The nature of businessmen is to pursue profits, but the word "profit-seeking" is a neutral word; It's not that those defenders and old masters say "lowly and indecent", and there is no need to be ashamed of it. The so-called freight north and south, the world; In the year of peace in the world and abundant harvests, with the help of businessmen, it will greatly stimulate economic development, facilitate people's livelihood, and make the people's lives better.

But once encountering natural and man-made disasters or poor harvests, those merchants who are willing to work tirelessly for the sake of profits, trekking through mountains and rivers, will also lose their conscience, drive up prices, and loot those copper coins that are stained with blood......

When the year is good, they will add to the cake; In a year of great calamity, it will also fall into the well. Therefore, the merchant is like a sharp weapon, which can be used to punish the evil and promote the good, and some people use it to do evil; Whether it is evil or right depends on how the person who wields the sword uses it.

The reason why the Nankang Dynasty was able to rise rapidly back then was the same as the dilemma they were about to face:

The sword is sharp enough, but there is no one to wield it.

Beiyan's "merchant sword" is in the hands of Emperor Tianyou. Despite the constraints due to various reasons, he and the two prime ministers did not do well enough in economic development; However, with the crude and simple "monopoly method of official sales", it can barely maintain a certain degree of restraint.

Beiyan is an official and merchant handle, with the law of imperial power as a whetstone; The two sides rely on each other, but they attack and suppress each other.

But the so-called Nankang Dynasty itself is just a thoughtless "crazy sword", from top to bottom, it goes straight to pure interests! They were unwilling to accept the constraints of Emperor Tianyou, so they took the clan as the camp and the interests as the rope, and joined forces to form a "big chamber of commerce"!

In good times, everything is naturally good, and the Nankang Dynasty has been on the national fortune for decades, and most of the chaebol wealthy businessmen have made a lot of money; Flower sedan chairs carry people, and the icing on the cake is never too much. But now after this war, Nankang himself is also devastated. Falling into a well and stabbing a knife in secret is nothing at all; can do old and die without getting along, it is already considered to be upright!

As for working together to go to the national crisis...... It's okay to talk about it, but if you really ask these big businessmen to cut their flesh and let their blood, it's better to avoid opening their mouths.

Since it is aggregated for profit, it will inevitably be separated because of the loss of interests.

Therefore, in Shen Gui's imagination, in fact, the Northern Yan Dynasty did not have to do anything, only needed to wait quietly for a few years, and the so-called Huajiang Heavenly Punishment would inevitably cease to exist; The prosperous scenery of Nankang, which envies others, will inevitably be torn apart, leaving only one place of ruins.

As long as there is chaos within Nankang, then the imperial technique of "dividing a group, winning over a group, and suppressing a group", Zhou Yuanqing has been playing all his life, so he doesn't need Shen Hui to teach it.

Therefore, if the battle situation develops, accurately follow the trajectory predicted by Shen Gui; Moreover, Emperor Tianyou is willing to take the way of "cold treatment" and wait and see the changes of time; Then not only the living force of the Northern Yan Dynasty is absolutely sufficient for self-protection; It is also possible to barely maintain the demographic red line and get back on track within a decade.

Unfortunately, the world is unpredictable. Shen Gui couldn't have imagined that Chen Ziling, who was in his prime, both civil and military, would die so suddenly; He never expected that the Northwest Army, known as the "Tiger Wolf of the Northern Yan", would become shameless without a backbone! Not only did they surrender to the enemy, but they also allowed others to take away their food and baggage, and became lackeys raised by the Nankang people......

It can be said that since Chen Ziling died in battle, the trend of the war situation in Huayu Continent has completely departed from Shen Gui's predicted trajectory......

And the war that is about to break out in front of him is not expected by Pang Qingshan himself. He originally thought that the Northwest Army was so aggressive, it must be rushing towards Gecheng to "harm the envoys in vain"; But I didn't expect that people would gather all the people, and they ran to Xingzhou City with straight eyebrows! If it weren't for the spies who listened to it, they sent warnings again and again; I'm afraid that at this moment, the Northwest Army has already entered Xingzhou City!

Although Pang Qingshan raised his vigilance in time and made pre-war deployments in advance; But the situation is also not optimistic for the relief army. First of all, although the Worry Relief Army is the top infantry elite of Nankang; No matter when it comes to individual combat effectiveness, battlefield experience, and the degree of training, including psychological quality; Compared to the tiger wolves of the Qin army who have been on the border of the southwest for a long time, it is not worth mentioning at all.

The advantages of their own soldiers lie in the armor and weapons improved by the Tianji Workshop, siege equipment, relatively sufficient food and grass supplies, and the geographical advantages of waiting for work...... However, the process of turning advantage into victory is not as simple as words.

Pang Qingshan originally thought that the scattered sand of the Northwest Army were all fools with courage and scheming and developed limbs; will definitely come with a fierce momentum, crash headlong under the city of Xingzhou, knock out a head and break the bloodstream.

However, when Di heard the spy find out the news again, he realized how wrong he was!

As the saying goes, "if you are familiar with 300 Tang poems, you will steal them if you can't compose poems". Wang Baichuan, the acting commander of the Northwest Army, although he was only an inconspicuous deputy general; But since he can mix up such a good popularity, he will never be a fool. At present, the Northwest Army has no food and grass, so there is no way to besiege and not attack; And the enemy is a lone army, so there is no way to surround the point and lure the snake out of the hole.

Wang Baichuan knew very well in his heart that it was simply wishful thinking to rely on these 80,000 soldiers to climb and lay down the deep ditch and high fortress of Xingzhou City with their bare hands.

And the lucky man who once "went out" to Song City quietly brought back the words. He said that Cai Xi's eldest son, Cai Ning, was like-minded with him and hated each other; Therefore, he not only agreed to the request of the Northwest Army to return to the imperial court, but also swore an oath to the moon with the two of them, forming brothers of the opposite sex and never losing each other......

Wang Baichuan didn't regard the so-called "righteous knot Jinlan" as a thing at all; As for Cai Ning's promise to the surrender of the Northwest Army, he only believed in 20%. Therefore, before the whole army set up camp, he arranged for three clever brothers to go to Yanjing City to "report for help".

To put it bluntly, Wang Baichuan's move is to prevent Cai Ning from falsely transmitting the holy decree and driving the tiger and the wolf; It was also in the letter that he restated his demand for surrender, and in the letter he "implored" Emperor Tianyou to issue an edict to inform the world of this matter.

So he is not in a hurry to attack Xingzhou now, but the strong wall is cleared and the camp is set up to show the eyes of the imperial court. In this way, it can not only show the sincerity of its own submission, but also urge the imperial court to send grain and grass and rescue troops to reinforce the Jizhou front.

Of course, if Pang Qingshan, who led the army to be stationed outside Xingzhou City, could not withstand the pressure of hanging a sword on his head, he could lead the army to come to Xingzhou City and fight to the death in the field! Although he Wang Baichuan looked down on the Nankang army in his heart, he was not willing to fight for huge consumption to attack the camp or city......

If Pang Qingshan was willing to lead the army to the field, he would wake up laughing in his dreams!

Until the sky was dark, the camp of the Northwest Army had already set up a rudimentary shape. Most of the brothers in the army leaned together to resist the sting of the earth and slept together. And in the dead of night, from the direction north of Xingzhou, three ordinary men in green clothes and small hats quietly walked in; The three of them slowly circled the camp under the cover of the shadows, and then quietly left the place......

The three of them jumped a hill vigorously, and saw countless pairs of sparkling eyes, all looking directly at themselves. Pang Qingshan, the commander of the Worry Relief Army, lowered his voice and whispered to the leader:

"How's the enemy?"

"Looks like they're all exhausted! Even the guards who were on guard were dozing off with their guns, and they didn't wake up at all! We were afraid that we would rush to "turn off the lights" and easily startle the snake, so we didn't take any action......"

“…… Has the situation around us been clarified? Was this an intentional ambush by the enemy? ”

"Then we don't know...... However, we can guarantee that there will be no ambush army of more than 1,000 men within a radius of at least fifty miles. ”

"Good! Well done! ”

After praising the spies who listened to him, Pang Qingshan turned over, leaned his back against the gentle slope of the hill, and lowered his voice and said to the soldiers of the Worry Relief Army behind him:

"Brothers, since we can kill a Chen Ziling, we can also kill the waste he has trained. Those Northwest soldiers are indeed tall and big, and they also have a bit of brute strength on their shoulders! But aren't they also the living people raised by their fathers and mothers? If the knife in our hand is stabbed in, it will be red when it comes out! Brothers, let's go and rob their camp at night, and before we touch them, I will hold my breath and lighten my pace! If anyone wakes up the Northwest Army in shock, I won't be able to spare him when I go back! ”

After finishing speaking, Pang Qingshan glanced around with his gaze, looked at the silent and tense body, looked at the eyes that were as bright as the Milky Way, swallowed a mouthful of saliva, slowly pulled out the saber from his waist, and waved his left hand back:

"Follow me!"

Pang Qingshan took the lead, followed by 8,000 elite pioneers of the Worry Relief Army, and quietly approached the northwest military camp under the cover of night and insect noise......

However, just when Pang Qingshan was less than twenty steps away from a napping Northwest Army sentry; From the crowd that was sleeping on each other, two arrows suddenly flew out......

Woo...... Syllable!

Two feathered arrows flew into the air with a sharp whistle and exploded with a bang! Such a sudden sound not only woke up some of the brothers of the Northwest Army who had not yet fallen asleep; Pang Qingshan and the others, who thought they had succeeded in the sneak attack, were shocked into a cold sweat!

There is no doubt that the two people in the Northwest Army who released the warning arrows in time are the Chiwu spies who are responsible for "collecting the wind" here!

For many days, after several light and dark confrontations, they knew that they were not the opponents of the remnants, so they could only hit the head of the Northwest Army. The two of them falsely claimed to be veterans of the Northwest and were separated from the team in a chaotic battle. After three increases in troops before and after, there is no one in ten veterans of the Northwest Army today; In addition, the two of them also spoke an authentic Sanqin official dialect, so no one was suspicious at all......

It's a pity that this scattered Northwest Army really doesn't have any dry goods! The two of them almost forgot their duties, and soon became lazy and greedy veterans......