Wang and Guo Chongtao's strategy was obviously feasible, so he naturally followed their lead.
Hearing Guo Qizuo's question, Guo Chongtao hesitated for a moment, then raised his eyebrows and said, "Li Keyong hasn't arrived in Hedong to take up his post yet, right?"
Guo Qizuo nodded.
Guo Chongtao got Guo Qizuo's approval and said excitedly, "Then the former Hedong Jiedushi Zheng Congdang is still in Hedong. Will he be willing to hand over the control of Hedong?"
Upon hearing this, the king glanced at him and said suspiciously, "Zheng Congdang is an old official of the Tang court, loyal and devoted. He will certainly obey the orders of the emperor. Do you want to cause trouble with him?"
At this time, Guo Qizuo also looked at Guo Chongtao. Guo Chongtao glanced at the two of them and said calmly, "Why not? In addition to being defeated by our envoy, the Shatuo people also had someone who defeated them before, and that person was Zheng Congdang."
"When Li Keyong went south to defend the emperor, he passed through Taiyuan. Zheng Congdang sent him food and fodder as rewards for the three armies. However, after receiving the food and fodder, Li Keyong still allowed his troops to plunder the prefectures and counties in Hedong, which completely angered Zheng Congdang. He immediately ordered his generals Wang Chan and Xue Wei to attack, and they defeated the Shatuo army on the spot. It can be seen that Zheng Congdang, the former governor of Hedong, was not without the ability to fight against Li Keyong." Guo Chongtao explained patiently.
"Well, then how do you plan to persuade Zheng Congdang to confront Li Keyong?" After listening to the other party's explanation, Wang nodded slowly, and Guo Qizuo also looked at him curiously.
Guo Chongtao knew that if he wanted these two people to agree with his opinion, he had to give them a convincing reason. After thinking for a while, he spoke: "The Hedong Pass runs through Henan in the southeast and borders Guanzhong on the right. Once Li Keyong grows stronger by relying on Hedong Pass, the two capitals will be the most threatened."
"Yeah, that's good." Wang agreed. Anyone with a discerning eye could see that.
"Who is Li Keyong? He is a Shatuo, and both father and son have a history of rioting against the Tang court. If Li Keyong becomes stronger and riots again, will the safety of the two capitals be guaranteed? Zheng Congdang, who is loyal to the Tang court, would he be willing to see this?" Guo Chongtao said, shaking his head, "If we start from this aspect, explain the pros and cons, and then ridicule and satirize Zheng Congdang, saying that he only cares about preserving his reputation but ignores the safety of the capital, and provoke him like this, do you think Zheng Congdang will confront Li Keyong?"
Guo Qizuo and Wang looked at each other, obviously quite interested. As the governor of Hedong, Li Keyong could not fail to lead his troops to Hedong and conquer the land under his control. And if he instigated Zheng Congdang to confront him at this time, the war would inevitably spread to Guanzhong, Henan and other places, and it would be difficult not to attract the attention of the Tang court.
In fact, Li Keyong never rebelled against the court again throughout his life, but Guo Qizuo, Guo Chongtao and others did not know, and other people in this period also could not have known, that the most feared thing is the first time you do something, and once you do it, people have to take precautions against it.
It's like a person who stole something and was caught. Although he may never steal again, will other people not be on guard against him? That's impossible, after all, he has a criminal record.
Guo Chongtao took advantage of this and tried to stir up conflict between Zheng Congdang and Li Keyong.
Moreover, the Shatuo people were violent and barbaric, and the people of the Central Plains suffered greatly from them. It was impossible for Zheng Congdang to be completely unaware of this. As long as he knew a little bit, coupled with Guo Chongtao's instigation, the possibility of a conflict between him and Li Keyong would greatly increase.
Added a lot.
Guo Qizuo was silent for a moment, then he said, "Okay, since this plan was planned by Chongtao, then I'll leave it to you to take charge of it."
"Yes," Guo Chongtao agreed immediately without hesitation.
"How should we arrange for General Yue?" The three of them had read Zhu Li's letter, and they all knew that Zhu Li asked Guo Qizuo to make use of Yue Pengju. Even if it was just to give Zhu Li face, the three of them had to arrange an appropriate position for Yue Pengju.
"After conquering Daizhou, Zhou Dewei has entered Ningwu Pass. There are three passes in the north, with Zhang Guiba at Yanmen, Gao Yuan at Pianguan, and Zhou Dewei at Ningwu. Shuozhou is already as solid as a rock. I want you to take Wang Zhongyin and Meng Juehai to Xiazhou to help Gao Su." Guo Qizuo did not respond immediately, but made arrangements. "Hetao was newly established, and Gao Su's position as Jiedushi was not legitimate. There should be quite a few people who are eyeing Hetao now. I am worried if you don't stay there in person."
"No problem. Gao Su is my sworn brother, so it is my duty to do him a favor." Guo Qizuo answered the question irrelevantly. Although Wang was puzzled, he agreed immediately.
Seeing the other party's agreement, Guo Qizuo spoke up, "As for General Yue, I plan to send him to serve under Li Gong, the governor of Lulong. After all, Li Gong has done us a favor. Now his fight with Li Quanzhong is getting more intense. Let Yue Pengju go to help. This will not only repay the favor, but also be a safe bet."
“No matter who gets the land of Youzhou, Li Quanzhong must not get it. This man has a grudge against the envoy. Once he comes to power, there will be no peace in Yun and Shuo.” Guo Qizuo said worriedly.
After hearing this, Wang thought for a moment, then nodded and approved of Guo Qizuo's arrangement.
------Dividing line------
The Imperial Palace, the Privy Council.
In the dark hall, a ray of sunlight shines through the open door, illuminating a patch of light and also shining on a person.
This person was none other than Zhu Mei who had escaped back from Shaozhou. However, he was not in a very good condition at the moment. His body was shivering like a yellow leaf in the autumn wind. He knelt on the ground with his head buried deeply between his arms.
"You useless piece of shit! You actually killed a whole team of secret guards in vain. What else can you do?" In the darkness, a spy's voice shouted like a woman's scream.
"Master Liu, please forgive me, Master Liu, please forgive me. Zhu Li was too powerful. Master Liu, Master Liu, you didn't see the scene at that time. So many masters were actually slaughtered by him one-sidedly. Even if my subordinates rushed forward, it would be in vain. Master Liu, please understand. Master Liu, please understand. Now at least my subordinates have saved their lives, and someone can come back to pass on a message to you, Master Liu." Zhu Mei explained tremblingly.
The people in the darkness fell silent after hearing this. After a long while, they said gloomily, "Zhu Li's fame is indeed due to his bravery. To slaughter a team of secret guards one-sidedly, one must be born with this talent or be at the peak of his powers. But how old is Zhu Li? How is it possible for him to reach this level?"
Zhu Mei was naturally speechless in response to the other party's question. He was at most at the peak of a second-rate general now, not even at the level of an unrivaled general, let alone the level of an unrivaled peak.
The man obviously didn't expect Zhu Mei to answer his question. After talking to himself for a while, he sighed helplessly and said, "Forget it, where is Zhu Li now?"
The other party said "forget it", which finally made Zhu Mei breathe a sigh of relief. She did not dare to neglect it.
He said quickly, "We should have reached the border of Yangzhou."
"Should?" The person in the dark expressed dissatisfaction.
This dissatisfaction immediately made Zhu Mei panic again, and she quickly explained: "The death soldiers of the Shen Ce Army, the secret guards of the Shatuo Army, and the Dangxiang scouts have been chasing Zhu Li all the way to Gaoyou in Yangzhou, and Zhu Li has lost his trace. He is now either hiding in Gaoyou or in Jiangdu."
The man in the dark was obviously helpless, but at this time, he had no intention of pursuing Zhu Mei. After a pause, he continued, "Then don't ask about this matter. Let Zhou Chenghui go. You go to Yanzhou and find a way to kill that waste Li Xiaochang. Since he has no ability, let him disappear."
"After taking over, you have to find a way to expand the military strength and monitor the movements of the warriors in the north for us, especially Gao Su in Xiazhou." The person in the dark said solemnly.
"promise"
------Dividing line------
Jinyang, the governor's office.
Li Keyong had a gloomy expression and sat at the head of the hall.
Upon receiving the news of his father's tragic death, he immediately led his troops north, intending to capture Dai and Shuo and avenge his father.
However, the local warlords in the prefectures and counties of Hedong seemed extremely uncooperative. He had no choice but to conquer them one by one from south to north. More than two months later, the Shatuo army had conquered five prefectures, including Puzhou, Jiangzhou, Cizhou, Zezhou and Jinzhou.
At this time, the general of the Shatuo Army, Fu Cunshen, was attacking Xizhou; Shi Jingsi led his troops to attack Fenzhou; Kang Junli launched a northern expedition to Qinzhou; and Li Cunxiao led the new Flying Tiger Army to attack Luzhou.
Among the two people sitting in the hall with Li Keyong, one was a transcendent Taoist priest; the other was a man in black with a gloomy aura around him.
"Fei Ya, the assassins sent to the south haven't killed Zhu Li yet?" Li Keyong looked at the man in black with vicious eyes and said in a deep voice.
When Li Keyong was young, he was nicknamed "Li Yaer", a bandit. When he joined the army and fought in many battles, he earned the nickname "Flying Tiger". Therefore, the warriors under his command were called Flying Crow Warriors. The commander was codenamed "Flying Crow", and the two deputy commanders were named "Black Crow" and "Flying Tiger" respectively.
The man in black was the commander of the Crow Warriors, Crow. Hearing this, he said helplessly, "My lord, our people have encountered Zhu Li several times, but he managed to break out of the encirclement each time. However, it is certain that Zhu Li is still in Yangzhou."
"Good-for-nothing, waste." Li Keyong flew into a rage upon hearing this. He stood up suddenly and walked around anxiously, as if he was looking for something to vent his anger.
Facing Li Keyong's anger, the man in black seemed unconcerned and continued, "My lord, unless you send General Cunxiao, no matter how many more people you send, I'm afraid the result will not be very good."
Li Keyong frowned when he heard this, and suddenly stopped and said, "Cunxiao is now leading the army to attack Luzhou. Now you let him go to hunt down Zhu Li again. Do you want him to do everything alone? What's the point of raising you?"
"My lord, it's not that I don't dare to die. It's just that even if we all fight to the death, we still can't kill Zhu Li. I got the news that the imperial secretariat sent out a team of masters led by Zhu Mei, but all of them were defeated in Wangwu Mountain. This shows how powerful Zhu Li is. If it weren't for General Cunxiao, we would have no chance of winning." Fei Ya spoke earnestly and reasonably.