After discussing the war, Du Zhongxiao said: "In recent days, the people of Youzhou have cried and asked the court to collect more surrendered troops. Most of the people are the fathers and brothers of local people, who were forced into the army by the Khitans and were not willing to help the Khitans fight. This matter is reasonable, but many things are not that simple on the battlefield. As long as the 180,000 signed troops in the Khitan army are difficult to protect as long as they do not take the initiative to surrender."

Han Qi said: "Does the military and the Khitans live together? If you are not together, you can think of a way."

Du Zhongxiao said: "What we can think of is that the Khitans have naturally thought of it for a long time. Since the signing army joined the army, they have always been afraid that they will escape. Now they are scattered in the Khitan military camps and do chores for the rest of the Khitans, not alone. If they were alone, they would have surrendered. In the next few days, these people will be the most important ones."

Zhao Zhen nodded and asked Du Zhongxiao: "What should the Taiwei thinks to deal with this matter?"

Du Zhongxiao said: "There are only enemies and we above the battle formation, so we should not keep the kindness of women, so we should avoid being taken by the enemy. If there are signing troops to surrender or captured on the battle formation, you can take care of them. But when the two armies fight, you must not be neglected."

Song Xiang said: "Taiwei, since you know that the signing army was forced to join the army, you don't have to treat them too seriously even in the battle formation."

Du Zhongxiao shook his head: "Taiwei, let alone this, there may be Khitans pretending to be signing the army. Just talking about the battle formation, people are actually not so rational than usual. The simpler the orders given by the soldiers, the better, don't let the soldiers make judgments. We treat the signing army well, and the signing army may not think so. Before and after the war, if they ask them, they don't want to fight. But when the battle formation is life and death, how can the soldiers be so clear? It will make our army hesitate and make the enemy crazy. Such things cannot be done."

Han Qi nodded: "I understand what the Taiwei means. If you pick up the sword and gun on the battlefield, you will be the enemy, and the soldiers cannot hesitate."

Du Zhongxiao said: "That's right, that's right. Going into battle means killing the enemy, don't think about other things. Of course, it's not about the battle formation, you should be more merciful to these signing troops. If someone comes to invest, take care of them. Speaking of which, it's still money and food. There are more than 500,000 troops on the front line, and about 300,000 people transporting grain. The court can afford the 800,000 people. But with the signing troops invested and the people of Youzhou, it's a bit difficult to supply. Everyone has food to eat, so things are much simpler."

Zhao Zhen said: "The Secretariat said that there is no shortage of food and grass in the Central Plains, so why is it difficult to raise it?"

Han Qi hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, although there is no shortage of food and grass in the Central Plains, it is not easy to raise so many people. There are more than one million people in Youzhou. If you rely solely on transporting grain, the Central Plains will not be able to support you. After all, the court can only help you, and they have to rely on themselves."

How can you rely on yourself? Han Qi didn't say it. Needless to say, facing such man-made disasters, it is even more serious than natural disasters, and you can only rely on the people of Youzhou to survive. As long as you live until next year, when you receive the food, everything will be easy. If you can't bear it, you will only blame your life for being bad.

There are nearly two million people in Youzhou. After the troubles of the Khitan, nearly half of the population has gone, and there are still hundreds of thousands of people. How can it be possible to transport grain entirely on the Central Plains? The 800,000 troops in the army are already full of strength. The Song Dynasty could only provide some food so that the people in the city will not starve to death, and the people in the countryside will not have enough time to take care of it. In spring, the seeds are provided so that they can plant seeds.

In this battle, the Khitan almost drained the potential of the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun. It took a lot of effort to recover the Song Dynasty.

Song Xiang sighed: "It's a pity that these people. The Khitan army went south, but they suffered."

Du Zhongxiao shook his head slightly. Youzhou is the war zone, and of course the most unlucky one is the people here. Yelu Hongji used this place as a base and fought with Yelu Chongyuan for five years, but the energy was exhausted. Then he was forcibly signed an army and forced food and grass to be collected. How many people could survive?

After sighing for a while, Du Zhongxiao said to Zhao Zhen: "Your Majesty goes to Youzhou and the army must bring more food. A porridge shed must be set up along the way so that the people can wrap their belly. This is a holy virtue, let them know that from then on, they will not be Khitans, but Song people."

Song Xiang said: "What's the difficulty? Just like going to a disaster area to understand the people's conditions and letting the people be grateful."

Du Zhongxiao smiled and said, "It's roughly different. To be honest, Youzhou is indeed similar to the disaster area now. Several big cities have set up porridge sheds these days, and many people have gathered."

Zhao Zhen said: "If this is the case, I will recruit some people in Youzhou to provide food and clothing for the court. Wouldn't that be good?"

Du Zhongxiao was stunned for a moment. He was not used to this habit of the Song Dynasty. With disaster victims, it was just to rescue the disaster. He would recruit people to the army at any time. The military always had to take up the quota, and the military personnel were not infinitely expanded. In the end, they were all victims. Where could soldiers who really wanted to fight and do things? They just shook their heads and disagreed.

After discussing the war, Zhao Zhen left first, Du Zhongxiao and Han Qi, Song Xiang and Fu Bi sat there and talked some gossip.

Han Qi said: "Just just now, the situation in Youzhou is very miserable. Is the Khitan going south this time causing such heavy damage to the people?"

Du Zhongxiao said: "Forty-hundred thousand troops, plus 400,000 signing troops, 800,000 open mouths, how can Youzhou be enough to eat? A long time ago, the people in Youzhou even had food taken away. The army went north and heard that the people in many places had no food in their stomachs for a month. They couldn't see it, so they cooked some of the weak with military rations and sent it to them. Many people were crying there, thanking the court's holy virtue."

Han Qi shook his head: "The people are so difficult to deal with. The Khitan still has to promote a large army to move south. In the end, it became like this. What's the point?"

Du Zhongxiao said: "For the Khitan emperors, these people just provide taxes. How could they take them seriously? And they did not expect that this dynasty would be able to keep the walls and clear the fields and would not be able to grab a grain of food."

Fu Bi said: "If the Khitans cannot grab food, they can only go hungry. The army from the grass tribe is not used to transporting military rations, and they always grab wherever they go. If we are strong and clear, the people of Youzhou will be in trouble."

Song Xiang sighed after hearing this: "After all, the people are suffering in the war. As long as the Khitan king is clear-headed, how can he go south!"

Du Zhongxiao smiled and shook his head: "In the eyes of the Khitans, the southerners are cowardly and cannot fight. Once they fail to meet their wishes, they will raise troops to go south. If we don't give it to them, they will rob them by themselves. The Hu people are afraid of power but do not have virtue, and will not beat them to death. This time, the southward move is inevitable, and it is not a whim of the Khitan king."

"I fear power but not be virtuous. Yes, there is nothing I can do about it." Han Qi sighed. "Treat them well, and they are thinking about when they will have the opportunity to rob. They have to use swords and guns to hurt people's lives before they can listen to what we say. Why bother!"

Fu Bi said: "There is no way, in the end, they can only destroy all their troops. How can they rob them without people? After this battle, the Khitans were defeated and the grassland pattern would inevitably change drastically. Since the Khitans were strong, the grassland tribes all surrendered to them. Without the Khitans, how could other tribes be honest and obedient? Next, the Khitans have many troubles."

Du Zhongxiao looked at the north and said, "Yes, that's true. Now the Jurchen tribe in the northeast has launched an army and conquered prefectures and counties. The Tatar tribes, Dangxiang people, and Tuyuhun on the grasslands in the north are afraid that they will fight in a melee soon."

The Youyun area was so ruined that the Song Dynasty needed time to redevelop these two places. Only when the roads were built and the people were stable could they start north from here. In a short period of time, only the areas near Yanshan would be under the control of the Song Dynasty, and other places and other ethnic groups would inevitably compete.

Five or six years later, the Song Dynasty stabilized the Youyun area. I wonder if I was facing a bunch of small tribes that fought together or the emergence of large tribes again. The northern grasslands were really full of variables.
Chapter completed!