"Ning Ze withdrew?" Sima Fa had received the exact news two days later.

At this moment, Ning Ze had already left Yanzhou and was speeding towards Hanzhou.

"Military Division, Ning Zeqi attacked and took the border pass of Shishan County, and he could take the opportunity to seize the city, but we couldn't react at all. Lu Yuan asked suspiciously, "Such a good opportunity, why did you turn around halfway and leave quickly?"

"I was bound to win, but I left halfway. Sima Fa thought for a moment, squinted his eyes and said, "There must be something big happening in Huaguo!"

"If that's the case, it's a godsend!" Lu Yuan said, "You can take advantage of Ning Ze's departure to quickly recapture Xingtai." I can't say, I can also retrieve the meridian. ”

Lei He shook his head when he heard this: "Feng Qiao will not sit idly by, the most important thing at this moment is to take back Xingtai County, the other party on the meridian side must have taken action, and now the two sides are jointly dealing with Huaguo, and it is not the time to turn their faces." ”

"What the servant said is very true!" Zhou Hao nodded, "Take Xingtai first, this is the most important thing." ”

"That being the case, General Ben personally went out!" Lu Yuan said, "When Xingtai is taken, he will attack Xizhou in one go!"

"The general must not be impulsive. Sima Fa advised, "There is a shortage of troops in the country, and if it is not necessary, try to avoid war." Xingtai County should be taken, but it must be cautious to avoid the expansion of the war. Ning Ze wished that we were dragged into the quagmire by the war and could not recover. ”

"That's right!" said Raihe, "even if we borrow foreign armies, we have suffered heavy losses in the previous battles, completely destroying our national policy of recuperation. If we do not adjust it in time, this bit of domestic strength will be exhausted, and we will no longer be able to resist the offensive of the Chinese State! Once Ning Ze turns around and attacks, I am afraid that we will be defeated and retreat. ”

"Ma Jian's situation is not much better than ours," Zhou Hao interjected, "At that time, everyone is too busy to take care of themselves." ”

"All in all, the situation is not so rosy. Sima Fa said solemnly to Lu Yuan, "Generals need to be more cautious and prohibit impulsiveness. This time to seize Xingtai County, Ning Ze must have laid out in advance, no matter whether he wins or loses, he must grasp the proportions, he should retreat, he can't rush in!"

Lu Yuan was depressed by a few of them, thinking that this was too aggrieved!

It's just that the domestic situation is really not optimistic, and if the army in hand is exhausted, it will be a hundred times more difficult to recruit soldiers. The alien races that have submitted to their own side have sent out all the soldiers who can fight, which can be regarded as the last reliance.

If you really fight to the point where there are no soldiers available, you will not be far from destroying the country!

After all, over the years, the vast majority of the people have been attracted to China, and the other party's domestic population is huge, which is completely different from its own, and there is no difficulty in conscription.

In addition, China has unprecedentedly allowed the recruitment of female officers, female generals, and female soldiers, which is completely unethical and absolutely unacceptable in its own opinion, and has also made China's soldiers more sufficient.

On its own side, it does not have an advantage in terms of soldiers, and the problem of the young and strong population in the country is not easy to solve, and it is unconsciously at a disadvantage.

Lu Yuan was not a fool, as soon as he was reminded by Sima Fa and them, he knew that in addition to the necessary battles, it was the best choice for his side to avoid and avoid it, and to minimize losses and retain troops.

In the same situation as them, there are Ma Jian and Tang Niu.

Don't look at the continuous attack of Tang Niu's army in the north, in fact, it is very different from the previous wars.

The two sides fought head-on, and there were fewer and fewer cases of winning the defeat with troops, and most of Tang Niu chose to fight generals and choose heads-up mode. However, the other party bears the name of the first military general in the world, and the border guard general is not stupid enough to take the initiative to die. So they turned to strategy to win, fighting each other's intelligence, using various tactics to destroy their opponents as much as possible, while preserving their own combat power.

Tang Niu suffered several losses and learned to be obedient, allowing Prime Minister Mei Xu to control the overall situation and fight wits and courage with the border defenders.

Don't look at the lively fighting, the casualties of each other are getting fewer and fewer, and they have entered a stalemate.

As for Ma Jian's side, Feng Qiao's main force will definitely seize Meridian County, but he will not use strong attack tactics, and it is also to ensure that when the loss of troops is about to be minimized, he will exert limited force.

In fact, it is the three parties to try to exercise restraint and seek the optimal strategy.

Sure enough, when Sima Fa led the army to Shishan County and went south to attack Xingtai, Feng Qiao also led his troops north to attack Ziwu.

The Chinese army had already set up a defensive formation and calmly dealt with enemy troops from different directions.

Chu Wenxiu immediately sent troops to contain Ma Jian and relieve the pressure on Ziwu County.

Not to mention that the three forces competed in Yanzhou, each with its own plans, after Ning Ze got the news, he did not hesitate to turn around and return, left Yanzhou, crossed Xizhou and Liangzhou, and went straight to the direction of Hanzhou.

Along the way, there was the latest information in every county you passed, all about the Iron Wing Cult.

However, this information is mediocre, and it is full of descriptions of the Iron Wing Sect in various counties to save people with water, help people in need, accumulate virtue and do good, as if this sudden appearance of religion is to persuade people to be good, too good to be good.

Nowadays, the people of Hanzhou highly respect and praise the Iron Wing Sect.

The imperial court realized that there was something wrong with this religion, but it did not have the slightest evidence. The local government tried to interview the Tieyi cultists, and even tried to forcibly ban the religion to prevent the other party from continuing to demagogue, but due to strong opposition from the people, it ended in vain.

In the eyes of the people, the Iron Wing Sect persuades people to be kind and saves people everywhere, but in the face of such a good deed, it is necessary to stop it, and the local government's behavior is inexplicable. Even many people feel that the government is on the opposite side of the good people, which is too hateful.

This is the trouble with almost universal illiteracy, and it is difficult for you to reason with the people at the bottom. They just think that whoever is good to them must be a good person, and those who are against a good person are a bad person. You forbid the good men to help the people, the enemies of the people.

How similar is this situation to the beginning of the outbreak of the Liangyi ant thief?

If the government finds any evidence of the Iron Wing Sect's misdeeds, or secretly profiting, then it is easy to say.

It's just that so far, all localities have tried their best to carry out investigations, and there is no evidence of this.

As for those officials who disappeared mysteriously, there is not the slightest evidence pointing to the Iron Wing Sect. Or they find evidence, but it is destroyed, resulting in the loss of evidence.

Therefore, the official did not dare to take action against the Iron Wing Sect easily, and forcibly investigated or banned the Iron Wing Sect without any evidence, for fear that the entire Han Continent would be mad and even cause an unimaginable riot.

Ning Ze's policy attaches great importance to the people's will, and it is precisely because of this that Huaguo can have such a large population base. Although it was not difficult to exterminate the Iron Wing Sect by force, no one dared to do so. The Iron Wing Sect has won the love of the people and is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, unless they are caught with evidence of their misdeeds, unauthorized actions will plunge Hanzhou into unimaginable chaos!

Of all the information, the only thing that was valuable in Ning Ze's opinion was the list of some of the main members of the Iron Wing Sect.

Iron Wing True Monarch is rather mysterious, no one knows what he looks like, and every time he appears, he wears an unknown bird's head mask and a robe with a pair of black wings tattooed on his back. No one knows his name or where he came from.

According to folklore, Iron Wing True Monarch was originally just an ordinary person, but later met a strange bird that could talk, and the strange bird preached and taught him the magic of using runic water to heal diseases, and then became the later Iron Wing True Monarch.

However, no one has been able to verify the authenticity of this story recorded in the intelligence.

Tieyi Zhenjun accepted sixteen apprentices, taught them the magic of water healing, and set up headquarters in various counties and counties of Hanzhou to solve problems for the people, which won the hearts of the people. These sixteen apprentices are all on the list, and most of them are people of considerable status in Hanzhou.

For example, Peng Ran, the son of Peng Yue, the richest man in Hanzhou, because of his existence, the Tieyi Sect received huge financial support from the Peng family, so he had enough funds to buy various materials and distribute them to the people in difficulty.

The other apprentices also came from well-known local wealthy squire families, all of whom provided a large amount of money to the Iron Wing Sect, and some of them came from poor families. These apprentices are very talented, and in a short period of time, they mastered the art of healing diseases with runes, and instead of Iron Wing Zhenjun, they went to various counties and counties in Hanzhou to preach, and they also looked at recruiting the sect members and passed on this spell, so that there were more and more Iron Wing sect members, and there was today's situation.

Ning Ze hadn't seen it in person, so he couldn't tell whether the so-called Fu Shui healing spell was true or false, but the influence of the Iron Wing Sect was expanding rapidly, which was an indisputable fact.

Sitting idly by and ignoring it will become a huge hidden danger, and even become a cancer that expands rapidly, and eventually makes the forces that have worked hard for so many years "not afford to get sick".

He must find out the truth as soon as possible and nip all hidden dangers in the bud.

If there is nothing wrong with the Iron Wing Sect, it is really a simple religion that is kind to people, and Ning Ze can allow it to survive within the framework of national law;

He only brought a team of cavalry, and the rest stayed in Xingtai County to garrison, and the first emperor began to travel day and night, desperately rushing to Hanzhou.

Liu Yuanxiang had already sent Mi Yan to assist Ning Ze, and set off earlier than Ning Ze, agreeing to wait in Guangping County, Liangzhou.

Ning Ze rushed to Guangping County non-stop, and Mi Yan really brought her female soldiers to greet her. She was not assisted by tactics, and as early as when Liu Yuanxiang noticed that there was a problem in Hanzhou, she was ordered to go south. At least half a month ahead of Ning Ze.

The result was that she had just arrived on her front foot, and Ning Ze had arrived on her back foot.

When the husband and wife met, Ning Ze immediately asked for information about the Iron Wing Sect.

Mi Yan handed over all the information collected along the way to her husband, and the Iron Wing Sect also infiltrated in several states on the border, so she asked her female soldiers to disguise themselves and probe along the way, but she also gained some useful information.

When Ning Ze carefully checked the information, Mi Yan noticed Ma Chanpei, who had been following him, and was immediately surprised.

"All the information is here?" After carefully reading the intelligence information in his hand, Ning Ze asked.

Mi Yan nodded: "The information collected along the way is all here." There are also county officials along the way, all together. ”

"Hmm~" Ning Ze said when he heard this, "There is not much useful information, I have to go to Hanzhou to investigate in person!"

"The concubine was ordered to assist her husband and investigate the Iron Wing Sect together. Mi Yan said, "This matter is a bit dangerous, the officials who were sent out to investigate the Iron Wing Sect before have all disappeared mysteriously, and there is no news again!

Following the direction Mi Yan pointed, Ning Ze looked down at Ma Chanpei, who was only in his arms: "Gu sent a message a long time ago that Ma Jian married with his seven daughters, and it was her!"

After being reminded, Mi Yan remembered that there seemed to be such a thing!

Before, she thought that the child was the illegitimate daughter of her husband outside.