When Wu Feng and his entourage entered the territory of Northwest County, they could feel the destructive impact that the Luope people had brought to this area in recent years. Bonan Mansion is a relatively developed economy, Wu Feng saw that the soil quality of many areas here is obviously different from the soil quality of other places, it is an excellent quality glazed soil, although Wu Feng does not understand, but also knows that this kind of soil is an excellent raw material for making porcelain and pottery. The original pottery and porcelain manufacturing industry in Bonan Province was quite developed, and many famous craftsmen and workshops produced here day and night, and the various pottery and porcelain produced were very famous in the Eastern Continent, and even sold well in the Central and Western Continents. The tea house hotel is doing a prosperous business, and businessmen from all over the world stay here for a long time in order to get their goods as soon as possible. And now, dilapidated kilns can be seen everywhere, and the large pits used for extracting soil have long been covered with thick weeds, and all the way through, sparsely populated, and there is hardly a slightly decent market town to be seen, which looks particularly depressed.

Since the Luope people took control of the northern communication line that runs through the eastern and western continents more than ten years ago, there are many checkpoints along the way, and the safety of business travel is not guaranteed, and the economy of Bonan Province has begun to shrink, but fortunately, there is still a large market in the empire, which can still be maintained. However, in recent years, the clutches of the Luope people have gradually extended into the northwest county, and the first to suffer is Qingyang Mansion and Yinchuan Mansion, which are close to the territory of the Luope people, and then invaded Bonan Mansion and Guide Prefecture, and finally even Jinzhou Mansion has not been spared. The annual incursions have made it difficult for the common people in several provinces to make a living, and when personal safety and property safety are not guaranteed, there is no way to talk about economic development. As a result, a large number of people have left their homes, fleeing from their ancestral homes and looking for another place to make a living.

After Wu Feng led the troops into the city of Bonan Prefecture, he found that the residents here were talking about the war between the empire and the Luope people, from the government officials and businessmen to the ordinary people, all hoping that the emperor [***] team could defeat the Luope people in one fell swoop, strengthen the border defense from then on, and reproduce the previous prosperity of the local area. The arrival of Wu Feng and his entourage was warmly welcomed by the local people and officials, and Wu Feng also deeply felt the local people's desire for stability and peace, which greatly aroused his determination to save the people from fire and water.

Leaving Bonan Province and entering the territory of Qingyang Province, the situation here is even worse than that of Bonan, the fertile fields have been barren for many years, overgrown with weeds, and no one cultivates them; the roads and bridges are in disrepair and difficult to walk; the irrigation ditches are even more blocked and obliterated, and they are unusable; there are few pedestrians on the road, and most of the people they meet are ragged and have vegetables, and there is still the style of the "granary of the northwest". Splendid rivers and mountains, fallen here! In this situation, Wu Feng couldn't help but sigh with his palms.

On October 7, Wu Feng led the troops to escort a large number of grain, grass, weapons, medicine and other logistical materials to the terminal point - Qingyang Fucheng safely. Entering the city, Wu Feng took the team to the west of the city to settle down simply, and then went to visit the city guard yamen, hoping to get the help of the local government to settle these materials and his subordinate soldiers, and at the same time to listen to the battle situation ahead. Wufeng ordered Liang Chongxin to stay in the battle, and he and Xiao Tang and Cui Wenxiu came to the city guard mansion in the center of the city. On the way to the city guard, the three of them learned that the battle situation ahead was still in a stalemate, and the people here were very concerned about the movement of the battlefield ahead, on the one hand, they were eager for the emperor [***] team to defeat the invasion of the Luope, and on the other hand, they were also worried that if the battle situation was unfavorable to the imperial side, they should prepare early and pack up their belongings to hide. After learning that the battle situation ahead was relatively stable, Wu Feng's heart calmed down a little, maybe he overestimated the Luobei people or underestimated Situ Mingzhi.

Came to the city guard mansion, this is a fairly large mansion, but it seems a little deserted, after Wu Feng reported his identity and intention, the official who watched the gate hurriedly went in to report. The reception of the three Wufeng is the current top administrator of Qingyang Province acting city shou Yuanning, due to the invasion of the Luope people almost every year in the past few years, Qingyang, Bonan, The former Northwest County Governor Ouyang Chun resigned four years ago on the grounds of poor health and returned to his hometown Jiangnan County, the trees fell and scattered, and the officials below also felt that this was not a place to stay for a long time, and they all looked for another way, and the Northwest County Guard Mansion became an empty shell, and the empire has not been appointing the Northwest County Guard, and it is said that no one in the central part of the empire wants to come here. Yuan Ning also said that he was here temporarily, and the entire city guard mansion was only chatting with a dozen people, and he couldn't perform his functions at all, in fact, this was just a reception station. Yuan Ning also said that there are still more people in this city at present, because everyone knows that the emperor's [***] team has gone to the front line, and in the first two years, except for the old, weak, sick and disabled, almost all the middle-aged people have to hide in the mountains near the city, and they will not come back until the Luope people have taken captivity.

When Wu Feng learned about these situations, he had to reverse and return to the field, and it seemed that he had no choice but to set up camp in the field and stay temporarily. Back in the camp, Wu Feng ordered all the soldiers not to leave the barracks without an order, so as not to disturb the local people.

At night, Wu Feng arranged for the camp to be on duty at night, and he and Xiao Tang, Liang Chongxin, and Cui Wenxiu changed into civilian clothes and left the barracks to understand the situation in the city. The streets of Qingyang City can be seen to be relatively atmospheric, after all, it was once the center of the entire northwest region of the empire, although it has been war-torn in recent years, but you can still see the scenery of the past. The walls are somewhat dilapidated, long broken in many places and crumbling in others. The huge urban area is sparsely populated by a small number of households, and many houses have collapsed due to long-term unoccupancy. Ghost-like candlelight flickers and fades in the residential areas, and the streets look deserted. Seeing these scenes, several people were a little depressed, and the incompetence of the imperial authorities led to the fact that the once prosperous city became like a depression, the fertile fields were overgrown with weeds, the lively market town was in ruins, and the vast number of people were displaced and had nowhere to live.

"Xiao Tang, what do you think of the situation here?" the four of them looked at it for a long time, and Wu Feng opened his mouth, "The conditions are very good, but it's a pity that it's deserted, and it lacks popularity, so it may take some effort to govern it." The premise, of course, is to block the attack of the Ropes. Xiao Tang replied unhurriedly. "Chongxin and Wenxiu, what do you two think of this place?" Wu Feng asked Liang Cui and the others again. "The geographical location of Qingyang is quite important, extending in all directions, and it is a strategic location, but it is a flat river, lacking dangers, and it is easy to attack and difficult to defend. Liang Chongxin's voice just fell, "Yes, Brother Liang is right, this place is easy to attack and difficult to defend, and the walls of the city are also collapsing and falling everywhere, and they urgently need to be repaired." The law and order situation here has reached a very dangerous point due to the long-term absence of political axes. The subordinates heard that the horse thieves here are quite powerful, and the bandits are also quite rampant, and the people live very hard. Choi also added that both are viewed from a military perspective. "Therefore, there are both opportunities and risks here, which is called the advantages and disadvantages, the ancients, woe, blessing depends, blessing, disaster lurks, it depends on how the ruler grasps. Wu Feng's confident summary -

Early the next morning, Wu Feng sent his squadron of scouts directly under him to the front line, on the one hand, to report to the army's command that the logistics materials he had escorted had arrived safely, and on the other hand, he also wanted to know the real battle situation on the battlefield ahead. At the same time, the troops were ordered to arrange all the supplies to be escorted, and as soon as they were needed at the front, they would be sent in a timely manner.

It's a crisp autumn day, but it's probably a day worse than hail for the Empire. Before noon, Wu Feng was carefully inspecting the map of the Qingyang area in the camp, and suddenly, the soldiers standing guard at the gate of the camp found that the residents of the city were running around as if they had encountered some disaster, and then saw the scouts of his troops running towards the camp in the morning, "Something must have happened!"

"So our troops have completely collapsed, and the Ropes have come in. After listening to the scout's report, Liang Chongxin was also a little nervous, after all, he had never encountered such a serious situation, and the eyes of several people present all looked at Wu Feng, who had been silent all the time. After pondering for a while, Wu Feng raised his head, his face was a little red, his eyes were like torches, revealing a look that only gamblers with red eyes would have, and glanced at everyone, "I thought about it for a while, I want to have a gamble with a few people, I don't know if everyone can trust me?" Xiao Tang took the lead in saying: "I am willing to listen to the orders of the adults." Liang Cui and the others also stood up, "Please give an order." "Okay! The report just now also knows that at this time, the cavalry of the Luope people has already chased the imperial troops and bypassed the Qingyang Mansion City, and I judge that the enemy probably thinks that there are no troops in this area that can compete with it, so they will directly kill Bonan and Guide, and did not divide the troops into the Qingyang Mansion City, it is estimated that they plan to completely defeat the imperial western expedition troops first, and then the follow-up troops will follow up and loot. I want to come to Qingyang Mansion to make a bet with the Luope people. Wu Feng's tone was a little excited. "But my lord, there are more than 100,000 troops in the Luope people, and we are only more than 5,000 people at present, and the disparity between the enemy and our strength is too great. Choi Wen-so raised this most difficult question to avoid. "I have also taken this into account, the enemy who came to attack is about 150,000 in total, and there will definitely be certain losses in the battle with the emperor [***] team, plus the enemy will have to leave a certain number of troops to escort the prisoners, I estimate that the real battle with us is about 100,000 people. He knew that although several people here trusted him unconditionally, if they didn't give them a convincing explanation, I was afraid that even if they went to the battlefield, they would be suspicious, after all, the balance of power was too far apart.

"But my lord, even if the enemy is only 100,000, I am afraid that we will not have a good chance of victory, and the fighting power of the Luope people is not comparable to that of the rioting peasants and slaves. Liang Chongxin expressed the hearts of the three people present. "Don't be nervous, listen to my analysis. The purpose of this attack was not to destroy the Emperor's [***] army, but to rob them of the much-needed grain and livestock in their own territory, so out of these 100,000 people, at least 20,000 must be taken out to complete their first task. And this time, although the emperor's [***] team was defeated, it was not completely annihilated, a considerable part of the army was only defeated, and now it should be in the territory of Qingyang Prefecture, if we take action now to gather these scattered troops and reorganize them, we can get a large number of new forces. And most importantly, I am not prepared to fight the Ropes outside the city, which is what they are good at, and what they want. I am going to make use of the existing city defense facilities in Qingyang City, and then seize the time to repair and improve them, and we brought a large number of weapons, arrows, Grain and grass and other logistical materials can just come in handy, if we can fully mobilize the current residents in the city, mobilize their active surnames, assist us in guarding, plus the enemy this expedition, certainly did not expect to have a siege war with us, so it is estimated that the siege tools and equipment they carry are also insufficient, and the soldiers also lack the experience and psychological preparation for siege warfare, based on the above points, I think we have a great deal of confidence to thwart the enemy's attack. The three of them were still a little worried after Wu Feng's words, especially when Wu Feng mentioned the enemy's lack of siege facilities, Liang Cui's hearts suddenly brightened, yes, the enemy is mainly cavalry, and in addition to the lack of siege facilities, their side has every hope of winning this battle.

After the understanding was unified, the sentinels came in and reported that there was a great confusion in the city, and that the inhabitants were packing up their belongings and preparing to flee.

Seeing that the situation was urgent, Wu Feng immediately issued an order: "Liang Chongxin!"

"Here!"

"Order you to lead three cavalry squadrons directly under you and the first brigade into three groups to immediately go out of the city, search in the territory of Qingyang Mansion, and if you find any defeated imperial troops, immediately send someone back to the city to fight and reorganize, if you still refuse to accept the management after explaining the situation, you can act cheaply. ”――

"Yes!"

"Cui Wenxiu!" -

"Here!"

"I order you to immediately lead the second brigade into five groups to patrol the city, and do a good job of persuading the citizens, and if you find anyone who takes advantage of the fire to rob, spread rumors to confuse the people, or incite chaos, whoever you find, you will be killed!"

"Yes!"

The second general immediately took the order and left, and Wu Feng had already regained his calm, but when he gave the order, he exuded a cold and fanatical light. Xiao Tang, who was standing on the side of this scene, saw it in his eyes, and while admiring Wu Feng's decisiveness, he also noticed the light in Wu Feng's eyes, and couldn't help but feel a sudden break in his heart-

"Alright, now it's time for you and me to visit two important people. "My lord, can you refer to the Zhan and Wei families?" "Haha, it's really the same thing that the hero sees!" Wu Feng laughed-

Zhanjia is a big family in Qingyang Mansion, mainly engaged in leather products processing, and Wei family is another wang family, mainly engaged in livestock and agricultural products trade, both of which are quite famous in Qingyang, and the power is not small, more importantly, in the Luope invasion in the past few years, many high-ranking families have left, and although these two will also move most of the industry, but people have always stayed in Qingyang most of the time, so in the hearts of ordinary people in Qingyang Mansion is very prestigious. When Wu Feng left Yanjing, he heard Gu Ji introduce the two families, and Gu Ji wrote a letter of introduction, he wanted to visit when he was free, but he didn't expect the situation to change so quickly that he had to meet the two in this situation.

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