The Age of Lords Reborn

Chapter 663 The Food Crisis in Dadu (Subscribe)
As the capital of a country, shipping is the most important thing.

After strolling around the pier of the canal outside the city, Shen Weijing casually found a tea stall to sit down and rest.

While drinking sweet tea, while looking at the undulating river.

He is very familiar with the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal, but the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal in his memory is somewhat different from the canal in front of him.In his time, the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal had undergone two or three reconstructions, and it was possible to go north from Hangzhou directly to the capital.

But now, Kublai Khan has not had time to carry out large-scale rectification of the canal, no matter whether he goes south or north, he has to make a detour from Luoyang.Such a detour created more than 1000 miles of river, which is why he traveled by boat day and night, and it took him half a month.

Shen Weijing squinted his eyes to enjoy the coolness in the tea shed, but he didn't want to hear an old but calm voice beside his ears: "Shopkeeper, please bring me a bowl of tea too."

Looking up a little, I saw an old man of seventy-seven years old walked into the tea shed, came to sit beside him.

As soon as the old man sat down, he seemed to be talking to himself, but also seemed to be asking: "This stretching canal, with countless large ships moored, is it still magnificent?"

"A grain ship can only hold tens of thousands of catties of rice, how can it be called a big ship?" Shen Weijing knew in his heart that the other party was coming for him, so he said with a smile: "Old man, you probably haven't been to Jiangnan for a long time, right? In the south of the Yangtze River, a large ship can hold a million catties of grain, that is magnificent."

"In that case, what are you looking at here? Are you so fascinated?"

"You think I'm looking at ships, but I'm actually looking at the famine." Shen Weijing chuckled, drank the remaining half bowl of herbal tea, and stood up laughing, "How can there be no food crisis in such a great Yuan!"

famine?

The old man frowned inexplicably, and also got up: "How can you see that?"

"I just asked. In the past five days, there have been two fleets departing from Xiangyang, crossing Luoyang and heading north along the river. They were all carrying rice from Jingxiang." Shen Weijing squinted his eyes and said with a smile on his brows: " Lin'an was lost in a hurry, the southern part of the canal was not secured, and Huainan was not well protected. This year's autumn harvest mostly depends on the grain in Huainan. "

"Perhaps, the situation is even worse, because all the warships in the south of the Yangtze River were transferred to the military, and thousands of warships were damaged in the battle. At this moment, Huainan can't even dispatch the fleet? If we had known that most of the situations were like this, I don't need to come here, just ask my family's governor to send his troops to the north, if you think about it, your Dayuan will not be able to keep Huainan and Jingxiang."

"After talking so much, you forgot to ask the elder's name?"

Shen Weijing finished speaking lightly, but the old man on the side was sweating profusely, and he was silent for a long time before he said: "Old man Dou Mo, I have seen the talent of the gentleman."

"I don't have any talents. It's just that my eyes are sharper and my mouth is sharper. Unlike the old gentleman, he is not only an important minister of the court, but also the prince's mentor. It is said that he has great medical skills. It is incomparable, incomparable. "

While complimenting, Shen Weijing said: "However, since Lord Dou is here, let me just say that this mission is really hasty. Since I can't discuss any results, I will leave tomorrow. I also hope that Lord Dou will tell His Majesty, just say Foreign ministers nagging, after leaving, the peace agreement will be considered void."

go back?

As soon as Dou Mo heard this, his old face became anxious: "Emissary Song is leaving?"

"What? Master Dou also wants me to keep this life?"

"This old man has absolutely no intention of doing so, but the peace negotiation has not yet begun, so how can the Song envoy return without success? It's better to wait for a few more days, and finally there will be a day of success."

Seeing what Dou Mo said, Shen Weijing laughed and said, "I would like to trouble your lord, but I don't care if you negotiate a peace or not. The left and right are just fighting for another year. My family's governor also said that when he came. Da Song can afford it now." !"

Da Song can afford it?
Although he knew that there was a lot of water in this sentence, Dou Mo had to consider the impact of continuing the fight.If the fight continues and you still cannot win, it will definitely be a troublesome matter for the prince who is in charge of military affairs under the name of the Privy Council.However, given the status quo of Yuan and Meng, it is certain that they will not be able to dispatch decent soldiers and horses to confront the Song soldiers in a short period of time, and it will inevitably be a defeat if they fight again.

"The envoy of the Song Dynasty will go back to the post first, let the old man and the crown prince report, I think the crown prince will intervene, and Song Ting will give a satisfactory answer."

"I'm waiting for the good news at the post." Of course, Shen Weijing didn't really want to leave, but just sent a signal to Yuan Ting through old man Dou, even if Dou Mo didn't come, he would use other methods.

When Shen Weijing followed Dou Mo back to the Posthouse, old man Dou didn't even have the time to go in for a drink, so he went straight to the Prince's Mansion, whispered to Zhenjin in the Prince's Mansion, and then asked Zhenjin to go to meet the saint.

No one knows what Zhenjin said to his emperor Lao Tzu, but when Zhenjin stepped out of the palace, an imperial edict was issued to Zhongshu Sheng.

He ordered the crown prince to be the deputy envoy to discuss the truce of the Yuan and Song Dynasties.

Naturally, Ahema did not want Zhenjin to intervene in the peace negotiation, but he dared not disobey Kublai Khan's order, and at the same time started the negotiation with Shen Weijing on the second day.

On the first day, neither side would make any concessions, and they could only break up unhappy.

On the second day, Shen Weijing received a letter from the black-clothed Weixin dispatched to Huainan. When he told the situation in Huainan, Ahema was in a bad mood.He attaches great importance to Huainan, and many money-grabbing decrees can get a lot of money from Huainan.

Ahema knew very well that Kublai Khan entrusted him with a heavy responsibility because he was good at collecting money. If Huainan was lost, even if Ahema bragged about himself, Kublai Khan would be really angry.

On the third day, Ahema has gradually begun to accept the peace negotiation, but he still has to continue to argue about the conditions.

On the fourth day, the wrangling continued.

Until, the fifth day.

After autumn, the news that the food in Huainan could not be transported to Dadu somehow spread in the city.It directly caused everyone in most cities to feel insecure, and the original rice shop immediately started to increase the price, and many people who still had a lot of grain at home rushed to buy grain for storage.

For a time, most of the food crisis broke out.

The people looted, and the merchants raised prices for profit.

But there are some people and some things that even Kublai Khan can't overly oppress. You must know that many big businessmen are actually supported by Yuanmeng nobles. They don't care about the crisis or not. The money in two or three years has been earned in the hands.

Of course, the black-clothed guards contributed to the flames.

Seeing this, Shen Weijing naturally watched from the sidelines, but the pressure from Ahema and Zhenjin was getting bigger and bigger. Kublai Khan couldn't stand it anymore and ordered the two to settle the peace.

Coming to the negotiating table again, Shen Weijing's face was full of joy: "My lord, prince, what should we discuss today? Can we only return a few counties in Jiangling? Or must you control Jingjiang in Guangxi?"

Looking at Shen Weijing's playful eyes, the prince certainly felt uncomfortable, but Ahema felt his face being slapped.

But now he has no choice but to say, "We don't need Jingjiang, and Jiangling can give it to you, but we also have a little request, and you Song Ting must agree."

"Let the old navy of Ali Hague return to Huainan, and all the warships of our dynasty looted in the battlefield will be returned. If you agree, you can negotiate a peace. If you don't agree, we Dayuan would rather fight. Let's see how long your Song court can resist!"

Is this... giving in?

Not only gave up Jiangling, but also returned Guangxi?

Seeing Ahema's unwilling but helpless look, Shen Weijing suddenly thought of a sentence his master said to him.

Only those who win on the battlefield have the right to speak at the negotiating table!

(End of this chapter)