A few miles south of Xiangguo County, there is a hill called Longgang. Although it is a hill, there is an inexplicably huge well on the top. The water level in the well does not decrease all year round, regardless of floods or droughts, and the water in the well is sweet.
It is delicious, so I don’t know when a castle was built here, which became a famous garrison point and the actual core of military defense of Xiangguo County.
Its existence is actually similar to the huge Black Emperor Temple in Wu'an County... If you make a low-end strategy game, sooner or later there will be a special building sequence... In fact, there is a connection between the two.
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It is said that at the end of a certain dynasty, the world was in chaos, military disasters continued, and there was a severe drought in Hebei. The people were miserable, so someone asked people from the Black Emperor Temple in the south to come out to pray for rain. As a result, a Si from the north to fight against the devil came
Fate happened to be in the Observation for no apparent reason. After hearing the words, he walked out directly. After measuring several times, he arrived at this post, and then used his true energy to dig out the ground. Within three feet, a dead dragon as thick as an arm was dug out.
As soon as the dead dragon came out, it immediately rained, and the place it dug was the well.
Longgang is also named after this.
Later, when the commander returned north with the dragon corpse, someone realized that this dragon was not a dead dragon, but a corpse dragon. It was the dead real dragon from Hongshan mixed with the blood of the Supreme, and he encountered it again.
The evil spirit and resentment of the chaos in the world, and the monsters bred out of it, are also the root cause of this drought... At that time, the corpse dragon was preparing to dig out of the ground, be at ease and cause harm to the world.
However, this red mountain was transformed into a real dragon under the Black Emperor, and the sword that caused the Red Emperor's empress to bleed was also done by the Black Emperor himself. The Demon Guards could not ignore it, especially since the great commander knew all along.
Everything is going wrong in the world, so I sent a commander to travel a long distance in advance to deal with it.
It seems quite reasonable.
However, let's not mention these allusions, just say that in the early autumn of the fifth year of Zhang Xing's time travel, Li Ding sent troops directly from the Wu'an Daheidi Temple's martial arts performance field, crossed the Shahe River without entering, and five thousand Wu'an troops marched continuously, heading straight to Longgang
Under the fort, it seemed to have lost some of its momentum.
Because the gate of Longgang Fort was open, there was no sign of Mr. Chen Junxian, as if a punch had been punched into the air.
Only half an hour later, when he led his troops to the opposite county, he was completely furious - the reason is self-evident, he saw the gift given to him by his old friend Zhang Xing.
I even met Xie Minghe.
"Three thieves Zhang! Three thieves Zhang! Three thieves Zhang!"
It was probably the first time in Li Ding's life that he could not suppress his rage in public. He brandished his sword with great energy and smashed the bulletin board into pieces. Beside him, thousands of soldiers were entering the city.
After smashing the notice, the man turned around and asked: "What does he want to do?! Do you really think I dare not attack him?!"
"My chief has said that if Fourth Master Li gets angry, questions, or threatens, just tell him directly that his behavior is just due to incompetence and rage." Xie Minghe stood with his hands tied next to the crumbled bulletin board at the bottom of the city, his face expressionless.
The words were clear. "Because he had to endure it for three years before he had a chance to seek justice, he would never dare to fight against the gang at this time, otherwise his lifelong ambition and hard work would be ruined... Moreover, if he knew that Zhang San was bound to come,
Who do you think you are looking down on when you intervene but only think you can stop him? Zhang San also knows that he will definitely be taken advantage of by Li Si in the war. He can only rely on the strength of people and the vast territory to show off his courage. This Li Si
Why are you so stupid all of a sudden? Is Li Ling out of his wits?"
After saying this, Li Ding was stunned, but he forced Su Mu to turn around immediately, awkwardly urging the troops to enter the city, and at the same time, he asked people to avoid this place as much as possible.
After a while, Li Ding was stunned for a moment, sneered, and gradually lost the energy in his hands: "Boss Xie is starting to look more and more like Zhang San."
"I don't dare, I don't dare. I'm just speaking for others. These are the exact words of my chief." Xie Minghe replied seriously. "If it were me, I would be more polite... But it seems that the two of us are close friends after all. Chief Zhang's
Words are indeed effective, but I can’t learn this method.”
Li Ding took a long breath: "It's useless for you to do this. I will declare it. I, Li Ding, am a court official and I am at odds with the thieves..."
"That is your freedom." Xie Minghe was still magnanimous. "But I want to remind Mr. Li of a few things... I am reminding you as a gang leader, not on behalf of our chief."
"Please tell me." Li Ding extended his hand to signal.
"First of all, your voice is not as loud as ours. You only have two counties. If you want to talk about this matter, our Chief Zhang can make twenty or thirty counties in the world hold their breath and listen!" Xie Minghe replied proudly.
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Li Ding, who was so angry at Zhang Xing that he calmed down and came back, could not argue.
"Secondly, this matter is a three-party affair. Gang, Li Fujun, Chen Fujun, and Li Fujun are talking to themselves, but the other party involved, Chen Fujun and his family, should have arrived in Jingcheng by now, and then
His hometown of Runan is more or less within reach of us. In other words, Master Chen will always cooperate with us. Only your words are one-sided."
"Mr. Chen Fu has left?!"
"yes."
"Arrived in Jingcheng?"
"yes."
Li Ding narrowed his eyes, but did not continue.
So, it was Xie Minghe's turn to continue: "Again, no matter how you say it, your Excellency actually annexed the neighboring county as the county governor. This is the basis of everything and an unchangeable fact... Your Excellency said there was no rebellion. Jiangdu and Dong
No one will believe it, and neither will the surrounding counties, and since you have turned against me, everyone in the world will naturally think that you have joined the gang."
"I won't do it." Li Ding answered categorically. "The Qing Dynasty will be Qing Qing. It's you who spread the rumors. I can't change it. But as long as I draw a clear line with you, what can you gain from this move? It's just that you have spread the rumors.
Let me be humiliated and take advantage of you? Doesn't Zhang Xing understand that if you want to get something, you must give it to him first? Since he wants to recruit me into his gang, why does he keep humiliating me like this?"
"This is what I am going to say next..." Xie Minghe was not angry. "Do you think that this Xiangguo County was not given to you by our help?"
Li Ding was suddenly startled, blood rushed to his head, but he suppressed it forcefully: "What do you mean? The gang simply does not have the ability, and it is impossible to expand at this time, let alone expand here! I saw it on time.
You have the opportunity to see the situation clearly and take this county for yourself, but it was you who took it away with your mouth and then brought it back?"
"Master Li Fu." Xie Minghe sighed and came to report seriously. "We have no intention of taking Xiangguo County. We are asking for trouble by taking Xiangguo County. This is true. However, we want to prevent you from taking this place."
County, what can you do?"
Li Ding suddenly fell silent, just like the previous time.
"We have two Grandmasters, seven or eight Chengdan, with almost dozens of Dandens, and more than fifty battalions of soldiers and horses, which are really ten times more than your Excellency... How can we even use so many soldiers? As long as
We accept Chen Fujun's invitation, and then send King Xiongtian to lead two battalions into Longgang Fort, and then let Xu Shiying lead five battalions to confront you opposite the Zongcheng. Can you really easily take down Xiangguo County?" Xie Minghe calmly said
Let me ask. "Or do you think that after you put a serious face on you and drew a clear line with us, you are still qualified to receive the previous treatment?"
At this point, Xie Minghe finally raised his tied hands, pointing one finger at the other party and the other at himself: "Master Li Fu! Our two families had a tacit understanding before that it was us who were accommodating you, not you who were accommodating us...
…and that’s the case now.”
After Li Ding listened quietly, he suddenly turned to his side.
Su Mu, who had been listening intently, immediately turned his head away, pretending not to hear anything. In the gradually rising autumn wind, Wu Anzu, who represented Li Ding's true strength, was abiding by military discipline and acting in a way that was far better than helping.
The marching troops continued to enter the city in a strict manner.
Looking further back, on Longgang Fort, the flag with the character "Li" that had just been raised was fluttering in the wind.
Between Longgang Fort and Xiangguo County, there are waves of wheat and millet rippling in the wind.
Li Ding looked at it for a while, then suddenly turned around, and his tone became much lighter: "If it's like this...Brother Xie...If it's like this, why do you want to accommodate me and even help me get Xiangguo County?"
Xie Minghe came to laugh.
"I'm not talking about Zhang Xing... I know why he did this. I'm talking about the gang. What reasons did he use to convince everyone in the gang to give me Xiangguo County?" Li Ding corrected.
"I don't know what you think Chief Zhang's reason is, but the reason he gave did not convince us. Instead, it made many of us worried, and only a few of us agreed." Xie Minghe answered seriously. "It's just that the Chief is now
After all, he is the chief, and we can't bear it too much... He said that since the war is unstoppable and the drought is a foregone conclusion, instead of leaving the areas we can't control to a group of cowards, we should leave them to some decent people.
Come and take care of it... Wu'an County is the most drought-resistant among the surrounding counties."
Li Dingqian laughed: "This is indeed unconvincing, and I wouldn't accept it if it were me..."
However, just halfway through his words, he became solemn: "But it seems to be what Zhang San said. He always regards the world as his own responsibility, and is compassionate to the point of inexplicable! Or, in other words, arrogant to the point of inexplicable!
"
Xie Minghe did not refute.
"When the army here in Xiangguo is reorganized, I want to see Zhang Xing." Li Ding spoke again. "Let's talk to him in person. He is too self-righteous about some things, so I can give him a warning."
"I can go and send a message." Xie Minghe said seriously. "Let's see if we can set a date to meet as soon as possible before the autumn harvest, otherwise it may be a long time after the autumn harvest... My chief has always been the most concerned about farming. Autumn harvest, autumn harvest
Taxation, foundation building, literacy, it’s endless.”
Li Ding nodded and handed over his hand: "In that case, your Excellency, just go back and I won't send it away."
Xie Minghe also nodded, and then walked away, formally handing over the county to the other party.
In one day, the entire Xiangguo County changed hands, and soon everyone knew that Li Ding of Wu'an County had done something unique to Zhou Xiaoshang of Yong'an County.
And sure enough, most people accepted the idea that Li Ding relied on the Gang politically.
Rumors even arose, saying that he had given Zhang Sanlang a few whale bones to completely destroy the Wei Dynasty.
Of course, this was just a rumor. Zhang Xing did not refute it, and no one else refuted it, because anyone with a little political knowledge knew that this situation was inevitable and was caused by Jiangdu's falsehood being exposed in the Battle of Xuzhou.
chain reaction.
When things got to this point, no one could control the situation.
Li Ding didn't have time to see Zhang Xing.
Because just seven or eight days after he captured Xiangguo County, local officials and warehouses had just taken over, and the army had just begun to reorganize. In fact, the autumn harvest had already begun in Henan, and they were about to move north quickly. Zhang from Zhao County in the north
The prefect suddenly led Youzhou soldiers into the country.
This news shocked the whole of Hebei.
But immediately, all parties realized the "rationality" of Governor Zhang's move.
You must know that before this, even before the Gang entered Hebei north, the counties along the mountains in western Hebei, the so-called Wu'an County, Xiangguo County, Zhao County, and Hengshan County from south to north were a small and loose military administration with faint backing to Taiyuan.
Alliance... This alliance is self-protective and is aimed at Hejian and Youzhou, which have strong military capabilities.
And now, no matter what the reason was for Li Ding, no matter whether he defected to the gang or not, he could not restrain his ambition and annexed Xiangguo County, which would naturally cause strong fear and uneasiness in Zhao County.
At this time, the original loose alliance collapsed. Facing the young and powerful Li Ding, Governor Zhang of Zhao County had to quickly seek protection.
He has four choices - Taiyuan, Youzhou, Hejian, and Jiangling.
There will be many big problems when choosing Taiyuan.
For example, if Taiyuan sends troops, it will inevitably be involved in the war whirlpool in Hebei. This is unwise, otherwise Bai Hengqiu would not have formed a loose alliance; and Bai Hengqiu had been in confrontation with Dongdu in Taiyuan and tolerated it.
For several years, there was no reason to destroy the determination and political reputation for the invasion of the princes; in addition, the route of dispatching troops from Taiyuan was also a big problem. Zhao County did not have a direct access to Taiyuan, so it had to go from Hengshan County in the north.
This will be more troublesome.
Of course, Bai Hengqiu might be angry if Li Ding ruined the alliance, which could be considered a positive reason to ask for help.
However, generally speaking, Taiyuan is still not a good choice. Nine times out of ten, the request for help will fail, and it is too slow to allow Prefect Zhang to quickly gain a sense of security.
Jiang Ling, that is, asking for help from Zhang Sanlang of the gang, so there is no need to say more... What about the ruin of Xiangguo County? The whole world knows that if you, Li Ding, dare to eat Xiangguo County, you have the support of Jiang Ling
!
Then, there are Hejian and Youzhou.
Frankly speaking, in terms of geographical location, Zhaojun's first choice should be Hejian. Hejian also has sufficient reasons to support Zhaojun, because after the gang took away the area south of Qingzhang River, Hejian's best territory is
The two banks of the Zhuozhang River are downstream, while Zhaojun and Xiangguo County are the upper reaches of the Zhuozhang River.
Military politics and culture are all affected by geography, and Hejian Camp seems to be obliged to accept the invitation and stationed in Zhao County.
However, wasn't Xue Laohu beaten into a paper tiger by someone? People can't help but doubt his actual performance in facing the gang.
So at this time, Commander Zhang seemed to feel more secure when he chose Youzhou Camp, which also had outstanding military strength.
Youzhou and the Youzhou camp are by no means a simple governor or military camp. Since the Tang Dynasty and before the Wei Dynasty, the Northland has maintained an independent attitude for a long time. In order to suppress and control the Northland, there have always been people in Youzhou.
The state has the habit of gathering heavy troops here, so that many typical military states and counties have been formed.
There are nearly twenty states and counties in the north and south of Yanshan Mountain, surrounding Youzhou like stars over the moon. And the situation in these states and counties is also extremely complicated. Some counties are simply dedicated to a certain tribe or military nobles that have lasted for many years.
The prefectures and counties established are just two counties and three cities.
This naturally created a situation in Youzhou Camp where powerful local forces compromised with each other, defended against each other, and then became top-heavy.
Luo Shu and his son were able to quickly fight with Li Cheng and his son in Youzhou after the collapse of the Wei Dynasty, precisely because of his local color.
The several failures of Luo Shu and Li Cheng's father and son's external expansion did not cause any obvious damage to the so-called military whole of the "Youzhou Army". Even the number of soldiers, horses and masters in the Youzhou stronghold did not represent
The true strength of Youzhou Army.
In fact, since the war, the expansion of the Youzhou camp has been very obvious, but this expansion is a spontaneous behavior of the tribes below and the hereditary military nobles.
This is a multi-headed, multi-legged but very powerful monster.
Therefore, it is very suitable to join with a territory.
"Why is this happening? He can't live in peace anywhere." In Longgang Fort, Li Ding was upset and had an attack on the spot. "Didn't I write a letter to explain? His actions are going to cause chaos in the world!"
After finishing speaking, Li Ding regretted it endlessly. He knew very well that the explanations he had given were all in vain, because he could not hold back and took this opportunity to launch a new round of military invasion in Hebei.
You can't just allow your family to easily annex states and counties, but not allow the other party to protect themselves, right? Moreover, why have you ever been so weak?
In the final analysis, Zhang Laosan was still angry.
The new captain of Xiangguo County, who was born in a wealthy family in Xiangguo County, typically spreads all over the Bohai Sea in Hebei Province, and is called Gaoshi Province. It is a new arrival, so naturally he has to express himself. He thought about it again and again, and seriously said: "Master Fu, there is no way out at this time.
...If we let it go, we will be stuck and there will be no room for progress."
"Isn't it?" Su Mu, the captain of Wu'an, was a little surprised. "The Youzhou Army came to Zhao County alone and lacked backup. We have organized our troops and horses and saved 20,000 soldiers, so we can still deal with it calmly."
"Captain Gao is not worried about the Youzhou Army." Su Jingfang, who was standing aside, rushed to answer for his own father before Gao Shisheng. "It is about the Hejian Camp... Xue Changxiong of the Hejian Camp is not a fake tiger.
It's not a shame to give to the gang, but Xue Changxiong reacted and was bound to send troops to the west to capture Zhao County... Youzhou and Hejian were originally a false alliance, relying on the banner of the imperial court. Now the imperial court's prestige is no longer, and they are horse-faced.
In the Battle of Hejian, the two sides were at odds again and had gradually become defensive. Therefore, Zhang Ang's move in Zhao County was likely to cause a war between the Hejian Camp and the Youzhou Camp. No matter who wins on either side, they will suppress the other.
And occupy Zhao County, and then join the gang to pinch us to death."
Su Mu suddenly realized... Of course he knew that his son was trying to save him from the siege. In the same way, if Gao Shisheng preached to him, he would inevitably appear to be incompetent... But now, it was his son who said this.
After listening to Su Jingfang's explanation, Li Ding was silent for a moment and responded with difficulty: "But if we send troops again at this time, we will break the trust of others."
"Who did you break your trust? So what if you break your trust? Besides, we said it, Zhao Ang still brought in foreign troops, so how can we break our trust?" Su Jingfang quickly stepped forward and urged him in public. "Teacher, it is unwise to hesitate at this time.
!”
"What do you think?" Li Ding took a serious look at his student who made him fall in love at first sight.
"The student thinks..." Su Jingfang obviously hesitated for a moment, but continued to answer. "We should send troops quickly, before Xue Changxiong sends troops, and before the autumn harvest, and quickly defeat this Youzhou army in Zhao County, following Zhou Xiaoshang's example
Rapidly expand to several counties, and then use the victorious army to cover three counties to meet Xue Changxiong and form an alliance with him."
"Isn't it a bit dangerous?" Coats was uneasy.
Li Ding is not a stupid person. He was indeed a little confused by Zhang San's fellow, but it does not mean that he has lost his basic judgment, especially in military matters.
Therefore, even though he was obviously uneasy, he quickly completed the construction of some military strategies.
And Su Jingfang's answer was one of the plans he didn't say.
So, on the surface, he was hesitating about this strategy. In fact, there was only one hesitation he had, and that was whether he should send troops quickly and complete a new surprise expansion regardless of the situation.
Taking a Xiangguo County caused a lot of commotion, and also caused a shock in Zhao County. If another Zhao County was taken, who knows if there will be problems in Hengshan County?
"Just do it." Li Ding suddenly spoke calmly. "I want to see if the gang can give Zhao County to me as well."