The process of resisting the Jurchen's Fourth Southern Expedition lasted for two years. In the first half of the period, the various forces of Jin and Shandong fought a singing and weeping battle with the Jin army; In the later half, it was the war in the south and southwest that attracted the attention of most people in the world. But in addition to this, the Central Plains north of the Yangtze River and south of the Yellow River naturally have large and small waves.

In the first half of the 10th year of Jianshuo, Xuzhou once became the last point of hindrance before the Jurchens launched the Jiangnan War, and the causal connection of this battlefield had to be extended to the actions of all parties before the start of the war. At that time, the Huaxia army launched a means, Yu Bianliang kidnapped the puppet Qi emperor Liu Yu, and then threw Liu Yu's black pot anyway to the head of the Wu Dynasty, and Jun Wu, who was still the prince, secretly contacted Li Anmao, the Taishou of Xuzhou, and asked the Huaxia army to send troops to help with a large amount of money and materials, and at the same time dragged the Huaxia army into the forefront of the war.

In response to Junwu's move, Ning Yi ordered Liu Chengzong to lead more than 8,000 people under his command to Xuzhou to help him defend the city anyway. In the tenth year of Jianshuo, when the Jurchen East Route Army arrived in Xuzhou, Liu Chengzong led his own army and more than 50,000 troops under Li Anmao to defend the city for three months, and then broke through to the north. Due to the lack of determination to start a great war in this place, the war did not develop to such a tragic extent.

When defending the city together, of course, we can fight side by side, but when we have to break through and turn to battle, some things will be separated from you and me. Xuzhou Taishou Li Anmao originally belonged to Liu Yu, his heart was to the Wu Dynasty, and at the beginning of the war, he invited the Huaxia Army to send troops for the overall situation.

——This was originally not a big deal, the Huaxia army was not much more expensive in battle, and he did not covet the 50,000 miscellaneous soldiers under his command, but before the war with the Jurchens, the two sides had been in Xuzhou City for half a year, in order not to let these troops lag behind, propaganda, infiltration, and integration work must be done. After evacuating from Xuzhou and seeing the combat strength of the Huaxia Army, some of the middle and lower-level officers of the Li army had already made plans to defect to the Huaxia Army after more than half a year of infiltration work, and it was for this reason that with the retreat work, Li Anmao was directly seized power, and more than 50,000 people changed hands and changed the black flag.

After the initial completion of Xuzhou's incorporation, due to the critical situation in Shandong, Liu Chengzong and others moved north to support Zhu Biao, Wang Shanyue and others in Liangshan. However, due to the looting and sweeping of the Jurchen East Route Army all the way south, Shandong was starved for thousands of miles, although Liu Chengzong had an army in his hands, but the materials were insufficient, and the materials on Liangshan were also extremely poor.

The tens of thousands of Li troops who had just been incorporated had no choice but to stay on the south bank of the Yellow River and fend for their own survival.

In order to lead this army to carry out the follow-up reorganization and survival, Liu Chengzong left behind a leadership team of more than 20 people who were good at political work and organization, led by Zou Xu, deputy chief of staff of the division. This is the best of the young officers of the Huaxia Army, who rose to prominence when fighting against the Western Xia, and then received Ning Yi's teaching and training......

……

"Zou Xu, this person, I am also very impressed." The night breeze blew through the military camp outside Hanzhong City, and Qin Shaoqian said, "I am one of the most successful of your early disciples, his name is quite decent, and his behavior is very similar to yours. After the Western Xia war, the Jurchens came to demonstrate and brought the head of the shopkeeper Lu, who was one of the main receptionists, and he was neither humble nor arrogant. ”

Ning Yi nodded: "At the beginning, a group of people in Xiaocanghe had a lot of outstanding abilities, but today, there are not many left, and many people have unfortunately died on the battlefield." Now Chen Tian's position is the highest, he is partnered with Qu Zhengyan, as the chief of staff, Chen Tian is down, it is Zou Xu, his ability is very strong, he has long been a candidate for the chief of staff or even the division commander, because I taught it, and the promotion in this area is actually my intentional delay. should be aware of these things, so this time in Xuzhou, Liu Chengzong gave him this opportunity to be alone...... I've overlooked it a bit as well......"

Qin Shaoqian nodded and repeated the information that Ning Yi had given him.

Zou Xu took over this troop with a total of nearly 50,000 troops in the autumn of the tenth year of Jianshuo. This was almost two years ago.

……

No matter from what point of view, the integration and placement of the tens of thousands of troops originally under the command of Li Anmao was not an easy task.

First of all, after the establishment of the puppet Qi, Xuzhou was already the territory of the puppet Qi Liu Yu, and the establishment of the puppet regime was originally the exhaustion of the Central Plains. Li Anmao was concerned about the Wu Dynasty, and when the time came, he sought to be right, but the so-called army under his command was originally a puppet army unit with no combat effectiveness, and after it was done anyway, in order to expand its combat effectiveness, the means adopted were also to wantonly loot the young and strong, and the number was indiscriminately filled, and its combat effectiveness may only be slightly better than that of the Han army in the late stage of the Southwest War.

Liu Chengzong led 8,000 men to defend Xuzhou with him, in order to be safe, he must grasp the command and control in his hands - although Li Anmao was enthusiastic, he always ended up in the Wu Dynasty, Xuzhou after three months, he meant to crucify everyone in Xuzhou, until the last soldier, so as to minimize the pressure on the Jiangnan defense line. It was impossible for Liu Chengzong to accompany him, so he directly stunned Li Anmao during the meeting, and then seized power and transferred.

In this way, although the transfer of command from the upper level has been completed, within this motley army, people are not psychologically prepared enough for the disruption and thorough reorganization of the entire army ecology. After Liu Chengzong and others decided to go north, what was left for Zou Xu's working group was a force that did not have enough food and grass, no combat effectiveness, and even insufficient centripetal force, literally close to 50,000 people, but in fact it was only a time bomb that could explode at any time.

Of course, under the circumstances at that time, there was no "easy" living space for any force in the entire world.

Jindi has experienced the turmoil of Tian Hu's death and Liao Yiren's renegade, and Lou Shuwan and others also hid in the mountains and struggled to survive.

Zhu Biao and Wang Shanyue experienced a tragic rescue of the Daimyo's Mansion, suffered heavy casualties, countless companions were captured and slaughtered, and after Liangshan was besieged, there was no food in all directions, and they starved.

In the south of the Yangtze River, the Jurchen East Road army knocked on the pass and was about to be overturned.

In the southwest, what the main force of the Huaxia Army needs to face is also the threat of the strongest army in the entire world led by Zong Han and Xi Yin.

This army can only be thrown out like an outcast. Even at that time, Ning Yi was not too optimistic about the future of these 50,000 people, and he made some suggestions to the Zou Xu working group thousands of miles away, and at the same time gave them the greatest freedom. Under such circumstances, Zou Xu carried out the reorganization of the army with great difficulty.

On the one hand, for more than a year, Zou Xu contacted the local landlords and clan forces, and adopted the method of joining forces to fight one to feed the war, and obtain external resources as much as possible to maintain his own survival;

On the other hand, without the support of the main force of the Huaxia Army led by Liu Chengzong, he made a huge adjustment and reduction of the army, first eliminated some people by the battle, and lost some people in the long-distance transfer, and then took the initiative to disarm, maintaining the core combat strength at the scale of more than 20,000 people, plus two splits in the middle, to the winter of the eleventh year of Jianshuo, this army turned to fight for thousands of miles, covered with bruises, and took root near Funiu Mountain in the southwest of Luoyang.

To be able to achieve such an effect, Zou Xu's leadership ability is undoubtedly demonstrated. At that time, the war in the south of the Yangtze River had ended, and the Southwest War was about to begin, although this army had fought and played some elites, but the overall strength was much worse than that of the Jurchen Western Route Army, and the past year of endless fighting, lack of materials, and its own vitality had been injured, Ning Yi's side did not plan to put it into battle in the end, but to let it recuperate, and prepare to use it as a key force to capture Luoyang, Bianliang and other places in the future.

A fierce internal split erupted in January this year, when the original eight-member working group faced off, reportedly in a small-scale "rebellion" that was forcefully suppressed by Zou Xu. Two members of the working group fled with dozens of soldiers wounded, and Fang Chengye, who had returned from the North, was ordered to go to the vicinity of Luoyang, and after learning about the situation, he contacted the Zhuji forces to initiate an investigation.

At that time, when the Southwest War was in full swing, Ning Yi was constantly gathering forces to make preliminary preparations for the later Battle of Wangyuan Bridge. As for the changes that occurred near Funiu Mountain, he naturally couldn't judge for a while, so he could only order the external personnel who still had the spare strength to verify it in accordance with the procedures on the premise of keeping it as confidential as possible. The whole process of investigation has been confirmed in many ways, and at the end of April, the dust has just settled.

The results of the investigation show that at this time, the Huaxia Army unit entrenched in Funiu Mountain has completely transformed into a hall of words controlled by Zou Xu - this is not the biggest problem, the real problem is that Zou Xu has been controlled by materialism and pleasure in the past nearly a year, and has killed the landlord and taken his wife and concubine near Ruzhou, and after arriving at Funiu Mountain, he and Luoyang Taishou Yin Zong and others have relied on each other in tandem, and there are cases of receiving a large number of materials and even women sent by him.

According to the results of detailed investigation in all aspects, after arriving at Funiu Mountain, the local squire prepared several other businesses for Zou Xu in the nearby county, Zou Xu seemed normal in the army, but often entered the city to enjoy himself. These things were only vaguely noticed at first, and since Zou Xu's management of the army was still quite rigorous, no one rashly said anything. In January of this year, when the war situation in the southwest was tense and the news of Huangming County being breached, the rest of the working group felt that they could no longer sit idly by and watch the development of the war situation, and since they had taken a breath, they should make further plans.

Zou Xu himself is capable and powerful, and the other people in the working group are fuel-efficient lamps, the two sides made the matter clear, and the working group began to impeach Zou Xu, and among the eight people at that time, only two people stood on Zou Xu's side. So Zou Xu made a difficulty, and among the five people who confronted him, three were killed after that, and hundreds of soldiers of the Huaxia Army died in this internal strife.

After Fang Chengye and others intervened, Zou Xu once tried to catch all the people in the know, and finally stopped after such a possibility was shattered. He had a meeting with Fang Chengye and others, and then expelled them without further excuses. Fang Chengye immediately sent back the news, and Ning Yi knew that in the midst of such a fierce war in the southwest, such a bad apostasy had broken out in the north.

……

"All I have with me is a summary." The soldiers patrolling in front came over and saluted Ning Yi and Qin Shaoqian, and Ning Yi also returned the salute, and then said, "Fang Chengye's investigation in that area is relatively detailed, after Zou Xu mastered the 50,000 army, because Liu Chengzong's troops have left, he has no bargaining chips for strong suppression, and within the army, he can only rely on power checks and balances and intrigue to divide the original middle-level generals in order to maintain the command of the working group." In terms of means, he actually did quite a beautiful job. ”

"Externally, he understands that he has no human superiority, so he always unites the forces of one group of squires to fight another; The battle is constant, so it is able to maintain external pressure and maintain relative stability internally; In such a battle, dividing and streamlining the troops is actually similar to the means adopted by the Jin State, if the 50,000 miscellaneous soldiers are treated equally, it is difficult for him to maintain the stability of power in a working group of more than 20 people, so he draws circles, determines relatives and alienates, adjusts layer by layer, and divides the army into 369 and so on, and in the end, although there are only more than 10,000 core troops left, the combat strength of the entire army has far exceeded the 50,000 in the past. If this kind of strategic ability is used on the right path, it can make great achievements. ”

When Ning Yi said this, Qin Shaoqian smiled and said, "In some aspects, I really have your mantle. ”

"Privately, I did look a little like me earlier, first of all, I looked very handsome, right?" Ning Yi said, both of them laughed, "Then there are the means of doing things, the earlier group of people, first of all, consider to do things, and the methods they teach are very radical, and some even do everything." But Zou Xu's actions are not only effective, but also atmospheric and relatively particular in many aspects, which is what I admire. ”

Ning Yi paused: "Moreover, on the personal side, Zou Xu was able to endure hardships due to the lack of resources earlier, but at the same time, he knows how to make fun of hardships, how can he get something delicious with limited resources, and in the case of no harm, he has a heavy appetite...... It's actually a lot like me, and now that I think about it, it's one of my weaknesses. ”

Qin Shaoqian said: "When there is nothing to eat, it is normal to be hungry, and the future world will be good, I don't think these are nothing......" He is also a gentleman who came from the prosperous world, and he has already enjoyed what he should have enjoyed in his early years, and he doesn't feel that there is anything wrong at this time.

Ning Yi sighed slightly, then patted him on the shoulder and didn't say anything about it.

"The Central Plains is indeed barren, but there are always people who can survive. Zou Xu worked all the way to the vertical and horizontal, pulling one side to fight the other, and had frequent contact with some big clans and landlords. Last autumn should be regarded as a turning point in Ruzhou, the concubine of a family, who should have been the children of an official eunuch's family, two people hooked up with each other, and were later punctured on the spot. Zou Xu may have dealt with this kind of private matter for the first time, killing the whole family at that time, and then making a name, alas......"

Then go to Luoyang...... In fact, the few families that are still alive in the Central Plains have been cut to the extreme in terms of combat power, and some rich people and some bandits are just groups. Zou Xu led this Huaxia army to survive in that place, although he fought back and forth, his reputation has always been good, he pulled one side to fight the other, and never did anything to the boss on his side. So for these people, paying protection money to Zou Xu is not too uncomfortable in such a war-torn situation......"

Qin Shaoqian smiled: "Instead of paying protection money to others, how can it be better to pull people over and become your own people?" ”

Ning Yi nodded: "That's right, the matter in Ruzhou is now difficult to trace, and it is difficult to tell whether these people led by Yin Zong in Luoyang took the initiative to design and corrupt Zou Xu, or whether Zou Xu naturally came to this point." But in general, Zou Xu has already had a showdown with Fang Chengye, and he will not accept the result of returning to the Huaxia Army and then accepting the trial, so he can only be iron-hearted and unite some broken households in the Central Plains to become the king of the mountain. Zou Xu himself is capable of governing the army, and he is also very clear about the rules, rewards and punishments, and various things within the Huaxia Army...... A weakened version of the Huaxia Army unit ......"

“…… What are you going to do? ”

"At this point, it is impossible to forgive him." Ning Yi shook his head, "If I hadn't thrown Tang Minjie to the Jin Kingdom, I really wanted to throw him to Funiu Mountain and fight Zou Xu once, now ...... Give it to Fang Chengye first and explore the surrounding situation. If it can be properly solved, of course, it is best, if not, after a few years, sweep him together. The world is too big, and there are already a lot of people who come to join in the fun. ”

The two walked all the way along the barracks, Qin Shaoqian nodded, and thought for a long time: "I understand now, why were you so worried before." ”

"A year's time, if you don't look at it, what should be corrupted will be corrupted...... For years to come, this will be the most serious problem we will face. ”

"Got it...... Classes, meetings. ”

Comrade Shao Qian...... Your consciousness is a little high......"

The galaxy spreads in the night sky, and the two people in the barracks talk and laugh, although they talk about serious things that even determine the future of the whole world, but occasionally they also hook up their shoulders.

To the south of the barracks, the Han River flows. A big war that shocked the world has stopped, and countless people are still listening to the wind on the land of Shenzhou, which spans thousands of miles, and the follow-up impact is about to set off waves among the crowd, which will converge into a huge wave and wash away everything that is affected.

Fourteen years have passed since the first Jurchen journey south, the whole world has been shattered, and countless cities have changed various flags, and at this moment, new changes are about to begin.