In the past month, the situation in Xuzhou has changed dramatically. Wang Sang and Zhao Gu, with the assistance of Sima Ao, swept away Pengchengguo, Langya State, Dongguan County, Chengyang County and the western part of Donghai Kingdom. Except for the eastern coastal zone, as well as several counties in the south, most of Xuzhou has fallen into the hands of the two.

Obviously, Wei Shuo's discordant plan did not work, and Sima Ao still mixed well under Wang Sang and Zhao Gu, and was reappointed as the governor of Xuzhou by the two. During this period of time, Sima Ao assisted Wang and Zhao to not only occupy a vast territory, but also expanded their command to nearly 50,000 people.

However, it was not only bad news that reached Wei Shuo's ears, not long ago, Zu Ti was finally appointed by King Langya as the assassin of Xuzhou, and Pei Dun was finally recalled to Jiangdong. In addition to Zu Ti and Pei Dun, Wei Shuo, who was another hero of the great victory in the county, did not receive any awards because of the obstruction of the family.

After getting the appointment of King Langya, Zu Ti set up the Xuzhou governance office in Huaiyin, and now he is stationed in Huaiyin, actively building weapons, recruiting displaced people, intending to expedition north to the Central Plains, recovering the lost territory.

Although Zu Ti was very active in the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains, he even once wrote to King Langya in the name of Xuzhou Assassin Shi to state the pros and cons: "The rebellion of the Jin Dynasty was not that the emperor was unreasonable and the people rebelled, but that the vassal kings fought for power and killed each other, giving Yi Di an opportunity. ”

"Now that the people of the Northland are being ravaged, they all have the will to fight back. If the king can command the general, let Zu Ti and others be the commanders, the heroes of Jiangbei will definitely respond to the wind, and the fallen people will also rejoice. In this way, it may be possible to repay the shame of the snow country. ”

Although Ran Zu Ti had the ambition of the Northern Expedition, he ignored the most urgent political problem that King Langya needed to solve in front of him. It can't be said that Sima Rui has no ambition to restore his old capital, but the reality makes him have to think about how to base himself in Jiangdong first.

At present, the confrontation between the Southern Xiashi clan and the local families in Jiangdong is at its most intense, and King Langya has no time to think about anything else, he only thinks about how to get the most out of the two families in order to lay the foundation for him to take power in the future. At this critical moment, Zu Ti asked King Langya to support his Northern Expedition, and it has to be said that Zu Ti lacked sufficient political wisdom.

Therefore, after receiving the request of the new Xuzhou Thorn Shi, although Sima Rui, the king of Langya, was extremely dissatisfied with Zu Ti, he was afraid of the outside world's evaluation of him, so he had to pinch his nose and allocate thousands of food and wages and 3,000 pieces of cloth to Zu Ti, so that he could recruit his own soldiers and make his own weapons.

Sima Rui, the king of Langya, did not shake his determination to go on the Northern Expedition and vowed to sweep the Central Plains. He personally led hundreds of troops and stationed them in Huaiyin. Since Jiangdong couldn't count on it, Zu Ti pinned the hope of the Northern Expedition on Wei Shuo.

In August, Zu Ti and Zu Yue rode north from Huaiyin all the way north to Zhuqi County with dozens of trilogies to visit Wei Shuo. Upon learning of Zu Ti's visit, Wei Shuo was overjoyed, and hurriedly personally led his subordinates out of the city to welcome the arrival of the new Lord Assassin.

"Congratulations to General Zu for taking charge of Xuzhou, please take care of me in the future."

As soon as he saw Wei Shuo, he couldn't help but joke that he was happy to see Zu Ti's superiority. Whether it is from the overall situation of resisting Hu or from a personal point of view, Zu Ti's appointment as the assassin of Xuzhou will have more advantages than disadvantages for Wei Shuo.

Zu Ti beat the horse and came to Wei Shuo with emotion, and after listening to Wei Shuo's jokes, he couldn't help but smile bitterly: "If it weren't for the guard Cao, I guess the position of Xuzhou Assassin would not have a fate with me." Jianghuai is the barrier of Jiangdong, and the king of Langya is willing to entrust the important task of defense here to Zu, which is affected by the great victory in the county. ”

"Speaking of which, there is also a credit to the guard Cao, who would have thought that Langya Wangfu Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Zu failed to get an official and a half position for the guard Cao, it is really ashamed! When I think about it, I feel shameless to face the guards Cao! ”

Wei Shuo has long been mentally prepared for King Langya's cancellation of his reward, not to mention that he is from a poor family, just offending the Langya Wang family at the beginning is enough for him to drink a pot, and King Langya will never offend the Wang brothers for a Wei Shuo.

So I saw that Wei Shuo waved his hand disapprenosuringly and said: "Lord Thorn Shi is too worried, I don't blame the Lord here, this matter has nothing to do with Lord Zu at all, I'm afraid it is because Wei Mou offended the Langya Wang clan before." ”

"Langya Wang's Clan?" Zu Ti was shocked when he heard this, he didn't expect that Jiang Dong and Wei Shuo would have such a deep grudge entanglement.

"Well, but it was a long time ago, so there's no need to mention it again. Today, Lord Assassin Shi came to me to wish him, the county government personnel led by Liang County Commander have already prepared a welcome banquet, I think we should not live up to Lord Liang's hard work, let's go to the table first. ”

"Okay, just according to what Lord Wei said!"

Zu Ti and Wei Shuo took the lead, and the others followed behind the two and slowly walked to the county seat. There were not many people attending the banquet, except for Zu Ti and Wei Shuo's henchmen and brothers, none of the local celebrities and Haoqiang participated in it. Looking at the banquet that was much deserted from the past, Zu Ti was only a little surprised.

"Today, Zu came to visit the guard Cao, firstly, to reiterate the willingness of the two sides to become allies, and secondly, to ask Lord Wei for help." After three rounds of wine, five flavors of food, when the atmosphere of the banquet reached a climax, Zu Ti said the purpose of the trip through the wine.

I saw Zu Xiao looking at Wei Shuo with drunken eyes and complaining: "In addition to giving the next Xuzhou assassin's body, King Langya only allocated hundreds of stones of grain and three thousand pieces of cloth, and there is no other assistance. It is only agreed that you can make your own armor and recruit soldiers independently. ”

"When Kezu went south, most of his family property was lost in the north, and most of the property he carried with him was used to help the homeless, and he really had no money left in his hands. But if you don't have money, how can you raise food and grass and recruit soldiers? Hearing that the guard Cao Shengcai had a good way, he came here today to ask for help. ”

"Lord Assassin Shi, the imperial court has not allocated the grain, grass and ordnance for the Northern Expedition, is the Xuzhou Mansion Treasury also empty?" Who knew that as soon as Zu Ti finished speaking, Wei Shuo had not yet spoken, but Liang Qiu next to him asked first.

"Xuzhou Treasury? Hehe......" Zu Ti smiled bitterly when he heard this, he turned his head to look at Liang Qiu and explained: "Liang County Order doesn't know, except for a part of the Xuzhou Mansion Treasury that was squandered by Pei Dun, most of it fell into the hands of the Hu people. At the beginning, Pengcheng was accidentally lost, and a large amount of grain, grass, and money were not transferred in time, and they all fell into the hands of the Hu people, otherwise how could Wang Sang and Zhao Gu expand their troops by more than 30,000 in just one month. ”

"Pei Dun's sin is unforgivable!" Hearing this, Wei Shuo said coldly: "The reason why the world has fallen to this point has a lot to do with the fact that the court is full of flashy officials like Pei Dun. ”

"Alas, it's useless to talk about these things now, before he came, Zu also asked for help from the powerful families in Guangling and Linhuai, but without exception they were unwilling to help Zu. As a last resort, Zu thought of coming to ask the guard Cao for help. ”

Zu Ti explained to Wei Shuo with some embarrassment, after all, he was a dignified Xuzhou assassin and Wei Shuo's top boss, but now he could only ask the other party for help with a cheeky face.

Wei Shuo nodded, indicating that he understood Zu Ti's distress, and he muttered for a while: "Relying on the benefits of green salt, I have a lot of surplus funds in my hands, but I can't give it to Lord Thorn Shi." What do you think of this? Please appoint Wei as the envoy of Tuntian in Xuzhou, and assign the eastern coastal zone of the four counties of Zhuqi, Qu, Licheng, and Ganyu in the East China Sea Kingdom, including Yuzhou Island, to be managed. ”

"Now there are people in Xuzhou everywhere, and people are displaced. Wei is not talented, and he is willing to follow the example of the ancient sages Tuntian Anmin! If the Assassin's Mansion can agree to Wei's condition, he can hand over one million yuan and 30,000 stone of grain to the Assassin's Mansion every year. With these, it is enough to ensure that Lord Assassin Shi recruits and trains more than 10,000 soldiers. ”

Zu Tiguo was very human, and after only thinking about it for a while, he made up his mind and agreed to Wei Shuo's request without hesitation. At present, the eastern part of Xuzhou is in chaos, and the powerful people in various places have divided themselves to protect themselves, and Zu Ti is simply unable to govern the eastern coastal areas. It is quite cost-effective to exchange a piece of land for 30,000 stone grains and grass and millions of dollars in taxes every year.

Seeing Zu Ti agree, Wei Shuo was secretly overjoyed. In fact, Wei Shuo has long been coveted by the surrounding counties, but he has no jurisdiction in the name, so he has always suppressed the desire to expand around. Now that he has been officially appointed by the Assassin's Mansion, he can justifiably expand his influence to the entire eastern part of the East China Sea Kingdom.