Xuzhou, the General Military Office.

Now it is not Gao Jie, the chief soldier of Xuzhou, who is in charge of the Yamen, but his nephew Li Benshen.

On May 13, Gao Jie was ordered to lead his troops to aid Shandong, taking away almost all the elites under his command, leaving only 3,000 people stationed in Xuzhou.

Such a large-scale personnel transfer made Xuzhou's troops empty, and Li Benshen had to concentrate only 3,000 soldiers in Xuzhou to garrison it.

Recently, there has been news one after another that Liu Liangzuo's troops stationed in Fengyang Mansion and Liu Zeqing's troops have repeatedly clashed, and there have even been small-scale firefights. Although the war did not spread to Xuzhou, Li Benshen was still worried.

The reason why these two military leaders have friction is nothing more than because of the word money and food. Although Fengyang is a big mansion, it can't support two armies. It is natural for soldiers to eat food, and these Qiu Ba will make trouble if they are not full.

Now it looks like this is just a question between the two Liu, but what if they come back to their senses and plan to swallow Xuzhou? Even if they didn't dare to openly annex Xuzhou, they could send troops to plunder and even harvest autumn wheat. If the wheat is cut for them, what will the thousands of soldiers left behind in Xuzhou eat?

If Gao Jie is in Xuzhou, Li Benshen will naturally not be worried, but now Gao Jie's main force is defending in Shandong, if Er Liu reaches an agreement to point the knife edge to Xuzhou, what should it be?

The more Li Benshen thought about it, the more worried he became, but he couldn't think of any good way for a while.

And when he was sorrowful, a soldier came into the government to report.

The pro-soldier was obviously extremely panicked, and after kneeling on the ground, he said in horror: "General, the Xiao County generation has discovered a large number of bandits, and they are all horse thieves......"

Li Benshen stood up in shock when he heard this: "What did you say?" You repeat! ”

"General Yu, the generation of Xiao County has found a large number of horse thieves, and there are thousands of horses."

When Li Benshen heard this, his brain exploded, and he almost fell.

Thousands of horse bandits? How is this possible!

Not to mention that there are not so many horses in Xuzhou, even if there are so many horses, how can they all be concentrated in the hands of bandits?

There is no doubt that this horse thief is disguised. As for who has the ability to send thousands of horsemen, you don't have to think about it to know that it must be one of the two Liu.

Compared with Liu Liangzuo, Li Benshen believes that Liu Zeqing is more likely.

After all, Liu Liangzuo was stationed in Shouzhou for the first generation, while Liu Zeqing was stationed in Huaiyuan, which was closer to Xuzhou.

Of course, it is impossible to determine who Li Benshen is, unless a few people are arrested and interrogated strictly.

"Thief, your mother, bullied Lao Tzu. Send someone to Xiao County, be sure to catch a few live mouths for Lao Tzu and come back. ”

Li Ben jumped to his feet and scolded his mother angrily, but the pro-soldier was embarrassed: "General, how many people are sent?" ”

This question stunned Li Benshen.

Yes, now that Xuzhou has empty troops, it is not enough to garrison the state city, where can the troops be divided.

If a dozen people are dispatched, dozens of people may only be able to follow behind these "horse thieves" and eat ashes. If thousands of people are sent, Xuzhou will be even more empty.

"What the hell, are you just watching these grandchildren loot?"

Li Benshen only felt that his breath was holding in his chest, not to mention how uncomfortable it was.

"We don't believe it, my uncle can bear it when he knows about it! Call Mr. Du to come, let's write a letter! ”

The soldier hurriedly dodged and ran out.

After a moment's work, a middle-aged man in a Confucian robe paced in.

Li Benshen hurriedly greeted him.

"Ah, Mr. Du, sit down, sit down. We're going to be angry, give us an idea! ”

Mr. Du in Li Benshen's mouth is Du Hui, one of Gao Jie's staff. When leaving Xuzhou, Gao Jie was not at ease to hand over Xuzhou to Li Benshen, so he left Du Hui to assist. In this way, when Li Benshen was helpless, there was more or less someone who could ask for advice.

This Du Hui is forty years old this year, although he is a staff member of Gao Jie's army, he really doesn't have much fame, just a showman.

This is also a matter of no choice, how arrogant the literati are. Not to mention Jinshi, but if there is a person who has made a name for himself, who would want to come to the military head camp to be a mere staff?

However, although this Du Hui is not famous, his ability is good, and he is especially good at coming up with some clever strategies, and is cited by Gao Jie as a think tank.

Li Benshen pulled Du Hui to sit down, told him the cause and effect of the incident, and said with emotion: "Uncle is really a perennial goose this time, but he was pecked by a goose, I can't swallow this breath." ”

Du Hui squinted a pair of triangular eyes, slowly stroked the short hair of his chin, and said leisurely after a long time: "General, don't worry, this is a good thing in my opinion." ”

"Oh? What do you mean by that? ”

Li Benshen hurriedly asked, "Mr. Du, hurry up and tell me." ”

Du Hui bowed his head slightly and said: "As the general said, it must be Liu Liangzuo and Liu Zeqing who pretended to be a horse thief to rob Xiao County this time. But it doesn't matter who it is. ”

"Huh?" Li Benshen was dizzy when he heard it, and his heart was full of flowers, and his words were also cloudy.

"The general thinks that why did the imperial court arrange Erliu in Fengyang Mansion?"

Seeing Du Hui's unfathomable look, Li Benshen was a little anxious: "How can I know this?" I'm not the worm in the little emperor's stomach. ”

Du Hui didn't care at all about Li Ben's contempt for his father, and only said lightly: "The imperial court wants to kill two birds with one stone." Liu Liangzuo and Liu Zeqing are not fuel-efficient lamps, and Fengyang is not richer than Huaiyang, if the two want to raise strong soldiers and horses in their headquarters, they will inevitably have friction, which is what the imperial court is most willing to see. ”

"We know that it's their business how the two of them are willing to fight. But if it is the idea of fighting Xuzhou, we will be the first to do it. ”

"General Li is calm and don't be impatient, and listen to so-and-so."

Du Hui twisted his beard and said slowly: "The imperial court is very jealous of Er Liu, so if they are hot, the imperial court will be happy to see it." If the two of them are not on fire, then in order to transfer money and food, the pressure will inevitably expand outward. Fengyang is Xuzhou to the north, Hezhou and Chuzhou to the south, Huaiyang to the east, and Henan to the west. It stands to reason that Huaiyang is the richest, but Huaiyang is now garrisoned by Huang Degong, and the two of them dare not fight hard. Hezhou and Chuzhou are second, but they are too close to Yingtianfu, and if the two of them transfer troops to go, they are suspected of rebellion. If it was Beitu Xuzhou, they did have a chance, but from the moment they didn't want to tear their faces with the chief soldier, so they only sent people to pretend to be horse thieves to rob. Erliu is also testing the general, if the general is stronger and garrisons in Xiao County, they will probably give up the idea of plotting Xuzhou. After all, the general army still has tens of thousands of horses in Shandong, and if he returns to the dynasty in anger, Liu and Liu may not be able to defeat him. Since neither the north, the east, nor the south are enough, then only the west remains. ”

"What does Mr. Du mean that the imperial court wants Er Liu to fight Henan?"

Li Benshen's eyes lit up.

......

......

PS: Zhu Cihong's arrangement of the "Four Towns" station is different from the original history, see Chapter 12 above. In the final analysis, Nanming's dependence on the four towns was because the imperial court had no soldiers. This is why the protagonist of this book is so anxious to train the new army. Huang Degong and Gao Jie are still virtuous, at least they haven't been cleared, and they can be used. As for Liu Liangzuo, Liu Zeqing's two soft bones are really muddy and can't support the wall, and the protagonist can't directly take away their military power because of the strength of the two, and they will be scattered and reorganized. For the sake of the overall situation, the protagonist can only use this power trick to maximize benefits. Of course, in the end, it is strength that decides everything, and having a strong army in hand is decisive. Any strategy is a paper tiger in the face of absolute strength.