Lord of the House

Zhou Bin's left eye was damaged by a knife in the early years, and it was ugly and ferocious, but his right eye was intact, and his eyes were fixed on Wang Xiang.

In the later period of the Xuzhou War, Huaidong defeated the three troops of Chen Han and captured Xuzhou city by spreading salt and melting ice. In fact, it also minimized the possibility of Beiyan going south from the Xu Si line of defense, which was heavily guarded by rivers and lakes.

After the battle in Xuzhou, Lin Fu was bound to shift his vision of worrying about Northern Yan's southern invasion to other directions.

Based on Xiangyang and Suizhou, and together with Nanyang in the north, the Changle Army is located in the core area of ​​the Hanshui Channel on the west line. The troops from the south advance to the north, or the troops from the north go south. Taking this route can avoid the Qinling Mountains and the Huaishan Mountains and the Huaishui River. It can also occupy the upper reaches of the Han River, which is connected to the Yangtze River in the south.

Therefore, the Changle Army became the most unstable factor in the confrontation between the north and the south, and the line of defense constructed by Liang Chengchong's troops in Nanyang to the north of the Changle Army was too thin.

Once Beiyan had resolved the right-wing threat from Guanzhong and Hezhong Prefecture, Liang Chengchong's 20,000 troops and more than 100,000 civilians built a defensive line in the Nanyang cities, which was as thin as paper in front of hundreds of thousands of troops.

In front of the hundreds of thousands of troops from Beiyan heading south from the western front, how strong the Changle army will be to resist is really unbelievable.

Luo Xiancheng was suspicious by nature and had no ambitions. In other words, it should be considered a good thing, but when the Yanluo was about to invade the south, Luo Xiancheng was more dangerous to the half of the country to the south.

After the war in Xuzhou, Lin Fu strongly supported Liang Chengchong's foothold in Nanyang on the one hand, and on the other hand, from the Ministry of Military Intelligence, dozens of secret gangsters and vagabonds led by Zhou Bin were recruited to infiltrate into Suizhou.

In addition to gathering intelligence, a more important task is to try to win over and divide the generals of the Changle Army; Wang Xiang has long fallen into Huaidong's field of vision.

In the early years, Wang Xiang forced Luo Xiancheng into the army. He was not good at using soldiers, but he was good at governance. He was Luo Xiancheng's right-hand man. Luo Xiancheng led his troops to move between Huai and Han, and finally managed to gain a foothold in Suizhou. Wang Xiangju made great contributions.

Of course, Luo Xiancheng and Wang Xiang also have many inconsistencies. Wang Xiang advocated that according to Xiangyang, Nanyang and Suizhou should be the two operating forces. Luo Xiancheng was afraid of Chen Zhihu's soldiers at the beginning, and he did not intend to fight against Jinghu, so he focused on running Suizhou.

Wang Xiang, Luo Xiancheng and other generals of the Changle Army had big differences on whether to enter Jiangxi at the beginning, whether to accept Jiangning's recruitment, and whether to borrow Chen Han's three military supplies at this time.

The Yanhu soldiers and horses had already detoured to the west to attack the Qinxi area. Although the first attack was repelled by the Cao family, the Cao family had exposed many serious problems on the western front, making it difficult to determine how long the Cao family's defense in Guanzhong would last. Not to defeat the Yanhu army.

Guanzhong fell, and the lone tree pierced by Liang Chengyi of the Hezhong mansion was difficult to support. Nanyang's defense line would also be as thin as a cicada's wings, and it would be difficult to support it for a long time. under the city.

In contrast, the possibility of Huaidong troops and horses pacifying Jiangxi in two years is not high.

Even if Jiangxi can be recovered in two years, the border with Suizhou will be Chizhou Yue Lengqiu, and Luzhou will follow the state, and Huaishan will be separated.

If Huma goes south two years later, and Huaidong troops have not yet arrived, then if you want to prevent the Changle army from turning to Yanhu as a whole, you need to take advantage of the internal contradictions in Suizhou. It is equally important to weaken the surrendering generals in the Changle Army or strengthen the forces of the non-surrendering generals in the Changle Army, rather than simply weakening the overall strength of the Changle Army.

After Lin Fucong toured south to Luzhou, Zhou Bin proposed the possibility of winning Wang Xiang directly.

Lin Fu, Gao Zongting, Song Fu and others for a long time finally decided to ask Zhou Bin to sneak to Suizhou again to show off with Wang Xiang.

Wang Xiang believed in Zhou Bin's identity, and even had doubts at the beginning of Zhou Bin's donation of medicine. However, Zhou Bin was ordered to protect Su Mei in his early years, and he had a cover identity in Jiangning. After Su Mei went to Chongzhou, Zhou Bin's cover identity has been used all the time. Wang Xiang sent people to investigate Zhou Bin, but naturally he could not find any flaws.

However, once Zhou Bin broke his identity, thinking that Zhou Bin could easily traffic a large amount of illicit salt and iron materials to Suizhou, Wang Xiang would have no doubts - the truth and lies are often separated by only a thin layer. Paper.

It's just to make Wang Xiang puzzled. Huaidong's troops have not yet arrived. If he is asked to persuade Luo Xiancheng to accept Jiangning's recruitment, he can send an envoy into Suizhou to discuss the matter in an open and honest way - Jiangning has no substantial control over Suizhou, so the so-called Recruitment and canonization have no substantive significance. There is really no need to expose Zhou Bin, who has been in hiding for a long time.

If Zhou Bin took the initiative to reveal his identity and motives, although Wang Xiang was greatly valued by Luo Xiancheng, but he had assisted in political affairs for many years, and his subordinates did not directly control the military power. , Huaidong is unlikely to use troops first against Suizhou.

In the face of Zhou Bin's admonition, Wang Xiang just smiled bitterly: "I'm just a thief, I have no power to tie a chicken, and I don't have half a capable soldier in my hand. I can't help myself, what can I do?"

Zhou Bin took a letter from his arms, pushed it in front of Wang Xiang, and said, "This is a private letter from my lord to Lord Wang..."

Zhou Bin is already one of the most important smugglers between Suizhou and Suizhou. Suizhou wants to get salt and iron, and he also tries his best to win over the smugglers. He entered Suizhou through Huaishan, but he is not afraid to search the Changle army.

Wang Xiang opened the letter and read it carefully:

"Being bound in Jianghuai, the princes of Qin, Cao, Zhou, and Fu all praised the prince for his will to reassure the people and stabilize the land, and he offered it from Duke Luo. I deeply feel the loyalty of the king, and call the heroes of the world to yearn for it. I can't talk with the king on the knees, and I feel sorry for it. I can only use paper and pen to talk about the aspirations of all corners of the country. Hu Bing was trapped in Guanzhong, and the trees in Hezhong and Nanyang were difficult to support. They arrived in Huaihan in no time, and wanted to ask the prince, what will Huaihan save at that time? But Huaihan lost, Jinghu collapsed, Hu soldiers drank horses on the Yangtze River, and the great river and mountains will fall. The danger of falling captives must be calculated..."

Lin Fu's letter did not go into any details, but just pointed out the severe situation facing the Western Front.

Prime Minister Wang folded the letter, and Zhou Bin took it and put it on the candle and burned it into ashes, leaving no trace.

Wang Xiang sighed: "I'm guessing that Duke Chongguo should plan to attack Jiangxi at this time, but I didn't expect Duke Chongguo to have such a foresighted plan..."

"My lord often says, 'No one has a long-term plan, and there must be near-term worries'," Zhou Bin said with a smile, "Master Wang should also have a long-term plan!"

"I don't have the power to tie the chicken, and the soldiers under my command are incompetent. The only function is to say a few words in front of Luo Shuai," Wang Xiang said with a wry smile, "If Duke Chongguo leads a large army to the city of Suizhou, I will naturally Knowing current affairs, he persuaded Luo Shuai to ask for a rich and noble man. But at this time, Huaidong troops and horses were stationed in Luzhou, which is hundreds of miles away from Suizhou in the deep mountains of Huaishan. Yue Lengqiu led his troops to cross the river north to take Yicheng. Yicheng moves westward along the southern foot of Huaishan Mountain, and competes with Chen Hansan for Qichun and Huangmei - speaking of this, I am puzzled, why did Duke Chongguo give Yicheng to Chizhou?"

Huaidong took Yicheng by itself, and proceeded westward along the southern foot of Huaishan. As long as Chen Hansan could not stand in Qichun, he would be able to border Suizhou. Only then would there be conditions for the Changle army to be attached. Abandoned, and gave Yicheng to Chizhou, but at this time Zhou Bin said to surrender, of course, Wang Xiang was puzzled.

"If Luo Shuai can be surrendered, wealth and honor can be guaranteed," Zhou Bin said. "But to be honest, the Privy Council has also observed Luo Shuai for a long time, but in the end it only feels that only Lord Wang can trust him..."

"Please tell me in detail, Lord Zhou." Wang Xiang said.

On the one hand, Yue Lengqiu occupies Chizhou, and there are only two counties on the west bank of the Qiupu River. The passage to the west along the south bank is indeed too narrow, while Huaidong Chen Chongbing is in Xusi, and the southern line should not be divided into two lines to confront the Shejia soldiers. On the other hand, Chizhou is too close to Jiangning, which can be said to be the key point of the abdomen. If you want to ask Yue Lengqiu to give up Chizhou, you can only give Yue Lengqiu the area west of Yicheng on the north bank to fight.

Chen Hansan's movements in Huaishan and his remnants showed signs of moving southward, and Huaidong has long been vigilant. And regardless of whether Yue Lengqiu and Chen Hansan and Shejia compete for the Eastern Hubei region, the forces most likely to follow the border with the state are only Jinghu, Nanyang, Chizhou and Huaixi—by comparison, The mountain path connecting Suizhou from Luzhou through the deep ridges of Huaishan Mountains is too dangerous and tortuous, and it is impossible to manage the border.

For a long time, Huaidong did not have the possibility of directly enlisting the Changle Army - so, in the name of the imperial court, directly recruiting An Luo to offer him was meaningless.

Like the Song family in Mindong, Lin Fu asked Zhou Binqian to come to Suizhou to win over Wang Xiang directly. In fact, he wanted to play secret chess in the hinterland of Huaihan for the future.

"Master Wang, Luo Shuai and Zhong Rong have different opinions about Chen Hansan's borrowing of military supplies, and there are many disputes. I heard that Luo Shuai has stopped listening to his words to Master Wang recently. Even Zhong Rong threatened Master Wang with swords and soldiers. Shuai just scolds him softly. The matter of Chen Hansan's borrowing of military supplies cannot be recovered by Lord Wang. I think Zhong Rong will use it to ridicule Lord Wang in the future. Lord Wang took the opportunity to leave Suizhou and go to a remote place. What a difficult thing!" Zhou Bin said.

Wang Xiang stayed in Suizhou and by Luo Xiancheng's side, and was always just a vassal of Luo Xiancheng. In the early years, Luo Xiancheng's influence was not yet established, and he was quite able to listen to Wang Xiang's opinions. In recent years, Luo Xiancheng has been enjoying himself, and he has become more and more impatient with Wang Xiang. In the future, when the Yan soldiers attacked, even if the prime minister tried to persuade Luo Xiancheng to stay, his effect would be very limited.

Instead of staying in Suizhou and becoming more and more marginalized, it is better to self-distribute, leave Suizhou, and stay alone.

In the future, when the Huaidong army arrives, and Wang Xiangneng leads the defenders to surrender, there will be a big gap in Suizhou immediately. Just like Quanzhou in Mindong, it will become much easier to recover Suizhou.

If the Yan army arrives first and Luo Xiancheng leads the Changle army to surrender without a backbone, Suizhou can still hold a corner, just like Jinhai at the beginning, restraining the enemy can buy more time for Huaidong's mobilization of troops and horses.

"Where should I go?" Wang Xiang asked.

"Chaishan!" Zhou Bin said.

Among the eight counties in Suizhou, Chaishan is located in the deepest part of Huaishan. It was originally affiliated to Lishan County, and the Chaishan Inspection Division was established. It was only on the eve of the rise of chaos in Huaisi that Chaishan County was newly established. The north of Chaishan is adjacent to Xinyang Luoshan, and the east is adjacent to the old port of Luzhou. In the meantime, the mountains are high and the valleys are deep, and there are only narrow and tortuous streams connecting with Luoshan and Gubu, and large groups of soldiers and horses cannot pass through.

The main passage between Tongbai Mountain and Huaishan Mountain is mainly concentrated between Lishan and Luoshan. Lishan County, located at the western foot of Huaishan Mountain, is the barrier to the northeast of Suizhou, and Chaishan Mountain, located between the center of Huaishan Mountain, becomes the edge controlled by Changle Army. area. If the war had not caused a large number of people to flee into Huaishan to survive, Luo Xiancheng would not be bothered to send troops to control Chaishan.

Wang Xiang's borrowing of military supplies from Chen Hansan was overturned, and he self-deprecated and begged to guard Chaishan alone, which would not arouse the vigilance of Luo Xiancheng and other generals of the Changle Army.

Although Wang Xiang does not lead troops in government, he has a high reputation in the Changle army, and he will certainly be able to win over some middle and low-level generals who are unwilling and like-minded to go to Chaishan. .

Although there is no broad road connecting Chaishan and the old port of Luzhou, and large groups of troops cannot move, but a hundred or ten people can travel back and forth across the mountains and mountains in ten days and a half months. For a year or even longer, Wang Xiang can manage Chaishan into a military stronghold in Suizhou.

More importantly, Lin Fu hoped that Wang Xiang could help Huaidong and open up a plank road for sending troops across Huaishan between Chaishan and Gubu.

"Huishan Plank Road!" Wang Xiang was shocked.

"Yes," Zhou Bin said, "Huaishan has been a gathering place for bandits since ancient times, and it has a direct relationship with the danger of blocking mountains. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses want to enter the mountains to suppress the bandits, but the action is very slow, and it is easy for hundreds of soldiers and horses. Due to counterattacks by thieves, there are many cottages in Huaishan, and only two or three out of ten are bound by the imperial court. Luzhou will be in Gubu, in the name of connecting cottages, to open up the passage to Chendian Mountain on the westernmost side, but to Chaishan, even to the passage extending west of Chaishan to Lizhou, can only count on Lord Wang..."

Huaidong is based on Luzhou and controls the east foot of Huaizhou. No matter how strong the strength is, it cannot build the mountain road into the area controlled by Suizhou.

In particular, Chaishan itself is also located in the deep belly of Huaishan. From Chaishan to the west to Lishan County, it is also a dangerous road, which is not conducive to the passage of soldiers. Only Wang Xiang can use the name of strengthening the control of Chaishan to recruit civilians to build the relationship between Chaishan and Lishan. The passage between the two—that is to say, as long as Wang Xiang and Huaidong cooperate well, this passage that traverses Huaishan will be able to hide from the sight of all forces!

"When Chu and Han were fighting, there was a strategy of 'building the plank road' in the Ming Dynasty. Duke Chongguo had a long-term plan. At this time, he built a passage to send troops in the heart of Huaishan, and he will be able to use it as a miracle in the future," Wang Xiang praised, "It's just this heartland. To build a passage for soldiers, the money and food that this consumes will be difficult to count..."

"Is Mr. Wang willing to go to Chaishan?" Zhou Bin asked.

Wang Xiang lowered his eyebrows and thought to himself: Chai Mountain is located in the hinterland of Huaishan Mountain. Although it is desolate and poor, no matter what Luo Xiancheng chooses in the future, he and his sons and family will go to guard Chai Mountain. At the worst, they can stay in a corner and watch the general changes in the world calmly. .

Do not seek to reach the feudal feudal lords, but only to be able to be good at oneself; speaking of the general trend of the world, Huaidong is the only one who can compete with Yanhu.

After a long time, Wang Xiang took a step back, bowed in the direction of Luzhou in the southeast, and said, "I am so hard-working about Chen Hansan's borrowing of military supplies, but Luo Shuai can't hear a word to enter, and there is no way in Suizhou. If there is room for me, I can only accompany Duke Chongguo, and ask to go to Chaishan to be quiet and not to fight..."

Wang Xiang still left room for himself, but Zhou Bin just ignored it and said happily: "I will go back to Yijiang immediately and report the good news to my master..."

****************

When Zhou Bin arrived in Yijiang, the news that Chen Hansan led his troops into Qichun also spread to Yijiang.

The Yijiang River is Wuyang in later generations. The source of the Yiyang River exits the territory of Gucheng County at the southern foot of Maoshan Mountain, and it joins the Yangtze River from the east of Yijiang City via the Lishui River. Today, Yijiang has become the most important garrison of the Huaidong Army on the Jiangning West Front. Luzhou is also under the jurisdiction of Yijiang, and there are more than 60,000 water infantry troops under the jurisdiction.

In addition, large-scale training and training soldiers were stationed in Yijiang and Luzhou as reservists.

The news that Chen Hansan led his troops into Qichun reached the Yijiang River, making Lin Bie unable to sleep peacefully on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, and sent Gao Zongting, Song Fu, Ao Canghai, Chen Huawen, Ge Cunxin, Zhou Pu, Sun Zhuang, Zhu Ai and others Summoned to discuss the military.

"Luo Xiancheng did not have the heart to be rebellious. He used Chen Hansan to establish a foothold in Qichun to reduce the pressure of Jinghu and Chizhou on Suizhou. With the support of Shejia and Luo Xiancheng, the development of Chen Hansan's remnant forces in the Ezhou area would not be possible. It will be faster than we imagined." Lin Bie stared at the map, and the dilapidated eastern Hubei area was still a blank area on the map. Because it is located on the outskirts of Suizhou, Luo Xiancheng and his troops have been cleaned up. After the Changle army withdrew, Jinghu never sent troops to take over, and the refugees formed associations and robbers.

If you think about it with your toes, the bandits in eastern Hubei must be inextricably linked with Luo Xiancheng. Luo Xiancheng wanted to keep a low profile so as not to arouse the vigilance of other forces, so he shrunk to Suizhou and Xiangyang, but he would not be willing to let others take over the peripheral areas of Suizhou. Same.

Edong faces Ezhou and Jiangzhou across the river. Shejia insists that Chen Hansan has a foothold in Edong.

"Anyway, even if Chen Hansan is a scumbag, Jiangzhou is threatened by Chizhou and Ezhou, and the She family's troops in Jiangzhou will not dare to be too few," Gao Zongting said, "and once Yue Lengqiu follows Chen Hansan and the troops of the She family stationed in Huanglongling on the north bank will fight, and the war will not stop, and the impact on our troops in western Zhejiang in the autumn will not be too great..."

Sometimes it is not necessary to ask for a great victory. The She family now has 160,700 troops and horses, and controls most of northern Fujian and Jiangxi. As long as it is forced to continuously increase troops and military consumption to the peripheral defense line, it can continue to weaken the luxury family and intensify. The purpose of the conflict between the forces moving westward with the luxury family and the local forces.

"Master Blind is back!" Xu Daozi, who was staying overnight, came in to report.

"Oh," Lin Bie said with joy when he heard that Zhou Bin had arrived at Yijiang, "Call Zhou Blind over here..."

Before Zhou Bin could take a breath, he rushed to the capital where the discussions were held. Seeing that the hall was filled with the core figures of Huaidong, he reported, "Wang Xiang would like to cooperate with us to guard the Chaishan Mountain Road..."

"Okay!" Gao Zongting said with a smile, "I really want to be able to build a military channel between Huaishan, which is enough to reach 100,000 soldiers!"

Lin Fu wanted to assign Yicheng to Chizhou, and he would lose the direct access to the center of Suizhou, so he had to open up a channel in the center of Huaishan so that he could compete in the strategy in the future.

In addition, Huaishan is thousands of miles deep. Due to the dangerous roads, the government has always had weak control over the Huaishan, and it is easy for pirates to live. Most of the cottages in Huaishan are also bandits and civilians. However, Huaishan is located in the hinterland of Jianghuai, and the thieves of Huaishan gather, causing great damage to the surrounding prefectures such as Shouzhou, Xinyang, Haozhou, Luzhou, Ezhou, Suizhou, and Jiangxia. These areas, which were supposed to be the land of fish and rice, have been affected by the constant robbery of Huai over the years, and their actual tax potential is far weaker than that of the Jiangnan area.

To strengthen the control of Huaishan, building roads and improving traffic conditions are the primary prerequisites.

Lin Fu said to Song Fu: "Song Gong issued a military order for me, and asked Tang Xitai to lead two battalions of soldiers and 10,000 soldiers to go into the mountains of the old port to suppress the bandits on the same day," and said to Zhou Bin~www.wuxiaspot.com~ Since the Prime Minister is cooperating with us, then you will stay here to help the Prime Minister manage Chaishan this time. It must be kept strictly confidential, and you can't ask people to take too many people there. You choose some reliable people to go with you; both sides first build their own roads, and the joints are connected by trails and secret paths, and then widen at the end! Right now, we can't deliver rice grains to Chaishan, but we can add more salt and iron herbs, so that you can raise more rice from the hinterland of Suizhou in Chaishan. "

Although it is laborious to open a mountain road in the hinterland of Huaishan, it is not difficult as long as Wang Xiang and Zhou Bin can raise rice grains to maintain the livelihood of 20,000 to 30,000 people and open a passage from Lishan to Chaishan. Of course, Suizhou claims to have 200,000 troops, and there are only about 50,000 soldiers who can fight. Of course, it will not be an easy thing to raise rice grains to maintain 20,000 to 30,000 people and their families in Suizhou.

It's a pity that the medicine road between Huaishan is too dangerous. Before the plank road is completed, there is no way to transport bulk materials between Chaishan and the old port. It is OK to directly send troops to occupy it. Why bother?

Nowadays, the blockade of Suizhou is very strict. Salt and iron are more expensive than copper in Suizhou. In comparison, rice grains are still in very short supply, but they are the most abundant supplies in the hands of Suizhou Governor Le Jun.

Organizing 200 people to walk between Huaishan Mountains in the name of private lords, and transporting 20,000 to 30,000 catties of rice grains with camels in a month, Wang Xiang and Zhou Bin couldn't be asked to stay in Chaishan for a few more days, but they could have 20,000 to 30,000 catties of rice per month. The input of salt and iron is completely different.

Suizhou is located at the western foot of Huaishan Mountain, and the uncontrolled area in the hinterland of Huaishan Mountain is even larger than that of Suizhou Prefecture. Between the Huaishan Mountains, there are also a large number of mountain people living and nourishing, using the sloping fields and valleys between the valleys to live and build villages. With salt and iron, they can exchange rice grains with mountain people and village people to solve some of the rice grain shortages. My QT room is open! More vulgar official QT room number [9167] Click to enter