In the first year of Tongzhi, on July 6, Zhou Bai sent troops into the country on the grounds that Yan Luo, the envoy of the Ruinan Festival, could not protect the territory and the people, and resisted the invaders of Qingxu.

Nominally, it is naturally to help the people of Ruinan, drive out and exterminate the invaders, so that everyone can live and work in peace and contentment, and strive to ensure that there are no problems with the autumn harvest.

But in fact, which force doesn't know, you Zhou Bai just want to take this opportunity to annex Ruinan County.

The aura was revived, the battleships were in the sky, the last fig leaf of centralized power was torn, and even the three princes and nine ministers of the imperial court had to admit that the troubled times were irretrievable.

However, all far-sighted heroes understand one thing that the next year and a half will determine the pattern of power for a long time to come.

Everyone wants to seize this opportunity, but they are limited by their strength and cannot quickly stabilize the internal realm like the Anbei Governor's Office, and at the same time send troops to expand outward.

The spies of Dingzhou flocked to it, and the strength of the Anbei Governor's Mansion was also completely revealed under the eyes of the heroes of Dingzhou for the first time.

The sect forces behind the Anbei Governor's Mansion are undetermined? This is absurd.

How can a large county with a population of more than a million settle down so quickly, and there is no internal turmoil?

The government and the people are all making every effort to plant in summer and harvest in autumn, and everyone is working hard to survive the drought.

The monks sent by Governor Lei Haomiao and Lu Ding observed the qi from a distance and found that the legal system of Bei'an County was stable and the luck was rising, at least it was also a pale red system.

The forces of all sides were speechless, and the facts were in front of them, and the foreign enemy troubles in Bei'an County had ended, and they had not suffered any obvious impact.

No one expected that Zhou Bai had just leveled one general ship and two warships, and he could bring out 35,000 armor elites when he turned his head.

The morale is high, the army is well-organized, and it is expected to be a strong army with strong soldiers and horses.

Jiao Tu led the forward 5,000, and as soon as he entered the territory of Shuiyang County, Ruinan County, envoys from various forces came to negotiate privately, wanting to negotiate a condition as soon as possible.

Yan Luo said that he was the envoy of the festival, but in fact, no one, including the imperial court, had admitted it, and like Zhou Bai's governor of Anbei, he was self-appointed.

The key is that his self-styled is not yet golden, Zhou Bai is a real fight, after a series of hard battles to win Bei'an County, and relying on the foundation laid in Pingcang, won the support of the people.

And Yan Luo, except for when he raised troops to take the county seat, there were one or two short bloody battles, and the rest of the time was a small fight.

Taking the land of the six counties mostly relied on political negotiation methods, and reached agreements with many big clans and county orders, so it can be said that Ruinan County is a separatist alliance.

Yan Luo is the leader of the alliance, the county commanders are the leaders of the powerful factions below, and the big families such as the county hao and the county wang are in the case of retaining a certain degree of autonomy, and the alliance leaders and leaders are eye-to-eye, left and right.

If there is no third wave of invasion in the Qingxu Realm, if Yan Luo is given a period of time, maybe he can slowly clean up and annex local forces and become a real power festival.

Ruinan City, Jiedu Mansion, the guards are stubborn and murderous, this seems to be the news of Zhou Bai's dispatch has been known by Jiedu Mansion.

In the yatang, Yan Luo, who was originally elegant and majestic, was obviously a little out of shape at this time.

While tearing apart the intelligence on the front line, he scolded the street like a villager: "Fart, he's a yellow-mouthed kid, and Renan needs them to help clear out foreign enemies?" I think the Anbei Army is the real enemy! ”

"A celestial man doesn't want to soar as soon as possible, and he mixes in the red dust all day long, is it possible that he can really be an emperor? Phew! ”

Changshi saw that Yan Luo's face was full of anger, and there were some uncontrollable twitches, and he knew that this was his lord, but he was actually a little afraid in his heart.

Afraid of what? I am afraid that I will not be able to resist it, my body will be in a different place, I am afraid that the foundation will be taken away, and my dream will come to naught.

However, after all, the long history has been accompanied by many years, and at this time, he dares to water and extinguish the fire: "Lord, lord......"

"Everybody's waiting for you outside, you see?"

Yan Luo wanted to be angry, but after listening to Changshi's words, he suddenly felt a chill in his heart, and hurriedly retracted his anger.

What's the use of scolding and venting, if he can't stabilize himself, wouldn't the people below be even more panicked.

"Thank you, sir, for reminding me." Yan Luo bowed his hand and bowed deeply to Changshi.

"This is the duty of subordinates, but the more critical moments like this, the more you have to hold on."

After Yan Luo adjusted his mood, he was much calmer, he waved his hand and said: "A little gaffe, I really didn't expect Zhou Bai to come so quickly, our county will be turned upside down with just three warships, but a general ship in Bei'an County has the spare strength to invade south." ”

Changshi cheered Yan Luo up and said some favorable news: "The main force of the two warships is attacking the mountain gate of Xuanwu Gate, the warship base outside the county city has been destroyed, and most of the sequencers have been killed, and now is just the final stage, you have time to integrate your military forces." ”

"You have 30,000 soldiers, and you only need a small victory, or even a stalemate for a few days, and the other counties will have the confidence to send troops. After all, the Anbei Governor's Mansion would never give them so much autonomy. ”

Yan Luo nodded, he thought that he had served in Ruinan for several years, and he also had some foundations.

If you can't win, it's always okay to keep the peace, right?

But even so, Yan Luo was still not in a hurry to convene the county court meeting, but walked towards the back door, and then said in a low voice through the door curtain: "Xin Xian, do you think this victory is geometric?" ”

Changshi was very interested in seeing this, and the four sides checked that there were no servants breaking in, and then strode out of the hall, first appeasing the civil and military officials.

No matter what the gold content is, no matter what he Yan Luo said, he is also dignified, and he is still from the same Jinshi, and it is normal to raise a few monks to worship.

When the gold lord asked, the worshipper sitting behind the curtain naturally replied: "The battle is fierce and unpredictable, but if you only talk about luck and savings, Ruinan is not as good as Bei'an." ”

"You don't have the life of a hidden dragon, and if you want to make a career in this great world, you can't look ahead and look backwards."

"Sun Yucheng, a hidden dragon, was killed by Zhou Bai against the trend, and his person must also be a hidden dragon, and he is not a small dragon. Fighting with him, you may be able to snatch the dragon qi and take the destiny of heaven, and there will be a chance to build a country in the future. ”

The offer was eloquent, which made Yan Luo's heart settle, but he still sighed: "It's a pity that time is running out, if I can wait for a while, I can take the opportunity of the invasion of Qingxu to integrate the strength of the whole county." ”

"At that time, the strategic idea was not to win a small victory and seek peace, to collect the Xuanwumen for their own use, and it was not impossible to counterattack Bei'an."

Xin worshipped for a long time before he said leisurely: "The luck of a county to build a country is a little worse, if there are two counties, the court may be able to ask for a country." ”

"The Daxu royal family wants to seal the princes to respect Zhengshuo, this is an opportunity, as long as you succeed in building the country, you must be the order of the master."

At the moment of the great enemy, talking and talking, it was actually about the founding of the country, Yan Luo couldn't help but laugh a little.

But it was this that made his heavy pressure much less.

"Hahaha...... If there is a day of the founding of the country, the monarch will be rewarded by the Taoist official. The real person also asked you to help convey that in this calamity again, we will determine the cause and effect. ”

Soon, the war drums outside the yatang sounded, Yan Luo was in good spirits, calmly summoned hundreds of officials, and discussed the matter of resisting the advance of the Anbei army.

……

How Ruinan Jiedu Mansion discussed and planned, and how to deploy troops and generals were not mentioned for the time being, but Zhou Bai's side was rushing forward and the offensive was like fire.

The striker Jiao Tu, on the grounds that the Heavenly Demon had infiltrated the military fort, wanted to send troops to forcibly search.

The defenders were naturally unwilling, and as a result, several outpost forts on the border of Shuiyang County were defeated in a battle, and their own losses were very small.

The barricade was pulled out, and Lou Jinpeng, the commander of the horse army following the forward, immediately led a thousand cavalry to drive straight in, aiming at the Shuiyang Ferry.

This is also the initial goal that must be won, with the Shuiyang Ferry, the territory of the Anbei Governor's Mansion is no longer completely isolated on the northern border.

Whether it is trade or because of the strategic value of water transportation, Ningjiang is the top priority for any force in Dingzhou.

On July 8, the condemnation of the Ruinan Jiedu Mansion was sent to Zhou Bai.

The full text is handwritten by Yan Luo, which is very subtle and has everyone's demeanor.

Of course, Zhou Bai's current bearing can be regarded safely, because Zhu Wen naturally scolded him.

On the same day, Jiaotu completed the cleaning of the roads along the way and approached Shuiyang County.

Lou Jinpeng successfully raided Shuiyang Ferry, not only taking the military city of Shuiyang Ferry, but also controlling several warships.

This made the Yu Hou staff officers of the Chinese army overjoyed, they knew too well the progress of the strength of the Bei'an Army in recent times.

In the sand table deduction, there is no difficulty in capturing Ruinan, the only thing that needs to be considered is that the Anbei Governor's Mansion lacks a sailor.

Once Yan Luo is involved with the water division and throws troops along the Ningjiang waterway to attack and harass, the war may be at a stalemate, and Ruinan County cannot be quickly taken.

There is a ferry and there is no ferry, there is a boat and there is no boat are completely two concepts, and Lou Jinpeng's success can be said to suppress the variable of the sailor to the greatest extent.

They can't beat them on the water, but at least they can arm and warn in advance.

On July 9, Ruinan Festival Yanluo sent Yan Chang to command 30,000 troops to support Shuiyang County, which is expected to arrive on the third day.

At this time, the 30,000 main force of Zhou Bai was still a day's journey away from Shuiyang City.

In other words, as long as Shuiyang County is attacked by 35,000 people and holds out for two days, it can wait for reinforcements to arrive.

30,000 soldiers stuck to the county seat, and even if they could capture it, it would inevitably be delayed for a long time, delaying the progress of the attack.

Taking Ruinan must be done quickly, and he can't wait for Dingxi and Zhou to free up his hands, which Zhou Bai knows, and Jiao Tu and other middle and high-level military officials naturally also know.

Therefore, without waiting for Zhou Bai to issue a military order, he started to attack the city non-stop.

Shuiyang County, at the end of the Ningjiang River, sits on the Shuiyang Ferry, and is the hub of transportation and trade routes in the northerner areas such as Biancheng County and Bei'an County.

With a population of 200,000 and more than 100,000 people in the county seat and ferry, it is one of the richest counties and largest counties in Ruinan County.

Tian Mingnai, the county magistrate, is a fellow jinshi in Xiangxing for 40 years, and his governing ability is strong, but unfortunately his family background is slightly poor, and he has missed the opportunity to be promoted.

However, it is precisely because of this that he was able to take root in Ruinan openly and become a powerful faction that is not easy to move in the county government.

After Yan Luo ascended the throne, Tian Ming became the de facto "Emperor of the Soil", and he did not listen to the announcement of the Jiedu Mansion.

Its original county soldiers were 3,000, and after Zhou Bai unified Bei'an County, he faced too much pressure and expanded the army to 5,000, which was quite strong.

5,000 attacking 5,000, it stands to reason that it is difficult to fight, but it can't stand the high morale of the government army now, and there are even several innate people in the forward army.

Moreover, when Jiao Tu stepped into the boundary of Shuiyang Territory, the army ushered in envoys from all forces in Ruinan County, including representatives of the powerful forces in Shuiyang City.

They are inclined to surrender, but they have not yet made up their minds.

Jiaotu took the initiative to go to war to show his muscles and let these forces understand the difference in strength.

During the day, the army only cared about building camps and resting, and had no intention of going into battle, which was very in line with the positioning of the forward.

This also made the county commander Tian Ming breathe a sigh of relief, and the same idea as most of his subordinates, thinking that Jiao Tu was waiting for the main army and waiting for siege equipment.

Tian Ming is actually very unwilling, the era of chaotic times has come, where is a person like him who is a bit of a soldier and a horse turf willing to be annexed.

But his arms can't reach his thighs, and as one of the best in a million, he was born as a fellow jinshi, of course, he has read history books.

He knows that not choosing this kind of moment is the most stupid thing to do, and if he wants to be a wall-riding faction, he has to see if he has the strength.

Now the governor and Lu Ding can't intervene, and the battle for Ruinan County is only between Yan Luo and Zhou Bai, and Tian Ming is the choice of one of the two.

Choosing Yan Luo is to choose to hold Shuiyang City and Ruinan County, so that he will most likely continue to retain his independent status.

Choosing Zhou Bai is to choose to surrender, hand over the military power, and then wait for the Governor's arrangement.

Because of the examples of the county orders of Bei'an County, he is likely to be appointed as an official in another county, and the power he retains is limited and more restricted.

In terms of practical benefits, it must be better to choose Yan Luo, but the danger is also greater.

Shuiyang County is adjacent to Bei'an, and everyone in Tianming knows better than Ruinan County that the real strength of the Anbei Governor's Mansion has.

Giving up, still reluctant, with deep entanglement, Tian Ming fell asleep.

It's night, and it's just after the hour.

Originally, the sky was clear on a summer night, and the bright moon and stars were enough to illuminate the night, so it was difficult to sneak around.

But for some reason, when Jiao Tu gave the order to do it, Shuiyang City was shrouded in black clouds, and the pale night seemed to be splashed with a layer of thick ink.

As the innate of Zhou Bai's promotion of the elixir, he personally led the night attack.

The striker is a fairly elite soldier in the army, and the five hundred night raiders selected by Jiao Tu are the elite of the elite, with a per capita strength of more than 50 the day after tomorrow.

Although it is not as strong as the Demon Army, it is really beyond the strength of the existing mortal soldiers.

Hidden in the night, he acted quickly and silently, in order to ensure that he did not alarm the defenders, he unloaded his armor, wore night clothes, and stole the city with his body.

Tian Ming still thought that Jiao Tu would not attack the city, and the defenders at the head of the city were naturally the same, half-asleep in the soft night breeze.

They didn't even notice that a group of ghosts in the night had stepped on the silence of the wilderness and approached the city walls.

At the foot of the city wall, Jiao Tu looked around, but he never gave the order to do it, as if he was waiting for something.

Slowly, the dark clouds in the night sky gradually dispersed, and his subordinates waited anxiously, but Jiao Tu was still only strictly silent.

Until, in the night sky where he looked up, a divine figure appeared and waved at him.

Jiao Tu immediately gave a decisive order: "Do it, let it go!" ”

Boom, a crossbow arrow, accurately hit the guards guarding the wall.

"Climb the city with a sword!"

Several hooks and ropes were thrown up the city, and the five hundred people were immediately like geckos, clinging along the wall.

The defenders had no time to react, and after being captured a section of the wall, the vanguard army followed, unable to resist.

(End of chapter)