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Chapter 676: Can’t do it or can’t do it

Just as Li Xian was gradually stabilizing his position in Chang'an City with a series of carrots and sticks, the Qin King Li Shimin in Fangling County ushered in another great victory. Taking advantage of the heavy rains to build water and increase the flow, he cut off the river and released the water to rush to Yongqing City. The defenders of Liang Kingdom in the city were washed away. The Qin King's army was rowing a small boat and was able to rush up to the city wall in one breath. In just one day, he conquered Yongqing, killed more than 3,000 enemies and captured tens of thousands of people.

After the Yongqing City conquered, the Qin King's army was not far from Xiangyang, the capital of Liang State. As long as we take down Nanzhang, Hannan, and Xiangyang City are close to each other.

As the flood receded, King Li Shimin of Qin stood on the wall of Yongqing and looked at the mess in the city. The smile on his lips became clearer. Xiao Xian, the Liang Kingdom, claimed to have 400,000 troops, but the elite soldiers who could be used for fierce battles were less than 100,000 at all. Xiao Xian had many famous generals under him who could make a move, so although Li Shimin had no fear at all. Since he dared to provoke this war, he did not see the so-called 400,000 Liang army too powerful and hard to defeat.

Li Xiaogong was in Wudang Mountain and strangled the throat of the northwest of Liang State. Even if he did nothing, Xiao Xian dared not be on guard. Gucheng was too close to Xiangyang. Once Gucheng was lost, Xiangyang was in danger. Therefore, Xiao Xian had to send heavy troops to station in Gucheng. Only by defending Gucheng could Li Xiaogong's Tang army be blocked outside the door.

In order to ensure that there will be no mistakes in the south of Xiangyang, he had to divide his troops to station in Nanzhang and Hannan cities. He also sent troops to station in Handong County, Jingling County, Anlu County and Yiyang County. After the so-called 400,000 troops were dispersed, Xiao Xian actually did not have any advantage in terms of military strength compared with Li Shimin and Li Xiaogong. Now the troops in Xiangyang City are less than 50,000, and Nanzhang stations 30,000,000 troops in Hannan, and Gucheng stations 50,000 troops.

More than 100,000 troops had to be completely dispersed. Such a situation was actually particularly unfavorable for Xiao Xian. When Li Shimin occupied Xicheng County, his troops increased from more than 30,000 to nearly 60,000. After defeating Jingling County, Guang moved the city, he absorbed surrendered troops and recruited the people, and recruited tens of thousands of troops in Jingling. Now Li Shimin's troops have exceeded 100,000. After defeating Yongqing, he has more than 100,000 troops. Li Shimin's strength is enough to threaten the safety of Liang State.

Within just a few months, he changed from a poor and desolate outlaw to the King of Qin with more than 100,000 soldiers under his command. How could Li Shimin not be proud? Moreover, this time he conquered the important town Yongqing and almost no soldiers were used. Now the areas he controlled were Xicheng and Fangling. These two counties occupied a huge area and had few wars. Although they were not rich, Li Shimin was not short of soldiers and supplies under the forced enlistment.

Now his position makes him lose his scruples in his actions, and he is not afraid of anything. Anyway, he gets up from falling again. If he doesn't want to fall again, then don't care about so many so-called benevolence, righteousness, courtesy and trustworthiness.

He thought of running into the mountain in a panic. He thought that even if he wanted to recover his strength after leaving the mountain, he would stagger forward. Who would have thought that Han Shie had obtained tens of thousands of troops, and a whole county, hundreds of thousands of people, and nearly a thousand miles of territory was enough to make him feel at ease...

How come you encounter this wonderful life, why don’t you feel moved?

Just as he was feeling emotion, the marshal Han Shie quickly walked up to the city wall, wiped the sweat from his forehead, bowed to Li Shimin and said, "Lord, there is something that is not good."

"What?"

Li Shimin retracted his thoughts and asked with a frown.

"Although the floods saved a lot of trouble and did not lose troops... but the water flooded the granary and the grain in Yongqing City was useless. The army had no time to wait until the sky cleared and dried the grain before setting off. The grain and grass in the army were not enough to last for more than ten days. It would take at least half a month for the grain and grass in Xicheng County to be sent... If we don't find a way to solve the grain, the army would have to return to Guangxicheng and wait for the grain and grass to be sent over before sending troops."

"This won't work!"

Li Shimin shook his head and said, "Soldiers are very fast. Gu originally planned to lead his army to attack Nanzhang immediately after taking Yongqing. As long as Nanzhang City is broken, all the troops arranged by Xiao Xian outside Xiangyang will be cleaned up, and Gu can lead his army to attack Xiangyang. Although Gucheng has many Liang troops, Li Xiaogong dare not move lightly. If it is delayed for a long time, Xiao Xian will dispatch troops from Handong County and Jingling County to rescue him, and we will have no advantage."

"Food food and grass..."

Han Shie opened his mouth, but he had no idea in his mind.

"Tele to the people!"

Li Shimin pondered for a while and said four words firmly.

"Within three days, all the grain within a radius of 200 miles of Yongqing City must be confiscated. How much should be confiscated, at least enough for the army to need in ten days. After conquering Nanzhang, the urgent food and grass will be alleviated. There are tens of thousands of Liang troops in Nanzhang City, and they must have prepared a large amount of grain supply."

"But in this way, you will lose the people's hearts."

Han Shie hesitated and said, "It rained heavily for several days, and most of the summer grain was rotten in the fields and there was no time to collect it. Within a radius of hundreds of miles, I am afraid that the people will have to rely on the storage of grain to survive. If all the food and grass are collected, the people will have no way to survive, but they will be afraid that they will immediately stir up trouble and lose their hearts. If..."

"I am not afraid of losing the hearts of the people now."

Li Shimin shook his head and looked at Han Shie and said seriously: "Only those who have already sat in that position will worry about losing the hearts of the people. Gu now wants to quickly expand his strength. If he wants to achieve this goal, he must use war to support the war. He will rob wherever he fights. Gu also knows this unrighteous act, but now Gu has no intention of doing anything benevolence, righteousness and morality, but he has made himself difficult."

He looked at the scene where the people in the city supported each other and raised his eyebrows and said, "If Gu can get this game back, he will naturally treat the people well in the future and do more benevolent policies... But now Gu does not have this ability, so he can only let them suffer a little."

"in addition……"

He turned his head to look at Han Shi'e and said, "The people have no food to survive, so they become refugees. Orphans cannot support them, but they are useful to them... All the strong men are recruited into the army, driving the elderly, weak, women and children toward Xiangyang. If they don't go, kill a few people and force them to go. At that time, a large number of refugees flock to the city of Xiangyang. If Xiao Xian does not open the city gate to accept the refugees, then the one who loses the people's hearts will not be the orphans, but him."

Li Shimin picked up the corner of his mouth and said, "Because this is his territory and his people."

Han Shie'e's face changed and she sighed in her heart.

...

...

There were heavy rains in June, and the harvest season turned into a disaster year. With thousands of miles apart, the fields had almost no grains of grain in the fields near Chang'an City for several months. The people of Fangling County had already seen hope for a bumper harvest. A heavy rain for many days turned the harvest hope into despair. The heavy rain was poured out, and the mud in the fields could not recover the ripe grain. All the grains were poured out, soaked in water where could they be eaten.

In July, although the weather cleared after the heavy rain, the people were not at all relieved. The grain in the field had already sprouted, and a layer of green appeared in just a few days. The seedlings that grew in the season were simply impossible to harvest grain, and even if they grew, they would be shrunk. When people could enter the fields, they would pull all the seedlings and replant them with coarse grains. A lot of the seasons had passed. At least it would not be harvested until late autumn, so the yield would naturally not be too high.

Now they need not only food rations, but also seeds. They tighten their belly and sprinkle the seeds. Even if they cook a meal a day, they can't bear it for a few months. To make matters worse, their short-sized grains were forcibly conquered by the Qin army, and there was no copper coins left for them.

Yongqing City is hundreds of miles in a radius, and the people have nothing in an instant.

Starting from the beginning of July, hundreds of thousands of people had to leave their homes and head towards Xiangyang under the Qin army. They had no food, and they didn't know how many people could walk to the city of Xiangyang alive. In just a few days, there was no people within a radius of hundreds of miles, and they had a dead land.

The Qin army recruited food within three days was enough for more than 100,000 troops to need half a month. Li Shimin's apology was replaced by joy. After two more days of rest, Li Shimin ordered the army to set sail directly to Nanzhang. Nanzhang was close to Xiangyang, and the cavalry could reach Xiangyang City from Nanzhang in one day, and even infantry could complete this section of the road in one day and one night. As long as Nanzhang conquered Nanzhang, the capital of Liang State would have no southern barrier.

Since the end of June, Qi Shuming, the commander of the Liang army in Nanzhang, has been sending people to Xiangyang City for advice. In mid-June, before the Qin army conquered Guangqian, he asked the Liang Emperor Xiao Xian to mobilize a large army to fight, rather than passive defense. But Xiao Xian did not care at first and looked down on Li Shimin's troops. Xiao Xian never expected that in just over a month, Li Shimin's military strength had expanded to a shocking level.

After discovering that the Qin army conquered Yongqing and forced the people and food to conquer the people and food, Qi Shuming knew that the Nanzhang crisis was in danger, so he sent people to Xiangyang City again to meet Emperor Liang, asking the emperor to quickly mobilize the troops from Handong and other counties to rush to Xiangyang. This time, Xiao Xian did not delay, and in fact, his decree to mobilize troops was sent out more than ten days ago.

It was just that the heavy rains lasted for several days, and the imperial envoy who dispatched troops would not be too fast.

"Li Shimin, this lunatic!"

Qi Shuming paved quickly and cursed: "Anything inhumane can be done, hundreds of thousands of people were forced to death by him. Isn't he afraid of being punished by God?"

Chen Suru, a staff member, sighed and said, "This situation is so similar to the last years of Daye!"

These words made Qi Shuming stunned, then woke up and nodded, "Yes... so similar!"

Chen Suru looked at Qi Shuming with a ugly face and said, "When the Sui Dynasty was overthrowing, the world was in chaos, and the rebels from all over the country rose up, but they had no territory, no support, food, and soldiers. These could not be solved. They could only go wherever they went, kill people, grab grain, and rob one place, and then rush to the next place, like locusts passing through the border, without leaving any grass. Often, there was no wheat in the field, no grain in the warehouse, and no people in the market!"

"I have finally survived that period now. Now it seems... Li Shimin didn't plan to keep any bottom line from the beginning. He ignored anything to turn things around."

"But there is no doubt that this will be beneficial to him!"

Qi Shuming said angrily: "The refugees were forced to Xiangyang by him, and even if we have fled to Nanzhang City in the past few days, there will be no less than three or five thousand people! Li Shimin can abandon the people, but we cannot. These are the people of Daliang and the subjects of Your Majesty... If we keep the refugees out of the door, we are afraid that the one who loses the people's hearts will be His Majesty."

"Your Majesty will not have thought of this."

Chen Suru said with a headache: "But because Your Majesty can think of it, we can also think of it, but it's even more trouble. No matter Your Majesty or the ministers... we can't break this situation. Refugees need to be collected, but who can guarantee whether there are any Li Shimin's detailed works among the refugees? Moreover, refugees are constantly heading to Xiangyang, and the city gate is closed or not!"

He glanced at Qi Shuming, hesitated for a while and said, "We can't lose Nanzhang City. In comparison, it's more important to defend the city... General, it seems that there is only one way, but this infamy..."

Qi Shuming was stunned and shook his head in pain and said, "I can't do such a thing. Thousands of refugees have the smell of blood that is too strong, so strong that I can't linger for the rest of my life!"

At this moment, in the Qin army camp less than a hundred miles away from Nanzhang City, Li Shimin couldn't help but sigh deeply as he looked at the secret report from the north in his hand.

"He is more beautiful than the solitary."

Li Shimin burned the secret letter that Yan King Li Xian conquered Chang'an. The unwillingness and anger in his eyes gradually disappeared, and replaced by a clear and clear mind: "So, I must catch up with him sooner."

(A few words after this chapter: Some people say that the writing is not good, some people say that the writing is not good, and each person has their own opinions, but I know that the writing is not good, and basically maintaining the update volume of 10,000 words every day and ensuring quality is actually a very nonsense. This is the helplessness of the writer. If you write less, you will have no money to make money. If you write too much, how can you pursue quality?

Gu Long once said that the reason why his early works had no style was because they were written purely for the sake of having a meal. Later, they improved their conditions and no longer had to worry about their livelihoods, so they had his unique style. This transformation started with the history of the Wulin Dynasty and created classic characters like Shen Lang and Wang Lianhua.

Every person who writes, even if he writes badly, has a heart that creates classics. Just like the soldiers standing below and looking up at Li Xian, they also want to stand at that height one day. Although most of them are dreaming about it, this mood is hot.

Forgive me, the quality of Jiangming is not enough to satisfy everyone. When writing novels with a heart full of common things, few can write beautiful words. I can't, really can't. But seeing my book pointing out all kinds of shortcomings, only I know the sorrow and entanglement in my heart. I am not a person who writes for the sake of ideals, I am a villain and villain who writes for a few dollars.

Nonsense, I don't know what to say. Please ignore my complaints, but I feel really uncomfortable. Sorry, forgive me.)
Chapter completed!