The city guards intervened in the affairs of Shanxian County!

Receiving the news from Yan Dongxing from the front line, Chen Wu was not surprised at all. With the character of Lao Tzu of the city guard army as the best in the world, it would be a rare thing if he was willing to sit idly by and let the Songjiang army mess around in Yuanshan County. Because of this, only three days after the departure of the First Cavalry Wing personally led by Yan Dongxing, Chen Wu ordered the Songjiang Army to make a full mobilization.

The moment the news of Yan Dongxing came back, the Songjiang Army, which had already been prepared, immediately set out.

Including the first division and the second division of the Songjiang Army, the second wing of the independent cavalry brigade, and the two wings of the infantry battalion, the total number exceeded 30,000 people, and all of them arrived at Daqing Pass.

Except for the Dengzhou Garrison Division and most of the Tianlong Garrison Division transferred to Tiannan County, almost all of the existing main forces of the Songjiang Army were dispatched. Such a large-scale transfer can be said to be a unique event since the beginning of this year, and it has caused quite a stir in both the military and the localities.

Since the second wing of the Independent Cavalry Brigade set off first, only a few days later, Yan Dongxing, who was facing the cavalry of the city guard army in the north across the county seat of Shanxian County, received this batch of powerful reinforcements.

Even if the average strength of the riders of the second wing is worse than that of the first wing, it is still more than 1,000 after all. Their arrival marked the arrival of all the main forces of Songjiang's existing cavalry, and they had an absolute advantage over the cavalry of the city guards in terms of numbers.

In the past few days, due to the steadiness of the cavalry of the city guards, coupled with Yan Dongxing's deliberate distance, the two sides did not start a large-scale battle. However, the skirmish never stopped, and both sides suffered casualties. Because the scouts sent by Yan Dongxing were the most elite of their own side, although they had some disadvantages, the losses were not as great as they imagined.

However, this slight advantage of the city guards was enough for them to detect the changes in the strength of the Songjiang army.

Upon learning of the arrival of Yan Dongxing's reinforcements, Wu Hanhai, the wing commander of the cavalry wing directly under the City Guard, was obviously much more cautious. In previous encounters, he had realized that although the cavalry of the Matsue Army was young, it was not without combat power. Now that he has an advantage of nearly double the number of people, Wu Hanhai does not dare to guarantee that he will win in the fight.

What's more, the division commander of the Sixth Division had also told them before leaving, the current situation in the empire is not as good as before, every move must be restrained, and no trouble should be raised!

The combination of these two factors made the cavalry of the city guard choose to retreat five miles and observe the movements of the Songjiang army from a distance.

On the side of the Songjiang Army, it is necessary to ensure the mining of the iron ore in Crooked Mountain. At present, he has an advantage, and he is naturally unwilling to give in lightly before he is guaranteed. On the side of the city guards, Wu Hanhai couldn't leave. While waiting for the grain and grass supplies to be sent from the rear, he transmitted the movement of the Songjiang army back to Yandangpo and asked for Liu Deqing's reinforcements!

This confrontation lasted more than 10 days.

The Songjiang army had already prepared, and the official roads in Songjiang County extended in all directions, so they left the pass half a day earlier than the reinforcements of the city guards and were stationed ten miles outside Daqing Pass. On the side of the city guards, due to the drag of the second garrison brigade of Yuanshan County, although the distance was closer, it came a little later than the Songjiang army.

At the same time, it was pressed by the armies on both sides, and the atmosphere around Shanxian suddenly became tense.

Realizing that this place could become a war ground on both sides, many people in Shanxian County and the surrounding towns began to flee or defect to relatives elsewhere to avoid possible military disasters. Since the Songjiang cavalry had withdrawn, there was a vacuum in the military strength of Shanxian County, and more than 200 city defense battalions had to return to their posts with trembling and seal the gate of Shanxian County.

These changes could not be concealed from the Songjiang Army and the City Guards. But neither side cared about this little thing, but focused on each other.

After a short day of rest, the two sides invariably approached Shanxian County.

As the side with an absolute disadvantage in numbers, the best way for the city guards is naturally to enter the county seat of Shanxian County to garrison. If there are walls, the defender will have a much greater advantage. However, the closure of the city gate and the refusal of entry from both sides at the same time made the plan of the city guards frustrated. Moreover, from the overall strategic point of view, the city guards did not dare to do this.

The premise of rigidity is that the external shape will change, or there will be strong reinforcements.

Liu Deqing's brigade does not seem to have any of these two. The situation in the northwest of the empire is now extremely tense, and the troops around the original mountain county have also been withdrawn. At this time, you have to enter the city, and it is a small city with an imperfect city defense system, which is equivalent to self-death!

As long as the Songjiang army besieges the city and cuts off the food route of the city guards, it can wait for chaos in the city.

From this point of view, the best way for the city guards should be to learn from the previous Yan Dongxing and also take the initiative to keep a distance from the Songjiang army. There is a cavalry wing directly under the cover, and it is impossible for the Songjiang army to entangle them lightly, and the initiative of attack and defense is on the side of the city guards. However, Liu Deqing was not just thinking about the war.

He didn't want to show weakness to the Songjiang army in the south on the issue of Shanxian, and he also had some superiority and unrealistic illusions in his heart.

He is the City Guard, one of the most elite legions in the Empire!

If the Songjiang Army is defending the Daqing Pass, then the city guards are certainly fine, but these rebels, who have only been recruited for less than a year, really dare to take the initiative to go out of the pass to fight the city guards?

More than a year ago, two divisions of the city guard army were hundreds of miles away, and the Taiping army was so frightened that they abandoned the city from Wu'an. Liu Deqing felt that maybe he could scare the governor again!

With this in mind, his light infantry brigade and the second garrison brigade of Yuanshan County drove all the way to the county seat of Shanxian County.

Chen Wu's main force was exhausted, and there were more than 30,000 troops, so naturally they would not show weakness and drive the army to the city.

The two sides were separated by a distance of five or six miles, and at the same time they chose to camp.

The soldiers of the city defense battalion in Shanxian County were fortunate to be witnesses to the evaluation of the two armies at the same time. They only need to run from the south end of the west wall to the north end to see the layout of the two camps at the same time. However, not only the people of Shanxian, but also the main generals of the Songjiang Army, Liu Deqing, Wu Hanhai and others of the City Guard Army, were also taking advantage of the gap in the opponent's defense to observe the opponent's military formation and camp closely.

In this regard, the Songjiang army did no worse than the city guards.

It is also the same as the emperor's code, and because it has been strictly enforced, the two sides look almost identical. The only difference is that the camp is much larger than the city guards.

After all, it's 30,000 against 9,000!

Dian Yong, Xu Shizhong and other generals secretly felt that the city guards were neat and murderous, and Liu Deqing also put away their contempt for the first division of the Songjiang Army after repeated observations.

This is an opponent to be underestimated!

After coming to this conclusion, Liu Deqing was annoyed and found himself in a dilemma. After seeing the military appearance of the Songjiang Army with his own eyes, he felt that with his own brigade, he would only die a miserable death if he held on. Although the city guards boast of being the best in the world, they are not arrogant enough to fight five in one. But just like that......

I'm the only troop that can fight in Yuanshan County!

Counting on the 2nd Garrison Brigade by your side?

Liu Deqing shook his head, hearing that before the Songjiang Army was reorganized and expanded, and even when it was in Taiping County, it had completely annihilated the local garrison brigades. After being honed after entering Songjiang, his strength is only afraid to be more sophisticated. In case he retreats and leads the Songjiang army to gain an inch, it will be difficult to do.

What's more, since the investigation during this period of time, he has more or less heard about the Crooked Mountain Iron Mine.

Although he secretly hated Wang Buze and Wang Qian for making trouble in it, he still saw the importance of a large iron mine to the Songjiang Army very clearly. Although the division commander told him not to provoke the Songjiang people, as a loyal emperor, Liu Deqing also did not want to see the Songjiang Army continue to expand its military strength with the help of this iron mine.

However, just before Liu could figure out what he should do, another force from Yuanshan County intervened.

That is Han Sangui, the governor of Yuanshan County!

Although the governor's reputation in the officialdom is very ordinary, and he does not have a strong sense of existence in Yuanshan County, he is the actual administrator of Yuanshan County after all. If it is said that Hong Yuanfu deliberately suppressed the intelligence before, so that Han Sangui could not receive the news as soon as possible, then with the 30,000 Songjiang troops leaving the customs and confronting the city guards and the garrison brigade, if Han Sangui still can't get the news, this governor position can be used to feed the dogs.

Although he lacks interest in governing Yuanshan County, Han Sangui is naturally not stupid to be able to become the governor. It is very clear that tens of thousands of troops, and at the same time involving the city guards and the Songjiang army, will cause a big storm if they start a big war on their own territory.

After receiving the news, while secretly scolding Wang Qian, the city guard of Hongyuan Mansion, he sent an envoy almost immediately.

The appearance of Han Sangui's envoy, as well as the threading of the needle between the two armies, gave a chance to resolve the crisis peacefully. Wang Qian and Wang Buze's biggest worry appeared, due to the restraint of both sides, coupled with the transfer of the main force of the city guards, the two sides finally failed to fight, but started face-to-face negotiations and exchanges!

The only difference between the two sides is glued to the Crooked Head Mountain Iron Mine.

Although the Songjiang Army also had a reason, it said that the Chamber of Commerce was "attacked by bandits disguised as a city defense battalion", so they sent troops to the rescue. But everyone knows that this is just an excuse, and the real purpose is to protect the mining rights of the Crooked Mountain iron ore. Whether it is Liu Deqing, Han Sangui, or Wang Qian, out of patriotism or selfish interests, they don't want Chen Wu to succeed, especially because this large iron ore mine with amazing reserves is said to be on its own chassis.

However, the tens of thousands of troops of the Songjiang army in the county seat of Shanxian County, as well as the weak situation in the southwest of the empire, determined that the Songjiang army had nothing to fear.

If you want to let this side completely spit out the benefits to your mouth, you don't have to think about it, it's absolutely impossible!

Not surprisingly, this matter was finally agreed by each side taking a step back, and it was Songjiang Army who took the initiative to make a concession:

As the party that carried out the preliminary mining and investment, the Songjiang Army has the right to mine for five years first. However, under the strong opposition of Liu Deqing and them, coupled with the fact that the Songjiang Army seemed to be very "short of money", it was finally negotiated that the Songjiang Army would continue mining for one year, and the remaining four years of mining rights would be converted into a compensation of 150,000 gold coins per year, and after a year, Yuanshan County would come forward and pay off 600,000 gold at one time, and the Crooked Mountain Iron Mine would change hands!

Black and white, no bullying!