Xuzhou Mansion, Pei County Jingoukou Fort.

Ye Zongliu and Wang Neng stood side by side on the fort wall, watching carts of weapons, iron, and money and grain transported into the dock fort, and the two of them finally breathed a sigh of relief in their hearts.

Wang Neng said: "King, now our brothers can finally breathe a sigh of relief, with this batch of baggage, we can at least pull up tens of thousands of horses!" ”

"yes!"

Ye Zongliu also breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Then Xu Zhaohui has finally opened his mind and promised to let us expand the number of people on our own." Hum! I don't know what Xu Zhao was thinking earlier? We only let go when we reach the threshold in front of us, if we had expanded our people earlier, why would we be so in a hurry! ”

Wang Neng said: "After all, this is Xuzhou Mansion, and it is the nest of Xu Zhaohui, so we will not be allowed to act arbitrarily." If it weren't for Liu Juntao's pressing step by step, so that Xu Zhaohui would have no way to live, it is estimated that he would not let go now! ”

Ye Zongliu pondered for a moment, and then said; "Since Xu Zhaohui is relieved, then let's not waste time and seize the time to expand the people. And now the Xu family's men and horses have all retreated back to Xiao County and Qulipu, we are close to Yanzhou Mansion here, and once the people and horses of Yushan Town go south, we can be said to be the first to bear the brunt, so we must prepare as soon as possible and clear the field north of Jingoukou! ”

When he heard the words "strong wall and clear field", Rao is Wang Neng was firm, and at this time, he also trembled, and his face suddenly changed greatly.

"King! Isn't this fortified clear field a little too much? ”

Ye Zongliu looked at Wang Neng and said in a deep voice: "Now that the enemy is strong and I am weak, we can only break the cauldron and use all means to compete with the people and horses of Yushan Town!" What is a strong wall? Even if this Xuzhou Mansion is turned into a white ground, I will not hesitate to do it! ”

Wang Neng said: "King, if our movement is too big, the official army will definitely intervene, and then we will be attacked on our backs!" ”

"Officers and soldiers?"

Ye Zongliu sneered and said, "You mean those soldiers and horses guarding Wolf Mountain?" It's all like goods, and you can't get on any big tables, so you don't have to take it to heart! ”

Although Ye Zongliu said something reasonable, Wang Neng was still a little worried in his heart, and was about to persuade again, but when he saw Ye Zongliu looking at the people who were gathering outside, he also sighed slightly in his heart, and said secretly in his heart: "It seems that the king is also like that Xu Zhaohui, ready to make a desperate bet!" ”

Wang Neng understood that no matter how much he persuaded him, it would be useless, so he said goodbye to Ye Zongliu, directly ordered 3,000 men and horses, and drove towards the north of Jingoukou.

Within a few days, the north of Jingoukou was full of smoke, everywhere were thieves who plundered people and robbed villages and towns, countless people were displaced, and the surrounding states and counties were in a hurry, and the emergency documents like snowflakes flew towards Xuzhou City!

Wang Neng led 3,000 thieves to run rampant in the north of Jingoukou, and rushed to the south bank of the Yellow River, and then led his troops back to Jingoukou.

When Wang Neng returned to Jingoukou Wubao with his 3,000 thieves, in addition to hundreds of truckloads of grain and grass, there were more than 30,000 villagers who had been taken captive!

Along the way, these more than 30,000 villagers were beaten and insulted by the thieves, and the crowd cried endlessly, and many women and children cried and grabbed the ground, which attracted the thieves to beat them, and even some people were killed on the spot!

By the time Wang Neng returned to Jingoukou Fort with a large group of men, thousands of people had already died tragically on the road.

However, Ye Zongliu didn't care about these at all, and immediately asked Wang Neng to draw young and strong people from more than 30,000 captives, and all of them were incorporated into his men, while the remaining old and weak women and children were left in Jingoukou Wubao, responsible for the logistics of the army, and at the same time served as hostages.

In just a few days, Ye Zongliu's men and horses have directly expanded from 14,000 to 30,000, doubling!

And the Xu family sent two batches of weapons and money and food during this time, which can be said to spare no effort to support Ye Zongliu to expand his troops and prepare for war.

Soon, Ye Zongliu had an army of 30,000, except for 10,000 horses led by Ye Zongliu himself and stationed in Jingoukou Wubao, the remaining 20,000 troops were all led by Wang Neng, and they actually crossed the Yellow River directly and drove to the north bank of the Yellow River to garrison.

It turned out that Ye Zongliu and Wang Neng thought that if the 30,000 army held together to defend the Wubao of Jingoukou, there would be no chance of victory, and the two could not expect the Xu family to come to support, after all, at this time, the Xu family was still difficult to protect itself, and it was already good to be able to support weapons, money and food.

Therefore, after discussion, Ye Zongliu and Wang Neng agreed that the army should stick to the Yellow River, lead a group of men and horses to occupy the dangerous terrain on the north bank of the Yellow River, and compete with the Yushan Town Guards for the Yellow River.

"My main force is defending the Yellow River, and the rear is constantly plundering the population to replenish the troops, and sending them to the front line on the north bank of the Yellow River! In this way, even if it is defeated, it can make the Yushan Town Guards suffer a lot of vitality, and it can also make Liu Juntao retreat! ”

After Ye Zongliu said these words impassionedly, Wang Neng led 20,000 horses all the way north.

In only four days, the 20,000 horses and horses under the command of Wang Neng took a foothold on the north bank of the Yellow River and began to actively prepare for war.

And Ye Zongliu was not idle, but divided the 10,000 horses in his hands into 3,000 people, and continued to plunder the population around Wubao in Jingoukou, Pei County, regardless of the government's reaction.

At the same time, Xu Zhaohui, the head of the Xu family, learned of the crazy actions of the bandits in Ye Zongliu's department, and his heart was also mixed.

Although Ye Zongliu's move can quickly expand his power, block the northern defense line for the Xu family, and fight against the Yushan Town Escort led by Liu Juntao, but it also makes Xuzhou Mansion turbulent, after this catastrophe, it is not known how long it will take for Xuzhou Mansion to return to its former scene!

Moreover, the government is also anxious, not only the prefectures and counties have complained to Nanjing, but even the Wolf Mountain garrison has three letters a day to ask, so that Xu Zhao will lock up his dogs and stop biting people everywhere, otherwise there is no need for Liu Juntao to make a move, and the Wolf Mountain garrison will dispatch troops first!

In this regard, Xu Zhaohui was also worried, but he couldn't stop Ye Zongliu's side, after all, now Ye Zongliu's bandits wanted to resist the Yushan Town Guards for themselves, and Xu Zhaohui was in a dilemma at this time.

Xu Zhaohui couldn't think of any way to get the best of both worlds, so he could only keep sending people to give heavy gifts to the Wolf Mountain garrison, wanting to stabilize it first; At the same time, Xu Zhaohui also sent someone to tell Ye Zongliu not to do things too much.

However, whether it was Ye Zongliu or the Wolf Mountain garrison, they all ignored Xu Zhaohui, and the two still went their own way, which made Xu Zhaohui have a headache.

At the same time, Xu Zhaohui and Ye Zongliu's movements were also discovered by the Investigation Department led by Liu Zi'an, and the situation of the two mobilizing people and secretly connecting with each other was investigated.

At the same time, the Investigation Department also completely grasped the situation of Ye Zongliu's thieves and gangsters who were perverse and caused trouble in various parts of Xuzhou.

After Liu Zi'an sorted out these situations, he was also shocked, and said to his subordinates: "Xu Zhaohui and Ye Zongliu don't know whether they are alive or dead, this is forcing President Lian to kill!" ”

A few days later, the news of the Investigation Department was transmitted back to Yushan Town and sent to Liu Juntao.

Looking at the various atrocities of Xu Zhaohui and Ye Zongliu, Liu Juntao couldn't help but jump like thunder.

At this time, due to the atrocities of Ye Zongliu's subordinates, Xuzhou Mansion was in turmoil, and even because Wang Neng's 20,000 thieves had crossed the Yellow River north and entered the territory of Yanzhou Mansion, Liu Juntao, as the general manager of the Yanzhou Mansion People's League, already had a reason to send troops!

Therefore, Liu Juntao made up his mind and prepared to lead the Yushan Town Guards under his command to strike preemptively and take the lead in going south to Xuzhou to defeat Xu Zhaohui and Ye Zongliu's two thieves.

On the same day, Liu Juntao wrote a request for war, and asked Liu Zi'an to send someone to Ren Chengwei quickly, only to wait for Ren Chengwei to make Lei Bo nod his head in approval, Liu Juntao will lead his troops south and take the opportunity to enter Xuzhou Mansion!