After this defeat, the panicked Liang army took the initiative to find trouble with the Wu army again, and it was probably a question whether they could hold their own defense line.

If the Wu army immediately sent troops to the north at this time, and the Jin army on the Hebei side was about to go south, I was afraid that the Liang State would really be in danger of destroying the country.

Even if the Wu army did not immediately go on a northern expedition, as long as the deterrence of the Wu army was still there, then the Liang State would have to leave a large number of troops to garrison here, which would obviously be unfavorable for the upcoming Jin-Liang War.

"Negotiate peace with Wu Jun for the time being, and concentrate on resisting the Jin army first!" For some reason, this idea that he had at the beginning appeared in Niu Cunjie's mind at this time, which made him a little impatient to write to Zhu Youzhen.

Of course, the first thing to deal with at this time is the current situation, not the post-war peace talks.

At the mention of the current situation, all the generals were worried, but they could not think of any good solutions, and for a time the atmosphere in the Chinese military camp tent was extremely solemn.

Seeing this, He Gui smiled reluctantly and changed the subject: "Speaking of which, I don't know if the generals have noticed, this time the cavalry of the Wu army attacked extremely quickly, and the war horses they sat on were also very strong, and they looked very different from the war horses of the cavalry at the beginning. Could it be that Wu Jun had other ways to get a large number of war horses? ”

When He Gui said this, the generals recalled it one after another.

"Indeed, the general was strange before, the speed of the enemy's attack was inevitably too fast, it stands to reason that the Wu army is in the south, and it is difficult to obtain high-quality war horses, at most it is to make do with those inferior horses. Therefore, their cavalry should not be so swift when they attack. But when you say that, Ben will also think that there is something strange in this. Niu Cunjie echoed.

Whether it was the Jin forces that ruled Hebei and Hedong, or Li Maozhen, who was located in the northwest of Guanzhong, they regarded war horses as the most important resource, and not only tried to restrict the trade of war horses, but also tried every means to prevent the Liang army from obtaining war horses.

In this way, it was difficult for the Liang State in the Central Plains to obtain high-quality war horses, and they could only obtain a small amount through other means; However, the cavalry disadvantage of the Liang State was difficult to change.

Even the Liang State is in this situation, and it stands to reason that the situation of the Wu State in the south of the Yangtze River should be even worse.

When Li Chengsi, Zhu Jin, and Shi Yan went south to join Yang Xingmi, they brought a powerful Shatuo cavalry to Huainan, and soon after in the Battle of Qingkou, which greatly improved the combat effectiveness of the Huainan army.

However, after so many years, the war horses of the original batch of cavalry must have been too old and weak to fight, and if the Wu army wants to maintain the scale of the cavalry, it can only regain enough war horses through other means.

But the question is, when it is difficult for the Liang State to get enough war horses, where did the Wu army get enough war horses? And judging from today's situation, the war horses of the enemy cavalry are still extremely high-quality war horses, and the strength and speed of the horses are superior, which are stronger than the cavalry war horses of the Liang army, and they are almost catching up with the cavalry of the Jin army.

This situation is enough to show that Wu Guo should have other ways to obtain war horses on a large scale.

"We have to find a way to figure out why!" Niu Cunjie quickly realized the importance of this issue.

The Liang army fought with the Jin army, why did they always fall behind? In the final analysis, it was because of the lack of cavalry that the Jin army was able to grasp the rhythm of the battlefield, choose a battlefield that was more favorable to them, and have the opportunity to raid the Liang army at any time.

It is precisely because of this advantage that the Jin army has won one victory after another in the past few years, defeating the Liang army.

If the Liang army can also solve the problem of war horses and build a strong cavalry like the Jin army, then in the next big war, the Liang army will not be as passive as it is now.

The generals' minds flashed, and they were all speculating about the source of Wu Jun's war horses.

Some people think that Wu should have "hooked up" with the Khitans from the sea, so they could get enough war horses from the Khitans.

Some believe that Wu's war horses came from overseas, and I heard that there is a big food country in the west, where horses are also abundant, and there are sea routes to connect with the south, perhaps Wu's war horses were obtained from there.

Of course, some people say that Wu opened a pasture in the south to raise horses, and ensured the supply of war horses through self-sufficiency.

No matter what kind of speculation it is, the generals are full of envy in their hearts.

Obtaining war horses from overseas, Liang Guo is at a disadvantage congenitally, after all, northerners are not good at sailing, and they are afraid that they will become landlubbers when they get to sea, let alone run at sea for a long time.

And if it is through the self-raising of horses, this is even more difficult for the Liang State to achieve, after all, the Central Plains is extremely highly developed, and the vacant land in each state is used as farmland, unless a large amount of farmland is destroyed to open horse farms, otherwise this method can only be an idea.

In addition, it is too late to raise horses now, at least in the short term.

Of course, what was just discussed gave Niu Cunjie a lot of inspiration, and he thought of a few things that needed to be done immediately.

The first point is naturally to write to the imperial court to suggest that peace be negotiated with the state of Wu; In the current situation, it is urgent to negotiate peace with Wu Guo.

The second point is to deepen contact with the Khitans.

The Khitans were in the north and often went south to plunder, and when Liu Shouguang led Youzhou, he had to face the attacks of the Khitans from time to time; Now that the Jin State occupies Youzhou, I am afraid that the target of the Khitans will become the Jin State.

At that time, a conflict between the two parties is inevitable.

The enemy of the enemy is a friend, Niu Cunjie does not have the idea of "colluding with the Khitan people to lose the national righteousness", the people of this era do not take the so-called Hu and Han people so seriously, otherwise Li Keyong and Li Cunmiao, the father and son of the Shatuo people, will not be regarded as the successors of the Tang Dynasty.

Uniting with the Khitan to deal with the Jin State was another important measure that Niu Cunjie thought of.

In addition, although the northerners were not very good at seafaring, they had no problem sailing on the sea, and perhaps trading horses with the Khitans by sea was also a good idea.

……

When the generals of the Liang army were discussing the military situation, worried about the next situation, and always worried that the Wu State would take the opportunity to go north, Yang Wu decisively gave up the plan of the immediate northern expedition, and even rejected the proposal of the generals to take the opportunity to go north to plunder.

The reason why this is so is because Yang Wu's mentality has changed.

For him, the war between the north and the Liang state has come to an end, and one of the main tasks next is to eliminate the separatist forces in Lingnan and completely unify the south; The other is to continue to accumulate strength and prepare for the future Northern Expedition.

And the reason why he rejected the general's proposal was mainly because he now regarded those people in the Central Plains as his own people.

Perhaps nine years ago, during Huainan's first Northern Expedition, although Huainan eliminated the Qian Hao of the two Zhejiangs, it was still a long time before the unification of the south, and as for the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains, it was even more of a slogan, and it was actually difficult to implement.

Therefore, at that time, Yang Wu's Northern Expedition, while capturing Suzhou, also ordered various departments to plunder the population on a large scale.

However, the current state of Wu is about to unify the south, and the time to send troops to the northern expedition will be within a few years, and those people in the Central Plains will become the people of Wu in a short time.

In this case, Yang Wu had too late to win the hearts and minds of the people of the Central Plains, how could he agree to the soldiers of the various ministries to loot?

After decisively rejecting the generals' proposals, Yang Wu did not immediately return to Jinling, but ordered a diversion to Xuzhou.

The land of Xuzhou is extremely important, and in Yang Wu's planning, it will be an important advance base for Wu's Northern Expedition; At that time, the Northern Expeditionary Army will not only send troops from here, but also all kinds of ordnance and materials will be hoarded here.

Therefore, before returning to Jinling, of course, he had to go to Xuzhou in person and make arrangements for staying in Xuzhou.

Soon after, Yang arrived in Xuzhou.

At present, the newly appointed Xuzhou Assassin is the former Shezhou Assassin Chen Zhixin, who not only has a good performance in governing the local area, but also has a certain understanding of military affairs, and it is most suitable to use him to take charge of Xuzhou.

As for the army stationed in Xuzhou, it consisted of two parts, the first part was naturally the Youzhen Wu army led by Wang Juan; After the capture of Xuzhou, Yang Wu ordered the garrison of the Youzhen Wu Army to be moved here.

In addition to Wang Xuan, another part of the garrison in Xuzhou was the Xiaoyi army led by Kang Huaizhen, including 5,000 soldiers selected from the Xuzhou army and commanded by Jiang Yin's nephew Jiang Quan, and another 5,000 people under the command of Wang Yanyan.

The garrison of the entire Xuzhou is as many as 20,000 people, mainly Wang Juan and supplemented by Kang Huaizhen, who is responsible for ensuring the safety of Xuzhou and the surrounding Suzhou.

In addition, there was a small number of van troops who were responsible for the security of the city.

After arriving in Xuzhou, Chen Zhixin and others had already greeted each other outside the city.

Yang Wu ordered the army to camp outside the city, and he himself entered the city under the escort of the guards.

"Xuzhou is really a big city, even if the north and south were divided in the past, making Xuzhou a border city, but the prosperity here is still not worse than many important cities in the south of the Yangtze River." Looking at the wine shops on both sides of the street, Yang Wu couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

Such a big city, and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal passes through here, in the future, when the Northern Expedition is carried out, you can even directly drive ships here, and go all the way north along the canal, directly into the Yellow River.

Of course, the waterways in some areas have long been blocked because they have not been dredged for many years; However, as long as it is dredged, the transportation of materials for the Northern Expedition of the Wu Army will be much more convenient in the future.

Even Wu's naval army was able to go north along the canal and fight with the main force of Wu's army, which was a big advantage for Wu.

Yang Wu rode on his horse, thinking about the future arrangements while looking at the crowds on both sides of the street.

Those people were still a little in awe and alienation of Yang Wu as the new conqueror at this time, so when Yang Wu looked over, they lowered their heads one after another, not daring to look at Yang Wu.

At this moment, Yang Wu saw a strange and familiar face among the crowd.

"He's it?"