Hou Xiyi stood on the bank of the Yellow River with a heavy expression.

He still has the hope of what if, if he can rely on the Yellow River and hold on?

If you can keep it, who wants to be a lost dog and wander around? In Pinglu, he is the king, and if he goes somewhere else, what is he? A former marshal who has no territory and no soldiers and horses will only become the object of others' gnawing.

After Zhu Youzhen arrived in Qingzhou, he strongly recommended that he go to Chang'an.

Will he go?

Of course not going.

Even if he fails, he won't go.

Even if he doesn't have a territory of soldiers and horses, he still has a huge and uncountable family property, if he goes to Chang'an, he will only become the plate of the Zhu father and son, and he can't imagine how far he will fall in the end.

Thinking of this, he sighed. I hope that Xiang Xun can look at the friendship between the two in the past, and for the sake of saving his life, don't go too far. The boatloads of property that I sent over in front of me were a way to buy a safe devotion. Although Xiang Xun had already promised himself, he was still unwilling to come this far until the last resort.

Only when it really can't be done, I have to go to Lingnan to be a rich man.

Eat 300 lychees a day, and don't hesitate to be a Lingnan person. I wish there was really as good as the poem says!

A cloud of verdant leaves drifted down with the waves, and when it came to him, it was swept into it by a small whirlpool, and it was swallowed up in a flash, which startled Hou Xiyi, and when he reappeared, he was already more than ten feet away.

In the past few years, Hou Xiyi has only done two things.

The first is to desperately expand armaments.

The second is to scrape the ground desperately.

Perhaps a long time ago, he subconsciously thought that he would not be Li Ze's opponent, so he involuntarily began to prepare for the back road. Most of the belongings were put into the army, and a small number of them were full of thoughts.

Speaking of which, he has enough troops now, and he has arranged about 80,000 troops along the Yellow River alone, and if you count the troops stationed in various places, the size of the army of more than 100,000 is the number one person among the various towns.

Of course, a large number of people does not mean combat effectiveness.

It's a vicious cycle.

He conscripted strong men into the army, and then scavenged land to support the army, but a large number of young men were conscripted into the army, which reduced the labor force, and Pinglu's ability to create wealth deteriorated, and the people lived in difficulty, and people who rose up abounded. For the rebels, it is natural to suppress them, and as soon as the army moves, there will be countless money and food.

Round after round of this cycle, Pinglu became poorer and poorer, there were more and more rebels, and the taxes that could be collected became less and less.

But even so, the treatment and equipment of his army are still too much worse than the Tang army opposite. More and more people fled, not only the people began to flee Pinglu, but also the army began to flee to the other side. At first, one by one, but after the confrontation became more serious this year, they ran away in formations one by one.

As a last resort, he implemented a strict system of joint sitting in the army.

"Xinda, what are our chances of winning this battle?" He looked at the general standing with a knife beside him with a sad face, Liu Xinda, who was the most capable of fighting under his command.

Liu Xinda is a typical Shandong man, tall and burly, although he is over fifty years old, but where to stop, he is still majestic, he is famous in the Pinglu army, and is the most relied on general by Hou Xiyi.

"Marshal, in this battle, the most important thing is the navy." Liu Xinda took a deep breath: "The Tang Army's construction of the water army in Dizhou is only a matter of these two years, compared with us, there is still a little gap, and this is the only place where we are stronger than the Tang Army." If the navy can hold the Yellow River, then there is still a battle, if the navy is defeated, the form may be very bad. ”

"An army of 100,000 is so unbearable?" Hou Xiyi sighed.

"Jieshuai, speaking of which is an army of 100,000, but the maximum number that can be used is 30,000 or 40,000, of which there are 10,000 in Qingzhou, and there are only less than 20,000 elites who are really on the front line." Liu Xinda said helplessly: "Even so, we can't compare with the Tang Army in terms of equipment and morale." Once the Tang army crossed the river and landed, the marshal had to make another plan. ”

"Xinda, in case the Tang army comes ashore, how long can you hold on?" Hou Xiyi asked.

"Marshal, at most half a month, once the Tang army comes ashore, I will withdraw the main force to the area of Binzhou and build a defense line with Binzhou as the core." Liu Xinda said, "I hope that I can hold out for a longer time in Binzhou, and there will be no reinforcements in the balance of Gunhai?" ”

Hou Xiyi shook his head: "Zhu Youzhen said, the Tianping Army is facing the threat of Tian Ping's right Jin Wuwei, so they don't dare to transfer troops at all, and Gong Hai has only half of the main force left, and it is impossible to come to support us." ”

"And what is he doing here?" Liu Xinda said a little irritably: "Even if Qingzhou has more than a few thousand of his people, what can he do?" ”

Hou Xiyi was silent.

"Do your best, listen to the destiny of heaven!" Hou Xiyi patted Liu Xinda on the shoulder, "Next, I'm going back to Qingzhou, if you really can't stand it in Binzhou, retreat!" Follow me to Lingnan, Xiang Xun, and ask me about you! ”

Liu Xinda smiled bitterly.

He naturally knew that Hou Xiyi had been preparing for the back road for a long time, but in fact, from top to bottom, the atmosphere of failure covered everyone, and the commander was like this, not to mention the officers and soldiers below.

Over the years, the Tang army on the opposite side has been almost invincible, invincible, especially since this year, in the northeast, Zhang Zhongwu surrendered, in the northwest, more than 100,000 Tubo troops were wiped out, under the prestige, so that the Pinglu army could not raise the confidence to match the other side no matter what.

It's really done his best, and he obeys the fate of God.

Hou Xiyi got on his horse and left with his guards, Liu Xinda watched his figure disappear from view, and then strode back to the fortress on the edge of the Yellow River, staring at the Yellow River defense line winding on the map for a long time, before he said in a deep voice: "Order, convene a meeting of the generals of all departments." ”

Dizhou has also entered the final preparations before the war. The troops stationed outside the city of Dizhou have been pulling out and leaving one by one, and more materials and equipment are also being transported to the front every day, and the temporary warehouses full of people outside the city have become empty in a very short period of time, of course, in the next few days, they will be refilled with materials from Texas and Cangzhou.

This was the first time that Qin Zhao really commanded an operation within Li Ze's combat system. This made him very emotional, for the first time that he had led the troops to fight for so many years, he did not have to worry about logistics and supply, and he did not have to worry about mobilizing the people. Under the Zhenzhou system, others are responsible for the supply of materials and the deployment of people, and all he has to do is care about how to fight.

Of course, under such a system, the power of the front-line generals is limited to the army fighting, and once the generals want to do something else, then there will be problems in other aspects.

The system created by Li Ze is interlocking, quite precise, and breathtaking. It has greatly unleashed the combat capability of the army, and if there are 30,000 troops in a unit, then these 30,000 people are out-and-out soldiers.

He wasn't too worried about this fight. Zuo Xiaowei, who has been strong in the past two years, has been preparing for this battle, and the internal guards have been infiltrating and rebelling for the past two years, and the soldiers and horses on the other side have long been out of shape. The most critical thing in this battle is just a battle of the naval army.

Hou Xiyi's strictest control is this water army. This is also a team that the internal guards have not successfully infiltrated, an army controlled by the Hou clan itself.

And the person in charge of the Dizhou Navy is Li Ze's confidant Li Hao. And this naval army has begun to be formed after Li Hao arrived in Dizhou, with the rise of Cangzhou Haixing wharf, shipyards, etc., the combat effectiveness of this naval army is rising year by year.

Victory is not a problem, even if the navy cannot achieve victory quickly, it is just a matter of spending a little more effort.

Now what gives him a headache is a letter in his hand.

This was written by Xue Ping.

It was only at this time that he knew that Xue Ping had planned to say a family affair for His Majesty, and the object turned out to be the daughter of Xiang Xun, the envoy of the Lingnan Festival, who was sixteen years old this year, four years older than the little emperor.

Of course, it's not a problem to be older.

The point is, what Xue Ping wants him to do next.

After putting the finished letter on the candle flame and lighting it, watching the flames lick up the letter paper little by little, Qin Zhao stayed for a moment again, and then said to his cronies: "Go and find Jin Shiyuan." ”

Under the flickering candlelight, Jin Shiyuan, who had listened to Qin Zhao's arrangement, looked at each other dumbfounded.

"Shiyuan, I heard Cheng Xu say that you want to go back to the place where your ancestor came up to take a look, take a slow time about this." Qin Zhao said slowly.

"Can this be done?" Jin Shiyuan still felt a little ridiculous: "General, even under my command, there are I don't know how many members of the Yixing Society!" ”

"So you need to identify it." Qin Zhao said: "After this battle, you will resign, and then go to Lingnan to reorganize an army there." Qin Zhao said.

"My appearance is too eye-catching, how can I hide it?" Jin Shiyuan pointed to his full head of blonde hair.

"I didn't even think about hiding it!" Qin Zhao said: "And after you resign, it is also your freedom to go wherever you want, and no one can interfere." Gao Xiangsheng took a closer look at Xiang Xun's army in Lingnan, although it is not bad, but compared to us, it is still a lot worse, so you need to strengthen his military strength. ”

"Where's the weaponry?"

"Han Shangshu, Xue Shangshu, they will find a way! You don't have to worry about that. ”