Su Qi'an and Xie Cang arrived in Nanzhou on a civilian ship and headed west towards Jiaozhou without stopping much.
Nanzhou Shepherd Gu Hua received the news before Su Qi'an returned and sent someone to respond early, although Gu Hua did not show up along the way.
But his help to Su Qi'an was not small. Not only were elite soldiers used to escort him along the way, but the biggest help to Su Qi'an was Xie Cang who followed him all the way.
Xie Cang's status in Nanzhou and his importance to Gu Hua are self-evident.
The 10,000-strong Mountain Splitting Army is no joke. In terms of strength, it is not at all weaker than Su Qian's Dongshan Army. Read the book
If the two armies faced off and fought face to face, it was still unclear who would win and who would lose.
With the help of the Splitting Mountain Army, it can be said that it is even more powerful. With the men and horses at hand, Su Qian will not be afraid at all even if he really fights back to Xizhou.
Along the river to the west, about halfway, we changed to a carriage and started from the official road.
Estimating the time, it would only take them two or three days at most to reach the southern border.
The mighty army set off, and the official road was basically smooth, with few pedestrians seen along the way.
This was Gu Hua's special preparation for Su Qi'an to clear the air. Su Qi'an took Gu Hua's actions to heart and expressed his gratitude to the escorting officials.
At the same time, someone asked someone to bring a message to Gu Hua. After he settled his affairs, he would definitely have time to come to the door in person to express his gratitude.
Under the escort of elite soldiers along the way, two or three days passed quickly, and Su Qi'an and the others finally arrived at the border between the two states.
After saying goodbye, he led the men and horses quickly into the forest in front of them and disappeared.
This forest is not long, only about a mile. When you walk out of the forest, you will see a familiar environment in front of you.
Empty land, endless desolation as far as the eye can see, this is the desolate land east of Jiaozhou.
The crowd didn't stop and kept walking, but they walked for about a quarter of an hour.
The scene in front of them surprised Su Qi'an. There was no longer an endless wasteland in front of them.
On the contrary, there are people there. These people are not on the road, but reclaiming wasteland.
Except for a relatively simple road in the middle, the wasteland on both sides gradually took shape.
As Su Qi'an and the others continued to move forward, not only did the number of people nearby increase, but thatched houses were built on both sides, and there were soldiers patrolling around.
At the very front, there were obviously several simple sentry points. Looking around, there were figures of people behind the sentry points.
This is no wasteland, it's completely a village or a small town.
Su Qi'an and Xie Cang were still immersed in the wonder of the village in front of them. The sentry soldiers in front quickly discovered their traces.
Shout, "Who is it!"
After a while, twenty or thirty people quickly gathered around, holding halberds, swords, and shields, and came towards Su Qi'an and the others.
After all, anyone would be very nervous if a large number of soldiers wearing armor suddenly appeared in such a small village.
As the sentry stepped forward, they were about to shout out a stern look, when their eyes caught sight of the leader.
He froze on the spot for a moment, his expression dull, and the person next to him hit the thug to let the sentry react.
They quickly knelt on the ground and saluted respectfully, "It turns out they are Su Hou and Xie Hou. Their subordinates were ignorant and bumped into these two adults. Please punish them."
The sentry admitted his mistake, but Su Qian waved his hand, helped him up, and said with a smile.
"Hai, you've done a good job. You have to be vigilant when dealing with strangers. There's nothing wrong with that."
"Tell me what happened here. I remember that before I left, it was still deserted."
Hearing what Su Qi'an said, the sentries breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Su Qi'an with a little admiration in their eyes.
After hearing Su Qi'an's question, the sentry led Su Qi'an and his party, talking as they walked.
It turned out that not long after Su Qi'an and the others left, after discussions between Huo Cheng, Wu Yong, Huang Wenyan and other county governors, they decided to build a military base in the east of Jiaozhou.
Migrant population, opening wasteland.
This decision is of great significance, not only to expand the territory and increase production, but more importantly, to expand eastward, which has great strategic significance.
To the east of Jiaozhou is Nanzhou, which itself is the strongest among the three states.
Now Su Qi'an and Nanzhou Mu are on good terms. Su Qi'an once sent them a message that they can trust Nanzhou Mu.
This sent a very strong signal to them, so they decided to expand eastward.
Although the east side of Jiaozhou is mostly bad wasteland, for growing food, the output is definitely not as good as the other six counties.
But it is only appropriate to turn the east side into a rear training ground and granary.
Su Qian was very happy that Huo Cheng and the others could do this. Before he left Jiaozhou, he had the idea of transforming the east side of Jiaozhou.
Now it seems that this more than a month has achieved initial results. The current scale is not large, only about the size of a few towns, with a population of only 20,000 to 30,000 people.
However, in order to protect the safety of Xinjian Town, one thousand soldiers and one thousand militiamen were specially deployed to station and patrol.
Su Qi'an is already very satisfied with these arrangements. The area east of Jiaozhou is not mainly focused on building so-called large towns.
It is a granary and a training ground. It is used for training in peacetime and can be used to send troops directly during war.
Su Qi'an would like to see a good relationship between Jiaozhou and Nanzhou, but in Su Qi'an's heart, he must always be on guard against others.
Combining the granary and the training ground is Su Qi'an's defense against Nanzhou.
There is nothing wrong with being careful.
The news of Su Qi'an and Xie Cang's return quickly spread to several small towns in the east.
It also happened that Huang Wenyan, Wu Yong and others were patrolling in the east.
After hearing that Su Qi'an had returned, he immediately headed towards Sanshan Town where Su Qi'an was located.
About two-quarters of an hour later, outside Sanshan Town, a large number of figures were galloping towards them on horseback.
The leaders were naturally Huang Wenyan and Wu Yong. They quickly dismounted and entered the town to find Su Qi'an.
I finally breathed a sigh of relief, and my face was filled with excitement.
They knew that Su Qian and the others went to Nanzhou, but when they went to Yuezhou and fought with pirates, they only got the news after the war was over.
This would have shocked them, if it hadn't been for the news that Su Qi'an and Xie Cang were fine.
I'm afraid they had already brought troops and sent them across the state. Even so, they didn't see Su Qi'an, so they felt a little worried.
The original estimated time was that we would return to Jiaozhou in one or two days, but unexpectedly the trip was advanced.
Seeing Su Qi'an and the others lively and active as before, Huang Wenyan and Wu Yong finally let go of their anxious hearts.
He stepped forward and wanted to salute Su Qi'an, but was stopped by Su Qi'an.
Instructing everyone to sit down, Su Qi'an got straight to the point and said, "Wen Yan, Wu Yong, before I returned, I received a secret letter from His Highness Ninth Prince."
"His Royal Highness Ninth has returned to the capital. I know this, but what happened in the Xizhou Movement?"
Hearing what Su Qi'an said, the two looked at each other and said quickly.
"Sir, the strange movement in Xizhou is not Tang Feng, but the Heilu barbarians."
"Heilu barbarians? Didn't I repel them? How dare they do this?" Xie Cang frowned and asked.
Wu Yong sighed, nodded and said, "No, although you took action last time, Xie Hou, to repel these guys."
"But they are not easy to mess with. It is probably the Jiaozhou War that gave them a taste of it. After the war, they have been restless."
"Especially knowing that Mr. Xie, after you left Jiaozhou, these guys were even more daring and launched another attack on Xiacang and Chencang counties."
These barbarians seemed to have reached an agreement. This time, it was not only the Heilu barbarians from Jiaozhou who attacked, but also the Heilu barbarians from Xizhou. "
"Fortunately, Chencang County has been the focus of defense for many years, and the barbarian attacks from the south have been frustrated.
Now he turned around and joined the barbarian Heilu from Jiaozhou, and stormed Xiacang. "
"Except for the county town, all the six counties under the current Xiacang County were plundered by Heilu barbarians."
Hearing what Wu Yong said, Su Qi'an and Xie Cang's expressions became a little solemn.
They didn't mean to blame Wu Yong. They had learned the strength of the barbarian Heilu.
Especially Xie Cang, when he fought with the barbarians who invaded Xiacang, the losses in the battle were nearly one to one.
If it weren't for the fact that in addition to the 10,000 Splitting Mountain Army, he also had 40,000 Nanzhou soldiers, even if he defended Xiacang, he would have suffered heavy losses.
Don't underestimate these Heilu barbarians. The total population is not large, less than 500,000 to 600,000 people, but the fighting strength they can support is 70,000 to 80,000.
It can be said that all the people are soldiers. If they were not strong, it would be impossible to defeat the Jiaozhou Priests Alliance, and they were retreating steadily.
The Heilu barbarians who invaded last time had only 20,000 to 30,000 troops, and now they have gathered the Xizhou barbarians.
At this time, not to mention that 70,000 to 80,000 soldiers were on the Xiacang battlefield, but at least 80% of them were dispatched. The pressure on Xiacang was not small.
Su Qi'an learned about Xiacang's current situation again. Fortunately, things were not as bad as he imagined.
The two sides fought a battle half a month ago, and each had their own victory or defeat. Now they are in the confrontation stage.
Huo Cheng, Su Yong, Song Meng, and a large number of Dongshan troops are already on the front line, and even the three elders of the Priest Alliance have sent troops to support them.
Today, in Jiaozhou, the only regular troops that have not moved are Chen Dao's Third Division and Ermeng's Cavalry Division.
The terrain in Xiacang was complicated and not conducive to cavalry operations. It was a correct decision not to go to the front line.
From the current point of view, the lower warehouse is still in their hands, and the situation is not at its worst.
Compared with the current tense situation of the war, Su Qi'an was able to sharply sense that there was something unusual behind this war.
"The Heilu barbarians in Xizhou can be so united and storm Xiacang. This must be the strange movement in Xizhou."
Huang Wenyan and Wu Yong smiled bitterly and nodded. They were silent for a while and then said softly, "Yes, to make the Xizhou barbarians so united, there is only one person behind them, Xizhou Mu Tangfeng."
"As far as we know, among the barbarian Heilu army that stormed Xiacang this time, Tang Xiao, the crown prince of Xizhou, was also among them. Judging from his appearance, he should be serving as a behind-the-scenes guide."
"Haha, it's true that enemies never get together. Since we are so destined, let's collect interest from Tang Xiao." Su Qian said with a smile.
But no matter how you look at Su Qian's smile, you can feel the coldness.
