Ji Wen listened to Yang Xue's advice and came to Xu Liang with more than 10,000 infantry. Then he asked Ma Hua to directly abandon Mengzhou City and concentrate 40,000 troops to launch a fierce attack on Qinghua City.

But the Western Route Army had already prepared, and Jiao Qiang and Zhang Jun followed Zhang Shumo's advice and recruited a lot of soldiers and horses with the stolen grain and grass. Moreover, Jiao Qiang, known as the first general of the Northwest Army, is by no means an idle person, not only has superb martial arts, but also can attack and defend well. He asked Zhang Jun to garrison Thanh Hoa City with 10,000 men, and he himself stationed 20,000 men outside the city.

If Ji Wen attacked Qinghua City, Jiao Qiang would lead people to harass him, and if Ji Wen attacked Jiao Qiang, he would lead people to retreat. In this way, the two armies engaged in a tug-of-war outside Thanh Hoa City.

And Zhang Shumo on the other side is also miserable. Geng Li would harass the Great Tea Castle with tens of thousands of cavalry every few days, killing people when they saw them, running away after the fight, and never coming into direct contact with the Wu Xiu Army, and the Wu Xiu Army had no way to take them.

On a few occasions, Lei Zi saw Geng Li gathering a large army, and hurriedly sent someone to report to the big tea castle. But the speed of Jingguo's cavalry is not slower than the speed of the spies, and after the spies report the news on the front foot, the cavalry will arrive on the back foot, and the Wu Xiujun will not have time to prepare at all.

Later, Zhang Shumo asked people to set up a sentry post thirty miles outside the city, and once they found the Jingguo cavalry, they immediately lit the wolf smoke to warn. In this way, although it can allow the Wu Xiujun to respond in advance and prevent the people from being killed. However, it was still impossible to eradicate the harassment of Jingguo's cavalry, and the people were afraid to go out of the city and merchants to come and go.

In this way, the people of the Great Tea Castle were panicked all day long, and no one dared to go out of the city in broad daylight, and people from other places did not dare to come over, and the Great Tea Castle became a lonely city.

Zhang Shumo, who had a headache, had no choice but to gather the backbone of the city to discuss how to deal with Geng Li.

"Yesterday, Zhu Man reported to me that several iron ore merchants who have dealings with us no longer dare to come to my big tea castle, and now Wang Tu is about to stop working. The people are even more miserable, we must come up with a way to solve Geng Li today! Zhang Shumo said.

Everyone was silent for a long time, and Pang Yuan couldn't help but say: "No, let's lead the troops to attack Xiu Wuzhi, and directly destroy Geng Li once and for all!" ”

"General Pang, Xiu Wuzhi has 20,000 troops, and our current manpower plus the Northern Route Army is only more than 20,000, and there is no certainty of victory!" Cai Zhi said.

After listening to this, Niu Zheng said: "Now the people around know the benevolence and righteousness of Gongzi, so they are willing to come to my big tea castle to settle down." We can continue to recruit soldiers, but the combat strength of the recruits is not guaranteed. ”

When Shaofu Shi Niu Bao heard this, he immediately reported: "Nearly 10,000 soldiers have been recruited before, and now there is not enough grain and grass in the city, if you want to continue to recruit soldiers, you have to buy some more grain and grass." There is not much money copied from the He family, and if you buy grain, you will not be able to continue to buy iron ore. ”

Zhu Man immediately said to everyone: "Ladies and gentlemen, the current situation is unstable and food prices are soaring, if the surplus food is insufficient, please buy it as soon as possible." ”

Zhang Shumo directly interrupted everyone's words: "Since this is the case, then the matter of purchasing grain and grass will be handled by Zhu Man and Niu Bao." Today we are going to discuss how to deal with Geng Li, and these political matters will be discussed later. ”

Liu naturally thought for a long time, and said to Zhang Shumo: "Since we don't have enough troops, can we ask for reinforcements?" The Yiyang army is now in Mengzhou City, they have 30,000 horses, we can invite them to jointly send troops to attack Xiuwuzhi, if the city is defeated, it will be theirs. ”

When everyone heard this, they immediately nodded in agreement. Zhang Shumo shook his head: "I have also thought of this method. But the Yiyang army only has 30,000 people, and it is necessary to divide the troops to attack Xiuwuzhi, and once the troops are divided, they are likely to be broken by Ji Wen. At that time, our crisis will be temporarily lifted, but the Yiyang army will suffer heavy losses. With the Yiyang army in Mengzhou City, it can also deter Jingguo, so in the long run, their defeat will be harmful to the war situation in the northwest. ”

After listening to Zhang Shumo's words, everyone fell silent again, and there really seemed to be no good way to curb Geng Li at the moment.

Zhang Shumo thought about it for a long time before he said cautiously: "I still have a way, but it is a dangerous move, you can listen to it and see if it is feasible!" Now there are only 10,000 horses in Xu Liang City, and we can send 10,000 people to bypass Xiu Wuzhi to attack Xu Liang. I will ask Su Yi to write a letter to the people of the General's Mansion in advance, and when the time comes, we will cooperate with the people of the General's Mansion, and we should be able to win Xu Liang in one fell swoop! Ji Wen is fighting Qinghua City, and he should have no time to take care of Xu Liang's situation, so when the time comes, Geng Li can only lead troops to support, and we can take the opportunity to set up an ambush on the road, so that Geng Li will not return! ”

After listening and digesting Zhang Shumo's intentions, Zhang Shumo continued: "But the disadvantage of this strategy is that we must divide our troops, so that the big tea castle will only be guarded by more than 10,000 people. If Geng Li chose not to rescue Xu Liang, but instead led his troops to attack the Big Tea Castle, then the Big Tea Castle would probably be taken by him in one fell swoop. ”

Hearing this, Niu Zheng immediately shook his head: "Childe, this is dangerous!" ”

The Niu family has put a lot of effort into the construction of the Big Tea Castle, so naturally they don't want Zhang Shumo to give up the Big Tea Castle. The others also hesitated, Cai Zhi thought for a while and said, "Childe, it's not time for life and death yet, so we don't need to take this risk, right?" ”

Zhang Shumo smiled bitterly: "Geng Li seems to be just harassment, and he won't let us perish." But he's actually blocking us. Their goal was to make the Great Tea Castle an isolated city, unable to develop. If there are no people from elsewhere to vote, how can we increase the supply of soldiers? If there are no businessmen to bring supplies, how can we continue to develop? When Ji Wen conquers Qinghua City to deal with us, how can we resist them with our current strength? ”

After listening to this, everyone finally realized the harm caused by Geng Li's harassment, and their hearts were quite palpitating.

At this time, Liu naturally said suddenly: "Maybe we can combine you and my strategy!" Let the Yiyang army attack Xiuwuzhi, and we will lay an ambush on Geng Li's escape route. Once the ambush is successful, the viable strength of the Jingguo army will be greatly reduced. At that time, we can echo the Yiyang army from afar, whether Jingguo attacks Mengzhou or Xiuwuzhi, we can send troops to support. Even if they can't hold the city, they can still protect the Yiyang army and retreat, so that they are not afraid that they will be broken by Ji Wen. ”

After hearing this, everyone's eyes lit up, and Zhang Shumo couldn't stop nodding: "This method is feasible, I will write a letter to Yiyang Army!" ”

Within a moment, Zhang Shumo wrote the letter, and Pan Feng escorted Cai Zhi to send it to Yiyang Jun.

Not long after Pan Feng and Cai Zhi left, a guard hurriedly found Zhang Shumo: "Report to Gongzi, Lord Lu Li is back!" ”

When Zhang Shumo heard this, he was overjoyed: "Quick, take me to see Lord Lu!" ”