Updated: 2012-12-19

Looking at the Xuzhou Army envoy in front of him, Li Chi's son, Li Yu, the young master of the Xuzhou Army, perhaps, he would become the master of the Xuzhou Army in the future. Zhao Xun couldn't help but think of another person with the same name as him, Li Yu, the late lord of the Southern Tang Dynasty.

The late emperor of the Southern Tang Dynasty, Li Yu, was a king of a country, but did not think about politics, was addicted to beauty and poetry. In the end, he became a poet, but was captured by the country and was eventually poisoned. Although Li Yu in front of him did not have the prominent identity of the late emperor of the Southern Tang Dynasty, as the young master of the Xuzhou army, he was able to be literary and military, and was many times stronger than the late emperor of the Southern Tang Dynasty.

Li Yu in front of him is not much older than Zhao Xun, at most he is twenty years old, and he is only two or three years older than Zhao Xun. Like Zhao Xun, he leads the army and is a brave man.

"Governor Li, don't know what you mean?" Seeing that the other party was speechless for a while, he was silently stunned. Li Yu frowned slightly, and then asked in a low voice.

Zhao Xun was stunned and woke up, saying, "I understand the meaning of the Major General. To be honest, the general also wants to dispatch a large army. However, I believe the Major General also knows how much the Shanyang Army paid in the last winter to appease the people and help the people. In order to stabilize these new governments under our Shanyang Army, a large-scale tax reduction and exemption policy and land allocation policy were also carried out. In addition, our Shanyang Army recruited new recruits to the army and the combat effectiveness of the soldiers was very low. Therefore, in the short term, our Shanyang Army will not act easily. Not to mention, the biggest constraint is the food, grass and materials required for the large army to operate."

"Actually, before, the commander Situ Wen and the governor from Luoyang sent troops. How could he have no money or food in his hand? How could he personally mobilize the army to fight?" As he said that, Zhao Xun sighed faintly. The meanings expressed were all due to objective reasons, which caused the Shanyang Army to be unable to move, and it was not because our Shanyang Army was unwilling to go on the battle.

Li Yu scolded in his heart. He knew that all this was an excuse. The other party clearly had no intention of leaving the army, or that without actual interests, the other party was unwilling to act. However, Li Yu and the Xuzhou army both hoped that the Shanyang army on the west side of Xuzhou could fall into war. Whether it was sharing the pressure for himself or not allowing the Shanyang army to grow and grow, it was all needed by the Xuzhou army. But it was obvious that the other party had already understood his position and did not take the initiative to attack. In this way, neither the Wuwei Army nor the Tang Army would attack the Shanyang Army first, and could only watch the Shanyang Army gradually grow and grow.

How can I allow others to snore on the side of the bed? Li Yu is very clear about the troubles caused by the Shanyang army. In the current situation of the Xuzhou army, defeating the Tang army and the Wuwei army is the most basic purpose. Later, it is to expand himself while the Qi army and the Yongwang army fight. However, even if the Xuzhou army defeats the Tang army in the north, the Qingzhou area is not something that the Xuzhou army can provoke, it is the jurisdiction of the Xiaoguo army. If we go to war with the Xiaoguo army, it would be better to take advantage of the Qi army to fight against the Qi army during the Qi army and the Yongwang army.

The northern line of Xuzhou cannot be advanced. The eastern line is the sea area, so only the southern line and the western line are left. The southern line is Yangzhou, the jurisdiction of the Qi army, and Murong Cheng attaches great importance to it. Even if Murong Cheng and Situ Lei were in a dim position, it would be extremely difficult for him to attack the Qi army and seek the southern Yangzhou area. Maybe he would directly involve himself in the war. In this way, the southern line, like the northern line, is not advisable to face a great enemy.

Since it is not desirable to both north and south, then there is only one place left in the end, which is the Western Front. The Western Front is naturally Yanzhou and Yuzhou. Speaking of which, the part connecting Yuzhou and Xuzhou is greater than the part connecting Yanzhou and Xuzhou. Yuzhou is the better target. However, Yuzhou is the jurisdiction of the Qi army, and not only that, it is also the frontier of the competition between the Qi army and the Yongwang army. The Xuzhou army does not want to mix in and become the first scrap material to be cleaned out.

Therefore, the land of Yanzhou became the only best position for the Xuzhou army to expand outward and the most promising direction. Since the beginning of last year, the land of Yanzhou has been mixed with the Wuwei Army of Qi, the Yanzhou Prefecture Army of Yanzhou, and the Tang Army of the north and south. Afterwards, the Xuzhou army also mixed with it and dug a land of Yanzhou from Yanzhou.

However, as the Wu Guards became stronger and stronger, the situation changed after Situ Wen arrived. Finally, under the court represented by Xu Jie and Situ Wen, the decision to jointly fight against the Wu Guards was reached. To be honest, neither Li Chi nor Li Yu himself was very concerned about this decision. However, facing the nominal master of Yanzhou, the Yanzhou Prefecture Army, the representative of the court, Situ Lei's power and the Qi army's power, the Wu Guards, the Xuzhou Army could only agree. Speaking of which, on the surface, this decision was the Yanzhou Prefecture Army who gained power in the Yanzhou Land. After being driven away by the Xiaoguo Army from Qingzhou, the Tang army gained new development, and the Xuzhou Army of its own could naturally gain some territory. But in fact, Li Yu knew very well that the final profit must be Situ Lei, otherwise, would they come back to organize everyone to act together?

However, the incident occurred. The Shanyang army rose and the Tang army retreated. Not only did they retreat, but they targeted the attack targets. Now, their Xuzhou was in a situation where the enemy was on all sides. The Yanzhou Prefecture Army also had a hard support. Then, in order to resist the strength of the Wuwei Army, the Yanzhou Prefecture Army not only allowed the Shanyang Army to join the battle, but also ceded the capital of the Yanzhou Land. But as a result, no one expected that the inconspicuous Shanyang Army who finally got the greatest benefit was the inconspicuous Shanyang Army who replaced Xu Jie and Yanzhou Prefecture Army and became the master of the Yanzhou Land. Compared with the original Yanzhou Prefecture Army, I don’t know how many times stronger it was.

When Li Yu thought of this, his heart was beating. He even suspected that the Tang army withdrew and attacked his northern Xuzhou was related to the Shanyang army, and to the Yanzhou governor who was younger than him. Li Yu knew very well that his current plan and his strategy of relieving his own party's pressure and falling into the quagmire of war had been seen through by the other party. Although the other party bluntly said that the Shanyang army was inadequate, Li Yu was indeed very clear that if anyone underestimated them, there would definitely be no good results, and Xu Jie was the most obvious representative.

For Li Yu, the biggest threat to the Shanyang Army is not its strong attack power, but its ability to suppress the expansion of territory and revenge of hatred, and turn to local production. If the combat power is strong, it can only mean that the butcher's courage is not scary at the other side. However, the other side is not only powerful in fighting, but also able to manage and manage the local area and win the hearts of the people. Then, such a force is the biggest threat to his Xuzhou Army. He also knows very well that no matter how great the threat the other side is, the Xuzhou Army cannot and dare not provoke the Shanyang Army anymore. Otherwise, among the surrounding forces, the Xuzhou Army will only be the Xuzhou Army who will die closely behind Xu Jie. It can be said that the current Xuzhou Army has no allies around, and will fight against the suppression of the Tang army and Qi army around.

After talking to Zhao Xun for a few words and not agreeing to the other party, Li Yu understood that the leader of the Shanyang Army was definitely not someone who was as easy as Xu Jie to deal with. Although Xu Jie was smart, he was already fascinated by power. But the person in front of him was sober and he already knew his plans. Therefore, Li Yu couldn't continue to persuade him, so he could only leave with a wry smile.

"Want to use me? Humph... I'm fantastic!" Zhao Xun sneered after Li Yu left.

March is coming, and spring returns to the earth. In other words, the world, except for the northern part of Youzhou, are basically no longer cold. In addition to the beginning of spring plowing and the beginning of the people planting hope, it also means that the war is coming again.

After the Shanyang Army stated that it would not attack the surrounding forces, neither the Tang army in the north nor the Wuwei army in the south believed it. However, as the Shanyang Army began to be busy with training and the Yanzhou Governor was in charge of spring farming in various places and had no preparations for a war, the two forces felt a little relieved. Of course, this did not mean that they were completely relieved. In the border areas, scouts and horse exploration were closely involved. Zhao Xun naturally would not deal with this. Now, he was not ready to fight.

To be honest, in order to eliminate Xu Jie and Yanzhou Prefecture Army and replace them, Zhao Xun and Shanyang Army spent a lot of money. Especially in order to appease the people and save the victims of last winter, they dragged the logistics of the Shanyang Army to death, almost completely exhausted Shanyang Prefecture and Yanzhou Prefecture. If it weren't for the capture and confiscation of a lot of them in Songzhou Prefecture, Jiyin Prefecture, and Luzhou Prefecture, I'm afraid Zhao Xun wouldn't have immediately expanded the three guards' main troops now, nor would he expand the inspections of the county soldiers and inspection departments in various places.

But if you don’t care, the Shanyang Army now does not have enough logistics to support long-term operations. In addition, the expansion of various departments and the establishment of local governments also takes a certain amount of time. Without stabilizing the place, Zhao Xun dares to launch a war easily. Fortunately, if the stalemate and failure will cause unpredictable consequences. Zhao Xun doesn’t believe that the Tang army and Xuzhou army are good people, but they are afraid that they will be willing to fall into this place themselves.

In a few months, part of the Navy of the Xiaoguo Army also established harbors and villages on Qiongzhou Island in the eastern waters of Jiaozhou in the name of merchant ships and escort merchant ships to serve as resting harbors for sea ships. In addition, in order to prevent harassment from the South China Sea pirates, frigates were also established around Qiongzhou Island. Of course, these were the navy of the Xiaoguo Army. In the meaning of Zhao Xun, they were all from the Third Fleet. They led the troops to guide the entire island, immigrate here, stabilized the place, and became the southern territory of the Xiaoguo Army.

Although this territory is just an enclave, with the navy on the side guard, it does not take the initiative to show its fangs and develops slowly. Of course, there is no problem. Even if Murong Cheng discovered that he could not say much at this moment. After all, he now has no time to worry about the Qiongzhou Island issue, and he cannot easily attack the people of the Xiaoguo Army.

During these three months, the Qi army and the Yong Wang army fought hard in Jiaozhou for many days, and the two sides fought for Jiaozhou endlessly. In addition, the scattered Yizhou made it difficult to decide the outcome of the war. After both sides paid the price of 50,000 or 60,000 casualties, the Qi army and the Yong Wang army almost divided the Jiaozhou area evenly, and the two are now in a stalemate.

In addition to the situation in Jiaozhou, the situation of the Wuwei Army in Yanzhou also made Murong Cheng angry. The Wuwei Army in Yanzhou was first defeated by the Shanyang Army, which was not valued by them, and then defeated by the Yanzhou Prefecture Army and the Xuzhou Army coalition. It can be said that the Wuwei Army has lost 60% to 70% of its combat power. It is not known where it is worse than at the beginning. Because of this, Murong Cheng's anger towards Xu Jie has added another layer. It is also because of this that in the middle of the second day of the year, the heavy snow had just melted, and launched a fierce attack in southern Xuzhou to retaliate against the Xuzhou Army in the war in Yanzhou, which ruined his own major events.

What made Murong Cheng most angry was that this inconspicuous Shanyang Army has now gained the greatest benefit and became the master of Yanzhou. After learning about this news a year ago, Murong Cheng killed five intelligence officials in charge of Yanzhou. In his opinion, if these intelligence personnel had not misjudged the strength of the Shanyang Army, how could this situation that was extremely unfavorable to his side would have occurred?

However, Murong Cheng also knew that the Shanyang Army's profits now also caused Situ Lei to suffer a loss, which made his anger slightly calm down.

Now that we have obtained some detailed information about the Shanyang Army, let alone others, even Murong Cheng has begun to be alert to the Shanyang Army. Because the new policies implemented by the other side in the months of war are mostly the same as those of the Xiaoguo Army, but they are not as perfect as the Xiaoguo Army.

Of course, what made Murong Cheng worried and wary was not the Shanyang Army's implementation of the policies of the Xiaoguo Army. But what would the Xiaoguo Army develop and strengthen the way after these policies were implemented. There were many princes in the world who followed the Xiaoguo Army's implementation of some new policies. But they all knew that this new policy would bring to all parties.

Even if Murong Cheng himself did not implement the policies of the Xiaoguo Army, he could make a lot of profit through some policies, such as taxation and supervision. In addition, the division of the navy and the navy also made him clearly see the power among the Xiaoguo Army. If the Shanyang Army also followed the new policies of the Xiaoguo Army, then the Shanyang Army would sooner or later develop and strengthen the heroes of the city. Then, this would be detrimental to one side. You should know that in addition to the southern part of Yanzhou, the Wuwei Army occupied the three prefectures by the Wuwei Army, there is also Yuzhou, which is adjacent to it, which is also under his jurisdiction.

So, in this way, the existence of the Shanyang Army is a huge hidden danger. Especially now that I am fighting with Situ Lei, if the Shanyang Army descends from the north, it will cause great trouble to me.

Fortunately, the Wuwei Army had already passed on the meaning of the Shanyang Army. At least, in the short term, the Shanyang Army would not attack the south. This means that although the Shanyang Army accepted the enthronement of the court, namely Situ Lei, it did not follow Situ Lei's wishes.

"As long as you don't walk with Situ Lei!" Murong Cheng said in a deep voice. At this moment, he had nothing to say to others. Now he will no longer easily provoke an outsider as an enemy.

"Prince, no matter what, the Shanyang Army must step up its investigation, and it is the key target." Zhang Tu said in a deep voice. After seeing the situation of the Shanyang Army, this picture began to calm down.

"What's the point? I'm still going to win him over and let him attack Situ Lei from the north." Murong Cheng said slowly.

Zhang Tu frowned and said in a deep voice: "Prince, I wish I could say bluntly that this Shanyang Army must not believe it, nor can it grow and grow. I suspect that this Shanyang Army is a member of the Xiaoguo Army."

"Tell me your reasons!" Murong Cheng said in a voice. He could not ignore what Zhang Tu said. If the Shanyang Army was really a Xiaoguo Army, the consequences would be troublesome. No, it should be troublesome now. If the Shanyang Army was a Xiaoguo Army, then this means that when he and Situ Lei fought, a tiger was staring behind him and was about to attack.

"Prince, this Shanyang Army is not only very close to the Xiaoguo Army in terms of policy, but also in terms of military organization, and the Xiaoguo Army is the same as the Xiaoguo Army. The only difference is that the Xiaoguo Army is called Zhenjun, while the Shanyang Army is called Weijun. The organization below is exactly the same, without any difference. The subordinates dare to assert that the Shanyang Army is very close to the Xiaoguo Army. Even if it is not the Shanyang Army, we must not be unprepared. The previous Yanzhou Governor Xu Jie is the best example. Even Situ Lei was played with by the Shanyang Army? What dares this Shanyang Army fight against Situ Lei? Isn't it the Jizhou Xiaoguo Army beside us? Therefore, we can use it, but we cannot let it step into our jurisdiction. Otherwise, the matter between Xu Jie and the Yanzhou Prefecture Army may happen again." Zhang Tu said slowly.

Murong Cheng took a deep breath, nodded, and said, "What you said makes sense. From now on, we must not only increase our attention to the Shanyang Army, but more importantly, find a way to pull it into the battle with Situ Lei."

Like Murong Cheng, Situ Wen's face was gloomy at this moment, and he returned to the Yong Palace of Luoyang with heavy thoughts to meet his uncle Situ Lei.

"How is it? This Shanyang Army is not easy to deal with!" Situ Lei asked a little tiredly. In recent months, the war with Murong Cheng has become more and more intense, so Situ Lei is also busy. As for his nephew, you can tell the result when you look at the expression on her face.

Situ Wen said in a deep voice: "Uncle, things are indeed as you expected. The commander of the Shanyang Army is beyond control."

Situ Lei said indifferently: "Control? It can resist the invasion of the Tang army, turn defeat into victory, and fight the Tang army is suffering. Can Xu Jie and Yanzhou Prefecture Army replace them? How can he not know your plans? Look at what he does in the local area, it is a famous person. To be honest, such a person can be said to be a generation of wise rulers in the eyes of the people. Resuming production, recruiting scholars, reducing taxes, giving grace to the people, can ordinary people do these things? After he did this, even if my family kills to Yanzhou in the future, it will be difficult to gain a foothold on the spot. Even if he occupy it, it will require the same policies as the Shanyang Army. However, if you open an opening in Yanzhou, how should you deal with it elsewhere?"

Situ Wen said bitterly: "It was all my nephew who was too self-righteous. In order to control the situation in Yanzhou, to force Xu Jie to be obedient, and to allow our Yong Wang Army to advance east smoothly, he forced Xu Jie to agree to cede Yanzhou Prefecture and let the Shanyang Army go south to join the army of expedition. Who would have thought that this Shanyang Army..."

Situ Lei sighed and said, "I know what you want to say, but you only thought of holding Xu Jie tightly in your palm, but you ignored the possible threats from the Shanyang Army. You ignored the Shanyang Army's real combat power. In fact, when we learned that he had a deal with the Xiaoguo Army, we should have killed him. Even if there wasn't that time, when the Shanyang Army asked to transport food and supplies from the rear, you should have thought of it. How could you trade with the Xiaoguo Army? Because of the food and supplies, you would not buy it from the relatively close Jizhou area, but instead transport it from the rear, nearly a thousand miles away?"

"Forget it, don't think about him anymore. If you fail, you will fail. At least, this Yanzhou land has not fallen into the hands of the Wuwei Army. As long as it does not fall into the hands of Murong Cheng, it will have no direct relationship with us in the overall situation. Find a way to instigate the battle between the Tang army, the Wuwei Army and the Shanyang Army. The Xuzhou Army is on our side on the surface, and it is fighting with the Qi army, so let us share the pressure for the Xuzhou Army as much as possible."

Situ Wen smiled bitterly and said, "Uncle, I have already told Li Feng, the commander of Shanyang Army. However, the other party just didn't get in. There was a lot of excuses and had no intention of participating in the war. According to his intention, he had to completely manage his territory safely before he would take counterattack against the surrounding forces. In addition, Li Yu, the Xuzhou Army, also received such a reply from the other party. This Li Feng, who explicitly asked me for money and prepared food and supplies for his army, would act. I think this was just intentional ruling, and it also expressed that we were just giving him official positions, but had no actual benefits, but made him dissatisfied with the action."

When Situ Lei heard this, he frowned and said, "Is that true? In this case, it would be a pity for the money he invested in Xu Jie."

Situ Wen lowered his head and said, "It's all my nephew's fault!" In order to support the battle between Xu Jie and the Wuwei Army, Situ Lei threw out more than three million silver coins, but Xu Jie was gone and the Yanzhou Prefecture Army was gone, which means that they threw out the money in vain.
Chapter completed!