When Yang Hao received the inside report about Zhang Bozhong's rebellion, he said to Liu Pan: "This is someone holding the military advisor hostage. He just wanted to bargain with us. ★W√w    W.81zW.CoM" Liu Pan was skeptical and asked: "Who can hold him hostage with the clerk's wit? Hu Lingyi was originally just a guard, and it was already a polite person to mention him as the deputy general of the middle wing. What else is he not satisfied? It's really a lack of heart to swallow an elephant. A damn villain."

Yang Hao smiled and said, "Someone must have promised him a great benefit. You are right. What can such a villain do? I will capture him within ten months."

Not long after Yang Hao said this, the news that Zhang Bozhong seized Zheng Huatai and occupied Xiao Chang'an reached Liquan. Then Suizhou and Xiazhou were also successively lost. Seeing that the wind was wrong, Wu Cao, the former governor of Suizhou, took advantage of the situation to raise an army, claiming that he was staying in Bining Jie, attacked Ningzhou, and gathered heavy troops outside the Chongzi Pass in Qingzhou. Almost at the same time, Wu Qiai, the governor of Fufang, sent troops from Fangzhou, captured Binzhou, and completely cut off Liu Pan and Meng Ming's road to the northwest.

The retreat was cut off, and the food and supplies were insufficient, and there was no need to fight, and the entire army was in danger of being defeated. Liu Pan advised Yang Hao: "For the sake of the present, we can only conquer Chang'an in one go."

Yang Hao smiled bitterly and said, "Did they dare to insert a knife behind my back? Didn't they think of this layer? It's too late."

Liu Pan said: "What should we do? Otherwise, we will concentrate our troops to capture Binzhou? Then we will work with General Yu to capture Ningzhou. Once Ningzhou is obtained, we will return to the north and capture Hu Lingyi's rebellious rebel."

Yang Hao said: "I don't know when I will go back to the northwest after such a long period of time."

Liu Pan said angrily: "Hateful little thief, if I hold him, I will definitely peel him alive."

Yang Hao patted Liu Pan and smiled and said, "It's not the end of the way."

After hearing this, Liu Pan turned his worries and said happily: "What are the good plans for the Grand Marshal?"

Yang Hao said: "I have old friends with the governor of Jingyuan, Lian Yong. I wrote a letter and borrowed him from three months of food. The military advisor is still alive and he is restrained in the inside line. I don't believe how long Hu Lingyi can last."

When Liu Pan heard this, he was skeptical and thought to himself: "Isn't this Lian Yong Qiu Shiliang's person? When did you have a relationship with our Grand Marshal?" He thought to himself, but when he saw Yang Hao's confident look, he did not doubt it, and said: "As long as there is food in his hands, no matter how far he is, no matter how far he is, he is not afraid of it. Haha."

Lian Yong was originally Meng Bochang's general, and he had a fair relationship with Yang Hao, so he could not have any friendship. Not only now, but because of Meng Bochang's death, they were also intimidated by each other and regarded each other as enemies. He said this to appease Liu Pan. He knew very well that once the troops learned that the food supply was cut off and the rear was trapped, there would be a risk of collapse. After all, Yang Wei's army was not the Xining army with iron military discipline in the past. At that time, even if the entire Xining army starved to death, no one dared to rebel.

The army is expanding too quickly now, and it is mixed with mud and sand. It doesn't feel anything in good times. Once it falls into adversity, it will be full of dangers. If the news of food shortage is leaked, don't talk about fighting, you're afraid that you can't even retreat. At that time, there will be only four outcomes: First, the 40,000 army collapses and is slaughtered; second, the 40,000 army collapses, and the remnants tie up themselves up and sent them to the winners for merit and rewards; third, someone takes a mutiny to capture them and receives rewards, the army changes its flags and changes its banners, and neither Yang nor Liu's surname; last, Liu Pan raises his own heads to offer, and the army is completely surnamed Liu.

Now that you have spoken out loud, just talking big will not solve the problem of eating. If there is no food at that time, the consequences will be unimaginable.

In order to stabilize the morale of the army, Yang Hao still patrols the camp and feasted as usual. The military officer had asked him several times to be anxious. He always said with confidence that it was not important and that the grain would arrive soon. He even called Liu Feng to select a thousand soldiers and prepare hundreds of large trucks, saying that he was going to Fufeng County to transport grain back.

Whether Fufeng County has food or not, but even if all of them are found, it will not be enough for the army to use for a day. The same is true for other prefectures and counties in Guanzhong. In order to prevent the Yangwei army from leaving, when Wen Shimao withdraws, Qiu Shiliang had issued strict orders. Guanzhong and Jingzhao are implementing a solid wall and clearing the fields. The grain is concentrated in several major prefectures such as Chang'an, Jingzhou, and Tongzhou. The remaining small prefectures and small counties only have the food for the military and civilians for one month.

It is impossible to rely on several prefectures and counties to solve the problem of military food. There is only one way to overcome this difficulty: buy grain from grain merchants in Chang'an City. Are there grain merchants in Chang'an City with so much food? Yang Hao has no doubt at all. Chang'an City is the foundation of the Tang Dynasty. With a population of one million, how much food is needed every day? Just take out a small part of it to solve the military supplies of Yang Wei's army. In fact, since Liu Pan stationed in Liquan, more than one large grain merchant has come to the door and demanded that the food supply to the Daying be affordable. Liu Pan also told Yang Hao that it is economically cost-effective to buy grain from Chang'an.

Of course, Yang Hao was not only considering whether it was economically cost-effective. He had to think about the bad things. If Yang Wei's army could be self-sufficient, would he still control this mob in the future? Not only did he not allow Liu Pan to buy grain from Chang'an grain merchants, he also asked Mu Lanqing, Zhang Ren and others to interfere and create rumors, so that the big grain merchants in Chang'an City would give up first and no longer interact with Liu Pan.

Liu Pan couldn't buy food himself, so Yang Hao's reason for rejecting him was even more sufficient.

Merchants are profit-seeking. As long as they have money, they will not act irresistibly and not interact with you just because you didn’t show him a good face before. Since Yang Hao can create rumors that they think that selling grain to Liu Pan is not worthwhile, they can create new rumors that selling grain to Yang Weijun is profitable.

Of course, it is not irrational or crazy to rely on these smart big merchants to play with their hands and lead their noses. They may collude and use your shortcoming and urgent needs to raise prices. However, these problems are not big. After all, there are so many grain merchants in Chang'an City, unless they form a unified alliance, they cannot raise the price. They are not a commoner who can buy zero, but they can only buy tens of thousands of stones at one's own move. The money is waiting for you to make money, and they can't speak any thoughts. At that time, they are lying.

Yang Hao was not very worried that the city government would interfere. He encouraged Hu Lingyi to hold Zhang Bozhong up and make him rebellious, which would not be Qiu Shiliang or King Ying Li Yan, because if he fell down now, it would be harmful to the two families without any benefit. This must be someone else, such as Yuanhe, Changqing, Yahe, and Kaicheng, which is possible, but it is mostly the King of Guang Li Chen. He took risks in order to save the master and forced himself to submit.

In this way, if you buy grain from the city, Qiu Shiliang and King Ying will not be too embarrassed. At most, you will bargain with me and get a little cheaper. Yuanhe, Changqing, Yamato, and Kaicheng may make secret interference, especially Yamato, Kaicheng, from the moment he rejects Concubine Yang, it is equivalent to tearing his face with them.

But that doesn't matter. With Qiu Shiliang and Li Yan restraining them, they can't make big waves, they just make some blood on their own.

When it comes to the current problem, Wu Qiai also openly stood up to oppose himself. Wu Qiai is a veteran in the court, with a deep background in the Niu Party and is known as one of the leaders of the imperial court.

It is precisely because of this that I gave up Fufang and followed Binning when I went south. If I had marched from Fufang, I would not have the current embarrassment. There were no major dangerous passes in Fufang, which was very convenient for Liu Pan's cavalry to gallop. It was difficult for Xia Sui to fight in three days. At that time, I didn't want to offend the Niu Party and made too many enemies, so it was easy to abandon but difficult to follow. Now it seems that I am almost a cocoon.

The routine of the Niu Party's party fighting is to smear morally and attack them in groups. In other words, if the Niu Party intervenes in this matter, it will be morally smeared, and the charge of rebellion will not be able to escape. In this way, Qiu Shiliang and the Ying Prince's Mansion have an excuse to refuse and not come out publicly to help themselves. At this critical moment, who would be willing to collude with a rebel?

If they cannot or are unwilling to come forward publicly, there will be fewer restrictions on the people who plot against them. At least the grain chamber will shirk the responsibility of transporting grain to Liquan in the name of fear of the government. What's the use of buying tens of thousands of stones of grain in the city and unable to transport it?

Yang Hao originally wanted to use the secret power of Mu Lanqing, Zhang Cheng, Zhang Ren and others in the city, but he quickly denied this idea. How many people and carriages are needed to transport tens of thousands of stones of grain? If they asked them to do it, they would inevitably show up in public and mobilize others. They dare not say that they would definitely not be able to do it. Even if they did it, they would be completely exposed. The efforts of so many years were in vain.

But if they don’t use them, who can they rely on?

This problem made Yang Hao feel a headache. He was not in control of the banquet for a while and drank a few more drinks. After the banquet, he walked alone in the snowy wilderness outside the camp in the name of sobering up. The snow was knee-deep, and it was very difficult to walk. But at this moment he couldn't take care of these things at all. He thought anxiously, and the headache was about to break.

Suddenly, a person's name flashed through his mind:

Gu Zan,——Ghost Gang!

This name was like a bolt of lightning, which illuminated his dim and distressed heart in an instant. The unintentional way to plant willows in the past was actually very useful today. It has been four years since the first year of Kaicheng that he drove the Ghost Gang out of Yongfeng. With the strong support of Yang Hao, Gu Zan, the old martial arts leader, led by Zhang Cheng, the black and white gang leader, the Ghost Gang quickly took root, sprouted, and grew stronger in Chang'an City. A few years ago, Mu Lanqing reported to him that the Ghost Gang had 30,000 disciples in Chang'an City, and its power was mainly concentrated near the East City, and was ranked alongside the three major gangs in the Beijing City, along with the Xiaodao Society in the south of the city and the Black Shirt Club in the west City.

Yang Hao bought 50,000 stones of grain from the six major grain merchants in Chang'an. Gu Zan used tens of thousands of disciples. Mu Lanqing and Er Zhang smashed out the mountains of gold and silver and finally transported the grain out of the city without any danger. In just over a hundred miles from Chang'an City to Liquan, 50,000 stones of grain was consumed as much as 10,000 stones. This made Gu Zan's old face a little red in addition to black. He asked Liuyun to support him to meet Yang Hao, shaking as if the wind was about to fall down. Yang Hao held his hand in emotion and said, "Old man, I'm sorry for you. For Yang's affairs, it depends on how tired you are. How can Yang Hao feel at ease?"

Liuyun said: "Since winter, the old man has been in poor health. Because of the great commander, he has become more energetic. Unfortunately, his enthusiasm has ruined the bastards."

Gu Zan held Yang Hao's hand and said with tears in his eyes: "I am ashamed of me, I am sorry to the general. I transported more than 100 miles of grain, and the loss was 20%. If you say it, Gu Zan is incompetent, but if you want to say that I, Gu Zan, stealing myself, is a greedy and despicable villain."

Yang Hao smiled and said, "You can't say that. In the past, I transported grain from Linzhou to Fengzhou for 300 miles, and I lost 40% of it. At that time, the autumn was clear and the air was clear, and there was no rain or snow, so what should I say?" He continued to comfort him: "This time, the grain transport was too urgent, the rain and snow were heavy, and the road was muddy and could not be walked. They could only throw the grain bags on the road to take a foothold. This is also an urgent matter and there is nothing to do."

Liuyun smiled and said to Yang Hao, "I advised you so much, too. I said, "You have tried your best. The Grandmaster will understand you, but the Grandmaster couldn't listen. He said that he had been kind to the Grandmaster in the past and had been thinking about repaying him. This opportunity came, but he was ruined. He felt ashamed. Originally, the old man had retired and stopped asking about things, but he saw that it was the Grandmaster's explanation, so he put on the battle again. Unexpectedly, the veteran was distant from the battle formation for a long time and was unfamiliar with his hands and feet. This attack was not stabbed by the enemy general, and he fell first. Do you think he could not be depressed?"

Gu Zan shouted when he heard this, "Shut up, I'm here to apologize to the Grand Marshal. What's your point of saying this? It's like coming to excuse me."

Liuyun stopped talking while his mouth was pressing, and his eyes were flowing, as if he was holding a pool of spring water.

Gu Zan said to Yang Hao awkwardly: "I am not entrusting you with the blessing of Dashang today. It is my blessing to serve Dashang. Unfortunately, this is the case with the Ghost Gang. A group of mobs cannot get the stage. The Dashang laughed."

Yang Hao clapped his hands and said, "Don't say this again, it will make Yang Hao feel ashamed."

At this time, Dongfang Lan came with three carriages, unloaded thirty boxes, and opened them, all of which were yellow gold ingots.

Yang Hao smiled and said, "Brothers have been busy in the wind, snow and mud. Let's just treat these as a cup of tea for the brothers."

Gu Zan waved his hands and said repeatedly: "Zhe kills the old man, and Zhe kills the old man, and you must never accept it." After all, he refused to accept the money. Later, Liuyun said: "The Grand Marshal made such a great contribution. There will definitely be a place in the court in the future. Our Ghost Gang is shallow in the capital, and we will have to rely on the Grand Marshal to take care of it in the future. This silver power is regarded as our money for the audience."

Yang Hao smiled and said, "Does our friendship still need to pay for the audience?"

Liuyun said: "You are an official, we are the people. The officials love the people, the people love the people, the officials protect the people, and the people support the officials. Will the general refuse some of the greetings?"

Speaking of this, Yang Hao had to give up. Although he had lost 10,000 stones of food, even if the soldiers were allowed to eat with their stomachs, they could eat for three months. By then, if he could not suppress Hu Lingyi, Zhang Bozhong's rebellion, and open up the food route to the south, he might as well surrender.
Chapter completed!