At the same time that Zhang Xutuo's army was attacking Qinghe County in an all-out way, a debate broke out within the Wagang army about whether to expand eastward, with one faction led by Zhai Hong strongly advocating a march to the east, while the other faction was dominated by Xu Shiji, advocating that it should continue to keep a low profile and not become the main target of the Sui army.

However, the high-level of the Wagang Army knew that Xu Shiji's proposition was actually General Li Er's attitude, but in the past two months, General Li Er has become very low-key, rarely directly participating in the decision-making of the Wagang Army, but hiding behind the scenes, pushing Xu Shiji and Wei Zheng, who support him, to the forefront.

In the room, Xu Shiji frowned and said: "Recently, Zhai Hong is very strange, he has always opposed eastward expansion in the past, but this time he strongly asked for eastward expansion, and his attitude is very resolute, I really can't figure it out." ”

Li Jiancheng sneered, "Is there someone behind him who is instructing?" ”

Wei Zheng next to him nodded, "Childe may be right." ”

Xu Shiji raised his eyebrows, "Old Dao, how do you say this?" ”

Wei Zheng said unhurriedly: "Two days ago, I got a piece of news that someone went up the mountain to visit Zhai Hong, but he didn't leave after going up the mountain, this person seems to be very mysterious, sitting on a curtain and going up the mountain, no one has ever seen what this person looks like." ”

Li Jiancheng was a little worried, and he asked again: "How big is Zhai Hong's support at present?" ”

Xu Shiji sighed, "Most of the generals of the Wagang Army are from Shandong, like Hao Xiaode, Meng Rang and the like, Zhai Hong has gained a lot of support in the military, and even Shan Xiongxin also supports him, our support is much smaller in comparison, but I think the key depends on General Zhai's attitude, after all, he is the master of Wagang." ”

Li Jiancheng didn't say anything, since the change of owner of Wuchuan Mansion, he felt that Zhai Rang's attitude towards him was a little cold, of course, Li Jiancheng also knew the reason, because Zhai Rang knew his true identity, the Dou faction was suppressed, his background was weakened, and it was reasonable for Zhai Rang to be cold to him. Li Jiancheng also tried not to oppose Zhai Rang's decision-making, so as not to cause contradictions between the two.

But this time, Li Jiancheng did not want to give in, the eastward expansion of the Wagang army was not in line with the strategic interests of the Guanlong nobles, he hoped that the Wagang army would expand in the direction of Hanoi County. Prepare for the entry into the state and pick up his father.

The three of them did not speak, and at this time, someone outside the door reported: "Second General, General Zhai is invited!" ”

Li Jiancheng and the three of them glanced at each other. Wei Zheng said slowly: "I'm afraid there will be an explanation." ”

Li Jiancheng came to Zhai Rang's study, and when he walked to the door, he saw Zhai Hong's two fierce guards, both of whom were nearly seven feet tall, like giants, where Zhai Hong went, they followed, and when they saw these two people, they knew that Zhai Hong was also here, Li Jiancheng sighed secretly in his heart, and it seemed that he was said by Wei Zheng.

He was led into the inner hall by the guards, and saw the Zhai brothers talking and laughing. When Zhai Hong saw Li Jiancheng at a glance, his face immediately became gloomy, he snorted heavily, and turned his head over.

Zhai Rang stood up with a smile and greeted him, "I haven't seen Brother Xian for a while, what has Brother Xian been busy with lately?" ”

Li Jiancheng already understood Zhai Rang's scheming, Zhai Rang was actually ridiculing himself for letting Xu Shiji come out, he was not annoyed, and said with a faint smile: "Recently, I went out for a walk." The main thing is to go to the south to understand the defense of the Sui army in the south and prepare for our next expansion to the south. ”

Zhai Rang's face showed embarrassment, and he laughed dryly. "Brother Xian, please sit down and speak!"

Li Jiancheng was not polite, walked up to the hall and sat down, opposite Zhai Hong, Li Jiancheng smiled slightly, Zhai Hong still had a gloomy face, ignoring him.

Li Jiancheng left Wagang Mountain some time ago. But it was not that he went to the south to investigate, as he said, but because Zhai Rang knew his true identity, Wuchuan Mansion changed the owner, and Dou Qing's family was suppressed, would Zhai Rang sell himself to the Yuan family?

But the final result was that Yuan Yong did not come to Wagang, which meant that Zhai Rang was not willing to take refuge in the Yuan family, which made Li Jiancheng feel Zhai Rang's bottom line, he was not willing to be completely swallowed by Wuchuan Mansion, and wanted to take refuge in Wuchuan Mansion, but also to keep a certain distance.

At this time, Zhai Rang also sat down and said to Li Jiancheng: "In the past two days, all the generals of Wagang have asked for eastward expansion, and they have petitioned me every day, Brother Xian, Brother Fool is under great pressure!" ”

Zhai Rang's implication was that he was ready to give in, but it was not his personal meaning, but the unanimous request of the Wagang generals.

Li Jiancheng already had a plan in mind, and he asked in a deep voice, "Why does the general have to expand eastward?" ”

Zhai Hong was about to have a seizure, but Zhai Rang waved his hand to stop him, and said unhurriedly: "The reason why I am considering expanding eastward is because there is a rare opportunity in the east, Zhang Xutuo led the army to attack Qinghe County, Jibei County is empty, if we can take Jibei County, then Dongping County and Jiyin County can also be swept away in one go, so that we have the territory of the four counties, with Juyeze as the center, the advance can be attacked, and the retreat can be defended, what do you think?" ”

"But attacking Jibei County will make the world mistakenly think that the general has formed an alliance with Zhang Jincheng, and I am worried that it will affect the reputation of the general."

Zhai Rang sneered, "Everyone is a bandit, fifty steps and a hundred steps, what reputation is there!" ”

After a while, Li Jiancheng sighed lowly, "If the general must attack Jibei County, I have nothing to say, but I hope that while the general is attacking Jibei County, it is best to drive a wedge north of the Yellow River to prepare for the future attack on Liyangcang." ”

This plan is acceptable to Zhai Rang, his face softened slightly, and he asked with a smile: "Where does the virtuous brother think it is better to hit the wedge?" ”

"I'm thinking about laying this wedge in Xinxiang County."

Xinxiang County is located between Ji County and Hanoi County, the geographical location is very important, Zhai Rang nodded, "Okay! Let me think about it. ”

Zhai Hong next to him didn't say anything, as long as the second general didn't block his eastward expansion plan, he didn't care about a small Xinxiang County

Zhai Hong returned to his residence, he kept walking towards the back house, and said to the two sturdy guards: "Guard the door, no one is allowed to come in!" ”

He walked quickly into the back house, and walked directly into a courtyard, where four guards with knives stood in the courtyard, and they watched Zhai Hong come in vigilantly, as if they were completely unaware that Zhai Hong was the owner of the house.

Zhai Hong changed his indifferent attitude and said with a smile on his face: "Is Madame there?" ”

"Madame is here, general, please come in!"

A guard opened the outer door, Zhai Hong walked in quickly, the room was very luxuriously furnished, filled with a faint warm fragrance, and a brazier was placed in the middle, the charcoal in the basin was burning vigorously, making the room very warm, and lying lazily on the soft couch next to the brazier was a bewitching woman, who was the vice president of the Bohai Society, Gao Hui.

Gao Hui had more than one contact with the Wagang Army as early as when Yang Xuangan rebelled, and the intermediary between her and Zhai Rang was Zhai Hong, who tried his best to push the Wagang Army to defect to the Bohai Society, but because the conditions offered by the Bohai Society were too harsh, Zhai Rang finally decided to take refuge in Wuchuan Mansion, which was also wooing him.

However, the Bohai Society has never given up the fight for the Wagang Army, and Gao Hui has always secretly maintained contact with Zhai Hong, which is also one of the main reasons why Zhai Hong hates Li Jiancheng, Li Jiancheng represents the interests of the Guanlong nobles, and another reason for hatred is, of course, that Li Jiancheng took away his power.

This time, Zhai Hong suddenly vigorously promoted the eastward expansion of the Wagang Army, which was actually instigated by Gao Hui behind his back.

As the plenipotentiary representative of the Bohai Society, Gao Hui certainly hoped that the Wagang Army would expand eastward, gradually break away from the control of the Guanlong nobles, and turn to the Bohai Society, if Dou Jiande and Luo Yi represented the interests of the Bohai Society in Hebei, then the Wagang Army was an important chess piece in the expansion of the Bohai Society to the Central Plains.

The Bohai Society was well aware of the power struggle within Wuchuan Prefecture, so at the critical moment of changing the commander, it attacked the Wagang Army, and the eastward expansion of the Wagang Army was a key part of the entire plan of the Bohai Society.

However, Gao Hui asked the Wagang army to attack Jibei County, more or less her personal emotions, Zhang Xutuo's refusal to her and Zhang Xuan's teasing of her, which made her heart full of hatred for these two people, so taking advantage of the opportunity of Zhang Xutuo's north attack on Qinghe County, Gao Hui began to lobby the Wagang army to attack Jibei County.

Gao Hui looked at Zhai Hong eagerly, "How is it, has your brother agreed?" ”

Zhai Hong was quite afraid of this Gao Hui, although he had some kind of relationship with Gao Hui, he still didn't dare to be rude to her, he replied respectfully: "Mrs. Qiyu, my brother has promised to send troops to attack Jibei County, and he will personally lead the army to the battle. ”

"Well done!" Gao Hui sat up all of a sudden and praised without hesitation.

Zhai Hong was flattered, and hurriedly said with a smile: "This is Madame's plan is correct, I mobilized the generals to take turns to persuade my brother, and he finally agreed." ”

"You don't understand this!"

Gao Hui's slender eyes narrowed into a slit, and he sneered: "Your brother is not wavering because of the general's persuasion, but because Yuan Min wants to swallow the Wagang Army, which makes him wary of Wuchuan Mansion, so he wants to bet on both ends, while continuing to rely on Wuchuan Mansion, but at the same time he will be eye-to-eye with Bohai, I think, he should know that I am here with you, right?" ”

Zhai Hong nodded, "He knows that Madame is here with me, but he said that it is inconvenient to see Madame for the time being, and he will find a chance next time." ”

"I'm not in a hurry! But I want to know, when is your brother going to send troops to Jibei County? ”

Zhai Hong smiled proudly, "As Madame expects, I will send troops tomorrow!" ”

．．．．．．．

On the third day of the first month of the eleventh year of the Great Cause, Zhai Rangqin, the commander of the Wagang Army, led 30,000 elite troops to leave Wagang Village and kill Jibei County, which was empty. (To be continued.) )