Hou Xiyi stood by the bank of the Yellow River with a heavy expression.

He still had the hope of a certain amount of time. What if he could rely on the natural danger of the Yellow River and keep it safe?

If he could defend himself, who would be a stray dog ​​and wander around? In Pinglu, he was the king. What was he the other place? A former sermon who had no territory and no troops would only become the target of others' bites.

After Zhu Youzhen arrived in Qingzhou, he strongly suggested that he go to Chang'an.

Will he go?

Of course I won't go.

Even if it fails, he will not go.

Even though he had no military territory, he still had huge and uncountable property. If he arrived in Chang'an, he would only become the meal on the plate for the Zhu family and his son. He could not imagine how far he had fallen into.

Thinking of this, he sighed. He hoped that Xiang Xun could see the relationship between the two in the past and the fact that he had saved his life, so he should not be too much. The ships of property sent in front were to buy a safe dedication. Although Xiang Xun had promised him, he was still unwilling to go this far before he had no choice.

Only when it really doesn't work, can you go to Lingnan to be a rich man.

I eat 300 lychees a day and I will never give up being a Lingnan person. I hope there is no such thing as the poem says!

A ball of green leaves drifted down with the waves, and came to him, and was swept in by a small vortex. In a flash, it was swallowed up and disappeared, which scared Hou Xiyi. When he appeared again, it was already tens of feet away from him.

In recent years, Hou Xiyi has only done two things.

The first thing is to strive to expand the army and prepare for war.

The second thing is to scrape the ground desperately.

Perhaps it was a long time ago that he subconsciously thought that he would not be Li Ze's opponent, so he involuntarily began to prepare for a way out. He collected money and most of his money was devoted to the army, and a small part of his life was full of money.

Speaking of which, he now has enough troops. He has arranged about 80,000 troops along the Yellow River. If we count the troops stationed in various places and the scale of tens of thousands of troops, he is considered the first among the towns.

Of course, a large number of people does not mean combat effectiveness.

This is a vicious cycle.

He recruited strong men into the army and then plundered land to support the army. However, a large number of young and strong men were recruited into the army, which reduced the labor force. Pinglu's ability to create wealth became worse and worse. People's lives were difficult, and there were many people rising up. Naturally, the rebels had to suppress them. Once the army moved, there were countless money and food.

With such a cycle, Pinglu became poorer and more rebels, and more and more taxes could be collected. By this year, he had to dispatch troops, saying that it was to assist in tax collection, but in fact it was almost the same as robbing.

But even so, the treatment and equipment of his army were still much worse than that of the Tang army opposite. There were more and more fugitives. Not only the people began to flee Pinglu, but the army also began to flee to the other side. At first, they were one by one, but after the confrontation became more and more serious this year, they even ran away in an organized manner.

As a last resort, he implemented a strict system of joint seizures in the army.

"Xinda, how likely do we have to win this battle?" He looked at the general standing with a knife beside him, Liu Xinda, the most capable person under his command.

Liu Xinda is a typical Shandong man. He is tall and burly. Although he is over fifty years old, he is still majestic wherever he stops. He is famous in the Pinglu army and is the most trusted general Hou Xiyi relies on.

"Jings, the most important thing in this battle is the navy." Liu Xinda took a deep breath: "The Tang army has only been building a navy in Dizhou in the past two years. Compared with us, there is still a little gap. This is also the only place we are stronger than the Tang army. If the navy can defend the Yellow River, there will be a battle. If the navy is defeated, the form will probably be very bad."

"Is the 100,000 army so unbearable?" Hou Xiyi sighed.

"Jie Shuai, it's a 100,000 army, but the number of people that can be used is up to 30,000 to 40,000. Among them, there are 10,000 of them in Qingzhou. There are only less than 20,000 elite troops on the front line." Liu Xinda said helplessly: "Even so, we cannot compare with the Tang army in terms of equipment and morale. Once the Tang army crosses the river, Ji Shuai will have to make another plan."

"Xinda, how long can you last if the Tang army comes ashore?" Hou Xiyi asked.

"Jings, at most half a month. Once the Tang army gets ashore, I will withdraw the main force to the Binzhou area and build a line of defense with Binzhou as the core." Liu Xinda said, "I hope that I can persist in Binzhou for a longer time. Will there be reinforcements coming to Gunhai and Tianping?"

Hou Xiyi shook his head: "Zhu Youzhen said that the Tianping Army is facing the threat of Tianping's right Jinwu Guard and dare not draw the army at all. In Gunhai, there is only half of the main force left, and it is impossible for him to come to support us."

"Then what did he come here for?" Liu Xinda said a little annoyed: "Even if there are more than a few thousand of his men in Qingzhou, what can he help?"

Hou Xiyi remained silent.

"Do your best and leave your fate!" Hou Xiyi patted Liu Xinda's shoulder, "Next I'm going to go back to Qingzhou. If you really can't stand it in Binzhou, just retreat! Follow me to Lingnan, Xiang Xun, and asked me about you!"

Liu Xinda smiled bitterly.

He naturally knew that Hou Xiyi had been preparing for a way out. In fact, from top to bottom, the atmosphere of failure protected everyone, and the commander was like this, let alone the officers and soldiers below.

Over the years, the Tang army on the opposite side has been almost invincible and has been defeated. Especially since this year, Zhang Zhongwu surrendered in the northeast. In the northwest, more than 100,000 Tubo troops were destroyed. With its great reputation, the Pinglu army could not raise confidence that it could match the other party.

It's really a matter of doing everything and leaving the will of heaven.

Hou Xiyi got on his horse and took his guard away. Liu Xinda watched his figure disappear from his sight, and then he strided back to the fortress beside the Yellow River. He stared at the winding line of the Yellow River on the map for a while before he said in a deep voice: "Send an order to convene meetings of generals from various departments."

Dizhou has also entered the final preparations before the war. The troops stationed outside the city of Dizhou have set out one by one, and more materials and equipment are transported forward every day. The temporary warehouses outside the city have become empty in a very short time. Of course, in the next few days, they will be refilled with supplies from Dezhou and Cangzhou.

This was the first time that Qin Zhao had truly commanded the battle in Li Ze's combat system. This made him feel very moved. It was the first time that he did not have to worry about logistics supply or mobilize civilians. Under the Zhenzhou system, the supply of materials and the allocation of civilians and men is responsible for others, and all he had to do was just to care about how to fight.

Of course, under such a system, the power of the front-line generals is limited to the military's combat. Once the generals want to do something else, problems will immediately arise in other aspects.

The system created by Li Ze is closely linked, quite precise, and amazing. It greatly releases the combat capabilities of the army. If a unit has 30,000 people, then these 30,000 people are perfect war soldiers.

He was not very worried about this battle. Zuo Xiaowei, who had been preparing for the battle for nearly two years, has been preparing for this battle. The inner guard has been constantly infiltrating and instigating the rebellion in the past two years. The troops on the other side have long been gone. The most critical thing in this battle is the battle of the navy.

The most stringent control of Hou Xiyi is this navy army. This is also a team that the inner guards have not successfully penetrated, and an army controlled by the Hou clan.

The person in charge of the Dizhou naval army was Li Ze's confidant Li Hao. This navy army had already begun to be formed after Li Hao arrived in Dizhou. With the rise of Cangzhou Haixing Wharf, shipyards, etc., the combat effectiveness of this navy army has increased year by year.

Victory is not a problem. Even if the navy cannot win quickly, it is just a matter of spending more effort.

What gave him a headache now was a letter in his hand.

This is written by Xue Ping.

It was not until this time that he realized that Xue Ping and the others had planned to tell a marriage for His Majesty, and the target was the daughter of the Lingnan Jiedushi Xiang Xun. She was sixteen years old this year, four years older than the little emperor.

Of course, it's not a problem to be older than these years.

The key is what Xue Ping wants him to do next.

He placed the read letter on the candlelight and lit it. Seeing the flames licking the letter paper bit by bit, Qin Zhao was stunned for a moment before he said to his close confidants around him: "Go and find Jin Shiyuan."

Under the shining candlelight, Jin Shiyuan looked at the other party in a daze after listening to Qin Zhao's arrangement.

"Shiyuan, I heard from Cheng Xu that you want to go back to the place where your ancestors came to take a look. Let's take a slower look." Qin Zhao said slowly.

"Can this work work?" Jin Shiyuan still felt a little ridiculous: "General, even under my command, there are still many members of Yixing Society!"

"So you need to identify it." Qin Zhao said: "After the war, you will resign and go to Lingnan to reorganize an army there." Qin Zhao said.

"My appearance is so eye-catching, how can I hide it from others?" Jin Shiyuan pointed at his blonde hair.

"I never thought of hiding people!" Qin Zhao said: "And after you resigned, you will be your freedom wherever you want to go, and no one can interfere. Gao Xiangsheng carefully looked at Xiang Xun's army in Lingnan. Although it was pretty good, it was still much worse than us, so you need to strengthen his military strength."

"Where are the weapons and equipment?"
Chapter completed!