Caozhou has been the territory of Ziqing for decades, Yunzhou has 100,000 soldiers, and the famous generals are like clouds, Li Mao expects that Li Shidao will not give up because of Fang Yangxian's defeat, and will take action. As for when the next round of attacks will start, Li Mao has nothing more to predict, all he can do is to take precautions and prepare in advance.

Li Mao hired Liu Wu as the deputy envoy of the Liaodong Economic Strategy, He Sancai as the commander of the Fengya Battalion of the Chinese Army, and Liu Congji as the commander of the Flying Tiger Battalion. The Fengya Battalion and the Flying Tiger Battalion only had flags before, and there was not a single soldier, and the two had to pull people from scratch.

Liu Congji asked Li Mao to change the camp name to the Flying Dragon Battalion on the grounds that the word "tiger" violated the Tang Taizu Li Hu, but was severely reprimanded by Liu Wu, and Li Mao came forward to mediate, and finally changed the Flying Tiger Battalion to the Flying Eagle Battalion.

The word "tiger" was indeed a crime in the Tang Dynasty, but like the carp, after the Tang Dynasty, with the gradual relaxation of the imperial court's control over society, this taboo that could lead to head killing in the early Tang Dynasty was not the same thing.

Especially in the towns of Heshuo, which is very independent, there are many people who violate the ban with "tigers", and the right wing of the famous Yangdao Army engraves the head of the tiger on the waist card, and proudly claims to be the head of the bronze tiger.

Li Mao named the two battalions of the Chinese army after the tiger, which actually implied the meaning of keeping a distance from the imperial court and being close to the towns of Heshuo. Since Liu Congji wants to flaunt his loyalty and patriotism, Li Mao naturally can't dismiss him.

One day, Li Mao inspected the Flying Eagle Camp and returned to the city, and was stopped by a strong man halfway through, who knelt in the middle of the road, holding a war knife in his hand. Qin Mo was taken aback when he saw the knife, and hurriedly dismounted to get it, but it was Li Mao's iron chopping.

This knife was left in the Yunzhou War in the past, Li Mao regretted it, thinking that he would never have a chance, and he didn't want to be picked up by this strong man who called himself Tan Zhong, and what was even more commendable was that Tan Zhong came to Caozhou hundreds of miles to return it.

Li Mao was overjoyed, Xie Tan Zhong had 500 gold, Tan Zhong refused to accept it, Li Mao added Xie Yi to 1,000, but Tan Zhong still refused to ask for it. Li Mao smiled: "I'm poor now, and I can't give more money." ”

Tan Zhong said: "I don't want the general to be rewarded, but I want to stay under the general." ”

Li Mao was overjoyed and wanted to keep Tan Zhong as an entourage. Qin Mo privately persuaded: "This person's origin is unknown, it is better to put it in the outer camp for observation before making arrangements." Li Mao didn't listen.

Qin Mo saw that the commander of the right wing was always vacant, and he had the intention to promote Zhang Qi to fill the position.

The position of the commander of the army on the right wing Li Mao was reserved for Zhang Xuan, as early as before crossing the river to the south, Li Mao sent someone to communicate with Zhang Xuan, Zhang Xuan promised Li Mao that if the siege of the city was unfavorable, he was willing to fill the internal response, and if it went well, he would continue to wait for an opportunity in the army of Pinglu.

The depth of this chess piece cloth, Li Mao never said it to anyone, and even Qin Mo looked away for a while.

Li Mao refused Qin Mo's invitation on the grounds that Zhang Qi lacked qualifications and did not understand military affairs, and sent him to Shi Xiong's command as a judge to follow Shi Xiong to practice his skills.

Zhang Qi thought that escorting Daoist Yu to Chang'an would be meritorious, and he would be able to get a good job when he came back, but he didn't expect him to go to Shi Xiong's subordinate as a judge, Shi Xiong, he was not very familiar, and he was two years younger than himself, so he was very unhappy.

Zhang Qi secretly ran back to Caozhou City at night to complain to Qin Mo, but somehow leaked the news, and was blocked in the house by his father Zhang's father.

When Li Mao heard the news, he summoned him, reprimanded him in public, and finally asked Qin Mo to send him back to the left wing. Qin Mo asked Shi Xiong to forgive him for leaving the camp without permission on the grounds that it was dark at night. Shi Xiong should not be cold, and Qin Mo, who was making trouble, couldn't get off the stage.

Zhang Qi saw the strict military law, and he didn't want to embarrass Qin Mo, so he disarmed himself and climbed onto the law enforcement bench, and was beaten in public again.

After the generals of the various armies were in place, Li Mao restrained the generals in the camp of the Chinese army and trained them for three days, focusing on solving the ideological problems of the generals.

Li Mao ordered all departments to urgently expand the army, regardless of whether the good vegetables were rotten or bad, and the basket was the vegetables, and the first bite was eaten to become a fat man.

Caozhou is located in the middle of the four major towns of Ziqing, Xuanwu, Wuning, and Weibo, and its status is very special, and Li Mao's appearance immediately attracted the attention of neighboring towns and the imperial court.

Xuzhou Zhang Su first sent an envoy to Caozhou to ask Li Mao about his intention to occupy Caozhou and his future plans, and Li Mao replied to the envoy that he had raised troops to occupy Caozhou in order to extinguish the popular rebellion and pacify the place, and as for what to do next, it was all up to the will of the imperial court.

The Xuzhou envoy tentatively asked Li Mao if he was willing to have something to do with Xuzhou, but Li Mao did not answer perfunctorily.

Xuanwu Han Hong sent Lu Shishan to see Li Mao, saying that if Li Mao was willing to cooperate with Xuanwu, Xuanwu could send troops to help prevent Ziqing's invasion, and Li Mao did not have much to do, just to ensure that the original secret trade route between Ziqing and Xuanwu was unimpeded.

Li Mao's occupation of Caozhou relied on Wei Bo's support, and one of the quid pro quo was to cut off the secret trade route between Tonghutou and Xuanwu, forcing Tonghutou to agree to a deal with Weizhou and divert the westward financial route to the north.

Li Mao categorically rejected Lu Shishan, leaving no room for maneuver.

Qin Mo persuaded: "Even if you don't cooperate with Xuanwu, you don't have to do things so ruthlessly." Grievances should be resolved, not settled. ”

Li Mao said: "Now if we don't make an enemy, we will make an enemy, if I hook up with Xuanwu, I will inevitably offend Wei Bo, just ask us what capital we have to offend Wei Bo." You want to put your feet on two boats, and you end up with both ends in vain. ”

Han Hong was furious when he learned that Li Mao refused to be accommodating, and immediately sent the general Wu Dingshan to lead 6,000 troops to the border of Nanhua County in the name of assisting in the suppression of bandits. Wudingshan is Han Hongyizi, Xuanwu has a number of fierce generals, the six thousand troops are the main force to prevent and contain Wei Bo, after a long battle, brave and abnormal, if he attacks Caozhou with the main force, Li Mao is afraid that he will not be able to hold it for three days.

When there was a panic in Caozhou City, Wei Bo's envoy from Tian Lu's staff officer had quietly entered Xuanwu's military camp, and Wei Bo's envoy warned Wudingshan: If Xuanwu sent troops to Caozhou, Wei Bo would also cross the river and go south to participate in the suppression of bandits in Caozhou.

Wudingshan sent a fast horse to Han Hong to ask for a strategy, Han Hong is currently fighting with Wang Shuwen, and he has the intention to do something in the local area, but it is not his wish to fight with Wei Bo, after comprehensive consideration, Han Hong decided not to take this risk for the time being.

Wu Dingshan was ordered to lead the main force back to the camp, only sent a partial general to lead 300 people into Nanhua County to assist Li Mao to suppress the bandits, Li Mao sent Shi Xiong to meet with him, the two armies in Nanhua after stepping on dozens of acres of winter wheat, announced the success of the bandits, and went back to their homes for a drink.

Caozhou has a population of less than 100,000 households, and the sturdy men are all drawn to serve in the Pinglu army, and the rest are old and weak, although Li Mao has 3,000 people recruited from the army, the quality is really average, and after the recruitment is successful, Li Mao is not even interested in taking a look.

Some people advised Li Mao to pick the elite and eliminate the old and weak in order to save military spending.

Li Mao said with a smile: "Caozhou is barren, even if we scrape the ground, we can't afford to raise thousands of soldiers, we have to find a way outward." ”

To find a way outward, the first step is naturally to ask Wei Bo for money and food, Tian Ji'an originally promised to supply Li Mao with military supplies for two years according to the quota of 5,000 military horses, and the first batch of military materials has been allocated in place, and careful planning can support it for a year.

Wei Bo's thighs are thick enough, and he will be hugged for the time being, but the time is destined not to be too long, and with Tian Ji'an's young and vigorous personality, the two families will fall out in an instant.

Before Wei Bo's thigh turned his face, Li Mao also wanted to hug Ziqing's thigh, this was by no means a joke, Li Mao not only thought so, but also did so, he sent Qin Mo and Feng Chengdao to Yunzhou, and proposed to Li Shidao to borrow 20,000 stones of military rations and 1,500 sets of ordnance and armor.

After listening to Qin Mo's request with a dark face, Li Shidao left without saying a word, leaving Qin Mo and Feng Chengdao in the lobby of the military mansion with wide eyes.

Back in the inner hall of the military mansion, Li Shidao called a few staff officers and Li Gongdu, snorted for a long time, and said: "He really didn't treat himself as an outsider, why is he embarrassed to open his mouth to me, occupy my place, kill my soldiers, and even ask me for merit and rewards, money and food, is this fucking me wronged?" ”

In order to maintain his image as a humble gentleman, Li Shidao repeatedly pressed the urge to explode foul language, but finally failed.

The staff officers reprimanded Li Mao for being a scoundrel, and said that he was foaming at the excitement, forcing Li Shidao and Li Gongdu to hide behind Jinping. Li Shidao saw that Li Gongdu had been silent, and he was dissatisfied, so he asked, "Look at what you mean, I did something wrong." ”

Li Gongdu said with a spring breeze on his face: "It is only natural that the friendly army crossed the river to the south to quell the chaos for me and be the master's food." Isn't Li Mao doing this just to show favor to Yunzhou? ”

Li Shidao snorted: "I don't want him to be cowardly, I want him to get out." ”

Li Gongdu said: "Get out, sooner or later, I want him to get out, but at the moment, I can't." First of all, we must stabilize him, provide him with food, send condolences, and treat him as a friend. ”

Li Shidao sneered: "You just cut the meat and feed him, I'm afraid it will be difficult to save the heart of this white-eyed wolf." ”

Speaking of this, Li Shidao suddenly became anxious, he was like a leopard trapped in a cage, full of anger, one would angrily scold Fang Yangxian for being incompetent, one would scold Mao Xiong bastard, one would scold those in Yunzhou City who pulled their hind legs, and finally even the sick and disabled son of heaven in Chang'an Daming Palace also complained, blaming him for always lying in bed and not going to court, if he gave himself early to surrender, why would he let his name be unjustifiable and difficult to command the three armies?

Seeing that this nameless evil fire was about to be poured on him, Li Gongdu hurriedly persuaded: "Caozhou is barren and cannot support thousands of military horses. Now, if I cut off his food, he will fall to Webb completely, and he will become a trouble for my soul. On the contrary, if I supply food, he will have something to rely on, and he will be at odds with Wei Bo, with Tian Ji'an's manic character, and then provoke a little, it will not be long before his two families will turn their faces and fight each other, and then I will cut off his food, and Caozhou will not fight. ”

Li Shidao's eyes lit up, and he said happily: "This plan is wonderful." Praise and said: "Aren't you afraid that he will fall to Xuanwu or Wuning?" ”

Li Gongdu said: "Wuning Zhang Sude can't serve the public, Wei can't suppress the three armies, and now the war is trembling, the day is not safe, and he wants to return to the dynasty to enjoy leisure, how can he be willing to be the enemy of Ziqing because of Li Mao?" As for Xuanwu, Han Hong couldn't wait to swallow Li Mao alive, how could he help? (Dissertation College)