Chapter 684 Changes
Seeing Bai Tu's curious face, Zhou Xu didn't keep him in suspense. He used the stick in his hand to point at Black Stone City on the map, and then he moved all the way to Xishan City and Anling City.
"According to Yan Sheng's current situation, he can basically only defend one city. If he wants to suppress the rebellion and capture other cities, he will have to give up Black Stone City."
"As a one-for-one deal, there is no loss in defending Black Rock City, but conquering other cities will also cost you a price. In your eyes, this may be a loss, but have you ever thought that as his position changes, his situation will change."
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone present was stunned.
At the same time, at this moment, they couldn't help but recall what Zhou Xu said at the beginning.
They should open their minds and think further! Bai Tu relied on his previous experience. Although he took the factor of the traitor into consideration, he still stayed on Black Stone City, their next main target, and did not think about how Yan Sheng's situation would change if he moved to the rear, to Anling City or Xishan City.
At this moment, Zhou Xu's words were equivalent to making the answer clear. Looking at Xishan City and Anling City pointed at by the wooden stick in their king's hand, all the subordinates, including Shi Lei and Bai Tu, reacted.
"So that's how it is. If Yan Sheng leads his troops to capture Xishan City, he can coordinate with Long Xiaotian who is stationed in the other border city."
Shi Lei reacted quickly and sorted out his thoughts quickly.
"If we want to continue our march and attack Xishan City at that time, even if the rebels in Anling City do not take any action, we will be at risk of being attacked by Yan Sheng and Long Xiaotian at the same time."
“Similarly, if he chooses to lead his troops to make a detour and capture Anling City, which is a border city, then he can form a connection with the border city where Long Aotian is stationed from the outside. In addition, the existence of the rebel army cannot be completely ignored. The situation has suddenly become complicated. In this case, even we can no longer act rashly!”
When he said this, Shi Lei's face was full of surprise.
Although this was the result of his analysis following the guidance of their king, Shi Lei himself was a little skeptical.
It is no exaggeration to say that this step directly revitalized the situation! Bai Tu, who was standing next to him, couldn't help but express his doubt.
"Can the tyrant really have such a strategy?"
Faced with this question, Zhou Xu shook his head.
"I don't know. No matter what the other party's reasons were for making this decision, the final result is that this situation will be formed."
When Zhou Xu said this, a hint of headache appeared between his brows.
He certainly wanted to avoid troublesome situations like this, but this also forced him to take action in advance.
Zhou Xu was not worried about the food problem. With its plain farms, the Great Zhou was also a major grain-producing country.
In addition, as early as the beginning of this year, he had ordered the expansion of the field area.
Now, almost a year has passed, after two rounds of harvests in summer and autumn, their Great Zhou can be said to have sufficient food, and the reserve grain is enough to fill the granaries of major cities.
Even this year, because grain production increased so much at once, the market price of grain has fallen.
At that time, the officials under his command reported to him and asked for instructions on this matter.
Zhou Xu directly ordered that all the excess grain be stored in state-owned granaries and the total amount of grain entering the market be controlled in order to stabilize grain prices.
After all, low grain prices hurt farmers, and Zhou Xu was definitely going to avoid this kind of thing.
To get back to the point, the reason why Zhou Xu did not launch any follow-up actions when there was no shortage of food in the country was to avoid a rapid population expansion.
Yan Sheng’s situation is the best example. Excessive population expansion in a short period of time will pose considerable hidden dangers.
Of course, his current situation is much better than Yan Sheng's.
In order to fulfill his own ambitions, Yan Sheng maliciously provoked wars and annexed neighboring countries. The people of these countries were displaced and their relatives and friends died tragically because of the war. He can be said to be the biggest war criminal in the world, and the people of these countries naturally hate him.
But now Zhou Xu is in the upper hand.
If Yan Sheng is compared to an evil dragon, then Zhou Xu is the warrior who slays the dragon.
The more the people hate Yan Sheng, the more they welcome Zhou Xu.
It’s just that Zhou Xu originally wanted to take a more steady approach, waiting until next year when the annexed population had been better assimilated and the other side was more chaotic, and then wait for an opportunity to launch his action.
But now there is obviously no choice.
With this thought in mind, Zhou Xu organized his thoughts and then quickly issued an order.
At the same time, Yan Sheng, who was in Black Stone City, had no idea that the information on his side had been leaked. In fact, because of Long Potian's incident, he has become more and more dependent on Jie Liancheng recently.
There is actually nothing that can be done about it, as he will inevitably face a siege next.
In this siege, the 3,000-plus troops did not have much advantage against the enemy troops occupying the city, which made Jie Liancheng his greatest reliance invisibly.
But Xie Liancheng obviously didn't care about these, not only because of the existence of his childhood friend Zhou Xu, but also because he already knew what kind of person Yan Sheng was.
The preparations before the large force set out took almost seven days.
During these seven days, they were not only packing up, but also conscripting able-bodied men from door to door in Blackrock City.
When Yan Sheng stayed in the city before, he naturally had to pay attention to the unrest in the city and properly appease the people to avoid causing trouble for himself.
But now, it was obvious that he was going to abandon the city and leave.
Before that, he not only had to take away all the resources he could in the city, but also had to capture as many able-bodied men as possible to serve in the army in order to increase his military strength.
Yan Sheng was not worried that these captured men would become a burden to him or increase his burden.
Because most of them will die in the upcoming siege.
To put it bluntly, these strong men will be the cannon fodder for the upcoming siege!
Regardless of the consequences, Yan Sheng quickly expanded the number of troops at his disposal from a little over 3,000 to 5,000.
Even though they are cannon fodder who have never received any training, they can still increase his chances of winning.
On the seventh day, everything was ready, and a force of 5,000 men set out with all the supplies in the city.
Basically, as soon as they left the city, riots broke out in Blackrock City. However, Yan Sheng was obviously not interested in these things.
He had only one goal next, which was to capture Xishan City. Compared to Anling City, which was a border city, Xishan City was much richer.
From a resource perspective, it is better than Black Rock City.
However, the distance between the two cities is relatively far. When a large force is advancing, the speed cannot be increased and it will take at least ten days.
Updated, thanks to the book friend '无尽丶忧殇' for the reward (this chapter is finished)
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