As luck would have it, Jingxiang formulated a "Look East" strategy for Zhu Wen. The main tasks were Xuzhou Shipu, Yunzhou Zhu Xuan, and Yanzhou Zhu Jin.
However, without exception, the military actions against them were all abandoned halfway. Instead, hidden missions were triggered one after another in Huainan, Hebei Weibo, and Heyang Mengluo. They were like wild flowers on the roadside, blooming lonely and proudly.
The failure of the main mission "Yan Yun Er Zhu" did not make Zhu Wen angry, but just a little regretful. Because that is Zhu Wen’s extracurricular activity.
At that time, the main threat was the Cai thieves and Qin Zongquan. Due to geographical limitations, Zhu Wen had to act as a commander although he did not have the title of commander. He had to focus mainly on "collecting vegetables" and could only mobilize limited troops to fight against Yan in his spare time. Yun Erzhu made a blitz attack.
Now that the Cai thieves are dead, Zhu Wen has no constraints for the time being; he has also received support from Hebei and Mengluo, so he has no worries; he also has the title of commander-in-chief. Therefore, Zhu Wen had the obligation and the strength to conquer Xuzhou eastward.
Therefore, for Zhu Wen, the blow to Xuzhou's defeat was far more than a halt to his expansion, but a ruthless blow and mockery to his self-confidence.
The ambition, the courage to swallow mountains and rivers, and the arrogant confidence that Zhu gradually cultivated through the anti-pornography campaign, harvesting vegetables, and Yanyun were suddenly hit by Xuzhou, making Zhu Wen doubt his life.
This is the source of Zhu Wen's anger. He was not angry at Zhu Zhen, nor at the generals who begged for mercy. He was angry at himself, and at fate's tricks on people.
Zhu Wen needed a victory to wash away the humiliation of defeat, regain his confidence, and heal his injured young heart.
The most indispensable thing in troubled times is opportunities.
The hero Li Keyong was also unwilling to be left alone. He and Zhu Wen's expansion direction coincided with each other - east. The strategic target is Dong Zhaoyi. Different from Zhu Wen's passion and smooth sailing, Li Keyong's expansion path is single-minded and bumpy.
Now, Li Keyong gathered all his elite forces and sent the first fierce general Li Cunxiao and other generals across the Taihang Mountains to launch a large-scale military operation against Meng Fangli in Dongzhaoyi.
Meng Fangli, the military governor of Dong Zhaoyi, was narrow-minded, suspicious and unpopular with the military. His generals complained about him. At this critical moment of life and death, almost all of them abandoned him and refused to sacrifice their lives for him.
In regret and fear, Meng Fangli chose to commit suicide by taking poison.
His younger brother Meng Qian won the support of all the generals and was elected by the generals to serve as Dong Zhaoyi's successor, shouldering the important task of resisting Li Keyong.
Meng Qian knew that he could not compete with Li Keyong, and his first choice for help was of course the "fire-fighting Internet celebrity" Zhu Wen. This man was willing to provide help in times of need, was good at intervening in regional affairs, and was proficient in combining vertical and horizontal lines. The Dong Zhaoyi area is on the side of Li Keyong's bedside. Extending his sphere of influence here is an irresistible temptation for Zhu Wen.
However, it is not as good as God, Zhu Wen has quietly lost the favor of the goddess of luck.
If he wanted to intervene in the affairs of Dong and Xi Zhaoyi, Zhu Wen had to go through Wei Bo. Luo Hongxin, the governor of Weibo who had previously expressed his attachment to Zhu Wen, suddenly betrayed his trust and refused to provide transit services to Zhu Wen.
As a last resort, Zhu Wen could only send an elite force of only a few hundred people, led by General Wang Qianyu (a descended general from Huang Chao, the same batch as Li Tangbin), to cross mountains and ridges and take small roads into Xingzhou to assist in the defense.
Under Li Keyong's fierce attack, Meng Qian felt unprecedented pressure and fear. Therefore, Meng Qian also did an extremely shameless thing. He arrested Wang Qianyu, annexed Wang Qianyu's Bianzhou reinforcements, and then used Wang Qianyu to accept the surrender certificate and surrendered to Li Keyong.
At this point, Li Keyong annexed the entire Zhaoyi Army, extending his sphere of influence to the east of the Taihang Mountains and appearing in the Hebei region.
God played a little joke on Zhu Wen and closed the door to Xuzhou for him, and then conveniently closed the windows to Hebei and Shanxi. Perhaps only Huainan still has a narrow door gap.
[Isn’t Huainan delicious?]
Since Gao Pian's death, the Huainan region has fallen into long-term chaos. The imperial court intended to use Zhu Wen to pacify Huainan, so it awarded Zhu Wen the position of "Huainan Jiedushi".
Of course Zhu Wen also wanted to get involved in Huainan, but the time was not ripe at that time, otherwise the court would not be so generous.
Therefore, Zhu Wen's "Huainan Jiedu Envoy" is also an empty title in name only, but it also provides a legitimate reason for Zhu Wen to intervene in Huainan affairs. To get Huainan into his pocket, Zhu Wen still needs a chance.
Now, the time is ripe.
Bi Shiduo caused chaos in Huainan in the name of hoeing traitors, and seduced Qin Yan to settle in Yangzhou. Yang Xingmi, the governor of Luzhou, used this as an excuse to launch a crusade, expelled Bi Shiduo and Qin Yan, and occupied Yangzhou; Sun Ru broke away from the control of the Cai thief Qin Zongquan and came to compete for Yangzhou. As a result, Huainan fell into war and military conquests continued.
The imperial court deliberately dragged Zhu Wen into this muddy water and appointed Zhu Wen as the military governor of Huainan. Zhu Wen took advantage of the situation and made a favor, telling Yang Xingmi to stay in Huainan. Let Yang Xingmi be Zhu Wen's spokesperson in Huainan and serve as a stepping stone for Zhu Wen to intervene in Huainan.
Yangzhou has been ravaged by war several times, with only a few hundred residents, and there is no food in the city, making it almost an empty city. Yang Xingmi occupied Yangzhou, but instead of benefiting from it, he suffered from it.
Yang Xingmi's situation is quite embarrassing. On the surface, he is a rising political dark horse and a glamorous newly listed company, but behind the scenes there are risks of bankruptcy liquidation and forced delisting.
This is because Yang Xingmi's army is mainly supported by financing methods such as short-term loans (borrowing troops) and corporate mergers and reorganizations (recruiting rebels such as Lu Yongzhi, Gao Ba, etc.), with high leverage and extremely high risk factors.
The income from the "Yangzhou Project" simply cannot cover the high financing costs. The company is actually insolvent and its net assets are negative.
The bustle in the world is all for the benefit of coming; the hustle and bustle of the world is all for the benefit of the future. Based on the company's dismal financial statements, these partners may withdraw capital and cut off payments at any time, cutting off cash flow and causing the Yang Xingmi Group to collapse overnight.
Although Yang Xingmi adopted the advice of think tank Yuan Xi and physically eliminated his partners, he still did not reverse the loss situation. Because Sun Ru, who broke away from the Cai Thief Group, posed a huge external threat to Yang Xingmi, and also robbed Yang Xingmi of the food and supplies left outside the city, making him even worse.
There is no doubt that Yang Xingmi has gained absolute control over this force through a series of systematic purges, and the group's strength has grown, but it is still not strong enough to compete with Sun Ru.
So the think tank Yuan Xi once again made suggestions, suggesting that Yang Xingmi should retreat in order to advance, abandon Yangzhou, and retreat to his old nest in Luzhou. Preserve the shell first, plan later.
This is a difficult and painful decision. It is difficult for ordinary people to cut their losses and they will only get stuck. Yang Xingmi is not an ordinary person.
If you save land and lose people, everyone and land will be lost; if you save people and lose land, everyone and land will be gained. Yang Xingmi wanted to exchange a Yangzhou city for South China.
After a short rest, Sun Ru launched a new round of offensive against Yangzhou. Yang Xingmi evacuated to Luzhou in an orderly manner as planned. Although he lost Yangzhou sadly, he retained his vitality.
After Sun Ru settled in Yangzhou, he called himself the military envoy of Huainan.
When Yang Xingmi left Yangzhou, he couldn't help but look back at this beautiful ancient city with mixed feelings in his heart, "I will be back!"
