Zhili, Huyaguan.

Since Yun Bi transferred a part of the Huya Pass defenders to withdraw to Guanzhong, many of the soldiers in Huya Pass were newly recruited.

There is no fighting going on at the moment, so although these newly recruited soldiers are in the name of the forbidden army, they actually do not have much combat effectiveness.

And because these recruits come from different backgrounds and are all forcibly recruited by Lazhuangding, most of them are formed into a team of villagers and friends, and they do not have a strong sense of belonging to the army.

On this day, a horse galloped past on the official road outside Huya Pass, and an expressionless middle-aged man on horseback entered the city through the night.

"Ali, now that you are an official of the forbidden army, don't you recognize me as a cousin?"

In a military camp next to the north gate of Huya Pass, the middle-aged man who came from Kyoto City overnight looked at a man dressed in the army and said in an unhappy tone.

When the forbidden army general heard this, his face changed, and he slowly spoke after a long time.

"Cousin, the Rong clan outside the gate and my Great Xia are feuding, I can't believe it."

Not long ago, a man named Ali heard that his cousin was going to Guanwai, and almost instantly realized in his heart what the other party was going to do.

Now except for a puppet Xia regime outside the Guan, the six border states are all in the hands of the Rong people.

And not long ago, he also heard the wind and heard what Yun Bi did in Kyoto, but he was just a small general, and he had no say to influence the behavior of those big people.

The middle-aged man who came from Kyoto overnight, Cui Hao, who was naturally born in the Cui family in Kyoto, is now also going to Guanwai with his father's order.

It's just that his cousin's level is obviously not easy to pass.

Listening to his cousin's continuous dissuasion, Cui Hao was unmoved in his heart and began to play the emotional card.

"Ali, your father died early, you were contaminated with the wind and cold back then, or did my father take you over to find a doctor in Kyoto and drag you back from the ghost gate?"

Listening to Cui Hao's words, Ali's lips were dry, and his eyes were blurred into memories.

Cui Hao's family has a life-saving grace for him, but if he lets the other party out of the customs without permission, he will lose his head if he is caught, so he has to be careful to consider.

Ali was stunned for a while before he spoke in a slightly pleading tone, "Is there no other way?" ”

Listening to his cousin's words, Cui Hao laughed at himself and asked rhetorically, "Yun Bi treats me and other lonely ministers of the former dynasty like this, do you think he will stop after blackmailing?" ”

Listening to Cui Hao's rhetorical question, Ali knew that with Yunbi's character, since he had offended the Zhili family, it was impossible to stop easily.

Moreover, in order to deal with the complex situation in the north, the follow-up will only continue to expand the army, so where will the money come from?

Cui Hao is right, what he did was just to protect the interests of the family, and there was nothing wrong with the entire Cui family.

Seeing that Ali was still hesitating, Cui Hao didn't urge, and after waiting for a while, he shook his head and prepared to turn around and leave.

Just as Cui Hao's feet walked to the door, Ah Li's voice came from behind him, "Tomorrow, I will let you out of the customs." ”

……

Yuzhou, Yangcheng County.

As the balance of the various forces in the north was broken, Yangcheng County under Xiao Jiu's rule entered a time stage of military rise.

Under Xiao Jiu's rule, Yangcheng County opened a large number of factories, and the jobs provided in them also allowed the people to obtain additional income beyond the land.

Since last year, a large number of people have migrated from other places to settle down in Yangcheng County, and the Lingshui Chamber of Commerce has purchased a large number of slaves overseas, and Yangcheng County has reached an unprecedented population peak in the troubled times.

Yangcheng County, which is like a paradise, has not been dragged down by the huge population, but there are still a lot of vacancies in the labor force after a large number of factories have been opened.

When the people no longer have their hands tied to the land, the bursting productivity is undoubtedly amazing.

Now Xiao Jiu's hoarded food is enough for his army to last for three years, and there is still a surplus of money obtained from business.

However, Xiao Jiu has no plans to expand the army for the time being, he clearly knows that the soldiers are fine but not many, just like the Yuzhou army that suffered defeat, although there are many people, they are still extremely fragile.

As time went by, it was already October, and Jizhou also began to organize its troops and prepare to send troops to Yuzhou.

And not long ago, Xiao Jiu also received news from Kyoto, and learned that Yun Bi's forbidden army was also expanding wildly.

Although the forbidden army in Kyoto is now an ally with itself, and the increase in the strength of the other party will only benefit him, he is still a little uneasy in his heart.

Quick, too fast.

Yun Bi's simple and rude approach can be regarded as completely offending the landlord class in the Zhili area, although these people dare not openly resist on the surface, but who can guarantee that they will not secretly poke and poke badly?

At this time, the forbidden army of Zhili was reckless, and he didn't know whether it was a blessing or a curse.

But now that the arrow has to be sent, Xiao Jiu did not hesitate, and responded to the thief letter drafted by Kyoto Yunbi.

For a time, the local armed forces in Jizhou, Xiao Jiu's Yangcheng County, and the forbidden army in Kyoto Zhili organized an army of 70,000 to threaten the border of Yuzhou.

As an ally of the Yuzhou rebel army, at this time, in addition to Wanzhou and Xuzhou still constantly sending grain and grass soldiers to them, the attitude of the Yangzhou army seemed a little ambiguous.

Yangzhou, as a coastal place, has always had close trade contacts with the Lingshui caravan under Xiao Jiu, as long as you are not a fool, you can see that there must be some unknown cats between the two.

You Yichun didn't want to wade into the muddy waters of the north again, and the situation of the Yuzhou army on the weak side would undoubtedly become worse.

On October 10, the three parties who had already reached an alliance set out from Kyoto, Jizhou, and Yangcheng respectively, and had only one destination, that is, Yuzhou.

……

Outside the gates, Liangzhou City.

Since the establishment of the puppet Xia regime, the original city lord's mansion in Liangzhou City has been rebuilt into a palace style and has become the palace of the puppet emperor Qin Yi.

The power structure at the top of the Xia regime was no different from that of the Xia Dynasty, except that those Xia people who held the real imperial power became the Rong clan.

Although the pseudo-Xia court in Liangzhou City seemed a little absurd and rough, the daily routine morning meeting basically did not fall.

Today, a strange guest was ushered in in the hall of the morning meeting, it was Cui Hao who came from the starry night in Guannai.

Pseudo-Xia Dazai Zongyu carefully looked at the middle-aged man kneeling in the main hall with sharp eyes, wanting to smell a little bit of a lie from him.

But after looking at it for a long time, I couldn't determine whether Cui Hao was a spy sent from Kyoto.

"Mr. Cui, the one in front of you is the Great Xia Emperor, you can say what you want to say."

Zong Yu moved forward slightly and said to Cui Hao, who was kneeling on the ground.

Cui Hao heard the voice and began to talk to Qin Yi, who was sitting on the dragon chair at the top, about what Yun Bi had done in Zhili, and explained the purpose and disposition of this trip.

Qin Yi didn't have much interest in Cui Hao's words, after all, although Qin Yi was nominally the emperor now, he didn't have any power in his hands.

As an emperor in the imperial court controlled by a foreign race, Qin Yi basically relied on alcohol to numb himself every day, and gradually was hollowed out by the wine.

Guannai is now in a mess, the original Great Xia Dynasty has fallen, and no matter what those warlords do, it has nothing to do with their puppet emperor.

Qin Yi continued to drink his wine in small sips noncommittally, but all the officials of the Prairie Rong clan standing in the main hall invariably cheered up.

Cui Hao's purpose is very simple, that is, because of the warlord melee in the Guannai, his own interests are not guaranteed, and now Yun Bi, Xiao Jiu, including the besieged Yuzhou army, have stretched out their black hands to these landlords, and they urgently need a foreign force to shelter them.

When all the people in power in the country regard these families who control the grain, grass and people as money bags, the other party will not let it be kneaded like dough.

Cui Hao came to Guanwai alone at this time, representing not one person, but standing behind him was the thousands of landlords in Guannai who were oppressed by the warlords in Guannei.

Power is a game, and benevolence is a lie, and when the land on which they depend is taken away from the hands of these scholars, they will not care about the so-called shame.

Thinking of the chaotic pass, Zong Yu clearly knew that the opportunity had come, and if they waited until the new dynasty was established, they might not have the possibility of entering the pass again.

Immediately, after the court meeting retreated, Zong Yu personally invited Cui Hao to his mansion, and gathered a group of respected tribal leaders on the grassland to discuss the entry into the customs.

The simple banquet ended, and the negotiations began to get to the point, Cui Hao naturally knew before he came that the strongest person outside the gate was the black wolf lord in front of him, the imperial court Dazai Zongyu.

Without too much nonsense, Cui Hao directly said his requirements and the support he could give to the grassland Rong clan.

The family not only owns a lot of land and grain in Kannai, but also has a great influence among the people.

Previously, Huya Pass was able to rely on only 20,000 people to hold the attack of the Rong clan, and these families can be said to have made great efforts.

Grain and grass, soldiers, and military salaries, these families can be said to be the same, just because they felt that after the Rong people entered the customs, they would lose the resources in their hands.

But who would have thought that with Xiao Jiu's implementation of land reform in Yangcheng County, a new administrative system would be completely feasible to replace the family's land finance.

This can be regarded as grasping the weakness of the family, when Xiao Jiusu cleared the landlords and squires under his rule, he instantly gained a huge amount of wealth, which made a kind of warlord dumbfounded.

So you can still play like this?

After that, it can be understood, Yun Bi, who unloaded the mill and killed the donkey, and the Divine Fire Sect who rebelled, they couldn't find a wise lord worth investing in in the entire northern border.

As for the possibility of merging them into Wanzhou or Xuzhou, those local family forces will no longer tolerate a group of foreign families to encroach on the power in their hands.

Obviously, those warlords will not choose to cooperate with the families in the Zhili region at all.

The family represented by Cui Hao has no other choice but to see if the Rong people on the grassland have the courage to enter the customs and become kings.