In the late spring of the seventh year of Daliang Tianxian, Qinghe Bolinhai, who had been away for more than half a year, finally returned to his loyal Qinghe County.
Although the war between countries is still going on and the reconstruction of Xiangyun and Mengyang is progressing in full swing, due to the slow pace unique to the era of cold weapons, Lin Hai feels that everything is still in time.
To put it simply: Qinghe expanded too fast, and the problems of vast land, sparse population and high military-civilian ratio have not been effectively solved. This is no longer a hidden danger, but a problem that is revealed in the open, so Lin Hai had to stop his expansion.
Although judging from the Meng Yang incident, Cambodians are really unusually delicious and don't seem to resist much even if they are pushed down.
"Is it confirmed?"
Lin Hai read the document, closed it and put it aside. It seemed that he was not going to make a reply immediately, but wanted to discuss it.
"After stabilizing the front line in Chongzuo, the Chen Dynasty finally reorganized its forces in the southwest. Due to the heavy pressure from the Empire on the Chen Dynasty in the central direction, coupled with the damage caused by the Khmer in the southwest, logistical supply was difficult, so the total number of troops was not large."
"To whom is this 'not much' relative?"
"Compared to the Khmer. After the integration of the Chen Dynasty, the total number of mobile troops in the southwest region was about 100,000. This figure was obtained after removing the water and the complete logistical labor.
We found that after several rounds of mobilization, the total military strength of the Chen Dynasty expanded a lot, and it is even impossible to speculate on the specific number. We can only say that they have no shortage of troops on all fronts.
However, the Khmer have reinforced their defenses in Chongzuo again, and the total Khmer troop strength in the area has returned to around 300,000. However, their combat effectiveness is uneven. If they are old Khmer veterans, their combat effectiveness is still considerable, but the newly recruited civilians, well, they are only qualified if they don't cut themselves with a knife.
"The Chen Dynasty is having trouble getting supplies. Is that why they're looking for us?"
"Yes."
"Did you resort to trickery?"
"Some were used. The last intact logistics warehouse in the southwest of the Chen Dynasty caught fire for no apparent reason. The local defenders suspected that it was caused by infiltrated Khmer spies. The president of the grain merchant association, who had fled during the battle and now moved back, expressed his willingness to provide rations to the Chen Dynasty army, but accidentally startled his horse and ran into a tree and died. There were also two iron mines that collapsed. That's a lot of things."
Lin Hai swallowed and said, "You guys are playing such an obvious trick, don't the Chen Dynasty officials and garrison suspect anything?"
Ling Yang smiled and said, "Of course I have doubts. After all, when something like this happens, anyone is worthy of suspicion.
But for the sake of the former prefect of Zhaoyang, no one gave us any trouble. Besides, the crystal is real, after all."
"So, this General Tang Tong, the General of Muyang of the Great Chen Dynasty and the person in charge of the Southwest War, and the General of Pingnan, wants to buy food, weapons, and armor from us?"
"Yes. As far as we know, it's unlikely that the Chen Dynasty's central government will be able to provide another major supply boost to the southwest army in the near future. Furthermore, the southwest front isn't the Chen Dynasty's primary focus. Therefore, General Tang's decision to raise his own military supplies and weapons is quite logical."
While thinking, Lin Hai squeezed out a boil on his chin. The weather was getting hotter and hotter, and he was getting angrier and angrier. It was really uncomfortable.
"Have you told him that our stuff is not cheap?"
"Yes, but he has no money."
"So what does he have? You should know that money doesn't mean much to us."
"The ongoing wars created a large number of refugees, who had already severely impacted the stability of the Chen Dynasty, and even led to civil unrest in many areas. General Tang would petition the court, stating that the southwest had just experienced a major war and needed to be rebuilt, and that it needed population. He asked the court to relocate refugees from other areas to the southwest.
Then these refugees will directly cross the border between the two countries, pass through Tangguan Fortress and Zhaoyang, and enter Xichuan and Xiangyun respectively."
"In that case, you can decide the specific price. However, we don't have much food. What are you going to do?"
Ling Yang thought for a moment and said, "Things have stabilized in Mengyang now. Our caravan has already set out to purchase grain throughout Cambodia. The farmer we hired estimates that Cambodia will have a bumper summer harvest this year, and we can't let Cambodia get away with it."
"Well, I will write to Brother Nineteen. If necessary, the Mengyang garrison will help collect the grain. Then we will sell this grain to the Chen Dynasty people as military rations, and the Chen Dynasty people will go to fight the Khmer. This is a good plan."
"Tell me everything else." Lin Hai rubbed his brows. He hadn't had a single day's rest since returning to Qinghe. He hadn't even been to the industrial zone. He had been busy dealing with government affairs. It seemed that he couldn't do much of the personal expedition. After all, the work was there and wouldn't disappear just because you were away on a business trip.
"During the Battle of Xichuan, many wealthy local families moved away. Now they have sent representatives to negotiate, saying they hope to move back. They will pay taxes to Qinghe according to the rules of the past, but they hope that we can return their land to them and compensate their tenants."
Ling Yang laughed, as if he was telling a joke.
"Hahahahahahahaha" Lin Hai also laughed: "Talk? They even want to talk? I don't think this can even be considered a request, it can only be considered a plea at best."
"Most of them are actually living in difficult circumstances. After losing their land, the remaining wealth is not enough for them to buy new homes in the inland areas of the Chen Dynasty, especially now that there are civil unrest everywhere." Ling Yang explained: "Now they are all gathered in Zhaoyang. Zhaoyang, which has experienced war, does not strictly control population movement, so they are all waiting for news there.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com