Mount Mangdang stretches for thousands of miles, dividing the north and south of the Yangtze River along the north bank of the Yangtze River. It made a bend to the south on the west side, and stepped out to a mountain range of seven or eight hundred miles. The Huangniu River turns northeast along the mountains and flows into the Yangtze River.
When Fang Jie crossed Mangdang Mountain and went south, he was amazed at the magnificence of this mountain. Different from the gentle arc of Langru Mountain, which looks like a woman's breast from a distance, Mangdang Mountain is towering and grotesquely rocky. Now Fang Jie had to avoid not only the rout of the rebel army, but also the left halfback.
He could guess that Luo Yao's goal was Xinkoucang, and since Yang Yanye was dead, no one could stop him anymore. After Xinkoucang got his hands, there was no interest to drive Luo Yao to continue marching northward. The roads in the northwest are exhausted, Luo Yao doesn't like it at all. That's why he allowed Yin Poshan to flee with the remnant soldiers, otherwise it might not be impossible to wipe out the rebels with a big victory.
As long as Yin Poshan is still there, Luo Yao will have an excuse to continue to garrison Huang Yangdao.
Luo Yao understood this very well.
His younger brother Chaser, who has a big dog, makes troubles from time to time, and he can kill people to maintain his deterrent to the local people. If he didn't pursue business, where would he find so many excuses to kill people? The same is true for Yin Poshan. As long as the rebel army still has a certain strength on the north bank of the Yellow Niu River, Luo Yao will not be accused of stagnating. The fact of the great victory lies in the killing of over one hundred thousand enemies, and no one in the court can deny it.
Therefore, if Fang Jie wanted to avoid Luo Yao, he had to go north.
But the biggest problem facing Fang Jie now is that he already has 5,000 troops in his hands, so as long as he handles it carefully in the rebel territory, self-protection is not a problem. But among these 5,000 people, Shan Ziying's loyalty to him is almost the same. Minyong of Huangyang Road is not necessarily willing to travel far away from home. They did not disband and followed Fang Jie to protect their homeland. If Fang Xie took them to Langru Mountain to seek refuge with King Xujun, these four thousand people might not have maintained the respect that Fang Xie had earned so hard.
Now all the roads in the northwest are not just caused by the rebels. Relatively speaking, it is the bandits who are more harmful to the people. After many kind-hearted people lost their homes, they began to embark on a path that they once hated and resented. The refugees became bandits and plundered the people in other places.
In fact, Li Yuanshan has been restraining his subordinates, what he wants is long-term stability rather than temporary benefits. If the people hated the rebels deeply, he would not be able to gain a foothold. But at the beginning, the expansion of power was too fast, and it was difficult to restrain it. The rebels are robbing, and the bandits are also robbing. The situation is already like this, and it is impossible to move back anytime soon.
That's why Fang Jie chose Mount Mangdang.
Mangdang Mountain is not far from Huangniu River, and the resistance of the soldiers of Huangyang Road will not be too strong. Mount Mangdang is big enough, it is not easy for Luo Yao's people to find him. Rebels who lack food and supplies will not enter the mountains, they need to plunder new places to replenish.
During these days, Fang Jie's mind has never been idle at all, he has been calculating how to take every step of the road. He can't see too far, can't see the day after tomorrow is the day after tomorrow, but he can see tomorrow.
"Let's rest in the mountains for a few days first."
Fang Jie unfolded the map and looked at it and said: "The men and horses of Yin Po Mountain retreated to the mouth of Qinghe River. Luo Yao did not send troops to press on. If there is no accident, most of Luo Yao's men and horses will still retreat to Huangyang Road. There is news that Xinkou warehouse has been robbed by Ye Jinnan's army. I guess, maybe there will be a large group of troops from the left front guard marching here from Yongzhou."
"Why?"
Zhuo Buyi asked.
"What is the purpose of Luo Yao plotting Xinkoucang?"
"It must be food."
"Why?"
"Needless to say, there must be insufficient food in Yongzhou... You mean, Luo Yao wants to transfer the place to raise soldiers from Yongzhou to Huangyang Road?"
"Um."
Fang Jie nodded: "Although all the roads in the Southwest are rich, but the power of the poor Yongzhou for thousands of miles is barely enough to support Luo Yao's five thousand heavy cavalry. The combat power of heavy cavalry is unquestionable, but it is simply a waste of money. The Southwest is Luo Yao's foundation, and Luo Yao dare not push too hard. If he pays more money to the Southwest and raises troops like scraping land, the loss outweighs the gain. But Luo Yao not only has a heavy cavalry battalion, but also no one knows How many huge troops there are."
"Besides, after all, Yongzhou is too remote. It is already the most southwestern border of the Sui Dynasty. Whether it is to send troops to the northwest or to other places, Huangyang Road is far more suitable than Yongzhou. You can go straight to the Yangtze River along the Huangniu River. The Yangtze River and the Pingchuan River... "
Chen Qianshan participated in such a topic for the first time, and he was still a little uncomfortable, so he kept silent and his face was a little ugly.
Fang Jie patted him on the shoulder and said, "The reason why I don't shy away from you is because I trust you. You should know that no matter how powerful Luo Yao is, he is facing an even more powerful empire. Dao, it is impossible to abandon the Southwest. At that time, the imperial court will do its best to deal with Luo Yao, and the left forward may not be able to win every battle. You will know how many people will die and how many families will be destroyed by then."
Chen Qianshan nodded, still not knowing what to say.
"Actually, when I came out with Shanziying, why didn't I want to save more lives?"
Fang Xie was silent for a while and said: "Even if Luo Yao has a million troops, he only has the support of the southwestern roads. Sooner or later, his financial resources will be exhausted, but the Great Sui Dynasty is so huge, and the back of the court is far stronger than the left front guard. If Luo Yao really turns against him, I don't think he can succeed."
"That's why I tried every means to break away from the left midfielder."
"The general is right..."
Chen Qianshan sighed: "It's just the soldiers of Shanziying, and their family members are almost all in Yongzhou. If the war really starts, I don't know how long it will be before they can go back."
Fang Jie could understand his thoughts: "Look, I always feel that His Majesty is not at all wary of the left forward. It is said that the imperial court has mobilized 300,000 soldiers, and millions of civilians have already marched. I just think that Minyong is more useful than warriors? There are at least hundreds of thousands of soldiers in the south of the Yangtze River, and these troops can be mobilized long ago, why not?"
Chen Qianshan was taken aback: "The general means that His Majesty has already been arranging countermeasures? Is it because His Majesty is deliberately keeping troops to target the southwest?"
"No one can underestimate the emperor."
Not knowing why, Fang Jie repeated again: "No one can!"
…
…
Yongzhou
Looking at the secret letter in his hand, Zhan Yao couldn't help but heaved a sigh of relief: "The order will be passed on, and the people from all walks of life will gather to march towards Huangyang Road. The general has already taken the Xinkou warehouse, so there is no need to worry about the problem of food and grass. Dao cannot afford to support millions of troops, but the food in one Xinkou warehouse is enough to feed millions of troops for ten or even decades!"
His general, Lei Roll, asked excitedly, "General, how many troops do we have?"
Zhan Yao burned the secret letter, and replied after a while of silence: "Li Yuanshan has been planning in the northwest for ten years, and now the combined strength of his troops is no less than 1.5 million, although most of them are mobs. The general has been in Yongzhou for 20 years. Not as good as Li Yuanshan?"
Although he didn't understand what he said, Lei Roller understood.
"Oh My God!"
Lei Roll was surprised and said: "A million troops, the imperial court's troops are all dealing with Li Yuanshan in the northwest, how can we spare more troops. As long as our left front guard with a million troops goes northward, it may not take long to reach the city of Chang'an!"
"Left forward..."
Zhan Yao shook his head slowly: "It seems that the name should be changed at that time."
"The people in the imperial court are probably about to move."
Zhan Yao said contemptuously: "Li Yuanshan's young people dare to call themselves the king of Dingxi. Can't the general be called the king? There are people in the court who speak for the general. At this juncture, if the emperor doesn't make the general king, I'm afraid those The courtiers did not agree. If the general becomes the king, the left front guard will not be a member of the court."
"General, if you look at it, if we want to mobilize troops, should we cross the Yangtze River directly to approach Chang'an, or enter the south of the Yangtze River?"
"If I am, I will fight Chang'an."
Zhan Yao said: "Gyeonggi Province is empty, and Chang'an City is where the orthodoxy is."
"The subordinates feel that the south of the Yangtze River is rich and prosperous, and the Yangtze River is a natural moat. If the south of the Yangtze River is brought down first, and then it will be operated for a few years, then it will be a big deal to send troops to the north!"
"you are wrong."
Zhan Yao said: "No one can underestimate the person sitting on the dragon chair. The general has said this more than once. How many years has he been running Jiangnan? If the emperor is allowed to pacify the northwest, or the emperor will not care about the northwest at all. It’s a matter of mobilizing everyone to target us. We have time to run Jiangnan in a stable manner? Is Jiangnan so easy to take down? Hundreds of thousands of soldiers are there, and any general is not a waste.”
"General, you won't give the emperor a few years."
Lei Roller nodded: "It's because my subordinates see it too superficially."
Zhan Yao said: "Families in the world do not recognize the local heroes but the orthodox world. Even if the general conquers the entire Jiangnan, those noble families will not sincerely submit, but what if the general enters the city of Chang'an? They will immediately declare their surrender, Chang'an …that is the mark of a king.”
At this moment, the soldiers came in and leaned over and said, "Young General, please go over to discuss the matter."
"Major General?"
Zhan Yao frowned, feeling inexplicably tense.
"What do you know?"
"I don't know, I just said that I invited you to drink and discuss matters in Yonghelou."
"knew."
Zhan Yao nodded, got up and walked out, stopped suddenly when he reached the door, turned his head and said to Lei Roller: "Let my personal guards wait outside Yonghe Building."
"General?"
Thunder Roller was a little puzzled: "Why?"
"Major General..."
Zhan Yao's mind is filled with doubts, Major General Luo Wen these days are more and more different from the past. Ever since the great general Luo Yao left Yongzhou, the young general has been patrolling the battalions with his own soldiers. Although the general did not order Luo Wen to have the right to mobilize troops, he was a major general after all, the only son of the general.
For several months, Luo Wen even went to other counties to comfort the soldiers. During these days, the soldiers' impression of him changed greatly. The dandy young master from before seemed to have matured suddenly.
Originally, this should be regarded as a good thing, but Zhan Yao's heart became more and more uneasy. He always felt that there was some secret hidden in Luo Wen's heart, and he even faintly felt that Luo Wen seemed to be plotting something.
"Just do it."
He waved his hand and walked out quickly.
Lama Tower
Luo Wen stood at the window, watching the people coming and going on the street outside. For some reason, there was a smile on the corner of his mouth.
"Great freedom... You are greedy for the scenery on the Daxue Mountain, thinking that it is the highest point, even if you can never climb it, you are the second tallest person in the world, just deceiving yourself. Do you know what is the most beautiful scenery? Do you think I am the most beautiful scenery? Are you afraid of you when you escape from the Great Snow Mountain? Wrong... I just let you know that the high place is not on the Great Snow Mountain."
When he saw Zhan Yao on the street riding a horse towards this side, the smile on the corner of his mouth grew stronger.
"What is the happiest part of life?"
he asks.
He was alone in the room, so he was the only one answering.
"Changsheng, I did it. Da Zizai, you will always be just a dog of King Ming. And I will stand shoulder to shoulder with King Ming one day! Like him, I can grow with time, why can't I surpass him?"