Regardless of whether that was a joke or not, Chen Kefu didn't take it seriously.

It is indeed a good thing if Lingnan can be surrendered. But if it takes too much price to pay for it, it is not worth it. Although Lingnan has nineteen counties, it is completely incomparable to the Central Plains.

Chen Kefu is not the kind of man who plays the princes in a war of ways but only makes the beauty smile. He loves beauty, but he loves the country more. If he wants to choose one of them, he will definitely choose the latter. The Nineteen counties in Lingnan and a beautiful Feng family woman will never be compared with his ambition to control the world in his heart.

Therefore, facing Feng Huan's appearance, Chen Kefu just smiled slightly and stopped talking about this matter. He turned around and said, "To be honest, our court is gathering troops to pacify Hebei, and we must guard against Li Mi, Henan at any time, and we must guard against Jiangnan. The court has no soldiers to send to Lingnan. However, as long as Lingnan can promulgate the world, informing all the Lingnans of the four sides to join our court from then on. Feng and Xian families accept the appointment of our court, and accept the dispatch of local civil and military officials from the 19 counties of Lingnan, and pay taxes to the court according to the system. Then, this king will request the court to grant Feng Ang the title of King of Yue, and the king will order the troops stationed in Huaibei to move to the Dabie Mountains and make a move south at any time. In addition, the Lingbo Navy Fleet, which is about to be stationed at the estuary of the Yangtze River in Jiangdu, will also make preparations to advance westward against the Yangtze River at any time."

After slowly expressing his plan, Chen Kefu looked at Feng Huan, "The only thing I can do is this. If Yang Hsu is not arrogant, then he will consider attacking Lingnan again. If he ignores this, then I will have no other way."

Feng Hua was still not very satisfied with the result. Maybe she had already made a sacrifice. Although Chen Kefu did not respond to the marriage between the two families she mentioned just now, she was no longer as worried as before. She bargained with Chen Kefu without hesitation, as if she really regarded herself as Chen Kefu's fiancée.

After a long time, Chen Kefu was a little helpless and waved his hand, "Okay, as long as Ling Zun's memorial arrives, I will immediately let the Zhenhai Fleet 10,000 troops go south along the coast to Hainan. I can also support you some weapons and armor, but it cannot be given away for free. You have to pay for it. Well, all of them can be done by me."

Feng Huan was also surprised to hear that there were 10,000 reinforcements and still able to obtain the weapons and armor of the Hebei Army. He suppressed the surprise in his heart and did not speak out on his face, but continued, "I have long heard that there were firearms and gunpowder in King Chen's army, which is very powerful. Now your highness's reinforcements are far away, but please ask King Chen to transport some sharp weapons such as firearms, heavenly thunder and other sharp weapons to me in Lingnan. We are willing to buy them at a high price."

The firearm is the last trump card in the Hebei army. Such sharp weapons have always been extremely confidential. Seeing Feng Hua so greedy, Chen Kefu was a little impatient. However, if Lingnan could really be surrendered, even if it was just nominal, it would be equivalent to separating Lingnan from Jiangnan Nanchen. In this way, it would not only weaken Nanchen's strength, but also put a chess piece behind Nanchen, causing the fire to its backyard and the vest was uneasy.

Even from a long-term perspective, Lingnan is located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River. It can control the Southern Chen below, restrain the Yang Ming from the Jianghan above, and even go up against the current to Bashu. Going north is Shannan, pointing directly to Luoyang from the Central Plains.

Lingnan's move was done well. Although it had no effect on Hebei on the surface, it could make his opponents feel very troubled. Although Chen Kefu also understood that the so-called surrender at the moment was just a lie, just to take advantage of his power. Anyway, Hebei and Lingnan were thousands of miles apart, and their hands could not be reached.

But the price is not too high, and the business is very cost-effective. Chen Kefu is willing to send a fleet to transport 10,000 reinforcements to Lingnan at this moment. However, Chen Kefu did not want to open the gunpowder hole. Gunpowder is mysterious, but in fact it is not a very profound thing. Selling gunpowder to Lingnan, it is easy for them to find out the secret of this recipe.

"Your Highness, I, Lingnan, are willing to exchange food for it." Seeing Chen Kefu still hesitating, Feng Hua gritted his teeth and said.

Lingnan is located in the southernmost part of the Great Sui Dynasty. In addition to Hainan Island, the three counties of Jiaozhi, Jiuzhen and Sunnan are even more in the southernmost part of the southern end. Unlike the Central Plains, it is hot for many years and is very suitable for crop production. Compared with some places in the north, Lingnan has already been ripe for two ripe for one year, and even in the southernmost counties such as Jiaozhi, it has been ripe for three ripe for one year. Moreover, Jiaozhi and other places are close to Linyi, and the rice seeds planted there are no higher yields than the Central Plains. Now that the Central Plains have been in war for several years, except for the large granaries, there are grains that are most scarce for many heroes who control one side.

When fighting, the territories are the territories, and when snatching the territories, they are all about food, population, minerals, iron tools, horses, etc. Among them, food is especially the most important thing. No food is not gathering troops, and no food is not stable.

Chen Kefu now wants people, territory, and even weapons and armor, war horses, and the food is the most scarce. Last year's food crisis almost forced Chen Kefu and others to helplessness. In the end, he robbed and stole it. In addition, he extorted and extorted from the surrounding tribes and used both soft and hard, and finally got through that difficulty. Although the food problem has been barely solved, and the spring seeds have been sown in Liaodong, Hebei, Shandong, Huaibei and other places, and can harvest it in summer.

But now Hebei will ignite another war, and even the Shandong area may become a battlefield due to the tension with Li Mi. The war is changing rapidly, and no one can predict whether the seeds that have just been sown will be able to wait for the harvest season.

The larger the territory, the more people under control, and there are more people and talks. How to solve the problem of eating for more than 10 million people has always been a huge problem trapped in the Hebei court. Hebei, Shandong and other places were the most serious places since the end of the Sui Dynasty. Even many landlords had no surplus grain, abandoned fields, blocked ditches, and disrepair of water conservancy. Even if production is resumed now, there is insufficient production tools and it is difficult to get a harvest. Without food, Hebei's military deployment has been revised again and again. Because every time a war is sent, it will greatly increase the consumption of food.

When he heard that Feng Hua was willing to exchange food for it, not only Chen Kefu's eyes lit up, but Zhang Zhongjian and others also shone in front of him. Nowadays, food is more precious than gold and silver. Li Mi and Wang Shichong fought to death near Luoyang, killing dozens or millions of people, for the sake of the three major granaries near Luoyang. Zhang Zhongjian led the navy to rob the coastal areas last year, but he pretended to be a pirate, for the sake of the navy's fleet, not for the sake of food.

Nowadays, you can’t buy food with money, but you can get anything with food.

Chen Kefu was also moved. As long as there was enough price, things were not unconventional.

"How much food can you take out?"

"How many firearms can King Chen give us?" Feng Huan took the initiative in an instant.

Chen Kefu thought in his heart and said, "I want 10 million stones of food. Correspondingly, I can send you 30,000 reinforcements and ten ships of gunpowder weapons. However, these weapons will not be handed over to you directly. Gunpowder weapons are complicated to operate. If there is no skilled personnel operating, it will easily cause accidental injury to the army. Therefore, these firearms will be used by my Hebei soldiers to support you."

The Hebei army is now equipped with a large number of gunpowder weapons, gunpowder packs, poison gas bombs, hot oil cabinets, rockets, grenades, mines, and even flowering iron shell bombs for shooting. There are many varieties and complex styles. Most firearms are also difficult to operate except for the special engineer battalions in the army. Chen Kefu wanted food, but he did not want Lingnan to get the gunpowder formula.

Therefore, he finally used some tricks and gave gunpowder, but on the grounds that the Lingnan people could not operate, they only used reinforcements from Hebei. Originally, the Hebei army was equipped with gunpowder, but Chen Kefu did this, so he charged another fee for the weapons in the reinforcements that had been agreed upon. However, Chen Kefu was not so shameless. In the end, for the sake of food, he was willing to send 20,000 more troops. Anyway, the court now has the most people. In addition to the regular government soldiers, county soldiers, and military troops, the court now has prepared village soldiers and militia groups. Now that spring farming has passed, and mobilizing 20,000 to 30,000 people to be reborn as mercenaries, he can earn back 10 million stones of grain. This calculation Chen Kefu was still very good at fighting. He made money and trained soldiers.

Feng Hua immediately frowned when he heard such harsh conditions. It is well known that the firearms in the Hebei army are powerful and can often play a decisive role in the battlefield when they are critical. Lingnan certainly wanted to take the opportunity to obtain such sharp weapons. However, seeing that Chen Kefu would rather send 20,000 more people than sell them, she was a little unwilling to do so in her life.

She looked up at Chen Kefu, but there was no room for negotiation in the other party's eyes. After a while, Feng Hua retreated first, and she was the one who asked for help. She was already weaker for a while. With a hint of reluctance, "Your Highness will give me another ten thousand crossbow machines and one million crossbow arrows."

"Three thousand crossbows, three hundred thousand crossbow arrows, plus the ones ahead, you have to pay me a total of 15 million stones of food."

"You add five thousand sets of bright light armor and ten thousand spears."

"Three thousand crossbows, 300,000 crossbow arrows, 300 sets of bright light armor, 30,000 spears, plus 30,000 reinforcements, and ten ships of gunpowder. If you have 15 million stones of grain, that's it. I'm not a vendor and I don't want to bargain anymore." Chen Kefu directly said the final bottom line.
Chapter completed!