The raindrops hit the leaves of the tung oil tree, and there was a sound of rustling, and the twilight was already thick, and the rain slid through the air, like silver threads showing off a dark background.

Song Jia walked to the threshold and called the Zuo Lan sisters who were waiting in the outer wing room to come in and add a few more large candles to make the light in the room brighter.

Lin Jian sat there like a stone sculpture and read the Tang copy, ignoring these trivial things.

The news that the Donghu forces had pressed up to encircle Jinhai had reached Chongzhou at noon today, which meant that the main force of the Donghu people had launched a new round of offensive after two months of rest after entering the customs.

Song Jia walked back, stood beside Lin Lian, and sorted out the messy copy he had made after looking through it.

These are all information collected around the Donghu people, although many of them are only a few words, but after spending so much manpower and effort, the letters and newspapers collected also give people a sense of overwhelmingness.

In the past, these intelligence briefings would be sent to Lin Jian after they had been sorted out, but Lin Jian was still worried that the officers of the Military Intelligence Department were inexperienced in doing things and had missed any important information.

At this time, there was a new pond copy outside, and it was a thick stack, Song Jia picked it up first, and picked out the important ones for Lin Jian to see.

"The Donghu people are moving so fast!" Song Jia picked out a copy of the pond and handed it to Lin Bin.

This letter is not about the war of the Donghu people in the north, Lin Tie unfolded, and the more he looked at it, the more frowning he became.

Less than a month after the fall of Datong, the Donghu people set up a prefecture and a county in Datong, appointed political officials such as the prefect, the governor, and the county, and set up another military household office, set up military tun and other officials, re-measured the acres of land and distributed them to the surrendered military households, and rewarded the work and warfare......

In addition to Datong, the Donghu people also appointed prefects and county magistrates in the eastern counties of Hebei. In eastern Hebei, in addition to abandoning the fields on the periphery of Jizhou into horse breeding land, in Changli and Linyu counties, the fields were wantonly harvested without registration, and tenants were organized into military households. In addition to contributing manpower to cultivate for the military households, the three military households are also required to pay land rent and taxes.

The Donghu people's strategy was to abandon the old predatory policy in the occupied areas and suppress the local wealthy gentry in blood, so that the military households could be fed on the tenants, so as to reduce the direct expenditure of the Donghu in raising the army, and of course it also had a certain pacification effect on the original tenant farmers.

In addition, Donghu also induced displaced people to go out of the customs to western Liaoxi to land land for cultivation.

Compared with the unstoppable progress of the Donghu people in the war, these actions of the Donghu people in the newly occupied area made Lin Jian even more scheming.

"The princes of the temple have always regarded Dongyu as a barbarian, but how many people can come up with such powerful means?" Lin Jian sighed slightly and said, "The Liang family has occupied Shandong for nearly two years, and there is no convincing means except for barely scraping together 60,000 soldiers and horses. I don't know if I don't compare, but I dwarf it when I compare. ”

Song Jia smiled slightly and said, "If Liang Xi and Liang Chengchong are really heroes, they will not defeat the Donghu people in Chentangyi." In the final analysis, it was the stubborn and incurable diseases of the imperial court that gave the Liang family a chance to come out again. Hoping that the Liang family can hold Shandong is an extravagant dream. Liang Jiadun was unwilling to retreat, and he did not dare to advance, but he was a little lucky in his heart, hoping that the Donghu people would stop at Yanji. How similar is this mentality of the Liang family to some people in Jiangning? Once the Donghu people swept Yan Ji and then reorganized their troops to the south, the Liang family would collapse like a mountain and collapse, and it was likely to collapse in a battle! ”

"The Donghu people are in full swing in Yanji, and the Liang family doesn't dare to go in to fight at all, but if the Liang family wants to retreat, where can they retreat?" Lin Jian shook his head, Song Jia was an outsider, and he could stay out of the matter to comment on the current situation, but these kinds of things worried him.

In the past, the grain and grass needed by the Donghu people for the war, in addition to the Liaodi self-conquest, there were three sources, one of which was the supply of rice and grain from Goryeo, which was about 200,000 stone last year, which was not much, but it could make up for the lack of Donghu; The second is that Yanxi Zhuhu supplies livestock to supplement meat and milk, which is difficult to estimate, but it will not be in a few; The third is battlefield plunder......

For a long time, the number of soldiers used by the Eastern captives for conquest was maintained at about 100,000, and the previous model of raising food could barely be maintained.

With the deepening of the war, the logistics supply line was lengthened, and the transportation consumption increased; The battlefield will be disabled, and the harvest of looting will become more and more limited, and the size of the subjugated army will also increase, which will exacerbate the shortage of food and grass......

If the Donghu people do not change the mode of raising grain, it will be difficult for them to use troops on a large scale to the south in a short period of time after the defeat of Yanji.

This is also the main basis for the Liang family to judge that Donghu is in Yanji, Gu Wuchen believes that Qingzhou can be held, and Jiangning believes that an effective defense line can be established between Hehuai and Huai.

On the other hand, the Liang family and Jiang Ning's judgment on the size and combat power of the subordinate army was also seriously insufficient.

Most people think that the subjugated army is for coercion, and the combat power is very limited, and the Donghu people will inevitably control the size of the subjugated army if they want to prevent the tail of the subjugated army from falling; Most people thought that once the Donghu people invaded Jin County and Yanji, they would control such a large area, and the original forces would inevitably be diluted, and the forces that could be used to go south would naturally be limited.

"In this case, it is no longer possible to pin hope on a war," Lin Jian said as he left the pond in his hand on his desk, "It is likely that the Donghu people will take advantage of the siege of Jinhai to rectify the subordinate army." When they go south, they can use the subjugation army to take the lead in the front, and Yanxi Zhuhu to fight the flanks, and the elite of Yandong's headquarters can shrink back to recuperate. ”

"It's very simple, if you do the same thing," Song Jia said, "What is difficult to judge now is the reaction of the Cao family." ”

At this time, a guard walked in from outside to tell that the convoy from Qingzhou was about to arrive outside Beicheng, and Lin Mengde had already stepped out of Beicheng to greet him.

Lin Jian instructed the guards: "Send someone to talk to Madame......"

Lin Jian wanted to persuade Gu Wuchen and Gu Siyuan to give up the idea of defending Qingzhou, but with little effect, but Gu Siyuan personally rushed over to persuade Huaidong to support him in commanding troops in Qingzhou - Gu Siyuan couldn't show up in public when he came to Chongzhou, and he took a carriage to cover people's eyes and ears all the way.

Zhao Qinmin went to Yandu to meet Gu Siyuan two days in advance, calculating the time when Gu Siyuan arrived in Chongzhou, Lin Jian asked Lin Mengde to go out of the city to greet him on his behalf, and he would wait for Gu Siyuan to come over when he was in Chongzhou City with Gu Junxun.

The more brilliant the person, the more stubborn they will become, and many people will not turn back even if they hit their heads and bleed.

Fundamentally speaking, it is also a serious and difficult to persuade each other in the judgment of the fundamentals of Donghu between the two sides - Gu Wuchen, Gu Siyuan and others are more willing to believe and adhere to their own judgments, and do not believe Huaidong's analysis and judgment of the current situation.

It's no wonder that anyone's cognition has limitations......

Before Huaidong rushed to eastern Zhejiang, who would have thought that Huaidong would still have the ability to maintain sixty or seventy thousand soldiers and horses after cutting off the Jinhai grain route? Who would have thought that Huaidong would maintain the current 70,000 soldiers and horses, and still have the ability to secretly support the Red Jacket Army to build the Huaisi defense line?

At this point, Lin Jian could only give up his previous position and barely maintain the indecision of the Dongyang family.

Lin Lian stood up with his hands in his hands, listened to the sound of rain outside the window, and couldn't help but sigh lightly, waiting for Gu Junxun to come down the mountain and go into the city together to wash the dust for Gu Siyuan.

************

On rainy days, the road was slippery, and the speed of the carriage and horse team slowed down, so that when night fell, I saw the faint black shadow of the northern city wall of Chongzhou in the distance.

Lanterns were set up in the corners of the car to illuminate the road, and the dim halo illuminated the rain, and a little light penetrated into the carriage. The raindrops were pouring down on the roof of the carriage, and Gu Siyuan was wearing a green shirt and casually stretched out his legs and sat on the soft couch. Today's Gu Siyuan has a thick short mustache on his lips, a frosty look on his face, a deep gaze, and a calm expression, and he can't see any traces of the gentlemen back then.

The change of people is really wonderful, not to mention Gu Siyuan, it is Zhao Jin, who is accompanying him on the side of the carriage, wearing armor and carrying a knife under the rain, and his bearing is high.

Who can connect him with the Jiangning boy who only knew how to sneak birds and dogs and do evil things back then?

Sometimes Zhao Qinmin didn't know whether to thank Lin Tie or resent Lin Tie. The only son Zhao Jin broke Lin Bin's leg, although he was treated with heart, he was always a little lame and left disabled, but Zhao Jin has changed his past since then, and he is very attentive to studying and practicing martial arts. After Zhao Jin went to Qingzhou with Gu Siyuan, he was soon used as a confidant.

At this time, two horsemen came in front of him and reported that Lin Mengde was waiting in the long pavilion in front of him. Gu Siyuan's trip could not be publicized publicly, and he had to hide it from the Liang family strictly, and when he went out of the city to greet him, Lin Mengde was only two or three people, and he didn't talk about any pomp.

Gu Siyuan nodded, to show that he knew about this, so he let the knight who came to report leave, and asked Zhao Qinmin: "Huaidong will really welcome me here?" ”

Zhao Qinmin said: "For the young gentleman to come, Lin Zhizhi and Miss also specially prepared a garden in the city, and the decorations and utensils in it were arranged by Miss herself, I am afraid that you will not ......be used to it" Zhao Qinmin can only say this, in his opinion, Huaidong still did not give up his efforts to persuade them to prepare for the withdrawal from Qingzhou.

Tang Haoxin had no ambitions before his knees, and the rich man of Tianshe was satisfied, so he focused on supporting his son-in-law Gu Wuchen; If Gu Siyuan didn't change his past wrongs, he would always be a hedonistic and hedonistic character, Gu Wuchen would naturally only support his son-in-law Lin Jian without any doubt.

This is not the case.

In the bloody battle of Jiyang, Gu Siyuan was greatly touched, and he was in pain, and his already superior talent and talents were used on the right path, and he also had the will and ambition to do something. Later, he inherited the shade of the door, followed Tang Haoxin to Qingzhou as an official, and was taught by Tang Haoxin wholeheartedly, and he gained a lot. Tang Haoxin died in office, and Gu Siyuan went to Tongguan for burial. During the Hehuai Rebellion, he returned to the east, recruited displaced people along the way to pick up and select Jianyong, and with the assistance of Yang Pu, he organized an elite combat force loyal to the Gu clan to outwit Suining in the Huaisi War to establish meritorious deeds. When he re-entered Qingzhou, Gu Siyuan naturally inherited the political prestige and connections left by Tang Haoxin, and joined forces with Chen/Yuanliang, Du Juefu, Zhang Jinxian and others to resist the infiltration of Liang's forces into Qingzhou when he presided over the transportation of the eastern section of the Jinhai Grain Road. Later, he married Du Juefu's young daughter, and the marriage with the local gentry Du Shi in Qingzhou completely established Gu Siyuan's status in Qingzhou.

Huaidong and Qingzhou are out of the same Dongyang lineage, and it should be necessary to have the same qi and branches, and to help each other, but in the same way, there is also competition between the two.

Of course, Lin Lian's management of Huaidong has achieved great achievements and deep foundations, which Gu Siyuan cannot compare. In this case, Gu Wuchen could only mainly support Huaidong in order to form a political pattern of the Dongyang clan as soon as possible.

Even if there is a competitive relationship between Huaidong and Qingzhou, the competitive relationship is also very weak, and the contradictions are not so prominent.

The Donghu people invaded wantonly, Yanjing will fall, for Qingzhou, since it is a crisis, it is also a turning point!

Yanjing and Jinhai are about to fall one after another, and Shandong will be directly threatened by the Donghu cavalry, but at the same time, Shandong will also become the front line against Donghu. Before the fall of Yanjing, the Jiangning people would not immediately support the new emperor, but a consensus had been formed to strengthen the defense in Hehuai, Shandong and other places, and to establish a military defense line to protect the Jianghuai.

In addition to nearly 4,000 elite soldiers, the Qingzhou people led by Gu Siyuan and Chen/Yuanliang also controlled nearly 20,000 troops deployed along the Jiaolai River. As long as Jiangning can get the support, the 20,000 Yun troops can be quickly organized into soldiers and filled in the city north of Qingzhou to form a military town blocking the eastern part of Shandong.

In this way, Gu Siyuan, who served as the superintendent of Qingzhou Mansion at this time, was able to rise to become a frontier marshal with military power almost in one step.

In such an opportunity, even if there is a risk of directly confronting the Donghu cavalry, who will let it go easily?

Lin Jian opposed the defense of Qingzhou, probably because he was worried that after Gu Siyuan rose in Qingzhou, the adults and other officials of the Dongyang Department would turn to focus on supporting Qingzhou, right? Zhao Qinmin secretly speculated in his heart, and at the same time thought that his son-in-law was always inferior to his son, and when adults had a choice, how could they put all their life's work on their son-in-law?