In Meiyang County, Cheng Li's intelligence and espionage organization called 'Splitting Wood Courtyard' has been recuperating for more than half a year, and it can be said that it has made great progress.

Now in the land of Zaisizhou, the liquor shops in the seven county towns have changed hands, whether it is the gold market in Luoyang or the horse market in Chang'an, there are Cheng Li's envoys, and the credit for this is Cheng Li's share, but more is from the former Northern Army Changshui Battalion veterans are like-minded.

In the sixth year of Zhongping, the first emperor was mourned, and Ma Yue, who served as an auxiliary state, ordered the reduction of more than 3,600 Changshui soldiers in order to alleviate the contradictions between the DPRK and China and alleviate the sense of crisis of the scholars to the Wufu country.

These swords, guns, swords, and halberds returned to their hometowns, although the Changshui military discipline was strict, there were still many conflicts with the villagers, whether it was killing people in private fights, or being traitors...... The resettlement was too hasty, and there were many disgruntled people in the hearts of the soldiers.

And Cheng Li's first thought of recruiting people is this group of people, this group of Changshui veterans are mostly Luoyang people, after returning to their hometowns, life is generally unsatisfactory, as the first male soldier under the command of the auxiliary general Ma Yue, they have been in the scenery for too long, once disarmament for many people means to say goodbye to the most glorious past. And with the defeat of Ma Yue and his departure to Liangzhou, they felt the same in their hearts, and they were all unwilling for Ma Fuguo. And he has a lot of martial arts, and is familiar with the use of various guns, spears, bows and crossbows, and can complete the necessary conditions as a dead soldier almost without training.

Loyalty and martial arts are the most important abilities of a samurai. These Changshui veterans, whether it is loyalty to Ma Yue or proficiency in martial arts, are all excellent.

As the envoys sent by Meiyang gathered them one by one, the strength of the Splitting Wood Courtyard increased greatly, and there were more and more men walking in the land of Sili with Yanzhou accents, plus more than 1,000 Changshui veterans who were put into training, and the power available in Cheng Li's hands soon reached 2,000 people.

It's almost an army, a private army loyal to its generals.

Cheng Like has not been idle, more and more information has been transmitted to Meiyang from all over Sizhou into small bamboo tubes, and it is becoming more and more difficult for him to do things, and the time is getting longer and longer. He is now completely out of the training of the old soldier of Changshui, and he locks himself in his room all day long to receive the information transmitted from various places, investigates them one by one, and transmits them to Liangzhou as appropriate.

But until yesterday, he had no available news worthy of sending to Longxian.

The only Xianbei attacker who can be called a big event these days, he knows not much earlier than Liangzhou.

This result couldn't help but Cheng Li felt discouraged, but he didn't pause for a moment, he firmly believed that as long as he didn't give up, intelligence would have an increasingly important position in the future, and it would be more and more helpful to Ma Yue.

Cheng Li's brush blurred the ink on the animal skin, and unconsciously drew the outline of a strong man's arm arched, thought for a moment, and wrote a word next to it, cool.

This is the outline of Liangzhou.

There is only one possibility why the border is a border, and its people mostly adhere to the long-standing military tradition of practicing bow horses, but it also means less farming, or because the land is barren, arable land can not meet the survival needs of the people, and they turn to other economic forms to live in abundance. And the border often has a complex social environment, similar to the tripartite relationship between the Han people, Qianghu and Xianbei people in Liangzhou, the Han people, the Xiongnu people, the Xianbei people in Bingzhou, the Han people, the Wuhuan people, the Xianbei people in Youzhou, etc., this special cultural environment determines that the border is a contradictory position, and it is rare to be stable.

This is almost Cheng Li's idea, he thinks that today's general trend is bound to fall apart similar to the situation of chaos in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Ma Yue wants to protect Liangzhou, a corner of peace, so that Liangzhou will become a land of prosperity and happiness in the coming war, although romantic, it is indeed unrealistic delusion.

The Ma clan needs this place in Guanzhong!

Originally, with Ma Yue's talent, the governor's court led the Liangzhou troops as a support, which was the only way to avoid war before the world would fall, at least, Ma Yue sat in the middle of the court, one could deter Han Sui and other rebels, and the other Ma Teng and other generals were focused on the Han Dynasty, and the situation in Liangdi formed a delicate balance. In this way, all the troops in Liangzhou can be used by the Han Dynasty.

Unfortunately, soldiers are impermanent, and water is impermanent. Ma Yuezhi's rise is like a flat floor view, and the decline is also like a termite rotting wall.

In Cheng Li's eyes, the officials and nobles in Luoyang City, especially Yuan Shu who raised troops and Yuan Shao who responded internally, were hopelessly stupid, although their brothers had impeccable political skills and a remarkable leader in battle, but in the end, could it be that they could still do better than Ma Yue? All the current circumstances prove that when Ma Yue was in Luoyang, the imperial court commanded the eight prefectures of Liang, He, Si, You, Yang, Qing, Yan, and Xu. Now, all of a sudden, the Taishou in various places have raised troops to defend themselves, or have different aspirations, which is considered to be completely chaotic, nominally the five states of Ji, You, Qing, Xu, and Si are still in control, but the edict of the imperial court can only run within Sizhou, and the envoys who enter other states will be immediately killed by the assassins and bandits who suddenly appear.

said that driving away Ma Yue was the first to establish a plan for the country and the people!

But in the same way, the stubborn old man's performance towards Ma Yue in his heart was also hating iron and steel, so he almost jumped his toes and nose and scolded stupidity.

Although it was because of the sense of justice in Ma Yue's heart and the righteousness of helping the people of the world as his own responsibility that Cheng Li gathered under his banner, Cheng Li contradictory hoped in his heart that Ma Yue could throw away that bit of benevolence and morality, and seize the territory with deception, even if he seized the Han family, the stubborn old man felt that it didn't matter. After all, they were born in this era, the real world of great contention!

Ma Yue wanted to be a saint too much, but Cheng Li understood that a real saint did not exist in this world. If you live in this world, if you are bound by some courtesy, righteousness and shame, the only end that you can't defend yourself is to be killed, and those who die can only make way for others. But Cheng Li didn't want Ma Yue to make way for others. The only truth that bows, swords, iron horses, and power rule the world is eternal and unchanging.

Compared with Ma Yue, Cheng Li is more optimistic about Ma Chao's temperament, and he is not afraid of etiquette and law when he treats the enemy, and he draws a knife and slaughters him!

Just when Cheng Li was thinking about when his envoy would be able to be hit by the cold and cruel reality in the wood-splitting courtyard, and finally strangled the saint in his heart to death in despair because even if Liangzhou was developed and rich, it would still be difficult to support the livelihood rations of hundreds of thousands of Han people, a woodcutter walked into the wood-splitting courtyard.

Two loads of dry firewood were placed in the courtyard, Cheng Li raised his head, watched the helper at home hand the woodcutter ten big money, and then took out a small piece of thin bamboo tube from the dry firewood without a trace and put it in his sleeve, walked through the courtyard full of dry firewood, and put it in his hand.

The secret letter was very short, only four scribbled small characters, but looking at Cheng Li's eyes, it made him look fiery and excited.

'Yuan Shao's attack', the secret letter reads.

Last winter, Yuan Shaochu led the imperial court, and Zhang Dao, a protégé of the Yuan family, and his nephew, a ten-year-old senior cadre, came to Luoyang to join Yuan Shao. His brother-in-law bowed to the Shu County Taishou, a year ago because Liu Yan entered Shu, the state governance was privately moved to Mianzhu, and Meng Tuo and others who accompanied him to Yizhou were appointed as Taishou, and without the imperial court edict, he was dismissed from his post as the Shu County Taishou, and the more he thought about it, the more uncomfortable he became, and he was squeezed by Liu Yan's entourage and others, and over time the chest was depressed and died.

This time, Yuan Shao is on fire. No matter what the Han clan relatives, Ma Yue beheaded Liu Dai in the melee, and I didn't see what happened, not to mention Liu Yan who was not satisfied with the imperial court.

After half a year of stabilizing the court, the anger in Yuan Shao's heart could no longer be suppressed, and he was thinking about rectifying the state pastors and taishou in various places step by step, and Liu Yan was the first to send it to the door. At the moment, the army was strong, and the two armies of the north and south were sent, and the veteran general Zhu Jun was the general of the southern expedition, and he commanded 6,000 soldiers and horses to lead the Yizhou military affairs, and spread the word to the world to crusade against Liu Yan.

Responders such as Nanyang Yuan Shu, Changsha Sun Jian, and Runan joined the group of thieves. There were many people who went out with the army, and Gao Lan, the captain of Chen Liugao's family, Yan Liang, and Wen Chou, who were protégés of Yuanfu, also got official positions. Even the Xiaolang official of the Ma family is also among them, and he is transferred to the captain of the Chong Fold School, commanding more than 700 people, which can be regarded as the side of the general following the family tradition.

This battle made some meritorious deeds, the emperor remembered Ma Yue's mentorship, and Ma Bozhan couldn't run away as a partial general. But in the same way, after this battle, the Yuan clan's military power in the imperial court will also be greatly improved.

It was also the first official war between the local and central governments.

Cheng Li's mind was spinning rapidly, how could he use the imperial court to send troops to Yizhou to seek greater benefits for Ma Yue?

Outside the window, someone pushed a cart into the courtyard, and a cart of thick straw was piled up. The coachman said hello to the attendant, pushed the car to the backyard, and left Cheng Li's sight.

The attendant knocked on the door and entered the room, bowed his head beside Cheng Li, and whispered: "Master, the weapons transported from Hedong are on the road, three strong crossbows, forty arrow clusters, two ring knives, and seven spearheads. ”

Cheng Li nodded silently, the weapons he had purchased from all over the world had been sent one after another these days, but now his mind was obviously no longer on the armament, he held a pen and wrote the general trend of the world as he knew it on a roll of animal skins, quickly rolled it up and stuffed it into a bamboo tube and handed it to the attendant and said: "Send it to Longxian County quickly, and be sure to hand it over to the envoy!" ”

"No!"

Farther away outside the city of Luoyang.

Dutingyi, the majestic rear general Yuan Shu was covered in red armor, and drew his Han sword and pointed at the sky and shouted angrily. With the emperor's crisp voice, the whole army moved, and turned its back to Luoyang, facing the southwest.

The scouts who rode fast horses and planted light flags set off as early as three days ago and rushed to Longxian County, Liangzhou.

It was difficult to march in Qinchuan Liudao, and Yuan Shao set the route for Liangzhou to borrow the road, enter Chencang Road from Sanguan, go straight down to Yizhou to capture Hanzhong, and enter Sichuan to capture and kill Liu Yan.

Under the whole world, it is not the king's land.

On the shore of the land, it is not the king's minister.

Yuan Shu's battle is bound to win!