during the day.
The two spies continued to stare at the fleet, and the other rushed to inform Liu Zhen that the city gate had been closed. Liu Zhen was also waiting in a house outside the south city, which was also an intelligence point for the Western Army.
Liu Zhen got the news that the fleet carrying mutton came out, and he immediately sent two of his men on horseback to rush to the Yellow River.