"Jie Li is not dead!" As soon as Li Xiu arrived at Changsun Wuji's mansion, he immediately learned such amazing news. It had been a few days since the Battle of Weishui, and the news ahead came from time to time. Everything went smoothly. However, he did not expect that Changsun Wuji suddenly sent someone to invite Li Xiu to come and told him such a very bad news.

"Yes, Your Highness chased and killed all the way, and it was almost driven out of the territory of Jingzhou. But at this moment, Jie Li suddenly appeared on the battlefield. Although he was injured, he stabilized the morale of the Turks. Seeing that the situation was not good, Your Highness immediately retreated to Jingyang City, which had just been seized, and used the city wall to confront the Turks!" Changsun Wuji said with a heavy face at this time.

"What should I do? What can the King of Qin do?" Li Xiu said in a heavy tone when he heard this. The most worried thing finally happened. Their previous plans were based on the premise that Jie Li died. In this way, the Turkic crowd had no heads and no matter how many people were, it would not be a threat. However, now that Jie Li is not dead, the situation will be very bad, and he may even be counterattacked by the Turkic people.

"Don't worry about Li Jijiu. According to the news from Your Highness, although Jie Li was not dead, he was extremely injured. He never showed up again after only once in the army. Moreover, with this defeat, Jie Li's reputation among the Turks also plummeted. In addition, the Turks were not a single piece, so Your Highness has already decided on the plan for division and disintegration!" At this moment, a steady middle-aged adviser walked out from behind Changsun Wuji.

"It turns out that the room and record room are here. Does the strategy of differentiation and disintegration refer to sudden and sharpness?" Li Xiu immediately bowed when he saw the middle-aged man.

This middle-aged man was Fang Xuanling, the most famous prime minister of the Tang Dynasty. Although he was only a small memorial room now, he was deeply trusted and trusted by Li Shimin. Many talents from the Tiance Mansion were recommended by him, so Fang Xuanling had a very high status in the Tiance Mansion, and Li Xiu respected him very much, because it was this person who helped Li Shimin establish the prosperity of Zhenguan.

"Haha, Li Jijiu is indeed extremely intelligent. Your Highness has indeed contacted Tuli in secret." Fang Xuanling saw Li Xiu and guessed Tuli in a flash. He couldn't help but smile. He used to be very optimistic about Li Xiu, a young man, so he secretly persuaded Li Shimin to recruit him many times, but unfortunately Li Xiu was unwilling to come.

"After this great defeat, the Turks suffered a lot of losses and fled countless casualties. According to the observation of the King of Qin, the Turkic army outside Jingyang City was only less than 100,000, but even so, it still far exceeds our troops. Among these 100,000 Turkic people, Tuli had enough troops of 30,000, and the tribes affected by him would only have more people. If Tuli could retreat, I am afraid that Jie Li would not be able to retreat at that time!" Changsun Wuji then helped Li Xiu analyze again.

"This is a good idea. Tuli has no foresight. What method does the King of Qin plan to make him retreat?" Li Xiu nodded when he heard this. Although he only saw Tuli and didn't even see his appearance clearly, he had already concluded that Tuli was definitely not a person who did big things, and it was much easier to deal with such people.

However, just as Li Xiugang raised the above question, Changsun Wuji and Fang Xuanling both showed a bitter smile. After a while, he spoke: "Tuli is a man who is profitable and unrighteous. Moreover, the Turkic people suffered a disaster last year. Now there is a famine on the grassland. This time, the reason why Jie Li was able to gather so many troops was because of this reason. After contacting His Highness, Tuli asked us for a large amount of food, grass and property. As long as we meet his request, he will withdraw immediately!"

"Although wealth and food are a little greedy, it is normal. Are you ready now?" Li Xiu nodded when he heard this. After all, the Turks were originally a group of robbers. Now the Tang Dynasty has no strength to destroy them, so he can only use this method to temporarily make them retreat, but there will naturally be a way to make them spit out all the food they have eaten!

"The key issue is here. The property is fine. Some of them can be mobilized in the treasury and the inner treasury in the palace, but there is really not much food or grass!" At this time, Changsun Wuji smiled bitterly and spread his hands. Just before Li Xiu came, he and Fang Xuanling were also worried about this matter.

"How could it be? The grain harvest last year seemed to be good, and there should be a lot of food stored in various places, right?" Li Xiu couldn't help but say in surprise when he heard this. He really didn't expect that Changsun Wuji and Fang Xuanling could not raise food.

"Of course there is food. Even Chang'an City stores a large amount of food, which is enough to meet the requirements of the Turks, but... but..." Changsun Wuji finally wanted to speak but stopped, as if he could not continue.

"But what?" Li Xiu asked curiously.

"Has Li Jijiu been paying attention to the price of grain recently?" At this moment, Fang Xuanling suddenly spoke.

"Food price? What's going on?" Li Xiu asked even more confusingly when he heard this. Since getting married, he seems to have no concerns about things like food, rice, oil and salt.

"Chang'an City originally stored a large amount of official grain, but after the previous turmoil, the official grain had almost been consumed. In this case, the grain prices on the market rose day by day. In addition to official grain, there was also a large amount of private grain in the hands of grain merchants. However, these grain merchants are actually hoarding and deliberately reducing the supply of grain, which led to the rapid rise in grain prices. The grain I just mentioned is the grain stored by these grain merchants!" Changsun Wuji finally explained at this time.

"Grain merchants? It's true that they deliberately raise the price of grain, but how much food can they have?" Li Xiu was stunned when he heard this, and then asked in confusion. It was not that he underestimated those merchants, but in the later society, the majority of grain was always in the hands of the country, so his first reaction was that the grain in the hands of the grain merchants might not be enough to support bribery to Tuli.

"Li Jijiu must not underestimate those grain merchants. Not only do they control the grain supply in Chang'an, but also Luoyang, Zhengzhou and other places. Almost all are controlled by a few grain merchants. Each grain merchant has built a private granary, and the amount of grain stored in it is very amazing." Fang Xuanling also explained at this time.

"It's hard to say, just send someone to requisition their food?" Li Xiu said again when he heard this. In this era when imperial power was greater than law, as long as the court had orders, it was not a big deal to requisition food. What's more, the situation is urgent now, and at worst it's time to compensate again.

However, when it comes to Li Xiu's words, Changsun Wuji and Fang Xuanling looked at each other again and smiled bitterly. After a while, they saw Changsun Wuji speak: "It's not easy to talk about it. There are people behind those grain merchants. These people can't afford to offend even the court easily!" (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!