Chapter 663: Increase the number of troops

When news of the Xianbei army's attack on Xingxing reached Pingzhou, Lu Songli was not surprised. Qin Heng and she had predicted before that there would be a war between the three forces in the next year or two.

Bingzhou and Jizhou are destined to become the main battlefields of the three parties. If the war situation expands, it may also sweep into Yanzhou, Qingzhou and even Yongzhou.

It's just the beginning now.

Some keen guys noticed the movements of the three major forces.

Xianbei is gathering.

Dali is also mobilizing troops and horses to go north to support.

In order to cope with this war, Pingzhou also began to gradually increase troops to the border lines belonging to Pingzhou such as Shanggu, Jizhou, Zhuozhou, Hejian and Leling.

The three parties unanimously increased their troops, and a three-party war was imminent.

At the same time, news of Pingzhou's detention of talents also spread.

The early stage of the three-party melee does not prevent the three parties from fighting back and forth in other aspects.

The loyal ministers and lackeys of Dali ran around and appealed.

Pingzhou is too dangerous, you must not go there.

They said before that Pingzhou was free to come and go, which was all a lie. The governor of Pingzhou did not keep his word, and those who believed their lies never returned.

In particular, Dali's newly opened third-rate newspaper imitated the Pingzhou newspaper and even reported that Pingzhou Governor Lu Songli had an unclear relationship with his subordinates.

This made everyone in Pingzhou very angry. It was despicable and shameless!

Lu Desheng even angrily led the pen writers from Liaodong Academy to fight back.

His daughter was bullied, how could he endure it?

As a result, all the nonsense that happened in the families of the people who participated in the arrangement was dug out, and all of them were written out in sexy little stories.

For a time, Pingzhou's newspapers were extremely popular, and even restaurants everywhere became lively.

At the same time, Xianbei was also trying hard to recruit Han people.

"Come to our Xianbei. We in Xianbei will promise you a high official, a generous salary, a beautiful horse, and a beautiful woman."

Tuoba Khan now also understands that their land still needs Han people to cultivate it. When the Han people came, they were equivalent to their slaves, and they dedicated their whole life's work to them.

It would be better if talented people from the Han people came. When Xianbei attacked Han territory, it would be better if they had Han people to assist them.

As soon as Xianbei moved, Lu Desheng immediately turned the gun and scolded Xianbei, "You Xianbei are not good birds either..."

Lu Songli smiled when she saw her father chatting energetically with the children. She ignored all the disturbances and was escorted by her personal guards to a hidden valley.

Gu Zhang's eyes lit up when he saw Lu Songli, "The governor is here?"

He waved to her with a cheerful voice, "Come here and see what good things I have made!"

Lu Songli looked at the thing he took out like a treasure and raised his eyebrows. Is this a Molotov cocktail?

Gu Zhang took her outside to test the power of the Molotov cocktail.

Lu Songli nodded, "You should also study the method of restraining Molotov cocktails." You can't kill or bury them.

"Okay." Gu Zhang reluctantly agreed.

Gu Zhang was extremely satisfied with his life in the past two years. His food and drink were taken care of, and he only had to do what he liked. If he needs anything, just tell him, and the governor Lu Songli will ask people to get it for him as much as possible. This life couldn't be better.

Before leaving, Lu Songli ordered Xu Zheng, the person in charge of the secret base here, to take care of and protect the two secret weapons, explosives and Molotov cocktails.

Lu Songli kept suppressing the explosives that Gu Zhang had made before and refused to use them.

One is that the quantity is small, and the other is that she intends to use it as a trump card. To use it, you must achieve very great results. Just use it for small troubles, not cost-effective.

Once this thing is used, there is a risk of exposure.

She never underestimates the world's heroes.

The explosives haven't been exposed yet, thanks to the clever timing of the first two uses.

Chang'an, Imperial Palace

After Xie Zhan returned to Chang'an, he did not go back to the Governor's Mansion, but went directly to the palace.

In the imperial study room, Xie Zhan lifted up his robe and knelt down, "I am here to see you, Your Majesty."

When Xie Zhan came in just now, he glanced around and found that their emperor, whom he had not seen for a while, had a thin face and his dragon robe looked cumbersome and bulky.

Song Mo didn't say anything and directly threw the teacup in his hand towards Xie Zhan.

Xie Zhan did not dodge and let the cup hit his forehead and then roll onto the carpet.

Xie Zhan bowed his head and said, "Your Majesty, please calm down and don't let your anger break the dragon's body."

"You still know how to come back?" Song Mo said in a strange tone, "Four imperial edicts brought you Xie Zhan back. You really don't take me seriously."

"Your Majesty, please calm down. The frontline was in critical condition and we had to stay here for a few days." Xie Zhan explained.

Song Mo sneered, "What's the use of resisting the decree and not returning? Aren't Leling County, Zhuozhou, Hejian, Bohai and other places also lost one by one? Aren't the wars also retreating steadily? Isn't it the same with Xianbei? Insulting me, Dali?”

Xie Zhan bowed again, "Wei Chen is incompetent, but Wei Chen begs the emperor to listen to Wei Chen's explanation."

Song Mo didn't speak, and he looked at Xie Zhan with a deep look.

Xie Zhan did not raise his head, but directly talked about the current situation on the northern border.

"...It is likely to spread into a three-way melee."

"Actually, the three-party melee is not without benefits for us in Dali."

"Currently, we, Dali, are under attack from the front and back, which is equivalent to fighting four punches with two hands. On the contrary, Xianbei and Pingzhou are not fighting each other. They are only fighting with us, Dali. Invisibly, Pingzhou and Xianbei seem to have joined forces."

"If we guide it and force Xianbei and Pingzhou to fight, and everyone consumes each other, it will be good for us in Dali."

Listening to this, Song Mo's face kept changing. Xie Zhan could clean up at any time, but Dali was in need of people at the moment...

"Tell me. In your opinion, how to stop Xianbei from going south? How to stop Pingzhou from expanding?" Song Mo sat back on the dragon chair. At this time, the sky was gradually getting dark, and his expression was hidden in it, and it was not clear.

After asking, Song Mo said in a faint voice, "Lv Songli currently has four states." Dali currently has only seven states left.

Xie Zhan said, "For now, the only way is to transfer troops to the north."

Neither of them spoke. They all knew that there was only this way at present.

As the saying goes, before the troops move, the food and grass must be sent first. When mobilizing troops, you have to consider the food and grass.

Moreover, in this war, the competition of troops and food and grass is ultimately the overall comprehensive strength of the three forces.

Song Mo summoned Wu Chunyu.

This time Wu Chunyu did not cry poor, but directly presented the national treasury book.

After reading it, Xie Zhan fell silent again. Why is Dali so poor? The tax revenue for a year is only 12 million taels of silver. It is only the beginning of May now, and there are only 4 million taels of silver available in the treasury.

Although Xie Zhan does not know how many soldiers and horses Lv Songli has raised in total, Pingzhou has seven major military regions, and the daily consumption should not be small. How did Pingzhou support it?

Xie Zhan took a deep breath and could only try his best to find a way.

"Your Majesty, the new tax law must be implemented." After Zhang Zhongxian sorted out the new tax law, he secretly presented it to Song Mo before he appeared.

Song Mo hesitated. If the new tax law is implemented, the royal family will inevitably be alienated from the powerful officials of the aristocratic families.

"Your Majesty, if the new tax law is not implemented, where will the money and food for the war come from?"

"Can't the taxes be increased?"

Xie Zhan replied seriously, "No, the taxes on the people of Dali are already heavy enough now."

Song Mo frowned and was very dissatisfied. Speaking of which, the taxes in Dali are still light compared to the previous dynasty.

"Is Pingzhou's tax the same as our Dali's?"

"Yes, Pingzhou's tax is the same as Dali's, but Pingzhou's people have very good welfare in other aspects. This can completely make up for the damage caused by taxation."

If there is no Pingzhou, it is completely fine for Dali to collect more taxes.

But there is no harm without comparison. The people are already suffering enough. If the pressure is evenly distributed to the people and their burden is increased, it will only force them to flee Dali and embrace Pingzhou.

Pingzhou has been absorbing population, and Xie Zhan has also attached more and more importance to population.

The current situation is that Dali is like a big tree, and the people of Dali are almost being plundered to the point of not being able to survive. The leaves are almost plundered, and the main trunk cannot be moved, so only the thick branches can be moved.

"Okay, I'll leave this matter to you."