"Do you think Honshu has done something wrong?" Li Kang raised his eyebrows.
"My subordinates dare not."
"Zhou Envoy, I know what you mean. Yes, according to what you mean, it will be effective to slowly figure it out, slowly use personnel to infiltrate, and apply pressure bit by bit. But Su Qian is not one of those who can slowly entangle food. If it is allowed to develop, the insect will turn over and swallow the bird."
"That's true, but Mr. Zhou Mu, the persecution is so fierce now, I always feel that Su Qian is making a big move, waiting for the opportunity to take a bite directly."
"Sir, you also know that although we have 40,000 soldiers, half of them are fighting against the southwestern barbarians in Xiacang County. The remaining 20,000 state soldiers, except for 5,000 troops who stay in the state city, are distributed among the subordinates. County, if we are pressed at this time, with our thousands of troops, we can't do anything to Su Qi'an." The state envoy said earnestly.
I just hope that Li Kang can be cautious when making every decision.
After all, Su Qi'an now is not as good as before. He has land, people, and food in his hands. If he doesn't gather all the troops and wants to attack him, he may not be able to eat it.
Although Li Kang was a little displeased with the state envoy's words, he still knew the reality before him.
In Jiaozhou, Su Qi'an aside, Li Kang's rule within the territory was also under great pressure. The pressure was not from the priest alliance, but from the southwestern barbarians far to the west, outside Xiacang County.
The barbarians in the southwest did not only exist in Xizhou, but spread across Xizhou and Jiaozhou.
They gathered in the form of tribes, with a total of twenty-seven tribes, also known as the Twenty-Seven Barbarian Alliance.
These barbarian races are the Heilu, and they are also locals who have lived in the area for hundreds of years. They are of the same nature as the indigenous people.
It's just that the combat power of these barbarian Helu is several levels higher than that of the natives.
The population is not very large, only 500,000 to 600,000. In addition to women, old and weak, there are at least 70,000 suitable young and middle-aged people.
These 70,000 barbarian Heilu have brought great pressure to the border between the two states of Xijiao. Therefore, the counties on the border need heavy troops to maintain all year round. Xiacang County is the closest county to the southwest barbarians.
Fortunately, the southwest barbarians straddled two states and were themselves an alliance of twenty-seven tribes. Therefore, their military strength was loose. The barbarian Heilu in Xiacang County only had 20,000 to 30,000 troops.
With the advantage of the city wall, it is no problem for 20,000 state soldiers to resist.
Precisely because of the continuous harassment by outside barbarians, Li Kang's available troops were completely unable to assemble completely. Sometimes he had to rely on people from the Priest Alliance to provide him with frontline support.
Therefore, Li Kang's reputation and supreme power were just superficial, and he was under great pressure in private. This was also an important reason for the high-pressure situation against Su Qi'an.
Originally, the southwest barbarians had been threatening him all year round, and it was absolutely impossible for him to watch. Under his nose, an army with astonishing combat power like Su Qi'an developed.
Even though the reality was helpless, since the state envoy dared to raise this issue to him face to face, he must have a solution.
This was the reason why Li Kang did not interrupt the envoy and continued speaking. He wanted to hear how he would solve the problem later if he followed his method.
The state envoy continued speaking unhurriedly, "Sir, we can issue an order to the outside world and ask the priests' alliance to send troops to replace the state soldiers in Xiacang County. I think they will definitely not want to. It is just right to take this opportunity to let them send troops in Du. , this time we will not launch a large-scale siege on Su Qi'an, but just use the name of suppressing bandits to operate around Qingcheng County."
"Internally, send a letter to Su Qi Anxiu, asking him to cooperate in the encirclement and suppression of these bandits of unknown origin. As the person in charge of a county, it is his responsibility to encircle and suppress the bandits, and he will definitely not dare to refuse."
"Finally, open external contact with Qingcheng County. It is best to restore the previous contact status with the counties. At this time, we can send people in openly."
"Let them lurk and collect terrain information on Qingcheng County. When the time comes, in the last six months, or as short as three months, the war in Xiacang County should be over. Then the state soldiers who fight externally will be transferred back, and the strength of the troops will be assembled. , cooperate with the internal response, and finally defeat Qingcheng County in one fell swoop."
of the state envoy
This is a good plan. It is to be patient first, and then wait for the right time to directly launch a surprise attack. It is similar to the slow stalking he insisted on before.
It can be said that when dealing with Su Qian, slow and slow food has always been the philosophy that the state envoy adheres to.
Li Kang also understood this, even though he and the state envoy had had unpleasant things happen before because of Su Qi'an.
But looking at the current situation, if he continues to adhere to his high-pressure policy, he will not be able to defeat Su Qi'an in a short time. Instead, he will use the state envoy's plan to achieve great success.
The biggest disadvantage of this kind of slow entanglement is that it takes too long, but Li Kang has waited for a year, and he will still care about the next three months to half a year.
Just when Li Kang had some changes and was about to follow the state envoy's suggestion, a piece of news suddenly broke Li Kang's thoughts.
This news is a letter, and the messenger is none other than the bandit played by Su Yong.
In the name of bandits, they sent a blackmail and kidnapping letter to Li Kang.
The general idea of the letter was that he had hundreds of state soldiers in his hands. If he wanted these people to be safe and sound, the ransom prepared for each person was one thousand taels. For a few hundred people, it would be at least three to four hundred thousand taels.
Li Kang was given three days to prepare the ransom. Otherwise, the lives of these hundreds of state soldiers would be at risk.
It was this sudden blackmail letter that made Li Kang immediately change his mind about following the state envoy plan.
He threw the kidnapping letter to the state envoy and cursed, "Look, these reckless bandits are so brave that they dare to blackmail the state. They really have the heart of a bear and the courage of a leopard. If they don't get stronger, they will really Let others think our state is easy to bully."
"Sir, please don't be angry. This group of bandits is so bold. There must be someone behind it. Even if this group of bandits is wiped out, there will probably be another wave."
"Hmph, of course Benzhou knows that there is someone behind the bandits. Who else could it be besides Su Qi'an?"
"Originally, this state wanted to let Su Qi'an go temporarily, but now it seems that this state is too good to them."
"Even if these bandits attack and come again, this state will lead troops to destroy them. If we don't get rid of them, it will be difficult to eliminate the hatred in our heart."
"Similarly, this eradication will also give Su Qi'an a warning and let him know who has the final say in Jiaozhou!"
"But, sir..." The state envoy wanted to say something.
But he was stopped by Li Kang, "Envoy of the state, I know what you mean, but this Su Qian is too arrogant. This state has not yet taken any action. Even the bandits dare not take this state seriously."
"If I really follow your plan as the envoy of the state and slowly stalk the food, next time, I'm afraid anyone will dare to climb on the head of Honshu and act unscrupulously."
"Stop talking, envoy of the state. This state has made up its mind. Send the order to this state. Immediately ask the chief senator to send troops, and ask the three elders to lead troops to Xiacang Town, preparing to switch defenses with the state soldiers there. Immediately order the subordinate counties to mobilize troops. , this state will personally eradicate these arrogant bandits this time."
Li Kang was very decisive and had no room for maneuver. This letter was a sign of Li Kang's resistance.
In all the years he has been in power in Jiaozhou, no one has ever been so bold as to blackmail and threaten him.
This time the threat was from a small bandit. If he did not respond and followed the orders of the state envoy, his reputation in Jiaozhou would plummet.
This time, regardless of whether there was support behind these bandits, Li Kang was able to take a strong stance and completely eradicate this group of bandits seeking death.
Li Kang's order was issued, and the state envoy knew that there was no room for persuasion, so he nodded, turned and left.
But after leaving the room, a smile appeared on the state envoy's face, and he said in a voice that only he could hear.
"Hmph, you are worthy of being chosen by His Highness. Just a few words can stir up Li Kang's emotions. It's interesting. It depends on how you end it. Don't let me down."
After Li Kang's order was issued, it was executed very quickly. Even the chief elder and the third elder, who had some minor conflicts with Li Kang, received the letter and were silent for a while before sending orders to assemble the natives and prepare to leave.
After knowing Li Kang for so many years, they have never seen Li Kang so angry.
Li Kang, who was angry, had better not offend the people in power in Jiaozhou. This is not just a joke.
As for the two elders among them, it was expected that they were not summoned.
Who made the two elders and Su Qi'an sign a non-aggression contract? This thing has a high binding ability for the priests, especially if it is signed at the senior level, it is even less likely to go back on it.
Even if we forcibly tear it up and send troops, I am afraid that the effectiveness will be greatly reduced.
This operation seemed to be to suppress bandits, but in fact it was a showdown on Su Qi'an, and it was also a warning.
Let him know what will happen if he offends Li Kang in Jiaozhou.
The Grand Elder and the Third Elder were all very interested in Su Qi'an. They were looking forward to having such an opportunity to get to know him.
The only two elders who fought against Su Qi'an, after returning to the Elder City, were so strict that they kept silent about anything they asked.
When this opportunity is presented to you, you will naturally seize it.
After the order was issued, less than a day later, the Grand Elder and the Three Elders all arrived in the city.
The mission of the three elders is to send troops to Xiacang County to defend the state troops, but this time the defense replacement only requires the natives under his command. As for him, it doesn't matter whether he goes or not.
This time the great senator led not many people, 10,000 natives, half of whom were elites.
When they arrived at the state city, there were already five thousand state soldiers gathered in the city.
In fact, in one day, the subordinate counties had sent five thousand soldiers to the state capital. This time, the state capital had a full force of 10,000 soldiers.
But in the face of the bandit suppression, dispatching five thousand soldiers was already a big deal. Looking at the assembled five thousand state soldiers, the Grand Elder and the Third Elder looked at each other, and they could see that Li Kang attached great importance to this bandit suppression.
To be honest, it was said to be a suppression of bandits, but it was actually a test for Su Qi'an.
After all, when it comes to suppressing bandits with only a few hundred people, state soldiers are not required to be used in any turn. Even if state soldiers are used, a few hundred people are enough.
But this time, not only the state soldiers were dispatched, but also the natives, a total of 15,000 people. Not to mention the bandits, they were still capable of fighting even Su Qian's Dongshan Army.
Let’s see how Su Qian reacts to this use of the name of suppressing bandits.
