The speed with which Zhou Bai captured Ruinan County greatly stimulated Lei Haomiao. This meant that Longfeng County, controlled by the state government, would be adjacent to the Anbei Governor's Mansion, and the territorial risk would greatly increase.
For this reason, the state government paid a certain price and forcibly destroyed the last general ship that resisted in Dingzhou County on August 5. The result was that the general ship was killed and exploded.
Beginning on August 6, 50,000 elite state soldiers and more than 50 state Taoist priests stationed in Longfeng County one after another, and various convoys transporting heavy supplies came in an endless stream.
Obviously, this is to prevent Anbei's army from going south.
Zhou Bai was a little helpless, because at this time, Lu Ding of Dingxi was also aggressively attacking Yongquan County, which was one of the few major counties still under the direct control of the state government.
Now that Lei Haomiao has taken away the elite main force to defend Zhou Bai, Yongquan County will definitely not be able to take care of it. The most they can do is provide assistance.
This means that in the heart of this feudal official, Zhou Bai, a country boy from the border area, is more threatening than Lu Ding, a son of an aristocratic family who has served as general and general for many years.
What else could Zhou Bai say? In order not to benefit Lu Ding, he could only change the direction of expansion.
Twenty thousand militiamen with battlefield experience were transferred to the Ruinan garrison on the spot, plus 20,000 surrendered troops being reorganized, combined with 10,000 elite government troops, for a total of 50,000 troops to guard Ruinan County.
With an army of 50,000, apart from Zhou Bai himself, only Zhou Yuan in the Anbei Governor's Mansion was qualified and could be completely trusted.
Therefore, Zhou Bai also appointed Zhou Yuan as the commander of Ruinan County, and ordered him to stay in the town and be responsible for fighting against possible threats from Longfeng County.
Generally speaking, the main focus is on defense, trying to ensure that Ruinan does not lose any ground, and at the right time, investigate the various arrangements of the state soldiers in Longfeng County.
Because of eunuch Wang Xiu's inside information, a feudal order would be promulgated in autumn at the latest. Therefore, Zhou Bai returned to Bei'an County on August 8, and took the oath to fight again on August 9.
The world's luck is limited. For people like him who are preparing to establish their own country, it is best to do it before the Daxu court imposes excessive seals. Otherwise, the foundation of the country's destiny may not be solid.
At present, there are only three people in Dingzhou who can claim to be the most important people in Dingzhou, namely Lei Haomiao, Lu Ding, and Zhou Bai.
One step first, each step first. This principle is very suitable for the law of luck flow.
When you are number one, you will definitely get more people's attention. At least the basic impression is that your country is very strong.
However, no matter how many benefits there are, they are all on a relatively fictitious level. The key is the news from heaven.
After Zhao Qi became the Marquis of Liang and established the Liang Kingdom, Chi Qing revealed through Tiandie that he would recruit all the countries in Tianyuan Continent to fight in extraterritorial planes.
She said it rather vaguely. It was probably that Heavenly Court, the Qingxu Alliance and a group of demi-planes and plane worlds had reached some kind of agreement, using the secular country as a pawn to play games.
The chessboard battlefield is the many planes between the Tianyuan Realm and the Qingxu Realm. These plane worlds are sandwiched between the two giants and do not have much autonomy.
Now both worlds have announced that as long as they win the national confrontation, they can intercept the corresponding luck resources.
If you don't want to be lucky, you can still negotiate with the two "organizers" in exchange for allowing the world to develop freely without interference for a certain period of time.
The high-level leaders of these worlds communicated with the world's will, and naturally agreed to this request. Competing for overall strength is like shaking a tree, but who is afraid of who is just competing for the power of secular countries.
Not to mention Qingxu, it is well known that it is on the verge of collapse and can only continue to go on expeditions to suck blood.
Heavenly Court may have greatly recovered its strength in recent times, but its control over the mortal world of Tianyuan Continent is not as good as before.
How could a powerful country exist in a Tianyuan Continent that fell into division and chaos?
The immortals and gods in heaven seek personal transcendence, thus suppressing the development of human nature for a long time.
But this is not necessarily the case in other small worlds. Many small worlds seek an overall jump and an upgrading of the world. The power of the dynasty system always overrides the individual.
Most of the fortunes of the countries in Tianyuan Continent must be submitted to the Heavenly Court. As a result, even a unified central dynasty cannot be considered a top dynasty among the many vassal worlds in the ancient Heavenly Court when it was at its peak.
It may be the country of the Qingxu Realm, or it may be the "indigenous" country of the plane world, randomly dropped.
For this reason, when Chi Qing told Zhou Bai the news, it was very heavy, because even Tianting itself had no confidence in the Tianyuan Kingdoms.
But in order to raise the Gu King and to isolate the war between the two realms from outside the territory, the Heavenly Court still had to recruit countries from the Tianyuan Continent to participate.
These include vassal states outside the existing territory of the Central Dynasty. This will also be an opportunity for them to stand up.
If you can return victorious in the next recruitment war, you may be able to have a glimpse of the Central Plains.
Going overseas, with the country as the unit? The winner can take away the luck and wealth, I'm afraid it's more than that.
Chi Qing's news has gone beyond the scope of Zhou Bai's past life deduction. He can't even imagine what kind of magical power and law control can realize this kind of plane conquest.
And he didn't understand why Heaven would promote this agreement among the heavens when it was obvious that they would be at a disadvantage when competing with the mortal nations.
It wasn't until the Yellow Emperor's envoy and Qing Yi, who had helped him not long ago, contacted him that Zhou Bai combined the information from the three parties and finally figured it out.
It turned out that the third invasion of the Qingxu Realm suffered a lot of losses and was basically deemed a failure. The Qingxu people clearly realized that even if the Dao Ancestor did not show up, the strength of the Tianyuan Realm was still extremely top-notch.
Therefore, the senior officials of the Qingxu Alliance decided to change their thinking and no longer blindly pursue radicalism and speed. Instead, they chose to attack the outer planes of Tianyuan Realm and other world planes between the two realms first.
The first is to plunder easily plundered resources to replenish them, and the second is to firmly lock the Tianyuan Realm, and then rely on many surrounding plane strongholds to launch an all-round attack.
Losing half a plane would put additional pressure on the local defense, not to mention being enemies with many complete worlds.
However, the Heavenly Court has not set out on an expedition to the outside world for a long time, and the expedition fleet is still in the process of being formed, so it is agreed that the Qingxu Realm and other interested worlds will engage in a "gambling war."
Now that an agreement has been reached, the most basic purpose of Heavenly Court has actually been achieved, which is to delay time.
It would be good if the Tianyuan countries could win more, but if they couldn't, it wouldn't affect the larger situation.
The most ambitious plan, a demon hunting expedition!
Repeat the glory of Tianyuan, open up the blueprint of the star sea, and fight back to hunt the invaders from the Qingxu Realm!
Only the Tianyuan Realm has ever fought against other worlds, and it has never been blocked at the door by an expedition fleet.
When Qingyi revealed this plan, Zhou Bai almost didn't dare to listen. Such secrets were probably not known to ordinary middle- and lower-level heavenly officials.
For this reason, he even took the initiative to swear by his inner demons not to let anyone know about it, and then he breathed a sigh of relief.
However, it was precisely because of this that Qingyi became a little bit behind the scenes and became more strict with her mouth, quite aware that this was a secret.
Zhou Bai therefore had a thought in his mind, Lost in the Lake?
I am afraid that the status of this female fairy is not low, so she must maintain her relationship well.
Of course, Qingyi still solemnly told Zhou Bai that if he wanted to reach the last step, he must obtain the ticket for Jianguo in advance and strive to win.
As for the Huangdi envoy, like Qingyi, he didn't know where to get the authority and contacted Zhou Bai from Tiandie.
However, this person was quite tame and was just testing Zhou Bai to see if he had the idea of inheriting the destiny of earth and virtue.
Zhou Bai's reply was very cautious, just vague and perfunctory, saying that he had not yet made a decision, and then there was no further explanation.
After all, apart from Zhou Bai's status as a heavenly being, the power of the Anbei Governor's Mansion is nothing. The land of the two counties is not worthy of people's overzealousness.
Someone from above reminded him that Zhou Bai must seize the time and strive to capture the border counties before establishing the country.
Otherwise, we can only be like Jiang Yuanlong of Xishu, who established his country with two counties. However, Xishu is far more densely populated than border states such as Dingzhou. With that population base, a strong establishment will not leave too many people behind. Many hidden dangers.
Under Zhou Bai's rule, the population of Bei'an County reached a maximum of 1.1 million. This was due to the recent absorption of some refugees from other states and the naturalization of mountain people from various places.
Looking at Ruinan County, there are only 800,000 people, which does not meet the requirements of the ancient system of humane luck. Only one million people can establish a county.
Even in today's troubled times, the impact of such regulations will not be too great, but if the country is forcibly established when the population is insufficient, there may be problems with luck.
Therefore, Zhou Bai must capture Border City County to make up for the lack of population base.
…
On August 9, Anbei Army vowed to march westward.
Although Zhou Yuan was not present, he was accompanied by Gao Hu, Lou Jinpeng, Jiao Tu, Xu Yun, Yan Cheng and other generals.
Among them, Lou Jinpeng and Jiao Tu can both assume command responsibilities.
The number of troops in the Western Expedition Army was far smaller than the main force attacking Ruinan County. There were only 10,000 government troops, 3,000 demon-subduing troops, and 2,000 cavalry, for a total of 15,000 people.
However, the main force is only 15,000, and there are many auxiliary (militia) soldiers accompanying the army, a total of 10,000.
In addition, nearly 20,000 civilians were responsible for escorting the baggage, and the baggage team also included reserve officials who were selected to accompany them.
It is difficult to accumulate wealth, but it is very easy to squander it.
Just like Zhou Bai opened the door to seek talents, but just filling the vacancies in Ruinan County and Border City County has already exhausted the talent reserve.
Most people who go to Ruinan County to become officials are promoted. Bei'an Township officials become Ruinan County officials, and county officials become county officials.
Those who went to Biancheng County and observed carefully found that many officials had been in office for less than half a year and had barely passed an evaluation period.
If he attacks the fourth county again, just digestion will be a problem, so Zhou Bai thinks of the first major event after the founding of the People's Republic of China, which is to open a new country to obtain scholars.
At that time, there would be enough luck to grant these imperial examination talents...
Just thinking about it on the march made me feel more and more the importance of this recruitment opportunity.
Only by winning and seizing enough national destiny can the country develop rapidly.
On August 10, Zhou Bai had already appeared in Baisha Town on Jiejing. This place was only three hundred miles deep into Baishazhou, but it was still more than two thousand miles away from Shazhou City, the next stronghold set up by Border City County.
Even the elites of the government army who have practiced martial arts can only march two hundred miles in a day. If they do not save their energy and force the march, it can only be three hundred miles at most.
In this way, it would normally take more than ten days to reach Shazhou City, not to mention whether supplies can be obtained in Shazhou City and Border County.
Because according to the previous strategic deployment, Biancheng County was a place ignored by all government agencies, including Xuanyi Wei. They only knew that it was poorer than Cangbei County.
In the absence of experience, Zhou Bai chose a safe approach, which was to dispatch more grain trucks to transport supplies.
The gate of the town was closed tightly, and the guards shouted angrily, so they had no choice but to reveal their identities.
The deputy general of the garrison camp and Dian Shi Yanluo, who had just arrived in office a few days ago, hurried out of the city to greet him.
"He Zhiwu, the deputy general of the Baisha Town garrison camp, and Yan Luo, the magistrate of Baisha Town, have met the governor. I am late to welcome you, so please forgive me for being late." The deputy general and Yan Luo bowed and saluted. They looked flustered and were obviously caught off guard.
However, Zhou Bai was not so petty, and instead explained: "Sneaking is fast, and the main army will not arrive until tonight. By the way, where is Chu Kai, and what is the situation ahead?"
He Zhiwu immediately stepped forward and reported back: "Captain, the guard has taken people to Shazhou City and has not come back yet. However, according to our on-site inspection during this period, there should be no problem with the march."
"The main thing is to walk along the ancient trade road. It's the safest way and you won't get lost."
"This is the latest map of Baishazhou. There are new water sources on it. We have all drank from it. The salinity is very low, which can quench our thirst."
Taking the map, Zhou Bai spread it out and saw that important information such as the marching route, water source points, suitable campsites, and the location of Shazhou City were clearly marked on it.
"Did you draw this picture or who drew it? It shouldn't be Chu Kai. This guy is not so careful." Zhou Bai glanced at He Zhiwu and asked curiously.
It seems that the territory expanded too fast. In a place like Baisha Town that was casually laid out, he only remembered one Chu Kai.
"This map was drawn by a certain general when he was following the guard to explore the route. The rough parts made the governor laugh." He Zhiwu was very modest. He saw Zhou Bai's appreciation and was neither arrogant nor arrogant.
Zhou Bai suddenly remembered something: "You look like you have read a book, and your surname is He. Could it be that you are from the He family of the Pingcang clan?"
He Zhiwu couldn't hold himself steady now. He never expected that Zhou Bai could still remember Pingcang, an ordinary rural person.
He said with excitement: "Back to the Governor, a certain general is the eldest son of He. After studying, he failed to become a scholar, so he gave up his writing and joined the army. He wanted to follow the Governor and make contributions!"
Looking at his natal destiny, the red destiny is to leave the county, and the prosperity and fortune are gathered together, and there is a chance of breakthrough.
He is from Pingcang, has read books, is good at literature and martial arts, and is meticulous and thoughtful in his work.
This great luck should refer to Zhou Bai's favor, but the various qualities and background of this boy really make him want to be promoted.
If you don’t use someone who is good and capable, who else can you use?
After silently making a decision in his heart, Zhou Bai looked at Yan Luo again: "Do you have any ideas about what I want you to do?"
In fact, he didn't specify what it was, but he did it deliberately to see if this former Jiedu's talent really wanted to work loyally.
Yan Luo seemed to know that Zhou Bai had asked this question a long time ago, and immediately said: "After this magical change, Baishazhou has fertile land with vast hectares, and there is a lot of potential. The official thinks that developing it here can be a feasible farming strategy... In less than two years, this land can be It has become the largest grain-producing area in Dingzhou."
"In addition, the salt soil is sinking. If salt mines can be developed for profit, it will not only solve the domestic people's salt needs, but also sell it to foreign countries, making millions of dollars a year..."
