The welcome banquet was set up in the most famous Moon Tower in Hongxian County. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Although the situation is very bad, as the arrival of Yu Mingzhen, the general who holds the actual power in the two prefectures of Sihai, the gentry of Hongxian County still have to show a welcoming gesture.

Of course, those who were able to participate in the banquet were all gentry and prominent families in Hongxian County, such as the Zhao family and the Liu family of Hongxian Wang, as well as the Linghu family, the largest grain merchant in Hongxian County, the Huo family, a salt merchant, as well as officials of Hongxian County and some other literati in attendance.

Yu Mingzhen doesn't like this kind of entertainment-style banquet, but as a general in charge of the military power of the two states, he can't dislike the kindness of the local gentry, to a large extent, he still needs the support of these people to maintain the rule of this place, and he has always had a close relationship with Zhao Wuyue, the patriarch of the Zhao family, and when he comes to Hongxian, he will inevitably have a drink together.

The Zhao family is the matriarchal family of Liu Yu in the Liu Song Dynasty, living in Xiaqiu for a long time, and it is a famous family in Hongxian County, and the Liu family is also born in the Liu Song Dynasty, and its family members are mostly dignitaries of the Southern Dynasty, and the Zhao and Liu families are each other's in-laws, becoming the two major families in Hongxian County.

Although the interest was not high, Yu Mingzhen still behaved very stylishly, and also expressed his goodwill to the Zhao and Liu families and the two major merchant families of Linghu and Huo.

Looking at the singers and dancers in the hall, Yu Mingzhen couldn't help but sigh.

Zhao Wuyue, the patriarch of the Zhao family, who was sitting under Yu Mingzhen, also sensed that this powerful old friend who was in charge of the two states of Sihai was in a bad mood, and raised his wine glass to toast: "General, please drink this cup, and put aside the general affairs, don't worry." ”

"Hey, Brother Wuyue, where can I put it aside, the current situation is not good, the ant thief is going, the Cai thief is coming again, hehe, I can't sleep well with the martial artists." Yu Mingzhen smiled self-deprecatingly: "It's also ashamed." ”

"General, Cai thief has stopped in Bozhou, although the situation in Xuzhou is not good, but there are still Yao generals and Shang generals they are in Xiao County and Fuli, I heard people, Cai thief is now also exhausted, the ancients, the end of the strong crossbow, can not wear Lu Min; the decline of the wind, can not be feathered. I look at Cai thief, and the same is true. ”

It should be said that Zhao Wuyue's point of view is also pertinent.

Cai Zhoubing was indeed a little exhausted after taking Bozhou in one fell swoop.

Bozhou is not as good as other states, with a population of more than one million in eight counties, and the gentry and noble families in each county have no good impression of Caizhou, and they are all very hostile to Caizhou's Yuan family, a former vassal land.

Although they took Bozhou, but there is the resistance of the gentry inside, the containment of Huaiyou in Nanyingzhou, and the tiger eye of the Liang in the north, which has reached the extreme, plus they also have a heavy army in Caizhou to prevent the Liang from taking advantage of the fire to rob, so the mobile forces in their hands are already seriously insufficient, and the surrounding threats to it are not small, and perhaps the most powerless to pose a threat to it is Xuzhou, the main master.

"Brother Wu Yue, Cai's worries can only be said to have been temporarily alleviated, but looking at the situation in our Xu Sihai Sanzhou, it is becoming more and more sinister. Yu Mingzhen took a sip of his wine glass, and his eyes were a little more solemn, "The drought in the north continues, and the Taining army in the three states of Yanyun and Yi almost collapsed, and the army of more than 30,000 is said to be less than 10,000 people under his control now, and the rest are all reduced to bandits, looting everywhere, and the situation in Pinglu is slightly better, but after receiving the impact of the victims in the three states of Heshuo and Yanyunyi, it is the same as the difficulty, and the victims are displaced from the people, and if they are slightly bewitched, they may turn into another group of ant thieves, and they are only afraid that they will be slightly weaker than Qin Quan and others." ”

Zhao Wuyue, who was dressed in a lotus-colored brocade robe, was taken aback, "General, do you think there will be ant thieves in the north?"

The scourge of the ant thief can be said to make the Huaibei gentry painful to the bone, not to mention the two states of Yingbo, Xuzhou has a large army stationed, the ant thief also has to avoid its front, Haizhou is located in the northeast, the ant thief is also rare, but Sizhou, by the ant thief repeatedly ravaged.

At first, I thought that these ant thieves would just go south after a while, but I didn't expect that this delay would be a year and a half, turning over and over like a grate for combing hair.

In addition to Xiapi, there are large armies stationed in the two prefectures of Sihai, and Qishan, Donghai and Huairen are located in the northeast, and almost all of them have been poisoned by ant thieves.

Although the county seat of Hongxian County has not fallen, it has been surrounded by ant thieves several times, such as Xucheng, Suyu, Muyang, Lianshui and other counties have been attacked by ant thieves, and even Linhuai in Sizhou Prefecture has been on the wall by the ant thief Lin He, if it were not for Yu Mingzhen to lead the army to reinforce in time, Linhuai would also be reduced to a ruin.

Now it's hard to find it difficult for the ant thieves to harm Huainan, but I didn't expect Yu Mingzhen to say that the north might be about to raise ant thieves again, how could this not make Zhao Wuyue frightened? !

"Brother Wuyue, don't you think I'm alarmist?" Yu Mingzhen smiled bitterly, "The north is ruined, the people themselves are poor, and now they are suffering from natural disasters, and it is difficult for them to survive by selling their children and girls.

"Then the general should expel these displaced people from our Sizhou, and should not let them enter the country!" Zhao Wuyue's view represents the attitude of many gentry, as long as the displaced people do not enter their hometowns, then it will not matter to me.

"Brother Wu Yue, not to mention whether I have so many troops in my hands to drive and block, even if I can keep them out, but if someone with a heart intends to bring disaster to the south, while funding some of his swords, guns and armor, and then providing him with clues about the situation, let him go south, Brother Wu Yue, do you think we will have to have a catastrophe at that time?!"

Yu Mingzhen's words made Zhao Wuyue creepy.

This kind of thing is not impossible, if it is to send these disaster victims and displaced people out, those big clans and wealthy families in the north may fund some weapons and materials, so that they can lead these displaced people south, and they will not be able to control it.

Once the rebel army engulfs the displaced people and the number of disaster victims is too large, I am afraid it will be difficult to control it.

Rather than that, it is really better to be like now, if you are willing to go, send some rice and grain, and let them go south quickly, and if you don't want to go, then you can only hang your life with gruel, take strict precautions, and force them to finally go south.

"Then how should we deal with it?" Liu Zhen, the patriarch of the Liu clan on Zhao Wuyue's side, couldn't help but ask in a trembling voice.

"There's no good way. Yu Mingzhen shook his head, "Maybe letting them go south to Huainan is the only way, Huainan is richer after all, although the grain harvest is poor, there is always some harvest." ”

"General, as long as we take strict precautions, step up our efforts to drive these homeless people south, and lead those homeless people to Xuzhou as much as possible from the north, the situation will not deteriorate to the point of being out of control, right?"

Zhao Wuyue also knew that now Xuzhou and Sihai Erzhou have long been very estranged, and Yu Mingzhen has not entered Xuzhou for many years, which shows how cold his relationship with Shi Yu is, so he did not shy away from saying that he should drive the displaced people to Xuzhou in Xiapi.

"Brother Wuyue, in fact, the homeless people are not the ,...... I am most worried about at the moment," Yu Mingzhen sighed.

Zhao Wuyue was a little surprised, "The general is worried about now, but what is he worried about? Are you worried about Daliang, or Pinglu, or Huaiyou, Li Wu, or Xuzhou? Now each family has its own difficulties, I'm afraid they are all too busy to take care of themselves, right?"

Zhao Wuyue's point of view is also the mainstream view of the current Sihai Erzhou, except for these displaced people, there is really no other threat.

The ant thief went south, and it was impossible for him to return to the north, and Li Yu and the ant thief were fighting each other, and it was impossible for him to intervene in Sihai.

The Pinglu army is a bit of a threat, because the relationship between the Pinglu army and Huaibei has been cold in recent years, especially the Pinglu army has always coveted Haizhou, but now, as Yu Mingzhen said, the situation in Pinglu states is terrible, food prices are soaring, and they are not able to fight abroad, at least in the past two years.

As for the girder, if there is really a move, the first thing to bear the brunt should be Xuzhou.

Who else is left? Could it be Huaiyou?

Huaiyoucai and Xuzhou joined forces in Yingzhou to fight against Cai thieves, even if they have South Yingzhou now, it is also under the situation that the Xuzhou army is unable to return to the sky, and they are complaining, and now Huaiyou continues to transport grain to the north to relieve the pressure of Huaibei, and the relationship with Huaibei is very harmonious, plus Huaiyou has to get Luhao Erzhou, and is also busy settling inside, how can we talk about others?

Yu Mingzhen also felt that he was a little suspicious, but this was just an intuition.

"Hmph, the real threat to us can only be the Pinglu Wang family, they have been coveting Haizhou, once Haizhou is in their hands, Sizhou is not guaranteed, so we should say that we should form an alliance with Huaiyou. "The salt merchant Huo Jia Huo Gu Road opposite.

The Huo family is the largest salt merchant in Hongxian County, and there is the largest salt field in Huaibei in Haizhou, and the Huo family has a close relationship with the salt merchant in Haizhou, so it is undoubtedly the most afraid of the Pinglu army going south.

"Forming an alliance with Huaiyou?" Liu Zhen sneered: "Why did Huaiyou form an alliance with us? If you want to form an alliance, you have already concluded it, only our Huaibei has a request for them, and they are not stupid, you have to say that it is almost the same to let Jiang Feng directly take over Xuzhou." ”

Liu Zhen's words made everyone present an awkward silence, indeed why is Huaiyou allied with you now, not to mention that Yu Mingzhen is still nominally a subordinate of Shi Yu, although the military power of Sihai Erzhou is in the hands of Yu Mingzhen, there are still quite a lot of gentry attached to the Shi family, and now the situation in Sihai Erzhou is bad, Huaiyou transports grain to the north, it is also a business matter, still sell grain at a high price, as long as you dare to be embarrassed to reduce the price, it is guaranteed that there will be no next wave of grain.

"Huaiyou Jiangfeng is simply incredible, such a character appeared all of a sudden, you said that he now has both soldiers and food, what kind of attitude should he have towards our Huaibei?" Linghu Clan Patriarch Linghu Dao said quietly: "If you really want to make any conditions for us, do you think we can refuse?"

Noticing that everyone around him was looking sideways at him, Ling Hu Dao didn't care, and looked at Yu Mingzhen with a complicated expression, "The general is here, he shouldn't have said this, but this is the truth, and there are many people who think like this in Hongxian County, and as for other places, I'm afraid it's more." ”