At the beginning of the 14th year of Jianxing. Liangzhou, located in the Hexi region, no matter which county government, no matter the history of the state or the low-level people, they all hang white flags and wear linen and filial piety. The merchants who took the risk to traffic goods to the Jingxiang area brought back a piece of news: Sima Rong, the emperor of the Jin Yuan Dynasty who crossed the country to the south, died.

In the middle of last year, Fang had only worn filial piety for the late Zhang Yuanjun, but now, he encountered the death of the emperor. Everyone in Liangzhou is wearing filial piety, and perhaps standing on the top of a mountain that can overlook the below, you can see that the counties in the state are all a sea of white.

Due to the Yongjia aftermath, the Central Plains has been in turmoil for many years. The Eastern Jin Empire established by Nandu had already severed almost all ties with its vassal Liangzhou in the north. The name of Jianxing that Liangzhou now respects is still the name of Emperor Sima Ye of Jin.

Now, Emperor Jin is long gone, and even Emperor Liu Cong, the Zhao Emperor who killed Emperor Jin Chu, has become ancient. However, this era name has been used by Liangzhou, which is far away in Hexi. Although the severance of transportation and information is pushing Liangzhou step by step to the track of self-determination and self-reliance, it may be that Zhang Jun was influenced by his father and ancestors, and now Liangzhou is still a nominal vassal of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

With Zhang Jun succeeding to the throne, he sent envoys to communicate with Cheng Han, and the Yangtze River waterway went downstream, and the road to Jiankang was also opened. Since then, both envoys and merchants can go to the Eastern Jin Dynasty through this route. It's just that the news of the death of Emperor Sima Rong brought back by the merchants before was also old news two years ago.

Although the death of the emperor is an old thing, as a vassal, Zhang Jun is still conscientious to order his subjects to be filial piety to the emperor who died. It's just that he didn't know that almost at the same time that these merchants brought back this news, Sima Shao, the Ming Emperor who was far away in Jiankang, also died at the beginning of this year......

Far away in the Longxi region, the population of the counties and counties in Longxi has been sharply reduced by years of war, and in the middle of last year, the horse bandit forces have successively attacked the transport teams under the counties of Longxi County, which made Liu Zhao feel even more overwhelmed by Longxi. In the middle of last year, the taxes collected from the counties of Longxi could not even support the subordinate officials and county soldiers of the counties themselves. It is conceivable how depressed and bitter Liu Yao sitting in Chang'an City will be.

In the case of an imbalance between revenue and expenditure, the county soldiers in the counties and counties of Longxi were naturally laid off and transferred. In the context of the economic downturn, it is naturally unable to support a strong military force. Except for Didao, Longxi and other important places, the army is still strong, and in the rest of the places, the scale of the county soldiers has almost fallen to the level of fast capture.

The only place worth breathing a sigh of relief is that on the east side of Jinxing County, on the east bank of the big river, the general of Caohan suddenly surrendered. Zhang Jun was overjoyed when he heard the news, and immediately sent Xin Yan to Caohan to serve as the Taishou. The surrender of the general of Caohan made the envoy, who had succeeded to the throne for less than a year, recall the words of his uncle's earnest admonition to him when he died. Rekindled the hope of recovering the land of Henan.

Li Yanzhi, who lived in the main road of Liangzhou and crossed the river in Longxi, arranged several times with him before, and the intelligence network he weaved began to play its due role. The spies in Lingju County pretended to be foot merchants, bandits, outcasts, and even peddlers' pawns, and the important places in Longxi were under their surveillance, and there were almost no secrets to speak of.

Not long after, from Longxi to the front line of Guanzhong, the intelligence network built by thirty or forty spies transmitted back the movement of Zhao's troops like snowflakes. Li Yanzhi summarized these situations, and then recorded them separately, but found that among the counties, there were thousands of people and horses, but they all went to the east. In addition, another wave of displaced people has formed in the Longxi area, and they have poured into Liangzhou, but it seems to have given Li Yanzhi a reminder.

Looking at the increasingly dense transfer of troops, assets, grain and grass between Liu Zhao's various regions, Li Yanzhi's heart began to gradually become uneasy. With such a large-scale and obvious concentration of forces, it is obvious that one thing is proving to him all the time: Liu Zhao and Shi Zhao on the east side are likely to make a comeback!

After summarizing the various transfers reported by various spies, Li Yanzhi wrote down seven or eight pages of hemp paper about his analysis, and then ordered Liu Jiwu to copy two more copies, which were reported to Zhongxin Fujun of Guangwu County and Zhang Zhijun of the state administration.

Liangzhou is now in Longxi, although there are only a few strongholds, but if the facts are really as the conclusion reached by his own analysis of intelligence, calmly mobilize the elite of the state governance, as well as some county soldiers who can fight hard, and then sweep the Longxi region that is now weak with a thunderous raid, then it is not impossible to obtain the land of Longxi.

It's just that Li Yanzhi himself really can't be sure whether the new envoy has the courage and courage to complete this extremely risky plan. For today's Liangzhou, the area of arable land is indeed limited. In addition to the method that Li Yanzhi came up with to replace farming with other industries such as animal husbandry, fishing and hunting, and handicrafts, and complete the resettlement of the increasing number of displaced people, if Liangzhou wants to develop and grow, it must indeed complete a project to expand its territory.

However, if the envoy Zhang in the state was obsessed with competing with the wealthy clans of all sizes in Liangzhou, and was not interested in the eastward expedition, the matter could only be stopped. After all, at the moment, no matter how strong the soldiers of a county are, if they do not have a large number of personnel and material support, it is impossible to accomplish any relatively long-term military goals.

After another month, the spies who continued to infiltrate sent back the exact news: Liu Yao transferred troops to the east, and he was indeed engaged in a war with Shi Zhao. The cause was that the Beiqiang Wang's penju division department located on the north side of Liu Zhao was returned to Liu Yao. This move caused great dissatisfaction among Emperor Shi Le of Shi Zhao. Under his instructions, the general Shi Tuo led his troops out of Yanmen, passed through the county, and attacked the Penjujie tribe that was migrating to Liu Zhao's territory, capturing more than 3,000 tents and millions of cattle and sheep. Beiqiang Wang Penju was only spared, and fled to Chang'an overnight, where he met Liu Yao and bitterly Chen Shituo sneak attacked his tribe, the means were despicable, and the deeds were worrying.

Shi Tuo attacked the tribes that had migrated to Liu Zhao's territory on the edge of Liu Zhao's territory, which also angered Liu Yao. If he can't help the penjue to complete this matter and help him recapture the captured cattle and sheep population, he, the emperor of Zhao, will be the end. was bullied to the face, and he didn't dare to fight back, who else would be willing to submit to him in the future?

As soon as he thought of this, Liu Yao immediately made a decision, and immediately appointed Liu Yue, the king of Zhongshan, who was under the Jincheng army two years ago and could not advance an inch, as a general, and transferred more than 15,000 elite troops in the capital Chang'an, and ordered Liu Yue to command and go to intercept and annihilate Shi Tuo's department.

Liu Yue did not build an inch two years ago, but fell under Jincheng, facing the stubborn defense of the Liangzhou soldiers. Naturally, I was holding my breath. At this time, he got this messenger, and naturally led his troops to set off with great dignity, vowing to annihilate Shi Tuo and the arrogant and unruly Qianghu of his subordinates.

Shi Tuo captured a large number of people, cattle and sheep. Although the department was originally a cavalry, it escorted such a huge number that it was almost an entire tribe. Naturally, the speed of the march could not be fast. Liu Yue also knows this very well. His department has one man and two horses, and gallops in turn. A large number of sentry cavalry was also sent to reconnoiter the whereabouts of Shi Tuo's headquarters. A few days later, Liu Yue caught up with Shi Tuo who was marching slowly on the west bank of the river, after a dark battle, a long journey, the army had no fighting spirit Shi Tuo soon collapsed, the general Shi Tuo was beheaded, more than 6,000 people were killed, and the rest fled.

Liu Yue's previous wretched qi under Jincheng was finally made up for by Shi Zhao at one time. Liu Yue, whose self-confidence had greatly expanded, wanted to cross the river with victory and continue to attack the prefecture and county to which Shi Zhao belonged on the east bank of the river. However, he was dissuaded by Liu Yao's timely edict. After Liu Yue received the edict, even if he was unwilling, he had to lead his troops back south. Erzhao, who has experienced a local conflict, is about to return to calm.

However, this year was really unfavorable for Liu's Zhao Guo. With the help of a victory, he not only pacified Shi Tuo who came to make trouble, recaptured the population, property, cattle and sheep, and appeased the Beiqiang King Penjuex, but also took advantage of this to knock the mountain and shock the tiger, and knocked the leader of the Qiang tribe who had never been settled in the Guanzhong area of Longxi. Who knew that before a month had passed, Qiu Chi's Yang Nandi raised the banner and rebelled.

Yang rebelled, captured Qiuchi, captured General Liu Zhao Zhennan, and assassinated Shi Tian Song in Yizhou. Tian Song refused to surrender, and grabbed a knife to assassinate Yang Nandi, but was immediately killed on the spot by Yang Nandi's guards.

A series of bad things upset Liu Yao, who was the emperor of the Zhao State of the Liu family. He often looked at the book and became furious, overturned a table of cases to the ground, and wantonly angered the palace maids and eunuchs around him. In these days, there are no less than a dozen palace maids and eunuchs who have been ordered to be killed by him personally. And the cause is usually just a trivial matter.

Liu Zhao's side was overcast. In Liangzhou at this moment, it is calm. Through the co-optation and integration of various political forces in the state over the past year, Zhang Jun has basically formed a stable pattern. The Xin family is dominant, and under the control of each family, no one can make any big waves. In addition, in the army directly under Guzang, there has already been a round of generals at all levels who are enough to reassure Zhang Jun.

With military power in hand, great power in hand, Zhang Jun, who is weak and weak, has the appearance of a master at first glance. When the spies from all walks of life who were stationed in various places and even in the state to be familiar with the business reported the summary of many situations back to Lingju, Li Yanzhi, who was the Sima of Lingju County, had a strange feeling that he couldn't believe.

If you want to tell him before, the new envoy of Liangzhou, Zhang Jun, that he captured, will be a rare master in the future, and Li Yanzhi will definitely use his own eyes to guarantee that he must be a deaf lord. But now that Zhang Jun is firmly seated in the Assassin's Mansion, he has taken over the vast land and stable foundation passed down by his ancestors and fathers peacefully, but Li Yanzhi can't help but be impressed. Even he himself secretly sighed in his heart: "Unexpectedly, today's court is no longer the public court of the past." ”

And more than half a year has passed, but Su Wanyun from Yongdeng County is still sick. Li Yanzhi and Su Fu met several times, and under the side knocks, Su Fu only said with an embarrassed face that his cousin was still delirious, and even in the tenth month, he couldn't hear a word from her family.

As time passed, Li Yanzhi's heart became heavier and heavier. After all, he was the one who suggested that Su Xiaoniang pretend to be sick and crazy to escape the marriage contract. Now this situation makes him feel guilty. Although he also had secret feelings for Su Xiaoniang, what he thought about was not to make Su Xiaoniang not marry for the rest of his life. The difference in identity between the two is so huge that he has no hope for a long time.

In this case, the more Su Xiaoniang is like this, the more he is full of guilt. However, although there is no great defense between men and women in this era, how can a humble person like him become a guest in Su Xuan's house? Even if he has one or two official contacts with Su Xuan, Su Xiaoniang's boudoir is afraid that it is not a place where he Li Yanzhi can enter if he wants to.

Secretly entangled in his heart, thinking about how to persuade Su Xiaoniang's situation, Li Yanzhi waited for the turbulent undercurrent under the calm surface of Liangzhou.

On the morning of the 3rd day of the first month of September, after Li Yanzhi's sentinels returned to the camp, they immediately came to report to Li Yanzhi about a series of recent changes, which made Li Yanzhi stunned.

The Chinese army supervised Han Pu, led an army of 13,000, set off from the whole team of Guzang, and once again led the army to Jincheng to station. At dusk the next day, the official documents personally signed by Zhang Zhijun in Guzang City were sent to the county capitals by the herald sentinels. In the document, all counties along the route, including Wuxing, Dacheng, Xiangwu, Yanran, Pingdi, Guangwu, Yongdeng, Zhiyang, and Lingju, were required to collect grain and grass and prepare ordnance and weapons for the use of the army. Among them, Wuxing guarded Xin Yan too much, Wuwei guarded Dou Tao, etc., and led the army to accompany Han Pu.

Li Yanzhi's trembling hands could barely hold the paperwork. This paper document almost gave him a slap in the face, and it made him a little confused. After more than three years of peace, and all the work has just achieved certain results, this Zhang Yuanjun will be happy to raise the sword again. It really made Li Yanzhi sigh in shock.

And the most important question is that the main general who led the army this time is still Han Pu's mediocre talent! From the war in the eleventh year of Jianxing, Li Yanzhi can be said to have fully recognized Han Pu's level. Zhang Zhijun still used Han Pu as a general in this hastily decided expedition, but Li Yanzhi felt incomprehensible.

Last time, Han Pu and Yin Jian led the army into Longxi, and divided it into two places: Tunji City and Sangbi. Later, Liu Zhao's army besieged, and the elite of the Liangzhou army stationed in these two places was defeated almost overnight. As the main general, he put himself and the elite soldiers under his command in such a dangerous situation in an instant, and the offense and defense were transposed, and the advance and retreat were lost, so he even almost let the dangerous Liangzhou be defeated in an instant, I have to say that it is Han Pu, the chief general of the Eastern Expeditionary Army.

Although there are quite a few whispers in my heart, I don't want to. However, Li Yanzhi still maintained a high degree of restraint and reason. He also knew in his heart that the current Han Pu was not something that he, a county Sima, could put his beak. Even if he had expressed his opinion on this, his recital would have been thrown into the wasteland by the new Zhang Envoy. Maybe he will be angry and condemn him for lying about it.

Li Yanzhi, who is humble and well-aware of his position, decided not to touch Zhang Yuanjun's bad head. He had no choice but to turn around and began to think about how to arrange the affairs of the army. The stack of reports in his hand approached the candle flame, watched them burn, and then threw the stack of burning hemp paper into the copper basin. Looking at the jumping flames, Li Yanzhi's face was as pale as iron, and he gently squeezed out two words from his mouth.

"Expand!".