On the tenth day of February, 30,000 officers and soldiers of the first and second divisions of the Langya Army, under the leadership of the chief general Xu Sheng and the deputy general Le Jin, besieged the last city in Taishan County, Nanwuyang.

Gong Du, the Yellow Turban general who guarded Nanwuyang, was furious and led 18,000 soldiers to swear not to surrender.

Xu Sheng and Le Jin were not in a hurry, and ordered the soldiers and more than 10,000 craftsmen requisitioned from the Langya State to start working with hoes and shovels, digging a deep ditch around the six-mile circumference of the city, and then outside the deep ditch five zhang wide and two zhang deep, they set up tents, built wooden houses, and launched as many as 500 crossbow carts aimed at the four city gates, putting on a posture of swearing to besiege to the death, and the Gong Du and the Yellow Turban generals on the city tower were dumbfounded.

Five days later, Guan Hai rushed to Nanwuyang, went into the city alone to lobby Gong Du and other brothers, and made it clear that he would not touch all the brothers' personal money and belongings, as long as they were willing to join the Qingzhou Army, the brothers would continue to serve as soldiers and eat food, and they would have a monthly salary of no less than 500 yuan, and their families could be properly settled and cared for, and the location was in the area around Jinan New Town in the north.

Guan Hai special instructions:

If the brothers who did not want to be soldiers were tired of fighting and wanted to settle in Qingzhou, Liu Yuanjun built houses for everyone around Guishan Lake at the foot of Mengshan Mountain, 22 miles west of Nanwuyang, distributed farm tools to cultivate cattle, let everyone cultivate fields, grow grain and mulberry, and issued house deeds and land deeds.

From now on, not only do you not have to worry about the encirclement and suppression of the officers and soldiers, but get the protection of the Langya Army and the Qingzhou Army, within a year, the Mijia Firm will open various workshops for the brothers, build a school and invite Mr. to let the children study for free, and the women can also work for the upcoming Mijia textile workshop to earn money as long as they want.

Gong Du and the other generals had nothing to say. They can't trust others. But the affectionate and righteous Guan Dashuai is a good brother in their minds. Words are like nails in the coffin!

In the end, except for Gong Du and other three leaders who took nearly 4,000 brothers and returned to their hometown of southern Henan, the remaining nearly 10,000 brothers and more than 20,000 old and weak women and children all chose to live a stable life.

Guan Hai was very righteous, and after introducing Xu Sheng, Le Jin and other generals to Gong Du and others, he lent 3,000 war horses and 3,000 horizontal knives from Xu Sheng and Le Jin to Gong Du, and reluctantly sent away these brothers who had fought side by side.

The resentment in the hearts of Gong Du and the others all dissipated and went on the horse. Gong Du and nearly 4,000 brothers fell to their knees, burst into tears one by one, and turned back frequently after walking three miles away.

Xu Sheng and Le Jin were very emotional, the two received a secret order from the lord Liu Cun before the war, Liu Cun admitted that he did not believe in his words, sorry for the Yellow Turban brothers, told the two to only surround and not fight, patiently persuaded, and urgently sent Guan Hai as a lobbyist, although in the end he sent 3,000 war horses and 3,000 standard horizontal knives. But compared to taking Nanwuyang without hurting his life, this payment is nothing at all.

Guan Hai before leaving. Enthusiastically invited Xu Sheng and Le Jin to go to the upper reaches of Surabaya in the west, and when they arrived at the foot of Beishan Mountain, twenty-five miles to the northwest, Guan Hai turned over and dismounted, pointed to the Dongze Lake in a radius of more than ten miles in front of him and the forested mountains on the north and south sides and told the two:

"The lord plans to build a new city here, and the name is ready, it is called Spring City."

Xu Sheng and Le Jin immediately reacted that this place was only 50 miles away from Bian County of Lu State (now Surabaya County, Shandong) in the east, and held the only entrance to the Langya Kingdom in the east in the Central Plains.

Le Jin looked around, praised the topography of this place, and finally asked Guan Hai quite suspiciously: "How does the lord know that there is such a wonderful place?" Could it be that the group of surveying and mapping officers in the Military Affairs Department recommended it to the lord? ”

Guan Hai couldn't figure it out: "I guess so, I remember that the lord told me that he vaguely remembered that he had come to this place in the early days of his master's wanderings, and he still remembered that several mountains in the north were full of maple trees, and there were many clear springs on the side of the mountain and on the col......

"But now it seems that there are a lot of clear springs, there are a few springs in front of us, but I don't see how many maple trees, and there are two big maple trees on the low mountains north of Dongze, not as many as the lord said."

Xu Sheng said with a smile: "This place is just at the junction between Nanwuyang and Bian County, both sides are steep hills that stretch for more than ten miles, like a canyon, the width of the passage is about six miles at most, it is in the highland with abundant water, and it is indeed a good place to build a city." ”

"If you build a city, you have to push the border more than ten miles to the west, haha! It seems that the money for the construction of this new city has to be paid by the Mijia trading house. ”

Guan Hai and Le Jin couldn't help laughing when they heard this, Guan Hai said: "It is indeed up to the Mi family firm to pay for this, aren't the iron mines and coal mines around Nanwuyang all mined by the Mi family firm?" The largest quarry and cement workshop in Xuzhou is located in Nancheng, southeast of Nanwuyang, and it is easy to transport it. ”

Everyone laughed again, and Le Jin asked after laughing: "I don't know who will guard this strategic place after the city is built?" ”

"I guess it's you two brothers, brother, my defense area has been transferred to Juping." Guan Hai smiled proudly.

Le Jin was taken aback: "Within a hundred miles to the west, it is the northernmost Wenyang of Lu (now the junction of Feicheng, Daiyue, and Ningyang counties in Shandong), the southernmost snake hill in Jibei (now the northwest of Ningyang County, Shandong), and the easternmost Gang County of Dongping County (now Yancheng Town, Ningyang County, Shandong), that place is the junction of the four counties of Yanzhou, and it is definitely a place where first-class soldiers must fight!" ”

Guan Hai grinned: "That's right, Juping City is located at the crossroads, the west is the three county towns you just mentioned, the north is the Feicheng of Jibei Guozhi, the south is the national capital of Lu County within a hundred miles, and within fifty miles to the east is the county seat of Liangfu controlled by us, haha!" ”

Xu Sheng was envious: "Behind Juping until Liangfu, most of them are plain areas, at least three million acres of fields, I have heard the lord say that there is a large coal mine and a sulfur mine in Juping, I heard that the fireworks and firecrackers that have only begun to be set off in Xiahe City and Zhushan this year are the medicinal powder made by the boys of the Zhushan Research Institute with sulfur and other substances. ”

Guan Hai laughed: "It seems that you also know, haha!" ”

Xu Sheng asked suspiciously, "What do you know?" ”

Guan Haiqi: "You really don't know? Oh! I forgot, you rushed back to Nanwuyang when you went to Linzi to attend the two-day meeting, it is estimated that the lord was too busy to tell you, I also only found out some time ago, I don't know how to say it is appropriate. ”

"You mean!" Lejin is in a bit of a hurry.

Guan Hai subconsciously looked around, approached the two of them and whispered.

Xu Sheng and Le Jin were shocked after hearing this, and they looked at Guan Hai blankly and couldn't stop saying a word.

Guan Hai was also very emotional: "Although I haven't been to Lingshan Island to see what's going on, I have let off firecrackers with my brothers during New Year's Day, and I know that that thing is really terrible." ”

"I heard the lord say that Mu Heng's kid tried it on the boat, tied a big firecracker to a large crossbow arrow, lit the thing called the fuse, and then shot it out, and blew up the five-zhang long boat hundreds of steps away with one shot, it's really terrifying!"

"With that thing, no matter how high the martial arts are in the future, it will be useless."

Xu Sheng finally came back to his senses: "If it is used to defend the city, or to attack the city, who can stop it?" ”

Le Jin was afraid: "If you get a few big bags and bury them under the city wall and light them, it will be even more lively......" (To be continued......)