Zhen Rong escaped from Guangling City and led his troops to Danyang County, rejoicing in his heart and proud of the masterpiece he left behind.

However, looking back on the past few years of taking refuge in Tao Qian, he began to win Tao Qian's trust and was entrusted with important tasks, but in the end, he was punished without teaching, which was chilling.

At this moment, his state of mind has changed a lot, that is, in troubled times, only he can control his own destiny, no one else can be trusted, only his believers, officers and soldiers, and the sword in his hand can be trusted.

Danyang County Taishou Xue Li and Zhen Rong are old friends, and now they need the support of Zhen Rong, so they are particularly generous to Zhen Rong and the troops he brought. At the beginning, in order to make it easier for Zhenrong to transport materials, he appointed Zhenrong as the county magistrate of Jiangcheng County, which made Zhenrong rush out more money and food and other wealth and soldiers; Later, he was appointed as the county magistrate of Wanling County.

At this time, Taishou Xue Li did not fully control Danyang County, and he still led troops to be stationed in Moling County and controlled the eastern counties of Danyang County.

Danyang County was originally governed by Wanling County, and Zhenrong was the hero of Wanling County, and he had a very good reputation in the local area.

In order to facilitate the transportation of materials and strengthen the defense of Yuan Shu's forces, the magistrate of Chungu County along the river was also replaced by a person from Zhenrong.

Zhenrong brought a large number of ships, those sailors, all accustomed to water, and strong, with a little training, they are qualified sailors, Taishou Xue Li ordered him to take over Chungu County, is to value the strength of his navy.

Coupled with the thousands of Danyang soldiers he brought back, the nearly 10,000 Buddhist believers recruited by Guangling County who were loyal to him, and the few cavalry, Zhenrong had the capital to protect himself in Jiangnan.

There is a lack of war horses in the south, and the number of cavalry is even less, and his 2,000 cavalry definitely has the combat power to sweep one side in the Jiangnan region.

This only adds to the ambition of Zhenrong.

At that time, there were not only Xue Li's soldiers in the eastern part of Danyang County, but also several large camps arranged by the state pastor Liu Xuan to defend against Yuan Shu's forces.

Due to the arrival of a large number of troops and the arrival of a large amount of money and grain, Zhenrong easily stabilized the situation in Wanling County and Chungu County.

The first task is to recruit soldiers, and anyone can see that in troubled times, only soldiers can ensure their safety, and the overall quality of the soldiers in Danyang County far exceeds that of Jiangbei, which is also the reason why Zhenrong dared to abandon tens of thousands of Guangling soldiers and only bring his cronies and descendants to come.

Secondly, his escape from Guangling County was based on timely intelligence, and if it weren't for those excellent scouts who were loyal to him, he might have returned to the Buddha by now; Therefore, after a little stability, he sent a large number of scouts to the surrounding counties and the territory of Xue Li and Liu Xuan, and he wanted to keep abreast of the latest developments of various forces.

Finally, and the most critical part, eliminate other wealthy clans in the western part of the county and dominate the western part of Danyang County.

Fortunately, there are no Dashi clans in the Jiangnan area, most of them are small landlords or small tycoons, but they all have a certain amount of armament.

In the south of the Yangtze River, the Han people are not dominant in numbers, backward in farming, and are often plundered by the Shanyue people, and the contradiction with the Shanyue people is very large, and they must live together, which lays the conditions for the emergence of small landlords and haoqiang; They built strong fortresses, had powerful tribes, had their own people, and paid no or very little taxes to the government.

These small landlords or powerful private armies have been fighting against the Shanyue people in constant wars, and their combat effectiveness is very strong.

These families do not have any benevolence, let alone benevolence and morality, they only focus on the interests of the family, and do everything they can, and it is inevitable that they will be thieves and bandits, which is an instinctive reaction cultivated in a difficult environment.

If you want to expand your strength, you must either gain the support of these small landlords or small tyrants, or you can incorporate them into your own subordinates, there is no other way.

Zhenrong is a local hero, quite prestigious, and strong soldiers, strong financial resources, but also ambitious, after stability, he began to plot against these small landlords and small heroes; And they belong to the same background as Zhenrong, and they have a good impression of Zhenrong, at least stronger than a foreigner who is appointed as a county commander, and they can't be completely at ease with Zhenrong, and they have a strong defensive mentality; It is the law of nature that the law of the jungle is the law of the jungle, and they are not immune to these powerful people, and the annexation of each other is a frequent occurrence, and they have to guard against it.

Zhen Rong is very cunning, full of benevolence and morality, and seems to be very charitable, but his heart is extremely ruthless; His mercy deceived many local tycoons and landlords.

After several months of preparation, the conditions were basically ripe, and Zhenrong summoned the heroes of Wanling County and Chungu County to come to Wanling City to discuss matters; Some people trust Zhen Rong and come happily, and some people are afraid, afraid that he has a conspiracy.

For the families who did not want to come, Zhenrong used intimidation methods, coercion and temptation, and forced them to comply.

Most of the families, driven by pressure and some other families, sent their patriarchs to Wanling City to participate in the meeting of the Zhenrong organization.

Zhen Rong was very satisfied, things were developing in the direction of his plan, not only the small wealthy families and small landlords in the two counties he actually controlled came, but even the ancestral family of Jing County, which was the strongest in the west of Danyang County, sent a patriarch to come; Prominent families in other counties sent their patriarchs.

Although these families nominally accepted Liu Xuan's rule, they did not have a good relationship with Taishou Xue Li because of taxes, population and other reasons, and they preferred to be under Liu Xuan's protection, becoming a force of their own and at ease, and did not want Liu Xuan to interfere with their control of the local area and affect their interests.

The reason for Zhen Rong's invitation to the families of several counties was to unite the western counties independently and jointly deal with the continuous erosion of Liu Miao and Xue Li; Having a common enemy and having a common need made these families actively respond to Zhenrong's call, and none of them are weaker than Zhenrong, and they would not have thought that Zhenrong had other tricks.

In particular, the arrival of the ancestral family has made more families believe in Zhenrong.

Zu Lang, a native of Lingyang, was a bandit who was active in Jing County in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the leader of the bandit forces, known as the marshal, who controlled Jing County and Lingyang County, with more than 10,000 strong soldiers and a very strong strength; And he has a very good relationship with the Shanyue people, and in his troops there are not only fierce bandits, but also brave and warlike Shanyue young and strong; His influence in the western part of Danyang County far surpassed that of Zhenrong.

organized this large-scale meeting, and the biggest target of Zhenrong was Zulang, and everyone else was a foil; As long as he takes Zu Lang and incorporates his army, even if the other families do not defect to Zhenrong, he will have the strength to easily defeat them, integrate their troops, and complete the unification of the western part of Danyang County.

Zhen Rong is not a stingy person, for the warm and grand hospitality of the family patriarch who came and the guards they brought, everyone gradually relaxed their guard against Zhen Rong, and some people even blamed themselves for thinking that they blamed Zhen Rong; And with the arrival of more and more families, everyone is even more relieved of Zhenrong, thinking that Zhenrong is for the sake of all the wealthy families in the west of Danyang County.

In the first few days, the patriarchs can contact and communicate privately; Zhen Rong also secretly spies with the patriarchs separately to check the attitude of each family towards him.

When all the invited families arrived, Zhenrong held a more grand banquet, and threw out his plan to unite everyone, integrate attack and defense, and make the west independent, so that everyone could relax their vigilance and drink freely.

That night, everyone was drunk.

It was not only these patriarchs who were drunk, but even their guards and cronies were also heavily drunk.

The fine wine transported from Xuzhou, these grass people in the south have never drunk it, how can they let go of such a delicious taste?

This is exactly what he is trying to do, and that's exactly what he is doing to organize this meeting.