Hebei, Xindu County, Wuqiang City.

Fan Yang Longwu Army Jiedu made Guo Xuan receive a letter from Luo Siye, Luo Siye told him that now there is a lack of food in the army, and the transportation is not good, so it is temporarily impossible to supply grain and grass to Fan Yang's army in time.

"If you attack quickly, you will be wounded, and if you have been guarding for a long time, you will lack food."

Luo Siye asked Guo Xuan to pause and continue the attack, not to go deep into Leshou City alone, but to let him raise his own grain and grass in Hebei. Let Guo Xuan find a way to collect grain and grass from the surrounding counties and townships to support himself, and if the collected grain and grass is not enough, he can return to Boling first.

At this time, Guo Xuan had 100,000 people under his command, in addition to the Fan Yang soldiers and Beiping soldiers brought from Fan Yang, there were also thousands of Dingxiang Xuanwu cavalry brought by Liu Hongji, and 780,000 thieves who defeated and surrendered in Shanggu and Hengshan two counties.

With so many soldiers and horses, all the way south, it was like a bamboo, but after reaching the vicinity of the river, the supply also reached the limit.

Relying on the supplies of the few cities that were captured, it was difficult to support so many soldiers and horses.

Originally, Guo Xuan was also looking forward to killing all the way to the foot of Leshou City, and then joining forces with several other soldiers and horses, and receiving grain and grass from them at that time.

"It seems that we can only send troops to collect grain and grass first."

In order to solve the problem of grain and grass, Guo Xuan discussed with the generals and decided to divide the troops into various cities for food. So more than 100,000 horses under his command were scattered.

He himself led Fan Yang's troops to be stationed in Wuqiang and Xiabo Ercheng in Xindu County, and let Beiping troops be stationed in Wuyi and Fucheng Ercheng on the east bank of the Zhanghe River, and then let Liu Hongji lead Xuanwu cavalry to be stationed in Anping in Boling and Lucheng in Xindu.

He also sent a larger number of new Gu Thieves and Hengshan Thieves to divide their troops to attack Zhao County and Xiangguo County, in fact, they were to find a way to collect grain and grass and be self-sufficient.

Guo Xuan did not choose to march north to the area of Hejian Leshou, because there was now a small but very elite Xia army left behind there, and at the same time, the Xia army had begun to clear the wilderness, the village market was empty, and it was difficult to get supplies if he went.

And Leshou City is strong, although Guo Xuan has 100,000 horses, he doesn't have much confidence that he can quickly break through Leshou.

Early February.

Song Jingang led the Shanggu thieves, and Zhen Zhai'er led the Hengshan thieves, the two attacked Zhao County and Xiangguo County, the two were originally horse thieves, although they were recruited by the official army at this time, but their subordinates were still dominated by the original bandits, and when they left the Wuqiang camp, Guo Xuan did not give them grain and grass, let them figure out their own way.

What can the two of them do?

Old-fashioned, of course.

So the two of them went all the way to the west, and wherever they passed, they were like locusts crossing the border, attacking the county seat when they met the county seat, and attacked the township and the village when they met the township, although they held the banner of the official army.

But he still acts like a robber, robbing all the grain and grass wherever he passes, and even coercing young and strong people as soldiers, kidnapping women, and robbing money and silk.

For a time, the people of Xiangzhao County were all resentful.

Originally, many local warriors were strong and strong, and they still had a wait-and-see attitude towards the Liao soldiers going south, and even some people were ready to meet the Liao soldiers.

Who knows, these people come under the banner of Liao, but what is feasible is the business of bandits, killing people and setting fires, burning, killing and looting, and doing all kinds of evil.

Not only did the people suffer, but even those powerful landlords of the noble clan did not escape.

So they quit.

As a result, these powerful landlords of the scholar clan held high the banner of Qinxia Emperor to protect Hebei, gathered their children and horses, began to form a village to defend themselves, and even began to take the initiative to attack small groups of looting soldiers.

Shandong.

Luo Cheng still stationed troops in Linyi.

"Your Highness, Li Mi sent a messenger to send a thousand taels of gold and many treasures, saying that he was here to congratulate His Highness on his birthday."

Luo Cheng couldn't help but smile when he heard this.

"This Li Mi, also inquired about my birthday?"

However, Luo Cheng wouldn't believe that Li Mi was so careful, it was obvious that this guy had been a little flustered recently, Dou Jiande didn't kill him, Li Yuan ran away first, and put him together. Over there, Wang Shichong and Pei Renji Wei Wensheng launched a counterattack, but at this time, Luo Cheng had already landed in Shandong strongly.

Li Mi is now in a hurry to destroy Wang Shichong, but also afraid that Luo Cheng will kill him from behind, and he is worried that he will fall into the unfavorable situation of fighting on both sides.

The original plan was to destroy Dou Jiande first, and then attack Shandong, not to let Luo Cheng enter Shandong, and isolate Luo Cheng from the pass, but now the situation has changed greatly, and Li Mi has to continue to pay tribute to Luo Cheng, just to slow down Luo Cheng's offensive pace.

"In this way, send someone back to see Li Mi, and say that he has a heart, and this king is very happy. This king also knows that he is now fighting against him, so I will send troops to support him. ”

"The four counties east of the canal, let Luo Cunxiao and Shan Xiongxin, the two generals, lead the left and right Shenyong troops to take over the defense, and he can go to crusade against the rebel general Wang Shichong with peace of mind."

"Your Highness, didn't you say before that we wouldn't interfere in the Henan war now, just wait with peace of mind?" Guo Xiaoke asked.

"One time, another time. The two armies of Xia and Wei fought a decisive battle before, so we gave them a place and didn't disturb them. And Wang Shichong and Li Yuan are still on the side, so we won't join in the fun. But now, Li Yuan has gone to Guanzhong, Dou Jiande has retreated to Hebei, Wang Shichong has begun to fight with Li Mi, and the battlefield has been transferred from Dongjun to Luoyang, so we can take back the four counties of Dongjun. ”

"Li Miken let it out?"

"If you don't let it, then fight."

"But we don't have food right now."

"I know, so I didn't let me fight directly, but first wrote to Li Mi and asked him to give it to us." Luo Cheng is confident, and Li Mi will let him. First, there are basically no people in the four counties now, Luo Cheng moved the people once, and later took a batch with him when Li Yuan left, so now the plains on both sides of the canal in the heart of the Central Plains have long been empty.

For the sake of these open spaces, Li Mi dares to fight with Luo Cheng now, dare to fight on two fronts?

Luoyang, Xingluocang.

Li Mi met Luo Cheng's envoy and heard Luo Cheng's request.

Facing Luo Chengshi's big mouth and directly asking for the four counties of Dongjun, Li Mi was very aggrieved.

But Luo Cheng's meaning is obvious, if he doesn't give it, then send a large army to Luoyang to help in the war, the so-called help in the war, it must be to attack.

"Fight him!"

Several Wei generals shouted.

Li Mi laughed a few times, "General Liu is extremely brave, so why don't you send you to garrison the four counties and defend against Luo Cheng?" ”

The man immediately fell silent.

"That's it, let's withdraw the soldiers, anyway, it's just some empty cities, let's give it to Luo Cheng first, we will do our best to destroy Wang Shichong, and after winning, we will come to fight with Luo Cheng." Li Mi said helplessly.

However, Li Mi also ordered that before the soldiers and horses withdrew, all the cities in these four counties should be burned, and everything that could be destroyed should be destroyed.

They will burn down all the villages, fill in all the wells, plug up the canals, and break the bridges.

"Let these four counties become a place of death, and these hundreds of miles of land will become a buffer land with no one. I want to see what Luo Cheng can do if he gets these four counties! Li Mi gritted his teeth and said.