Luoshan City is small in size, with four streets and twenty-six lanes. The county government office is also where Wen Boya's tent is located. It is located in the center of the city. When Zhang Qian, Guo Rong and others entered the city, they could see groups of cars when they entered the county government office.
The horses loaded with heavy supplies drove into the county government office from the east.
Seeing this scene, Zhang Qian was secretly frightened. He looked at Guo Rong and asked tentatively: "Is the Marquis of Qianyang really relieved about the Wen family?"
He didn't expect that Han Qian would directly transport a large amount of supplies into Luoshan City before everything was settled. He thought to himself, wasn't Han Qian really afraid that Wen Bo would change his mind after receiving a large amount of supplies?
"Luoshan has been besieged for several months, the food supplies are running out, and the soldiers and civilians are drowned. They want them to serve Chu, especially in such a short period of time. If they want to change their minds, everyone will strive to be loyal to Chu. If they don't
How can it be possible to grant favors and continue to suppress, causing resentment to grow? Wouldn't Mr. Zhang also think that the whole world is not the king's land, and the shores of the land are not the king's ministers? Is this a matter of course?" Guo Rong said, "And Tang Yi
I have tried my best to express such goodwill, and if General Wen repeats himself, it will only be criticized by thousands of people..."
Zhang Qian was relieved after thinking about it. Wen Bo was really going to change his mind. At this time, Han Qian was murdering the Wen clan members who were kidnapped in Tangyi. No one would say that Han Qian was cruel anymore, right?
Wen Bo led Cao Ba, Xue Chuan and other generals to welcome Zhang Qian in front of the county government office. A very simple banquet was also held in the hall. Wen Bo and the generals' robes were all patched, and there were even grass wadding.
It was revealed that after being besieged for more than half a year, Luoshan City was already in short supply of supplies.
When Zhang Qian first joined the Longque Army, he met Wen Bo and his son with Shen Yang. At that time, Wen Bo was still a Confucian and elegant general. He was in his thirties and took up the post of a senior general at the level of commander in Dachu. Everyone thought that
He will succeed his father as deputy privy envoy, or even serve as privy envoy. Who would have imagined that Wen Bo, who was over forty years old and had not seen him for seven years, had a full beard and his appearance had become much rougher.
Of course, who could have imagined that in the past six or seven years, the world would be in such chaos?
When Wen Bo and the generals met with Zhang Qian, they didn't have much to say. They just regretted working for Anning Palace and the Xu family and tried their best to express their desire to return to Chu and serve the imperial court.
Maybe Wen Bo was good at acting, pretending, and trying his best to hide his true thoughts, but many of Wen Bo's generals showed their hatred without concealment. They were dissatisfied that the Shouzhou Army had been defeated steadily over the years, and they were worried about the future of the Liang Kingdom.
Zhang Qian could also believe that the Luoshan garrison's desire to return to Chu was not a disguise. The real obstacle was perhaps the fear that one day they would be liquidated after accepting the surrender.
Seeing this, Zhang Qian was able to rest with some peace of mind after the night banquet. However, Wen Bo, Wen Zhanyu, Guo Rong and others were still busy counting the supplies brought into the city from Chengdong Operation and distributing them to each camp as quickly as possible.
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Even though Wenbo led his troops to guard Luoshan, strengthened Luoshan city defense to the maximum extent, and hoarded a large amount of supplies, after more than 15,000 generals and more than 20,000 civilians in the city were besieged for more than half a year, the supplies were almost exhausted.
Already.
Wenbo made preparations for long-term defense of the city early in the morning, and strictly controlled the ration supply of the military and civilians from the beginning. For more than half a year, the daily ration supply of the defenders was controlled to less than eight taels, and the ration supply of civilians was even lower.
Just barely ensuring not to starve to death.
After being in a state of semi-starvation for a long time, most of the soldiers and civilians were starved to the point of skin and bones and severely malnourished.
Therefore, Han Qian's first batch of emergency shipments of tens of thousands of coats, hundreds of thousands of kilograms of grain, tens of thousands of kilograms of dried meat, tens of thousands of kilograms of sucrose, more than 30,000 kilograms of cooking oil, and tens of thousands of kilograms of salt also hoped that Luo Shanshou would
The army was able to restore physical fitness as much as possible, and at the same time, Wen Bo was asked to increase the ration supply of civilians accordingly to avoid serious starvation.
Of course, the first batch of materials transported into the city were three thousand sets of armor, including more than five hundred of the most elite armors and scale armors, as well as a thousand arm-shaped crossbows and sixty bed crossbows.
Although Han Qianming did not make any more demands on the surface, Guo Rong would also discuss some necessary measures that would be acceptable to Wen Bo and his subordinates without causing others to become suspicious.
The Tangyi Army regained Huailing, Linhuai and other twelve counties, and incorporated a total of more than 90,000 households with more than 50 household registrations. Among them, more than 5,000 households were forced to cross the river by the Anning Palace in the early years and migrated to Huailing.
, the military households of the old Zuo Wuyi Army settled in Linhuai and other places were also the family members of the generals of the old Zuo Wuyi Army led by Wen Bo.
Taking into account the continuous wars over the years, the casualties among the generals of the old Wu Yi Army led by Wen Bo were definitely high. Han Qian estimated that among the more than 6,000 households of the old Wu Yi Army soldiers who moved north, there should be nearly 3,000 generals.
The soldiers are still waiting in front of Wen Bo's tent to serve.
Guo Rong went to the city to talk secretly with Wen Bo this time, and also brought the corresponding list of military households. Han Qian asked Wen Bo to separate these three thousand generals and form a capital.
The generals such as the capital troops and horses, the governor generals and the battalion commanders can be appointed by generals designated by Wenbo. However, some seemingly unimportant assistant positions of the marching commander need to be filled by officials designated by Tangyi, and they also need to pay tribute to these generals.
Disclose the fact that his family was recruited and resettled by Tangyi.
In troubled times, ordinary generals and soldiers are at the lowest level. They can only drift with the tide and have no time to care about where their families are. But for those generals who know clearly that their families have been resettled in Tangyi, they
It can still form relatively stable centripetal force and cohesion.
In addition, after Wen Bo led his troops to leave Luoshan City, Luoshan City would be taken over by the Xiangbei Army, but the more than 20,000 civilians in the city would be handed over to the Tangyi Army and relocated to the east bank of the Gushui River.
Guo Rong, on behalf of Han Qian, also asked Wen Bo to organize the more than 2,000 men who had been forcibly recruited from local areas to strengthen the city's defense into a separate capital.
It would take some time for the imperial court to formally make the decision to surrender the Luoshan garrison and follow Zuo Wuxiang's army to attack Guanzhong. During this period, Han Qian asked Wen Bo to make preparations for the expedition...
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Zhang Qian stayed in Luoshan City for two days. Under Wen Bo's arrangement, he also met with the generals at the command level of the garrison camp. After visiting the barracks in the city and generally understanding some of the situation of the garrison, he went out of the city to meet with Li Zhigao.
After a while, he quickly rushed to Anfeng, then took a boat to go eastward via Chaohu Lake, Yuxi River, and the Yangtze River, and rushed back to Jinling on the 9th to report back to Shen Yang and other ministers who participated in the government what he had done in the past ten days.
The surrender journey.
At about the same time, the news that Li Xiu led his troops to successfully capture Wuguan also rushed back to Jinling.
Capturing Wuguan will open the way to advance into Guanzhong, but only capturing Aoguan in the southeast of Lantian County can truly open the door to the hinterland of Yongzhou.
At present, Li Xiu and Zhang Fengzheng are leading their troops to move north along the Shangluo Road (Wuguan Road), but there are nearly 300 miles of winding mountain post roads from Wuguan to Yao Mountain at the northern foot of the Qinling Mountains where Yaoguan is located.
Huang Lu, Li Xiu, Zhang Feng and other generals were not worried about how strong the Liang army in Guanzhong would be when they were surrounded by enemies.
After entering the gate, the Chu army wanted to share as much of the victory as possible. Compared with the Shu army, the Mongol cavalry in the north, and the Weizhou rebels, their strength seemed insufficient.
Even if the Guanzhong Liang Army was defeated in the end, it would be difficult for them to capture Yongzhou City, the former capital of the dynasty, from the Shu Army and the Mongol people who had an absolute advantage in military strength, let alone control the entire Wei River Plain.
inside.
Therefore, Huang Lu, Li Xiu, Zhang Feng and others will report to the court, and Shangshu will put forward two suggestions.
The first is to suggest that the imperial court recruit more troops and horses to the front line of Yaoguan. After the capture of Yaoguan, they will have stronger strength to participate in the carving up of the Guanzhong territory.
If they could not send more troops and horses, and only Zuo Wuxiang's army was the main force, they advocated temporarily stopping the use of troops against the hinterland of Yongzhou after the capture of Yiguan, and holding Yiguan, the gateway pass that can directly use troops against the hinterland of Yongzhou, and occupied
Shangluo and Shangluo counties between Yoguan and Wuguan were used to observe the subsequent development of the situation, instead of hastily entering the hinterland of Guanzhong.
The princes in the court initially decided to respond to Shu's proposal and send troops to attack Wuguan, and did not expect to participate in the carving up of the Wei River Plain.
In any case, even if Da Chu can divide troops into several counties in the Wei River Plain in the early stage, the investment will definitely far outweigh the gains.
What's more, the lone army hangs north of the Qinling Mountains. Once the Shu army and the Mongol people suddenly change their minds, it will be extremely difficult for them to hold the Pingchuan land north of Aoguan. If they are not careful, the whole army may be destroyed.
What the princes in the court were most looking forward to was to seize the Pass and control the narrow passage between Guanzhong and Xiangbei. However, the real opportunity they saw was in the Central Plains, the vaster land between the Hehuai River and the Huaihe River.
In dismantling the Liang army in Guanzhong, Da Chu's strategic focus should also be to concentrate its elite troops and horses to cross the Huaihe River and march northward to invade Cai Ru, Yingqiao, Shang, Song, Xu, Si, Qingmi and other states. It is even expected that while the Mongolians digest the Hedong and Heshuo areas, the Chu army's
The front can advance directly to the banks of the Yellow River.
Of course, all the princes in the court realized that the Luoshan garrison was a major obstacle at the beginning of their decision-making.
As Han Qian said in his memorial, Luoshan is a small area with more than 10,000 weak troops, but the two main armies of Xiangbei and Tangyi, with 112,000 elite soldiers and horses, cannot cross the Huaihe River and go northward. At the current moment, it is undoubtedly a kind of
The huge waste may even cause the Chu army to miss the best opportunity to invade the Central Plains since the founding of the country.
Han Qian asked the Xiangbei Army to solve the problem of the Luoshan defenders within a month, which was harsh for the Xiangbei Army. But as far as the entire battle situation is concerned, once several troops defeated the Guanzhong Liang Army, the Xiangbei Army
, it is in the best interests of Chu that the Tangyi Army and the Huaidong Army can make timely preparations to move north before this.
Even if the Xiangbei Army suffered heavy casualties when they attacked the Luoshan Army, it would still be better than when the Liang Army was completely defeated and they missed the opportunity to attack Cai Ru, Shang, Ying, Qiao, Song and other states.
Zhang Qian's return will undoubtedly bring back an exciting solution that can resolve the current conflicts.
Even if Cishou Palace had the support of the Queen Mother, its opposition seemed insignificant at this time.
The memorial was made public, and the ministers discussed it for three days. On the 13th, Emperor Yanyou officially issued an imperial edict to recruit the Luoshan defenders into the Youshenwu Army - which can be regarded as re-using the banner of the Youshenwu Army - to give warmth.
Bo, Xue Chuan, Cao Ba and others will serve as the capital commander and deputy capital commander of the You Shenwu Army. At the same time, they also ordered the Ministry of War to reorganize the old Zuo Wuyi Army soldiers into the military households of the Tunying Army.
The Anning Palace rebels fled north across the Yangtze River, and a large number of ordinary generals and their families were abandoned on the south bank of the Yangtze River.
After all, in the era of Emperor Tianyou, in addition to the bodyguards and personal troops, the families of the Forbidden Army served as military households, and the military camps under their jurisdiction were distributed on a large scale in prefectures and counties outside the capital. And like the Left and Right Dragon Bird Army and the Left and Right Shenwu Army
The military households were mainly settled in Tanzhou, Junzhou and other places.
During the Jinling Incident, the large-scale Forbidden Army officers had no choice but to follow their generals and were forced to rebel. However, their families who stayed on the south bank of the Yangtze River were demoted to prefectural and county government offices after Emperor Yanyou ascended the throne.
official slaves.
Wen Bo led his troops to accept the surrender, and the old Zuo Wuyi Army stayed in their hometown on the south bank of the Yangtze River. Naturally, their identity had to be re-clarified, which would also involve the imperial court's influence and penetration of the new Right Shenwu Army in the future.
The imperial edict also required that when the newly formed You Shenwu Army received the order, it would immediately go south through Jiuli Pass under the supervision of the Xiangbei Army, take the road from Suizhou, and then rush to Wuguan to accept the Marquis of Jiangyin along the Han River and Dan River.
Huang Lu's temperance entered the Aoguan pass.
As for Han Qian's letter suggesting that Wen Bo's troops join Zuo Wu's Xiang army and seize Yongzhou City before the Mongols, the princes in the court ignored it.
In addition to the small area of Guanzhong, it is only connected to the Jianghuai land by a narrow Wuguan Road. Instead of competing with the Shu army and the Mongols for the city in the narrow Guanzhong, it is far better to put the strategic focus on closer contact with the Jianghuai and mutual interaction.
It is the Hehuai area of the Central Plains inside and outside.
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On the 17th, Zhang Qian accompanied the minister of the Ministry of War, Li Changfeng, the Marquis of Linjin, and Chen Ruyi, the permanent minister of Chongwen Hall, and rushed to Luoshan with the imperial edict to declare it.
In addition to the fact that Wen Bo and his newly formed Right Shenwu Army needed to mobilize as quickly as possible to move westward, the handling of Luoshan City was generally carried out according to the previous compromise between the Xiangbei and Tangyi armies.
The more than 22,000 civilians in the city, including some sick and wounded generals, will all be handed over to the Tangyi Army and relocated to the east of the Gushui River. Huangchuan and Le'an counties will be placed under Huozhou.
Luosan, Yiyang, Tongbaek, and Qisi, which was still occupied by the Shouzhou Army at this time, were placed under Gwangju, and the new state government was established in Yiyang City.
The upper reaches of the Gushui River valley area was separated from Luoshan County and merged into Le'an County.
The imperial edict also ordered the Xiangbei Army to immediately send troops to attack Qisi City on the upper reaches of the Huaihe River. They must capture Qisi City before the troops on the west route and the Shu army opened the gateway to the hinterland of Guanzhong, and open up the Northern Expedition to capture Caizhou and Ruzhou.
Channel, no more delays.
At the same time, 3,000 military horses will be recruited from the Tangyi and Xiangbei armies each to strengthen the long-distance marching capabilities of the You Shenwu Army.
There are not enough military horses and other animal-powered camels to transport heavy supplies and injured soldiers. A force of about 12,000 troops and horses must march along the post road and maintain a speed of thirty miles a day. It is normal.
This means that it will take almost twenty days for the newly formed Youshenwu Army to enter Junzhou. After entering Junzhou, it will follow the Dan River into the depths of the Qinling Mountains, pass through Jingzikou, Wuguan, and then to the Aoguan front line.
Twenty more days of marching are needed.
That will happen at the end of January next year.
Such a speed is obviously unsatisfactory.
To speed up the march, a large number of mules, horses and other animal power were indispensable.
The Luoshan garrison had two to three thousand horses before, but after the siege, in order to save a huge amount of horse feed, except for more than 300 horses, all the other horses were slaughtered and stored as military rations.
Now if 6,000 military horses can be incorporated, the marching speed of the Right Shenwu Army can be almost doubled.
It may not be difficult for the Tangyi Army to obtain three thousand military horses, but the Xiangbei Army has tried every means to raise them in the past two years. It has a total of eight or nine thousand military horses on hand, and it suddenly needs more than one-third of the three thousand military horses.
It's quite strenuous.
Even though the imperial court promised to compensate the Tangyi Army and the Xiangbei Army at the price of twelve horses per horse, the Huangjing and other places near Xiangbei were extremely short of animal power.
Zhao and other places purchase military horses, but they do not have strong enough transportation capabilities. If they only rely on scattered livestock traders, it may take two or three years to make up for this gap.
However, no matter what, the matter has advanced to this point. Even Li Changfeng, the Minister of War sitting on the side of the Xiangbei Army, would never see that the matter would get stuck on such trivial details.
In the end, on the 18th and 19th, Li Zhigao delivered all 3,000 troops, allowing the newly formed Shenwu Army to embark on the Western Expedition on the 20th as scheduled.
In addition to ordering the fortresses along the way to strengthen defenses, Li Zhigao also ordered his general Chen Xiong to lead an infantry of 3,000 horses along the way to monitor the actions of the You Shenwu Army.
Also on the 20th, Su Lie escorted more than 20,000 Luoshan civilians out of Luoshan City and embarked on the journey eastward to Le'an, Huangchuan, Xinjing and other counties. On the 22nd, he handed over Luoshan City to
Xiangbei Army garrison and govern.
Probably stimulated by the failure of two long-term sieges, on the 22nd, all Tangyi troops withdrew to the east bank of the Gushui River and handed over Luoshan City. Li Zhigao led his troops to attack Qisi City at the mouth of the Gushui River and the Huaihe River.
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The fight was extremely violent from the beginning.
When the cyclone cannon advanced to Si City, they mainly used scattered stone bombs to suppress the defenders. Two fierce generals, Li Qi and Zhong Yanhu, rushed directly to the city to supervise the battle, and even led their elite troops to directly attack the city in turn.
Perhaps Qisi was not the focus of the Shouzhou Army's defense. Only 5,000 defenders were stationed in it, and the troops and horses were not strong. Or maybe Wen Bo led his troops to surrender, which severely damaged the fighting spirit and morale of the Qisi defenders, and
Either under the supervision of Li Changjun, the Minister of War, or because the Luoshan garrison flew away like a duck that reached its beak, the generals of the Xiangbei Army felt a fire in their hearts, and they fought extra bravely during the attack.
At the cost of 2,000 casualties, it only took four days from the time the troops arrived to lay out war equipment at the city gate to the capture of Qisi City, forcing more than 3,000 remaining soldiers of the defenders to flee into the river mouth.
For the Xiangbei Army, after capturing Qisi City, the forward troops crossed the Huaihe River and entered the southern area of Caizhou to establish contact with the Fangcheng defenders on the other side of Tongbai Mountain and north of Nanyang (Dengzhou).
This also means that Li Zhigao can concentrate his elite troops at any time to capture the counties of Caizhou one by one, and then expand his troops north and east.
However, on January 3, Li Zhigao, who had led his troops into Qisicheng for rest, and Li Changfeng, who planned to leave for Jinling in the near future, suddenly received a report that the newly formed Youshenwu Army had been stranded under Canglang City for more than three days and had no intention of leaving to continue the journey.
Head up the Danjiang River to Jingzikou.
Canglang City was the old seat of Junzhou, which was destroyed by war in the middle of the previous dynasty.
Also during the Jingxiang War, Han Qian mobilized resources to rebuild Canglang City at the northeast corner where the Danjiang River meets the Han River. He also played a vital role in preventing Liang Jun from fully controlling the Danshui River in the early stages of the Jingxiang War.
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It was also because Liang Jun failed to control the Danshui coast in time that the subsequent Xichuan City Defense Battle took place.
Although Canglang City is located at the junction of Han and Dan, the scale of the city was small when it was first rebuilt. And because Xichuan City could better take into account the defense lines of Jingzikou and Wuguan, when Junzhou was re-established, the state government was located
Xichuan.
Regardless of whether Zheng Hui before him or Chai Jian after him, they all set up their tents in Xichuan, which can take into account two lines of defense. The development of Canglang City has been relatively slow in the past seven or eight years. Only now has a rammed earth wall been built.
By surrounding several small forts earlier, the city was expanded to a size of 600 steps square.
Since the population of Junzhou is still at a very low level after the new establishment, and the garrison fortress on the south bank has been developed for a longer period of time, even though Canglang City has convenient water and land facilities, for now, it is still an extremely inconspicuous city between Deng and Jun.
small town.
Wen Bo led the newly formed Youshenwu Army and suddenly stopped at the foot of Canglang City. At such a sensitive moment, it was not a trivial matter!
In addition to ordering Chai Jian to immediately lead a force of troops to approach Canglang City, Li Changfeng did not dare to delay for a while, so he angrily took Yao Xishui, Xu Jing and Chen Ruyi, the permanent attendant of Chongwen Palace, who had not yet embarked on their way home, that night
He crossed the Gushui River and Huanghe River on horseback and rushed to Huangchuan City. He urgently asked to see Han Qian who was staying in Huangchuan and planned to personally command the Tangyi Army on the west wing to attack Huoqiu.
"Marquis Qianyang, what exactly do you want, and what sinister intentions do you hide?"
The 12,000 elite members of the newly formed Youshenwu Army suddenly stopped at the foot of Canglang City. How can this make people not panic? Li Changfeng, Yao Xishui, Xu Jing, and Chen Ruyi were on their way there. They also agreed that Xu Jing would be the one to play the red face. When they saw
In front of Han Qian, he also asked unceremoniously and aggressively.
"The Youshenwu Army is marching westward under the supervision of Xiangbei elites. Canglang City is also a city guarded by soldiers and horses sent by the Xiangbei Defense Envoy. The current situation is that Wen Bo suddenly led his troops to attack Canglang City. Or what happened?
I don’t know anything. At this time, Mr. Xu aggressively questioned me about the reason. I also wanted to ask Mr. Xu whether it was your capriciousness that angered Wen Bo and irritated the generals of the Youshenwu Army, which caused the whole incident.
Will things get messy again?" Han Qian sat in the center of the hall and stared at Xu Jing with a cold face and asked.
"Everyone in the Wen clan is under your control. Do you really think that with just a few words, you can really stay out of the matter and say that it has nothing to do with it?" Yao Xishui asked in a stern voice with restraint.
"I don't share your experience," Han Qian glanced at Yao Xishui contemptuously and asked Li Changfeng, "What is the current situation? Wen Bo suddenly led his troops to capture Canglang City, or what should I say?"
Yao Xishui was so angry that he wanted to vomit blood, but in terms of status, only Li Changfeng could compare with Han Qian at this time. Even if Chen Ruyi was the special envoy of Emperor Yanyou, Han Qian didn't take a serious look at it, so what could they do?
Got him?
"Wen Bo has no signs of rashly attacking Canglang City yet, but his front and rear units have blocked the land access to Canglang City. I really don't know what his intention is." Li Changfeng said with a serious face.
"Don't say that Wen Bo hasn't captured Canglang City yet. Even if he captures Canglang City, the food stored in Canglang City will probably only be enough for more than 12,000 elite soldiers and horses for ten days. I
I don’t think Wenbo has any different ideas. Is there any misunderstanding?” Han Qian frowned and asked, “Or maybe the imperial court mobilized Zuo Wuxiang’s army to attack Wuguan and re-activated Canglang City as a grain storage base.
A lot of grain? I didn’t hear about this!”
"Not at all. The grain and grass entering Wuguan are transported directly from Xiangcheng via Danshui to Jingzikou for handover. There is no transit in Canglang City." Li Changfeng said.
When they received the letter, they were surprised and suspicious. The biggest suspicion was that Canglang did not have a large amount of grain reserves, and there were only five or six hundred households in the city. What would Wen Bo really do to Han Qian in Xiangbei?
The army's conspiracy should also launch a surprise attack on the two important towns of Xiangcheng or Xichuan under careful arrangements, instead of stopping at Canglang City for no reason.
The newly formed You Shenwu Army has temporarily stopped under Canglang City and has no signs of directly attacking the city. Even if it captures Canglang City, it will soon be forced from both sides by the Xiangbei Army, which has superior strength and combat effectiveness.
If the elite are surrounded and killed, the food will be exhausted in ten days.
Of course, Wenbo could kill the army horses to use as military rations, but it was already January, and in more than a month, the weather would get warmer, and the slaughtered army horses would not be easy to store.
Even if there are five or six thousand military horses at that time - it is impossible to have a supply of up to 112,000 kilograms of horse feed every day, such a huge number of military horses must be slaughtered as soon as possible - it will be called Wenbo's headquarters.
After occupying Canglang City, we can support it for two or three months, but after two or three months, it will inevitably be a dead end.
They couldn't imagine why Wen Bo suddenly stopped in Canglang City. Of course, they believed that the problem was with Tangyi Army and Han Qian. They didn't know what Han Qian and Wen Bo had secretly accomplished that they didn't know.
