1194 Savior is Here! (2/2)
Queen's palace, Imperial Reading Room.
Feng Qiuhuang summoned Meng Yi and Meng Tian. Great Xia Guards Legion Corps Marshal Huo Qubing was also present.
Feng Qiuhuang, who returned to the reading room, was not as confident as appeared the hall. Currently, her face was filled with exhaustion. Even so, she said sincerely, ”General Huo, thank you!”
”I'm only following orders from the king, so you do not need to be courteous. The guard legion corps is at your disposal.” Huo Qubing was not an arrogant person and understood the relationship between Xia King and Jin Queen, so he did not dare to act important.
Feng Qiuhuang nodded. Then she looked toward Meng Yi and asked, ”How much grain do we have left in the city?”
The moment those words were asked, the atmosphere in the reading room became really depressed.
Meng Yi gritted his teeth and took a look at Huo Qubing to his left, not wanting to hide anything, ”My queen, there's little grain left, and we cannot last over a week. The price of rice on the market has swelled by three times, and the people are panicking. However, the Imperial Court is not able to open up the granary to the people to reduce the prices.”
”Please punish me for my incompetency.” Meng Yi sought punishment.
Feng Qiuhuang waved him off, ”When can we collect the agriculture tax for this season? I know the yield is bad, but we definitely can collect something, right?”
Meng Yi's face became even worse, ”I fear that we will not be able to collect any grain.”
”Why?”
”Apart from the north and the west, most of the prefectures and counties are wrapped up in the flames of war. Especially the east, which is mostly under Great Zhou now. The Great Zhou army is a pack of wolves, chasing away the civilians and collecting their grain. Following which, they amassed all the grain and used it as military rations.”
”Those prefectures and counties that were hit ended up becoming refugees, so they naturally cannot hand over grain.”
Feng Qiuhuang was enlightened, and her face was filled with pain as she said bitterly, ”Calamity followed by war and civilians not getting enough food; all of this is my fault.”
”My queen!”
Seeing that, Meng Yi and Meng Tian both bowed and sought punishment.
When Huo Qubing saw that, he was filled with emotions. Seeing that they were going to end up blaming themselves, he stepped up and said, ”In my view, we should discuss how to continue on with the plan.”
Feng Qiuhuang was a girl after all. Seeing the civilians face problems, it was hard for her to control her emotions. Hearing Huo Qubing remind them, she realized that she had gone out of character, ”General, what strategy do you have?”
”You do not have to be too worried about grain.” Huo Qubing gave her some hope, ”The Guards Legion Corps brought large amounts of military grain pills and are self-sufficient. The grain for Leopard Legion Corps will be handled by the Zhongyuan Provincial Governor office and does not need Great Jin to worry about it.”
”This....”
Meng Yi and Meng Tian exchanged glances, seeing the surprise in each other's faces. When the Xia King had discussed the battle plan with them, he did not mention the military grain pill.
It was obvious that the Xia King was caring for their face.
Maybe in the eyes of the Xia King, this was not worth mentioning, so he did not point it out.
The truth was just that. Maybe the entire wilderness was worrying about grain, but that did not include Great Xia. The huge purchase at the start of the year made them self-sufficient.
The newly reclaimed 200 mu of farmland had helped to make up for the poor yield to a certain extent.
Along with the perfect water irrigation system and the advanced agriculture tactics from the school of agriculture, the strong territory specialties, and the like stacked together, the effects of the calamity on grain yield was minimal.
It was not as exaggerated as the other territories.
As a result, Great Xia could still take out large amounts of grain to make military grain pills, while others were worrying about grain.
Hence, it was understandable that Ouyang Shuo did not mention the topic of grain.
When Feng Qiuhuang saw that, she sighed in her heart. She had realized that compared to Great Xia, Great Jin was so weak in terms of their foundations. The difference between the two dynasties was not just territory size.
After settling the grain matter, the two sides started to discuss the specific battle plan. After all, the armies of both countries were fighting together, so even if an overview was discussed before, they needed to perfect the details.
Time was on the essence, and the four of them discussed for less than an hour before going their separate ways.
...
8th month, 7th day, noon, the Guards Legion Corps that had appeared in Fallen Phoenix City for a short time exited the city.
Along with them were the Great Jin Guards Legion Corps led by Meng Tian. In Fallen Phoenix City, only the five thousand Personal Guards led by Ran Min were left.
”That's great; we are finally saved.”
The logic of the people was simple. The army was holed up in the city because they were afraid of the enemy. Now that they were taking the initiative, it was naturally because they could win.
Although the logic was simple, it made sense.
The news of the Great Xia Guards Legion Corps appearing in Fallen Phoenix City quickly spread through the wilderness. Hence, their exit from the city was captured by the scouts of Great Zhou and reported to the command headquarters.
When Great Zhou palace guard marshal Lianpo got the report, he did not dare to take matters into his own hands and sought instructions from Di Chen. Should they fight, or should they retreat? If they fought, with just the palace guards, they did not have a high chance of winning. However, retreating would make things complicated.