Ji Wen was overjoyed to receive Zhang Shumo's reply, and immediately asked Ma Hua and Shao Qin to raise grain and grass on the grounds of redeeming Zhou Gang.

However, the northwest region had already experienced a winter of war before the arrival of the Jingguo army, and there was not much surplus food in the cities. Moreover, there are 100,000 people in the Jingguo army, and the food consumed by 100,000 people alone in a day has reached about 1,000 stones.

The baggage officer took the accounts of the grain and grass raised in each city to Ji Wen, and Qinghua City was affected by the war, and there was no grain in Taicang, and it was all maintained by the grain and grass brought by Jingguo, so not a stone of rice and grain could be handed over.

Xu Liangcheng's situation was slightly better, Ma Hua gritted his teeth and squeezed out 50,000 stone rice grains. But the grain and grass on Wuzhi's side have also bottomed out, and if all the 50,000 stone rice grains are given to Zhang Shumo, he will have to drink the northwest wind on his side.

Ji Wen scratched his head after reading it, and unconsciously set his eyes on Mengzhou City, wanting to scavenge tens of thousands of stones and rice grains from Mengzhou City to solve his urgent needs. So Ji Wen wrote a letter to Ma Hua asking him to lead 20,000 troops to attack Mengzhou City, but Ma Hua put forward a different opinion.

In Ma Hua's view, Mengzhou City is at the southernmost tip of Xuliang County, bordering Yiyang County. The rash attack on Mengzhou City will inevitably arouse the vigilance of the Yiyang County garrison, and it is not clear that the Yiyang garrison will directly start a war against Jingguo. Now that Jingguo has just occupied the three cities of Xuliang County, his foothold is not stable, and it is not appropriate to cause trouble again, so it is better to keep Mengzhou City as a buffer ground with the Yiyang garrison.

After reading Ma Hua's reply, Ji Wen angrily tore the letter to shreds, and Yang Xue added fuel and vinegar to the side, saying that Ma Hua had other selfish intentions, so Ji Wen directly gave Ma Hua a death order, if he didn't take Mengzhou City, let Ma Hua come to see him.

Ma Hua, who had no choice but to lead his troops to attack the city, ordered Song Cheng to surrender with the county lieutenant Lou Yuan without a fight, and directly opened the door to welcome Ma Hua into the city.

Ma Hua unceremoniously looted the grain and grass in Mengzhou City, and raised another 20,000 stone rice grains to send to Xiuwuzhi. But for an army of 50,000, 20,000 stone grain and grass can only last for more than a month, so Ji Wen ordered Hao Yang to escort 50,000 grain and grass to Dachabao while letting people go back to Jingguo to transport grain.

During this time, the Great Tea Fort accelerated the construction of the city and increased the intensity of conscription. Due to the invasion of Jingguo, many people were displaced, Zhang Shumo waved his hand, and the Great Tea Fort did not refuse these displaced people, so the population of the Great Tea Fort surged and became very lively.

As soon as there are more people, the source of soldiers is naturally sufficient, and many desperate people choose to join the army, one is to protect their families and defend the country, and the other is to support their families, so the number of Wu Xiu Army is replenished to 20,000 again. At the same time, the labor force in the city was also guaranteed, and first of all, the soldiers could finally put down their hoes and concentrate on training. Then Zhang Shumo got a group of people for Wang Tu to help make weapons and iron armor, and also organized a group of women to sew pants, socks and other supplies for the soldiers.

But if there are more people, food will become a problem, but fortunately, Zhang Shumo has obtained a lot of money and grain from the He family, and it will not be a problem to survive until this autumn's harvest.

Soon, Hao Yang escorted 50,000 stone grains and grass to the outside of the big tea castle, he ordered the soldiers to be stationed outside the city, and he himself went into the city to ask to see Zhang Shumo.

"Childe, Hao Yang is here with grain and grass, and now he is asking to see him outside the city." Shang Lei said to Zhang Shumo.

Zhang Shumo smiled: "It's too troublesome to see me, you have to ask Niu Ci to pretend, let Liu Guoshi go to meet him." ”

Soon, Hao Yang met Liu Tiantian, and the two exchanged greetings and went straight to the point.

"National teacher, has the matter explained by the prince been done?"

Liu naturally patted the wooden box on the table: "The head is inside, can the general check it?" The head in the box was taken off by Liu Nature on a nameless corpse, and Liu Nature also buried the nameless corpse for this purpose. However, the human head has been blurred by Liu Tiantian's flesh and blood, and it is difficult to distinguish the appearance.

Hao Yang was weak-hearted and didn't dare to look at the head, so he hurriedly said to Liu Tiantian: "Don't use it now, you will have to bother the general to cooperate in the next play in front of the battle, and then open the box." ”

So the two came to the outside of the city, and Pan Feng took the people and horses out of the city with the two of them. Hao Yang handed over the grain and grass to Pan Feng, and then asked Liu Tiantian: "Liu Guoshi, the grain and grass have been delivered, it's time to release Lord Zhou Gang, right?" ”

Liu naturally laughed when he heard this: "At the beginning, we said that we wanted 100,000 stone of grain and 50,000 armor, but now we only have 50,000 stone of grain, do you still want people?" Since the grain and grass have been discounted, then we have to make a discount, and 50,000 stone of grain and grass can only be exchanged for Zhou Gang's head! After speaking, Liu naturally threw the box containing the human head to the ground.

Hao Yang pretended to be furious: "You go back on your word, our prince will not let you go!" ”

Liu naturally smiled and said, "Okay, let's wait for Ji Wen to settle the account!" After speaking, with a wave of his hand, Wu Xiujun immediately raised his weapon.

Hao Yang hurriedly shouted to the soldiers: "Quick, take the head of the national teacher and retreat!" ”

Waiting for Hao Yang to leave, Zhang Shumo came out of the city, looked at the grain and grass and said to Pan Feng: "General Pan, please send the grain and grass to the Northern Route Army." Stepping up the practice in the past few days, Ji Wen should be coming over soon. ”

In Xiuwuzhi City, Ji Wen was waiting for Hao Yang to return, when a guard hurriedly ran in: "Report to the prince, Wutai, the garrison of Yiyang County, with 30,000 troops, set up camp thirty miles outside Mengzhou City, and General Ma Hua asked the prince to send troops to support." ”

Ji Wen was full of thoughts waiting for Hao Yang's news, and when he heard the guard's words, he couldn't help but complain: "Is this Ma Hua a waste?" The other party is only 30,000 people, can he have 20,000 people who can't hold it? You tell him that he can't hold out, and if he can't do it, let the soldiers of Qinghua and Xu Liang support him, and don't pull my Jincheng army for anything! ”

As soon as the guards were sent away, the news of Hao Yang's return came, and Ji Wen hurried out to greet him.

When Hao Yang saw Ji Wen, he quickly knelt on one knee: "Lord Qiyu, Zhang Shumo reversed his word and killed the national teacher!" After that, he opened the wooden box.

At this moment, Geng Li hurriedly ran in: "Lord Qiqi, our grain team has been robbed, and most of the 100,000 stone grain and grass have been robbed!" ”

"What?!" Ji Wen's hair stood up when he heard this: "Who is so bold as to rob the king's grain team!" ”

"It's Zhang Jun of Jiudu Village!"

"Jiudu Village!" Ji Wen clenched his fists: "How many people do they have?" ”

"Only five thousand. However, Jiudu Village is built on the mountain, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and if you want to attack strongly, you must suffer heavy losses. It was because of this that Zhou Guoshi asked us to leave him alone, but now he has put him alone. ”

Ji Wen looked at the wooden box, but he didn't expect this Zhou Gang to dig pits for himself everywhere, which really hurt himself! But at the moment, there was no other way but to recover the grain, so he immediately said to Geng Li: "Write a letter to Shao Qin immediately, and ask him to take people to attack Jiudu Village, and if you don't recapture the grain and grass, you are not allowed to retreat!" ”