"Yes."

"Lao Xie, please work harder, go to the northwest border pass to contact the people of the Cao family, and you must find out every move of the Wu army."

Lao Tian went back to rectify the militia group, and the county government posted a notice to recruit people into the army, and the quota was tentatively set at 1,000 people. Liu Zhixian is responsible for logistics support. In addition, Liu Zhixian, you immediately wrote a fold and reported it to the imperial court. I think at this time, I guess the imperial court should also get the news. But let's make a gesture. After all, we are all still officials of Da Zhou at the moment. In addition, I want to explain to the imperial court that we have the responsibility to defend the territory as officials of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and we are willing to share your worries for Your Majesty against the invasion of Wu. There is also a way to inform Zhang Han, Huang Wenyuan, Hu Tianyi and others. By the way, Lao Ma, you go and inform Hu Tianyi, so that he had better be able to restrain Jin Longwei's people and say hello to Ying Wei. Let's just say that we are clearing out the Wu State spies in the city. Don't hurt them by mistake. ”

"Yes!" All the people clasped their fists in agreement.

Linshui County is now running like a war machine. Although this is not what Gongsun Jian wants to see at the moment, it is also an opportunity. You can legitimately expand the militia group. There are also some things that can be brought to the table at the same time.

At the same time, the Great Zhou court in Shangjing also received a report from the border pass, and there was an uproar. Unexpectedly, Wu Guoguo suddenly joined forces with Qi to deal with Da Zhou.

The Qiankun Hall was like a vegetable market, and the officials who used to speak slowly and softly sprayed each other like shrews.

"Enough!" Yue Huang Qian Hong roared angrily, and the hall suddenly fell silent. At this time, Qian Hong's face was full of anger, looking at the ministers below.

"I asked you to come here to discuss how to deal with Wu and Qi, not to let you take the opportunity to attack your political enemies here. Let's talk about how we should deal with it next week. ”

As he spoke, Qian Hong glanced at the old lady Zuo Cheng, who was ranked first in the Wenchen Dynasty's class, Dugu Mou.

"Master Dugu, do you have any good suggestions?" Qian Hong politely asked. After all, this guy who looks like he's seventy or eighty years old is the master who once taught him to read.

And although Dugu Mu has the official positions of Prime Minister Zuo and Taishi, he has almost not asked about things for many years. And he didn't belong to any faction in the imperial court. Hearing the Yue Emperor be the first to ask himself. He could only reply: "Everything depends on Your Majesty's holy judgment. Ministers should follow the order. ”

Nima, the scolding in Qian Hong's heart! To say this is to say nothing. The old thing seems to be really old, but he never took the initiative to resign, and it was not easy for him to be dismissed because of the master-apprentice relationship, otherwise Chen Cheng would have been put on the throne.

It was useless to ask Dugu Mou, and Qian Hong set his eyes on Gong Mohan, who was in second place.

Gong Mohan consciously didn't wait for Qian Hong to ask him, so he took the initiative to stand up and say: "Your Majesty, the Northern Army has the Metropolitan Governor Xu Hu here, and besides, the previous war between the two sides has only ended for a year. I believe that it is impossible for Northern Qi to recover so quickly. So there shouldn't be much of a problem on the north side. The only thing to worry about at the moment is the state of Wu in the northwest. The northwest has been stable for more than 20 years, and there has been no war, so I am afraid that the current northwest frontier army may be difficult to resist the other side. Therefore, the DPRK and China should have made plans early and selected elite soldiers and good generals to sit in the town. ”

Hearing this, Qian Hong nodded slightly. Although he is not happy with Gong Mohan, the other party still has the ability.

"What the prime minister said is always a country. But I don't know who to send? Qian Hong asked.

"Zhennan General Yun Ke."

"Yunqing's family?" Qian Hong couldn't help frowning secretly, knowing that this old thing was not holding back a good fart. The Yun family is also a noble family, and it has finally been suppressed over the years, and now it is not to look at the name of a general in Zhennan, but there are few available soldiers under his hands. But once this person is allowed to lead the army to fight in the northwest again, it will not mean that another tiger will be released. And there is also a Gongsun Jian in the northwest who likes to toss. At that time, it is difficult to say whether the northwest will not be its own.

With a slight groan, Qian Hong was just about to speak, but someone below came out and said: "Your Majesty, General Yun's health and bones have not been good in recent years, and I am afraid that it will be difficult to take on heavy responsibilities." The minister recommended the forbidden army to command Gao Chengzong's army to resist the invasion of Wu. ”

Qian Hong was a lot happier when he saw that it was Chen Cheng who came out to speak, and he wanted to say that his brother-in-law understood his thoughts.

"General Gao Chengzong's ability is good, but unfortunately there is no real commander who has fought at the border pass. I'm afraid that I am not as good as General Yun in terms of experience. Shang Shuluo Dayong of the Criminal Department stood up and objected: "The battle between these two armies is not child's play. If the northwest border pass is lost, the pressure on the north side will be even greater. And if the north is lost again, won't our Great Zhou be extremely dangerous? Therefore, Your Majesty, the minister felt that he should still choose an old and experienced general as the commander. ”

"Then who is Luo Shangshu going to recommend?" Chen Cheng gritted his teeth and turned his head to ask Luo Dayong.

"Hehe, just now Lord Chen said that General Yun is not in good health. Then you might as well ask Your Majesty to send someone to invite General Yun to Beijing and ask. If the old general is safe, it will naturally be handed over to the old general to lead the army for good. ”

Seeing that Chen Cheng was blocked back by Luo Dayong again, Qian Hong was unhappy in his heart, and asked angrily: "Could it be that our Great Zhou has no other generals who can lead the army except for General Yun?" ”

"Yes. I have a lot of generals in the Great Zhou, but there are not many who have the ability to lead an army alone and ensure that it is foolproof, except for Xu Hu, the governor of the Northern Army, and General Yun Ke, then there is only His Royal Highness the King of Chu. Gong Mohan said at this moment, and looked up at Qian Hong, who was sitting on the emperor's throne.

Qian Tuan, the king of Chu, Qian Hong's brother. used to be the most powerful heir to the throne of the Great Zhou, but with Qian Hong's accession to the throne, this prince disappeared from everyone's sight. And at this moment, Gong Mohan mentioned the King of Chu to embarrass Emperor Yue.

Yes, there is absolutely no problem with Qian Tuan's ability to lead the army to fight. But do you dare to use it?

Looking at Emperor Yue who was changing face and color on the throne, Chen Cheng below suddenly came up with an idea, although this was not the result he hoped to see, but it could solve the current dilemma. So after thinking for a while, he stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, in addition to the King of Chu, there is actually another person in the royal family with outstanding military ability. That is His Royal Highness King Min, the eldest prince. ”

"Yes, yes, yes." Qian Hong was suddenly overjoyed,

"How did I forget about the flames. Well, Yan'er has been trained in the army all these years, and he is also the personal disciple of Xu Hu's Grand Governor. In addition, he is the eldest prince of mine, and his ability and prestige are not bad. Just the right person. Hahaha......" As he spoke, Qian Hong waved his hand and said to a eunuch beside him: "It is proposed that Qian Yan, the king of Fujian, be the chief of the march in the northwest and the envoy of the capital, and be responsible for all military and political affairs in the three prefectures in the northwest. ”

Wars always break out when you don't think about it. On the ninth day after Gongsun Jian got the news and began to make preparations, Xie Wu came with news from the border pass that Wu had officially attacked Da Zhou.

This news shocked Gongsun Jian and everyone at once. In his imagination, modern wars must be prepared for several months, but it is conceivable that ancient wars could not be launched without six months to a year of preparation.

But the facts are in front of him, and there is no time for him to think and prepare. Xie Wu left Linshui again to take charge of the intelligence reconnaissance work of the Northwest Front, and then Ma Teng was also sent out.

The conscription work has been in charge of Qi Shi and Tian Kuo, and Liu Dayuan has helped prepare the logistics needs. Feng Huaidao was reassigned to his job, and Ding Feng helped him to take charge of the munitions factory and the steel factory. Anyway, now that the trade in Linshui County has come to a standstill due to the impact of the war, there is no need for Feng Huaidao to manage it for the time being, and Liu Dayuan can basically be busy alone.

Wei Meng's personal guards have also expanded, from thirty people at the beginning to one hundred now. After Zhao Changle helped Ma Teng deal with the Wu spies in the county, he was transferred back to the county office, but this time, in addition to the dozens of officials of the county government, Gongsun Jian also assigned him a militia of 100 people, which was specially responsible for public security in the county and strictly investigated all kinds of prohibited activities. And he is specially authorized to act arbitrarily in case of trouble. Anyone who does not comply can be killed directly, and there is no need to report himself and Liu Dayuan, the magistrate. Invisibly, Zhao Changle suddenly became one of the best figures in Linshui County.

In three days, the northwest border pass of the Great Zhou was lost. The angry Gongsun Jian scolded his mother. It's too wasteful, right? When you smuggle money, you are more ruthless than one another, and when you fight, you are all cowardly. You don't need to win, even if you resist a few more days to buy yourself more time to prepare!

The northwest border pass is about 350 miles away from the waterway of Linshui County, and the straight-line distance is only 2670 miles, and there is only a Dingxi County in the middle. It is a small county town that is poorer and more dilapidated than Linshui County at the beginning. Under normal circumstances, according to the speed and current situation of the march in this era, the army of Wu Guo is afraid that the forward will arrive in Linshui County in three or four days at most.

Don't look at Gongsun Jian, he looks confident, but he doesn't know the bottom in his heart. After all, the forms of warfare are different, and the ways and methods that can be used are also different, and this era is mainly about people. The side with more people definitely has the advantage.

The second hall of the county ya, Gongsun Jian, Liu Dayuan, Feng Huaidao and others were all sitting. Even Xie Wu, who was out to inquire about the news, rushed back. In addition to these cronies, Zhang Han and Huang Wenyuan, as well as Jin Longwei's Hu Tianyi, were also present. There's even a guy that everyone doesn't know.

Gongsun Jian looked at a young man in armor present and said, "General Cao Bi, tell everyone what you know." ”

The young man nodded at Gongsun Jian, then looked at everyone and said, "The last general is Cao Gang, the general of the Northwest Town, and everyone may know that the border pass has been broken by the Wu State three days ago. The main general Zheng Yang has already sacrificed his life for the country. After I withdrew with my men and horses, I gathered my men all the way and thought about turning around and giving Wu Jun another blow, but it was a pity that ......"

"Well, there is no need to say that. General Cao. Gongsun Jian said with some displeasure: "There is no point in mentioning these at this time. Tell me what you know about Wu Jun. ”

"Hmm." Cao Gang nodded again, sighed again and said: "This time the commander of the Wu State is the former general of the Wu State, Kui Wang Sun Sheng, and this person is the younger brother of Emperor Wu Sun Hao. Sun Sheng was known for his bravery in the Wu army. He led 30,000 soldiers and horses, and the pioneer was Han Dewei, the general of Wu State. Zhenyuan Pass was broken by this person. According to intelligence, the vanguard army under his command should be about 6,000 people, including 500 cavalry. All of them are the elite of Wu's army. ”

"General Cao, how many remnants of the Northwest Army have you gathered now?" Gongsun Jian asked with a frown.

"More than two thousand. And two or three hundred people were wounded. There were about eighteen or nine hundred capable of fighting. ”

"I want real numbers." Gongsun Jian said with some anger: "Those old and weak, don't fill up the numbers with me." How many are young and combative? ”

"This ...... There were about 1,200 people. Cao Gang replied in a low voice with some weakness and shame.

If I go, it is equivalent to saying that one-third of the manpower is not combative, is such an army still an army? No wonder the border was broken in three days. Gongsun Jian wants to scold people now, but thinking about it, this kind of thing is normal in this era. After thinking for a moment, he asked Cao Gang: "General Cao, can you still command these people now?" ”