Although Emperor Yongxing and his two sons were under house arrest in Jiangning, the lineage of Emperor Yuanyue had been reproduced and passed down for thirteen generations. There were more than 2,000 eldest sons of the "Jian" generation. Although the eldest son of the "Jian" generation was said to be in Yan.

After Hu Nan invaded, he killed most of them, but there were still hundreds of people scattered around.

Although they are closely related to the four emperors Qingyu, Delong, Chongguan, and Yongxing, these eldest sons are at least descendants of Yuanyue, so they don't have to worry about finding someone to support them.

Liu Tingzhou remained loyal to the Yuan family and even planned to make Emperor Yongxing's two sons escape from Jiangning. However, this plan was very dangerous. Even if he supported other Yuan family members, he would attach great importance to the closeness of blood - Dong Yuan would not care about supporting him.

The person you set up with is just a puppet no matter who you are.

Dong Yuan stared at the map spread on the long desk

It only took two or three years for the Cao family to consolidate its foundation in Shu, but it was still far from being deeply rooted. The number of troops under its command was restored to 1340,000, which was not even as high as when Guanzhong was at its peak. It could not compete with the 400,000 in Huaidong.

Compared with the elite, the Cao family dared to have the ambition to establish another emperor. In the final analysis, it still relied on the special terrain of Sichuan and Shu.

Sichuan and Shu are the real land of four fortresses. Huaidong cannot conquer Guanzhong. If you want to use troops against Sichuan and Shu, you can only go from Jingzhou and Yiling along the Yangtze River to the east of Shu and Yuzhou. The Xiajiang River channel is very narrow and steep.

As long as the Cao family fills the upper reaches of the Xiajiang River with 30,000 to 50,000 elite troops in the cities east of Yuzhou, they can block the Huaidong elites from Sichuan and Shu.

No matter how many soldiers and horses Huaidong has, no matter how elite they are, it is extremely difficult to forcefully break through the natural dangers of the Xiajiang River. What's more, Huaidong is still constrained by Bei Yan's troops in Shandong and Guanzhong in the north, and it is impossible to use all its troops against Sichuan and Shu.

In addition, Sichuan and Shu are much richer than Guanzhong.

Although Guanzhong was the capital of the Six Dynasties, since the Chen Dynasty, Guanzhong has been increasingly ruined due to excessive farming. There has been a small drought every three years and a major drought every five years. The Jingwei and other floods have continued to cause small and big floods even if there is no drought, making Guanzhong

In the past two to three hundred years, it has become a bitter and cold place in the northwest.

Although Guanzhong had a population of 8 million at its peak, its actual military potential was not strong. In the two Sichuan areas, Bazi in western Sichuan alone had 3 to 4 million acres of fertile land and 3 to 400,000 households.

After the Cao family entered Shu, they were not short of food to support their troops, but they were short of a foundation. Therefore, Cao Yiqu considered that after Lin Fu usurped the Yuan Dynasty, he would not be eager to establish himself, but would establish another descendant of the Yuan family as emperor to win the hearts of the people in both rivers.

——Lin Fu's administration almost offended all the old gentry forces. The gentry class in Jianghuai, Zhejiang, Fujian and Hunan Province were unable to resist the policies implemented by Lin Fu. However, the gentry in Liang Sichuan and other places developed a resistance, which actually made Cao Yiqu

Establishing another emperor in Yuzhou has the basis of popular support

Dong Yuan was also extremely envious of the natural advantages possessed by the Cao family. If he could occupy such a powerful terrain as Sichuan and Shu and rule four to five million Shu people, even if he could not conquer the world, he would still be sure to secure a corner of his territory.

Regarding Cao Yiqu's intention to establish another emperor in Yuzhou after Lin Fu usurped the throne, Dong Yuan just smiled bitterly and said, "Cao Yiqu is quite ambitious. He also wants to learn from Huaidong's example of 'serving the emperor but not obeying his orders.'"

"Lin Fu has the intention to usurp the throne, and the whole world can attack him together," Liu Tingzhou said

Liu Tingzhou would not be so naive as to not know Cao Yiqu's ambitions, but if Lin Fuzhen really wanted to depose the emperor and establish a new dynasty, he could only hope that the Cao family, which was close to Sichuan and Shu, could establish another emperor and preserve the orthodox bloodline of the Yuan family——

Dong Yuan raised his head and glanced at Liu Tingzhou. He also had a slight headache for Liu Tingzhou - this old guy even wanted to instigate Xuchang Qingjun to side with Dong Yuan. He didn't ask Liu Tingzhou to have more contact with Ren Jiwei, just because he was afraid that Liu Tingzhou would take the initiative to sell out Xuchang's background.

It's not that Dong Yuan didn't want to establish another emperor, but there was a plain river to the south of Xuchang, and Huaidong sent troops from Nanyang, Shouzhou, and Huaiyang to attack Xuchang. Although Yue Lengqiu's attitude was still unclear, Yue Lengqiu's attitude was unclear.

His temperament would never take risks, otherwise how could Lin Fu let Yue Lengqiu go out to control Guoyang to contain them? Dong Yuan knew that if he established another emperor in Xuchang, he would not be able to stop Huaidong's concentrated attack.

For the most important reason, Xuchang is far from self-sufficient in food and grass. With only 10,000 soldiers and horses, it is far from qualified to establish another emperor. Don't talk about the military Qing Dynasty.

However, once Lin Fu usurped the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, and the Cao family established another emperor in Yuzhou, whether Xuchang would continue to tolerate it, or whether he would unequivocally support the emperor established by Yuzhou, was a decision that people could not make easily, but must immediately make.

The choice to make a decision

In the past, Dong Yuan might have chosen to be patient, but when Lin Fu ordered the towns in Henan to reduce their troops, the order came, which made Dong Yuan unable to endure even if he wanted to - he couldn't wait until all the troops in the towns in Henan were reduced.

Make another choice?

"Lin Fu ordered the towns in Henan to reduce their troops, Yue Lengqiu is in Guoyang, Zhengyang has arranged for Deng Yu, and Tao Chunzhuo has reduced the number of troops," Dong Yuan said, "Tingzhou has returned to power, what do you think of this matter?"

"Deng Yu and Tao Chun's troops are not blocking the front. They want to ax their military power and leave it to them," Yuan Guizheng said. "However, the delay in the Eastern Front from the Northern Expedition gave Northern Yan a chance to breathe. Not only did Northern Yan

The troops on the eastern front increased greatly, which was the enemy on the west line of the Hehuai River and Huaihe River that Xuchang blocked. Zhou Zhizhong's troops also increased to 60,000. In addition, Beiyan prepared another 20,000 elite cavalry in Luoyang.

The enemy... I think, just ignore it."

"I'm just afraid that Jiangning will directly deduct the grain," Dong Yuan said with a frown, "We can't just force everyone to carry it on an empty stomach; the Cao family occupies the rich land of Sichuan and Sichuan, but they don't have to worry about the lack of food and grass...

"

"What do you think, Governor Dong?" Yuan Guizheng somewhat understood what Dong Yuan meant, but he also hoped that Dong Yuan would say something directly.

In the past two years, Xuchang has been cultivating, but it has been short of young men, iron tools and animal power. It has only cultivated a dozen acres of wheat fields. The annual wheat harvest is less than 200,000 shi. In addition to the consumption of the cadres and small families, it can be supplemented as military rations, which is only 100,000 shi per year.

It’s just stone grain, which is far from enough to feed 90,000 soldiers.

With such a huge difference, if Jiangning gets stuck, Xuchang will be paralyzed there, leaving no room for struggle.

All the prefectures in Henan are in ruins, but Hezhong Prefecture, which is closest to Xuchang, has not been seriously damaged due to Liang Chengyi's long-term rule, and it can also accommodate the influx of a large number of refugees. After the war, the number of Dingkou once exceeded one million, which was no less than that during the war.

previous population levels

It is not particularly difficult for the Hezhong Prefecture to squeeze out an extra two to three hundred thousand stones of grain to supply Xuchang every year. In the final analysis, Dong Yuan wanted Hezhong Prefecture to secretly supply grain to Xuchang - but Xuchang and Henan are hostile parties, and in Lin

When Fu had not formally usurped the throne and was still "disobeying the emperor's orders", how dare Dong Yuan put the handle of liaison with the enemy into Huaidong's hands, and how dare he make the first move to ask Huaidong to seize the excuse and violently

beat?

Of course, there are no compromises

The Cao family withdrew from Guanzhong, but they were not really willing to give up on Guanzhong. More than two years ago, in addition to the main force of the Cao family withdrawing from Sichuan and Sichuan, they also left a few elite soldiers and horses in the mountainous area between Guanluo for guerrilla and containment purposes.

thing

Even though the Cao family secretly made peace with Beiyan at this time, the Cao family had no intention of withdrawing all their troops from the Guanluo mountains. Instead, they redoubled their contacts and organized the migration of mountain people between the Guanluo mountains. This was just a direct conflict.

With the friction reduced, Chen Zhihu and Zhou Zhizhong were in Guanzhong and Heluo. Although they no longer sent troops to suppress, the blockade was still not withdrawn - after all, everyone hopes to seize the initiative in their own hands.

To the south of Hezhong Prefecture and to the west of Xuchang, Funiu Mountain was occupied by a group of bandits of about 5,000 people. In fact, they were secretly controlled by the Cao family. The Cao family wanted to establish an emperor in Yuzhou, so they would naturally have a tacit understanding with Beiyan.

Dong Yuan didn't want any clues to fall into Huaidong's hands, so he couldn't purchase grain directly from Hezhong Prefecture. However, by absorbing the bandits in the Funiu Mountains and getting the grain and fodder they had stored in the Funiu Mountains, he could completely conquer Huaidong.

Can't get a handle on it...

However, no matter what the conditions, Dong Yuan still asked Yuan Guizheng to come forward. The troops he had deployed at the eastern foot of Funiu Mountain were also under the control of Liang Chengdong, who was controlled by Yuan Guizheng.

Yuan returned to power and thought about it for a long time. He also knew that if Xuchang did not solve the food problem, it would not be able to regain any initiative. The Cao family was determined to establish another emperor in Yuzhou. Without Beiyan and Xuchang to contain the main force of the Huaidong Army in the north, they were also worried about Huai
Chapter completed!