"Yes, the current king of the Pasha Kingdom, Paul I, is quite ambitious, bent on restoring the glorious image of the former Andean Empire, and has been committed to developing military power for more than ten years, and now has more than 500,000 troops, far more than the surrounding neighbors, and it is worth mentioning that the country's general Kutuzov is known as the first army commander in the Central Continent, with a cool head and excellent resourcefulness, and the 30,000 young guards under his command are very effective in combat, known as the 'Iron Army'. This has also aroused the suspicions of the neighboring countries, fearing that the Pasha Kingdom may use troops against the neighboring countries in the near future. Zhuge nodded and said.

"What kind of person is this Kutuzov?" Qin Duan finally opened his mouth to ask about this person.

He was born in an ordinary knightly family in the Pasha Kingdom, loved military affairs since childhood, and went to Heidelberg University in the Western Continent to study military affairs when he was more than ten years old, and then returned to China as an ordinary soldier in the Guards, and was promoted to general within ten years.

In the campaign against the invasion of the coalition forces of the southern countries eleven years ago, he adopted the strategy of attacking the east and attacking the west, attracting the main force of the coalition army with a part of the army, and personally led the main force to attack the logistics and supply town of the coalition army for a long time, forcing the coalition army to retreat, and set up an ambush on the road of the coalition army's retreat, crushing the main force of the coalition army in one fell swoop, and taking advantage of the situation to attack the southern countries, and later the countries were forced to cede land and sue for peace, and compensated a large amount of money.

After this battle, his reputation became famous. Later, he won many victories in the southeast with troops and occupied a large area of land. It wasn't until seven years ago, when the kingdom of Pasha entered the stage of recuperation and recuperation, and the goal also turned to the north, that the war he set off finally subsided. After a pause, Zhuge Fang added: "In short, he is a rare military wizard. ”

Qin Duan also fell into deep thought, and did not react to Zhuge Fang's evaluation. After a long while, Qin Duan raised his head, "Time is running out." In Mr. Zhuge 's opinion, where should we be next? ”

After hesitating for a moment, Zhuge Fang still spoke, "In my opinion, the current strength of adults is not enough to win any of the surrounding targets, and the first task is to cultivate Yuan and cultivate qi." Strengthen. However, if you can get your hands on the Northwest County on the side, it may be much easier. ”

"Oh? What do you mean by that? Qin Duan also wondered why Zhuge Fang was interested in Northwest County.

"Compared to the surrounding area, the location of the Northwest Prefecture is very good, it is only connected to Kansai County and Tokugawa County, it is a good rear base, and there are a large number of local Takayama people living in the nearby mountains and forests, hostile to the local government, if you improve relations with them after taking it, you can get a lot of unexpected help. Especially in terms of soldiers, the Gaoshan people are naturally good infantry. ”

Speaking of which. Zhuge lowered his voice and said, "What's more, the surrounding parties are not what we can eat now, the Northwest County, like the Tokugawa County, has also been attacked by the Huns over the years, and the power is weaker, it is as far away from the center of the empire as the Tokugawa County, and we take the Northwest County." The reaction of the imperial court will not be very strong. ”

Qin Duan also had a certain understanding of Northwest Prefecture, and during his time in Tokugawa Prefecture, he had a long conversation with Sima Yuan, a giant in the Northwest medicinal material industry. This Sima Yuan also has a pivotal position in the business community of Northwest County, and he is also very familiar with the situation in Northwest County, and Sima Yuan also gave a detailed introduction to the current situation in Northwest County.

To say that he is not interested in the Northwest County is false, Qin Duan is not only interested in the Northwest County now, but also covets several other counties in the Northwest that are adjacent to Tokugawa County. The question is how to get these pieces of land in a logical way without arousing the opposition of the imperial court, and the best way is to become the military and political envoy of the Northwest County, which is justified, according to the current situation. It is not realistic to achieve this goal in a short period of time.

The empire has already felt that it is too big for several military and political envoys, and it will definitely not canonize another military and political envoy lightly, unless it becomes a fait accompli.

But in order to turn it into reality, it is necessary to have the right excuse and timing, and avoid giving people the truth. And now the military strength of Tokugawa County is not enough to take the Northwest County, although the strength of the Northwest County is not strong, and a large part of the troops are contained by the armed forces of those Gaoyue people, but with the current military strength of Tokugawa County, even if it can take the Northwest County, I am afraid that it will suffer heavy losses, not to mention that there is no good reason to attack the neighboring prefectures at will, and the Imperial Court will never agree.

Even if the county guard of this northwest county is very disobedient, he doesn't pay much attention to the orders of the imperial court, and he doesn't even listen to the emperor's will, but no matter how he says it, he is also the county guard of the northwest county canonized by the imperial court, but it's not that Qin Duan can occupy it when he says that he can occupy it, to put it lightly, this is slapping the empire in the face, talking about the point, that is, he is grabbing territory, and he is rebelling.

Seeing that Qin Duan fell into contemplation again, Zhuge Fang also knew that Qin Duan was thinking about how to untie this knot, on the one hand, the external strong enemy was sharpening his sword, time was pressing, and his own strength was not enough to resist another large-scale invasion of the enemy, if he wanted to grow himself quickly, and was limited by time and other objective conditions, it was impossible to achieve it overnight, it was really difficult.

"Mr. Zhuge , how does the strength of the Chidi people on the Tengger steppe compare with the Huns?"

Zhuge Fang heard Qin Duan's abrupt question about such a question that seemed to have nothing to do with the topic that Fang Cai was talking about, and he paused for a moment, but he reacted immediately, his eyes also lit up, and his dark eyes flashed, "Well, you can give it a try, and the worst can also play a role in restraining us, anyway, there is no loss to us." ”

It sounds like the answer is not the answer, but it is actually evaluating Qin Duan's intentions.

"The strength of the Chidi people is second to none in the Tengger grassland, and they have been engaged in continuous wars with the Huns for hegemony on the steppe for decades, and the two nations are feuding, but in recent years, the Chidi people seem to have shifted their goals, and turned their main direction of attack to the countries of the Western Continent in the south and west, and took a defensive position against the Huns, and these wars against the Huns were all advantageous."

Qin Duan also appreciated Zhuge Fang's reaction, he was able to accurately judge his intentions, and he had obviously considered all aspects. "Then who do you think is stronger, the Chidi people or the Huns?"

"It should be between the two of them, the reason why the Chidi people turned their main forces to the south and the south is because now the countries of the Western Continent are fighting endlessly, and they take the opportunity to attack these countries that are busy with melee and have a large number of military forces to obtain more benefits than the war with the Huns, but the attacks of the Huns in recent years must also have an impact on their position in the Tengger steppe, and those other ethnic minorities who originally submitted to them will definitely have two hearts when they see that they are unfavorable to the war of the Huns, which the Chidi people will not be unclear about, So I judge that the Chidi must also be looking for an opportunity to fight the Huns in order to secure their supremacy in the Tengger steppe. Zhuge Fang replied in the affirmative.

"Then we can have a good talk with the Chidi people, and the cooperation will be beneficial to both sides, I believe they will be interested." An incomprehensible smile appeared on Qin Duan's face again.

"In addition, we can also contact the countries of the Western Regions and the Indean Kingdom, who are forced to pay a large amount of grain and livestock to the Huns every year, and I believe that they are not willing to do so, but they are only forced by the strong military power of the Huns." Zhuge put the touch class bypass.

"Of course, even people like Mott, Tubu, etc. can be contacted, the last time they sent a representative, it was nothing more than to observe the shape shì, who wants to live a life of relying on people's snorts."

Qin Duan also nodded in agreement, "However, these guys don't have too much hope, after all, their strength is limited, and they also have to consider their own gains and losses, just hope to win us some time." ”

After more than half a month of uninterrupted long-distance travel, Qin Du and his party finally entered the territory of Tokugawa County. Along the way, Qin Duan and Zhuge Fang also discussed the current shape and the next plan many times, and Qin Duan found that Zhuge Fang analyzed the current shape quite thoroughly, and his views on all aspects were also very insightful, especially in military affairs, compared with Liang Qiming, it can be said that they have their own strengths, and they are an extremely rare staff officer-type talent.

Zhuge Fang also bluntly told Qin Dui, saying that he was more suitable to be a staff officer, and it was not his forte to really lead troops into battle. Qin Duan felt even more admiration for Zhuge Fang's ability to understand himself so clearly, there are many people in this world who have the ability, but there are not many who can correctly understand their strengths and weaknesses, Qin Duan is even more proud that such a person can be accepted by himself.

Entering the territory of Tokugawa County, Qin Duan felt a lot of novelty. The farmland that was originally barren can now be seen from time to time with farmers tidying up the land in preparation for spring ploughing and production, and there are also scattered houses being built next to it.

It seems that Liang Qiming's work is still fruitful, and in just over a month, such gratifying changes have already taken place.

In some places close to the Tokugawa Prefecture, it can even be seen that some local officials at the grassroots level have begun to organize young and middle-aged laborers to repair the irrigation system and lay a good foundation for the development of agriculture. Seeing this qiē, Qin Du felt very relieved, now it can be said that he is racing against time, competing with the enemy, and strengthening himself before the enemy launches an attack on Tokugawa County, only when he is strong can he be invincible.

Originally, Qin Duan was still a little worried about the social security of Tokugawa County, because Qin Duan had heard about the caravan being attacked many times in the Northwest Prefecture, perhaps because of good luck, Qin Duan and his party passed through the Northwest County safely. During his trip to Tokugawa County, Qin Duan had not heard of any public security problems in Tokugawa County recently, and most of the merchants who traveled from the south to the north talked about the social instability and rampant banditry in other counties in the northwest.

It seems that Liang Qiming, Liu Xiaoshan, and Zhu Yongqing are also doing a good job, and Qin Duan is also relieved. However, after returning home, it is necessary to intensify the crackdown on these bandits and horse thieves, and the promise to solve the public security problem within three months must be fulfilled as scheduled, and no one can stand without trust, otherwise it will also have a great negative impact on the economic development of Tokugawa County. (To be continued......)