ok, I have constructed a even more minimal example:
syms x1 x2 f1 f2
f1 = x1 + x2 == 1
f2 = 2*x1 + 3*x2
normally I could simplify f2 to f2 = x2 + 2 by rearaning f1 and plugging it in for x1. I wasn't able to find a Matlab function that does that for me. Simplify only let's you take one input function and Solve seems to give me random values for x1 and x2 that satisfy f1.