Chapter 572: 1 war horses and 3 stones of food?

Chapter 572: 1 war horses and 3 stones of food?

At this time, a delicate situation quietly formed. A short-lived alliance of interests was formed between Wang Ben, Xiang Yu, Wei Bao and Wu Rui. Compared with the loose alliance of princes, this alliance based on interests was obviously more stable and reliable.

For these families, once Wu Rui surrenders, the Southern Border Army led by Gao Yao will be unstoppable like a flood. By then, no one will be able to compete with the Southern Border Army with 400,000 troops. Since the death of Prince Gao, the chaos among the princes has lasted for more than three years.

During this period, the princes rose up like mushrooms after rain, but were destroyed in an instant. Those who were able to survive in the end were all shrewd and they naturally understood the principle of "when the lips are gone, the teeth are cold" and "when the rabbit dies, the running dog is cooked".

Therefore, helping Wu Rui resist the attack of the southern border army was an inevitable choice for them. Otherwise, there would be no meeting in Hedong. At this time, Gao Yao was making every effort to recover the idle small warlords and small counties in various places. His intention to march north was already obvious.

If you don't make adequate preparations in advance, it will definitely not work. After all, when Gao Yao leads his army to the city, everything will be too late. Although the battle between the Southern Border Army and the imperial court may not attract much attention from ordinary people, the princes will pay close attention to it. Especially after the Southern Border Army defeated the imperial court army, the princes almost sent all their spies to the Southern Border, with the purpose of finding out the true situation of the Southern Border Army.

The information fed back by these spies did reveal some key issues. First, the Southern Border Army had a clear advantage in weapons and equipment, which made them more lethal on the battlefield. Second, the Southern Border Army marched extremely fast and appeared and disappeared like a ghost. Even if they encountered obstacles such as mountains and forests, they could pass through them as quickly as if they were walking on flat ground. Their marching speed was even faster than that of ordinary troops.

Facing such a powerful enemy, it was natural to take preventive measures as soon as possible. With Wang Li personally coming forward, everyone finally decided to gather in the Hedong government office to discuss strategies on how to deal with the Southern Border Army.

In the flickering lights of the Hedong government office, Wei Bao sat in the main seat, his face looking somewhat gloomy under the candlelight. Below him sat Wang Li, Wu Yan and Xiang Tuo, each representing a different faction.

After a few simple greetings, Wu Yan spoke directly without hesitation: "My father's idea is that we need 300,000 dan of grain and 10,000 war horses. In addition, when Gao Yao attacks our territory, he hopes to send troops from Hanzhong, Nanyang and Jiujiang to fight against the southern border army with us. Our army will use its main force advantage to gather troops in Hengshan to fight against Gao Yao. What do you think about this?"

Wu Yan's words were concise and clear, but this seemingly simple decision caused a great uproar in the ears of the other three people. Especially the request for 300,000 shi of grain and fodder, which was simply a lion's mouth. You know, such a huge amount is not an easy thing for any party.

Wang Li and Xiang Tuo looked at each other, and saw a hint of helplessness and dissatisfaction in each other's eyes. Although they also understood that the war required a large amount of material support, such a huge demand was really hard to accept.

Among the three, only Wei Bao was somewhat confident. His power was relatively strong, and he might be able to bear part of the supply of grain and horses. But even so, 300,000 dan of grain was a heavy burden for him. This number was enough for an army of 100,000 to fight for nearly a year.

For Wang Li and Xiang Bo, this condition was simply a fantasy, and they could not accept it at all. Although Wang Li and Wang Ben regained their 50,000 troops and finally occupied Xianyang and Hanzhong, this only gave them a slight respite. They could hardly feed their own troops, let alone provide food and grass to support Wu Rui.

Looking at Xiang Yu, the situation was not much better. In order to expand his power as quickly as possible, his sphere of influence was almost bordering the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan and Wei Bao. In just a few years, the number of troops under his command quickly expanded from more than 20,000 when he left Xianyang to 100,000 troops. However, the shortage of money and food was no less than that of the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan.

The difference between the two sides lies mainly in reputation. Xiang Yu is a member of the Xiang clan after all, and although Xiang Liang's death has had a huge impact on the reputation of the Xiang clan to a large extent, as the saying goes, "a lean camel is bigger than a horse", compared with the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan who borrowed Liu Bang's reputation, Xiang Yu's name as a member of the Xiang clan still has a great help.

When Liu Bang started his career, he relied not only on his relatives and friends, but also on the influence of the Lu family. However, when the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan wanted to use Liu Bang's reputation, he found that the effect was greatly reduced.

First of all, almost all of those friends who were originally famous were poached by Gao Yao. These people were originally the core backbone of Liu Bang, and their departure undoubtedly caused a huge weakening of Liu Bang's power.

Gao Yao was unable to count on the power of the Lu family because from the beginning, Lu Gong had a negative attitude towards Gao Yao's ideas and naturally would not give him any help. Later, Gao Yao was taken to the southern border, which made his connection with the Lu family even more distant.

Although the Lu family does have a certain influence in other places, this influence definitely does not include the southern border. This is why Gao Yao cannot use the power of the Lu family. Similarly, the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan is facing the same dilemma.

In the end, Yi Xiaochuan could only use the title of an anti-Qin hero to win over the team. Although he could still rely on Liu Bang's previous accumulation in Sishui County to gather a group of people, compared with the scale in the original history, it was simply one-tenth of it.

As for Xiang Yu, although Xiang Liang was dead, the Xiang family had a reputation long before Qin Shi Huang died, and it was quite famous. Although they were defeated by Gao Yao, their reputation and strength were still there. With Xiang Yu as the commander and Fan Zeng's strategy, they were naturally able to rise quickly. Compared with the place occupied by the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan, both Longxi and Beidi were not greatly affected by the wars among the princes. In the end, it was because of the death of Gongzi Gao that they completely lost their leader.

In this case, it was not difficult for the people to resume production and life after the war, and the infrastructure did not suffer any damage. The production capacity must be much better than that of the mysterious Yi Xiaochuan.