Approaching July, when Song County completely ignited the war between the private army of the Wei nobles and the Northern Gang army of the Song Dynasty because of the "Battle of Jinxiang", Zhao Hongrun, the king of Su, was in the study of the Su Palace, as always, paying attention to the various war reports of Song County.

What he cares about the most is, of course, Zhao Shen, the king of Chengling, Zhao Tan, the marquis of Anping, and other private troops with his name of "King Su".

"It seems that those people in King Chengling are still quite interesting."

When Zhao Hongrun was watching the battle report, Zong Wei Jiao was also reading a few secret letters next to him, and said with a smile.

These secret letters were sent by the green crows who secretly followed Zhao Shen, the king of Chengling, and others into Song County.

It's not that Zhao Hongrun doesn't trust Zhao Shen, the king of Chengling, but he now understands the virtues of the domestic aristocracy in some things.

Take Zhao Shen, the king of Chengling, as an example, it is undeniable that this prince really showed a lot of noble virtues when the Wei State was in danger, and supported the country to defend against foreign enemies free of charge.

But before that, during the period of peace in the Wei State, didn't this prince take advantage of the loopholes of the imperial court in various clever pretenses, and occupy the mines that originally belonged to the country?

Even, it is said that one year, Zhao Fang, the second son of Zhao Shen, the king of Chengling, got drunk with his wife and brother in an argument with someone on the street, and broke a person's leg, and then the matter was finally settled.

Therefore, these nobles in Wei State, in fact, there are not a lot of things like dogskin upside down, if you change to Zhao Hongrun for six or seven years, if you see this kind of thing, you will definitely come forward to teach a lesson, but after the "Five Directions Attack Wei", Zhao Hongrun's tolerance for the domestic aristocracy has increased a lot, and he no longer wants to eradicate the domestic aristocracy, but adopts an attitude of restraint and control.

Some things that don't have a big impact can be done with a blind eye.

If the gang goes too far, then bang the warning and let them pay attention to themselves.

For example, this time, when Zhao Shen, the king of Chengling, Zhao Tan, the marquis of Anping, and others led the army to attack Song County, in fact, Zhao Hongrun informed the Shangshui Qingyao in advance and asked the Qingyao people to send some people to keep an eye on them, so as not to hide and bully Zhao Shen, the king of Chengling, and others at the time.

But fortunately, just like Wei Jiao said, this time Zhao Shen, the king of Chengling, and others were really interesting, and they didn't do anything that made him unhappy, although they were really ruthless to the gentry of the family in Ji's family, Shan Father and other places, but they also gave the latter all kinds of promises, such as entrapping the latter to join the "Su Chamber of Commerce" or something.

Overall, it's pretty good.

"Look at this." Zhao Hongrun handed a letter in his hand to Wei Jiao.

Wei Jiao took the letter and said with a smile: "Another boastful war report? ”

He would say this, that's because the battle report sent to Daliang by Zhao Shen, the king of Chengling, and others is really too boastful, just like the first siege battle of the "Battle of the Own Clan", when facing the battle of Ding Hu, the defender of Ji's county, when he personally led the army out of the city to respond to the battle, it was obviously relied on crossbows, crossbow boxes and other war weapons to save the defeat, but Zhao Shen, the king of Chengling, and others in the battle report sent to Daliang, said what "luring the enemy out of the city" and "designing to annihilate it", anyway, what is good to say, and even the battle damage of the enemy and us, is also an exaggeration that makes Wei Jiao feel funny, such as "killing thousands of enemies and losing few self-inflicted losses" and so on.

Please, Ding Hu is a fierce general under Nangong Yao, and the Ji army led by him is also a well-trained army in the army of Nangong Yao in Song County, and those private armies of the domestic nobles can actually fight with that kind of well-trained army, and even have the upper hand. ——Where is this still an aristocratic private army, it is definitely the elite of the "garrison" level such as the Shangshui Army, the Yanling Army, and the Wei Wu Army!

"Huh?" After carefully reading the letter, Wei Jiao realized that although this letter was also written by Zhao Shen, the king of Chengling, it was not a war report sent to the court to boast of the results of the battle, but a battle report that looked quite real.

In addition, Zhao Shen, the king of Chengling, also told the story of the "Ding Hu's head" in his letter, which surprised Wei Jiao.

After all, in the battle report submitted to the imperial court by Zhao Shen, the king of Chengling, Ding Hu was shot with a crossbow by Zhao Tan, the Marquis of Anping, but he didn't expect the truth to be like this.

"It's Huan Hu? Why did he do that? Wei Jiao asked with some surprise: "Even though Huan Hu is hostile to Nangong Chen and Ding Hu, but in this situation, he and the two sides should join forces......

In Wei Jiao's opinion, under the attitude of the Great Liang Imperial Court to recover Song County, Nangong Chen and Huan Hu should temporarily put aside their hatred and join forces to resist the imperial court.

It is true that Nangong Chen's father Nangong Yao was killed by Huan Hu, but if the imperial court really recovered Song County, neither of Nangong Chen and Huan Hu, two rebels, would want to be pardoned by the imperial court.

In this case, even if there is a grudge against killing his father, Nangong Chen and Huan Hu should be temporarily united, although even if the two of them are united, it will be difficult to keep the current territory after he sends an elite division from Wei State in the future, but it can be delayed for a few months, right?

But Huan Hu was good, and directly killed Ding Hu, the general under Nangong Chen, and sent the latter's head to the couch of Zhao Shen, the king of Chengling.

"What the hell is this man thinking?" Wei Jiao couldn't understand.

Zhao Hongrun pondered for a moment and said lightly: "Huan Hu's behavior, it is not difficult to guess its intentions, it is nothing more than to threaten King Chengling, they don't want to hit Suiyang County...... As you said, in the case of not being able to get a pardon from the imperial court, Huan Hu and Nangong Chen should choose to join forces temporarily. But you have to know that Huan Hu killed Nangong Yao, and it is impossible for Nangong Chen to take the initiative to contact Huan Hu, and Huan Hu is there...... Since he had made such a decision, it meant that he had never thought of joining forces with Nangong Chen, which meant that he might already have another ally......"

"Song Yun's Northern Army?" Wei Jiao guessed.

"Hmm." Zhao Hongrun nodded and said, "Thinking about it this way, it is not difficult to understand Huan Hu's abnormal behavior. …… Because when King Chengling and they attacked their own clan, the Northern Gang Army had not taken any action, and Huan Hu did not want to take the lead in making enemies with the imperial court, so he simply sold King Chengling a good one, and let King Chengling and them lead the army deep into Song County, forcing Song Yun's Northern Gang Army to take the lead...... Hmph, it's really a "profit first" consideration. ”

Hearing this, Wei Jiao frowned and said, "Your Highness means that Huan Hu wants the Northern Gang Army to make the first move...... In this case, a few days ago, in the "Battle of Jinxiang", the Northern Gang Army had already taken action against Li Yang, the Marquis of Pingcheng, that is to say, ......"

"That means that Huan Hu's side will also take action." Zhao Hongrun squinted his eyes, frowned slightly, and said: "Send someone to pass a message to King Chengling, telling him to be careful, the imperial court has not yet allowed the garrison to attack Song County, Qu Cheng and Wu Ji them, and they can't lead the army to Song County to assist them for the time being, so you let King Chengling ...... Try to avoid colliding head-on with Huanhu. ”

"In case you hit ......"

Wei Jiao's expression was a little ugly, after all, among the domestic nobles who supported His Royal Highness, the most important ones were currently in Song County, in case Huan Hu launched a madness and killed these nobles, it would be troublesome.

"Not really." As if guessing Wei Jiao's worries, Zhao Hongrun said in a deep voice: "Since Huan Hu sent Ding Hu's head to King Chengling, this means that this guy doesn't want to have a bad relationship with us...... Speaking of this, he let out a long breath, looked back at Wei Jiao and asked: "Wei Jiao, you say, if I recommend it to the imperial court and let Huan Hu fight Song Yun, what do you think?" ”

Wei Jiao's eyes lit up when he heard this, and then he said with a wry smile: "I'm afraid the imperial court won't agree." ”

Think about it, how could the imperial court recruit a former thief who had attacked Zhao Yuanxi, the king of Wei? - Unless it is Zhao Yuanxi, the king of Wei, who personally opens his mouth to pardon Huan Hu, otherwise, Huan Hu is destined to be a heinous rebel in Wei!

"yes...... Pity. ”

Zhao Hongrun also understood the truth, and nodded regretfully when he heard this.

He didn't have a good impression of Huan Hu, because Huan Hu not only dared to disobey his wishes, but deliberately killed Wang Jin in front of him, not giving him any face, and later attacked Shangshui County and set fire to several streets to retaliate against him, which was simply bold.

But the impression is bad, Zhao Hongrun can't deny that Huan Hu is a very capable evil party.

If Huan Hu and Song Yun of the Northern Gang Army can be allowed to kill each other, this is the most advantageous situation for the imperial court - compared to the evil party of Huan Hu, in fact, Song Yun's Northern Gang Army is more threatening.

What is Huan Hu? Although this person now occupies Suiyang, this person has a shallow foundation in Song County, and what about Song Yun's Northern Army? But it has been operating in Song County for nearly 20 years, and it is a local force in Song County, which is deeply rooted, not only the local rich people and gentry of Song County secretly funded and supported the Northern Gang Army, but even some Song Mo forces who are unwilling to defect to Wei are secretly supporting Song Yun.

Otherwise, where did the Northern Army get those weapons and equipment?

Therefore, the biggest obstacle for the Great Liang Imperial Court to recover Song County is still Song Yun's Bei Army, as for Huan Hu, it is just a disease of ringworm scabies.

After that, as Zhao Hongrun predicted, from the end of June to the beginning of July, the Northern Gang army forces in Song County came to the surface one after another, and launched a powerful counterattack against the private army of Wei nobles who set foot in the eastern part of Song County.

What's even more difficult is that the Northern Gang Army has very deep-rooted connections in Song County, especially in the eastern part of Song County, from the local local family gentry to the Song people in ordinary counties and villages, they are all willing to cover for the Northern Army, which leads to the Northern Gang Army being like a fish in water on this side of the land, and can understand the movements of the Wei nobles' private army at any time, while the aristocratic private army can't tell where the righteous soldiers of the Northern Gang Army are and which are the ordinary Song people, and it is difficult to carry out an effective counterattack.

For a time, the private army of the Wei nobles fell into the quagmire of war and was dragged around Song County, unable to move.

The situation in Song County was reversed all at once.

In this regard, the imperial court also paid attention to it, because this was the energy of the Northern Gang Army in Song County.

From mid to late July, several noble private armies were defeated and retreated by the Northern Army.

Finally, among the nobles of the Qingwang Party, "Pingcheng Marquis Li Yang", "Quliang Marquis Sima Song" and several others, in a fit of rage, led the army to slaughter "Jinxiang County" and killed some Song people who they suspected of being the Northern Gang Army.

This move caused a frantic counterattack by the Northern Army, and at the same time, it also made King Qingwang Hongxin fall into the passivity of public opinion in the court.