readx;? Wei Changhai's order, although the city gate officer was a little unclear, wondered why Wei Changhai didn't directly arrest the soldiers, but instead found the merchant? But no matter what, the city gate officer still nodded yes and immediately acted strictly on orders. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

After a while, the personal soldiers sent by the officers of the city gate caught more than a dozen merchants and escorted them directly to the city wall, waiting for Wei Changhai to fall.

However, when Wei Changhai saw these merchants, he suddenly felt a sense of helplessness that he couldn't laugh or cry - perhaps because he didn't make it clear, so that the soldiers might mistakenly think that he had issued an arrest warrant, so they directly "arrested" these merchants, treated them very rudely, and even tied them up.

I'm afraid that if they are rudely escorted back for no reason, these businessmen will not have any good temper, and in this way, even if Wei Changhai wants to find out any news from them, it will not be an easy task.

Alas, I can only blame myself for not speaking clearly, although it is no wonder that these soldiers acted recklessly, but they did do good things into bad things.

In order to salvage the situation, in the astonishment of all the soldiers, Wei Changhai hurriedly took the initiative to untie these businessmen, and at the same time pretended to condemn the officers, saying: "What's going on? I want you to invite people over, not to arrest people." ”

The reason why Wei Changhai wanted to "condemn" the city gate officers in front of these businessmen was just to put on a posture, so that these businessmen could have a sense of relief on the one hand, and on the other hand, they could also understand that this incident was just a misunderstanding, hoping that this could make both sides clear up their previous suspicions. Only in this way could Wei Changhai get the information he needed from the mouths of these merchants.

The officer at the city gate panicked when he heard this, and hurriedly begged for mercy: "My lord, I didn't mean it. This officer was really a little panicked, he didn't know Wei Changhai's careful thoughts, as a soldier, not acting correctly was a kind of disobedience to military orders. How could this keep him from panicking?

But Wei Changhai was just talking in front of the merchants, and he didn't really want to hold the city gate officers accountable, so Wei Changhai scolded the city gate officers quietly, but still in a fierce tone, and said, "You go down." "That's it.

After receiving Wei Changhai's instructions, the city gate officer answered, and immediately went down the city wall with full of horror.

Actually, Wei Changhai is for his good. At the same time, Wei Changhai also gave himself a step down, so that those businessmen could also have some good feelings, so that they would not deliberately provide false news because of hatred. Wei Changhai's tactics proved to work, and his words and deeds, especially the rebuke of the city gate officers, soon won him the favor of some merchants.

These merchants are all merchants of a small caravan, and they are actually local caravans in Shucheng, entering and leaving Huguan in order to buy special products in Jiangzhou in Xia and transport them to Yunzhou for sale.

"My lord, I don't know, what is the purpose of you coming to us?" asked a businessman.

"Hello, where are you from?" asked Wei Changhai. He did not directly inquire about the situation of Huguan, but first asked about the identity information of these merchants in the form of chat. He didn't want the businessman to see his intentions and focus all at once, so he deliberately made some tricks.

"My lord, your surname is Zhang, a native of Shucheng. Merchant Zhang replied.

"What kind of business are you doing, and what are the main ways of doing business?" Wei Changhai asked as he continued.

"We are silk merchants, we buy silk in Jiangzhou, and then sell it to big families in Shucheng to earn some hard money. The merchant replied truthfully.

"Well, you businessmen are working hard. Wei Changhai said empathetically.

"My lord, we are making hard-earned money. Merchant Zhang replied.

"Yesterday, when did you enter the Sword Pass? I want to ask, why haven't you left the Sword Pass and returned to Shucheng?" Wei Changhai asked with a smile as he began to get to the point tentatively.

"Lord Qiqi, we entered the customs at five o'clock in the afternoon. At that time, the sun was about to set, and we couldn't rush back to Shucheng before dark, so we decided to rest at the inn in Jianguan. Today, we will leave. Zhang Shangshang, as a representative, replied to Wei Changhai's words.

Wei Changhai flipped through the record book provided by the city gate official, and according to the records in the record book, Zhang Shangshang's answer was a fact.

"I came to you for one thing. In some cases, I would like you to provide some relevant information. Wei Changhai thought for a moment and asked.

"My lord, please ask, I know everything, and I have no end to it. Merchant Zhang replied.

"Think about it, during this period of time, when you went in and out of the kettle, did you find anything unusual? Wei Changhai asked.

Originally, Wei Changhai thought that these businessmen needed to think about it, but he was soon surprised to find that these businessmen had already felt the same way.

The merchant Zhang almost immediately replied: "There is indeed something unusual about Huguan. Zhang Shangshang said, pondered for a moment, and continued to reply: "The most obvious thing is that there are many more soldiers guarding the gate in and out of the Huguan gate recently than usual. Moreover, the strangest thing is that these gatekeepers all look murderous, and they seem to be unapproachable and unprovoked. Therefore, when we entered and exited the customs recently, we all felt that the atmosphere was very tense and depressing, as if something would always happen suddenly. ”

Zhang Shangshang said this, and also added a lot of personal feelings, Wei Changhai has also been listening, although this is a personal perception, can not be fully realized, but it can be regarded as a reflection, can be referenced.

"Well, what's the other situation? Please continue, if there is any benefit, I am grateful on behalf of Xinghua Army!" After Zhang Shangshang finished speaking, Wei Changhai replied with a smile.

"My lord, we are all the people of the Emperor, and this is as it should be. Merchant Zhang said with a smile.

Wei Changhai nodded and instructed the soldiers, under the city wall, to prepare some tea for Merchant Zhang. Then, Wei Changhai led Zhang Shangshang and them down the city wall together, and sat in a temporary rest house under the city wall, so that they could rest and rest, firstly, to relieve their fatigue, and secondly, to make up for the inappropriateness of their arrest.

Zhang Shangshang and more than a dozen other businessmen were still a little nervous. Merchant Zhang's name is Zhang Tianyi, he is the merchant with the most goods in the small caravan, and he is also their leader invisibly, and they all acquiesce to Zhang Tianyi as a representative and negotiate with Wei Changhai.

A few Xinghua soldiers served a cup of coarse tea to each merchant.

Then, Wei Changhai continued: "Please Mr. Zhang continue to talk about some of the situation of Huguan, others have different discoveries, you can also talk about it." ”

"In the process of transporting goods from Yangcheng in Jiangzhou to Huguan, we saw the Xia army twice and entered the direction of Huguan. There are also a large number of summer army camps in Huguan, and the soldiers in the pass seem to be a lot more than usual. Zhang Tianyi thought about it, added a little more, and said.

Hearing this, Wei Changhai suddenly became interested, but he didn't show it on his face, and asked deliberately a little plainly: "Then do you remember the two Xia troops you saw on the road, were they alone, or did they transport any items?"

When Zhang Tianyi heard this, he hesitated a little, as if he was recalling, but he didn't seem to be able to remember. At this time, another merchant next to him interjected: "They have used many wagons and carried a lot of goods, which I have observed, must be very heavy. ”

Wei Changhai immediately wrote down the merchant's words and said, "Thank you!"

This is an important situation. According to the collective memories of these merchants, Wei Changhai slowly learned that the items transported by the Xia army were most likely a siege weapon.

At the end of the inquiry, Wei Changhai expressed his gratitude to Zhang Tianyi, and asked Zhang Tianyi if they had encountered any trouble, and the defenders of Jianguan could provide some small help to their caravan. Zhang Tianyi and the others were just small caravans, and they didn't dare to make any demands on the army.

Wei Changhai sent people to send Zhang Tianyi and the others away, and then, he immediately sent a telegram to the Shucheng Headquarters of the Yunzhou Army and the Imperial Cabinet, reporting the abnormal situation of the Xia Army to his superiors.

The command of the Yunzhou Legion in Shucheng reacted as soon as possible.

Qin Zhengguo ordered 20,000 troops in Shucheng to settle in Jianguan, and a large number of materials were transported from the warehouse in Shucheng to Jianguan.

Qin Zhengguo is naturally not a person who listens to the wind or rain, and makes a fuss at the slightest movement. Because the armistice agreement between the two countries is almost expired, the Yunzhou Legion of the Xinghua Empire is preparing for war.

This time, Huguan's action was just a reasonable reason for the Yunzhou Army to transfer troops.

The Xinghua Empire invested a lot of manpower and material resources in Yunzhou, and governed Yunzhou for five years, so naturally it did not want all efforts to be destroyed in the war.

Therefore, neither the top of the empire nor the military and political circles of Yunzhou want the interior of Yunzhou to be devastated. In short, the Xinghua Empire hoped that the Yunzhou Army would keep the Xia army out of the Sword Pass and prevent the Xia army from entering the Pass.

For such a day, the Xinghua Empire's war preparations are going on all the time.

The ammunition of the Shucheng military warehouse is enough to support more than ten large-scale battles. There is also food that can provide half a year's worth of food for the entire population of the city.

Xinghua Empire, Xinghua City, Imperial Palace Hall.

After receiving telegrams from Yunzhou Jianguan and Yunzhou Shucheng, Yi Xingchen summoned cabinet ministers to discuss the affairs of Yunzhou together.

"Yunzhou is an important territory of the empire. Not only the land of Yunzhou is the matter of growing food, but also the population of Yunzhou is also a very important resource, which already accounts for 50% of the total population of the empire. If Yunzhou is lost, the empire will be greatly damaged and lose the opportunity to rise. Therefore, the empire must not give up Yunzhou. At the beginning, Yi Xingchen set the rules for the meeting.

When the cabinet ministers heard the emperor's words, they knew that they could not say anything about abandoning Yunzhou. Their opinions must all be discussed around the issue of defending Yunzhou.

Prime Minister Eli was the first to speak and said: "What Your Majesty said is extremely true, the empire must not give up Yunzhou. Now, the empire is not without the strength to fight the Xia Kingdom. Back then, we were able to defeat the Shu army of the Xia State and the Liangzhou army. Now, we are even more able to defeat the army of the Xia Kingdom. Because we got Yunzhou and became stronger, Xia Guo lost Yunzhou and became weaker. ”

"I agree with Your Majesty and the Prime Minister that Yunzhou cannot be lost. Now the number of Yunzhou legions of the Xinghua Army has reached 50,000. The 50,000 Xinghua soldiers are all well-trained soldiers. I think the empire needs to start an emergency conscription, recruit more soldiers, and go to Yunzhou. "The Minister of War, Neo, also strongly expressed the inclination for war.

The rest of the ministers did not speak, and turned their eyes to the emperor.

Yi Xingchen nodded, and the performance of the cabinet minister made him satisfied.

"Brian, is there any relevant intelligence on the intelligence bureau?" Yi Xingchen asked Brian, Blair is the Minister of Intelligence, managing the intelligence system of the entire empire.

"Your Majesty, the minister has just checked the intelligence information related to the Xia Kingdom and found two useful pieces of information. The first piece of information, the Xia army in Huguan, has changed the leading general. Now he is General Bai Qi, serving as the leading general. Bai Qi is a famous general of Xia and is good at attacking. The high-level of the Xia State sent Bai Qi, and the purpose was self-evident. The second piece of information is that the emperor of Xia said at a celebration meeting that the overall situation in the south of Xia has been decided, and the country will usher in unification and create another glory of the empire. The words of the Emperor of Xia were published in their official notice. This shows that the emperor of Xia has great determination and confidence to capture Yunzhou, and it also proves that Xia is prepared this time. Brian said.

Yi Xingchen asked, "Can the Imperial Intelligence Bureau assess the combat effectiveness of the Xia Army?"

"There is not enough information to assess. Brian replied.

Yi Xingchen sighed and said, "Alas, order all the Xinghua intelligence personnel in the Xia Kingdom to be lurking and standby, and only need to provide some political trends in the Xia Kingdom every day. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty. Brian replied.

"Xia Guo is a big move this time, I'm afraid we also need to go all out. This is different from the Anwar war in the Western Regions, if we lose, it will be difficult for us to develop again. With Yunzhou, we have a population of more than 10 million and great development potential. However, we need time to melt Yunzhou. Now, in five years, we have indeed won the hearts and minds of most Yunzhou people. Regardless of their choice between the Xia Kingdom and the Xinghua Empire, at least they don't reject our rule. This is also why the Xia Kingdom sent the Black Dragon to wreak havoc in Yunzhou, not because they were worried that we would rob them of their hearts. Yi Xingchen said.

"Your Majesty is right, Xia Guo is indeed afraid of us. They are afraid that the longer we run Yunzhou, the greater the threat to them. Prime Minister Eli replied.

"Ministry of Defense, can you still transfer troops to Yunzhou?" Yi Xingchen looked at Neo and asked.

Neo is the Minister of War and is in charge of the Ministry of Defense, and Yi Xingchen's question is naturally answered by him.

"Your Majesty, I'm afraid that the garrisons in various places cannot be easily recruited. The garrison in the Western Regions is too far away from the mainland to be recruited. Nanyun City, the Tiger Legion composed of barbarians, can requisition a part of them and let them fight in the mountains and forests to prevent the small forces of the Xia army from sneaking up on Yunzhou. The Great War broke out between the two countries, and within three months, the empire needed to levy between 30,000 and 50,000 troops. Neo replied.

Yi Xingchen looked at Eli and asked, "The country will recruit another 50,000 soldiers, is there any pressure on all sides?"

Eli looked at the other ministers, who said that there was no pressure on the country, especially on the financial side.

"Okay, I've decided that the empire will recruit fifty thousand soldiers nationwide. The Cabinet needs to make all the preparations, and my request is simple: before every Xinghua soldier goes into battle, I want them to have no shortage of weapons, no shortage of food, good training, and at least one qualified commander to lead them into battle. ”

"Yes, please rest assured, Your Majesty! The ministers will do their best to ensure that the empire does not lose Yunzhou and defeat the Xia army!" the cabinet ministers said collectively. (To be continued.) )