Later, the Northern Wei Dynasty destroyed Xia, first changed the city to the town of Tongwan, and soon changed it to Xiazhou, and governed Yanlu County. Sui changed Shuofang County here, Tang reverted to Xiazhou, Tang Xizong, the leader of the party department Tuoba Sigong was named the Xiazhou Festival envoy by the imperial court, because of the Pinghuangchao uprising, once recovered Chang'an, was given the surname Li again, and was named the Duke of Xia. Since then, Tuoba Sigong and his descendants surnamed Li have become local feudal forces with Xia Guogong.

This part of the Dangxiang Qiang armed forces is also known as the Dingyan Army, and its sphere of influence is centered on Xiazhou, including the vast areas of Xia, Sui, You, and Yinzhou, all of which are called the private territories of the Tuoba clan. When the Western Xia rebelled against the Song Dynasty, this influence was fully exerted, and the Dingyan army set out from Xiazhou, Liankesui, You, Yin, and Jing four prefectures, and the Western Xia was thus established. Xiazhou's military defense and the loyalty of the military and civilians to Western Xia far exceeded that of Youzhou and other places, and the terrain in the desert was constantly changing, making it difficult for outsiders to find out the situation.

In fact, Yang Zhi has been using caravans and captives to depict the scene in the desert to verify the authenticity of the map drawn by Zhang Shiheng, Zhang Shiheng, as Zhang Huyi's own nephew, once went in and out of various military fortresses in Western Xia at will, and Xiazhou was no exception; after Zhang Shiheng was secretly placed by Yang Zhi, he successively drew a defense map of Lingzhou, Xingzhou, Helan Mountain, and Xiazhou, especially Helan Mountain and Xiazhou, many places that were difficult to travel, Zhang Shiheng made Yang Zhi have unexpected joy.

Yang Zhi couldn't reveal Zhang Shiheng's identity, and he wasn't sure that Zhang Shiheng's drawings were 100% correct, so he kept asking people and correcting the drawings, but Qu Duan's guess was similar, Yang Zhi just wanted to formulate a plan according to the current situation of Qu Duan's subordinates. It's just that in the face of a beast like Yang Zhi, Qu Duan's forbearance is particularly good, Qu Duan understands that even Wu Ji is not useless, and his eldest brother is even stronger;

"Okay!" Qu Duan stabilized his mood when he swallowed a bowl of wine, corrected his attitude, and showed a willing look; Yang Zhi smiled slightly, if he wanted to absolutely control the army in Youzhou, he really had to bow his head to Quduan, after all, Qu Duan still had 30,000 horses in his hands, most of them were the elite of the original Western Army. This is also the reason for the conflict between Wu Jue and Qu Duan, Yang Zhi estimated that Zhao Kai persuaded Wu Jue to use the power to let Wu Jue replace Qu Duan;

Yang Zhi smiled kindly and said: "You also know that Wu Jue is talented, but Wu Jue's talent is only in the military, in politics, Wu Jue is definitely a short man, as short as the Dongying people, and there is no merit." I'm not going to be the fisherman because I'm afraid all the fish in the pond will die. ”

Yang Zhi's cold joke was not funny, Qu Duan naturally knew that the people of Dongying were generally a little shorter than the people of the Central Plains, but it was not funny, the people of the Central Plains were not the same shorter than the other ethnic groups outside the Saiwai? On the contrary, Yang Zhi compared Shaanxi to a fish pond and disrupted Qu Duan's mind, and this analogy was simple and clear

Qu Duan felt his heart beat violently, what kind of person is this big brother? Since Wu Jue has chosen to cooperate with Sun Ang, no matter what his real purpose is, isn't this clearly intended to cause infighting in Youzhou? Could it be that his way of handling it is wrong, or is the eldest brother's intentions unpredictable? Doesn't he know that the current war is very tense, Wu Jue will hold a grudge after suffering a big loss this time, and it is already imminent to deal with Wu Jue's affairs?

Qu Duan's face was gloomy: "Big brother still plans to raise tigers for trouble?"

Yang Zhi looked at Qu Duan and said: "We want to drive the tiger and devour the wolf, think about it carefully, I really don't need Wu Jue? Is it really to the point where I want to move Wu Jue? If this standard is followed, what is Li Qiong? This world belongs to the Great Song Dynasty, and Shaanxi is also to the Great Song Dynasty, you and I are just running around for the Great Song Dynasty and the people of the world, even if one day we destroy the Western Xia, what will it be? Except for the name left in history, nothing else will change. ”

Yang Zhi's last sentence can be regarded as a heart-to-heart, Qu Duan grew up in the Western Army, naturally knew the fate of Fan Zhongyan, Wang Shao and others, heard that Qu Duan was silent, and silently drank with Yang Zhi;

"Wu Jue will not accept your advice, he hates me, or rather, he is afraid of me. After Qu Duan figured it out, he decided not to hide it anymore, and said bluntly: "He will not accept my order either, which is why I have to find a way." ”

Qu Duan retreated, Yang Zhi did not have the slightest smugness, which shows that he correctly estimated the contradictions between Youzhou, Qu Duan could not take Wu Jue by his own strength; if so, Liu Ziyu must be Wu Jue's ally, otherwise Qu Duan would be able to kill Wu Jue in terms of materials and force Wu Jue to compromise. Yang Zhi took the matter on himself and said: "I will deal with Wu Jue's matter, I will tell him, if he makes small moves behind your back in the future, I will deal with him; ”

Qu Duan is still satisfied with Yang Zhi's promise after all, Yang Zhi's words are true, after receiving the lesson of Lingzhou, Wu Jue really didn't dare to do anything, but the problem is that Wu Jue is a candidate valued by King Yun, Sun Ang and others have this backer, they will never stop there, and they will definitely come to lobby the Wu brothers again and again, Yang Zhi put Wu Ling next to Wu Jue is a two-edged sword, maybe he can watch Wu Jue, maybe he can run away together.

However, this is not something that Qu Duan can decide, even Yang Zhi can only deal with it passively, Qu Duan can only count on Yang Zhi to help at a critical moment to ensure his own purpose; Qu Duan asked, "What is the eldest brother going to do? What if he doesn't know what to do? After all, our time is very tight. ”

Yang Zhi shook his head and whispered a few words; Qu Duan thought for a long time, and bowed his head slightly: "If you really get to that point, you will do what the eldest brother says." ”

Qu Duan took advantage of the excitement to return, Yang Zhi sent it to the gate, came back and continued to sit at the wine table, thinking about the problem alone in the moonlight; Yang Zhongwu walked in from outside and asked, "Yang Shuai, after the arrival of the silver and Sui army, how to adjust?"

In the first battle of Lingzhou, Wu Jue suffered heavy losses, and it stands to reason that the army should be replenished the most, but Yang Zhongwu knew that Wu Jue did not admit his mistake to Yang Zhi after he came back, even if Meng Yue and others were imprisoned, Wu Jue did not express his position. Yang Zhongwu was worried that Yang Zhi cherished the talents of the Wu Zhi brothers and directly replenished their troops, which would make many people who were loyal to Yang Zhi dissatisfied.