The envoy sent by Li Zhongchen was his staff member Zhang Fangquan, a native of Yingzhou, a county official, about forty years old, with a thin body and a very shrewd appearance.

"Under Zhang Fangquan, it was Li Dashuai who joined the army under the account, and came to meet the old prince on the order of Li Dashuai."

After speaking, he presented a letter, "Li Dashuai hopes to cooperate with the old prince, respond to the call of the imperial court, exterminate Li Lingyao, and share the benefits of sending troops." ”

"Your father-in-law has also been recruited by the imperial court?" Li Zheng said with a faint smile.

"Exactly!"

Li Zheng has looked at Li Zhongchen's handwritten letter, Li Zhongchen wrote very humbly in the letter, willing to follow the old prince to fight, driven by the old prince, but on the core issue, he wrote vaguely, just want to get a place in Huaibei is enough, but how big this couch is, he did not write, and the letter does not mention the number of other troops.

Li Zheng sneered and said, "Your lord is not sincere!" ”

Zhang Fangquan hurriedly said: "My lord is full of sincerity, please let the old prince know it." ”

"Okay, let me ask you, how many troops do you send? Where is Li Zhongchen now? Why is it not stated in the letter? ”

"Qi Qi old prince, the number of troops depends on the upper limit allowed by the imperial court, if you write in the letter in advance that you will send 30,000 troops, if you can't reach it, wouldn't you deceive the prince? As for where my father-in-law is now? He was in Hefei when he wrote this letter, and I don't know where he is now. ”

"I know!"

Next to him, Li Na said: "Li Zhongchen is now in Sizhou, and the army has crossed the Huai River. ”

Zhang Fangquan pretended to be and said suddenly: "That's right, it seems that my lord has received the official permission of the Son of Heaven to send troops, and if the imperial court allows it, it is more likely that he will send 30,000 troops." ”

Li Zheng has obtained the information, Li Zhongchen is to send 30,000 troops, but this is already a chess piece on the surface, he needs to know, what does Li Zhongchen want to get in the end? That's the key.

Li Zheng had already laughed twice and said slowly: "Since you want to cooperate with me, then tell me the truth, where does the place that your lord wants to stay?" ”

"The villain is for this matter, my lord doesn't want to have a conflict of interest with the old prince, the old prince likes the place, we must back down."

That's a good point, so let's be honest with each other! Tell me, what does your father-in-law want in the end? ”

Zhang Fangquan hesitated and said: "My lord wants to expand his sphere of influence to the five states, Haizhou, Chuzhou, Sizhou, Xuzhou and Songzhou, I don't know if there is a conflict with the old prince, if there is a conflict, my lord's guild will immediately revise the plan." ”

Li Na was about to speak, Li Zheng had already glared at him, and Li Na shut up in amusement.

Li Zheng smiled slightly: "Fortunately, there is basically no conflict, we are mainly a few states in the north, such as Puzhou, Yunzhou, Caozhou, Yanzhou, etc., with limited strength, and we have not considered going south." ”

Zhang Fangquan breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly said: "Does the old prince need to meet with my lord and clarify the specific ways of cooperation with each other?" ”

Li Zheng has stroked the goat's whiskers and said with a smile: "There is no need to meet, but it is necessary to maintain close communication to prevent misunderstandings. ”

"This ..... I'll write to ask my lord! See how he arranges? ”

"Yes! We look forward to a happy cooperation between us. ”

Zhang Fangquan retreated, and Li Na hurriedly said: "Father, Xuzhou is our goal, how can we give it to Li Zhongchen?" ”

Li Zheng sneered and said, "Do you really believe in Li Zhongchen's plan? The territory he wants controls Caoyun, will the court allow it? He is not a fool, if he dares to take Song Zhou, the prince's army of 100,000 will definitely attack head-on, of course he knows, but he just said that on purpose to confuse us. ”

Li Na's face flushed, and he hurriedly bowed down and said, "Please make it clear to my father!" ”

Li Zheng glanced at him and said: "You are not young, you have to learn a little more, Li Zhongchen, Tian Chenghei these people are thousand-year-old foxes, if you want to fight with them in the future, you must have a few more eyes, if you are not wise enough, you can use the staff, so talent is the most important resource for us to dominate the world, a little to treat the scholars, there will be an endless stream of talents to come to serve our father and son, remember?" ”

"The father's teachings, the children take them to heart."

Li Zhengji said slowly: "Of the five states that Zhang Fangquan said just now, didn't you find that one of the most important states was missing?" ”

Li Na pondered for a moment, and suddenly woke up, "Yangzhou! ”

Li Zheng has nodded, "They deliberately avoided Yangzhou, in fact, they just wanted to cover up Mizhang, the place they wanted was not Songzhou, Xuzhou, that was deliberately confusing us, in order to bargain with us, fabricated out of thin air, in order to make concessions to us, the more Li Zhongchen avoided, the more exposed his true intentions in his heart, if I guessed correctly, he wanted Si, Hai, Chu, and Yang, from Huaixi to Huainan, and the ultimate goal was to control the entire Jianghuai region." ”

Li Na nodded, his father still saw it thoroughly!

"But Yangzhou is the financial lifeblood of the imperial court, and the imperial court will allow him to get involved?"

Li Zheng sighed slightly: "Just like Tian Chengsi dreamed of crossing the Yellow River, he has been dreaming of capturing Yangzhou Li Zhongchen for ten years, this desire is deeply rooted in his heart, he will eventually be ruined by his own greed, I am sure that as long as he takes this step, it will be the day of his destruction." ”

Li Na thought so, and he was silent for a moment and asked, "Father, what should we do next?" ”

Li Zheng smiled and said, "Do you still need to say it?" Of course, it is to send troops to Yanzhou! ”

.........

On the tenth day of the first month of June, Li Zheng had read the holy decree of the Son of Heaven to the three armies, and sacrificed to the horse god, announcing that he would send troops to fight against the traitor Li Lingyao, and the 80,000 troops were divided into two routes, all the way south to Yanzhou, and all the way to Jeju.

At the same time, Li Zhongchen's army also passed through Sizhou and entered Xuzhou.

In the north, Li Mian's army and Ma Sui's Heyang army were combined into one, led by Li Mian, and 40,000 imperial troops entered Bianzhou from Zhengzhou.

Li Mian sent the vanguard Li Chongqian to lead 5,000 troops to take Kaifeng County first, Li Lingyao bullied Li Chongqian's troops were insufficient, he led 20,000 troops out of the city to intercept the imperial vanguard army, the two armies fought fiercely in the east of Kaifeng County, but Ma Sui led 10,000 cavalry to rush to kill, Li Lingyao was caught off guard, defeated, Li Lingyao only led thousands of people to flee back to Chenliu in panic.

At this time, Li Lingyao finally realized the importance of Tian Chengsi's army, and on the one hand, he urgently ordered the scattered troops from all over the country to return to the city, and on the other hand, he sent people to ask Tian Chengsi for help.

But Li Lingyao did not know that the troops he had scattered to various places had been gathered by Tian Chengsi first, and at present, 30,000 troops were assembled in Baima County, Huazhou, led by Tian Chengsi's nephew Tian Yue, who occupied Huazhou and Puzhou first.

Wagang Mountain Military Village, one by one news from Kaifeng Mansion with pigeon letters, although Guo Song hid in the mountains, but always grasped the dynamics of the army and the progress of the war.

Although he had not read any of Sun Tzu's Art of War, he had seen a large number of cases of Chinese and foreign wars, which were actually the essence of various military thoughts, cultivating the breadth and depth of his vision.

According to the latest information, Li Lingyao led 25,000 men to defend Chenliu County, and only Li Mian and Ma Sui's troops entered Bianzhou, which was less than 100 miles away from Chenliu County, and Li Zhengji and Li Zhongchen's troops were busy grabbing territory, which was far from Chenliu County.

Guo Song was more concerned about the situation in Huazhou, Tian Chengsi's army had regrouped and occupied Huazhou and Puzhou, and it could be seen that Tian Chengsi was not active in rescuing Li Lingyao, and everyone had their own plans and ghosts.

"Do you think Li Lingyao will break out of the city?" Xu Jingnan asked on the side.

Guo Song shook his head, "I think everyone is waiting!" ”

"What are you waiting for?" Xu Jingnan asked puzzled.

"Each has a goal?"

Guo Song said lightly: "Li Lingyao is waiting for Tian Chengsi to come to the rescue, to be precise, he is waiting for Tian Chengsi's army and other armies to fight, he will be defeated and injured, he will come out to pick fruits again, Li Zhengji's army has occupied Jeju, Yanzhou, Yunzhou and Caozhou, but he will not attack Puzhou, he obviously does not want to break out a big war with Tian Chengsi too early, he is waiting for the imperial army and Li Zhongchen's army to go north."

Li Zhongchen is also waiting, he is very active in seizing the territory, but if he wants to work hard for the imperial court, I am afraid he is not willing, he is waiting for the war to be almost fought, and then finally join the war. ”

"Do we need to wait too?"

Guo Song nodded, "We also need to wait, but I estimate that the imperial army should break the situation first, whether it is for Li Lingyao or Tian Chenghei, the imperial court is duty-bound, once the war starts, the situation will be chaotic, and we will create opportunities to fish in troubled waters." ”

Liang Wu said on the side: "I am more worried that Li Lingyao will retreat from the south, and now there is a relatively large gap in the south, if the imperial court does not fill this gap, it is likely to be used by Li Lingyao, so it is better for us to go south to plug this loophole." ”

Guo Song took a few steps with his hands in his hands and said slowly: "You have to calm down, don't mess up the square inch first!" ”