In early June, the private armies of the aristocratic families in the Wei Kingdom, taking the princes who had taken refuge as units, marched towards "Dingtao" County in Song County one after another.
Of course, this does not mean that the private armies of these noble families want to attack Dingtao.
Because Dingtao, a county town, has played the role of a "border city of Wei and Song Dynasty" for nearly twenty years. During those years when the relationship between the Wei State and Song County was extremely tense, the merchants of the Wei State were mainly located in Dingtao.
If Tao's transactions with the Song people went too far into Song County, they would most likely be plundered by the Song rebels "Beibo Army".
Therefore, in fact, when Nangong Yao was still alive, Dingtao was actually controlled by the Daliang court.
From another perspective, Dingtao is also the county town where most Wei people came or settled in the entire Song County.
On the fourth day of June, the aristocratic private army of the King Su Party, led by Chengling King Zhao Shen and Anping Marquis Zhao Tan, rushed to Dingtao.
At this time, as the nominal commander of the private army of the noble families of the Qingwang Party, Wei Feng, the head of the Tianshui Wei family, had already led his army to Dingtao and set up camp in the Taoqiu area, waiting for the private armies of other parties.
arrival.
Subsequently, nobles from several major factions including the Yongwang Party, the Xiangwang Party, and the Suwang Party arrived one after another.
In fact, in addition to these generous people, there are also some neutral nobles who have not yet surrendered to His Highness, but these people are not included in Wei Feng's negotiation list.
The participants in this game are mainly the Qingwang Party, Xiangwang Party, Yongwang Party, Suwang Party and other forces.
On the fifth day of the sixth lunar month, Chengling King Zhao Tan and Anping Marquis Zhao Tan, with more than a dozen guards, arrived at the location of the "Alliance Meeting", which was a tent on a mound in "Tao Qiu".
This negotiation agreement is euphemistically called "Meeting Alliance". In fact, the nobles of the Wei Kingdom met here and agreed in advance not to hold each other back, to maximize their interests, and other matters.
After all, this dispatch of troops to Song County can be described as the imperial court's strategy of "driving away tigers and devouring wolves". They intended to use the wealth of Song County to lure these noble private soldiers to help the imperial court eliminate "Song Yun, the leader of the Beibo Army" and Huan, the leader of the Suiyang Army.
"Tiger" are the two largest rebel parties in Song County. If the aristocratic private army is defeated too badly, then the imperial court will have an excuse to directly send domestic elites to the stage. In this way, the aristocratic clans will lose the opportunity to make a fortune.
.
Therefore, it is best to achieve great results and regain Song County for the court while secretly taking the wealth of Song County. It is best for the court to have no excuse to send out elite troops. I believe this is the most common thought among the nobles attending this meeting.
The war is over, why don't we let them make a big fortune after suffering heavy losses?
When Chengling King Zhao Tan and Anping Hou Zhao Tan arrived at the meeting place, the leaders of the private armies who were lucky enough to attend the meeting were already waiting in the tent one after another.
When they saw that "Jiyang King Zhao Zhuo" and "Zhongyang King Zhao Xuan" actually represented the nobles of the Yongwang Party, Zhao Tan, the Prince of Chengling, and Zhao Tan, the Marquis of Anping, looked at each other and felt a little surprised: This Yongwang Hongyu
Silently, he actually managed to win over these two local princes and kings?
Speaking of which, "Zhao Zhuo, King of Jiyang" and "Zhao Xuan, King of Zhongyang" are old partners of Zhao Shen, King of Chengling. I remember when Zhao Hongrun blocked Chenggao Pass and did not allow domestic noble caravans to enter or exit, it was these two
These princes plus "Yuanyang King Zhao Kai", together with Chengling King Zhao Shen, represented the domestic aristocratic forces to put pressure on Su Wang Zhao Hongrun, and finally forced the latter to compromise with the domestic aristocrats.
At that time, the relationship between these four princes was still quite good. However, after Anling King Zhao Shen defected to Su King Zhao Hongrun, his relationship with these old partners gradually faded away. Instead, they were no longer on good terms with each other.
The deep-seated Anping Marquis Zhao Tan has now become an ally who advances and retreats together.
Although Chengling King Zhao Shen felt sorry for this, there was nothing he could do about it.
He firmly believed that joining Su Wang Zhao Hongrun was the wisest choice, but unfortunately, he failed to convince his two old partners, "Jiyang King Zhao Zhuo" and "Zhongyang King Zhao Xuan". As for Yuanyang King Zhao Kai, this guy has been around for a long time
So he took refuge with Qing Wang Hongxin.
"Everyone is almost here, so let's discuss the strategy for Song County."
Seeing the invitees arriving one after another, Wei Feng said with a smile. Unfortunately, many people in the tent did not buy this person.
To be fair, the power of the Longxi Wei family in the Wei Kingdom is not small now. On the one hand, they are helping each other with Zhao Yuanzuo, the king of Nanliang, and on the other hand, they are raising the banner of "King Qing Hongxin". Their development momentum is quite astonishing.
However, precisely because of this, they encountered resistance from the local princes and nobles of the Ji Zhao family in Wei State. There are still many descendants of the Ji Zhao family in Wei State who have not yet accepted the Wei family in Longxi, believing that the existence of the Wei family in Longxi has compressed their living space.
No, after hearing Wei Feng's words, Zhongyang King Zhao Xuan said nonchalantly: "Actually, this meeting is unnecessary. Who doesn't know the "rules"?" As he said that, he looked around and robbed the guest of honor.
Wei Feng said: "Either we abide by the "rules" honestly, or...hey, we just turn the table over and no one wants to play!"
"This is exactly the reason." Wei Feng was robbed of his words, but he was not angry at all. Instead, he echoed the words of Zhongyang King Zhao Xuan with his palms in his hands.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he finished speaking, someone said quietly: "However, someone purchased a batch of war weapons from the Smelting Bureau. Does this count as a violation of the rules?"
Everyone turned around and took a look, only to realize that the person who said this was Sun Mou, the Marquis of Huyou, and a member of King Qing Hongxin.
After hearing this, Zhao Tan, the Marquis of Anping, said with a smile but not a smile: "As the saying goes, "make the best use of everything." No matter how powerful the weapon is, if it falls into the hands of some people, it is nothing more than a decoration... Marquis Huyou, I heard
The last time you supported Weiguo, you didn't lose a single soldier, and you got a batch of Weiguo's food and grass in vain? That's amazing!"
"Marquis Anping, what do you mean by this?" Sun Mou, the Marquis of Humu, heard the sarcasm in Anping Marquis Zhao Tan's words, and said with a sneer: "Aren't all the soldiers under your command unharmed?"
Zhao Tan, the Marquis of Anping, sneered when he heard this and said, "No, no, it all depends on the clever plan of the King of Nanliang."
"You..." Sun Mou, the Marquis of Huyou, was speechless as he was squeezed out by Anping Marquis Zhao Tan.
After a long time, he said bitterly: "In short, you took the war weapons of the Smelting Bureau, which violated the rules!"
After hearing this, the nobles from other factions present looked at Chengling King Zhao Shen and Anping Marquis Zhao Tan intentionally or unintentionally, feeling more or less jealous.
This is no wonder. After all, the weapons and equipment of the private armies of noble families are mostly poor. At best, they are at the same level as domestic county soldiers, and may even be worse than this. As for war weapons, what are they? I have never seen them before.
But the aristocratic private army of the Su Wang Party did better. Not only did they acquire a batch of weapons and equipment eliminated by the Merchant Navy and the Yanling Army, they also "rented" fifty repeating crossbows, one hundred machine-operated crossbow boxes, and two
Ten catapults. It is said that these war weapons are the latest creations of the Smelting Bureau.
Damn it! This is what a private army can have?!
Seeing that the eyes of Hou Hou Sun Mou and others seemed to be burning with the flame of jealousy, King Anling Zhao Shen and Hou Zhao Tan felt happy. This is called leaning against a big tree to enjoy the shade! Not happy? Jealous? Blame me?
Facing the attention of everyone, Anling King Zhao Shen said with a smile: "His Royal Highness King Su is not personally conducting the expedition, and the Shangshui Army, Yanling Army, and Youma Army have not moved at all. Why should the Marquis of Huzhou make such a fuss?" At this point,
, he looked around and said with a smile: "In short, we will take the "Ji family", so please don't fight with us."
Jishi?
All the nobles present looked at each other in confusion, because "Ji Shi" County is very close to "Suiyang", are these private troops of the Su Wang Party really planning to attack Huan Hu's Suiyang?
In their opinion, if it was King Su Zhao Run who said this, and he was also leading the elite divisions of King Su's army such as Shangshui Army, Yanling Army, Youma Army, etc., then attacking Suiyang would not be a problem, but
You, Chengling King Zhao Shen, led a mob of 30,000 people. Even if you rented a batch of powerful war weapons from the Smelting Bureau, you actually dared to cause trouble for Huan Hu and the Suiyang Army? Those are garrison-level rebels!
The nobles in the tent looked at each other, and no one had any intention of competing with Chengling King Zhao Shen.
At this time, after Huyouhou Sun Mou took a deep look at Chengling King Zhao Shen, he stopped targeting the latter and said in a deep voice: "In this case, then we will take the "Chengshi"."
"Chengshi... are you planning to attack "Chang County"? Hey, you guys have a big appetite."
Chengling King Zhao Shen looked at it with slight surprise. After all, Chang County was also a prosperous county in the west of Song County.
As he expected, when he heard "Chengshi", Zhao Xuan, King of Zhongyang from the Yongwang Party, couldn't sit still. He frowned and said, "Why do you call 'Chengshi'?"
"I said it first."
"Do you think it's first come, first served?"
Seeing the quarrel between Zhao Xuan, the king of Zhongyang, and Sun Mou, the Marquis of Huzhou, over "Changyi", Zhao Shen, the king of Chengling, glanced at Zhao Tan, the Marquis of Anping, stood up and said goodbye: "You guys, please continue the negotiation, we will leave for now."
Everyone in the tent exchanged a few perfunctory polite words and ignored Chengling Prince Zhao Shen and Anping Marquis Zhao Tan. After all, they did not have the guts to get too close to Suiyang, so they had nothing to do with the nobles of the Suwang Party who chose to attack "Jishi" County.
Conflict of interest.
When Chengling King Zhao Shen and Anping Hou Zhao Tan left the tent, Anping Hou Zhao Tan finally couldn't help but laugh. Who said that "Jishi" is close to Suiyang? They chose the route of Jishi County, so they must
Attack Suiyang? Can I play "Hua", "Meng", and "Chengwu"?
In fact, at the beginning, Chengling King Zhao Shen and Anping Hou Zhao Tan did think about attacking Suiyang after conquering the Ji family. After all, Suiyang was Nangong Yao's former nest, and the latter did not know how to gather in Suiyang.
How much wealth has been gained.
But after receiving the warning from King Su Zhao Hongrun a few days ago, they no longer dare to underestimate the former robber Huan Hu who now occupies Suiyang. Therefore, they changed their mind and planned to go to surrounding counties to loot first, and then decide whether to attack in the future.
Suiyang.
On that day, the aristocratic private army of the Suwang Party set off for "Ji", while the Yongwang Party and the Qingwang Party were still quarreling over "Chang County".
In the end, the two sides reached an agreement: the nobles of the Yongwang party attacked "Chengshi", and the nobles of the Qingwang party attacked "Chengwu". Whoever broke through the city first and reached "Changyi" would attack the latter.