Seeing that the troubles on his body were removed, Li Chengdao couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. He knew very well that although he was Murong Cheng's cronies, although he had followed Murong Cheng for more than ten years, although he was very trusted by Murong Cheng. However, if one is not good, it may make someone's head roll off at any time. For the monarch, who does not kill people without blinking.

Suddenly, he remembered one more thing, so he said in a loud voice: "Back to the lord, my subordinates have one more thing to return." ”

"Speak!" Murong Cheng said coldly. Although he did not blame Lee Seung-do for allowing the navy to defect, a third of the navy was gone, and it was impossible for him not to have a little anger in his heart.

Li Chengdao said in a deep voice: "My lord, the Zhao army pulled away one-third of our navy, in addition to their great strength and subordinates' scruples of attracting a big enemy, it is also related to the news from the Zhao army. Admiral believes that the impact of this matter at this moment is greater than that of one-third of the naval forces. ”

"Huh?" Murong Cheng and the others were all stunned and looked at Li Chengdao.

"Tell me? What news can compare to the role of a third of the naval fleet at this moment? Although our naval fleet is not comparable to the Zhao army, although the naval fleet cannot land. However, they can sneak attack and suppress the eastern coast of Xuzhou at the moment. In addition, they can also be greatly helped by the Yangzhou Prefectures occupied by the Xuzhou army. Murong Cheng was a little unconvinced, and even, he was a little annoyed, thinking that this was Li Chengdao exonerating his actions.

Li Chengdao also heard Murong Cheng's dissatisfaction, but he was not nervous at all, and said respectfully: "The former lord was trapped in Xuzhou, and the navy was lonely overseas, and the actual situation in the inland was not reported. Zhao Jun sent an envoy to say that if the lord returned to Yangzhou in the south, if he was interested, Zhao Jun was willing to cooperate with us and fight with other princes. Zhao Jun can contain Yongjun for us and reduce the pressure. At that time, his subordinates did not know the actual battle situation of our army, but listening to what Zhao Jun said, Situ Lei had already attacked our Qidi. ”

Therefore, his subordinates did not dare to fight to the death, which angered the Zhao army and put us in a situation where the world was the enemy. In addition, his subordinates also believe that if our situation is critical, the Zhao army in the north may not be our help. After all, we do not border with the Zhao army, at most we will lose part of the navy. Zhao's navy is already above us, and its main place of action is still in the Yizhou Islands in the northeast, and the danger to us is minimal. ”

However, the Zhao army borders on the Yongjun forces, and Zhao Xun definitely does not want to see Situ Lei develop and grow, which brings a threat to himself. After all, the Yongjun army and the Turks in the north will bring him a situation of attacking from both sides in the south and the north. Although the navy is important, at this moment, the states on the road are our roots. ”

"What did the envoy of the Zhao army say?" Murong Cheng frowned and asked. If what Li Chengdao said is true, then it is not bad news for Qi Jun at this moment.

"My subordinates will never dare to deceive the lord."

Murong Cheng looked sideways at Zhang Tu and the others, with a different color on his face, and said in a deep voice: "What do you think? What exactly does this Zhao Jun mean? Are we worth working with them? ”

Zhang Tu rubbed his eyebrows and said astringently: "Lord, it's not a question of whether it's worth it now, but we have no choice." For Zhao Jun, whether we cooperate with them or not has little impact on them. And for us, if Zhao Jun participates in the war, then, we can reduce a lot of pressure. According to the guess of his subordinates, once the Zhao army entered the war, their target was Liangzhou in the northwest. ”

"The Zhao army attacked Liangzhou, which can alarm Situ Lei. However, his subordinates were worried that Situ Lei would abandon Liangzhou and move south with the main force to capture Jiang and Jiaozhou. After all, the land of Liangzhou is poor, and it is still much worse than Jiangzhou and Jiaozhou. ”

"The reason why Zhao Jun said that he wanted to cooperate with us was that he hoped that we could hold out in the southwest of Qidi for a longer time, and not let Situ Lei win too quickly. In other words, don't let Situ Lei develop too fast. Whether we work with it or not, it's the same for us. However, if you cooperate with it, you can buy some grain and grass materials through guò sea ships. Nowadays, we can recruit soldiers from the state capitals, but there is indeed a slight shortage of armor and food and grass supplies. ”

"Of course, as far as we know, this Zhao Xun has reached a certain agreement with Situ Radar. It is very likely that Zhao Xun is unwilling to directly tear up the agreement signed not long ago, so he wants to unite with us and make a banner for his own army. so that after leaving the army, he will not bear the name of treachery. ”

Immediately, Zhang Tu sighed slightly, and said in a deep voice: "This Zhao Xun is just to sit and watch the southern princes fight each other, and then get benefits from it. Silently, it becomes more and more powerful, and it does not have to pay too much price. ”

Murong Cheng said hatefully: "What is going on with the Turks? Didn't we say yes at the beginning? We sent an army to attack Xuzhou. The Turks took the opportunity to go south to attack the Zhao army, giving the Yong army a chance to make a move. Why haven't they been beaten down yet? ”

Zhong Yan replied: "Returning to the lord, it's not that the Turks didn't dispatch, but that Zhao Xun had already prepared. According to our spies in the north, Zhao Xun began to woo various tribes with grain last winter. He successively gathered nine large tribes, armed them with weapons, and took advantage of the situation to brave the snow to brave the northern expedition, and in one fell swoop advanced the battle line to the north for more than 500 miles. Hundreds of large and small tribes have been destroyed and dozens of tribes have been subdued. Now, these tribes that had surrendered or surrendered, under the command of the Zhao army, were fighting against the Turkic Xue Jian Khan, while the Zhao army was supporting in the rear. As a result, the Turkic armies remained in a stalemate in the northern steppes. ”

"The most important thing is that Zhao Xun wantonly sold various materials such as grain, salt, tea, ironware and other materials and tribes that belonged to him, and won over those neutral tribes. It was very difficult for Xue Jian Khan to gather troops to counterattack. ”

"What's even more severe is that when Xue Jian Khan was defeated in Liangzhou and withdrew his troops back to his division, he offended many tribes. These tribes were already dissatisfied, and now they had the support of Zhao Jun behind them, which suddenly made these tribes begin to centrifuge against Xue Jian Khan and no longer surrender. The current Xue Jian Khan is much weaker than he was at the beginning. Xue Jian Khan was busy dealing with his own internal problems, and he had no time to lead his army south to conquer. ”

Zhang Tu said with emotion: "Zhao Jun has always been accustomed to splitting the other party and fighting each other internally. and then slowly annex it. Now, the Zhao army began to move the people north in Bingzhou, Xiazhou and other places, and began to build cities and expand their territory more than 100 miles to the north. The price paid was the purchase and sale of a part of the food and supplies and the internal consumption of the Turks. ”

Hearing that the two civil officials under his command were admiring each other, Murong Cheng suddenly felt distressed. Although he was also deeply impressed by some of Zhao Xun's actions, this did not mean that he could accept his subordinates praising his enemies in front of him.

"Okay, let's talk about it for now. Since Zhao Jun wants Zhao Situ Lei's trouble and wants an excuse, then we will give it to him. Zhang Tu sent someone to contact Zhao Jun and said...... Let's just say that we will exchange one-third of the naval warships and half of Qiongzhou Island for the assistance of the Zhao army. In this way, we can not only cover up our situation, but also make Zhao Jun's dispatch of troops reasonable. ”

Situ Lei...... Hum...... He can raid us, and I'll see if he can block Zhao Jun's raid on him. ”

…………

The capital of Liangzhou, in the north of Yanzhou, was occupied by the Tang army in connection with the Yanzhou army. Here, in order to make it more convenient to recover in the future, when Zhao Xun pretended to be Li Feng and fought against the Tang army with Feng Ziming in the south, he left several mountain bandit armies to prepare as an internal response.

However, it seems that it is no longer necessary. Because the Tang army had reached an agreement with the Yanzhou army, a large number of grain, grass, materials, armor and equipment, as well as transit to exchange the Zhufu counties occupied by the Tang army.

"General Wei, aren't you on the front line in Yuzhou? How did you end up here? It is you, the general, who is responsible for taking over the territory of the Tang Army this time? Wang Yue, the leader of the "mountain bandits" who was left in Liangzhou Mansion by Zhao Xun as an internal response in the past, said to Wei Dong in surprise.

Wei Dong said with a smile on his face: "Yuzhou has been pacified, and in the short term, there will be no war." Therefore, the lord asked me to go north here and take over the garrison of the Tang army. Wang Yue, you've been here for a year and a half, how many people are there now? If you count it, you will be incorporated into the army and used as a local government soldier. This time I took over the Tang Army's prefectures and counties, and I didn't have many troops in my hands. ”

Wang Yue said with a smile: "Not much, there are more than 10,000 brothers below now, but if they want to be incorporated into the army, they still have to be trained strictly." I am not worried about their combat effectiveness, but what I am worried about is that they do not understand our military regulations and military discipline. If you don't train, you're afraid of ......."

Wei Dong understood that most of Wang Yue's subordinates were mountain bandits, although under the leadership and management of Wang Yue and some brothers in the guard battalion, they rarely did bad things, but they were not soldiers after all. There is still a big difference between mountain bandits and the army.

"In this way, let them enter the army, stay in the regular soldiers to fight, and organize the original regular soldiers and the new soldiers recruited by the local government into local government soldiers." Wei Dong said in a deep voice.

Wang Yue was overjoyed and said: "This is very good, our group of people are used to being wild, and they have no combat effectiveness." Then he frowned and said, "By the way, now that the Tang Army has not yet withdrawn, we will start to take over the place?" In case of conflict with them......"

Wei Dong put away his smile and said slowly: "Now that Tang Xian, the lord of the Tang Army, has established a foundation in the northern part of Jingzhou, the territory under his command has been divided into two, so naturally it is impossible to manage it effectively. Therefore, he wanted to withdraw his subordinates from the north to the south in exchange for certain supplies. Now, their way south is in our hands, and this is where they are about to give up. Therefore they did not dare to quarrel with us. ”

"Of course, we don't want to have anything to do with them. What we need to do is to place people everywhere and take over this place as soon as they leave, so as not to cause any accidents. Especially the land of the two provinces in the north of Xuzhou, since the Tang army handed it over to us, naturally we can't let it flow into the hands of the Xuzhou army. ”

As soon as Wei Dong said this, Wang Yue understood. This time, the army went north to the territory of the Tang Army, in order to take over and stabilize this place as quickly as possible after the Tang Army withdrew, so as to avoid accidents.

Shangqiu, Liangzhou Prefecture.

"General Meng, this action between you and me is related to the overall situation of the two armies, I wonder if the general is ready? If there is no situation, the men and horses of our Yanzhou army will start to enter the counties, and my Yanzhou army and you will each occupy two gates, what do you think? "In the city, Wei Dong asked Meng Zhao, the right general of the Tang Army, who was in charge of the overall situation.

Speaking of which, Meng Zhao and Wei Dong are also old acquaintances. In the past, the Tang Army, the Xuzhou Army and the old Yanzhou Army cooperated, at the expense of the Yanzhou Prefectures, in exchange for the alliance of all directions, and went south to attack the offensive of the Qi army. But it's a pity that Tang Jun's way was blocked by Zhao Xun. And Wei Dong was the general under Zhao Xun in the past, and the two armies fought not once or twice.

"General Wei rest assured, we are ready and ready to hand it over to the city defense at any time. However, I made it clear in advance that those things that belonged to us must be taken away by our Tang Army. This is also what my father-in-law demands. Meng Zhao said coldly.

Wei Dong smiled faintly and said, "Of course, the things that belong to you, as well as the personal belongings of your Tang Army, you can all carry them with you." But, I just don't know, what is considered to belong to you? ”

For these problems, Wei Dong naturally knew that it was inevitable that these conflicts of interests would be problems that needed to be faced from the beginning. However, now that the Yanzhou army has a certain upper hand, Wei Dong is not afraid that the other party will ask too much.

Then the two sides began to argue. However, in order to enter the prefectures as much as possible, especially in the northern two prefectures of Xuzhou, Wei Dong, who had already been instructed by Zhao Xun, gave up a lot of things. In the treasury of the prefectures, the Tang army can be allowed to carry some money and grain, and the gentry of the big families who are willing to leave in the prefectures can be allowed to leave with their family wealth.

After reaching a certain agreement with the Tang army, Wei Dong began to fully garrison Zhufu with 25,000 men of Yiwei and 10,000 men of Wang Yue. For the two prefectures in Yanzhou, it is better, directly stationed a small number of soldiers and horses, and some people and horses are drawn from the local government soldiers in the south of Yanzhou to be stationed here.

For the two northern provinces of Xuzhou, Wei Dong directly sent 20,000 soldiers to settle in. Immediately, the Tang army, which had been prepared, began to evacuate, and quickly took over Pengcheng and Haizhou. By the time the Xuzhou army in the southern provinces of these two provinces reacted, the Tang army on the opposite side had already become the Yanzhou army.

At the beginning of May, the Yanzhou army had completely taken over the two prefectures of Pengcheng and Haizhou. At this moment, Yangzhou is still in a stalemate.

Since Murong Cheng returned to Jiujiang Mansion, the situation in Yangzhou has gradually eased. Previously, the Qi army in Yangzhou was leaderless, and the situation of repeated defeats was suddenly reversed. After all, with Murong Cheng's withdrawal, there were still 150,000 troops. Not to mention that Murong Cheng is still the lord of the Qi army, once he arrives in Jiujiang Mansion, even if he calms the hearts of the Qi army, he can make overall arrangements for the Qi army.

The battle of the Xuzhou army was not smooth, at least it was not as smooth as before, and even, there was a feeling of regression. Seeing this, Li Chi personally rushed to the front line of Xin'an to sit down, hoping to restore the scene.

However, the battle situation in Yangzhou has not changed, but it is in his rear, and there have been big changes in the north of Xuzhou, which makes him angry.

"Are you saying that it is the Yanzhou army that occupies Pengcheng and Haizhou now, and it is no longer the Tang army?" Li Chi squinted his eyes and asked Li Dingfang, who was in charge of the situation in the north, coldly.

"Yes, the Tang army and the Yanzhou army do not know when an agreement will be reached, and the Tang army will cede his territory to the Yanzhou army in exchange for the evacuation channel to the south and a large amount of grain and grass supplies. Now, the former land of the Tang Army has been occupied by the Yanzhou Army. Li Dingfang replied bitterly.

"Why didn't you report earlier? What do you all eat? Tens of thousands of people changed guards, and you didn't even notice it, what use do you want? ”

Li Dingfang said in a low voice: "The subordinates have already returned to the lord once half a month ago, but ......"

Li Chi's face froze, and he suddenly remembered that the Xuzhou army stationed opposite the Tang army that day had indeed returned to him once that the Tang army had moved. It's just that he was busy occupying Yangzhou and ignored it.

"That's it...... The matter is a foregone conclusion, and there is no way to undo it. Unfortunately, this was an opportunity. I should have caught it in the first place. Li Chi deeply regretted that he had not taken action earlier that day.

"Let the men and horses in the north withdraw, except for the defense troops left, the rest will go south to the Yangzhou battlefield. Since the north can't win, let's start from Yangzhou. Li Chi sighed and said in a deep voice.

On the same day, the three parties joined forces and prepared to start the Qi army. After Li Chi learned that Tang Xian's goal was Jingzhou, he thought about the current location of the Tang army. Especially the two prefectures of Pengcheng and Haizhou, these two prefectures are under the jurisdiction of Xuzhou, and he naturally hopes to get them back. Therefore, at the beginning of the war, he arranged 30,000 elite troops in the north of Xuzhou, waiting for the Tang army to go south, and then attack the land of the two prefectures.

It's just that since the Qi army started the war, the situation has not been as ordinary as he thought. The Qi army did not fight to the death with the Yanzhou army in Yuzhou, but entered the territory of Xuzhou and fought with itself, which allowed the Tang army and the Yanzhou army to take advantage. Seeing this scene, he naturally did not dare to offend the Yanzhou Army and the Tang Army again.

Now that the land of these two provinces has become the territory of the Yanzhou Army, he knows that these two provinces will not be recovered. At least, don't think about it in the short term. Even if he could get it back by force, he couldn't do it. If the Yanzhou army was attacking from its flank at this moment, the Xuzhou army would really be divided into two parts.

"Hateful...... What a hate! It's really cheap Yanzhou Army. If Murong Cheng hadn't withdrawn to Yangzhou, how could this have happened? Li Chi regretted a little, regretting that he did not join the Yanzhou army at the beginning, and the coalition army trapped Murong Cheng to death at the junction of Xuzhou and Yuzhou. Even if you lose your troops at the beginning, you can still attack south. However, the matter is irreparable, and all that is left for him is regret and resentment.

"Where did the Yanzhou Army get so many materials to exchange with the Tang Army?"

"It is said that it was purchased from Zhao Di, and the Yanzhou army had a butcher's knife in Yuzhou, but it got a lot of money."

Although unwilling, Li Chi finally let go of his ambitions for Pengcheng and Haizhou......