Chapter 76 Bai Bo Prepares for War
Her Leping.
This connection, which had developed step by step over the three years since she took over this place, made her speak of this affiliation with an indescribable sense of naturalness.
To people like Guo Jia and Mi Zhu who passed through Leping, this looked like a small town whose above-ground and underground connections had been reopened and which had been renovated to look neat and comfortable.
Even this Leping College, because the recipe is posted on the stone slab at the door, it has a bit of a playful nature——
This is also what Qiao Yan hoped Cui Lie would see.
Although she has military power, it is only to the extent of defending Bingzhou. In the current environment of Bingzhou where bandits are ready to make trouble, this is something that is tacitly permitted.
She made many innovations, but if you take them individually, from daily necessities like toothpaste and toothbrushes to pork cooking and yam planting, they are just trivial matters of people's livelihood.
But when the sun leaped out from the mountains behind her and included the entire Leping County in the golden glow of autumn, this was indeed a city that could catch fire at any time.
It is just surrounded by these mountains and has not shown any external aggressiveness for the time being.
But now?
The end of the fourth year of Zhongping is approaching, and with the collapse of the central authority of the Han Dynasty, the title of Guannei Marquis with a gold seal and purple ribbon will soon become something that Liu Hong can buy and sell at will.
As a result, local forces with military power and foreign forces at home and abroad, even though they still had a deep-seated impression of the remaining power of the Han Dynasty, did not dare to indulge themselves a little and extend tentative gestures to the dynasty that was on the verge of danger.
In such an environment, Qiao Yan could no longer continue to think that being the Marquis of Leping was enough.
Rather than saying that she wanted to maintain the stability of Bingzhou by defeating the Baibo bandits in Hedong, maintain the smooth passage of Chenguanxing, and ensure that merchants from the Central Plains could still arrive in Bingzhou normally, it would be better to say that she wanted to use this incident to develop her previously accumulated reputation in the direction of prestige and seek real power and authority!
Ambition...
Why can't you be ambitious!
This year, she used the excuse of reflecting on her mistakes and gaining some insights, and as there had been disasters recently but the harvest in Leping was still good, she asked Xu Fu to go to Luoyang with some of the stored harvest.
In fact, the time he returned was almost the same as the time Guo Jia and his men arrived in Leping.
Since studying with Qiao Yan, Cheng Li and others, although Xu Fu did not have the experience of studying in Nanyang as he should have, he has received a lot of training in his growth and has demonstrated outstanding political vision.
From a knight-errant to an envoy meeting the emperor, he took this step extremely steadily.
As Qiao Yan had instructed, he only needed to show Le Ping's youth and loyalty in the tribute payment to Luoyang. He did not need to show any outstanding performance. He also served as a pair of eyes for her to see the Luoyang clearly today.
Xu Fu was a courageous person to begin with, and now under the leadership of Qiao Yan, he became even more so.
He seems calm, but actually...
You can tell from what he said when he came back. He said, "The sun is setting in the west, and there will be many disturbances when the throne is changed. Although Leping is a small place in Bingzhou, it is difficult to escape. You should make plans early."
A particularly clear message in these words is that Liu Hong is about to die.
The sickness on his face was much more obvious than before.
This is not a fact that can be covered up by relying on the royal family's health preservation methods.
Then Qiao Yan must be prepared for it.
Her position as Marquis of Leping was due to Liu Hong's rebelliousness. The fact that she was able to enjoy actual control over Leping, rather than just having the right to financial and taxation like other counties and kingdoms, was due to her understanding of Liu Hong's mentality.
But all these things are based on the premise that Liu Hong is still sitting on the throne of emperor.
Once there is a change in the emperor's position, there is no guarantee whether the governor of Bingzhou will be replaced, or whether it will be different from the history she knows, and a governor of Bingzhou will appear in advance.
Moreover, if someone replaces Cheng Li's position first, she will also be in trouble for changes in her environment.
At this critical moment, she could only take a step forward!
Although her heart was filled with such intense and boiling emotions, Qiao Yan did not show any abnormality at this moment, especially when she thought that she still had a little unlucky system to fool, she was able to calmly retract her expectant gaze towards Le Ping below and turn back to the red-maned horse in front of her.
She stroked the horse's back and ordered it to slowly turn back along the mountain road she had come from.
This horse was obtained for her by Wang Shi before she started her confinement in recognition of her help during the locust plague in Bingzhou, and she named it Zhu Tan.
In the past two years, she herself has grown a lot taller, and the horse has grown to nearly seven feet tall.
This is the height of a mature horse, but it is not yet in the state of a mature horse. It will take at least another two years for it to reach full maturity, which also happens to be the time when chaos breaks out in the world.
Although it is not as agile as the Red Hare, nor as legendary as the Lu horse, this border horse that she named Zhu Tan is undoubtedly the one that is most compatible with her.
It followed Qiao Yan's wishes, walked down the mountain at a leisurely pace, and stopped in front of the Leping County Government Office.
If it had not been for the lightning speed it had exhibited when Qiao Yan rode it that day, it would have hardly looked like a wild horse as it strolled leisurely in the garden.
But after Qiao Yan stroked its head twice, it was pulled back to the stable obediently.
"Your Excellency is in a good mood." Xi Zhicai happened to walk to the door, greeted her lazily, and followed her into the county government office.
He acted as a "tour guide" for someone yesterday, pushing a fish that jumped into the net on its own back into the net, but he still had to do his business today.
Qiao Yan returned to Leping first. It was obviously not because this outing had achieved the effect she wanted, but because she wanted to come back to formulate a strategic plan.
Although it was not to the extent of sharpening a sword for ten years, Leping was finally going to launch a serious war on the border of Bingzhou and Sili. Even though Xi Zhicai had always been casual and leisurely, he couldn't help but look more serious now.
"Sir, you got up so early, are you nervous?" Qiao Yan teased.
This is not the behavior of a person who is habitually absent from work.
Xi Zhicai waved his hand, "Don't mention it. My good friend woke up too early. He said that Leping is a good place to sleep, but the mouthwash tastes weird. He asked me to have breakfast with him. I thought we didn't have mouthwash here, so I laughed and woke up. I thought it would be better to come to the county government office early to wait, so that the prince wouldn't send someone to look for me."
Hearing the word "mouthwash" and thinking about how people cleaned their teeth at that time, Qiao Yan couldn't help but laugh.
Fortunately, as Xi Zhicai said, after Guo Jia learned the correct way to use a toothbrush and toothpaste, he did not get angry and leave. Instead, he ate a steamer of thin-skinned buns and then went to the surrounding mountains with Mi Zhu to collect folk songs.
The garrison at the fort and workshop would never be open to them. As the bandits around Leping had long since become good citizens, there was no need to worry about their personal safety and they could just let them go.
Qiao Yan still has to deal with current matters.
To take action against the Baibo bandits was definitely not as simple as her cavalry charge in the valley that day.
Judging from the archaeological discoveries of the location of the troops stationed by the Baibo bandits, they should have been in Yonggu, west of Chenguanxing, near Linfen.
Based on the location where Qiao Yan rushed to provide assistance that day, the system's 3D map can already scan this location.
At first glance, this looks like a place where one could launch a surprise attack or even surround the enemy.
But the truth is not that simple.
"On the surface, Guo Tai is the leader of the Baibo bandits, but in fact, the four generals under him fight on their own and have their own manpower and bases. They are Yang Feng, Han Xian, Li Le, and Hu Cai." Qiao Yan spoke slowly as she looked at the subordinates she had gathered below.
Just like when she looked at Le Ping who had grown rapidly in the past two years, Qiao Yan had an indescribable sense of satisfaction. When she looked at her subordinates, she couldn't help but have this thought.
In two years, she was not the only one who had changed in appearance and figure. People like Xi Zhicai and Cheng Li, who were already adults, did not change much. At most, they became a little rounder and healthier as Guo Jia had seen.
But for those who were not yet adults, the changes were particularly obvious.
For example, Zhao Yun.
When she first arrived in Leping, Zhao Yun, who was only fifteen or sixteen years old at the time, came to visit her. Now, three years have passed, and he has the demeanor of a future general.
He was withdrawn from Chenguanxing by Qiao Yan a few days ago. In the past two days, he did not have to be on guard against the Baibo bandits's fighting and sneak attacks. He seemed to be more energetic.
Small-scale combat in the early stages is a necessary experience for any future general, and it also gradually polishes his sharp edge in breaking through the enemy's formation and killing the enemy.
But he is obviously not a rash young man who would fight recklessly.
When Qiao Yan looked over at him, he saw the young general solemnly placing a thread-bound notebook, which everyone in the county had, in front of him, as if he was diligently taking notes during a meeting.
Another person who did the same thing as him was Cai Zhaoji.
Zhao Ji took over the official position in charge of documents under the county marquis from Qiao Yan. It was a well-considered decision, but she did not expect that she would be needed to participate in the matter of attacking the Baibo bandits.
But just as Qiao Yan told her, since she had a position, she had to seek to participate in real affairs, whether it was making records like a historian or analyzing something from other people's words and conversations. In short, she had to do something.
If he always hides behind the scenes, then others will at most know that there is someone in the position of Qiao Yan's pen holder, but they will not know who this person is or what kind of person he is.
Is this what Cai Zhaoji hoped for?
Of course not!
Since she wanted to support her sister, she should be like Qiao Hou and not be afraid to step forward.
Therefore, she was among the people who were summoned at this time, and she carefully wrote down everything Qiao Yan said.
But she is only in her early teens now. No matter how intelligent and well-memorized she is, her height cannot increase at the same rate as her knowledge, and she stands out among the crowd.
At this time, except for Chu Yan who was still fighting guerrilla warfare against the Baibo bandits, Qin Yu who was in charge of farming and did not participate in military meetings, Cai Yong who was still only a non-staff member of Leping Cultural Industry, and Yang Xiu who was still in mourning for Yang Ci, everyone else was already here.
From what Qiao Yan saw at a glance, the mental state of everyone undoubtedly made her feel more at ease about the battle.
She continued, "Among the four Baibo bandits, Yang Feng is the strongest and his reputation is not inferior to Guo Tai. Therefore, when people talk about the leader of Baibo, they always mention Yang Feng. In addition, he has a young general named Xu Huang under his command. He is always a safe commander. The only times Chu Yan and Zilong failed were because of this man."
"Compared to Yang Feng, Han Xian, Hu Cai, and Li Le are much weaker and more like bandits. They will kill people if they rob people, just like what I saw when I went to the valley that day."
"So in your opinion, who should we start with to eliminate the Baibo bandits this time?"
Xu Huang is the future three-dynasty old minister and one of the five best generals of Cao Wei. However, now he is just a general under Yang Feng, the commander of the Baibo bandits. Or perhaps it would be more appropriate to call him the leader.
At this time, Yang Feng had not yet suddenly turned from a bandit to a soldier. He was only awarded the title of General of Chariots and Cavalry for escorting Emperor Xian of Han back to the east. At most, he had a slight advantage among several groups of Baibo bandits.
However, he still vaguely felt that he shouldn't be so aggrieved.
With the location of Baibo Valley, he can cut off an important pass among the eight passes of Taihang Mountain and then raid Bingzhou, and he can also keep an eye on Hongnong and Luoyang. Once the threat posed by Sili to the bandits is not enough to scare him, he can advance to Anyi and other places.
But in fact, the financial abundance of Bingzhou after being freed from the locust plague did not allow him to gain enough benefits to arm his troops. Instead, it further squeezed his living space.
What he didn't know was that in Leping, where Xi Zhicai, Cheng Li, Zhao Yun, Dian Wei and others gathered, a strategic meeting targeting him was even being held.
After hearing Qiao Yan's question, and seeing that Cheng Li, who had more experience, had no intention of speaking, Xi Zhicai replied, "Do you want to wipe out all the Baibo bandits, or recruit them for your own use like the Black Mountain Army?"
Qiao Yan asked, "How about the former, and how about the latter?"
Xi Zhicai replied: "If it is the former, we can do anything, including encirclement, interception, night attack and setting fire."
"If it's the latter, you must first make their internal conflicts higher than the external threats. Of course, this doesn't mean you don't need to take action, but you have to use some clever tricks."
As he spoke, he stood up and placed a five-zhu coin at each of the four locations at a distance apart on the Baibo Valley terrain in front of him, which was roughly built by Chu Yan and Zhao Yun in the way of Qiao Yan.
"These four bandit leaders, because of the principle that things far away smell good, things near stink. Although they are fighting on their own, they are also helping each other. So, in your opinion, how can we make them stay at home when there is a threat from outside?"
Qiao Yan also walked to the edge of the sand table.
She was still wearing the red cloak she wore when she walked through the mountains in the morning, which made her look like she was ready for battle even though she was just standing in front of the sand table.
After Xi Zhicai finished speaking, she immediately raised her hand to disperse the soil foundation under the three five-zhu coins, and then decisively pressed the three five-zhu coins on top of the last one.
She smiled and said, "Then let them move closer from far away."
"Zilong, listen to my orders!"
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