Lei Wanhai, Chen He, Li Cunxiao, Kuilang, Lin Xusheng, Xu Guangwen, Jiang Shi, Jiang Liang and other major civil and military officials in Xizhou gathered together.

Everyone came here to have a meeting, obviously there was a big discussion.

As the governor of Xizhou, Lei Wanhai naturally sat in the upper head position, but everyone's attention and eyes were focused on Chen He, who was the first to the left of Lei Wanhai.

Since Chen He came to Xizhou, the role he played was like the Dinghai Dinghai. He and Lei Wanhai, both literary and military, greatly stabilized the situation in Xizhou and resisted all threats from outside invasions.

"Mr. Chen, Huang Hongliang is here to ask for money and food again."

Lei Wanhai took the lead in speaking.

"No, nothing."

Chen He was very straightforward and flatly refused.

Lin Xusheng, the governor of Xizhou, said with some concern: "Is the wording more tactful? If you refuse directly, you may anger Huang Hongliang."

Chen He sneered: "Excuses are not true. You want to be polite, but don't want to break up. Huang Hongliang happened to use this to ask for money and food for you and find your flaws, so that you can't justify yourself and be speechless. In this way, you can only give him the money and food obediently."

During this period, Huang Hongliang had already obtained hundreds of thousands of silver and grain from Xizhou.

As Chen He said, Huang Hongliang asked for it, but he didn't want to give it to him, but he didn't want to break up and offend him, so he made an excuse. Huang Hongliang grabbed the excuse and pressed him step by step. The excuse was an excuse, which was not a fact. After all, he could not justify himself. In this way, he could only give money and food to Huang Hongliang for free.

If you don't give it to Huang Hongliang, you will be exaggerating it, standing on the commanding heights of morality and righteousness, and attacking you fiercely.

Kuilang asked, "How much does it cost to store grain?"

Lei Wanhai did not answer immediately, but looked at Chen He.

Outsiders have never known how much money and grain Li Xun has retained in Xizhou, saying it is millions, but this number is very vague and not necessarily true.

The real situation was only known by Lei Wanhai before, but now, there is one more Chen He. In addition to the two of them, Li Cunxiao, there is no clear detailed figure.

"Before Lord Li left, he stored a large amount of silver, bronze and gold in Xizhou. The comprehensive value was 3.53 million taels of silver. In addition to money, there were more than 4 million tons of grain."

Chen He said to everyone: "A few years have passed, and there is not much food left, and there is only one million left. In terms of money, there are only less than 600,000 taels left."

Everyone was slightly surprised when they heard this number. They thought Xizhou was very rich. Li Xun left so much money and food, and everyone could not finish eating and drinking while lying down.

But after thinking about it carefully, I felt that this was normal.

It has been almost three years since Li Xun left. In recent years, Xizhou has developed rapidly, especially local construction and military support. The imperial court almost ignored the expenses of these money and grain. It was all done by Lei Wanhai alone. What was the basis for him to do this? Isn’t it the foundations that Li Xun stayed there?

Therefore, everyone had no doubt about Chen He's remarks, thinking that this was the real number and situation.

Kuilang smiled bitterly and said, "We don't have much money or food left."

Jiang Liang said coldly: "Even if he tells Huang Hongliang these real situations, he probably won't believe it."

Chen He glanced at Jiang Liang with appreciation. The other party responded quickly and immediately thought of the core and key points of the problem.

Huang Hongliang is now just taking advantage of the situation and is determined to obtain money and grain from Xizhou. He must have thought that there are still a lot of money and grain in Xizhou. Therefore, even if Lei Wanhai gave all the money and grain that he has in Huang Hongliang, Huang Hongliang would still continue to ask for money and grain. If you don’t, would he believe it?

No.

Chen He had long thought of this. The reason why he had received some money and grain for Huang Hongliang was because the situation in the Western Regions was in danger of collapse. Moreover, Xizhou had just passed civil strife and needed time to stabilize. Under such circumstances, Chen He did not want to and did not dare to break up with Huang Hongliang directly, so he could only give in and pay money to ensure safety.

But now the situation is different.

The army of Li Zhaodi, Zhao Zhang and others had gathered in Lin State. Although there were not many, only more than 13,000 people, their location was very important to the Holland State.

The Lin Kingdom was the last stronghold of the Jin Dynasty in the southern part of the Western Regions. It could effectively restrain the Dashi people and invade the Helan Kingdom from the side.

As for the current military structure, the Dashi people have lost the motivation to continue their attack due to insufficient troops. What they have to do next is not attack, but stability and defense.

The temporary disappearance of external military threats will inevitably lead to internal changes.

Huang Hongliang currently has two choices, concentrating his strength, directly destroying Lei Wanhai, and taking Xizhou. He does have this strength and motivation, but before taking action, he must think of excuses and reasons. Without sufficient reasons, attacking Lei Wanhai without authorization is tantamount to rebellion.

The cost is very high, but if you can succeed, the benefits will undoubtedly be huge.

First, eliminate the hidden dangers in the rear and control the entire eastern part of the Western Regions in Huang Hongliang's hands.

Second, after taking over Xizhou, the huge amount of money and grain left by Li Xun in the city will be taken over by Huang Hongliang for himself, which is a huge fortune.

Third, military enhancement will inevitably lead to the improvement of Huang Hongliang's political status. Once Xizhou annexes and occupy the entire eastern part of the Western Regions, even if Zhao Xun handed over the military power of counterattacking the Western Regions to others, he still could not avoid Huang Hongliang's hurdle. The dominance of the counterattack military operations against the Dashi people will be stolen by Huang Hongliang.

The benefits are indeed great, but it is not that easy to succeed.

Lei Wanhai's current military force in Xizhou has now been reduced to 10,000 due to the civil strife in the previous period. However, the gathering of Li Zhaodi and others in Lin State strengthened Lei Wanhai's military strength. Once Huang Hongliang takes action, Li Zhaodi can completely attack Helan State from the side.

It is precisely because of the strengthening of military power that Chen He no longer intends to continue to endure Huang Hongliang's insatiable greed, and this is not his personal intention. The letters sent by Fan Zhongyun also clarified this.

"Our biggest enemy now is Dashi. Once we break up with Huang Hongliang, it will be of no benefit to anyone."

Jiang Shi expressed his concerns.
Chapter completed!