In order to avoid alerting Nanyang spies, Luo Xiancheng did not choose another place to stay when he arrived in Fancheng. Instead, he lived with Yanhu secret envoy Nahe Azig and She family's envoy Hu Zongguo in the inner residence of Chen Ji, the guard of Fancheng.
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Late at night, Luo Xiancheng still couldn't fall asleep. He put on his clothes and sat up. He called Wei Zhang who lived in the side courtyard and asked him: "A few days ago, the king of heaven wrote a letter and said many things, but he didn't say a word about Tou Yan. How about you?"
What do you think Wang Xiang means?"
Wei Zhang secretly sighed in his heart, even though Luo Xiancheng kicked Wang Xiang to the corner of Chaishan, in the end he still only valued Wang Xiang's opinion in judging the general trend. As Luo Xiancheng's staff and adviser, how could Wei Zhang feel comfortable?
However, no matter how uncomfortable he felt, Wei Zhang did not show it on his face. He tried to figure out Luo Xiancheng's thoughts and said: "Master Wang had strongly opposed King Luo's defection to Yan Ting before, and he even did not hesitate to argue with General Zhong in the palace, making his face red and his ears red, and using rude words.
Finally, he stubbornly left Suizhou and went to Chaishan. At this time, the Yan army was about to sweep across Nanyang, and the force was called Nanyang. Huaixi could not resist it, and Huaidong's reinforcements in Luzhou were difficult to scale suddenly. The current situation was as crude as
I can understand it, so how could Mr. Wang not understand it? However, Mr. Wang is also a proud and arrogant person. Even if he understands in his heart, he can't admit it with his face for a while. "
"It's true, when someone doesn't make a mistake, how can I laugh at him about this?" Luo Xiancheng sighed softly, "If he can understand the general trend, Suizhou's political affairs will always rely on him.
Even if he has resentment in his heart and doesn't want to be with me anymore, Yan Ting can still give him wealth. Go to Chaishan again, tell him what you mean, and ask me to let him come back to Suizhou. There is nothing wrong with Zhong Rong.
Aggressive!"
Wei Zhang was jealous, but he didn't expect Luo Xiancheng to be so dependent on Wang Xiang.
Luo Xiancheng had already made up his mind to use troops against Xinyang, and the more Luo Xiancheng made up his mind to use troops against Xinyang, the more he felt that the king was indispensable.
Going into battle, Zhong Rong and other generals may be brave enough, but the arrangement of food and fodder, as well as the depth of the troops sent to Xinyang, require advisers like Wang Xiang to be relied upon.
Although Chen Zhihu invaded Xinyang from the north and attracted the main force of Huaixi soldiers and horses to the north bank of the Huaihe River, he did not rule out the possibility of Huaidong elites leaving Luzhou to aid Xinyang.
It is said that it only needs to be responsible for cutting off the channel for Luzhou to aid Nanyang, but is it so easy to cut off the channel for Huaidong elites to aid Nanyang?
Luo Xiancheng's self-confidence was no less than that of Liu An'er when he was at his peak. However, during the Huaisi War, Lin Fu only had 30,000 elite men under his command. Didn't he beat the Huaisi army's elites like dogs? Only Liu Miaozhen used almost double the superior force to follow him in the end.
The Huaidong Army won a draw and became famous all over the world.
Even if Huaidong could only send 30,000 troops to aid Nanyang in the end, Luo Xiancheng did not want his own troops to fight head-on with the 30,000 Huaidong elite.
In this case, Luo Xiancheng needs Wang Xiang to determine the scale of advance and retreat for him. This is because Zhong Rong, Wei Zhang and others cannot replace Wang Xiang. In this regard, Luo Xiancheng will not trust the She family and Beiyan unreservedly.
Luo Xiancheng's idea in his heart was still to gain the maximum advantage at the minimum cost.
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Wei Zhang left Fancheng in the early morning and headed eastward, passing through Lishan (today's Dawu County) and heading southeast, deep into the hinterland of Huaishan Mountain.
Because Luo Xiancheng urged him so urgently, Wei Zhang resented Wang Xiang for being so loyal to Luo Xiancheng, so he did not dare to delay on the road. He arrived at Chaishan in two days, almost falling apart.
Chaishan originally belonged to Lishan County, located in the hinterland of Huaishan Mountain southeast of Lishan. In the early years, Chaishan Fort was established to station troops to control bandits, and later the Chaishan Inspection Department was established.
In the hands of Luo Xiancheng, in order to strengthen his control over Huaishan and leave a way out for himself in Huaishan, he set up a separate county from Lishan.
There are two remnants of Huaishan Mountain that surround Chaishan Mountain from the north and south. The North Mountain, also known as Daiyan Mountain, lies between Lishan and Chaishan counties. Although it is a remnant of Huaishan Mountain, the mountains are connected with each other, most of which are more than a hundred feet tall.
The roads leading from the mountain to the southeast are all rugged and dangerous, making it difficult to travel.
The Nanshan Mountain to the south of Chaishan Mountain is Hengqiling, which isolates Chaishan Mountain from Macheng and Qichun in the south.
When Luo Xiancheng first occupied Suizhou, Wei Zhang was still a minor official. He went deep into Chaishan with Zhong Rong to conquer the cottage forces in order to strengthen his control over the hinterland of Huaishan.
At that time, the road from Lishan to Chaishan was still treacherous and difficult to travel.
Although the straight-line distance from Lishan to Chaishan is only a hundred miles, the roads in and out of Chaishan at that time followed the stream. The dangerous path that could only accommodate one or two people followed the mountain, and the stream had twists and turns.
The total distance is more than two hundred miles, and there is no way for large groups of troops to pass.
At first, Zhong Rong led 6,000 soldiers and horses to dig mountains, pave roads and build bridges. It took him more than a month to enter Chaishan. On the contrary, he did not use much effort to conquer the copycat forces near Chaishan.
This time Wei Zhang went southeast from Lishan and entered Chaishan. Chaishan had been under the control of the Changle army for more than three years. Especially when Wang Xiang asked himself to leave Suizhou City, he said that he was running Chaishan for Luo Xiancheng and wanted to serve him in the city.
Leave a retreat in the hinterland of Huaishan Mountain.
Prime Minister Wang's rhetoric also catered to Luo Xiancheng's wishes, so in the past year, Suizhou invested more resources in Chaishan. Luo Xiancheng also gave Prime Minister Wang sufficient autonomy to appease Prime Minister Wang after he was forced to leave Suizhou.
Although Wei Zhang was in a hurry and the road was bumpy, there was no dangerous place from Lishan to Chaishan. All the way, the loess road was rammed, straightened, bridges were built across streams, or roads were cut through mountains, which reduced the original two hundred
Many miles of dangerous mountain roads were shortened to only a hundred miles of straight roads.
In the past, it would take at least two days to travel from Lishan to Chaishan by carriage. This time Wei Zhang traveled by carriage, and it would only take half a day from Lishan to Chaishan.
Judging from this point alone, Wei Zhang also knew that he was too far behind Wang Xiang in terms of governance. He thought that although Luo Xiancheng expelled Wang Xiang from Suizhou City, he was always paying attention to the changes in Chaishan.
Chaishan City is still very simple, surrounded by low earthen walls and without a ditch to protect the river——
At this time, a group of cavalry came from the direction of Chaishan City. Wei Zhang asked the accompanying driver to rein in the horse. When the group of cavalry got closer, he saw that the leader was Chaishan Colonel Zhou Bin.
Wei Zhang bowed his hand to Zhou Bin and asked: "General Zhou, I haven't seen him for many days. Wei Zhang came to see Mr. Wang on the secret order of King Luo. Is Mr. Wang in the city?" He only knew that Zhou Bin was a private lord.
Yao saved Wang Xiang's young son and won Wang Xin's trust. Now Chaishan's three thousand troops and horses were all ordered to be handed over to Zhou Bin's command by Wang Xiang.
Zhou Bin was blinded and sitting on the horse. His face was as thin as a dead tree, but the veins in his hands holding the reins were as green as hornets. His body was strong and tall under his uniform. His appearance was ugly, but his eyes were very sharp.
Wei Zhang didn't like to look at him.
Most of the people who trafficked in private goods these days were warriors. The generals of the Changle Army were either bandits or smugglers. Therefore, it is not surprising that the Prime Minister used Zhou Bin as a general in Chaishan, but it is worrying.
The king's prime minister intended to cultivate forces loyal to him.
However, Chaishan City is very crude, and Wang Xiang has spent all his efforts this year to build a passage between Chaishan and Lishan to increase the connection between Chaishan and the hinterland of Suizhou. This at least means that Wang Xiang has not relied on Chaishan to stand alone.
His ambitions were reduced to small details with Zhou Bin as his general.
Seeing how simple Chaishan City was, Wei Zhang thought to himself: It's no wonder that King Luo still trusted Wang Xiang at this time, and hoped that Wang Xiang could come back to him to advise him before taking on big things.
Zhou Xiazi saw that Luo Xiancheng had sent Wei Zhang, the internal historian, to Chaishan to meet the king. Knowing that Luo Xiancheng had made up his mind, he bowed to Wei Zhang and said, "Master Wang had an epidemic a few days ago. He is afraid of infecting others and lives alone."
The mountain courtyard is not in Chaishan City at this time. We haven't had time to tell Suizhou about this, but we got a secret letter from King Luo a few days ago. Lord Wang guessed that King Luo would send someone to Chaishan in the near future, and specifically asked Zhou to wait here.
Mr. Wei, please come back, don’t waste time for Chaishan..."
Wei Zhang was stunned and didn't expect Wang Xiang to avoid seeing him.
Wei Zhang wished in his heart that Wang Xiang would fall out with Luo Xiancheng, but at this time he had to hold back and not be too happy, and said to Zhou Bin: "Master Wang can't just ask me to send it to King Luo without saying a word!"
Zhou Bin took out a letter from his pocket and asked someone to bring it to Wei Zhang: "Everything Mr. Wang said is in this letter."
When Wei Zhang saw that the letter was sealed with fire paint and that it was delivered directly to Luo Xiancheng from the Prime Minister, he was also afraid of missing the big event in Suizhou and diluting his future achievements, so he had no intention of spending more time in Chaishan.
Since Wang Xiang resigned in front of Luo Xiancheng, how could Wei Zhang have the kindness to persuade him?
Wei Zhang cupped his hands towards Zhou Bin and said: "King Luo still thinks highly of Lord Wang and hopes that Lord Wang will return to Suizhou to take charge of political affairs. However, Lord Wang has made up his mind and Wei Zhang can only tell the truth when he returns. Then he bid farewell to General Zhou..."
The implication is that I don’t want to waste any time in Chaishan.
"Master Wei, please come." Zhou Bin waved his hand to see Wei Zhang off.
Watching Wei Zhang heading west along the Chaishui River, the carriage was covered by sparse forest. Zhou Bin ordered two scouts to follow him to make sure that Wei Zhang would not cause any trouble on the way before leaving Chaishan. He then turned the horse's head and led behind him.
Dozens of riding companions headed to Jinshui Village in the southeast.
In order to strengthen the blockade and control of Huaishan Mountain, Xinyang and Luzhou have strengthened their control over Huaishan Mountain close to their side through many methods such as training of village soldiers, merging small villages with Dazhai, linking Dazhai to counties, and relocating mountain people.
Control and mastery.
When the Prime Minister was in Chaishan, he naturally used this method openly and openly. He built villages around Chaishan City, opened mountains, built roads, demolished and merged small villages deep in the mountains, and built a passage between Dazhai and Chaishan City.
The deep valleys between Yanshan and Hengqiling extend the passage to the southeast into the deep belly of Huaishan.
In the name of preventing the infiltration of Xinyang and Luzhou scouts, a large number of elite soldiers were sent to completely block the trails into the mountain that some mountain folk and herb farmers would take.
Jinshui Village is located more than 70 miles southeast of Chaishan City in the hinterland of Huaishan Mountain, sandwiched deep between Daiyan Mountain and Hengqi Mountains. Further to the southeast is the main line of Huaishan Mountain, with peaks and ridges as high as 700 to 800 feet, and between peaks and ridges.
Deep creeks, dangerous ravines, steep cliffs, and inaccessible places.
After Wang Xiang took charge of Chaishan, he used Jinshui Village as the boundary and moved out all the mountain people in the deep mountains to the east. The residents in Shanshui Village also completely moved out of the mountains. More than 300 people in Jinshui Village were garrisoned.
In fact, the deep valley in the southeast of Jinshui Village is completely sealed on the inside, so that outsiders cannot see the reality at all.
Zhou Bin rushed to Jinshui Village before nightfall and went into the village to see Wang Xiang.
When Wang Xiang saw Zhou Bin coming over, he didn't say anything, but Tang Xitai next to him asked: "Has Wei Zhang been sent back?"
Tang Xitai accompanied Yue Lengqiu to Yuzhang to meet Lin Fu some time ago. Yue Lengqiu never expected that Tang Xitai would appear in the deep belly of Huaishan Mountain and stand with Wang Xiang.
Zhou Bin nodded, smiled, and said: "Luo Xiancheng is determined to use troops against Xinyang. Yanhu makes him the king of Xiangyang, so the bargaining chip is not low."
Although Wang Xiang asked to leave Suizhou City, the relationship between Suizhou generals and Wang Xiang did not deteriorate. Furthermore, Huaidong also deployed many informants in Suizhou, Xiangyang, and Fancheng. Before Wei Zhang entered Chaishan, Luo Xiancheng went to Fancheng to meet with Yanhu secretly.
Prime Minister Wang, Zhou Bin, and Tang Xitai had already known about the news about the meeting of envoys to discuss the alliance of troops.
Wang Xiang sighed softly: "King Luo, once you take this step, you can't look back."