People's ambition is something that is difficult to explain, the chaos in the world has been revealed, and if there is an opportunity to control tens of thousands of soldiers in a town, no matter how big the risk is, there will be people who will not hesitate to take advantage of the fire.

In the eyes of the people in Qingzhou, Huaidong's hard work seems to have a special heart, right?

Lin Mengde stood under the long pavilion to avoid the rain, looking at the convoy that was gradually showing shadows in the distance, a slight smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and he thought: If you don't listen to persuasion, you will let Qingzhou hit her head and break the bloodstream, and there will be no more troublesome demon moths in the future.

Watching the convoy arrive in front of the long pavilion, the rain gradually stopped, only some rain foam was floating, Lin Mengde didn't let people hold an umbrella for him, watched Gu Siyuan get out of the car under the horse lamp, walked forward and saluted: "Shaojun can't make a noise on this trip, my lord specially let Mengcheng come out of the city to greet him, and I hope that Shaojun will not feel that Huaidong is sluggish," and saluted Yang Pu. Yang Pu has never held an official position, he is a retainer of the Gu family, and Lin Jian has always regarded Yang Pu as an elder, and Lin Mengde will not neglect the etiquette in front of him.

Since Gu Siyuan came over in person, in order to avoid the Dongyang system from falling into a split, Huaidong could only give up his previous position and stop persuading the people of Qingzhou to retreat south.

Gu Siyuan didn't expect his brother-in-law Lin Lian to come out of the city to greet him in person, but seeing Lin Mengde's very respectful attitude, he hurriedly returned the salute and said: "Uncle Mengde is going to torment the little nephew...... "Thinking of himself as a nephew, please Lin Mengde get in the car first and go into the city together."

For Gu Siyuan's arrival, Lin Lian and Gu Junxun prepared an empty garden in the city to settle him, the garden is not big, but it is exquisite, and the decorations, furniture, and servants, cooks and maids in the garden are also Gu Junxun himself.

Gu Siyuan's trip was very secretive, and the leakage of the news would cause unwarranted suspicion in many aspects, and the chariot and horse team stopped directly in front of the house, and Lin Jian and Gu Junxun waited here first.

Lin Jian was wearing a green shirt and stood in front of the house, and Gu Siyuan and the others also got out of the carriage early and walked over. Lin Lian stood on the steps with his hands in his sleeves and said with a smile: "There is also a lot of wind and rain, Si Yuan and Uncle Yang rushed over to work hard, right?" ”

"Uncle, Miss!" Yang Pu has always been a servant of the Gu family, so he naturally greeted Lin Jian as his uncle from afar.

"I don't think so," Gu Siyuan took two steps behind him and said, "All the way to see that Huaidong's two-year painstaking seawall was finally built, I am relieved and excited, I want to learn from you in Qingzhou to do a career, this time it was Huaidong rescue!" ”

"Of course, if Si Yuan doesn't say it, how can Huaidong watch from the sidelines?" Lin Jian said, sighing in his heart: I always refuse to let go of my ambition to hold heavy troops!

Gu Junxun held his daughter Zhengjun in his arms and said angrily: "Really, I just talked about military politics when I saw it, and I, who is a younger sister, seems to be an eyesore on the side!" ”

Gu Siyuan laughed and said, "Xun Niang has become a mother, and her mouth is still so unforgiving!" Stretched out his hand and pinched Zhengjun's pink little face, and said, "Zhengjun, shout to uncle to listen......"

"Uncle." The politician who had just learned to speak shouted timidly.

Gu Siyuan took out the greeting gift for his niece from his arms, which was a pair of emerald jade bracelets, and Gu Junxun complained that her brother was breaking the bill.

The garden here is only to settle Gu Siyuan temporarily, and the dust washing banquet is naturally arranged elsewhere. In addition to Gu Siyuan and Yang Pu, Lin Jian also asked Zhao Qinmin and Zhao Jin to accompany them, and the accompanying guards and entourages stayed in the garden to eat and rest......

The last time we met, it was during the Huaisi War, and after nearly two years of separation, Lin Jian saw that Gu Siyuan had a short mustache on his lips, and he also looked mature and steady.

Gu Siyuan's performance in Qingzhou in the past two years is also remarkable, but his qualifications are poor after all, even if he inherits Tang Haoxin's political legacy in Qingzhou, he only governs Qingzhou with Du Juefu, Chen / Yuanliang, Zhang Jinxian and others.

Zhang Jinxian has the least influence in Qingzhou, on the one hand, Ren Tongju assists Chen / Yuan Liang in political affairs, even if he is a Later Jin official of the Dongyang system, it is not more entrenched than the Du family in the local area, and perhaps there is also a reason that he is too close to Huaidong - Du Juefu and Chen / Yuan Liang are the two people with the strongest influence on Qingzhou besides Gu Siyuan, and their status is actually not below Gu Siyuan.

Whether it is Du Juefu or Chen/Yuan Liang, it cannot be said that they are incapable, but they all have their limitations.

Chen/Yuan Liang thought more about getting promoted and making a fortune, and he couldn't wait to learn from Qin Chengbo to cast silver into silver balls and hide them in the silver cellar, so he didn't compete with Gu Siyuan for his status in Qingzhou. Du Juefu wanted to increase the power of the Du family in Qingzhou, and he was very attentive to things such as the Tutian House.

In the past two years, 400,000 taels of silver have been distributed to Qingzhou from the cents of gold directly collected on the Jinhai Grain Road alone.

With so much silver, in addition to maintaining the armament of nearly 4,000 elite combat forces, most of the others fell into their own pockets and were not used to run Qingzhou well. Even the 20,000 troops who maintained the smooth transportation of the Jiaolai River had only barely made ends meet in the past two years, and they had lived a very difficult life, and they were not able to participate in the distribution of profits.

At this time, the 20,000 troops were hastily organized into soldiers, and there were serious deficiencies in military armor, training, and experienced grass-roots military attachés, and the morale of the army was actually unusable.

At this time, the social contradictions in Qingzhou have not only not been alleviated in the past two years, but have even become more serious. In addition, the Liang family has been unremittingly infiltrating Qingzhou and other places, and the marriage between Gu Siyuan and the Du family may not even be able to get the full support of the local gentry forces, and it is even farther away from winning the hearts of the people.

Gu Siyuan wanted to stand on his own feet in Qingzhou, but he lacked both a foundation and a lack of time. But things have come to this point, there is no point in arguing and persuading, it is better to seize the time and let Gu Siyuan make more preparations in Qingzhou, so as not to lose too badly in the future.

The longer Gu Siyuan can hold out in Qingzhou, the more beneficial it will be to Huaidong.

Politics probably exists because of compromise.

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

Gu Siyuan and Zhao Qinmin thought that they would have to spend a lot more words, but they didn't expect that since they stepped into Chongzhou City, Lin Mengde or Lin Lian did not show an unsupportive attitude.

Zhao Qinmin was also secretly depressed, don't let Gu Siyuan mistakenly think that he was playing right and wrong behind his back, and he thought that Lin Jian could change his attitude, most likely because of Gu Wuchen and Gu Siyuan's tough attitude, which made Huaidong have to bow his head.

After the banquet, Gu Junxun left first with his daughter in his arms, and Lin Jian invited Gu Siyuan, Yang Pu, Zhao Qinmin and others to Dongya to talk about things.

In terms of topography, Qingzhou is on the east side, occupying Jinan, the plain, and the Liang family in the west and south of Shandong. As long as the Liang family does not collapse, Qingzhou is safe, which is also a factor for Gu Wuchen and Gu Siyuan to ignore the risk of defending Qingzhou.

If Qingzhou wants to support it for a longer time, it is too late to implement the new policy, and the implementation of the new policy can only allow the local gentry forces to stand in front of the confrontation of Gu Siyuan and others, and aggravate the destabilizing factors in Qingzhou, and the top priority is to improve the combat effectiveness of the newly formed Qingzhou army.

Chongzhou's armor manufacturing capacity has exceeded that of the Jiangning Ministry of Industry, but it is still far from meeting the needs of the Huaidong Army's own expansion, even if it can squeeze out a part, it is also to secretly support the Red Jacket Army - Lin Jian can not ignore the fundamental interests of Huaidong, but it is not a problem to support Qingzhou's tens of thousands of catties of iron, and Qingzhou needs to organize craftsmen to build guns, spears, knives and arrows.

Of course, Gu Siyuan needs Huaidong's support and solidarity to ensure that more two Huai salt and silver can be used in Qingzhou.

The Jinhai grain road was broken, and the silver of Jiangdong County was basically intercepted by the prefectures. Maybe after the establishment of the new emperor, Zhecao silver will have other sayings, but what Jiangning can use to establish a defense line in Hehuai to defend against the southward movement of the Donghu people at this time is mainly the two Huai salt and silver saved.

Huaidong is on the inner side of the Hehuai defense line, and if he swallows the silver, in principle, he can no longer stretch out his hand to the two Huai salt silver. Otherwise, it will appear too greedy, morally passive, and will also attract the joint suppression of other forces.

Huaidong did not take a penny from the two Huai salt and silver, so he took a position to support Qingzhou to divide the two more Huai salt and silver. Of course, if Qingzhou wants to get two Huai salt and silver, it can't hide behind the Liang family.

In the past few days, almost every day, messengers have traveled between Jiangning and Chongzhou, repeatedly asking Huaidong's opinion on the issue of the Hehuai defense line.

The Liang family also had the intention of defending the Central Plains, but the Liang family was too greedy earlier, and its power not only included the western and southern regions of Shandong, but also the second son Liang Chengyi also took Hezhong Mansion as the foundation, rejected Tongguan in the west, advanced eastward along the Yellow River, and controlled Qinyang, Hebi, Puyang and other regions.

From Hezhong Mansion to Jinan Mansion, Pingyuan Mansion and Linzi further east, the straight-line distance is 13,400 miles wide, including the front of the former Zhongzhou County and Shandong County. On the east and west sides of the Taihang Mountain, there are large troop passages: Jinan, Pingyuan, Qinghe and other places should block the enemy troops coming from Yanji and the southeast foot of Taihang Mountain, and Qinyang and Hezhong should block the enemy troops from the southern part of Jinnan and the western foot of Taihang Mountain.

With only the sixty or seventy thousand soldiers and horses in the hands of the Liang family, it is too big a loophole to hold such a wide defense line. More importantly, although the area controlled by the Liang family is large, most of them have been repeatedly devastated by war, and their defensive military potential is extremely poor.

Even if the ability of the Donghu people to expand southward after controlling Yanji and Jin County was greatly weakened, it would not be too difficult to penetrate the Liang family's defense.

Jiang Ning and other forces obviously don't want to give too much of the two Huai salt and silver to the Liang family, so that the Liang family's power will continue to expand - the Liang family is also aware of the current situation, and they don't want to end up with nothing, so they must shrink the defense line, give up some territory located on the defense line, and let the Changhuai army, the Qingzhou army, or other soldiers and horses enter the defense.

The threat of the Cao family, and the Hezhong Mansion is a relatively complete mansion that the Liang family has not been damaged by the war, and the Liang family is different from life and death, so that the Cao family's soldiers and horses can go out of Tongguan and enter the Hezhong Mansion to assist in defense.

Yuan Guizheng coordinated for the Liang family in Jiangning, and Jiangning currently planned to let Tao Chun lead the main force of the Changhuai army to retreat to Qinghe and Anyang, occupy the terrain at the southeast foot of Taihang Mountain, and block the space between Jinan and Hezhong for the Liang family.

On the east side, Gu Wuchen hoped that the Liang family would give up Linzi, and Gu Siyuan would lead the Qingzhou army into Linzi, and then control Yangxin in the north, and bear the pressure from the enemy army in Yannan with the Liang family's soldiers and horses in Jinan and Pingyuan Mansion.

Of course, whether it is Huaidong or Jiangning, they all want to be able to transfer Chen Hansan to the north. However, Chen Hansan complained of illness in Xuzhou, only complained bitterly about the lack of money and food, and occupied Xuzhou and did not leave, and no one could help him. At this juncture, no one dared to force Chen Hansan to rebel, so he could only let him go.

In the past ten days, urgent consultations have almost formed a plan for Liang Chengyi to defend the middle of the river and the west line of Qinyang, Tao Chun to guard the Qinghe and Anyang middle roads, Liang Chengchong to guard the plains and Jinan East Road, and Gu Siyuan to guard Yangxin and Linzi East Road, and build the first line of defense along the Yellow River. On this line of defense, the Duke of Lu and Liang Xi were the governor of military affairs.

In addition to the first line of defense, Jiangning also intends to build a second line of defense on the north bank of the Huai River.

Chen Hansan guarded Xuzhou, and Zhao'an Red Jacket Army guarded Huaiyang, but the area controlled by the former Henan Envoy was a huge vacancy, and Jiangning decided to transfer the Dengzhou Army to make up for it.

The Dengzhou Army was Jiang Ning's ability to master another line of town army.

During Li Zhuo's reign of thistle, the Dengzhou Army was the second army that Li Zhuo focused on strengthening in addition to the Jizhen Army.

Hao Zongcheng took Li Zhuo as the commander, and transferred the Dengzhou army to land from Jinzhou in the southeast corner of Liaodong and hit the flank of Liaodong. The Dengzhou army did not play a role, the main force of the Jizhen army was destroyed in western Liaoning, and the Dengzhou army hurriedly wanted to withdraw from Liaodong and pursued the tail, with heavy losses, but still saved more than 10,000 people of the Shuibu army.

Dengzhou is biased to a corner of Shandong, and at this time, Jiangning completely gave up the idea of attacking the flank of Liaodong from the sea. In addition to the Dengzhou naval army still staying in place, it is planned to transfer the 5,000 soldiers of Dengzhou Town to Xuchang and Yanling for reinforcement, and build a second line of defense with Huaiyang and Xuzhou.

The idea of using the two Huai salt and silver to build two lines of defense in the Hehuai area is basically the same, but how to distribute the salt and silver, who has more and who has less, is the focus of contention.

Perhaps 1.8 million taels of salt and silver per year can allow the Hehuai region to recruit an additional 108,000 soldiers, but these two lines of defense, in Lin Bin's view, are full of loopholes, have no foundation, and are intrigued, wary of each other and even hostile, so they really cannot form a complete defense system.

Once Donghu can concentrate 100,000 troops, attack all the way, and lose all the way, it may lead to the collapse of the entire Hehuai defense line. But in the current situation, this four-like thing is the only solution that each family can compromise and accept in the short term.