As soon as Zhang Xutuo led his army to Qufu, Lu Mingxing and Guo Ming led their troops to retreat to Fangshan and set up a defensive battle formation at the key pass of Fangshan.

Zhang Xutuo had no intention of attacking Fangshan, nor did he help Duan Wencao recover Sishui County. After Xuzhou's rebel army evacuated Qufu, he sent troops to the south bank of Sishui to cross the river north at any time to rush to Juping and Liangfu's line.

However, the situation of the war was unpredictable. Before he could take a breath in Qufu, he received an urgent case from Qin Qiong that the Xuzhou bandit army had already reached Liangfu City.

The Xuzhou thief army was not Zhang Xutuo's target. Zhang Xutuo's target was Qizhou thieves. He needed to find the main force of Qizhou thieves. The situation he most wanted to see was that Qizhou thieves broke through from Bocheng, so that he could launch an attack according to the established plan and achieve the purpose of the attack. Because there was no movement in Bocheng, Zhang Xutuo did not move and did not move on the south bank of Sishui.

Duan Wencao missed his horse and lost the battle. He was very embarrassed and avoided Zhang Xutuo. However, out of politeness and cooperation, he asked his nephew Duan Lun to express his gratitude to Zhang Xutuo and reward the Qi army on his behalf.

Zhang Xutuo understood the embarrassing situation Duan Wencao was in. Besides, Duan Lun was the son of Duan Wenzhen, the Minister of War. Although the two parties belonged to different political groups and had different interests, in terms of Zhang Xutuo's current situation, without the strong support of the Heluo noble group headed by Yang Xuangan, the Minister of Rites, he could only "reliance on his own" and strive to win cooperation with all forces on the basis of the common interest of suppressing rebellion and suppressing thieves.

Duan Wenzhen, the Minister of War, is a leader of the Qilu noble group. If Zhang Xutuo wants to achieve the contribution of suppressing the rebellion under the Qilu Lu establishment, he must first win the support of Duan Wenzhen. The chaos in Qilu will inevitably harm the interests of the Qilu people. Therefore, this is a pair of sharp contradictions. The key to whether this contradiction can be successfully resolved is not how Zhang Xutuo suppresses the rebellion, but how Duan Wenzhen and the Qilu nobles balance the interests of all parties.

Zhang Xutuo invited Duan Lun with a warm banquet, and his words were quite a sign of showing kindness. At the same time, he also made a vague test to investigate what Duan's opinions were about his suppression of rebellion and suppression of the thieves.

Duan's attitude on this matter was very contradictory. From the perspective of the Eastern Expedition, Duan did not want the Qilu people to rebel at this critical moment, and then influence the progress of the Eastern Expedition, so he supported the suppression of the bandits. However, based on the interests of the Qilu people, Duan did not want to see the tragic situation of the Qi people killing the Qi people, so he did not support the suppression of the bandits. This contradictory attitude made the Duan family sway in the matter of suppressing the rebellion and suppressing the bandits.

Fortunately, the Xuzhou bandits occupied Mengshan and directly threatened the security of Langya County. Once Langya County fell, it would inevitably affect the Donglai Navy's crossing the river and the great cause of the Eastern Expedition. However, the Xuzhou bandits were not from Qilu, which solved the conflict between the Duan family. The Qilu people could suppress the Xuzhou bandits in the name of suppressing the rebellion.

Duan's strategy was immediately formulated, concentrating the forces of the Qilu region and working together to suppress the Xuzhou thieves. This not only ensures the smooth progress of the Eastern Expedition, but also ensures that Qilu bureaucrats such as Zhang Xutuo can achieve the achievements of suppressing the rebellion.

Zhang Xutuo understood that in the future, not only should the two sides cooperate, but they should also cooperate with more forces, even with the Xuzhou noble group. However, in this way, will the Qizhou bandits still be suppressed? Of course, they should be suppressed, but if Zhang Xutuo wants to stay in the Qilu area and maintain cooperation with the Qilu nobles, he cannot start a large-scale killing. Considering that the Qi army's next target of suppressing the bandits is Xuzhou bandits, the stability of Qi County is crucial, his only way is to drive the Qizhou bandits out of Qi County. Where to go? Winter is here, the river is about to freeze. As long as the plan is right, Zhang Xutuo has the ability to drive the Qizhou bandits to Hebei and drive out of the Qilu area. In the spring of the next year, the flowers are blooming and the river is thawing. With the natural danger of the big river, it will be difficult for the Qizhou bandits to come back. In this way, Zhang Xutuo can concentrate his efforts to kill the Xuzhou bandits.

The host and guests drink and talk and leave with all their fun.

That night, Zhang Xutuo slept steadily and woke up and saw Qin Qiong's urgent matter.

The attack power of Xuzhou thieves was very strong, and they captured Liangfu City with a destructive force. According to Luo Shixin and the Licheng Township soldiers who fled back, they did not know how the Xuzhou thieves entered the city, nor how the fire in the city was ignited. In short, they were defeated in a daze, and Liangfu City was also burned in the fire. Xuzhou thieves immediately killed Yangguan, and Yangguan was attacked from both sides. Just as Bocheng was urgently reported that the main force of Qizhou thieves attacked Bocheng fiercely and wanted to break through from Bocheng. Jia Wuben and Yang Qian inferred from this that the attack on Yangguan was a partial division of Qizhou thieves' army, which was bait. Qin Qiong decisively ordered the abandonment of Yangguan and led two village regiments of Licheng and Linyi to Bocheng overnight, intending to encircle and annihilate the main force of Qizhou thieves.

After a little thought, Zhang Xutuo immediately wrote a secret letter to Jia Wuben, Qin Qiong and Yang Qian. Considering the sharp changes in the situation in Qilu, the Qi army urgently needed to preserve its strength, and the thieves would have to sacrifice their lives to survive. The battle of Bocheng is very likely to be a loss. Killing one thousand enemies and losing 800 of them will kill themselves. Even if the Qi army wiped out the thieves in Qizhou, the Qi army might lose all. Once the Qi army loses its combat effectiveness, what will they use to deal with the rapidly changing situation in Qilu?

The lines of this secret letter clearly reveal Zhang Xutuo's attitude that cannot be expressed is that "raising the enemy to respect himself". The reason why "raising the enemy to respect himself" is not because of Zhang Xutuo's selfishness, but because of the heavy pressure exerted by the Qilu noble group. It can be foreseeable that once Zhang Xutuo wiped out the Qizhou thieves, he would inevitably become the "public enemy" of the Qilu noble group. He built the achievements of suppressing the rebellion, but he could not stay in the Qilu area. If the Shandong powerful people in the court headed by Duan Wenzhen, the Minister of War, joined forces to "beat" him, his career would basically reach the peak, and he would most likely be sent to a backward, remote and barren county to spend the rest of his life.

Zhang Xutuo's letter was delivered to the battlefield of Bocheng that night.

Yang Qian defended Bocheng. Qin Qiong also arrived at Bocheng, and Jia Wuben also broke out from the ambush site. In the eyes of the Qi army, Wang Bo and the main force of the Changbaishan Rebel Army were already surrounded and were about to be defeated.

However, Wang Bo had a solution. Even though he knew that Bocheng was a trap, how could he jump down with his eyes open?

Wang Bo attacked Bocheng with his purpose to attract the attention of the official army. When the official army was defending the city, the ambushing officers at the foot of Mount Tai had not yet emerged. In Juping, the official army on the front line of Liangfu had not yet rushed back. Before completing the siege of the rebel army, he broke the main force into pieces. One pretended to be the main force to attack the city, and the other was composed of old, weak, women and children. He led the way first and went straight to the foot of Mount Tai. When the official army ambushed at the foot of Mount Tai saw that it was the old, weak, women and children, he would definitely not take action, but continued to ambush and patiently wait for the main force of the rebel army to appear. The real main force of the rebel army was completely broken into pieces at this moment, secretly hiding in the hills between Bocheng and the southern foot of Mount Tai.

After the government army completed the encirclement and found that the main force of the rebel army had already escaped, they must have believed that the "old, weak, women and children" who had been released before had problems. The main force of the rebel army might have escaped among the elderly, weak, women and children, so they turned their horses and chased after them.

Just when the official army returned to Qi County, Wang Bo quickly integrated the main forces hidden in scattered areas and followed the official army back to Qi County.

The most ruthless move in this strategy is to lose the car and protect the coach, which is to give up all the elderly, weak, women and children who follow the rebel army. In this way, the main force of the rebel army will greatly improve the survival ability and combat ability. Only in this way can the Changbai Mountain Rebel Army have hope to break out a bloody path.

That night, the Qi army launched an attack. Jia Wuben, Qin Qiong and Yang Qian all went out together, but in the end they were in vain. They did not catch Wang Bo, nor could they encircle and annihilate the main force of the bandit army. Although the trap they set up was very clever, the bandit army was even more clever and cunning than them, and miraculously slipped away from the trap.

After discussing, the three of them immediately determined that the main force of the bandit army was still near Bocheng and lurking on both sides of the Wenshui River. The old, weak, women and children who had escaped from the foot of Mount Tai were just bait. They just waited for the official army to be deceived and chased and rushed straight to Qi County. The bandit army followed the official army and swaggered back to Qi County again. Of course, there is another possibility, that is, the main force of the bandit army was running towards Yangguan at this moment, and took advantage of the side troops and Xuzhou bandit army to capture Yangguan and quickly headed south to Mengshan.

If the main force of the bandit army is still near Bocheng, they can still fight again. On the contrary, if the main force of the bandit army has gone south to Yangguan, major events will be gone, and this result makes them very depressed. They wanted to design a killing of the bandit army, but they did not expect that they would be plotted by the bandit army. They jumped into the trap they dug and watched the bandit army advance into Mengshan.

At this moment, Zhang Xutuo's secret letter arrived. In the letter, Zhang Xutuo told them in a very affirmative tone that the thieves in Qizhou would definitely kill back to Qi County, and the reason was very simple, which was what Duan said. Since Duan said that the thieves in Qizhou would definitely kill back to Qi County, there is still a need to question it? The reason why Duan adopted a cooperative attitude was also very simple, because Mengshan was occupied by a group of Xuzhou thieves, and the target of suppressing the thieves in Qilu area was Xuzhou thieves. So, where will the thieves in Qizhou go? Will they still be suppressed? Based on the position of various forces, and the river is about to freeze, it is not difficult to speculate where the thieves in Qizhou who are desperate are fleeing.

The Qi army's mission for the future period is to use the tricks and continue to chase and suppress the Qizhou bandits until they drive the Qizhou bandits across the river.

Jia Wuben, Qin Qiong and Yang Qian immediately understood Zhang Xutuo's true intentions. Qin Qiong was determined not to speak or offer advice. He was from Qi, so he wanted to avoid suspicion. Jia Wuben was a nobleman from Hedong and a member of the Guanlong noble group. Yang Qian's origin and identity were very mysterious. Judging from the respectful attitude of the two administrative officials of Qi County, Zhang Xutuo and Jia Wuben, who were both respectful and generous, most of this person came from the Guanlong wealthy family. Among the three, Qin Qiong had the lowest status, so of course he had to keep his mouth shut. Jia Wuben's aristocratic rank was also low, and the difference between the aristocratic rank was too great. If Yang Qian had not requested strict keeping his secret, Jia Wuben would not even have the qualification to sit in front of him, so Jia Wuben would not speak.

Yang Qian is the Sima of the Yingyang Mansion in Licheng and the only military official of the Qi army. When Zhang Xutuo was away, it was normal for him to make decisions.

Yang Qian took the initiative and immediately came up with a decision, followed the plan, chased him overnight, and returned to Qi County.

Two days later, Wang Bo got the exact news from the scout that after the Qi army returned to Qi County, he reorganized his army, quickly crossed Mount Tai, and then returned to Qi County, but his target was no longer Changbai Mountain, but went north and rushed towards the river.

Zhang Xutuo arrived at Xiaqiu, the capital of Lu County, and visited Duan Wencao. He heard an amazing news.

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Chapter completed!