Chapter 180
Chapter 180
Northwest city.
The Northwest General came here for an inspection, and his weathered face was full of seriousness.
"We must be alert. There is heavy snow on the grassland and life is difficult. We will definitely attack." The Northwest General added, "If someone comes to exchange food, you can be generous. Our military supplies arrived on time this year."
The generosity here means not to exchange t for dozens of times the price.
Be a little fair so that those hungry wolves won't attack.
But speaking of fairness, it's freezing cold over there and there's no food, but they have enough food here, so it's hard to say whether it's fair or not.
Who made them people of Tianqi?
Over the years, the worst that could happen was when Hexi Prefecture refused to provide money and food, but we still managed to survive those days, let alone now.
"Brother Li, the boy from the Wu family and the boy from the Liu family went to Suzhou. They are really good."
"It seems that we still need to have our own people inside."
"That's different. Wuying Liu Jun and his men know Ji Yuan, and now the prefect is trying to curry favor with Ji Liuyuan. How can it be the same?"
This year, Northwest City not only has sufficient supplies, but also has been provided with new types of construction materials.
The Northwest General and his men have tried it, and it is indeed useful for reinforcing city walls.
It is especially useful for making barbs, as it can be made overnight and can be reused even if it is destroyed.
Therefore, you can be a little more generous when exchanging food.
The exchange of grain here is naturally a private trade.
The ports were not open in public, it was just a private exchange, they used their extra wheat to exchange for the other side's frozen beef and mutton.
This is not only what the people need, but also a way to reduce the number of looters on the grassland.
After all, if you push them too hard and leave them without a single grain of food, how can they live then?
Even if the other party has no intention of going south, he has to go south at this moment.
It is probably a truth that one should not pursue a desperate enemy.
Life in Northwest City is better this year, so let them relax a bit.
It’s not that the soldiers in Northwest City are afraid of fighting.
But with such a long border and such cold weather, if we are not careful, the people of Northwest City will be robbed.
What will I do if my family is broken up?
This is not a matter of pride, and requires serious consideration by the Northwest General.
Human life is the most important thing.
As the General of the Northwest, his first consideration was not to win the battle, but to protect the safety of the people in the northwest of Tianqi State.
"Those who exchange food should also be carefully checked, and two timid barbarian spies should be placed among them." General Northwest said, "Tell them that Northwest City has abundant supplies this year, as well as magical weapons."
On the one hand, we exchange food for them so that they will not fall into a dead end.
On the one hand, it is a deterrent so that they know what is going on.
Judging from past experience, they probably won’t dare to attack this year.
Even if they come, they are just a small group of bandits and there is nothing to be afraid of.
"Boys, cheer up, everything will be fine after the winter."
If winter is over, these people won't come anymore.
But after the winter, they can reinforce the city walls. With such strong materials, who would dare to attack?
The Northwest General went out on inspection again.
In Suzhou, the cement plant's boiler is maintaining the lowest operating speed. The boiler cannot be extinguished and it will be too difficult to reignite it.
There are workers on duty here, and the others have already taken their annual leave.
The annual holiday starts from December 20th and lasts until the 10th day of the first lunar month.
Not only did the workers need a break, but all the roads were closed because the weather was too cold.
In this kind of weather, few people go out for a walk.
In such cold weather, Ji Yuan and his friends also had hotpot meals at their residence.
This year, beef and mutton are cheap, and the price of coal is relatively stable, so many families are eating hotpot.
Other dishes would have been cold as soon as they were served, so this is the only suitable one.
Ji Yuan rarely has time to relax.
Flipping through the letters from my good friends.
I was too busy before and just took a quick look, but now I finally have time.
Most of the four teachers laughed at him and asked him in their letters when he would officially get married.
Some people also asked about the current situation and told him to be cautious.
His good friends didn’t know about his marriage proposal yet, but his letters described the situation in various places.
And, worry about him.
There are signs of trade unions emerging everywhere.
More people also realized that they were paid for their labor, so they started to make trouble.
Although in most places, money is used to settle matters.
But some places also sent troops to suppress it.
I'm afraid all these troubles, big and small, will be blamed on Ji Yuan.
Gao Laosi, Monk Bai, Dong Kang, Meng Huawei and others were all asking questions.
Here, another person's letter expressed the royal family's attitude.
Xie Zhifu is the nephew of the Concubine Dowager.
The fifth prince’s cousin.
His father is Duke Xie.
He is also a royal relative. Although his family has been marginalized after the passing of the previous emperor, he still has a title.
What Xie Zhifu said was the thinking within the royal family.
"The royal family is not giving up on your marriage."
"I have been instigating the emperor to let you go back early."
"The Rubber Department is being run badly by the royal family. There are people who take money, mess around, and fight for power. It's a mess."
"I'm afraid I still want you to take care of it."
So that's how it is.
Moreover, the royal people believed that if they helped tie Ji Yuan to the royal car, he would naturally be used by them.
To put it bluntly.
They think Ji Yuan is a country bumpkin who has never enjoyed the benefits of power, which is why he keeps rushing forward.
As for the aristocratic families, they wanted Ji Yuan to go to Yingtian Prefecture.
That’s right, Ji Yuan’s term of office is barely halfway through and he’s already being remembered again.
It was better last time, at most the nearby prefects were concerned about me.
Now, one of them wants to return to Beijing to manage the Rubber Division.
Another one asked him to go to Yingtian Prefecture to learn what the Jinling style is.
What can Ji Yuan say?
You can’t even imagine the things he has seen in modern times.
Enjoy this thing, it allows you to use air conditioning in the summer and stay in a heated room in the winter.
Ji Yuan wasn't angry, he just found it funny.
It doesn’t matter what these people think of me.
He was reading the letter from Dianzhou Prefecture.
Unfortunately, considering the time, it is estimated that the letter from Dianzhou Prefecture will not be delivered until after the New Year.
It's probably on the way, but there's too much snow in the northwest and the road has been closed.
Cai Fenglan, Wuying and the others will definitely go home after dinner.
They all came with their families, and he was the only one who stayed in the office.
Hey, what else is there to say.
Just continue with your official duties.
This is what it's like for a man without a wife.
On the night of New Year's Eve, Ji Yuan was called to Cai Fenglan's house to celebrate the New Year. He also prepared New Year gifts to take with him.
But he had not yet stepped out of the office.
In Wuying, Liu Jun hurried to report: "According to our news, the barbarians are attacking Northwest City in large numbers, and support is urgently needed! The letter requesting assistance has been sent to Hexi Prefecture."
"It is estimated that Hexi Prefecture will respond soon."
What?
A massive attack?
Ji Yuan knew about what happened in Northwest City.
The Northwestern General was both brave and resourceful, and he always managed to balance the relationship between the two sides very well.
Wuying and Liu Jun admired him the most.
The soldiers at the other end also obeyed him.
Such people usually make no mistakes in their judgments.
The Northwestern General was worried about heavy snow on the grassland, so he specially released a batch of grain. Because of this, the prices of cattle and sheep in Hexi Prefecture would not skyrocket during the New Year.
This can also appease the barbarians to the west of the grassland, and generally speaking it will not be wrong.
What happened? !
It seems there is something else going on.
Sure enough, Hexi Prefecture responded by recruiting soldiers during the snow and asking surrounding counties to send some supplies.
Suzhou is very close to the Northwest City and is also the first big city outside the border, so supplies also need to be requisitioned.
We can’t celebrate this New Year.
Cai Fenglan also hurried out of the house and began to count the supplies.
Fortunately, Suzhou had good harvests and tax revenues in the past two years. A batch was pulled out from the warehouse, and a lot was bought from the public.
From bedding to food, to coal, and then to iron tools.
Anything that could be used could be pulled over.
I heard that the barbarians' offensive is very strong.
Liu Jun set off with the convoy escorting supplies. Wu Ying and Commander Li were both hesitant to talk.
Ji Yuan understood their thoughts and asked, "Is that thing ready?"
That thing.
Compound bow.
Wu Ying nodded repeatedly: "The drawings you gave are very detailed and easy to make."
It's not a difficult thing to put together with a lot of parts.
They found a blacksmith from the command camp, who was tight-lipped. After making ten of those things, he stopped making any more.
Wuying and Commander Li both tried one.
Without much effort, a heavy arrow can be easily shot twenty feet away. It's simply exaggerated.
Twenty zhang, almost sixty meters.
This distance is already very far and it is very powerful.
The reason why it was brought up now is naturally to use it in the war in Northwest City.
Ji Yuan pondered for a moment and said, "Prepare it first and be ready to send it over with the second batch of supplies at any time."
"When the time comes, you may have to go with us in person, Wuying."
They want to know what the battle situation in Northwest City is like.
If the situation is really critical, this thing must be taken out, otherwise it would be a waste of time.
Even if Ji Yuan’s purpose of making the composite bow was not for the Northwest War, it’s fine as long as it’s useful.
Wu Ying understood. He looked towards the Northwest Border Guard, which was his hometown. He was naturally anxious at the moment.
Because he knew that the border guard area had always been harassed by barbarians.
But generally speaking, the Northwestern General would not ask for help.
Unless, something big happens.
But the news came so urgently that everyone was completely unaware of many things and could only wait for more detailed battle reports.
This is the disadvantage of inconvenient transportation.
If possible, he would really like to pave the entire road with cement.
When the weather got warmer, he immediately took people to work, no matter how much money he took, to make sure the road was repaired.
Ji Yuan was thinking the same thing.
If a cement road is built, transporting supplies will not be so troublesome.
Of course, on such snowy days, transporting supplies has always been a problem, and this is still the case in modern times.
On the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, all parts of the Suzhou government had already started working.
No one had a good year this year.
After all, Suzhou is close to the border, and when the news spread to the people, they were also in panic.
"It's bad. Northwest City is about to fall."
Lost! ?
Ji Yuandu stood up, his mind working rapidly.
I thought of many things.
From the previous emperor's lack of attention to the military examination to his later contempt for the candidates who took the examination.
As well as the commander of Dianzhou Prefecture, he is almost becoming the king of the mountain.
At that time, he realized that there would be a war with the border sooner or later.
The small countries outside did not take action before because they were still concerned about the remaining power of Tianqi. Once they realize that Tianqi’s defense is useless, they will be doomed.
In Ning'an Prefecture, he was anxious to get rid of the previous General Zhennan for the same reason.
He had repeatedly emphasized at that time that there would be a war sooner or later, so why was he still dumbfounded now that things had come to this?
Ji Yuan took a deep breath, appearing calm and composed to outsiders.
Ji Yuan said: "Explain the details clearly."
The other panicked people seemed to have found their backbone.
Northwest City is the largest city in Border Guard.
If that city were lost, the barbarians would be able to move south directly to Suzhou City.
By then, everything in Suzhou City will be over.
The officials present felt heartbroken for the first time.
This is Suzhou, which they have developed with great effort.
Mines, farmers, and rubber workshops in many places were all supported bit by bit by them in the past two years.
If something really happened, it would be no different from taking their lives.
But at this time, it was still Lord Ji who calmed everyone down.
The northwest city is about to fall.
There are 50,000 soldiers stationed there, 10,000 of whom are in the city.
But the barbarians would naturally not attack the city gate directly, but would look for the weak point in the northwest wall to attack.
I heard that there were more than a dozen groups of barbarians rushing in from different directions.
Just like in previous years, hit and run.
But what was different was that they did not run outside the northwest wall, but ran inside.
But the military force is endless.
There is a strong intention to attack the northwest city.
It would be fine if it was a head-on confrontation.
The situation is special now.
They scattered from the weakly defended areas to the northwest of the city.
The Northwest is a vast area, who knows where they ran to.
There were no satellite radars those days, so we could only ask the soldiers in the northwest city to search.
At the same time, they fought against the barbarians that came later.
At this time, another group of barbarians rushed directly towards the city gate.
"Where do they get so many people?!"
An official from Suzhou frowned.
Yes, where do so many people come from?
There is a feeling of endless flow.
Ji Yuan felt something was wrong and asked directly, "Is the snow on the grassland particularly heavy this year?"
"Yes, not only the grassland, but also places farther away."
"I'm afraid that all the tribes in the west will face a snowstorm."
In this situation, if someone united them together and attacked the northwest city.
The pressure faced by Northwest City is indeed great.
If I remember correctly, there are at least a million people there, and most of them can ride horses and fight.
Then why are they so anxious?
Just because the snow is too heavy and we can’t survive?
The Northwest General gave them a way to survive.
Why go south?
Ji Yuan lowered his eyes slightly, as if thinking of something, and said slowly: "Suzhou."
"They are coming to Suzhou."
Northwest City gave them a chance to survive, but they still wanted to come.
Why?
Because they saw cement.
Wu Ying had emphasized many times before that when spring comes, he must take people to build roads and repair city walls personally.
With cement, these are not problems.
By then, those people will not dare to invade Northwest City.
Northwestern's linebackers will also be safer.
Wuying can see it, Liu Jun can see it.
Many people in Northwest City also know about it.
Would the barbarians who were always keeping an eye on their movements know?
Most likely you know.
They might even know.
This is their last chance.
If I don't seize this opportunity, I may never have the chance to go south again in my life.
So why did they rush over?
To get what?
When Ji Yuan expressed his idea, many people were skeptical, but when the counties under Suzhou reported it, it was proved that Lord Ji was right.
They came here for Suzhou.
The first items to be looted.
It's rubber?!
"It's rubber, or rubber seeds."
Ji Yuan asked again.
The people below read the military newspaper carefully.
There are indeed rubber seeds.
So that's how it is.
It's for rubber seeds.
They can indeed grow rubber there.
Although it can only be planted from April to September.
But there are vast grasslands, vast sands and vast Gobi deserts.
There are so many places to plant.
As long as they grab the seeds.
Next year we can use rubber grass to exchange supplies with them!
Ji Yuan hesitated to speak.
Others cursed loudly.
"This! Is this a crime of possessing a treasure?!"
“That’s really too much!”
But then again.
If they really grow a large area of rubber grass, won’t Tianqi Kingdom want it?
The Tianqi government doesn’t want it, and the people don’t want it either.
As long as they master the cultivation of rubber grass, they can provide a stable supply of rubber grass.
Then there is no need to worry about having no food.
Then why must we go south this year?
Why fight to the death this year.
Because of cement.
The cement factory will be fully operational throughout next year.
Building a city wall is too easy.
What will they do then?
talk?
How to talk?
When negotiating, you need to have bargaining chips in your hand.
Open a border city?
Why should we open a border market for you? What benefits will it bring to you?
Many people don’t know that opening border markets does not bring much benefit to big countries.
We can be self-sufficient internally and basically do not need anything from the outside.
The opening of the trade was just a demonstration of the emperor's grace.
For small countries, this has both advantages and disadvantages.
The advantage is that there is no need to worry about supplies for the country.
The disadvantage is that within three to five years, or even seven to eight years, your small country will be assimilated by the big country, and the people of the small country will run to the big country.
So for them, it is best to have only official trade, and no private trade is allowed.
In this situation, for a big country, it can neither educate the people nor gain real benefits. Who would be free to trade with you?
Therefore, this trade should be stopped if possible. Even the Northwestern general who guards the border is unwilling to open it.
So the purpose of opening the trade market is to make it easier for you to use my goods, but to keep the people away from my family? Maybe they even hate my family?
Raise your own soldiers and horses to attack us?
Why bother?
The same is true for Northwest City.
They are basically too lazy to open trade ports.
Anyway, the people of Tianqi don’t care.
Even now, allowing food to be exchanged privately for cattle and sheep is just to stabilize those hungry people and prevent them from disturbing the lives of the people of Tianqi State.
It is conceivable that by the time the magnificent city walls were renovated.
Will these private exchanges of materials still be allowed?
Even if it is allowed, the number will be greatly reduced.
What to do then?
If they encounter such heavy snow again, won’t they have to watch their people starve to death?
Due to various reasons, those people panicked.
In the panic, they actually united.
A desperate fight.
To seek a final way out for them.
Just grab enough rubber seeds.
Once they grow rubber, they can trade with Tianqi Kingdom.
That being said.
They're not calling you because you want to do a deal with them.
It's because you don't do business with them.
"Tianqi is only developing itself. What does it have to do with him?"
"that is."
"There's nothing we can do. If a giant like this moves a little, the surrounding area will shake."
It feels like I didn't kill Bo Ren, but he died because of me.
That’s what I mean anyway.
If they live a good life, it will affect others.
There's no way, it's just too big.
Everyone in Suzhou was silent for a moment, feeling helpless and speechless.
I thought, they were just developing their own business, how could they know it would have such a far-reaching impact.
Is it not possible for you to let your people live a good life?
Ji Yuan couldn't help but say, "The leader of the barbarians is indeed quite capable."
Not only can this incident be used to unite the entire northwestern tribal country, but it can also be used to think of such a solution.
As for the rubber grass, should we give it or not?
“No.” Ji Yuan’s expression was stern. “If we let them succeed, they might do the same thing again next time.”
Don’t let the other party form path dependence!
If it succeeds this time.
There will never be peace in the Northwest City.
Hexi Prefecture alone cannot meet the rubber demand of the entire Tianqi Kingdom.
Even if Dianzhou Prefecture is added together, it won’t work.
With the promotion of cooked rubber, and later the promotion of carbon-added tires.
The entire Tianqi Kingdom's demand for rubber would even lead them to open up direct sailing routes to find rubber trees overseas.
Having an additional vast grassland and Gobi desert for planting is actually a complementary benefit to the Tianqi Kingdom.
This is the best thing for both the Tianqi Kingdom and the northwestern barbarians.
However, Tianqi Kingdom is willing to negotiate and give.
The only thing is that it cannot be robbed.
Being robbed means you are weak and you can be robbed.
By then, it will be a catastrophe for all the people living in Border Guard.
In fact, the Tianqi Kingdom was not that powerful. The neglect of its military generals over the years had actually caused the military preparations in various places to be very lax.
It would be fine if nothing happened.
Whenever a hole is torn, people will know the emptiness inside.
By then, Tianqi Kingdom will face more than just this one war.
No matter how much Ji Yuan disliked the royal family and the aristocratic families, he did not want to start a war at this time.
After all, when the time comes, the first people to die will definitely not be members of the royal family or the aristocratic families.
It is the ordinary people who are at the forefront.
If it is possible to avoid war, it is better not to fight.
But if you want to live a peaceful life, you cannot avoid such a war, but must fight back fiercely.
The opponent will understand that this is not a soft persimmon that can be bullied by everyone.
Otherwise, what's the point of having so many advanced things?
Ji Yuan looked at Wuying, who was already ready. He immediately took his compound bow and headed for the northwest city.
But Ji Yuan left Wuying behind and said, "Let Commander Li go."
"You have more important tasks."
"Compound bows, make another 490."
Five hundred compound bows will definitely let the enemy know what a magic weapon is.
Wuying looked at Ji Yuan in shock.
Five hundred?
If there is a composite squad, Wuying would dare to say that he can take the enemy general's head.
Five hundred compound bows now?
What kind of scene was that?
With the power, range and accuracy of the compound bow.
Most armor can be easily penetrated.
With a team like this, what are you afraid of?
"The local command camp in Suzhou must also be mobilized."
“Also, the Miners’ Association organized itself.”
"All counties and villages should report the situation at any time."
"Wu Ying, take your men to various places in Suzhou to collect rubber seeds."
This thing would rather be destroyed than robbed.
Otherwise, you're used to snatching.
Will you come again next time?
Wuying listened to the orders one by one and knew the urgency of the matter.
Although it would be nice to go to the Northwest battlefield, he would also be willing to make excellent compound bows for more people.
And he could feel that Ji Yuan had more ideas than just that.
"This Suzhou will definitely make them unable to return."
There is no return?
Ji Yuan wants to close the door and beat the dog? !
"Now that we are here, we can't just leave easily."
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