Chen Qing pointed with his riding whip at the long line of grain buyers in the distance, and said in a very dissatisfied tone: "I just learned that a bushel of wheat actually costs eighty cents. There are still people digging wild vegetables, catching voles, and picking leaves outside the city to feed themselves. Beijing
The people of Zhao are living such a difficult life, and the government turns a blind eye?"
Dong Yan knew that what was coming was coming, and he had to face it. He said helplessly to Chen Qing: "The Cangcheng we are going to see is the only warehouse group in Jingzhao City. It is under military control. The local government cannot interfere. Even I, the county magistrate,
You can't go in either. The county government is just as poor. Hundreds of county officials, including low-level officials, are in arrears with their salaries for three months. What the manager said about catching voles to satisfy his hunger was true. One county official took his whole family to catch voles in the wheat fields.
"The economic envoy also knows that Shaanxi Road has to bear the military salary, supplies and various materials of 50,000 gold soldiers and 100,000 puppet Qi troops. Although the puppet Qi army is large in number, its military salary is not high and its food is poor.
, the key is that 50,000 gold soldiers have to eat meat every day, and each soldier needs 5 guan of tea and wine money every month to feed these 50,000 Jurchens, which is almost overwhelming the entire Shaanxi Road, and Yuanzhou and Yuanzhou are specially used to feed them.
Qingyang Prefecture raises sheep to provide them with food and drink, and the monthly military salary is 350,000 guan, which is more than 4 million guan a year. There is no other way except to exploit the people with high taxes."
Speaking of this, Dong Yan said with great melancholy: "But the people don't care so much. They only hate the government's excessive taxation, which makes their lives increasingly difficult. We have become the final scapegoat."
"How long has Dong Zhixian been in Jingzhao Prefecture?"
"The humble position was originally Sima of Gyeongju, but he was transferred to Jingzhao the year before last to serve as magistrate of Chang'an County."
Chen Qing nodded and asked: "What is the population of Chang'an County now?"
"There are a population of 250,000, including rural households in the suburbs, a total of 60,000 households."
"What about the entire Jingzhao Mansion?"
"I heard that I have a population of more than 600,000."
There are still a lot of people, much more than the population of Chengji County. This fact makes Chen Qing very satisfied. Calculating this, the entire Guanzhong must have a population of more than one million.
"Didn't Wanyanchang and Wanyan Helisa always stay in Jingzhao Mansion before? Why did Wanyan Helisa go to Fengxiang again?"
"Reporting to the envoy, the Jurchens' home base has always been Fengxiang Mansion. Previously, it was because the Jurchens wanted to march from Ziwu Valley to Hanzhong, so the Marshal's Mansion was temporarily moved to Jingzhao. Wanyanchang returned to Shangjing, and Wanyan drank and left.
Naturally, I returned to Fengxiang."
The group soon arrived at Cangcheng, which had been taken over by the Song Army. The square in Cangcheng was filled with hungry people, tens of thousands of them, and it was a large area of darkness.
"Give us some food!"
"General, please give us some rice! Our family has been without food for more than a month."
The hungry people begged and begged, but the hundreds of soldiers guarding the gate had no choice but to continue to use force to prevent the hungry people from approaching.
The soldiers separated and Chen Qing entered Cangcheng. The people in charge of inventorying Cangcheng were Hu Yanyun and Zhang Miao. Hu Yanyun heard that the commander-in-chief had arrived and hurriedly came out to greet them.
Chen Qing's face was gloomy and he asked: "Is there no food in the warehouse?"
"One more thing, about fifty thousand dan."
Chen Qing's face was full of anger. He pointed outside and said, "Then why don't you give out porridge? There are so many hungry people outside, but you haven't seen them?"
Hu Yanyun quickly explained, "My humble position is to prepare to ask for instructions from the Commander-in-Chief."
"Do you still need to ask for permission for this kind of thing? Why do the people in the city welcome us into the city? They just hope that we can help them. Tens of thousands of people have already run out of food. Am I not going to agree to provide porridge relief?"
Hu Yanyun gritted his teeth and said bravely: "But the government did not give Beizhi this authority. Of course Beizhi must ask for instructions before releasing food and porridge."
Chen Qing could only hold back a sigh of relief in his heart and ordered: "Immediately provide porridge relief in the whole city, set up ten relief points, and give six cents of porridge!"
The Liufen porridge was quite thick. Hu Yanyun quickly said: "I will make arrangements immediately!"
After a pause, Chen Qing added: "In addition, we must sell grain at a low price, with a price of thirty cents per bucket, to completely drive down the price of grain for me!"
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Hu Yanyun was a little worried and said: "I am worried about not having enough food to stabilize food prices."
Dong Yan explained: "In fact, enough food is in the hands of the four major households in Guanzhong, and they occupy almost half of the land in Guanzhong."
With the general's order, the Song army immediately took action and soon began to build a shed outside Cangcheng. They brought in stoves, iron pots and bags of rice. Four sheds were built around the square, and a large porridge relief flag was hung. stand up.
The hungry people were jubilant and began to line up in front of the greenhouse.
Hu Yanyun was busy with porridge relief, and the Intelligence Agency ordered Zhang Miao to accompany Chen Qing to continue to visit the warehouse.
"This is a very good Cangcheng. I heard it was the East Market of the Tang Dynasty. It consists of more than a hundred large warehouses. It is more than three times the size of our Cangcheng in Chengji County!"
Chen Qing turned around and asked the county magistrate Dong Yan who was following him: "May I ask, magistrate Dong, how many miles is the circumference of the Jingzhao City Wall?"
Dong Yan hurriedly said: "Return to the envoy, a total of forty-three miles."
It is really a big city, no wonder there is such a big Cangcheng.
"Cangcheng is good, but where are the supplies?"
"The supplies may disappoint the manager. First of all, the inventory of Bingjia is already empty. The warehouse manager said that all Bingjia will be taken away when preparing for war at the beginning of the year."
Chen Qing expected that there was no inventory of soldiers and armor. If there were soldiers and armor in stock, the Jin soldiers would recruit a large number of soldiers, and there would not be only 50,000 puppet Qi troops.
"I don't care about the armor, but what about other things? How many copper coins are there?"
"As I said just now, there are 53,000 shi of grain, 450,000 guan of copper coins, and about one million pieces of cloth."
"There are so many pieces of cloth?" Chen Qing asked in surprise.
"The cloth was left over from the Song Dynasty. It has not been touched and is well preserved. There are also bulk materials such as copper ingots, pig iron, wood, tea, and oil. Pig iron is about three million jins, copper ingots are over one million jins, and wood There are many, thousands of them! They are all the best logs that can be used to build a big house."
Chen Qing's temporary administration palace was naturally Wan Yanchang's Marshal's Palace. This palace was the largest and only royal palace in Jingzhao City, covering an area of 300 acres. It was originally the palace of the Wei Prince Zhao Tingmei, the fourth brother of the founding emperor Zhao Kuangyin.
Later it was changed to the emperor's palace, rebuilt twice, and continuously repaired. Whether it was the Song Dynasty, the Jin Kingdom, or the Qi Kingdom that occupied Jingzhao City, this mansion has always been the residence of the highest officials.
The Jinglue Mansion is divided into two parts. The front part is the government office, about 180 acres, including a military camp covering an area of 50 acres and an internal warehouse, while the back part is residential.
At this time, the residential part was temporarily closed, and Chen Qing only opened a small number of government offices.
Chen Qing only inspected half of the warehouse before rushing back to the temporary administration office, where several generals were waiting for him.
Chen Qing walked into the lobby, and all the generals bowed together and saluted, "See you, Commander-in-Chief!"
Chen Qing waved his hand, "Let's talk about the situation first!"
Yang Zaixing picked up the wooden pole, pointed at the sand table and said: "I just got the latest news from the scouts. The main force of the Jin army, about 30,000 cavalry, was found west of Wuting County. They are running towards Jingzhao Mansion and are expected to arrive in Beijing in two days."
Mega City.”
This news was indeed a bit beyond Chen Qing's expectation. The 30,000 Jurchen main force should not have given up on Fengxiang Mansion and came to Jingzhao Mansion to fight the Song Army. If they only thought of fighting the Song Army now, then why did they abandon Jingzhao City and retreat before?
To go to Fengxiang Mansion? It makes no sense both emotionally and rationally.
At this time, Tang Qian, the commander of the scouts, said: "I have some details to report to the capital. That is, the Jin soldiers did not carry baggage, did not carry any siege weapons, and did not even carry tents. If the Song army defended the city without fighting, how long could they last? So I am humble.
I and several of my subordinates believe that the Jin soldiers are not here to attack Jingzhao City, and their target is not us, but to withdraw their troops and return to Hedong Road."
Yang Zaixing also said: "General Tang is right. From a time analysis, when the 30,000 Jin soldiers left Fengxiang County, our main force had just entered Tongzhou. They could not know that the Song army had captured Jinsuoguan, so the Jin soldiers
They don’t even know that we have captured Jingzhao City.”
Chen Qing paced back and forth in the lobby with his hands behind his hands. Of course he already understood that the Jin soldiers were not coming for them. They should retreat to Hedong Road, take Pujin Pass to Hedong, and abandon Shaanxi Road.
To this day, Chen Qing has seen through all of Wan Yanchang's strategies, which are to preserve the Jurchen army, or this is the basis for Wan Yanchang's struggle for power within the Jin Kingdom, and there is no chance of any mistakes being missed.
That's why the scene before us happened. The Jin soldiers abandoned Shaanxi Road and retreated back to Hedong Road.
Now Chen Qing is thinking about whether to block this army, and if so, how to block it? After all, the opponent has 30,000 of the most elite Jurchen cavalry. Fighting in the plains, even if he has 50,000 troops, he may not belong to the opponent.
opponent.
At this time, Liu Qiong, who had been silent all this time, said: "Qi Dutong, this humble official has a strategy to stop the enemy!"