The grain grabbing plan designed by Maili and Nick was indeed somewhat unexpected by Gomez, but Gomez also knew that the two could not be blamed for this. The food gap within the empire had caused domestic food prices to continue to soar. Not only did ordinary people feel Seeing the impact of the soaring food prices, even some officials and nobles in the DPRK and China also realized that if this trend was allowed to continue, the empire would face an unbearable spring famine. In order to ensure the supply of domestic food, and because the Southern Expeditionary Army's expedition to the Tanghe Empire did not bring many tangible immediate benefits to the imperial nobles, many nobles have begun to put pressure on His Majesty the Emperor and themselves, believing that if the Southern Expeditionary Army If it cannot bring wealth and benefits to the empire, then this southern expedition is a mistake. If the army goes out to occupy such a huge territory but cannot even provide its own food, then what is the point of such an expedition
This kind of remarks quickly spread in the imperial court and the media. The strong anti-war sentiment in the country made Gomez feel tremendous pressure, so he had to gradually reduce the logistics supply of the Southern Expeditionary Army and the Northern Jerok garrison. Instead, they were asked to try their best to find ways to raise funds locally without inciting civil unrest in the occupied areas and damaging the empire's image and popular support in these occupied areas. Gomez knows that this is an extremely difficult tightrope walk, which tests the military coach's ability to handle affairs and control the situation. Nick Nabota gave up Montenegro Longquan and instead ensured that the Kitahara Sanfu should be a clever move, but Li Wufeng was in the Czech Republic. The offensive launched by Locke destroyed the good prospects and forced Maili to take desperate risks, which ultimately led to two disasters: the conflict between the Empire and Heathrow and the fall of Jiabao.
All this seems to be caused by the food crisis, but Gomez knows that the food crisis within the empire is not as severe as imagined. Although the drought has indeed exacerbated the dissatisfaction of the people in the empire, it is not impossible to solve this problem. possible. According to the situation at hand, there are many conservative nobles in the empire who store and stockpile grain. Although a lot of the imperial grain reserves have been sold in the grain speculation at the beginning of the year, not many of the imperial nobles who are conservative by nature have followed suit. At this time, Gomez even had to be grateful for the caution of those conservative nobles. If they had taken advantage of the situation at that time, then he would really only be counting the days until he would step down.
However, it is not easy to get these guys to free up food to ensure the supply of food within the empire. It is impossible to get food out of their pockets without paying some price. Gomez is also very fond of this. clear. The land of Yulin Yifu was sold out in order to win the support of the nobles for the Southern Expedition. Now it seems that it is time to exchange the land of Qinghe and Pingdao. If necessary, it is also a good idea to put Fanlin on the auction block. choose. Only in this way can it be possible to get food out of the hands of the nobles. For these landed nobles, land will always be their favorite. Gomez believes that they cannot resist this temptation. Maybe he can still do it here. Get more in one trade.
Gomez sighed deeply. Trading the land in Qinghe and Pinglu was not without its drawbacks. The original owners of those lands would definitely be angered by such blatant robbery, but now that it has come to this step, Gomez has no intention of gaining the support of these people. After all, these people are still a minority among the Tanghe people. As long as they do not harm the interests of ordinary people too much, everything can be settled. After all, he needs the support of the domestic nobles more now. Support, without their buy-in, all problems would be extremely complicated, and Gomez believes he can get through this unscathed.
Slowly turning around and sitting back in the chair behind the desk, Gomez carefully considered how to negotiate with the other party. The northern aristocracy represented by Vasily and the southern aristocracy represented by Knox must obtain a solution. On balance, fortunately, the unowned land in Pinglu and Qinghe Prefectures should be able to satisfy their appetite. However, such high-quality fertile land cannot be taken advantage of by these nobles in vain. I also need to make good use of this opportunity to communicate with these nobles. They bargained for a while.
Gomez carefully considered it, and the conscription must be approved by them, otherwise the loss of soldiers caused by the southern expedition would be difficult to replenish, and mobilizing the Kaman immigrants to move south does not require too much effort on his part. I believe that once these nobles obtain land ownership, they will be eager to handle these things. In addition, His Majesty the Emperor's interests also need to be protected. It seems that both Qinghe and Pinglu require a manor to be selected as His Majesty's holiday home. This matter must be arranged with capable personnel and cannot be delayed. The monitoring efforts of the Bein people in the north need to be strengthened, and the garrison is reminded to be more vigilant and not to be taken advantage of by the Bein people at this time.
A horse? ! Alas, this problem gave Gomez the biggest headache. If he didn't recapture the armor and horses, he was afraid that the plans for the southern expedition would be shelved in the future. Even his own homeland would be under the threat of enemy troops at any time. How could he send his troops south? Maybe it’s time to listen to the opinions of Nick, Maili and Claudia on the matter of recapturing Jiama. Although giving up Pinglu and Qinghe is definitely not advisable, it is a feasible strategy to mobilize some troops and concentrate on retaking Jiama. , but this is all the business of their soldiers.
Bo Jinchen, who was dressed in light armor, stood on the top of Jiama City, observing the progress of the city wall expansion with a serious face. Checking the construction progress of the city defense facilities and the construction of the defense system twice a day has become an indispensable job for him every day. He is very clear about the importance of armor and horses. Now the Kaman people can't breathe for a while, but Bo Jinchen believes that from the perspective of Gomez, Nick Maili and others, they will not fail to see the threat that the current Jiama City poses to the entire Kaman Empire. It can be said that as long as Jiama City is in the hands of the Western Xinjiang Army, Kaman People will never have peace! The Kaman people are no longer thinking about the southern expedition, but they need to think carefully about how to ensure that their southern region is not looted**.
Thinking of this, Bo Jinchen couldn't help but show a proud smile on his face. He exchanged the grain of Yinchuan for the recapture of the armored horse. This kind of transaction was really a huge profit, not to mention that the grain was not from Xijiang in the first place, and it also attracted the attention of the Sith. The Luo people turned against the Kaman people. Such a good thing may only happen once in a century. The top priority now is to ensure the stability of armored defense, so all forces are mobilized to expand the defense range of the city wall, heighten and thicken the city wall towers, improve and complete various defensive weapons, and strengthen the defensive force. These are Bo Jinchen's top priorities. center work.
Fortunately, the Jerok people were also ecstatic about the recapture of Jiama. The enthusiasm that burst out surprised Bo Jinchen. The Jerok people carried out the tasks they assigned almost without reservation, especially the expansion of the city walls and towers. The progress was even more astonishing, causing Bo Jinchen to have to check whether there was any jerry-making in the construction twice a day. However, Bo Jinchen had to admit that he had underestimated the work passion of these Jeroke people.
The traditional square city was appropriately changed under Bo Jinchen's suggestion. Two fortress-shaped auxiliary castles protruded to the north and east. Although the amount of work was much larger, it strengthened the attacks in these two directions. The auxiliary castle, which is at odds with each other in terms of nature and defense, can effectively use long-range strike weapons to inflict severe blows on invading enemies, greatly enhancing its counterattack capabilities. The weaker city wall in the south was completely demolished and rebuilt with square bluestones. The number of various arrow cave bunkers has also increased a lot. According to Bo Jinchen's words, Jiama is to be built into a fortress that will never fall, making Jiama a thorn in the hearts of the Kaman people and a nightmare that they can never get rid of.
The repair and construction projects of the two roads from Merlington to Jiama and from Jiama to Taixuan were also launched quickly driven by the fanatical passion of the people. The Jieluo people also know that the quality of these two roads is directly related to their condition. Determining the speed of reinforcements from the Xinjiang Army from the south and west once Jiama is attacked by the Kamans, it can also be said to be the two lifelines of Jiama. Jerok has been ruled by the Kamans for several years. People no longer want to be second-class citizens, and their enthusiasm is enough to make many things that were originally impossible become easier.
"Lord Bo, you see, the armored horse garrison has exceeded 100,000 people and is about to reach 120,000. In comparison, Merrington's defense strength has been weakened a lot. I wonder if the number of garrison troops can be adjusted to balance it. Let's look at the defensive strength." Seeing that the coach's interest in Jiama City was far more than that of Merrington, the capital of Jeroke, Kang Jianguo, who was following Bo Jinchen, was a little puzzled. Now that Jiama City's defense system has gradually taken shape, Kang Jianguo Jianguo's own view is that as long as he maintains more than 60,000 troops, the Kaman people, no matter how powerful their military strength is, will not be able to conquer it in a short time. However, Merrington's current strength has been reduced to more than 60,000 troops, which makes Kang Jianguo Somewhat worried.
"Haha, don't worry about Jianguo. The Kaman people can't catch their breath for a moment and come to play Merrington's idea. The status of the first horse is too important. I have to be careful. Once the city fortifications here are completed, we can immediately mobilize some of them. Return the troops to Merlington." Bo Jinchen smiled faintly. He understood the meaning of Kang Jianguo's words. There was only one empire-sent military division stationed in Merlington, but the Jerok front army had 40,000 troops, and it was also the most powerful Wang family. The Guards, Jerok Principality had quite a bit of criticism about their own side, which had been controlling military and political affairs. What Kang Jianguo was probably most worried about was whether the other side would use this to regain actual control of Merington City.