The effects of the Battle of Zhuoluo soon became apparent, and in mid-March, the Beiting Khan led his army to retake Shazhou, and the party was unable to suppress it, so it was left to the farthest state west of the river to escape its control. Shazhou is ancient Dunhuang, one of the important nodes of the Silk Road in the Han and Tang Dynasties, which broke away from the party's power, and there were merchants who tried to take the southern route from Qingtang to Qinzhou.

Immediately afterwards, because Miao Chuan and Brother Zong could not have direct contact with the party, they returned to Qingtang City from Lijing City, provoking a conflict with Brother Zong. The forces of the Tubo in Hexi were mainly the southward movement of Tubo in Hexi and the surrounding Tibetan tribes in Qinghai, which were inextricably linked with the Tibetan tribes received by Xu Ping in the Lanzhou area, and Miaochuan and Zongge were besieged on all sides.

Although Xu Ping had no intention of going west, the Hexi Prefectures of the Party were still stormy, and in mid-March, they had to rebuild the Zhuo Luo and Nanjian Military Divisions. However, Yuan Hao was frightened by Xu Ping's first battle, and the newly built Zhuoluo City moved more than 100 miles north to Liangzhou.

The battle of Zhuoluo City created a large gap in power around Lanzhou, and the various Tibetan tribes were ready to move and fought endlessly. However, the focus of the struggle between Song and the party had already left there and moved to the area of Tiandu Mountain in the east of Huizhou.

The boundary between the Song Dynasty and the Dangxiang is Hengshan Mountain in the east, Hanhai in the middle, Huluchuan as the boundary, and Tiandu Mountain and Mabitshan Mountain in the west. After two battles of Sanduchuan and Zhuoluo City, Xu Ping has firmly controlled the location of Mabitshan, and thus controlled the two important places of Lanzhou and Didao. And to threaten the hinterland of the party, the next step is to fight for Tiandu Mountain.

At this time, the party's sphere of influence was roughly divided into three parts from east to west. To the east is the Wuding River Basin, with Yinzhou and Xiazhou as the center, which is the core area of the party's initial rise, since the late Tang Dynasty, the party's inventory is three hundred years away, and Yuan Hao's rule is the foundation of the party. However, the land is barren and the output is not much, especially the agriculture is not developed. In the middle is the irrigated plain centered on Xingzhou and Lingzhou, which is called the Hetao area in later generations, and Zhao Jiqian promoted Xingzhou to Xingqing Mansion, where the royal court is located. In terms of economic status, this is the foundation of the party's state, and the food needed by their army must be provided here. To the west were the four counties of Hexi in the Han Dynasty, which occupied the east-west trade routes from ancient times and severed the connection between the Great Song Dynasty and the various ethnic groups in the Western Regions.

When Xu Ping came to Qinzhou from the capital, his original strategy was to go west through the Hehuang area, and then cut off the road to Hexi and cut off Yuan Hao's arm. However, after occupying Mabit Mountain, the strategy naturally changed, and the strategic focus was placed on the line of Tiandu Mountain. Since the late Tang Dynasty, this area fell into Fanhu, and the later Central Plains Dynasty had limited understanding of this area, and Xu Ping was no exception. In fact, as long as you occupy Mabit Mountain, you will find that there is a better choice, that is, to occupy the Tiandu Mountain to the east, open the Huluchuan channel, and directly threaten the core of the party, Xing and Lingzhou. Historically, Wang Shao passed through the river and Huang, and also went through such a repetition, but he went further west.

This change of strategy was originally enough to cause a quarrel in the court, but with the great victory of Zhuo Luo City, it also became calm, and no one challenged Xu Ping's choice at this time. The military reform in Qinzhou, which had been quiet in the DPRK and China, suddenly became a hot topic, mainly officials of the Shaozhuang faction, and there were people constantly writing books to discuss it, just like the scene when Xu Ping's economic reform was successful. Two big victories, with the rapid promotion of officials in the northwest of Xu Pinglai, even Liu Sanbian, who only wrote lyrics and composed music in the army, was quickly promoted to Dr. Guozi, and the number of officials promoted in one year was more than that of him in ten years of officialdom, and it was impossible for officials who were rolling in the middle and lower levels to have no ideas. The same military is reused in other places, and with the same military merits, how many people will be promoted?

When Xu Ping first came to Qinzhou, he wanted to find civilian officials to supplement the military to enrich the command system, but there were many difficulties, and few people responded, so he had to use a large number of Luodi Jinshi. Up to now, many Jinshi who have not been promoted for many years have taken the initiative to be willing to join the Qinzhou army. As long as you have military merits, it is not difficult to change back to civilian information when you really need it, but the real difficulty is to change your military position, and you will cause trouble without any performance. With such a bright road to promotion, the temptation is still very great.

Xu Ping, who is far away in the northwest, is outside this turmoil, and the formation of a new trend of thought will inevitably go through a fierce struggle, and he only needs to point out the way in front, and there is no need to fall into it.

Zhuoluo City was defeated, Yuan Hao basically lost the dividends won in the battle of Sanchuankou, and the upcoming battle for the front line of Tiandu Mountain was bound to be more intense, and the generals on both sides of the confrontation on the front line knew this. It is absolutely impossible to fight a war without money, Yuan Hao's brain finally moved to printing banknotes, and the reality is that he has to do it. Originally, Zhang Yuan was his idle boy who was put there for backup, but now it has become the key for him to continue the war.

In late March, Zhang Yuan was promoted to the post of the third envoy of the party, and he really had real power, in charge of the printing of banknotes and the development of financial resources, and raised military salaries for the upcoming war.

On this day, Xu Ping was sitting in the courtyard of the newly built official office, and Fan Xiang, the general judge of Qinzhou, hurriedly called over and saluted: "Jingluo, the news from Xingqing Mansion that the thief has learned to open a bank and a company in this dynasty!" ”

Xu Ping smiled when he heard this: "Then are you ready, we will also make some money from it." ”

"Since the last time the sick lieutenant came to me, I sent him back to Xingfu Mansion, and I have been in touch. As soon as the thief was determined, he and Tong Dalang opened a company to send all kinds of strange goods. - Of course, the head of the company, and even some key positions, were sent by us. Now I am thinking, how to use such a pipe to draw blood from the thieves, so that they can't fight! ”

Xu Ping shook his head: "General judgment, it's not okay to let the party not fight." Hao thief is a yin owl, but he is very shrewd, and as soon as he finds that he will not be able to fight if he does this, he will naturally stop this matter. ”

Fan Xiang couldn't help but be a little anxious: "How is that good?" We can't help the thieves to strengthen their forces to fight us! ”

"Of course we can't help him, but we can do something for them. In the general judgment, there is a saying called drinking water to quench thirst, or overdrawing people's strength. We can help the thieves to scrape the ground in the places they are in charge of, and speed up the exhaustion of the people's power. You see, in this way, the thief really sees the benefits, and he will definitely not be able to stop. We also get the benefits from it, the best of both worlds. Of course, the people of Fanjing have to suffer a little, but what can be done about this? The long pain is better than the pain, they have worked hard for two years, and it is really good for them to let the Hao thieves and people fall as soon as possible and return to the rule of the imperial court! ”

Fan Xiang thought for a while, nodded and said, "After saying this, I do understand a little. However, there is still a rough charter, what we sell to the thieves and what we buy from them. ”

"What is sold there, it is still mainly for eating, drinking, and having fun, especially spirits, which should be the largest. When buying from them, the first choice is horses, there is no limit to the number, the more the better. The second is armor and weapons, bows, crossbows, knives and guns, even if we buy them back and don't use them ourselves, it is cost-effective to melt cast iron. Some other miscellaneous things, such as tea sugar and the like, you can just make your own ideas. The general principle is not to allow the party's military strength to plummet, otherwise it will not be possible to do this thing, and the main thing is to overdraft the people's strength. ”