Fan Jian returned with a caravan.

Yes, just a caravan.

When Weihu Mountain established his position in the Northeast with victories again and again, when Zhang Zhongwu and Deng Jingshan found that the existence of Weihu Mountain could not be erased by force, they could only acquiesce to his existence.

At the beginning, Deng Jingshan adopted a policy of strict lockdown, strictly prohibiting any materials, including grain, salt, cloth, tea and everything else from entering Weihu Mountain.

This did bring a lot of trouble to the original Weihu Mountain. But the interior guard soon forged a new path. Weihu Mountain is too big, Deng Jingshan can block the avenues and paths, but the huge profits that can be brought by smuggling materials still prompt many people to open up hidden smuggling channels regardless of life and death.

The smugglers even eventually developed into armed escorts. It was impossible for Deng Bu to carry out large-scale suppressions, and small-scale killings were often overwhelmed by these smugglers.

Of course, the price of these materials flowing into Weihu Mountain is often ten times or even dozens of times that of them under the mountain. Triple windfall profits can prompt people to take risks, and tenfold windfall profits can make people desperate, but if the profits are higher, then someone dares to risk the danger of raiding their families and exterminating their families to do it.

Weihu Mountain struggled to survive. If it weren't for the Tang Dynasty court's subsidy of a large amount of silver inside, they would have been unable to hold on for a long time.

After that, Weihu Mountain began its own hematopoiesis.

Food, basically, has been made autonomous. And sweet potatoes have become the biggest food source to solve the problem of wrapping. Now, they can even use the surplus sweet potatoes to make syrup, and then use technicians from Datang to make them into snow-white frosted sugar and sell it.

This has become the largest source of wealth for Weihu Mountain.

This kind of frosted sugar, in the Northeast, has become an expensive luxury.

In fact, by last year, Deng Jingshan's blockade of Weihu Mountain had existed in name only. When you can't really lock the other person up, but let another group of people make a fortune because of it, more people will start thinking. Now, it is Deng Jingshan himself who is also doing business with Weihu Mountain.

Take some daily necessities to exchange frosting candy and mountain goods with Weihu Mountain. After all, he also has a family to maintain a luxurious life, he also has an army to support him, and he has generals who need a lot of rewards from him.

Although he knew that this was an enemy, he had no choice but to do it. It's better to have money earned by your own people than to be earned by others.

This is the reason why the second master of Weihu Mountain was able to return to Weihu Mountain from outside with a caravan.

"This is the last batch of supplies." Seeing that the materials on the pack horses were moved into the warehouse, Fan Jian stroked his beard and said to Liu Yan and Yan Wudao. "In the future, there will be no more caravans, and those smuggling traders will also be greatly stifled."

"As long as we give money, we are not afraid that they will not come!" Liu Yan said with a smile.

"That's not the case." Fan Jian shook his head and said, "It's going to be a war." It's not that these smugglers don't dare to come, but in the entire northeast, all the daily necessities are included in the military management, and Zhang Zhongwu is collecting these things on a large scale. General Liu, it's time for a war. ”

Liu Yan's eyes lit up: "Is Zhang Zhongwu ready to invade the Tang Dynasty again?" ”

If Zhang Zhongwu started to mobilize on a large scale, of course, it was not for him, a little wild cat hiding in Weihu Mountain, in terms of input-output ratio, this was a completely unworthy thing, which is why Liu Yan was able to survive under Zhang Zhongwu's nose until now.

"Say it in the house!" Fan Jian said with a smile: "General Liu, after returning to the mountain, I haven't taken a sip of hot tea yet!" ”

Liu Yan laughed: "As soon as I heard that I was going to do it, I was so excited that I forgot everything. Let's go, go into the house and say, Yan Wu, make some tea for General Fan. ”

Fan Jian smiled and threw a tartar he was carrying to Yan Wu, and said, "There is this year's new tea here, and the colleagues over there brought it to me, as well as some good things, which cannot be bought in our place, as gifts for the two virtuous nephews and nieces." ”

"But it's disrespectful, but it's disrespectful!" Liu Yan gave up his hands again and again, and Fan Jian returned to the lobby of Weihu Mountain Cottage, and Yan Wu was already quickly brewing the new Ming Qian tea for them this year.

Holding the teacup, Fan Jian slowly shook the cup, watched the tea leaves sink to the bottom of the cup one by one, lowered his head and sniffed the fragrance of tea deeply, and said with a smile: "Li Xiang has issued a general mobilization order, and the imperial court is going to launch a final attack on the pseudo-Liang." Now You Yong's left Xiaowei, Liu Chenglin's right Xiaowei, Tu Lichun and Shi Zhuang's left and right Weiwei, as the vanguard of the army, are ready to attack from the east and north. In Jiangnan, the combined forces of Ding Jian and Tian Guofeng were confronting Zhu Youqi in Shu to block Zhu Youqi's possible assistance in the direction of Chang'an. Qian Biao from Yueyang, the Right Qianniuwei led by Lady Liu and the army in Jiangsu and Zhejiang prepared to attack Ezhou, and after success, he would also launch an offensive from the south to the puppet Liang's lair in the Central Plains. ”

Liu Yan took a deep breath, his face turned a little crimson, the opportunity he was looking forward to finally came.

"No wonder Zhang Zhongwu couldn't sit still and wanted to start mobilizing on a large scale. He also knew that once Li Xiang completely destroyed the pseudo-Liang, he would never allow him, the so-called King of Liao, to live happily in the Northeast, he was going to pull Li Xiang's hind legs! General Fan, what can we do? ”

Fan Jian smiled: "Our idea of manpower, for now, can only play the side drums, and it won't play a big role for the time being." ”

Liu Yan said a little unconvinced: "Lao Fan, you are your own person, why should you destroy our own prestige!" Now we have 3,000 soldiers, this is a completely out of production has been maintained a well-trained armor soldier, the big war, we can also mobilize about 5,000 young and strong, Weihu Mountain, regardless of men, women and children, can become people, we are definitely a force that can influence the situation of the war! ”

"Of course. However, that was after the army defeated Zhang Zhongwu's main force on the frontal battlefield, and it was then that we could play our greatest role. General Liu, don't forget, we are in the hinterland of Zhang Zhongwu. Without perfect certainty, we must not rush to attack, once we fail, our years of lying on the back of the salary, but it will be completely in vain. Fan Jiandao.

"Erlang, General Fan is right. Since Zhang Zhongwu is going to attack on a large scale, I am afraid that he will not forget the trouble of our henchmen, and maybe he will set some trap to lure us to attack, so as to uproot us in one fell swoop. Yan Wu stretched out his hand and pressed Liu Yan's shoulder, and said, "If you can't bear it, you will make a big plan, you have endured it all these years, what's the harm in enduring it again?" ”

"Yan Wu is right!" Fan Jiandao: "If we don't go out of the mountain, it is also a huge threat to Zhang Zhongwu, without one or two thousand troops guarding us outside the mountain, can he rest assured?" So we can contribute to the court even if we don't move. ”

Liu Yan took a deep breath and nodded.

"Yes, I'll listen to you. Who is the main general designated by Lee Xiang this time? Xue Chong or Wang Wenshu? ”

"Neither!" Fan Jian shook his head: "It's Han Qi." Whether it's Xue Chong or Wang Wenshu, it's not the same thing to deal with Deng Jingshan, but against Zhang Zhongwu, it's not a problem. ”

Hearing this, Liu Yan couldn't help but be surprised: "Then Han Qi, isn't it Li Xiang's opponent?" has always been at odds with Li Xiang, this time Li Xiang actually handed over such a big thing to him? Aren't you afraid that this guy will take the opportunity to make trouble? ”

"I don't know the specifics. But since Li Xiang handed over such a major matter to Han Qi, he naturally trusted him. Fan Jian smiled: "Besides, people change, don't they?" General Liu, you weren't our opponent before, but now, we're a family. ”

"Can you not say before?" Liu Yan was a little annoyed.

"Okay, don't mention it, don't mention it!" Fan Jian smiled and waved his hand.

Liu Yan looked at Fan Jian with some concern: "Zhang Zhongwu is now a good soldier, with Xue Chong's Zuojin Wuwei 30,000 horses, plus the local army in Pingzhou and Mozhou, it will not exceed 50,000 people, can he be Zhang Zhongwu's opponent?" ”

Fan Jian smiled slightly: "General Liu is too worried. Li Xiang has been planning for many years, how can he only have this little bit of soldiers and horses? As far as I know, there should be more than 100,000 troops to deal with Zhang Zhongwu at that time, and this time it is not just a defense, but an attack, a counterattack, and Li Xiangxiong is strategic, ready to solve the threat in both directions of Pseudo-Liang and Zhang Zhongwu in one fell swoop in this battle. ”

Liu Yan was stunned, this was too far from the size of the Tang army he expected. It is fully doubled, and the army of 50,000 is not a few hundred or thousands of people, and you can just find a cat in the mountains and hide it. With such a huge army, it is impossible to hide from people at all, and the supply of logistics alone can make people guess where they came from. But looking at Fan Jian's expression, he was obviously not ready to tell him in detail. I can't help but feel a little uncomfortable in my heart, this is treating him as an outsider!

Looking at Liu Yan's appearance, Fan Jian also roughly guessed Liu Yan's thoughts, and said with a smile: "General Liu, don't think about it, it's not that I don't tell you, but I really don't know." This time I went out to connect with our person in charge in the northeast, and I also had the same worries as General Liu, for fear of losing the battle in Pingzhou Mozhou. But I don't need to worry about this at all, speaking of this war, Li Xiang has been planning for a long time, and the scale is far beyond our imagination. What that guy told me, that's what I told General Liu. ”

Hearing Fan Jian's words, Liu Yan smiled: "Yes, Li Xiang's strategy, we people can't figure it out at all, so we just need to do our own things well." Next, I'm afraid we have to strengthen our precautions, maybe Zhang Zhongwu is still dreaming of taking the opportunity to get us! ”

"That's what I thought too."