Thief Emperor

Chapter 936 Meat Grinder

Li Yun himself also came from a background of leading troops in battles. Although he was a "latecomer", he had rich practical experience after all. After so many wars in previous years, he was already a pretty good general.

Now that he is the emperor, he is accustomed to analyzing the battlefield. Because he is standing high and can see far, and with a wealth of intelligence, the battlefield judgments he makes are basically accurate.

The Battle of Guanzhong was the first relatively important war after the establishment of the Xin Dynasty. Emperor Li wished he could lead the troops to fight in person, so he naturally did some military exercises on the Guanzhong battlefield.

According to Li Yun's deduction, if Su Sheng wants to break through the pass, it should take about a month. And in Li Yun's opinion, the first pass to be broken through is not Tongguan, but Chen Da's Wuguan.

After all, once the war in Guanzhong broke out, the main focus of the Shuofang Army would mostly be concentrated on Tongguan and Xiaoguan, the retreat route in the north.

Chen Da, on the other hand, had the opportunity to be the first to enter Guanzhong.

Li Yun had even prepared to let Chen Da support the Tongguan battlefield.

But the development of things was far beyond Li Yun's expectations and was different from his deductions.

From the time Su Sheng formally attacked Tongguan to the time he opened the gate of Tongguan, the whole process was...

It only took one day!
Emperor Li looked at the information and was silent for a long time before he muttered to himself: "Could it be that the artillery..."

"Is it so useful?"

He muttered to himself for a few sentences, and only after Zhuo Guangrui called him "Your Majesty" several times did he come back to his senses, looked at Zhuo Xianggong in front of him, and smiled again: "Brother Zhuo, the court has a lot of things to do in recent years, and there are not many people in my family, so the palace and other things will be temporarily stopped, but..."

"The Ministry of Industry's farmland reclamation and water conservancy projects, as long as they are determined to be beneficial, no matter how difficult or expensive it is, we must start to do it."

Zhuo Guangrui quickly lowered his head and replied yes.

Li Yun stood up, looked at him, and continued, "Now that Brother Zhuo is the prime minister, he not only has to manage the affairs of the Ministry of Works, but he can also coordinate the six ministries as the prime minister, especially the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Revenue."

"Brother Zhuo, please pay more attention to the Agricultural Institute."

Zhuo Guangrui smiled bitterly and said, "Your Majesty, I was just about to say this. I think the court can set up a minister of agriculture, but this agricultural office is really unnecessary. It's just a waste of time to support dozens or even hundreds of idle people, and I don't see that they have any ability."

Li Yun shook his head and said, "Brother Zhuo, the Minister of Agriculture is the Minister of Agriculture, and the Agricultural Affairs Bureau is the Agricultural Affairs Bureau."

"I have already allocated several plots of government land near Luoyang to the Agricultural Affairs Bureau. Let them do what they want with it."

Li Yun looked at Zhuo Guangrui and said seriously, "Brother Zhuo, even if they can increase grain production by 10% and use it for the people, it can save countless lives."

Zhuo Guangrui shook his head slightly and said, "Your Majesty, I don't think so."

“The power of the earth is finite.”

"Even if we have collected 10% or 20% more in the past three to five years, we will have to pay it all back in the future."

He looked at Li Yun and said in a deep voice: "The power of the earth is known."

Li Yun shook his head slightly and said with a smile: "Of course, the land's fertility has its limits, but I think that it is far from reaching its limit now. Moreover, even with the same land fertility, different cultivation methods may result in different final outputs."

"and…"

Li Yun said slowly: "The soil fertility can be cultivated."

In another world, Emperor Li was a liberal arts student, and he basically knew nothing about how to extract modern fertilizers.

Even if he knew, there might not be the corresponding equipment in this era.

But after all, he knows the direction, so he can work in this direction.

He also did not expect that the grain in this era could easily yield 1,000 kilograms per mu like in the other world.

As long as he could reach half of the other world, he would be satisfied.

After all, at this point, the people under his rule were still far from reaching half of the other world.

"Moreover, the Agricultural Affairs Bureau is responsible for more than just the harvest."

"They have to study land reclamation and planting methods. When they come up with results, I will have them spread the word to all counties and cities across the country."

"All right."

Emperor Li coughed and said, "The matter of the Agricultural Affairs Institute has already been decided. Let's not argue about it anymore. If Brother Zhuo is reluctant to spend the money to support these people, just use my treasury to pay for it."

"What do you think, Brother Zhuo?"

"I don't dare."

Zhuo Guangrui lowered his head and said: "At this time, the court duties should not be paid out of your own pocket."

"I will not talk about this matter anymore."

"Just stop talking."

Li Yun walked up to him, patted his shoulder, and said with a smile: "Let's go to Zhongshu together."

Zhuo Guangrui was startled, and just as he was about to speak, he heard Li Yun say with a smile: "Tongguan has reported victory. I will go find Mr. Du and talk about this matter."

Upon hearing this, Prime Minister Zhuo was also overjoyed. He immediately clasped his fists towards Li Yun and said, "Congratulations, Your Majesty!" He smiled and said, "After Your Majesty conquers Guanzhong, the world will be unified again!"

Li Yun looked at him and said with a smile: "Brother Zhuo, have you forgotten Youyan?"

Zhuo Guangrui shook his head and said, "Of course I haven't forgotten, but Youyan is actually only two states."

The smile on Li Yun's face faded, and he shook his head slightly and said, "These two states may cost Li Tang his life in the future."

"Forget it, let's not talk about this today."

"Walk."

Emperor Li strode out of the palace with his hands behind his back.

"Let's go to Zhongshu."

…………

In the Secretariat, after the three prime ministers met Emperor Li, His Majesty told them about the Tongguan incident. Then Emperor Li looked at Du Qian with a smile and said, "I never expected that the battle of Tongguan would go so smoothly. It seems that we have to start our trip to Guanzhong much earlier."

Du Qian was also a little excited. He took a deep breath, turned his head to look at Yao Zhong, and said with a smile: "Brother Juzhong is now fully capable of presiding over the government. I am ready to accompany you on your journey to the west at any time."

Li Yun touched his chin and looked at Yao Zhong with a smile.

Yao Zhong's expression changed slightly when he heard this. He looked at Du Qian, then at Li Yun, and said, "Your Majesty, your subject, your subject..."

Li Yun looked at him with a smile and said, "Mr. Yao, there is no need to refuse. It's not like you haven't presided over government affairs in Luoyang before."

"anyway."

Li Yun glanced at the three people and said with a smile: "In any case, I should go to Guanzhong. If I catch the Wei father and son in the future, I will meet them in the capital of Guanzhong."

"However, it is not certain when we will leave."

Emperor Li smiled and said, "When the time comes, I will inform Mr. Yao in advance."

Yao Zhong smiled bitterly, but since Li Yun had spoken, he had no choice but to obey.

After sitting down with the three prime ministers and discussing things for a while, Li Yun came to Du Qian's public room and sat down in Du Qian's main seat without any courtesy. Then he looked at Du Qian and said, "Tongguan was breached so quickly, which means that the Shuofang Army should have been preparing to escape."

Li Yun paused and continued, "In this way, Chen Da can also enter Guanzhong very quickly, and even enter the capital very quickly. Wait for Chen Da to enter the capital in Guanzhong."

"You and I will go together and take a look at the capital city."

At this point, Li Yun smiled and said, "By the way, is Pei Huang still in Luoyang? If he is, then we can take him with us. He will probably feel very different when he arrives in the capital."

Du Qian shook his head slightly at first, then said, "After Pei Huang arrived in Luoyang from Jiannan Road, I was ordered to meet him. I was originally planning to let him be a governor in a prefecture in the Central Plains, but he declined. Now he has returned to his hometown in Wenxi, saying that he is recuperating."

"but…"

Du Qian bowed his head slightly and said, "As long as His Majesty wants him to go, he won't dare to resist with just a piece of paper."

Li Yun just smiled when he heard this and continued: "When the time comes, I will take the King of Chu..."

"No, now he should be called the King of Chenliu."

"Then bring Prince Chenliu with you, and we'll go to Guanzhong and the capital to have a look together."

Du Qian thought for a moment and asked, "Your Majesty, in terms of safety, the old Zhou capital in Guanzhong is indeed much safer than Luoyang. Luoyang can now serve as a secondary capital."

"Your Majesty...are you interested in moving the capital?"

Li Yun thought about it, shook his head, and said, "A dynasty cannot always think about safety."

"Luoyang is located in the center of the world. It is the Central Plains of the Central Plains."

Emperor Li said calmly: "At least in my Zhangwu Dynasty, I will not consider moving the capital."

"I have no control over what the rulers of later generations think and do, and I am too lazy to care."

Du Qian did not say much, but just nodded his head. After a long while, he suddenly figured something out, looked up at Li Yun, and asked, "Your Majesty, if Tongguan and Wuguan in Guanzhong are breached soon, then the final position of the battle in Guanzhong..."

"In the northern part of Guanzhong."

Li Yun looked calm: "Fight around Xiaoguan."

At this time, the situation of the Battle of Guanzhong had become quite clear. The Shuofang Army certainly did not intend to continue defending Guanzhong, and Li Yun was not prepared to let the Shuofang Army leave.

The final conflict will be between the chase and the escape. It depends on whether Li Hao can block the retreat of the Shuofang army!
Or…

How long can it hold out?
"This is the final battlefield of the Guanzhong War..."

Emperor Li reached out and knocked on the table, and said slowly: "I'm afraid it will become a meat grinder."

(End of this chapter)