Eastern Jin Dynasty: My powerful father

Chapter 350 Disaster Relief and Porridge
Because of Wang Meng's caution, the Hetao soldiers heading south only passed through Chang'an and had no chance to enter this old capital of the Western Han Dynasty, now the capital of the Liang Kingdom.

Of course, prevention is all about prevention, and Wang Meng is not at all vague about the logistical work that should be done.

The Hetao soldiers received supplies in Guanzhong and carried a large amount of food and baggage. This also prevented them from rushing to the front line as quickly as Zhu Xu's 30,000 Hexi Xianbei troops.

The situation today is very different from that then.

After Huan Xi received reinforcements from Zhu Xu, he was able to gain a foothold in Hedong even when faced with reinforcements from Yan and Yu, and he no longer had the urgency to look forward to reinforcements.

On the contrary, food problems have been bothering Huan Xi.

Therefore, Huan Xi did not need Hetao reinforcements and followed Zhu Xu's example. He went into battle lightly and marched in a hurry, bringing only men and horses to Hedong.

If Liu Yan really joined Huan Xi empty-handed, he would have to spend 50,000 more cavalry, and the food problem would be even worse. Huan Xi would be worried about this.

Chang'an is more than five hundred miles away from the front line.

Liu Yan was carrying a lot of food, grass and baggage, and he could only march fifty miles a day. Considering that he wanted to be more alert after arriving in Hedong, he walked more slowly. It would take more than half a month for Liu Yan's reinforcements to arrive. front.

"Why squeeze!"

As soon as these words came out, no one suddenly stopped crowding and hurriedly lined up in front of the big pots.

Huan Xi knew that Murong Ke would soon be able to find out more about this matter with the help of Yu State's intelligence network in Kansai.

"Isn't that right? We work hard and hope to gain something in this season. He just opened his mouth and gave an order to burn all the crops in the field. He didn't care about our life or death. !”

The clerk in charge of serving porridge shouted:
"Everyone line up for me, divided into ten rows as before. When you line up neatly, I will start serving porridge."

"Why is the porridge so thin today!"

Naturally, the two of them lost their interest in talking and pushed forward in the crowd, just to get a hot drink as soon as possible.

When I was bored, I started chatting with my acquaintances from the same hometown ahead.

After a while, the crowd was no longer noisy, and the clerk nodded and said:
"Put the porridge on, come one by one."

Niu Ajiu took a closer look and saw pots of hot porridge being carried out in front of him.

"Did you put any rice in it?"

The two were talking when suddenly there was a noise in front of them.

"How much water is mixed in here!"

With his words, the hired man finally opened the lid of the pot.

With that said, he shouted to the crowd:
"Don't worry, there will be many more pots cooked later, so everyone can eat!"

"Yes, fortunately, Duke Liang took pity on us and distributed military rations to help the people in Hedong."

However, when they saw the porridge water in the pot, the crowd also started to explode.

Hedong, Jie County.

Niu Ajiu was holding a bowl and was crowding in the crowd outside the porridge factory, waiting to be given porridge.

After all, it is difficult to hide the traces of such a huge army, and there is no need to hide it.

"I heard that Lu Polou was originally from the same clan as me. During the Han Dynasty, Zhu Lu was slaughtered, and his ancestors fled to Longyou, where they drank blood like hair. By his generation, they are no different from the Di people now."

For a moment, everyone was shouting with dissatisfaction. It was true that the porridge sent by this porridge factory was getting thinner day by day. Until today, a pot of rice porridge only uses less than one-third of the original rice.

Seeing the crowd making noise, the clerk also became anxious:
"Why are you making such a fuss! The food from Guanxi has not been shipped yet. If Mr. Liang can provide you with military rations, you should be grateful.

"What! I think there's not enough rice! Are we going to make a dare-to-do meal for you? I'll feed you and let the soldiers on the front line go hungry!"

The porridge factory suddenly became quiet, and everyone was not unreasonable. As the clerk said, the food from Guanxi had not yet been shipped, so it was not easy for Huan Xi to part with the precious military rations.

Niu Ajiu, who was shouting along with the crowd, also shut up. He believed that the officials in Jie County would not dare to make money from it. Everyone knew that Duke Liang hated people who used disaster relief to make money.

It can be said that these grains are all picked out from the teeth of the frontline soldiers. Anyone who dares to lay hands on this will probably be wiped out.

After queuing for a long time, it was finally Niu Ajiu's turn. He had been shouting before, but he didn't actually see clearly how much rice and porridge were put in the pot.

Now that he was in front of him, he stared at the large iron pot and saw that the porridge water in it could even be called clear.

Don't mention standing up your chopsticks in the porridge, you may not even be able to get a few grains of rice out.

"Sooner or later, we will all starve to death."

Looking at the clear porridge water in the bowl, Niu Ajiu was dumbfounded.

The clerk heard what he said and hummed:
"In a few days, a batch of grain will be shipped from Hongnong. Don't worry. It will survive these days. In short, Mr. Liang will not let you starve to death."

Niu Ajiu wanted to say something more, but the people in the queue behind him were already urging him to leave quickly now that he had received the porridge.

This scene of Jie County also happened in various places in Hedong County. Huan Xi's standard of providing porridge and disaster relief dropped again and again. When Zhao Ju was providing disaster relief in Liangzhou, Huan Xi also asked him to insert chopsticks into the iron pot. If the chopsticks floated, he would kill the official who put the porridge in it.

If we continue to adopt this standard now, I am afraid that every one of the officials of Hedong County in the area controlled by Liang Guo will have their heads chopped off.

At the west end of Anyi Salt Pond, there is Liang Jun’s camp.

In the commander's tent, Quan Yi was reporting to Huan Xi on the porridge situation.

In fact, although Huan Xi was short of food, it was not to this extent. The reason why he acted like this was to mislead Murong Ke through the thickness of the rice porridge, making him think that his army was close to running out of food.

Huan Xi believed that Murong Ke was also paying attention to his disaster relief operations.

It was by no means a secret that a batch of grain would be shipped from Hongnong in the near future. Huan Xi often talked about it to appease people.

Moreover, Huan Xi ordered grain and grass from Hongnong, and Murong Ke would certainly not be able to hide such a large battle.

Just imagine, Murong Ke mistakenly believed that Liang Jun was about to run out of food, and a batch of food would arrive soon. What would Murong Ke do?

This is why Huan Xi told Quan Yi that letting him take charge of relieving the victims was a key part of the plan.

It is true to provide relief to the victims, and it is also true to use this to confuse Murong Ke and make him misjudge the amount of food and grass in Huanxi's camp.

After Quan Yi finished his report, he offered advice to Huan Xi:
"Liang Gong, why don't you send an envoy to Yanying to send Murong Ke a cart of wine and meat, so that he will mistakenly think that our army is trying to cover up the truth? The official expected that after this incident, Murong Ke must be convinced that our army We are about to run out of food.”

Huan Xi was very moved when he heard this, but after thinking about it again and again, he shook his head with a little regret and said:

"Too much is not enough. When faced with a wise man like Murong Ke, doing too much will actually arouse his vigilance."

At the east end of Anyi Salt Pond, there is the Yan Army camp.

"Liang Jun is about to run out of food. As long as we rob Huan Xi's batch of food, Liang Jun will be unable to survive and will be defeated!"

Li Wei rarely came to Murong Ke's handsome tent, and he spoke vividly, as if he had seen Huan Xi fleeing.

However, Murong Ke frowned and muttered:
“There may be fraud in it, so don’t trust it easily.

"Besides, this batch of grain is so important, how could Huan Xi be unprepared?"

After all, he was a guest army, and it was not the interests of the Yan State that were harmed. Nowadays, most of the Yan army's military rations are still provided by the Yu State, so Murong Ke can certainly remain calm.

But Li Wei was different. He said seriously:

"If we miss this opportunity and sit back and watch Huan Xi replenish his supplies, he will definitely continue to hold on to the camp and continue the stalemate with us until one side withdraws because it can no longer support it.

"In this case, our army has no chance of winning."

It is said that there is no chance of winning, but in fact, Yu State and Liang State are fighting for consumption and national strength, and it can be said that they are bound to lose.

Li Wei took a deep breath, as if he had made some important decision. He looked at Murong Ke and said in a deep voice:
"King Taiyuan, if you don't want to send troops, I will do it myself!"

Murong Ke frowned even more when he heard this. He had no doubt about Li Wei's determination, but his intuition told him that this was probably a trap set by Huan Xi.

Wanting to stop Li Wei, Murong Ke opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say.

Because no matter what he said, it was difficult to persuade Li Wei.

After all, Li Wei is the minister of the Yu State, and Murong Ke is the vassal king of the Yan State. It is the interests of the Yu State that are being damaged now, so Murong Ke can sit on the sidelines, but Li Wei can no longer delay and wants to take a risk.

In the end, Murong Ke still did not agree to send troops to rob grain with Li Wei. If Li Wei really sent troops alone, Murong Ke would still be ready to meet Li Wei, or in other words, use Li Wei to fish and stage a counter-ambush.

After Li Wei left, Murong Zang shook his head and said:
"It seems that Li Wei is really anxious this time."

Murong Ke's brows had already relaxed, and he said without any hint of joy or anger:

"The coalition forces have 120,000 infantry and cavalry, but they are in a stalemate with Huan Xi here. The daily consumption is an astronomical figure. Li Wei must also be under pressure from Jinyang."

Li Wei did feel the pressure from Jinyang. This pressure did not come from Fu Jian, who had just returned to Jinyang today, but from Fu Jian's mother, Queen Mother Gou.

Most women in charge of the house just like to be careful with their budgets. Seeing that the Anyi battlefield has entered a stalemate, every day it drags on, the financial hole in the Yu Kingdom will become bigger. How can Queen Mother Gou sit still.

In other words, Li Wei was her guest. If it had been anyone else, I'm afraid he would have been replaced long ago.

Li Wei returned to his commander's tent and discussed with Lu Polou, who was brought back by him, how to rob the grain.

Of course Lu Polou also understood the risks involved, but he still expressed support for Li Wei without hesitation.

Although there is a possibility of failure in taking a risk, it is better than doing nothing and watching Huan Xi receive supplies. The battlefield of Anyi is completely plunged into a competition between the national powers of the two sides. Then, the first to retreat can only be the State of Yu.

Unless Murong Jun can help Yu State at all costs and provide a large amount of money and food.

However, this is just Lu Polou's wishful thinking after all.

(End of this chapter)