It was early February, and there were lamenting sounds in Shangbai Town.

On the fifth day of the lunar month, the general of the town Bo Guanzhi received an order from the Ministry of War to select three thousand strong infantry and five hundred cavalrymen, and arrived in Youzhou within 20 days.

He immediately convened a meeting of the main officials in the town.

Deputy (deputy general) Liu Ji, Chief Shi Tian Cai, Sima Huang Huai, Li Chu, Military Chiefs General of the Hucai Li, Military Chiefs General of the War, Tian Jian, Military Chiefs General of the War, Qi Shun, Military Chiefs General of the War, Tian Yi, Military Chiefs General of the Fa Cao, Guo He, and others, plus one group became the leader, with a total of more than ten people sitting together.

Shangbai Town has been passed down to this day and has become the second-generation leader. For example, the town general Bo Guanzhi is the son of Bo Sheng.

The same is true for the people of the Tian family.

The oldest person is Liu Ji. He is in his early sixties and is named the deputy general. He is actually a mascot and doesn't care about anything.

The small Shangbai Town is also divided into multiple factions.

The Bo family was recognized by the imperial court, and hereditary generals and formed a unique faction.

The Tian family has become increasingly powerful over the years, vaguely surpassing the Bo family, and is a well-deserved powerful faction in Shangbai Town.

In addition to these two families, Liu Ji and Guo and their ancestors were natives from Bingzhou and Jizhou. They were enlisted in the early years, but now they have developed in the town with peace of mind. The two families are closer, have a good relationship, and have become a vague faction.

As for Huanghuai, it was the direct line of Sima Li Nong, who had already left office, and he was watching over and helping each other with Li Chu (son of Li Nong).

Qi Shun was from Wuhuan. His father led a unit of Wuhuan in Bingzhou to advance eastward in his early years and joined the Qihuo Army. Later, he absorbed Wuhuan in Jizhou, and his strength was not small.

As the saying goes, the temple is small and the demon is strong, and the pool is shallow and the turtle is numerous. This is the case with Shangbai Town. It is actually divided into five major factions, eight major families, and they check and balance each other, and there is no unity within it.

So when Bo Guanzhi read out the imperial edict in public and asked each Cheng to draw troops, he immediately had a good quarrel and the Chief Shi Tian Cai was the first to raise an objection: "The imperial edict has, we should comply with it, but why did Guangzongcheng send a full 2,000 troops? The other Chengs only sent a total of 1,550 troops. Isn't that unfair?"

"Guangzong has many people, so why not send two thousand troops?" asked Bo Guanzhi.

"There are more, but not more than half of the household registration in the town." Tian Cai said bluntly.

"You!" Bo Guanzhi got up in anger, pulled out his sword, and scolded, "Do you want to disobey?"

Tian Jian, the military officer of the military officer, also pulled out his sword and shouted: "General, the imperial court just asked me to send out 3,500 squadrons and cavalry, but he didn't say which one would be sent. If you make an unfair arrangement, can others not speak yet?"

"Chief Shi Tian, ​​Tian joins the army, after that, put away the knife." Liu, the deputy general with white hair, became a peacemaker, smiled and said, "When is it now, and the quarrels are still quarreling. People from the Ministry of War are still living in the inn. If he knows and stabs them to the court, wouldn't we all be punished?"

Since Liu moved out of the name of "the court", Bo Guanzhi and the Tian brothers calmed down.

Tian Jian snorted coldly, put away the knife, and sat down.

Bo Guanzhi glanced at him and took back his sword.

"Mr. Liu is right." Huang Huai waved his hand and said, "National affairs are important. If it delays us, we will not get better. Let's do this. Guang Zongcheng sent a thousand five-strong army. Everyone will report the gap of the five hundred people and deal with the court first. How about it?"

Qi Shun glanced at Huang Huai.

This guy is obviously from the court.

Li Nong became the Shaoqing of Dali Temple, but did not completely give up the influence on Shangbai Town. Huang Huai and Li Chu still obeyed his own orders.

What are you pretending? Do you really think everyone is blind?

But then again, if the court could also give up a fifth-rank official, he would not have given up his more than 4,000 men, women, and young men.

Today is different from the past. The officials in Shangbai Town are really meaningless. Even if they have been hereditary for several generations, they will not be considered a gentry. Someone will always look at them with strange eyes, as if the officials from Shangbai Town from top to bottom are fake.

He sighed silently, listening to the generals in the town's endless bargaining words, and his thoughts had already flown to other places.

The quarrel was quarrel until afternoon. After the envoys of the Ministry of War, the Shangbai Town finally decided on the scale of their troops.

Similar to Shangbai Town are Wuqiang, Yijing, Feilongshan, Puyangshan and other towns.

Each town sent troops ranging from 2,000 to 4,000 troops, and collected a total of 20,000 to 30,000 troops and sent them to Youzhou one after another. The main task was to transfer to Beiping, escort food, grass, and equipment, and help take care of horses, livestock, and even temporarily level the road.

To put it bluntly, they are taking on the role of auxiliary soldiers, at least for the time being.

*******

In Qinghe County, Jizhou, Cui Zhan, the son of Cui Yu, returned from Bianliang. He discussed with his uncles and brothers for a long time and decided to mobilize a thousand Cui's troops and go north to Youzhou.

"The court was very anxious to pass the field, and did not talk about the slightest feelings. In the end, we would have to send troops, but the elder said dissatisfied.

"Uncle Six, you can't say that." Cui Zhan smiled and said, "This thousand tribes are just transferring supplies, and you won't compete with the thieves. "Why just send some patrol tourists?"

"There are many cavalry troops in the Murong family, and the villager is afraid that it will not work. Without fear, the thief will disperse after shooting arrows. It is still necessary to join the army, and the emperor also demands this." Cui Zhan explained patiently.

Uncle Six snorted coldly, but said nothing.

At this time, others asked, "There are barbarians in the southwest of Wuxing County. Can I fight for my Cui family? "

Cui Zhan thought for a while and said, "Fifth Uncle Wu, don't worry, the emperor is facing the scholars from Chongbei. If the descendants of the Shanyue Sect really have illegal situations, they can attack them."

"I have nothing to say in this way." Uncle Wu nodded and said.

"Have the other families sent troops?" Uncle Cui Zhan asked again.

"The Liu family in Pingyuan and Hua family each have more than a thousand troops, and the Shi family and Gao family are similar." Cui Yu said: "The Henan clans should have also been assigned to send troops, and they are all auxiliary soldiers and even escort food and grass."

"We can only send out so many people." The uncle sighed a little emotion: "In the past, if we didn't bring out three or five thousand people, we wouldn't even be able to stop the Fort Commander."

Everyone also felt the same way.

The decline in the strength of the rich people in the north is obvious to all, and the core reason is Dutian and the Xiajiangnan who came from Dutian.

The court gave land to the people, and the taxes and labor were clearly understood. If there was a choice, ordinary farmers would definitely not want to be farmers. After all, this time and then, it is not a chaotic time. There is no need to pay the price of personal freedom and most of the income from a year of hard work in exchange for security protection. Therefore, farmers often fled.

After Qinghe County completed the land, a considerable amount of land and the merchants were cleared out.

The Censor Dafu Shanxia visited Hebei several times and supervised the local counties and counties to leave their homes. He had done this in Jiangnan.

Because of this, all the families have accelerated their pace of going to Jiangnan. It is reasonable that the strength of the northern families has dropped sharply. "It's really uncomfortable to have such an emperor above his head." The uncle said at last.

"Uncle said this is a bad thing," Cui Zhan said, "If it weren't for now, Hebei was either in Liu Yao's hands or under the jurisdiction of Shi Le, they might not have given Cui face."

"It's almost the same." said the uncle: "Today, I'm giving face, but when I ask for money and grain and collect Teng Zhuang, I'm not ruthless at all. It's the same as Shi Le and Liu Yao. He just did a good job on the scene, and there's no big difference in the scene."

"Uncle, be careful of your words." Cui Zhan hurriedly said, "The emperor will arrive in Hebei soon, and there are some things that cannot be said."

The uncle sighed again and kept silent.

Cui Zhan breathed a sigh of relief.

Hebei is close to Youzhou, so a large number of people must be dispatched. Not only are the private soldiers of the rich, but also the military towns have to send capable people. The total number of private soldiers is probably more than 50,000.

There were 50,000 or 60,000 people who were transporting in the rear, and the food route was safe.

Of course, they did not rule out the possibility of going to the front line to fight, and they would even encounter Xianbei cavalry who were raiding the food road. Everything depends on luck.

Cui Zhan stayed in Qinghe until February 15th. He saw the private soldiers of the rich and powerful counties heading north with the last batch of grain before returning to Bianliang to report.

*******

Pingcheng is still cold in mid-February.

The order to dispatch troops has been issued, but there is no movement here. Compared with the direction of Youzhou, there are no large groups of people and horses on the grassland to transfer resources, and replaced by countless cattle and sheep.

On February 18th, the prefect of Yunzhong (formerly Yunzhongyin) Wang Chang ordered the construction of a forage farm and a livestock farm in the northeast of Qifu Yuanchi.

This is not a major project. After recruiting people, it will be completed in almost early April.

At that time, a large number of livestock will be driven over in Bingzhou.

The grass north of Yinshan Mountain returns to green a little later, so you need to feed livestock for a period of time with pre-stored forage and even the miscellaneous grains transported from Bingzhou, so that it can grow as much as possible.

After the grass has grown almost in May, hundreds of thousands of cattle and sheep will be driven away, and the army will be marching eastward. The "army" will be divided into different directions, with the elderly, weak, women and children in the rear, and the strength collected by the Pingcheng Guards and the various units will be opened in the front.

First, we entered the grassland of the 12th Yuwen tribe, joined forces with them, crossed the Daxianbei Mountain from west to east, and followed the old road where the Yuwen cavalry attacked the Murong Xianbei, and attacked them all the way.

A total of 100,000 men, women, young and old along the way, they were like "armed migration", carrying carriages and tents,

Cattle and sheep, war horses, bows and knives, pressed over with a rush of overwhelming force.

According to the current news, Shao Shen, the great guardian of the Shanyu, was the commander of this route, and most of the cavalry of the Daliang court may be strengthened. In addition, the soldiers under the Shanyu Mansion, a total of 20,000 elite cavalry, led tens of thousands of grassland herders and light cavalry to attack from the northwest of the Murong Xianbei, and met with the army that came from Youzhou in Liucheng and Jicheng.

In Wang Chang's view, although Murong Xianbei can fight, he may not be able to withstand such a siege on all sides.

If Goguryeo sends troops from the rear and Murong Ren from Liaodong County insists on and restrains some of the troops, it is really difficult for Murong to be able to repel the siege in the northwest, southwest, northeast and southeast?

Each defeated? There were a large number of cavalry in all directions, as well as infantry siege cities and land, which was difficult.

When the situation has developed to this point, Murong should not have been forced to do so.

If Emperor Shao Xun of Liang uses one move to separate and disintegrate, and he will surrender and accept rebellion, his own people will be in chaos.

This is his favorite trick.

In late February, news from all directions gradually summarized in Bianliang.
Chapter completed!