The smoke and dust were billowing, but the marching team was quite embarrassed, the banner hung weakly, and the soldiers also bowed their heads weakly, and rushed towards Jian'an City with heavy steps. Su Lie had already sorted out everything in Jian'an City, and the banner of Jian'an City was still the black battle flag of the Heavenly Dragon Empire, but there was a big willow-shaped battle flag next to the flag. This is a consensus of everyone, since Liu Fan's identity can be exposed, then there is no need to hide, and directly use the banner of the royal family to buy people's hearts.

Liu Fan rode on a war horse, and the ladies of the family sat on several dilapidated carriages next to him, the food and grass of the army in the past few days was still not enough, Su Lie wanted to raid quickly, Su Lie took away part of the supplies, and the daily food needs of the army could only be supplied in limited quantities. But fortunately, there has been good news from the front, Su Lie and they have taken control of Jian'an City, and the grain and grass in Jian'an City are enough for the army to consume for a while.

"The last general, Su Lie, meet the lord!" Su Lie's face knelt in front of Liu Fan with an excited face, and Sun An and Wang Tong also knelt on the ground tremblingly.

"Get up, General Su has worked hard. Liu Fan helped Su Lie up, and looked at Sun An and Wang Tong, who were still panicked: "You are the town guard general Sun An and the city lord Wang Tong?"

Sun An and Wang Tong hurriedly stepped forward and said: "If you return to the lord, the last general will be Sun An, and the lowly will be Wang Tong." Lord, the city has prepared enough food and grass for the army, so the army should enter the city quickly. ”

As soon as Su Lie occupied Jian'an City, he asked Wang Tong and Sun An to collect grain and grass, and the two also knew that Liu Fan's army was short of food, so they didn't dare to delay and hurriedly sent people to collect grain and grass. Yangzhou is also one of the eight granaries of the empire, and the output of grain ranks fourth in the empire. Second only to Jingzhou, Youzhou and Jizhou. There was enough surplus grain in the city, and the grain collected by the rich people in the city soon raised enough grain and grass for more than 200,000 troops to consume half a year, and after half a year, a new batch of taxes in Jian'an City would be collected. It is obviously not difficult to support 200,000 yuan with Jian'an's material and financial resources.

The city lord's mansion has now become Liu Fan's temporary camp, and after cleaning up, all the generals and officials quickly gathered here to discuss the next course of action, and Jian'an City alone could not fight against Zhang Rang's army. And it is difficult for Liu Fan to make a big difference in Jian'an City, now the Liu family is short of money, food and soldiers, and soldiers can be recruited, but money and food are the biggest dilemma that Liu Fan has to face now.

Liu Fan. Liu Yu, Xia Tielin, Guo Jia, Li Jing. Su Lie, Zhu Mingyu, Bao Chunlai, Su Hu and other generals gathered together to discuss the way out of the army, and even Sun An and Wang Tong appeared in the city lord's mansion. This made the two quite moved. Guo Jia held the map of Yangzhou, his fingers kept drawing on the map of Yangzhou, he was looking for a way out for the Liu Jiajun, Jian'an City can only be regarded as a small city among the many cities in Yangzhou. A number of disadvantages limited him to the long-term presence of large armies.

"Fengxiao, pharmacist, what should we do next?" Liu Fan was not worried about his way out at all now. Beside him, there are Li Jing, the military god of the Tang Dynasty, and Su Lie, a fierce general, and Guo Jia is in the rear to give advice. Even if it is a difficult battle, the three of them can still fight beautifully and neatly.

Guo Jia and Li Jing glanced at each other, the two also have their own strengths, Guo Jia is better at making suggestions and intrigues, while Li Jing is good at leading troops to fight, the cooperation between the two can make up for the shortcomings, yes, Liu Fan's way out is more open. Guo Jia looked at Sun An and said, "General Sun, you are a member of the Yangzhou garrison, and I need to know the detailed information of the Yangzhou army now." ”

"Yes. Sun An and Guo Jia were stunned and hurriedly stood up and said: "Yangzhou's garrison is Yangzhou's native garrison, because Yangzhou can directly get the support of the Imperial Guard and Yizhou's naval corps, and Yangzhou's own military strength is not strong, only 400,000 troops. The army was stationed in Jianye, Wu, Huiji, Jian'an, Chaisang, Shouchun and Lujiang and Yangzhou City, of which Yangzhou City had the largest number of troops, up to 100,000, followed by the heavy cities of Shouchun and Jianye, with 50,000 troops each, and the rest of the troops in the city ranged from 30,000 to 50,000. Yangzhou's town guard general is Yan Baihu, this person is Zhang Rang's henchman, Zhang Rang's niece and son-in-law, and he is stationed in Yangzhou with a large army. Yangzhou garrison army has not been in war for many years, so its own strength is not strong, most of the soldiers in the army are old and young, but the garrison of Yangzhou City is all young and middle-aged, quite combative, in addition to Yangzhou there are 50,000 sailors, led by the sailor general Cai Mao, because the navy is responsible for exterminating the water thieves in peacetime, but it is quite combative, and is currently stationed in Jianye. ”...,

Sun An's words made Guo Jia and Li Jing nod, Yangzhou's military strength was not strong: "What about Yan Baihu, how is this person's martial arts and leading troops?"

"My lord, Yan Baihu is a full straw bag, the reason why he was able to become the general of Yangzhou is because of Zhang Rang, and Liu Xuan, the assassin is even more incompetent, he usually only knows how to drink and compose poems, all the power is in Yan Baihu's hands, and his assassination history is just an ornament. As for leading troops, adults can see Yan Baihu's ability to lead troops when they look at our garrison in Jian'an. Sun An's face was slightly embarrassed, after all, the garrison of Jian'an City was under his command, which was undoubtedly a big slap in the face, but even if he didn't say that everyone knew the situation here, the 30,000 army was actually scattered by Su Lie's 3,000 cavalry, and he didn't even have the courage to resist.

Li Jing nodded, he already had a battle plan in his heart, if Zhang Rang attacked Yangzhou, then the first thing to bear the brunt of would be Jian'an City, Jian'an City was not suitable for a long time, so it became a top priority to occupy other towns at the moment: "How is the situation of the army of Jianye and Shouchun?"

"Back to the general, the army of Shouchun City is Huang An, and this person is also a general who came to power by nepotism, so compared with Jianye, Shouchun's attack is much less difficult, but the city wall of Shouchun City is high, the city gate is strong and strong, and the city fortifications are complete, which is not comparable to our small city of Jian'an. The strength of Jianye City is stronger, with Cai Mao's 50,000 naval army and the 50,000 army of Zhang Yun, the general of the town guard, the city defense fortifications are complete, and the difficulty of attacking is relatively greater. ”

Liu Fan looked at the two of them and knew that the two of them had caught the attention of Shouchun and Jianye. These two cities are the important towns of Yangzhou, Jianye's commerce and agriculture are very developed, can easily feed the army, and the vicinity of Shouchun is a first-class grain production base in Yangzhou. As long as Shouchun and Jianye Liu Fan are occupied, they will no longer have to worry about money and food, although they are not as rich as Zhang Rang, at least recruiting 500,000 troops is not a problem.

"Lord, but this Cai Mao and Zhang Yun have always been at odds with Yan Baihu, if it weren't for the only generals in Yangzhou, I'm afraid they wouldn't be qualified to lead the army of Jianye City. However, the last general heard that the two were quite loyal to Zhang Rang. Sun An stood up, although his talent was not very good, but he had a fellow villager who was on an errand under Zhang Yun, so he naturally knew more.

"Oh. There is such a thing. Li Jing and Guo Jia showed joy on their faces at the same time, what they were most worried about was that when they attacked Jianye, the two of them received the support of Yan Baihu, so the situation would be bad, but now listening to the situation of the two, the two of them have another set of combat jihua in their hearts.

"Does the City Lord have anything to say?" Liu Fan looked at Wang Tong's mouth that was standing on the side. I wanted to say something, but I closed it again, so I took the initiative to ask.

Wang Tong glanced at Liu Fan deeply, seemed to have made a lot of determination, stood up and arched his hand to Liu Fan, and said: "My lord, I have a friendship with Cai Mao, the commander of Jianye's navy. Moreover, Jianye's city lord Wang Cang is a lowly cousin, who has always complained about Zhang Rang, and in order to save the lives of the whole family, he has to be the city lord. The lowly office is thinking, if the lord believes in the lowly office. The humble position was willing to go to Jianye to give it a try, and persuaded his cousin and General Cai to serve the lord. ”

The two of them had already met the Empress Dowager He when Liu Fan entered the city with the army. In the city lord's mansion, he probably had a grasp of Liu Fan's identity, Wang Tong saw that Sun An told all the situation in Yangzhou, and he was afraid that he would not have a chance to perform, so he naturally told everything he knew.

"Is that really the case?" If you can take the city of Jianye without blood, you will naturally echo Liu Fan's intentions, and when you hear Wang Tong's words, Liu Fan and Guo Jia's minds moved at the same time, and the soldiers who surrender without a fight are the highest mysteries of the art of war. ...,

"Yes, the lowly cousin Wang Cang and the town guard general Zhang Yun still have some friendship, and the lowly is willing to give it a try. Wang Tong bent down and saluted Liu Fan.

Guo Jia glanced at Liu Fan and nodded, Liu Fan understood what Guo Jia meant, walked in front of Wang Tong and said, "Okay, since that's the case, you can give it a try, but first you have to keep yourself safe, I will wait for you in Jian'an City and celebrate your achievements." ”

"I thank the lord for his trust, and I will do my best to serve the lord, and I will persuade my cousin to serve the lord. Wang Tong looked at Liu Fan with excitement, and was grateful for Liu Fan's trust in his heart, everyone is afraid of death, especially Wang Tong, a traditional Confucian child, but everyone has ambitions, when the opportunity comes, death is not so important compared to ambition, and now the opportunity is in front of Wang Tong, no matter what, Wang Tong must not let go of this opportunity.

"Lord, without further ado, while the news of Jian'an has not spread, I rushed to Jianye overnight, and my lord is waiting for my news here. Liu Fan nodded, Wang Tong ran towards Jianye with two entourages overnight, Wang Tong didn't know where he got the courage, but Liu Fan had a strong attraction, attracting Wang Tong to work for him and give him his life.

"Lord, if the city lord can really unlock the lock of Jianye, then the situation in Yangzhou will go to the general, the two closest cities to Yangzhou are Jianye, but Wu, still General Sun's words Wu's defenders are not worried, we occupy these two cities, we can form a horn with Jian'an, use Jianye's sufficient material and financial resources to expand the army, and then march from Wu and Jianye respectively, break Shouchun and Huiji, and surround Yangzhou City. As long as Yangzhou City is taken, the rest of the cities will not be worried, and now the only thing I am worried about is whether the navy of Yizhou will come to support along the canal. Li Jing pointed to the map and said to Liu Fan, and made a pincer gesture with both hands, surrounding Yangzhou City.

Guo Jia walked over slowly, and nodded his hand around Yangzhou City, Li Jing nodded on the side, his face was full of smiles: "Yangzhou City is besieged, Zhang Rang is bound to panic, and he will definitely let Yan Baihu stick to the city." And Yan Baihu will definitely mobilize the defenders of other cities to come to support, we will eat these reinforcements first, and then turn around and attack, take Chaisang and Lujiang, so that the canal will be blocked, even if the naval corps of Yizhou comes in, they can only be locked in the canal and dare not go ashore. ”

The map of Yangzhou soon came alive in the hands of Guo Jia and Li Jing, Sun An added some information about Yangzhou from time to time, and Su Lie also put forward a few points of Jihua, and soon formulated a comprehensive Yangzhou strategy, as long as Yangzhou was occupied, Xuzhou was laid down in the south, Yuzhou was opened up in the north, and Jiaozhou, Qingzhou was connected, and the army of Qingzhou General Zhu You cooperated with Liu Fan to besiege Zhang Rang, and no matter how Zhang Rang made a decision, he would be in a passive state.

And Liu Fan is also very good at ushering in a rare golden period of development, now Zhang Rang has not integrated the Praetorian Guard, during this time Liu Fan can recruit troops, train soldiers, and recruit the world's heroes, even if Zhang Rang sends a large army to come, Liu Fan can afford it. Su Lie went with an army of 30,000 to attack Wucheng, and Li Jing began to rectify the 200,000 Tiger Prison Pass garrison and the soldiers and horses in Jian'an City, recruit soldiers, and train the army. (Your support is my biggest motivation.) )