For four or five days, Xu Mu stayed in Yucheng to collect information inside and outside Yucheng.
The more he dealt with it, the more he understood the difficulties Dongfang Jing faced during this period. Not only is there a shortage of troops, but there is also a threat from Cangzhou. Ning Wu from Xinyueguan is not an ordinary person. He sticks to the border of Cangzhou and has Chen Zhong's steady style.
"Do you have any suggestions, Bo Lie?" Putting down the file, Xu Mu raised his head.
Under the light of the oil lamp, the sorrowful clouds of the master and his subordinates were reflected.
"My lord, it is impossible to break the New Moon Pass, so I will follow the previous discussion and use Zuo Shiren as the chess piece. Let the pieces fall on the chessboard and then talk about it. I estimate that Zuo Shiren will arrive soon."
Xu Mu nodded.
Huang Daochong's reply said that Zuo Shiren had agreed to enter Muyunzhou and would arrive at Jiang'an soon to discuss the alliance.
Neither Xu Mu nor Dongfang Jing, who were present, suggested "taking the opportunity to kill Zuo Shiren". If there is a problem with Zuo Shiren's three Dongling states, they are still far apart. It will never be Shuzhou that benefits, but Cangzhou or Yuan Song's side.
It’s hard to say that the lips are dead and the teeth are cold, but Xishu and Dongling have a relationship that seems to be a win-win cooperation.
"Bo Lie, is there any way to recruit soldiers?"
Dongfang Jing pondered for a while, "I have thought deeply about this issue for a long time. My lord, you must also understand that to recruit troops, you need food, grass and military pay. This is undoubtedly the most attractive to the refugees. But the autumn harvest has not yet arrived in Shuzhou. Don’t think about these.”
After years of fighting, the granary of Western Shu was empty. Furthermore, if you write a bad check and use the evil act of recruiting strong men to recruit by force, I'm afraid it will leave a lot of trouble.
This path was not what Xu Mu wanted. Without the support of the people of Western Shu, he would be nothing.
"For the present plan, my lord, there is only one way."
"What method?"
Dongfang Jing was silent for a while, then he put a pen on the rice paper on the desk and wrote the word "borrow" seriously.
"Bo Lie, what is the meaning of this word?"
Although he vaguely guessed it, Xu Mu hoped to hear a better explanation from Dongfang Jing's mouth.
"The first is to borrow food. Borrow it from the King of Yuzhou in the inner city. As long as there is food, the lord can recruit troops."
"Inappropriate. Chang Silang is still in Hebei, and the aristocratic families in the inner city will definitely obstruct him a lot, coming and going. When the weather is cool, the autumn harvest will begin."
"My lord, the analysis is correct. This is indeed a bad move." Dongfang Jing nodded, not at all surprised by Xu Mu's words.
"The second is to borrow troops. The person to borrow troops is Zuo Shiren." Dongfang Jing put down the brush, carefully placed it on the inkstone, and continued to speak seriously.
The lamps were brightly lit, illuminating the face of the young military strategist faintly.
"Please note, my lord, that Zuo Shiren will form an alliance with the lord even if he lowers his profile this time. It can be seen that he is already getting anxious."
"The three states of Dongling are sandwiched between the two emperors. If it were anyone else, they would probably immediately lock the river and stick to the territory. But Zuo Shiren is different. He cares about the reputation of his wings and the verbal and written criticism of the people in the world. Moreover, Zuo Shiren There was a bad move before."
"Conquer the false emperor." Xu Mu laughed.
Dongfang Jing nodded, "That's right. For this world reputation, he did not hesitate to form an alliance to conquer the pseudo-emperor Fang Ru. At that time, many small aristocratic families and the common people applauded him. But God There are unforeseen circumstances, no one expected it... Now, two more emperors have emerged."
"If Zuo Shiren, the leader of the alliance, remains indifferent to the rebellion of one country and two emperors and does not take any action to retaliate against it, I am afraid that all the reputation he has accumulated will be completely lost."
"Benevolence in the world is burdened by fame. Bo Lie's ability to calculate people is no longer as good as Wen Long's."
"Not as good as the teacher." Dongfang Jing shook his head seriously, "This time, this is my suggestion. If the lord wants to control the situation, then he needs to 'borrow'."
"The King of Yuzhou cannot borrow troops, so we can only ask Zuo Shiren, who wants to form an alliance, to borrow troops. As for how to speak, my lord is a man of good words, so there should be no problem."
"However, my lord must remember that when borrowing troops, don't forget about food and grass."
Xu Mu was silent for a moment.
He understood that Zuo Shiren was not a fool. The two families had been very unhappy before, and they would almost never have any contact with each other.
If it hadn't been for the Second Emperor's incident this time, I would have scolded her whenever we met.
It's definitely not possible to borrow it directly. If you treat people as fools, others will also think you are fools.
…
Counting the time, there is not much difference. Zuo Shiren's troops finally arrived at the river bank of Muyun Prefecture. There are about three thousand guards, all uniformed soldiers, holding halberds and bows. At first glance, they are elite soldiers.
Xu Mu dared to bet that behind these more than 3,000 people, there would be at least 10,000 to 20,000 troops waiting for opportunities to respond. Again, Zuo Shiren is not a fool.
I came back, but I didn’t come here to be a grandchild.
"Brother Xu!" Zuo Shiren, who had just gotten off the boat from a distance, had a look of ecstasy on his face after seeing Xu Mu, holding on to his robe and walking on tiptoe, much like his long-lost twin brother.
"Leader Zuo! Xu Mu is late, please forgive me!"
Xu Mu, who co-starred, was even more exaggerated. He pushed Si Hu next to him three or four steps and stepped out in a hurry.
"Goodbye Brother Xu, I remember that you and I fought side by side in the past, and I feel so happy that I can't help myself." Zuo Shiren cried with his fingers and broke down in tears.
"The leader of the Zuo Alliance didn't know something. Xu Mu knew that the leader of the Zuo Alliance was coming. He was so excited that he stayed up all night. Your eyes were swollen when you looked at me."
"Me too!" Zuo Shiren's voice trembled, "Last night on the boat, I couldn't sleep thinking about meeting Brother Xu. I wished I could grow wings and fly here to have a drink with Brother Xu."
Oscar is old, and his acting skills are almost as good as those of Huang.
"Leader Zuo, please take your seat quickly."
On the bank of the river, Ma Yi had already been ordered to build a pavilion for the alliance.
Zuo Shiren dilly-dallyed for a long time, feeling sorry for the hardships of the people at one moment, and then saying that saving the country would be unfavorable and wanted to commit suicide by throwing himself into the river.
Of course, when he found that Xu Mu was not stopping him, he hurriedly stepped back.
Xu Mu understood that it was just Zuo Shiren who was worried about an ambush and asked the accompanying soldiers to observe several times.
"Leader Zuo, please take a seat."
I have no intention of continuing the show. If I do it again, it will really turn into a gay one.
"Okay, sit with Brother Xu."
As soon as he sat down, the helmsman of Dongling Sanzhou just paused, pointed to the pot of wine on the table, and sighed again.
"Leader Zuo, what's going on?" Xu Mu asked hesitantly. As soon as I opened my mouth, I immediately regretted it.
"well."
"To be honest, Brother Xu, when I went to the palace to report on my duties, the late emperor also gave me a pot of jade wine. This pot was also so exquisite... The late emperor's words were like thunder -"
"I think that I, Zuo Shiren, have a reputation of benevolence in the world and have ambitions to save the country, but in the end I have failed the late emperor and thousands of people. The water of Xiangjiang River is dyed red by the blood of loyal ministers, and the official roads of Cangzhou are buried with the bones of the people everywhere. .”
"Brother Xu, I want to imitate the country's surnamed marquis. How about you and I joining forces again to save the people from danger and the world is in chaos?"
Xu Mu raised his head and laughed dumbly. After talking for a long time, even the young Marquis moved out. If he was not careful, he almost got led away by the nose.
