After a year of governance since Li Tai's entry, Jingzhou has changed greatly compared with last year, or it has not yet reached the level of prosperity and prosperity of all industries, but it can also be said that the people live and work in peace and contentment, and are quite peaceful.

However, Jingzhou's rule does not mean that the whole world is like this, and the flooding outside Yingchuan, Henan, which is not far away, has just subsided due to the season, and it has been surrounded by the Eastern Wei army for a long time.

As for Huainan, it was even more lively, Hou Jing, who had fled to Shouyang since the defeat of Wuyang, finally regained some of his strength after more than half a year of recuperation, and colluded with some unstable forces in Huainan to formally raise troops in mid-August.

Soon after this happened, Hou Zhi, who was stationed in Biyang in Eastern Jingzhou, reported the news and speculated that Hou Jing might attack Yiyang in the upper reaches of Huaishui, and then build an advance base in Huainan and return to Huaibei Henan.

Of course, such a situation did not happen, and the Eastern Wei army defeated the Southern Liang Northern Expeditionary Army and Hou Jing's army in two successive victories at the beginning of the year, which can be described as extremely majestic. Even if Hou Jing had such an idea, these people in Huainan would never follow Hou Jing to Henan to die, just as the soldiers under Hou Jing's command abandoned him in Wuyang.

However, nearly two months have passed since Hou Jing raised troops in Shouyang, and there is still no further news, although the transmission of news has lagged due to the distance between them.

However, Hou Jing on the Huainan side did not make any further moves at least more than a month after the army was raised, which shows that his people still did not have a complete strategic plan and goal in the early stage of the army, and they were rather confused about the road ahead. After all, with a few thousand rabble, they rushed straight to the capital of a country, and there was a moat of the Yangtze River on the way, as long as the enemy had a little normal brain, this thing would definitely not be possible.

After Li Tai learned that Hou Jing had raised troops, he also made a series of military and political arrangements. Although the initial stage of this turmoil only occurred in the Jianghuai region, and there was no strong interaction with the Jianghan in the north where Jingzhou was located, it was not completely devoid of opportunities to take advantage of the fire to loot.

The Biyang guarded by Hou Zhi of East Jingzhou is not far to the east, and the north pass of Tongbai Mountain can reach the north bank of the upper reaches of Huaishui, and then turn south not far from Yiyang, a big town in the west of Shouyang.

With Hou Jing's army, Yang Yaren will inevitably send troops to quell the rebellion, and the strength left behind in Yiyang may not be as sufficient as before.

However, Li Tai did not blindly optimistically send troops east to forge ahead, after all, the last one who did so was surrounded by the Eastern Wei army in Henan.

He knew very well that the strategic opportunities brought by Hou Jing's rebellion were mainly in the Jianghan region, and as for the Huaishui Basin, after all, it was beyond the reach of some whips, and it was okay to take advantage of the fire to rob them.

Therefore, Li Tai sent an additional 600 elite cavalry to Hou Zhi, so that he could flexibly investigate the changes in the situation near Biyang, and if there was a wandering food team that was transferred to this place due to the war, it should also be accepted in time, but this situation is not estimated to be too much.

At the same time, Zhao Gang, who was pacifying the barbarians in Jingzhou, was also recalled by Li Tai, and arranged for him to communicate with the Yuzhou barbarians mainly in the Tongbai Mountains in the southeast, and strive to win over a group of Yuzhou barbarian tribes who were not weak.

Today's barbarians have a distinction between raw and cooked, and the barbarians are completely indissolved, have been living in seclusion in the mountains, and have very little communication with the outside world. As for the familiar barbarians, they mainly live in the plains and hilly areas, although there are still obvious barbarian winds that have not faded, but they have also consciously moved closer to the customs of the Han people.

People such as Zhao Gang, who are very familiar with the customs of the barbarians, who have no loss of respect for them, and who are willing to guide them to move closer to the Han settlements, are very easy to gain the favor of these familiar barbarians and are happy to interact with them.

On this day, Zhao Gang, who was ordered to go east, returned to Jingzhou City, and brought back several Yuzhou barbarian chieftains and their subordinates, and nearly 1,000 people arrived outside the city.

Li Tai was overjoyed when he heard the news, and hurriedly sent people to welcome Zhao Gang and his fellow barbarian chieftains into the state capital.

"The last general is fortunate not to be dishonored, and he will go to the metropolitan governor to bring back a few people who are loyal to Wang Zhi and Shang Yi to attach to the various realms of the canal!"

After Zhao Gang entered the hall, he first saluted Li Tai, and then introduced all the barbarian chieftains one by one, these barbarian chieftains were all barbarian chieftains who were active in the upper reaches of Huaishui and the Tongbai Mountain area, and many of them had accepted the appointment of Zuo officials from all parties.

Although Li Tai is not proficient in dealing with these barbarian chiefs, he also understands that if he wants them to be admired and admired, he must first have strong fists, and secondly, he must have enough benefits.

Therefore, at the banquet to entertain these barbarian chiefs, Li Tai ordered his soldiers to compete with these barbarian chiefs, and at the same time, various treasures were also displayed in the hall to reward them, which was similar to the previous means of subduing the barbarian chieftains of Jingzhou.

The barbarian chieftains naturally liked this kind of activity very much, and they were elated when they won, and after receiving the reward, they bowed and thanked Li Tai again and again, and those who lost were not discouraged, and continued to invite the battle after a short rest.

The banquet was more than half of the way through in such a lively atmosphere, but when Li Tai took the opportunity to talk about some ideas, these barbarian chiefs always showed a little bit of taste, and their reaction was not as positive as that of martial arts rewards.

"Don't these barbarians want to go further to Huainan? The armor staff and armament are supplied by me, and as long as they take advantage of the emptiness of the Liang garrison to infiltrate Yiyang, they don't seem to be happy?"

Taking advantage of the fact that the barbarian chieftains were drinking, Li Tai motioned for Zhao Gang to come in and frowned and asked.

When Zhao Gang heard this, he whispered, "When the last general went to make contact, he also felt that the barbarians in this realm seemed to be different from other realms, they were not keen on looting and looting, but were willing to buy and sell goods. I asked deeply, it turned out that Hou Jing was exempted from the city assessment in Shouyang before ......"

Li Tai couldn't help but be happy when he heard this, no wonder these barbarians don't like to rob and trade, and their feelings are encouraged by policies, but soon he asked: "Hou Jingjin has raised troops against Liang, Shouyang is the center of military disasters, even if the previous order is still maintained, are they not afraid that this is a net set up?"

After Zhao Gang heard this, he said: "Huainan has been at the boundary between north and south for a long time, and the folk customs are also quite tough. Haoqiang closes the mountain and Zeze, how many small people have goods? Even if a woman is as evil as Hou Jing, if she dares to set up for robbery of wealthy households, who would dare to approach them? Especially at present, the Liang army is besieging its division, and it is not appropriate to make enemies all over the field because of greed for temporary convenience, so the needs of the division and brigade still need to be bought in the market. Only the people of Dayi City have their own assets and have no other power, and it doesn't hurt to plunder them......

Li Tai was a little dumbfounded when he heard this, he dared to rebel directly, but he had to be fair and trustworthy in business, which was really a bit unbelievable.

However, if you think about it, it is normal that the most powerful in a border area like Huainan is never the two countries, but the powerful people who control the land and population. At least for now, Hou Jing needs to unite these forces, of course, he can't have no bottom line.

But the problem is that he hopes to win over and encourage these Yuzhou barbarian tribes to go east along the Huaishui River and be the vanguard of his division, but these barbarians are not willing to forge ahead, which is really a bit of a headache.

After thinking about it, he said again, "Since these barbarian chiefs intend to sell goods in Shouyang for profit, but they are attached to the west, they must have something to ask for me, right?"

"Yes, the last general will use the official trade to persuade these barbarian chiefs to come and see."

When Zhao Gang heard this, he replied that although he was good at dealing with barbarians, he had to at least come up with something attractive to convince the other party. After all, barbarians are not stupid, and they will not do anything with a slap on the head. He is now luring people over, but how to drive and use the other party still depends on Li Tai, the state lord.

It is not unacceptable for Li Tai to infiltrate and find out the situation in Huainan through commerce and trade, but what do these barbarians use to trade with him?

After thinking about it, Li Tai said, "I can provide these barbarian chiefs with a batch of goods, but they need to use their tribesmen to keep them in the territory. There is Liyang City in the east of Jingzhou, where the former city of the Anman Mansion of Bennan Qi is located, and now it will be stationed again, please ride Zhao Che to settle in charge, and I will send another general and a thousand cavalry to garrison for Zhao Che to ride you to pacify the barbarians."

After Zhao Gang heard this, he nodded and led the order, and even relayed Li Tai's decision to the barbarian chiefs present, and all the barbarian chieftains also bowed to Li Tai and thanked them one after another, obviously in their hearts.

So the next day, Li Tai sent Dou Chi's nephew Dou Yi to lead a thousand men and horses, plus Zhao Gang's headquarters, to escort a batch of supplies and goods to Liyang in the east

The city is gone.

As soon as he had arranged this matter here, new news came from the south that Hou Jingchao's army had successfully crossed the river. In addition, Xiao Jing, the king of Yueyang, was invited to meet him, and he had important things to interview with Li Tai.