The first year of Chengtian, the first year of the republic, March 20.

It was another ten days since the first attack by thieves. In the past ten days, the city of Xiangguo has been bombed by stone generators outside the city, and the city is full of fallen and ruined walls.

At this time, a grain merchant in his forties was in this melancholy city regretting his adventures that day.

This person's name is Zhen Ku, and he is a member of the Wuji Zhen clan in Zhongshan Kingdom, and has been responsible for the family's grain trading in Zhaodi. He shouldn't have been in this Xiangguo City.

In fact, since the fall of Handan, the kings of the Liu clan of the original Handan have all retreated north with the remnants of Lu Zhi's army. At that time, Zhen Ku was among the retreats.

Later, when Lu Zhi was listed as Zhao Guoxiang, who was responsible for organizing a defensive front against the Taishan army in Xiangcheng, Fu Zhu issued a notice to persuade the people of Xiang to move north to Youzhou with Lu Zhi's army.

Originally, Zhen Ku was going to go back, but when he learned that Fu Zhu was setting up a big grain station and urgently needed someone to be responsible for the procurement and collection of millet grain, he was tempted.

The so-called wealth and danger are sought, coupled with doubts about whether the Taishan army will go north, Zhen Ku and his clansmen volunteered to enter Xiangguo City.

In this process, it was as Zhen Ku expected. There was no danger, and after the Taishan army defeated Handan, it stopped in Handan and did not go north.

Then Zhen Ku took the handwritten seal of the frustrated and began to collect the food and military funds of the counties in northern Zhao, and transported them to Xiangguo City.

Of course, Zhen Ku naturally made a fortune in this process.

Just when Zhen Ku thought that good days would always be like this, the Taishan army actually began to go north. As a result, chaos reigned in the city.

Of course, Zhen Ku wanted to run, but in the end, he was afraid of being involved with an official errand, so he privately found an old man, that is, a confidant of the frustrated shogunate, and also a member of his clan.

Fu Hong swore to him that everything was fine.

He even told Zhen Ku that although he was assured to do it boldly, good days were ahead.

Zhen Ku also pondered, with the solidity and reserves of Xiangguo City, coupled with the fact that he was Lu Zhi's confidant, once the city was besieged, wouldn't reinforcements from all over the country come?

Therefore, he stayed in the city in peace, and continued to transfer corn from all over the country to sell to the Han army in the city.

But what Zhen Ku didn't know was that he wanted to stay in Xiangguo at the end of last year, not because of Lu Zhi, but because of himself.

At that time, the defeated army returned to the north, and he volunteered to stay in Xiangguo, saying:

"The servants think that the overall situation of Hebei is the most important thing in Zhao Di. The weight of Zhao is first in Handan, and the second is in Xiangguo. Now that Handan has been lost, Xiangguo can no longer be like this. I urgently ask Jian to send the new Zhao County to guard and move the county to Xiangguo, and to protect the north of Zhao Land."

Later, Fu Zhi explained to Lu Zhi in detail the layout of the entire defensive front after the northern retreat.

First of all, he said to Lu Zhi that the central and southern parts of Jizhou, the land of abundance, cannot be lost.

And the whole Jizhou from west to east, can be divided into two parts, each of which is very important.

First, the westernmost mountainous and hilly area near the eastern foot of Taihang Mountain, that is, the area west of Zhao Land and west of Changshan Kingdom. It's hilly, but it's very important. Because Taihang Mountain traverses the east and west here, eight famous roads are formed in the middle. Whoever controls these roads will control the main roads in the east-west direction of Jin and Hebei.

Then there is the area of Julu and Anping Kingdom in the middle. It is densely covered with rivers, flat terrain, fertile land, dense population, and is conducive to farming, and it is the great granary of this dynasty in the Kanto region. Once the thief is fully possessed, the thief is no longer in danger of losing food. And in these troubled times, what this means, I don't need to say much.

But unfortunately, it is not easy to defend the entire central and southern Hebei region.

Taihang Mountain can only block the east and west, but in the defense of the north and south, there are no mountains to rely on. In this way, the network of rivers flowing from east to west can only be used as a defensive front.

The first line of defense was the Kashiwa line to the north of Xiangguo. From here to Juyeze in the east, together to build a composite defense line between the dock wall and Daze, it was also the front line of the Zhao people to defend Zhongshan.

Then the second is the Hutuo River to the north, which goes out from the east of Taihang Mountain, crosses Changshan country, Zhongshan country, Hejian country, Bohai County, and is 1,200 miles long. Moreover, the Hutuo River has a large flow of water and no boats

() It cannot be crossed, and it can be said to be a natural north-south defense line.

Therefore, when Su Qin said that Yan, he said that the Hutuo River was the barrier in the south of Yandi, and he could guard against the enemy in the south according to the river. Because of this, the wars in Hebei in the past dynasties focused on the Hutuo River.

Now that Lu Zhi wants to retreat to the north, he suggested relying on these two northern and southern defense lines to build a position. Advance can suppress the Taishan army in a corner, and retreat can protect Yan without worry.

When Lu Zhi heard this, he couldn't help but be overjoyed, and was busy asking Fu Zhu for advice on how to build these two lines of defense.

Fu Zhu pointed out that the most important defense focus should have been Handan, but now that Handan has been lost, there is only Xiangguo.

Why?

Because the passage of the army is different from the passage of three or two people, the former wants a thoroughfare, and the latter can do whatever the wild road is.

And what is the official road network of the entire Jizhou? It's a typical tic-tac-toe layout.

There are two straight roads that run through it from north to south, one is Handan Guangyang Road, and the other is Xinyang Road. But the most important road in this is Guangyang Road.

The development of Guangyang Road was the earliest, and with the rise of the Warring States of Yan and Zhao, this Guangyang Road was the main artery connecting Yan and Zhao. It is not only the route of Zhao's Northern Expedition, but also the only way for Yan to trade with the south.

The southern end of this road extends to Hanoi, and then passes through Yecheng, to Handan, to Xiangguo, Bai Ren, House, and Yuan. This time, the Northern Expedition of the Taishan Army was the Guangyang Road.

Then it is divided into east and west lines here in Yuanshi. The western route is to continue north to Changshan Province and go directly to Daidi. The eastern route is to turn to the northeast, pass through Zhongshan and lead to the swallow thistle. At that time, Guangwu held the festival and went north to take this road.

The second north-south road is from Gaoyang in Xiahejian County, Yandizhuo County, Raoyang and Xindu in Anping Kingdom, and then along the road of Qinghe Country to Qingzhou.

However, the utilization rate of this road is not high, because there are fewer towns involved along the road, and the cost and income of business travelers are high and small, so the most important north-south road in central and southern Hebei is Guangyang Road in Handan.

There is a north-south artery, and there is an east-west road. Because of the existence of a river network, the connection between the east and west of Jizhou is much closer than that between the north and the south.

Therefore, the construction of the east-west straight road is mainly around the two passes.

This level is the Fukou Pass. The west of this road can enter the Huguan from Taiyuan through Shangdang, and then go out of Taihang Mountain from the east of Fukou.

Then after passing the Fukou Pass, it is divided into two roads, one is directly connected with Yecheng, and it is also the most important passage for Yecheng to the west. One is to go to the northeast, directly from Wu'an out of the mountain, directly to Handan.

Therefore, the two separate roads from Fukou Pass have built a connected traffic in the southern part of Jizhou, and its destinations are mainly the plains and Linzi of Qingzhou.

In addition to the Fukou Pass, the second pass is the Jingcheng Pass, which is also the Tumen Pass.

This Tumen Pass is to the west of the county rule of Changshan Country. The west end of this road can be from Taiyuan, Lishi, Lin, and then out of the well, and then out of the east section.

There are three ways to get here. One is the two lines on the north side of Guangyang Road in Handan, north and south, or Tongdaidi, or even the thistle. What remains is a road from Zhending to Sindu.

Therefore, it can be seen that the transportation network in the central and southern Hebei region is based on the Liangguan Road opened up by Taihang Mountain as the east and west, and the Guangyang Road in Handan as the north and south, and jointly constructs a traffic pattern that carries from load to cross.

In this transportation network, Yecheng, Handan, and Yuanshi are the transportation hubs. Among them, Yuan's can be said to be the core hub of the most important because of the four ways of communication.

So there is a guard to the south of Jizhou, it is necessary to guard the Yuan clan, and the Shou Yuan clan must guard Handan.

It's just a pity that now Handan has been broken, and the only city that can afford to protect the southern part of the Yuan clan is Xiangguo. Xiangguo is located on the Guangyang Road in Handan, which is the only way for the Taishan army to go north.

As a result, Fu Zhi presented Lu Zhi with a large defensive front in depth on two fronts in these two cities.

It has Xiangguo and Yuanshi as two cities, and the Bairen line and Hutuo River are two lines. Focus on defense, layer upon layer of obstruction.

As soon as this strategy came out, Lu Zhi gladly accepted it, and immediately named Zhao Guoxiang as the prime minister of Zhao and stationed in the first city, Xiangguo City.

Therefore, after offering this strategy, Fu Zhu had already made up his mind to live and die with the city. Do you have

Reinforcements () are not about the end.

But this made Zhen suffer, a big grain merchant. Not only did he have to fold in the city, but he also had to lose all the family property he had accumulated over the years in this dead city.

This forty-year-old wealthy businessman actually has six grandsons. He is also the patriarch of the Zhen family, and in addition to Confucianism, he also studied business.

Relying on daring to think and do, and daring to take risks, Zhen's family business expanded by half in his hands, not only was the trade network with the northern Hudi opened, but even the original Jianghuai also had their Zhen's business travel, which can be said to be all this Zhen hard work.

But this time he failed in his gamble, and in order to win the big deal, Zhen Ku not only smashed most of his wealth, but also gathered his own manpower in the city.

Zhen Ku didn't want to leave before, but it was also because of the huge investment in everyone's wealth, which really made Zhen Ku reluctant. So with this fluke, this luck finally made him lose all his money.

Zhen Ku still remembers the scene of Xiangguo being besieged that day.

It was already the third watch of that day, and Zhen Ku, who had worked hard to plan the grain station of the shogunate, was just about to fall asleep. There was a group of people who had been arranged by him to work in the Shogunate.

So when he came, Zhen Ku was stunned.

Sure enough, this person just got the news that Jindu outside Xiangwai was broken, and the thief was only twenty miles away from the city, and he would arrive tomorrow.

Zhen Ku can't run anymore, so he can only hope for Jiancheng and Fu's ability. After dealing with Fu Zhu for so long, although this person coaxed him, Zhen Ku was still very confident in his ability.

So after comforting the people of the lower clan and letting him go back to continue exploring, Zhen Ku fell asleep.

But soon, Zhen Ku was awakened.

He looked at the street by the wall, and saw a large soldier hurrying out of the city with torches.

Now Zhen couldn't sleep, knowing that if one was not good, the thief would be killed. So he hurriedly asked the subordinates and apprentices to pack up the fineness and put them in the carriage. If you really plan to run away, you can run away.

Money or something, forget it, save your life.

But soon the Red Heads returned, and a defeated army returned. Zhen Ku guessed that it might be the soldiers of the Li clan of Zhao Di, who were guarding the ferry before.

It seems that the red-headed army won the field battle out of the city, otherwise it would not have been able to return with Li's soldiers. Look at it this way, the Tarzan thief is nothing more than that!

After comforting himself like this, Zhen Ku went down the wall and went back to his room to sleep with his clothes.

This sleep reached dawn, and the next day Zhen Ku got another new news.

It turned out that the bare-headed army blocked the city gate with stones overnight last night. When someone saw it, they went home to report the news, and fled from the city overnight with their families. It's just that because it's late at night, not many people escape.

When Zhen Ku heard the news, he was so angry that he slammed his fist on the eucalyptus, he scolded himself for being indecisive, and cursed those who ran out to meet the Taishan thief.

On that day, the Taishan army besieged the city of Xiangguo.

Zhen Ku found a clan and asked him to take him to the city, and he wanted to see if this Taishan thief could defeat Xiangguo.

On the way to the city, Zhen Ku saw that the streets were full of panicked villagers.

These people all fled from Handan, except for some who went to Youzhou with Lu Zhi, most of them stayed in Xiangguo, hoping to return to their hometown.

After all, these people have lost their subordinates and land, and they are nothing.

Looking at the appearance of these people, it is estimated that they will also go to the city to watch the battle. Without thinking too much, Zhen hurriedly followed his clansmen to the city, and when he looked outside, his heart was cold and his face was miserable.

I saw that the black pressure outside was all a large army, the banner was swaggering, the people and dogs were silent, and the whole army was a mighty army.

At this moment, Zhen was bitter and did not hold hope, and hurriedly went down to the city. As soon as he returned to the mansion, he ordered his men to block the door so that people could keep an eye on the situation in the city, and then shut himself in the ashram, trembling.

He prayed that the Taishan army would be as rumored to be, and that Autumn would not commit any crimes.

Zhen's ostrich form is useless. Soon, a military official knocked on the door and entered, asking Zhen to choose someone to send Su to the city. Soon the officer went to another place.

It seems that those children of the village tycoons who fled into the city still can't run, not to mention holding knives, you have to do this thing of delivering water and food.

There was no shortage of corn in the city of Xiangguo, so in terms of rations for the officials in the city, they were all distributed in a fixed manner, with three meals a day. But there is no shortage of Su, this man is missing.

So he once again hit the idea on the heads of these villagers in the city, and ordered them to send ten people from each family to deliver meals one by one, two meals during the day and one meal at night. As for the supply of water, there is no limit, it is the same every day.

Zhen Ku wailed again, and in the dodging eyes of a cadre of disciples, he chose ten people to go to the city.

Hey, so be it.

Zhen thought about it bitterly, and decided to personally take the ten disciples to the city to deliver food.

After all, at this time, he still can't chill the hearts of these disciples? Later, my own safety depends on these people's desperate efforts.

So Zhen Ku brought two pigs' front legs and fifty portions of corn to the city.

When delivering food, Zhen Ku also saw the Minister of State inspecting the city at the head of the city. He just stepped forward and cried to the frustrated:

"Prime Minister, can we live in this city?"

As soon as these words came out, the officials in the city were in an uproar, and Zhen Ku was also sent to the frustrated professor, waiting for the fate.