Chapter 663: All the poor are left with money

Prime Minister Shangguan finally changed his past and smooth style, and mercilessly denounced the princes and nobles as parasites in Qi, which was the root of the country's demise. He actually asked the emperor to strengthen his imperial power and alienate his gentry. He was obviously completely forced to do so.

This overly radical memorial played a good role at this time - the fall of Hulao Pass obviously touched the bottom line of Emperor Xinghua. The monk emperor who ate vegetarian food and chanted Buddha for the first time put on a dragon robe, held a golden mace to the hall, and roared at the group of ministers who were flies: "The land of our ancestors cannot be given up. Who would dare to cede land and pay compensation? My mace beat him with his brains everywhere..." It completely calmed down the trend of surrenderism in Qi.

Under the emperor's hysteria, the huge machine of Qi, which was corroded by the stinking of copper, finally staggered and started. Emperor Xinghua issued a national mobilization order to recruit males over 14 years old and under 600,000 permanent troops in the country, including the Northern Xinjiang troops, to be ordered to immediately advance to Guandu if there is any negligence!

It also ordered the country to collect special border wages, requiring each household to pay taxes in the next five years in advance. This order is more interesting because the decree strictly ordered only grain and food supplies, not gold, silver and copper coins. This is because the Qin State cut off the export of grain to Qi State at the beginning of the war, which was planted with various economic crops such as tea trees and mulberry trees, and the grain planting area shrank by 83%, and the grain supply was heavily dependent on imports.

Although the warehouse has surplus grain and the family has a jar of rice, it will not be sold out in just a month, but the food and grass to deal with large-scale wars are really out of the question. Although the military tried hard to block it, the news spread at the fastest speed, which immediately caused panic hoarding. The price of a stone of rice jumped directly from 1,500 yuan to 7,800 yuan, and it increased significantly every day, and it was unknown when it would reach its peak.

Correspondingly, the money of Qi depreciated sharply, and people had a lot of wealth in their hands, but could not buy anything at all... What's more, the gold and silver that I earned hard were reluctant to waste. This made Qi a strange scene - on the one hand, the prices soared, and there seemed to be strong demand, but on the other hand, there was no market for the price, and there was almost no transaction.

This is also what makes Zhao Wujiu angry. He ordered the warehousing of each army to reserve a year's stock, thinking that he could rest assured. However, the greedy military officials used the purchase of grain for musk deer breeding to earn high income to fill their personal pockets. They only purchased less than 30% of the military rations to cover up their eyes and ears, and the rest were fooled with bags of sand and sawdust. They actually missed the inspections of the peak again and again. If there was nothing tricky inside, they would really not believe it.

When the war began and needed to mobilize military rations on a large scale, these dirty tricks suddenly appeared. Now they just want to buy them with money. You said... how can you fight this battle?!

Zhao Wujiu deeply hated that he was old and weak, and had been lying in bed for many years. He could not personally inspect like he used to do so. Otherwise, how could those shameless villains deceive their superiors and hide their subordinates and act recklessly? Apart from killing countless people in anger, he could not understand at all. Why would his former loyal and honest subordinates become so greedy and bold?

It’s not that he doesn’t understand, it’s that the world changes too quickly. When the whole society falls into a crazy material worship craze and the myths of getting rich appear around him, it will make everyone feel hot and eager to try, and wish to become one of them. Under such an impetuous background, it is not surprising that people do anything absurd.

As a result, the army's military preparations were slackened and the training was lax. The officers and soldiers were greedy for money and were greedy for righteousness, fearing death, and had no generals available to the country, and the army had no soldiers to fight. Their strength was far inferior to those eight years ago and after the war. What would they do to fight against the Qin State at its peak?

Qin Lei used 200 million taels of silver to turn Qi and Chu into patients with strong fire and mental disorders. Although the cost is too expensive, the effect is indeed good.

Days passed day by day, and June was coming in a blink of an eye. There was still no movement at Hulao Pass, and the Qin army did not even send a soldier out of the pass, as if they were really satisfied.

After the initial panic, Qi State finally gradually became regular. Army troops from all over the country gradually rushed over from all directions and gathered at the Guandu military camp east of Hulao and south of the Yellow River.

The reason why Zhao Wujiu chose here instead of dividing troops to guard both sides of the Yellow River was really a helpless move... With the current state of the Qi army, he did not dare to divide troops or take the initiative to attack, for fear that he would be defeated by the Qin army. Therefore, he could only concentrate his troops, guard the key passes, focus on defense, strengthen training, and take action later.

To judge the situation, this kind of deployment is appropriate. First of all, the Qin army is strong and the Qi army is weak, and there are many places to cross the Yellow River thousands of miles away, such as division of troops and the rules are difficult to guard against. Not only is it difficult to prevent the Qin army from heading north, but it also makes the troops that are already at a disadvantage more dispersed.

Secondly, Guandu is located in the upper reaches of Honggou and is adjacent to the Bian River. The Honggou Canal is connected to Hulao Pass in the west and goes east to the Huai River in the Si River, which is a barrier to the southern territory of Qi. If the Qin army crosses the river, the Qi army can take advantage of the situation to advance westward to attack Hulao Pass, and cut off the food route and retreat route of the Qin army to the north; if the Qin army wants to advance eastward, this is a must-fight place in front of it. In addition, Guandu is close to Xuchang, an important official in Henan of Qi, so logistics supplies are also more convenient.

Therefore, the old and powerful Duke Yum, who was in the old and powerful, chose to station here to resist the Qin army's attack.

But the continuous rainy weather in June is the most cruel torture for an elderly man who is suffering from illness. Coupled with all kinds of bad news, Yum Shenggong, who is 80th birthday two months later, is so angry that he becomes more and more weak. He even needs someone to support him when he stands.

At first, he could still force the inspection troops to train, but in mid-June, he was finally unable to get out of the ground. He could only let the last general Wu Zhilong go to the Central Army to make a detailed report after inspecting the camp on his behalf.

The rain continued from morning to night, and the camp was muddy and the training had to be interrupted. Until the time when the lights were held, the rain had not stopped. Wu Zhilong, who had been wandering around the military camp for a whole day, finally arrived at his mentor.

Taking off his cowhide water boots and handing the shark-skin raincoat to the commander of the guard, Wu Zhilong walked into the inner tent with a slight hand and prepared to report the situation to the marshal briefly, and then go back to sleep.

But the bedridden old man asked questions in detail, such as, "What did the soldiers say today?", "How high is the water in the camp?", and even "How much food is flooded" to ask questions like "It's already upset Wu Zhilong, who is already upset, becomes even more impatient."

Seeing the old man's eager gaze, he had to press his temperament and answer his mentor's questions one by one.

After hearing him describe the situation in the military camp, the old man closed his eyes tiredly, his voice low and hoarse, "The combat power has recovered too slowly."

"Mr. Rong," Wu Zhilong said softly: "This is a cloudy day and the practice is intermittent, and the training progress is slower. When the sky clears up, it will be faster and keep up with the progress."

"Oh, I don't have time to do it." Zhao Wujiu sighed: "The reason why Qin did not take action is because in order to ensure the suddenness of attacking Hulao Pass, they did not mobilize in advance, and the civilians were all withdrawn and could not support such cross-border operations."

"It has been two months now, and I believe Qin has completed the mobilization." Wu Zhilong said a little disappointedly: "According to their pre-war level, at least 600,000 troops and 300,000 civilians should have gathered now, which is enough for the food and grass equipment to fight for half a year... Maybe King Wucheng is also waiting for the rainy season to pass."

"Yes." Zhao Wujiu nodded slowly, suddenly glanced at him and said, "When did you respect Qin Yutian so much?"

Wu Zhilong's face changed, his throat trembled a few times, and he covered his face with a dry smile: "I'm not afraid of my mentor's jokes. The more I fight Qin Lei, the more I understand him, the more students will respect him, and then they involuntarily use the title of honor."

"Haha... So that's it." Zhao Wujiu was relieved at first, and then said dejectedly: "Even you, the general of the country, is so afraid of him. Is there any possibility of winning this battle?"

Wu Zhilong's expression was even more desolate. He wanted to comfort his mentor, but he opened his mouth and didn't know where to start. As the second-ranked military figure, he knew the current situation of the two countries. It is no exaggeration to say that the military power of the two countries is like the body of their own commanders... Qin is old and strong, and it is the strongest moment of his life; while Qi is like this old man, suffering from all kinds of illnesses and vulnerable.

Both of them knew in their hearts, but they also knew that this battle must be fought - they fought for a lifetime of life and had no life without a lifetime of death. Although the outcome was not very good, they were the least compared with the two, so they should try their best to fight.
Chapter completed!