Seeing everyone's confusion expression, Zhou Xian continued: "The Longwu rebels blocked the canal, and the grain in the south cannot be transported north. The north is drought and epidemic, and the red fields are full of thousands of miles away, and the red fields are full of hunger. Because I promote the transportation of grain by sea, Shandong is a little better, but it is only barely enough. I ask you, if I raise all the troops from Shandong to go north, who will supply the food and grass for these tens of thousands of troops? Can it be supported by the current situation in Shanxi? In Shandong, I can indeed piece together and collect some food and grass. But transporting from Shandong to Shanxi is a thousand miles away. How many strong men need to be recruited and how much food and grass should be wasted on the road?"

Speaking of this, Zhou Xian glanced at Guang Shiheng and continued: "It is never empty talk before the troops move, and the food and grass will go first. I am in western Shandong and Xuzhou, so the food and grass can last for more than ten days. How can I transfer tens of thousands of troops north? Even at present, more than 10,000 soldiers have only brought food for one month, and no matter how much it is, it will be gone. Guang Shiheng, you are from the Ministry of War, you should be able to see the urgent reports from the military from Juyongguan and Baoding. They will not have mentioned the issue of food and grass at all!"

Wang Chengen turned to Guang Shiheng and said, "Mr. Guang, is what Zhuang Zhou said true?"

Guang Shiheng frowned, "Reported to the prince, General Bai and General Tang did mention it. However, the Ministry of War thought that this matter had nothing to do with the war situation, so he transferred to the Ministry of Revenue, but the Ministry of Revenue had no surplus grain, so he had to give up in the end."

Zhou Xian sighed, "If there is enough food, the army will be strong; if there is shortage of food, the whole army will be defeated. I don't think the two places will last long. If there is not enough food and grass, how can we defend the capital? This is the reason why I did not lead my troops to the north immediately. Without food and grass, no matter how many soldiers are, they cannot defend Shanxi."

Everyone present suddenly became silent and did not say anything for a long time.

Wei Zaode said this: "I think this matter will be exposed for the time being! Lord Meng, you should continue to ask others!"

Meng Zhaoxiang nodded and asked Zhou Xian: "Mr. Zhou, there is a report here, saying that you have sent someone to send 200,000 taels to Liaodong to invite General Wu Sangui to aid the capital?"

Zhou Xian said: "This is indeed the case."

Meng Zhaoxiang: "You have no direct subordinate relationship with General Wu. According to the regulations of the court, you should not contact him privately. There are signs of border generals connecting with each other and plotting against others. And most importantly, you did not report the matter to the court afterwards. How do you explain this matter?"

Zhou Xian frowned and said, "Although I did not report this to the court, I did not deliberately conceal this matter. If I wanted to connect with the generals of Liaodong in private, I should bring silver notes instead of carriages filled with silver. The court ordered the generals of Liaodong, Wu Sangui, general of Shanhaiguan, and Gao Di, general of Shanhaiguan, to lead the troops to serve the king, but they refused to go because the soldiers owed the salary for several months. I sent the silver with great fanfare to those soldiers to see that the court had the money to arrive, so as to put pressure on the generals outside the pass. Didn't you see it? Soon Wu Sangui asked Zu Kuan to lead his troops to assist the capital. If I had any fault, I would transport the silver to Liaodong in the name of the court without reporting it to the court in time. If you think this is a bad intention, I have nothing to say."

Meng Zhaoxiang nodded slightly, "There is another thing. The emperor asked you to recall the soldiers from South Liao and North Korea, but you finally transferred only 5,000 soldiers? Is this a fool of Shengcong?"

Zhou Xian: "There are tens of thousands of soldiers in Korea, but more than 80% are natives of North Korea. At this moment, the Japanese Satsuma tribe is eyeing him, and Luke Dehun is occupying Seoul in northern Korea. If I order them to be recalled, they will not only not obey, but they will likely directly rebel from the Ming Dynasty. And the army in southern Liaoning, do you really think it is a good thing to transfer them back? Although the treacherous thieves are powerful, the Manchus are also a powerful enemy of our Ming Dynasty. If the Manchus lose control and lead the army into the pass, not only will the troops under General Wu find it difficult to reinforce the capital, but it is likely to cause another chaos. Also, as I said before, the first thing to do is to have enough food and grass to transfer troops is to have. And there is a problem, I have not transported enough ships to those soldiers."

Guangshiheng said angrily: "Excuses, everything is excuses. After all, you just think the capital is not important."

Zhou Xian did not deny it at this time, "I do have such an idea. With the current situation, the capital can no longer be defended. The best way is to move south, retain half of the country, and then revive it."

Wang Guoxing said: "The words of General Zhou are not bad! The Northern Song Dynasty moved south, half of the rivers and mountains fell into the hands of the Jin people, and the people were in trouble. He survived for hundreds of years and was inevitably destroyed by the Mongolians. In the Tumu Fort Incident, Emperor Yingzong was captured, and Ola Yesen launched a large-scale invasion of the south, and the capital was in danger. Yu Shaobao was ordered to refute the capital movement faction and led his troops to fight the enemy to the death. Finally, he repelled Yesen and protected the capital. How could the capital be said to be relocated? Besides, the captives had several troops before, but they were all withdrawn to Liaodong? General Zhou was a pillar of the court, and all the famous people who were good at fighting were well known. In this time of crisis, how could they be cowardly before fighting?"

Zhou Xian said slowly: "I am not Yu Shaobao, and the Ming Dynasty was not the Ming Dynasty at that time. At that time, the Ming Dynasty had sufficient food and equipment and was fully equipped. An imperial edict ordered all soldiers from all directions to gather in the capital. As long as he could withstand the first wave of attacks from Yesen, he could basically defend the capital. But at present! The treasury was broken, the granaries were short of food and grass, and the soldiers in the north were only tens of thousands of troops from Shandong and Liaodong. How could he stop Li Zicheng's hundreds of thousands of troops?"

He looked up at Guang Shiheng, "Didn't you ask me before, why did you ignore the capital and lead your troops to attack the Longwu army? Another main reason is that I hope I can capture Yangzhou and reopen the canal. In this way, the army led by the Shige tribe in Zhenjiang, the official troops in Jiangxi, and the Zuoliangyu tribe in Wuchang can send troops to reinforce the capital. Even if they are frightened by the Longwu army and cannot send reinforcements, they can at least provide me with enough food and grass. At that time, there will be more than just a few people who rescue the capital, and maybe they can still defend the capital. Unfortunately, although I defeated Li Dingguo, Liu Wenxiu defended Gaoyou and Yangzhou, and all hope will be gone."

Then Zhou Xian turned to Wei Zaodedao again: "Weigemen, I have something to ask for advice, can I ask you?"

Wei Zaode sat upright, "Please tell me, the commander."

Zhou Xian said: "When I entered the city, I saw the roads on both sides full of coffins, and there were endless people attending funerals. There were countless poor people dying in the corners and alleys, and no one paid attention to it. How long has this situation been going on, and how many people die every day now?"

Wei Zaode frowned and said, "I don't know much about this. If the commander is interested, I can recruit the five-city military commanders to ask. But why do you ask such a question?"
Chapter completed!