It is the third day of the seventh month of midsummer.

After entering the city, Liu Cun did not immediately hold a celebration banquet with dozens of civil and military officials who warmly greeted him, but directly entered the military camp on the edge of the general's mansion to visit the 300 soldiers and more than 20 light and serious wounded soldiers of the tiger and leopard battalion who had made great contributions in this battle, and commended and rewarded Ni Qing, the commander of the tiger and leopard battalion, and more than 30 soldiers with outstanding performance.

At night, Liu Cun, who had finished the celebration banquet, returned to his mansion and found that his eldest brother Mi Zhu was holding his youngest son, who was less than a year old, and his beloved wife Mi Huan was talking non-stop. Seeing Liu Cun, Mi Huan hurriedly ran over to greet him, and after a while, he hugged his son and retreated into the inner room amid Liu Cun's loving warm words.

After Liu Cun finished washing and changing, he returned to the guest hall, drank tea with his uncle who was getting fatter and fatter, drank a sip of hot tea with a different flavor and fragrant fragrance, and immediately looked at the amber-colored tea in the cup in surprise carefully: "You actually made it?" ”

Mi Zhu laughed: "How is it?" This black tea can still be eaten, right? ”

"It's so much better than I thought." After Liu Cun finished speaking, he took a sip of the tea in the cup, and motioned to the maid next to him to bring another cup: "When did you arrive?" ”

Mi Zhu smiled and said: "Hurry up and hurry up to finally arrive before the city gate closes, and I learned that you are holding a celebration banquet, so I have to quietly come to your house to wait, and talk to Huan'er by the way...... My parents also missed Huan'er very much, so they asked me to send a lot of things, and said that if they had time, they would let Huan'er take her little grandson home to live for a while. ”

Liu Cun nodded, and a mysterious smile appeared on his face: "You will arrive as soon as I come back, I'm afraid it's not just to bring hometown greetings and gifts to Huan'er, right?" ”

Mi Zhu made no secret of his intentions: "This is mainly entrusted by the state pastor, and I asked Zijian to send troops to help Xuzhou...... Cao Mengde's army of 80,000 has been launched. All the army is vegetarian. The momentum is like a rainbow. It will soon be killed in the territory of my Xuzhou, and the whole Xuzhou is now a panic! ”

"General Cao Bao and the second brother's troops and horses have all been transferred, and those families who have been secretly in contact with Cao Mengde for a long time have also begun to be restless, ready to join forces inside and outside, alas! It seems that this big war can't be avoided after all! ”

At the celebration banquet, Liu Cun had already received briefings from his confidants Gongsun Pei, Zhao Rong and Wang Qi, who came from Kaiyang Wangcheng, and was very clear about the current situation and troop deployment in Xuzhou, and quickly reached a consensus on how to deal with it, so Liu Cun was no longer polite to Mi Zhu. Tell us what you have decided directly:

"Xun Yu, the envoy sent by Cao Mengde, arrived in Jinan three days ago and has been waiting for my reception, and Yuan Highway in Runan and Gongsun Bogui in Youzhou have also sent envoys to listen to my attitude in Qingzhou...... Therefore, without obtaining an edict from the imperial court, Qingzhou would not aid Xuzhou a single soldier. ”

Mi Zhu smiled bitterly: "I foresaw this situation before I came, and I don't want to persuade you to wade into this troubled water immediately, I just want to ask you to send thousands of men and horses into Nancheng to fill the emptiness left after the second brother led his troops to leave, how can we also keep our hard-won foundation!" ”

"There's nothing wrong with that...... Lejin's Third Division of the Langya Army has completed its training after changing its clothes. I will transfer these 15,000 men and horses to Nancheng, plus the second division of the Langya Army stationed in Fei County, will respond at any time. Your turf will never be fine. Liu Cun added.

Mi Zhu was relieved when he heard this, and took out a list from his sleeve and handed it to Liu Cun: "The ordnance materials that Brother Yu was ordered to procure, if you can, will be transported back within ten days as much as possible." ”

Liu Cun read it carefully: "50,000 sets of infantry equipment is no problem, 500 large crossbow cars have to be transported from Zhushan, but 7,000 war horses are too much, I can give you half at most...... As for gunpowder and thunderbolts, don't even think about it, I am reluctant to use it in this attack on Hedong, and I am not willing to let the princes of all walks of life know that there is such a big killing weapon. ”

Mi Zhu was already very satisfied: "I heard that you scraped away all the land in Hedong, the harvest must be very big, right?" ”

Liu Cun smiled: "It's really a lot, haha!" By the way, the day after tomorrow at the latest, the ship transporting 7 million catties of copper and 5 million catties of gold and silver will arrive, and then you will accompany me to Zibo for a trip, and by the way, I will discuss with Mr. Han Yang and other people in charge of finance and money, can you take this opportunity to make a little fortune from Xuzhou and Yanzhou? ”

Mi Zhu was taken aback: "My God, I'm afraid you have already removed all the bronze statues in several major temples in Hedong, right?" ”

Liu Cun was quite surprised: "Do you also know the bronze statues of gods in those large and small temples in Hedong?" ”

Mi Zhu smiled bitterly: "It's over, it's over, the good reputation you've worked so hard to accumulate is all over......"

Liu Cun sighed helplessly: "If it weren't for the sudden plague in Yizhou in Zhen'er, more than 100,000 people died, if it weren't for the imperial court forcing me to rebuild the imperial capital Luoyang, if it weren't for my efforts to dig a big pit for Yuan Shao, I wouldn't have done stupid things to destroy my reputation if I were killed......"

"Many disasters and many responsibilities overwhelm me, if I don't find some money to support, let alone fight for the world, it would be good to be able to keep the development and tranquility of Qingzhou, alas! I really don't have any choice but to kill and plunder! ”

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In the early morning of the next day, there was an urgent report that Yuan Shao had sent 5,000 cavalry and more than 20,000 elite infantry soldiers to enter Hedong County by land and water.

Seeing this, Mi Zhu couldn't help but put down his rice bowl, frowned and pondered.

Before, he thought that Liu Cun had to give up Hedong County, which he had already arrived, for the sake of the overall situation, and it was purely a last resort. But now it seems that this is not the case, the news that Hedong County, a strategic place in the rich world, was occupied by Yuan Shao, Liu Cun not only did not feel a little lost, but laughed and excited.

Mi Zhu faintly felt that this matter was extraordinary, and after thinking about it for a long time, he still couldn't figure it out, and the more he thought about it, the more confused his brain became, and finally he could only ask Liu Cun with a cheeky face:

"Yuan Benchu took advantage of the weakness to occupy Hedong, and formed more pressure on Luoyang, which was painstakingly managed by the virtuous brother, and with the benefit of salt and iron, the strength will be doubled with a little management, but the virtuous brother is not only not at all disappointed, but so happy, why is this?"

At this point, Liu Cun had no need to hide Mi Zhu, but he did not answer directly, but asked rhetorically: "Does the eldest brother know how many troops Yuan Shao has?" ”

Mi Zhu was stunned for a moment: "Yuan Benchu has been expanding his army for a year, and there should be no less than 200,000 people." ”

Liu Cun smiled happily: "As of the end of May, Yuan Benchu's total strength has exceeded 250,000, but only 80,000 foot soldiers and 10,000 cavalry can really charge into battle, and the rest are new recruits who have not been well trained and have not experienced the battle formation......"

"Now, Yuan Ben got carried away when he first saw the profits, and even sent 30,000 elites to seize Hedong, which shows that he has not seen the chaotic situation in Youzhou clearly, and he is not ready to accumulate strength and devour the entire Jizhou in one fell swoop, but will be hostile from all sides because of the occupation of Hedong, which is rich in the world."

"In my opinion, at least the Xiliang army in the west and the Yufu Luo Xianbei army, which occupies half of the annexed state, will be very dissatisfied, and even thunderous, because these two forces have long coveted the rich Hedong, and the reason why they didn't dare to defend it before was only because the Baibo army was strong!"

"Therefore, I dare not hesitate to assert that Yuan Benchu's move will definitely outweigh the losses, not only exposing his short-sighted greedy nature, but also losing the best opportunity to occupy the entire Jizhou and even Youzhou, can you say I am not happy?"

Mi Zhu pondered for a moment: "I'm afraid that the war in Youzhou will be difficult to distinguish between winners and losers within the year...... Under the attack of Lord Liu Yu's 100,000 troops and 30,000 Wuhuan iron cavalry from the north and south, no matter how brave Gongsun Chan is, he can only retreat step by step, and it is very rare for him to maintain the current confrontation! ”

"Therefore, Yuan Shao has time to calmly dispatch, he only needs to give him half a year, and he can stabilize Hedong with the support of the gate valve family, and more than 100,000 new recruits will also get enough training, and then he is fully capable of taking the entire Jizhou, maybe he can also take Youzhou in one go!"

Liu Cun smiled: "Big brother, do you think I will leave Yuan Benchu half a year?" ”

Mi Zhu's heart was shocked, his eyes widened and he asked in disbelief, "Brother Xian has decided?" ”

Liu Cun nodded vigorously: "A few years of Taoguang cultivation, a few years of forbearance and retreat, what we are waiting for is this day!" ”

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