Just when Chai Rong and Lin Xiaoyu asked you about corn, Xu Shaoan, who returned to his camp, was not idle. He ordered the telegraph operator of the telegraph room of the "Kaifeng Left-behind Office" who went with him to immediately set up a radio station and report to the committee a series of events that had happened in the review ground today, and emphasized the situation of the local grange steward of the crossing team offering corn to Chai Rongjin, hoping to know whether this act was the instruction of the committee or the personal behavior of the steward.

Xu Shao'an's telegram sent at an unscheduled contact time naturally attracted the attention of the committee, and since the committee had not issued an order to the Ministry of Agriculture or other departments to donate corn to Chai Rongjin, Wang Kunjun and others first learned from Zhao Min'an about the grange under the name of the crossing team around Waqiao Pass, and then ordered the Intelligence Department ("Dark Feather") to immediately send a competent agent to their own grange located around Waqiao Pass to investigate the matter. At the same time, the committee also called Xu Shaoan back, asking him to be more cautious before the results of the investigation were released. It is necessary not only to prevent Chai Rong from suppressing him on the grounds of this incident, but also to prevent ministers like Zhang Yongde who have a disagreement with the crossing team from taking the opportunity to deal with him.

In addition, in view of the fact that since the Northern Expedition, the route of the Zhou army, the results achieved, and the situation of Chai Rong's Waqiaoguan review of the three armies are very close to the records in the history books of the previous life, and Chai Rong's face, demeanor, and movements after the review show that he seems to be in poor physical condition, the committee also asked Xu Shaoan to strengthen communication and exchanges with Lin Xiaoyu, and pay close attention to Chai Rong's physical condition, so that he can grasp the news as soon as possible in the event of an emergency, and report to the committee. This would give the Committee enough time to respond.

After receiving a call back from the committee, Xu Shaoan quickly launched an action. On the one hand, he asked Cheng Fei and the guards of that platoon to strengthen their vigilance in case the situation changed. On the other hand, he got in touch with Ma Ping'an and Ma Gonggong, who was waiting in the imperial tent, and asked him to keep in touch with Lin Xiaoyu at all times and deliver useful information in a timely manner.

As the most powerful "hardcore" informant of "Dark Feather" in the Later Zhou Palace, Ma Ping'an and Ma Gonggong's work efficiency is still very high. From Xu Shao'an sending someone to send him a message, to Ma Ping'an sending the relevant news out of the royal tent, it was just an hour before and after.

Ma Ping'an said in the message sent that Chai Tianzi had a conversation with Concubine Lin Xian after returning to the imperial tent. Although the conversation between the two was conducted privately after retiring the left and right people, judging from the expressions on the faces of Chai Tianzi and Lin Xianfei after the conversation, and the movements between the two, the outcome of the conversation should be favorable to Lin Xianfei - at least certainly not against Lin Xianfei.

As for Chai Tianzi's body, Ma Ping'an said that although Chai Tianzi ended the school review early mainly for reasons of poor mood, and Concubine Lin Xian specially added clothes for him before the school review, but Chai Tianzi was not very well-behaved, and he was still a little unbearable after staying in the cold wind and cold rain for nearly two hours, so after returning from the school review, he had some symptoms of external wind cold. Fortunately, before getting sick, there was the careful care of Concubine Lin Xian, and after getting sick, there was a multi-faceted diagnosis and treatment by Concubine Lin Xian and the accompanying imperial doctor. Therefore, although Chai Tianzi's illness this time made him have to rest for a few days and could not immediately move north, it did not develop to a very critical level. According to Xu Shao'an's understanding, although this Chai Tianzi is sick, it is not a serious illness, at least until now, it has not been serious enough to be similar to the situation in his previous life where he had to withdraw his troops as soon as possible to ensure the stability of the society.

Such a result was naturally expected by Xu Shao'an, who was also relieved after telegraphing the relevant information to the committee, and while paying close attention to the situation in the imperial tent, he waited for the results of the committee's investigation into the corn offering through the team's Waqiao Guan Grange.

Speaking of which, the efficiency of the Intelligence Department ("Dark Feather") is still very high. The order received on the afternoon of the second day of the third month of the lunar calendar was that before the sixth day of the third month, the agents who had gone to Waqiao Pass to conduct an investigation returned to the "Liangyuan" and brought the results of the investigation to the Intelligence Department ("Dark Feather") and the committee.

After learning that he had the opportunity to meet the Great Zhou Tianzi, Dong Mou, the chief manager of the "107" Grange (the grange where the grange manager who offered corn to Chai Rongjin was located, and its number "107" indicates that this is the 107th grange of the crossing team) After learning that he had the opportunity to meet the Great Zhou Tianzi, he began to think about how to behave, so as to impress Zhou Tianzi and get Zhou Tianzi's appreciation, so as to create an opportunity for himself to climb to the sky and rise to the top. After thinking about it, this guy finally decided to take a risk and bring the corn that the crossing team strictly forbade to disclose any information to outsiders to the labor army site, and find an opportunity to personally present it to Chai Rong and tell the other party about the benefits of this grain crop. The intention is to use this kind of high-yield grain crop that has never been seen in Middle-earth to win the reward of Chai Tianzi and seek a good future for himself. ,

And it turned out that although the opportunity to introduce corn to Chai Rong was snatched away by Xu Shaoan, Dong, who offered corn, still attracted Chai Rong's attention. On the third day after Chai Rong reviewed the three armies, a stranger appeared near Dong's residence, asked his neighbors about Dong's situation, and tried to get close to Dong. Fortunately, the Grange that Dong was in charge of was a resettlement site for displaced people under the Ministry of Agriculture of the crossing team, and the "joint defense team" at the resettlement site was relatively strict in and around the Grange, and the strangers who entered and exited the Grange were also relatively strict, and the agents of the Intelligence Department ("Dark Feather") had also arrived at the Grange at this time, so whether the stranger outsiders were inquiring about Dong's news or trying to contact Dong, Zuihou ended up failing and returned in vain. Now Dong has been taken back to the "Cool Garden" by agents from the Ministry of Intelligence ("Dark Feather") to wait for the committee's fate.

For this kind of guy who eats inside and out, the crossing team has never been soft. After conducting a second interrogation of Dong and confirming that all the investigation reports submitted by the agents of the Ministry of Intelligence ("Dark Feather") were true, the committee ordered that this "unlucky" steward, who was bent on climbing high branches and vainly believing that he could rely on the so-called "meritorious service" to bring him prosperity and official fortune, should be sent to a hard labor camp to serve hard labor, and he would not be released for life. At the same time, the Commission also ordered all civilian departments employing locals, in cooperation with the Ministry of Intelligence ("Dark Feather"), to strengthen the audit management, ideological education, and necessary monitoring of local employees, and to do their best to prevent the occurrence of similar incidents.

At the same time that all departments of the crossing team vigorously rectified the organization and discipline of local employees, Chai Rong's body, which had been recuperating for several days, had basically recovered, and with the good omen of the weather gradually changing, he held a military meeting in the imperial tent on the tenth day of the Waqiao Pass - the ninth day of the third lunar month in the sixth year of Xiande (the ninth year of the corresponding calendar) - to discuss the next move of the Northern Expedition with a group of civil and military generals.

For Chai Rong, who was full of self-confidence and wanted to finish his work in one battle, and took advantage of this Northern Expedition to solve the problem of the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun that had plagued the Central Plains Dynasty for many years, the purpose of convening this imperial military meeting was originally to discuss with the generals of Wenchen the route and strategy and tactics of the Northern Expedition to continue to attack Youzhou City in the north. But what Chai Rong didn't expect was that the Wenchen generals attending the meeting were almost unanimous in opposing the continuation of the army going north, but suggested that the northern expedition would end here, and the main energy of the imperial court should be on consolidating the newly recovered land and preventing the Khitan counterattack. What Chai Rong didn't expect was that among the ministers, the only one who supported his Northern Expedition was Xu Shao'an, who had followed him for the shortest time, and had been suspected by himself in the "Offering Corn" incident a few days ago.

When the ministers proposed that the imperial army go out for more than a month, all the way non-stop sweeping through the seventeen counties of the three prefectures of Guannan, the soldiers are already tired, and it may be difficult to maintain the high fighting spirit when they first set out. At this time when the veterans of the division are tired, if they forcibly attack Youzhou, which has a strong city and many defenders, it is afraid that it will be difficult to succeed for a while. According to the news that Tanma has found in recent days, Yelu Shulu (Yelu Jing), the chief of the Khitan "sleeping king", has also led an army of 100,000 from Linhuang Mansion to the south after receiving letters asking for help from Xiao Siwen, who was left behind in Nanjing, and has recently arrived in Bei'an Prefecture (Chengde). Bei'an Prefecture is only 400 miles away from Youzhou City, and if the Khitan cavalry advances at full speed, they can enter Youzhou City in less than four or five days. At that time, the Zhou army, which failed to attack the city and was inferior in numbers, would be in a disadvantageous position to be attacked by the enemy. Moreover, now that the rainy season in the north is approaching, the roads are difficult to travel, and the grain, grass and ordnance are also unsustainable, and a series of reasons that are not conducive to the Zhou army continuing to go north, Xu Shaoan refuted them one by one.

Xu Shaoan said that the imperial army has been invincible since the end of the first month and the beginning of February, and it can be said that it is invincible, and all the states, counties, and passes along the way have surrendered to the wind, and the morale of the Northern Expeditionary Army is at the right time. Now Waqiao Pass is only more than 200 miles away from Youzhou City, and there are only a few prefectures and counties such as Gu'an, Zhuozhou, and Liangxiang in the middle. Then, on this basis, he crossed the Yanshan Mountain and the Great Wall, expelled the Khitan reinforcements from the eight states behind the mountain, and took the northern barrier of the Central Plains Dynasty into his own hands, so that he could conquer the world and unify the country without worries. Moreover, although the weather has been bad and rainy in the past few days, it is only the middle of spring at this time, as long as the Zhou army is united and fights bravely, it is completely certain that they will take the eight states in front of the mountain before the rainy season of the sixteen states of Youyun really arrives. At that time, as long as the canal is dredged and the road is repaired, a steady stream of grain, grass and military supplies can be transported to Youzhou, without worrying about the shortage of food and clothing. What's more, even if the transportation of grain and grass is inconvenient, with the people's strength of the eight states in front of the mountain, it can fully meet the needs of the Northern Expeditionary Army to guard the border and defend the border.

Xu Shao'an was full of confidence when he said this, which not only made Chai Rong feel relieved, but also resonated with some ministers who had previously opposed continuing to go north. In their eyes, the reason why Xu Shaoan has such confidence is, on the one hand, because of the Zhou army's previous overwhelming attack, and on the other hand, it is also because of the trust in the strength of the "Divine Machine Army" led by Xu Shaoan. In their opinion, since Xu Shao'an could command the "Shenji Battalion" that had just been formed to conquer Jiancheng Shouzhou in one fell swoop when he was in the southern expedition to Huainan, then today, a few years later, the "Shenji Army" under his command, which was far superior to the "Shenji Battalion" in terms of quantity and quality, would definitely be able to trample Youzhou City under his feet.

So, at Chai Rong's insistence and under the trust of the "Shenji Army" led by Xu Shao'an, this imperial military conference ended with the victory of Chai Rong's will. On the eleventh day of March in the sixth year of Xiande (the ninth year of the calendar), the Northern Expeditionary Army of the Later Zhou Dynasty left Waqiao Pass and drove towards its next target, Gu'an City.