Qu Tutong led the army to the city of Yan'an and did not move, Liu Jialun thought that the Sui army was cowardly, but was confused by Qu Tutong's withdrawal of troops, chased to Shangjun, and was led by Qu Tutong to lead the elite soldiers to attack at night, including Liu Jialun, more than 10,000 people died; Subsequently, Qu Tutong slaughtered the remaining rebels, captured more than 40,000 women, old and children, and built a human head Jingguan in Nanshan, Shangjun. What made Qu Tutong helpless was that Yang Chong shrank back to Huaiyuan County early, leaving him no chance at all.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Jihu Liu Harrier led more than 7,000 rebels and their families to abandon Yunyang Valley and flee to Liupan Mountain together to take refuge in Wudu'er; Although Guo Rong and Zhang Jin opened up the Fufeng artery, they failed to completely annihilate Li Hong, and Li Hong retreated into the mountainous area south of Fufeng with more than 60,000 people. Chang'an's tense breath was not yet relaxed, and King Liu Miao of Shihu raised troops to rebel, claiming to be the Son of Heaven, and his younger brother Liu'an was the king of Yong'an, with tens of thousands; At the same time, Sima Chang'an, another rogue of the army, captured Zezhou, Qu Tutong could only wave Zezhou, and Taiyuan sent Wu Benlang to defeat King Liu Miao with Pan Changwen.

Knowing that Qu Tutong had retreated, Yang Chong wrote to Chang'an, saying that his grain and grass were unsustainable, and he was afraid that he could only retreat to Hexi, asking Chang'an to allocate grain and grass or send troops to take over Wuyuan County and Huaiyuan County. It is impossible to allocate grain and grass, the center and Chang'an soon wrote to agree, Yang Chong's army was withdrawn in four ways, Poliu Han Bakui and Yang Yanshi still returned to defend Liupan Mountain, and Xin Dade was reappointed as the county commander of Helou.

Yang Chong returned to Zhangye and asked Cui Zhen to give Chang'an a note, explaining the situation in Liupan Mountain, asking for permission to be stationed on the spot for Wuduan Er and Han Shige, in order to relieve Chang'an's worries, Hexi was willing to provide a part of the money, so that Wu Duan'er had the ability to buy grain and not harass the surrounding counties.

Cui Zhen shook his head and said, "Do you think those people are all blind?" ”

Yang Chong said with a smile: "Of course not, it's just that the situation in Guanzhong and Hedong is too severe, and if the grain harvest is not harvested again, more people will take risks." Liupan Mountain is now the middle point of the two battlefields of Guanzhong and Hedong, and there are too many variables in chaos, if they take this into account, they will swallow this breath. ”

When Cui Zhen first came, Yang Chong said that Guanzhong, Hedong and other places would always be messy, Cui Zhen once thought that it was Yang Chong's layout, and now look at it, even if there is no undignified chess, it will still be chaotic when it should be messy, but it is cheaper for Yang Chong, so that he can take the opportunity to lay a wedge in Liupan Mountain.

Chang'an really swallowed this breath, the situation in the Central Plains was erosive, and the king of Shanggu had to rebel, claiming to be the king of Mantian, the country name Yan, and Wei Diao'er coerced more than 200,000 people, and connected the Turkic and Southern Kou Zhao in the north; Meng Rang has more than 100,000 troops and has already occupied the Duliang Palace. However, Chang'an's admission was conditional, and Yang Chong was asked to immediately exchange 200,000 catties of iron for grain, and the price of grain was two percent higher than that in the market; Yang Chong asked Fang Xuanling and others to discuss, and finally recognized Chang'an's decision, after all, he made a big mistake on the issue of impropriety.

However, everyone also recognized the shortcomings of Hexi, whether it was the Central Plains or Guanzhong, the number of rebels who were a little stronger each time was as high as 100,000, which was impossible for Hexi to do, and the population of the entire Hexi may only be equivalent to a large county in the Central Plains. However, if the population increases, the pressure on the government will be too great, and the current shortage of food and materials is like a tight string, which may be broken with a lot of strength.

Now the only rich commodity in Hexi is steel, and under the condition that the iron ore supply in Lijing County is satisfied, the steel output of Jiuquan Iron Works has exceeded 150,000 yuan for nearly a month, so that Hexi's steel can exceed 2 million catties a year. Fang Xuanling and Du Yan's idea was to hit steel and strengthen foreign trade; Yang Chong still didn't let go, but agreed to open the salt, as long as he took the money, he would give as much as he wanted.

When the news came out, Du Bi and Yang Shanjing sent people to Zhangye as soon as possible to discuss trade; If they can monopolize the supply of salt within the Turks, it will have a great effect on the discourse power of the two in the Han court. In fact, Wang Bo, Zhai Rang, Liu Miaowang, Li Hong, and Wang Basu all sent people to negotiate, but they were poor and white, worse than the Turks, there was nothing that could be exchanged at all, and they were worried about being blamed, so they were all blocked by Fang Xuanling, and they were generally entertained for two days, and they were sent out of the country with luxury gifts such as soap.

Yang Chong looked at the list of envoys every time, and never expressed his attitude, and when the meeting was about to end today, Yang Chong pointed to two names and said, "You make arrangements, I will meet Fu Gongyou and Li Zhang." ”

Fu Gongyu was a young man of less than twenty years old, of medium stature, heroic, but he stuttered a little, and seemed to lack confidence; Yang Chong knew that Fu Gongyou was a powerful character, if Du Fuwei hadn't listened to Li Baiyao's words and took the initiative to join the Tang Dynasty, there might be an accident in the battle situation in the early Tang Dynasty, at least when Li Shimin and Dou Jiande fought Luoyang, the Jianghuai army had the opportunity to enter Guanzhong through Nanyang and make a small joke with history.

Yang Chong didn't invite Fu Gongyou to sit down, but just asked, "Are you here on behalf of Wang Bo, or on behalf of Zuo Caixiang or Du Fuwei?" ”

Yang Chong said three names in one go, and Fu Gongyou didn't dare to hide anything, and replied: "I am here on behalf of Wang Bo, but I also want to have a relationship with Mr. Yang." ”

Fu Gongyou was neither humble nor arrogant in his speech, and he had already expressed in his words that he had the idea of leaving Wang Bo, Ling Jing and Yang Ze, who accompanied Yang Zhi, nodded secretly, and rushed to this ambition, Yang Chong really should see it once; Yang Chong glanced at Fu Gongyou coldly and said, "Who did Du Fuwei annex? ”

Fu Gongyou hesitated a little, but still replied: "Xiapi Miao Haichao, Hailing Zhao broke the formation." ”

Yang Chong asked slowly: "You and Du Fuwei are friends, it is a good thing that he is expanding so much, why am I a little flustered when I look at you, am I worried that the expansion is too fast, or am I worried about annoying Wang Bo?" ”

Fu Gongyou looked at Yang Chong and said: "I'm worried about the current situation of the rebel army, Du Fuwei wants to go to Huainan, but the leader of the king insists on developing in Shandong. ”

Yang Chong said: "Although Wang Bo has the help of Sun Xuanya, Hao Xiaode and others, he is by no means Zhang Xutuo's opponent, Zhang Xutuo is not only powerful himself, but also the generals Qin Qiong and Cheng Zhijie are the choice of generals; Peng Cheng stayed behind Dong Chun is also a character, Peng Xiaocai can't support it for long, you must go to Huainan as soon as possible. I am a businessman, and I am an official and soldier, I will not do business with you, I want you to bring a message to Du Fuwei, and I will welcome you two to Hexi. ”

Fu Gongyou's eyes lit up, what is Yang Chong's identity, to put it bluntly, he is a prince of one side, and being able to say the words to solicit is a recognition of his brother, and it is also a retreat in case of defeat in the future, Fu Gongyou respectfully saluted and said: "Thank you for the good intentions of the manager, the villain must bring the words to Brother Du." ”

Yang Ze smiled and said, "Fu Gongyou, I have prepared fifty taels of gold leaves and two fast horses for you outside, I wish you a smooth journey." ”

(End of chapter)