The officers and soldiers quickly laid siege to the city.
And Li Shu handled it well, and Xiong Bonan's appearance should be regarded as timely making up for the most dangerous shortcoming... The mask master on the opposite side did appear at the top of the city, but he encountered a long-standing reputation. In Hebei, the east border is good.
The famous Purple Faced Heavenly King and two Chengdan masters fought in the air for a whole morning, and since they were both decent men with martial arts, they naturally attracted the attention of the whole city.
Li Shu also allowed his followers to watch.
Because after experiencing this great defeat, no one would make the mistake of underestimating the enemy again. In contrast, most of the defeated troops were depressed. It made them realize that it was a good thing that the Deposed Dragon Gang also had top experts.
It is worth mentioning that Shan Tonghai was not among those who were depressed. He struggled up to the top of the city. After looking at it for a while, he lost interest. The other party was in the Chengdan realm and he had already begun to think that it was simply because of his inferior skills.
He's just a human being, and once he improves his cultivation level, he may not be able to lose, and he may even be able to take revenge.
In contrast, the big leader was more worried that his military power would be completely wiped out.
But the leader Shan also understood that in such a situation, we must unite and work together to deal with the outside world. Unity of command is simply a must, so his actions were limited to moving around with lameness and internal injuries to comfort the wounded and retreat.
Seek information.
But after a turn of events, Shan Tonghai, who had not been too depressed in the morning, became completely powerless in the evening, because only three or four thousand of his 20,000 soldiers came back, and more than half of them were Jiyin Central Army.
In other words, the soldiers from Lu County and the military bandits from Juyeze were almost completely gone. They had attacked in the past few months and had nothing in exchange. Even the headquarters suffered heavy losses.
Returning to his residence, he had a dull meal. At night, Shan Dalang tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep. However, he found Cheng Dalang, who was in the same hospital again... Anyway, the two of them could now be considered to have sympathy for each other, and they were brothers.
.
At this time, Cheng Dalang could tolerate it even if he was mean-mouthed, but even if others were polite, it would make people feel unhappy.
After knocking on the door, Shan Tonghai heard a reply from inside and dragged his legs in. He saw Cheng Dalang talking to the young man named Jia. When the latter two saw him coming in, they immediately shut up, and the young man named Jia also immediately shut up.
Give up your seat and stand aside.
When Shan Dalang saw this, he didn't notice anything and sat directly over.
"Master Shan, take good care of your health." Cheng Dalang responded coldly. "My legs are lame and I'm still running around. I'm not afraid of people laughing at me."
"You only have to walk around because your leg is lame, otherwise others will just think you are dead." Shan Tonghai did not hesitate at all. "It is better than Cheng Dalang's side. Even if you want to walk around, there is nowhere to go...
"
Cheng Dalang smiled, as if he was laughing, but also seemed to be laughing at himself.
Shan Dalang glanced at the young man surnamed Jia standing on one side and sighed with emotion: "You have to thank Xiao Jia. If it weren't for him, there would be no trace of the hundreds of Qingqi you have left."
Cheng Dalang just didn't say anything.
When Shan Tonghai saw this, he was not anxious at all. He just sighed and suddenly became serious: "Brother Cheng, you are older. I want to ask you a question seriously..."
Cheng Zhili then looked at the other party seriously: "What's the point?"
"Then what is it in this world that determines this country? Or what is the most powerful and fundamental thing?" Shan Tonghai answered seriously. "Is it the power of many people, or the power of money, grain, silk and silk? Or is it the power of many people?
Cultivation changes the world? Or does it mean armored horses?"
"I think it's humans." Cheng Zhili answered sincerely. "Because humans grow food, weave silk and fabrics, forge soldiers and armor, and even dig out copper coins, gold and silver! There is no human being."
, it’s not even interesting to have a kingdom!”
"Where is your cultivation?" Jia Runshi couldn't help but interrupt and asked.
"Cultivation is also cultivated by humans." Cheng Dalang glanced at Jia Runshi and continued to talk to Shan Tonghai, who listened attentively. "When I was young, I also felt that as my cultivation improved, anything would be possible. After all, the Supreme Being is here.
There is a great master there, so how come it’s not the one with the higher cultivation who has the final say? But then I thought about it, and I felt something was wrong... Because the higher the cultivation level goes, the more we have to say a truth, the right channel is
When it comes to dead kung fu, the Qi Jing talks about a state of mind. When it comes to becoming an elixir, if you are visualizing something wrong and unreasonable, you will not be able to move forward... But what is this principle? Not yet.
God’s will? And what is God’s will? Isn’t it about caring about people’s thoughts? Look at the two people from the Wu Clan, Sin Long and Hei Chi..."
Shan Tonghai was startled and shook his head: "This statement is not new, but it does make some sense, but there is still something wrong."
"you say……"
"I also think it's human." Shan Tonghai held his arms and answered seriously. "But it doesn't necessarily mean there are many people... Are ten of you good guys the same as a hundred bad guys? The most obvious thing is that
In the past, when the three families of Guanlong, Hebei, and Jiangdong were competing for hegemony, the battle was not about who had more common people, nor who had more upright veins, but who had more magical scriptures, more condensed elixirs, and more masters... If it hadn't been like this,
Can Guan Long gradually come back and finally win?"
Cheng Dalang nodded: "That makes sense..."
"People are different." Shan Tonghai tried to summarize. "Gold, silver, iron horses, cultivation, and manpower are all correct and effective, but you must know how to choose the big and give up the small, and choose the best... choose the big gold and silver.
Yes, the iron horse should be chosen well, the one with high cultivation level, the manpower should be chosen to be honest and strong...Every time you take a step, you will gain wisdom. This is what I thought in the previous battle."
Cheng Dalang thought for a moment and immediately realized something was wrong:
First of all, we are in rebellion, so it’s good to have them. Where is your turn to pick and choose? It’s like there are only half an acre of seedlings in a field. You can remove weeds at most, but do you have to remove ordinary bad seedlings? Do you want to choose?
That's right, but you have to make some choices.
Secondly, you are a big boss who has just suffered a big fall, and you are not a leader. You are choosing from the bottom like this. Aren't you afraid that others will choose you like this?
As soon as he thought about this, Cheng Zhili wanted to speak to ridicule the other party, but after looking at the other party's appearance and thinking that he only returned seven or eight cavalry, his confidant armor cavalry, he had no idea.
Instead, he nodded hard: "Shan Dalang has some truth."
It does make some sense, who can say it doesn’t make sense?
Shan Tonghai was relieved and nodded, and then asked: "What did you two just say?"
"Li Dalongtou's military order came down, asking Xiao Jia to go do something. He came to me to ask for details." Cheng Dalang finally cheered up.
"Sure enough... Li Gong even has to move these hundreds of your horses." Shan Tonghai sighed. "But it is really saving lives. You have nothing to say. This is called skills being inferior to others. You deserve to be like this. I have already accepted it...
…There are only 4,000 new soldiers and 4,000 broken soldiers in the city. If we are trapped in this city by the opponent, we are really going to be doomed."
Cheng Zhili was speechless, but Jia Runshi couldn't help but interjected and explained a little: "The leader Shan is thinking too much... Li Gong wants to use Qingqi's scouting power and our local advantages to let me take advantage of it."
Taking advantage of the enemy's siege and unable to fully lock down the city, we secretly took these hundreds of Qingqi back to Qi County to spread rumors..."
"Spreading what?"
"That is to say, Governor Zhang went abroad to suppress... He spent countless money and food to fight abroad. He prepared to recruit corvees and transport food in Qi County, and also prepared to send more money and food for military supplies." Jia Runshi explained seriously. "Let me ask Boss Cheng what to do.
Where to say it, how to say it."
Shan Tonghai was stunned and confused for a moment: "What's the use of this? Even if it's useful, water from afar can't quench the thirst of the nearer, right?"
"I asked about it. Although Xiao Jia was on the road, he was just a back-up. Before that, some local people had already brought gold and silver with them and went out before the siege. They also wanted to spread rumors, but they were
It is to be spread in Lu County... It is said that the people from Qi County came to fight and destroy the rebels, but they asked the people from Lu County to pay for food and pay corvees and so on..." Cheng Dalang explained briefly. "I guess it is to cooperate with the spring plowing.
As long as the fields are plowed and plowed immediately, Zhang Xuguo does not leave, and the defeated troops in the area cannot be gathered and stabilized, it will have a miraculous effect."
Dantonghai is still a bit weird.
But it's hard for him... They are also powerful, Cheng Dalang is a powerful man who prefers manor farming; Xu Dalang is a powerful man who prefers trade routes; Shan Tonghai is a powerful man who prefers the underworld; Wang Wulang is a powerful man who touches a little bit of everything.
Everyone's perception is different.
This is something that the other three people can understand to a certain extent, but is completely in the blind spot of Shantonghai.
But on the other hand, Shan Tonghai's ability to play chess and expand his army unscrupulously before, including his attitude of daring to fight and dare to fight, are incomparable to the other three, especially Cheng Dalang, who is obsessed with his own three-acre hometown.
The two continued to talk for a while, inevitably talking about the affairs of the gang and the war at hand, and then imagined the queen and the palace treasures from afar... But unexpectedly, they did not talk about Zhang Xing and Li Shu again, nor what happened before and after.
Because the two of them who had been beaten the most were already vaguely aware of it. Just like the previous massive expansion, starting from this Qijun old man’s blow to the head, the following days were probably not going to be easy. Talking about some things too deeply,
On the contrary, it is useless.
The next few days were the most difficult. The defeated army was left in the city, and people's hearts were unstable. The officers and soldiers had defeated the strong with the weak one after another. They had already taken on a new look, and their spirits were different. They were setting up camps, patrolling and fighting, and they were becoming more organized.
This contrast between internal and external spiritual energy reached its peak when Zhang Xuguo boldly divided his troops to capture Xuchang and Sucheng (both belonging to Dongping County) behind Pinglu, forming a situation where only 6,000 people surrounded 8,000 people.
An extreme.
Everyone knows that this is a strategy to lure the enemy, but there seems to be some conspiracy involved and they really don't dare to attack.
But because of this, the middle and high-level people in the city began to panic.
In this case, someone suggested that Wang Wulang immediately return his troops to help, because the latter also occupied most of the county in Jibei, with tens of thousands of people, so he could take advantage of the enemy's division of troops to fight hard.
However, this suggestion was strongly rejected by Li Shu. Not only that, he also continued to take advantage of the enemy's division of troops to send out messengers, asking Wang Wulang to ignore this place and only go east to attack Qi County.
Shan, Cheng's defeated general, Li Shu and Xiong Bonan were here, so naturally no one could waver in the policy, so the strategy continued and persisted.
And this persistence soon worked wonders as spring plowing began.
Zhang Xuguo was sitting in the main camp, surrounded by generals on both sides, all with cold faces, and all their eyes were fixed on a man in official uniform.
After a while, Zhang Xuguo made up his mind: "Drag him out to enforce military law."
"I don't accept it!" After hearing this, he saw the soldiers coming to drag him away. He knew that he was unlucky, so he shouted and asked. "Why did the general guard of Qi County kill the grain officer of Lu County? No one was willing to give him any money."
You are transporting food, why should you blame me?"
No one moved at all.
When the man was dragged out of the tent, his tone changed again, and he cried and begged directly: "Prefect Zhang, it's really not that I didn't work hard on this, but the people just can't trust us, and they would rather be thieves than submit to conscription. I
What can I do without soldiers? What can I do? Spare my life..."
After crying for a moment, the sound suddenly stopped and everything became quiet again.
Until this moment, Zhang Xuguo pinched his gray beard and exhaled heavily... He never expected that he had fought such a beautiful battle quickly and recovered almost the entire Lu County, but he had not gained anything.
Support and reward.
The soldiers of Lu County who had surrendered the thieves returned home. Instead of staying on their own terms, they helped the gangsters from the Deposed Dragon Gang to spread rumors all over the place. It seemed that the entire Lu County was in the state it was in now, as if it was all his fault.
Why can't local officials fulfill their duties?
Why can't people live and work in peace and contentment?
Why do you believe in the gangsters of the Deposed Dragon Gang and not yourself?
"The rebels of the Deposed Dragon Gang have been released... Zhishi Army has also been released." Jia Wugen hesitated for a moment and then spoke carefully. "Junjun, the common people are short-sighted, should we also release food?"
"In the past, when we put grain in Qi County, we put it out first when we had it." Zhang Xuguo sighed, but there was also a hint of anxiety. "But here in Lu County, the grain was stolen and the thieves put half of the grain according to the autumn grain. Let's go again
Release, how much? If you release too much, how will you maintain the military rations? If you release too little, you will be afraid and ungrateful. And... and after all, it is Lu County, not Qi County. It is my responsibility to release the food of this county. Lu County
What is this place?"
Everyone either sighed, got irritated, or didn't understand.
Then, Captain Fan Hu seriously reminded: "General, there is one more thing. Now that spring plowing has begun, that is, to release grain, the people are not willing to come out to work as servants. Even further down, the people of Lujun around will feel that...
It was us who delayed spring plowing and ruined our plans for the year."
"If it doesn't work, forget it. Just capture some strong men." Yu Baimei was furious and was the first to give up thinking. "First, renew the military rations."
"It's not that we can't capture strong men by force, but I'm just afraid that if we capture them by force today, they will become new thieves when they leave tomorrow." Jia Wugen said with an expressionless face, and said the truth. "The people of the East, what's wrong with the army?
How afraid are you of the corvee, do you still need to tell me?"
This sentence seemed to hit Zhang Xuguo's weakness. The Qijun Tongshou became increasingly frustrated, so he simply stood up without saying a word, put his hands behind his hands and walked out.
Leaving the tent, he waited for the temporary rammed-earth general platform, ignoring the corpses that had not yet been cleaned up, and then looked around... In the past, he usually only looked at the enemy's and enemy's military arrangements in and around the city, plus the geographical situation.
, but I rarely watched anything else today.
There were still smoke curling up from the villages in his sight, but Zhang Xuguo knew that the people had long since disappeared from the villages, and they had all turned into camps where Qijun soldiers were stationed. The soldiers were cooking. The surrounding hard ground had long been trampled on.
, in fact, it was originally cultivated land, but the fields and ridges had long been leveled.
Only some wheat seedlings that had just emerged under the camp stubbornly proved something... These messy wheat seedlings that had grown on their own due to the previous harvesting should have been uprooted and then plowed and sown again, but at this time, due to the stubbornness of the weather,
Growing there, it seems to be mocking the soldiers and farmers in this place at the same time.
"Divide two thousand troops with Fan Hu to transport the grain in person, and recruit men from several cities. Specialize in recruiting scoundrels and merchants. Two or three thousand will be enough. It doesn't matter if the noise is louder." After watching for a long time, Zhang Xuguo said.
Suddenly he turned around and gave instructions to the people behind him. "Let Fan Bao and the others approach slowly from Dongping..."
"Are you still dividing your troops to lure the enemy?" Fan Hu was stunned for a moment.
"I'm just afraid that Li Shu is a wise man and won't fall into the trap." Zhang Xuguo responded seriously.
No one can tell the difference anymore.
However, time passed quietly, and in the late first month of the first month, when spring plowing was in full swing, Li Shu did not move... and the logistics of Qijun's soldiers and horses became increasingly difficult, and there was even an attack by a bandit team formed by a small group of previously broken troops.
Zhang Xuguo divided his troops three times and asked Yu Baimei to lead 500 people to sweep the place.
But Li Shu still didn't move.
At this time, the official document about the beginning of riots in Qi County arrived in front of Zhang Xuguo's case. The old man who had won many battles on the battlefield finally gave up his struggle and chose to retreat.
His military ability seems to have no room to display in front of Li Shu's rumors and some gold and silver.
"What do you say?" Zhang Xuguo suddenly stopped in the north of Gongqiu City, by the Wen River, and then waited for Zhang Changgong's return.
"No movement." Zhang Changgong said. "The soldiers and horses in the city have not moved at all, and Xiong Bonan is still in the city."
Zhang Xuguo immediately shook his head...Obviously, he was ready to bite back and strike back, but unfortunately, Li Shu got his stance right and still didn't move.
Upon seeing this, Zhang Changgong hesitated for a moment and continued to report: "But that Cheng Dalang went out of the city alone, and he was settling the case at our camp below the city."
Like everyone else, Zhang Xuguo was at a loss: "What case should we conclude?"
"Divide the land into ridges." Zhang Changgong answered seriously, and you couldn't see the expression behind the mask. "As soon as we left, farmers who didn't know where they were going swarmed back. The Qianlong Gang gave them military rations to make seeds for them. Their own
It seems that we have saved some, so we started to cultivate the land while selecting seeds... But before we set up camp and smoothed the ridges, there were often disputes about who occupied whose land. Cheng Zhili was arrested by the commander-in-chief
He shot an arrow and his legs were not healed, but he still came out to judge cases and disputes... He said that it was all about conferring land and re-drawing the land."
Zhang Xuguo opened his mouth, not knowing what to say for a moment, he just felt cold all over.
For a long time, he still didn't know that the queen was robbed by the Deposed Dragon Gang, and he made a final conclusion: "The only disaster in the world lies with the Deposed Dragon Gang!"
After shouting, they had no choice but to order the entire army to go east along the Wenshui River and withdraw to Qi County.
"Do you think the disaster in the world lies in the Deposed Dragon Gang or in Guanlong Neili?" Almost at the same time, thousands of miles away in Dongdu City, in the black tower, Emperor Cao's eyes were almost splitting.
Amidst the chaotic and noisy sound of wind chimes, the seven or eight red ribbons and a dozen black ribbons in front of the Grand Master were as silent as cicadas.
Can Uncle Cao be allowed to leave the Queen after being invited by Zhang Xing, chop off the hand of his second eunuch, defeat the three most elite patrol teams, clear out Liang County, and rebel against half of Liang County?
You can still ask this question...of course there is a good reason.
It sounds funny, but it is true. In order to fight against the tyranny of Uncle Cao, the Guanlong clan chose to stop farming.
That's right, they probably occupy more than 60 to 70% of the land in Guanlong. As the largest and most orthodox ruling group in the world, the military leaders of Guanlong began to protest, and they adopted a non-violent and non-cooperative attitude... Spring plowing was approaching, but they refused to farm.
Land, there are rumors that unless Uncle Cao stops snatching private slaves from them to serve as soldiers, he will wait for everyone to eat a few large warehouses of old grain.
Luokou warehouse, Liyang warehouse, and Guangtong warehouse are full of grain. I don’t believe you, Uncle Cao, won’t send grain.
When Uncle Cao is in power, can people still starve to death?
Not only that, those people in the Nanya Assembly Hall were still urging Uncle Cao to send troops as soon as possible to quell the rebellion in Nanyang and take away the troops used to deal with the Wu brothers to fight against Zhang Xing, the number one rebel in Jiyin.
Or maybe Emperor Cao could go there in person and crush to death the traitor who was said to have condensed his elixir.