The group threw off the infantry and ran straight southwest along the Jiandu River for thirty miles, and they were about to reach Yanling City, when they saw a large group of cavalry roaring in front of them.

"Ma Su, my father-in-law is in Yanling City and wants to see you. The first strong man had a black horse in his crotch, the leopard print mask had been pulled up, the black cloak was wrapped around his body, as if to set off his strong body, the huge mace hammer head protruded from the hook, and the wolf tooth cone revealed a blue light.

"Quan Shuai is here?!" Ma Su's rich lips grinned, revealing a mouthful of snow-white teeth, and the brilliant sunlight flashed, "Qin He, when did Quan Shuai come?"

"I just arrived this morning. "The person who came was Qin He, the leopard king in the twin thorns of the Flame Army, and his leopard army and the falcon army of the Persian female Masu were also called the cavalry duo among the ant thieves.

"Quan Shuai knows that we didn't take Qu'a City?" Ma Su nodded, his face returning to his usual indifferent expression, "Give us some more time, and we will be able to take Qu'a City." ”

"My father-in-law has other arrangements, I don't have to take Qu Ah now, as long as I can drag Wu Jun down. Qin He shook his head, "Let's go, my father-in-law has special arrangements." ”

"Oh?" a look of surprise flashed across Masu's gray eyes, "It seems that there is a change, you know?"

"Well, I know a little, but it's too complicated, and the specific situation is clear to the father-in-law, it should be just an idea. Qin He's rough face didn't show much expression, he just shook his head.

The two cavalry forces were united, but they were distinct.

In terms of weapons, Masu's cavalry is more mixed, with only half of the horse lance, while the cavalry of the Qin River is all horse lance, but this does not mean that the combat effectiveness of the Falcon Army of Masu is inferior to that of the Leopard Army of the Qin River.

Perhaps the Leopard Army is stronger in frontal formation, but the Falcon Army is more flexible, especially in cavalry and archery, it is comparable to the elite of the Shatuo Cavalry, needless to say that several leaders under the command of Ma Su are originally from the Shatuo Cavalry, and they are themselves Shatuo and Saiwaihu people.

The two of them and the subordinates behind them gradually distanced themselves, and Ma Su tilted his head in confusion.

She knew that Quan Shuai valued this righteous son very much, and she also admitted that Qin He had grown rapidly in the past two years, and he was no longer the martial artist who only had the courage of a puppet in the past, he had learned to learn and think, and was transforming into a qualified general.

"Do you want to join forces with other families?" asked Masu in a deep voice.

Qin He was also a little surprised, this woman's sense of smell is so keen, she still feels that she hasn't missed a bit, how can the other party figure out one or two?

"There's a reason for that. Qin He nodded, "An outsider came to find his father-in-law and talked for a long time, and his father-in-law discussed it with his second uncle, Sun Shuai, and Lin Shuai, probably because he thought he could give it a try." ”

Ma Su didn't think it was difficult to guess, the relationship between Quan Shuai and Han Baling was becoming stiffer and stiffer, lacking the support of Han Baling's department, and now the troops in Quan Shuai's hands were no longer enough to defeat Runchang Erzhou, and even had to guard against Han Baling.

In this case, dragging it down is also difficult for the Yan Army, and the situation in Xuanzhou is not good, more than 100,000 Yan Army in the past year or so have been sitting on empty seats, and a large number of soldiers have fled to other states and counties, and the situation has not improved until recently, but if it continues like this, the situation may change, so Quan Shuai must always hope to stabilize the current pattern.

But it is not so simple to stabilize, the Wu army has always had fifty or sixty thousand elites stationed in Yixing and Jurong, plus the naval army, so that the Yan army has repeatedly suffered setbacks in the attack on Runchang Erzhou, and if these Wu troops are not resolved, Xuanzhou will never be stable from the line of Dangtu-Lishui-Liyang.

Now that all the Han Baling troops have retreated to the west of Xuanzhou, Qiupu has become the center of the Han Baling Ministry, and their relationship with Jiang Kou is getting closer and closer, which makes the Quan Shuai's control over them weaker and weaker, and the Quan Shuai even had to put the Qin Heng Department in Jing County, just to avoid some things that he does not want to see.

In this case, it is expected that the commander will seek foreign aid, or cooperate with external forces.

It's just that the Flame Army's thousands of people are pointing out, who would be willing to cooperate with the Flame Army?

"Who is it?" said Masu, lowering her voice.

Qin He pursed his lips, "East." ”

"Sure enough, it's them. A hint of coldness flashed in Masu's gray eyes, "But how can we ensure their sincerity?

Qin He shook his head, "This is what the stepfather is considering, so the stepfather also wants to meet you and listen to your opinion." ”

"What is your idea based on?" Cui Shang stroked his chin, but there was a little more essence in his eyes.

"The subordinates feel that the performance of the Yue Kingdom over the past year has been a little strange, and the war between the ant thieves has maintained a fairly regular rhythm, which is very strange, the intelligence transmitted back from Hangzhou shows that every time the ant thieves invade Hangzhou and Huzhou, the Vietnamese army can respond quickly, and then after a little contact, either the Vietnamese army is defeated and retreated, or the ant thieves withdraw. But on the other hand, the ant thief's attack on Wu Guo was a real knife and a real gun, fighting hard, and this kind of differential treatment was obviously problematic. ”

Zhang Wanshan's return did not make Cui Shang relieved his doubts, "This can only show that there is a tacit understanding between the two, which is also normal, the ant thief will definitely have a focused attack." ”

"But from the point of view of the ant thief, no matter how tacit there is, it is impossible to do so well, unless there is collusion between them. Zhang Wanshan disagreed with Cui Shang's point of view, "In addition, there are also some signs of division within the ant thieves, and we suspect that Qin Quan may be deliberately trying to change his ways, well, or Qin Quan has had this sign since before he went south, so we feel that there should be some kind of secret agreement between Qin Quan and Qian Yuanjun." ”

Cui Shang pondered for a long time and did not answer for a while.

Previously, the king of the county summoned him to discuss this year's financial and relief issues with Chen Wei, Du Tuo, Wang Huang, Yang Xun and others, and the difficulties in front of him were very great, although Huainan had a bumper harvest last year, but Yanyunyi, Pinglu Prefectures and even Cao, Pu and other prefectures that were about to be incorporated were not in a good situation, if the solution was not good, I am afraid that there would be a large number of displaced people going south, in fact, this situation has begun to appear.

Although a large amount of grain transportation to the north alleviated the famine in the north to a certain extent, it also brought the financial resources of the Xuzhou Governor's Office to a dangerous situation, or this is Jiang Feng's credibility in overdrawing Xuzhou, Sogdian merchants and Persian Hu merchants have provided Xuzhou with a large amount of money and silver support, but this support is not unlimited, and there are collaterals, Persian Hu merchants are mortgaged by Shouzhou kilns, and Sogdian merchants are mortgaged by Xuzhou smelting center and Haizhou Yanli.

Even so, the impact of the drought in the north was too great, and Jiang Feng had just taken over the most difficult three prefectures of Yanyun and Yi, as well as the two prefectures of Mizhou and Denglai in Pinglu Town, and the situation was also very difficult, so it was very necessary to use grain from Huainan to provide relief.

The consumption of the first war in Songcheng is also quite large, basically some of the savings in the early stage have been consumed, the need for relief, the investment in magic, as well as the reorganization and transformation of the army, the change of clothes, and the cost of the war, all need a large amount of money and silver, if you continue to borrow from the Hu merchants, I am afraid there will be some difficulties, otherwise you will have to completely pledge the iron smelting industry to the Hu merchants, which is not in line with Jiang Feng's original intention.

If, as envisaged by the king of the county and Wang Miao, the northward raid was to be launched and Cangzhou, Dizhou and Dezhou were to be occupied, this would be an extremely heavy expense, which was already somewhat unaffordable for Xuzhou.

Military generals do not have much intuitive feeling about figures such as military spending and financial resources, but they are very sensitive to such things as military food and military resources, and once these things are not replenished, it will certainly greatly affect the morale of the army.

In short, the current Xuzhou seems to be strong and strong, but the inner bottom is very empty, and it can't be moved, and it can't afford to fight.

The Xuzhou Iron Smelting Center is a golden doll, but firstly, the army needs a lot of replenishment and redress, and secondly, the early stage is basically pulled away by the Sogdian merchants, and it will take time to follow, so in the face of the sudden changes in the situation in the Central Plains, whether it is to deal with the challenge of the Shatuo people in the west, or to seek Heshuo in the north, it requires quite strong financial support, and this support cannot be a hammer deal, it needs thick support, so I can't help but let the Privy Council and the political hall fight the idea of the southern neighbor.

Incidentally, the Privy Council and the Council were officially renamed the Privy Council and the Council in response to a series of reforms in the political system.

If Qian Yuanqian and Qin Quan have a tacit understanding or a secret agreement, then it must be in Jiangnan, and Jiangbei is still uncaught.

For Qian Yuanjun, Runchang Erzhou is undoubtedly the most coveted by Yueguo, and if Runchang Erzhou is won, the essence of Jiangnan Dongdao will almost be included by Yueguo, and for ant thieves, what can be gained?

Needless to say, Xuanzhou naturally seems to be not attractive enough for ant thieves, which is the most questionable.

But no matter what, since they are in Jiangnan, what about Jiangbei?

"So you think we can get involved? Well, Chu Yang Erzhou?" Cui Shang's eyes flickered slightly.

I can't help but say that this temptation is big enough, take Chuyang Erzhou, it can be said that now Xuzhou's financial dilemma is solved, the wealth of Chuzhou and Yangzhou, especially Yangzhou's luxury, is famous all over the world, and the hundreds of thousands of people in Jiangdu City alone are enough to make it difficult to give up.

"First seat, I think even if we don't take the initiative to get involved, if the Yue Kingdom and the ant thieves are smart enough, they should also take into account our factors, and they won't fail to see this. Zhang Wanshan smiled: "Maybe the only thing that worries them is that we are dragged by the Central Plains Shatuo and Caizhou, and we can't have enough strength to participate, right?"