But Yang Ning didn't take it seriously at this moment.
He agreed with taking Qingzhou as the foundation, but what happened next... The imperial court couldn't even tolerate Zu Ti. Once he really held Qingzhou with powerful troops, could the imperial court still sit back and watch him become a prince?
The subsequent plan to conquer the Hulu was out of the question.
As for Lianhe Yan and Xu Ruishi...it's even more like a mirror. Zu Ti didn't fight the barbarians from the beginning of his Northern Expedition. He first fought against the powerful locals in Henan!
When the Hu people were plundering, the powerful powerful people in these places took advantage of the chaos, organized and trained private soldiers, and dominated the counties and counties. They may nominally submit to the imperial court, but in reality they were still no different from the princes.
Some even secretly collude with the barbarians.
When Zu Ti came, what they wanted was not to join the other party's Northern Expedition, but to defend their own territory, hinder Zu Ti's northward advance, and not allow Zu Ti to enter their own land.
The imperial court did not trust local generals, and local forces did not trust the imperial court.
The so-called troubled times are evident from this.
In Yang Ning's view, although the Hu people were enemies, local powerful people were not all friends, and the imperial court had no need to count on them.
If you want to achieve great things, you can only rely on yourself!
This is not to say that Zhao Wenjing has a false reputation and cannot see through the current situation, but that the other party still cares about the court.
Even after Zu Ti's incident, his loyalty to the emperor did not disappear, and he habitually looked to the imperial court and the king's master as his hope.
If you don't count on the imperial court, how can you count on Yang Ning, who now only has more than a hundred private soldiers from his family?
Therefore, no matter how high Zhao Wenjing thinks of Yang Ning, he will only treat Yang Ning as a general, or at most as the second ancestor. He must have the support of other kings and the imperial court to achieve great things.
Yang Ning doesn't want to be the second Zuti, and he can't be the second Zuti.
Just when Yang Ning was thinking to himself and Zhao Wenjing sat down again, the old patriarch came in with a smile.
"The old man wanted to ask An Zhi to come over and talk for a while, but when he learned that Mr. Zhao was here, he came uninvited." The old patriarch greeted Zhao Wenjing with a gentle smile.
Yang Ning naturally knew why the old patriarch was looking for him. When everyone sat down again, he took the initiative to start a conversation: "My grandson is discussing with my husband about starting an army."
The old patriarch twirled his gray beard, suppressed his smile, and said solemnly: "Today Anzhi took the initiative to attack and defeated hundreds of Hu people's rangers. His prestige has indeed increased.
"But there are more than a hundred Huqi nearby. They suffered a lot of casualties today, and they will definitely retaliate in the future. Has An Zhike thought of a countermeasure?"
Compared with Zhao Wenjing's long-term strategy based on the overall situation, the old patriarch is more concerned about the present.
Yang Ning nodded slightly. He had considered this issue before going to Lianhua Village. If there were no corresponding countermeasures, he would not rashly expand the scale of the battle with the barbarians:
"Shi Le's army had been unable to attack Pingyuan County for a long time and was out of food and fodder, so they were forced to divide their forces to plunder the grain. However, there was a fierce battle there, and they had limited manpower to plunder the grain.
"Most of them went west along the north bank of the Yellow River, and there were at most a few thousand people who crossed the Yellow River and went south when it was frozen.
“If more people come, Shi Le will have to consider General Zu’s troops.
"Although we knew that the imperial court sent people to divide General Zu's military power, what happened just now happened and Shi Le could not foresee it in advance.
"There are only a few Hu cavalry going south, and even fewer coming to Jinan County. One or two thousand is considered good.
"In the eight counties of Jinan, the total number of Huqi operating in Licheng County is at most three to four hundred.
"We beheaded half a hundred of these three to four hundred horses today. Even if we take revenge, only a little over three hundred can be gathered in a short period of time."
This analysis is reasonable and well-founded, and the old patriarch agrees with it. However, this is a major matter related to the survival of the family, and the old patriarch does not dare to take it lightly:
"Maybe three or four hundred, maybe more. You haven't seen it with your own eyes, so how can you be sure?"
Of course it was based on the memory of the past life... Yang Ning couldn't say this.
After the Hu Qi plundered grain in the previous life, when the local nobles exchanged news, they calculated the size of the Hu Qi. The total number of Hu Qi in Licheng and the neighboring Zhu'a counties was only about 400.
Yang Ning said: "My grandson has asked Commander Yang for help and asked him to send out elite personnel to investigate the situation. The detective horses will be back before sunset tomorrow at the latest."
This was the second thing he asked Yang Kui to do.
Yang Kui reported it to the old patriarch before sending his men, but the old patriarch was hosting a banquet for Zhao Wenjing at that time, so he did not discuss it in detail with Yang Kui.
Yang Kui said that he would send detective horses to find out the number of Hu riders nearby. The old patriarch agreed, but he did not expect that this was Yang Ning's instruction.
"Yang Kui has always only listened to me, but now he can act according to An Zhi's wishes. It seems that he is truly convinced by An Zhi."
Thinking like this, the old patriarch took a deep look at Yang Ning, and was very happy that his eldest grandson could be recognized as the number one warrior in the family.
"The Yang family's private soldiers only have more than a hundred people, and they are not as tough and good at fighting as Jie Hu. Even if Hu Qi only has three or four hundred, we will probably be hard-pressed to defeat him."
The old patriarch said calmly.
Yang Ning said: "Therefore, my grandson also asked Commander Yang to select young men from the villagers gathered today and start training from tomorrow.
"We have two to three hundred tenants and more than a hundred hermit households. Together with the farmers, even if there is only one qualified young man for every two households, the number will not be inferior to that of Hu Qi!"
The old patriarch was surprised again.
Yang Kui wanted to report this matter at that time, but the old patriarch didn't have time to listen to it at that time. He was deeply surprised when he heard it now.
He pondered for a moment: "Is this your intention to bring those yeoman farmers into Wubao?"
Yang Ning said: "There are considerations in this regard."
The old patriarch thought for a while, and his eyes became deep: "It's okay if it's just Hu Qi, but there are four big clans in Licheng County.
"Have you ever thought about it, if someone defectes to the barbarians and joins them to attack us, then our numbers will not be enough."
Yang Ning said nonchalantly: "Even if someone takes refuge with the Hu people, it will only be the Huang family. The other two families will not be willing to become thieves so quickly."
The old patriarch was surprised again: "You can even see through this?"
I can't see through it, but I can recall it... Yang Ning smiled implicitly.
Shi Le was powerful and had many Han people under his command, so Yang Meng was by no means the only one who wanted to embrace this opportunity to preserve his family or even develop it.
According to Yang Ning's past life memories, the Huang family surrendered there at this time.
Yang Ning said: "My grandson is familiar with several children of the Huang family and knows their virtues. These are a bunch of shameless villains, and their intentions have been vaguely revealed in their conversations."
The old patriarch nodded, recognizing Yang Ning's ability to "see the whole leopard at a glance": "If the Huang family helps, the barbarians will be more powerful than the tiger, and we will still be in danger."
Yang Ning said: "If there are enough people, it won't be so dangerous."
The old patriarch asked: "Where do people come from?"
Yang Ning said: "In the past few days when the Hu people have been plundering counties and villages, many people have died violently, and more people have been forced to flee their homeland and become homeless. If we can gather them, we will have enough manpower."
The old patriarch stroked his beard and thought: "Having said that, I'm afraid there is not enough time, and the barbarians will come whenever they want."
Yang Ning said: "My grandson has asked Yang Xiaofu to take people out. Today we captured a lot of barbarian war horses. They were riding fast.
"As long as the news that the Yang family is willing to protect the villagers is spread, large groups of refugees will come one after another in a short time!"
The old patriarch's eyes widened, and he finally couldn't control his loss of composure, and exclaimed: "How can you move so fast?"
