Did Duan Wencao maintain a certain degree of tacit understanding with the rebel army when the rebel army no longer endangers the interests of himself and the Qilu noble group?

Li Fengyun was positive about this. In the past period of time, it can be clearly seen that Duan Wencao has always been passive in response. On the one hand, it can be explained as deliberately preserving his strength, and on the other hand, it also conforms to his consistent view that the Qi people do not kill Qi people. From this, it is inferred that when the main force of the rebel army in the west expedition to the Central Plains, if Duan Wencao is willing to maintain a certain degree of tacit understanding with the rebel army left by Mengshan, the situation in Lu County will stabilize in the confrontation between the two sides.

The stability of the situation in Lu County and even southwestern Shandong is urgently needed by Duan Wencao. At this critical period, he needed a stable environment and a period of calm. He recovered from the heavy blow caused by his brother Duan Wenzhen's sudden death on the Duan family and the Qilu noble group in Beihai, and re-arranged with the core members of the Qilu noble group to safeguard the interests of the group.

On the contrary, if Duan Wencao is abnormal and resolutely wants to suppress the bandits, and he wants to take advantage of the main force of the rebel army leaving Lu County and kill all the rebel army left Mengshan, then the main force of the rebel army had no choice but to give up the Western Expedition and return to Lu County to fight. If the situation develops like this, it will inevitably be unfavorable to Duan Wencao. With Duan Wencao's wisdom, how can this worst strategy be taken?

Li Fengyun's explanation was accepted by everyone in the tent, but the western expedition would not be smooth sailing. The closer the rebel army approached Xingyang and the two golden waterways of Dahe and Tongji Canal, the greater the resistance it encountered. The power of the Eastern Capital and the Gyeonggi Garrison was very large. Once the Dongdu felt the threat and sent the Gyeonggi Garrison into Xingyang to protect the two major waterways, the rebel army's plan for the western expedition was very likely to suffer a severe setback. Once the rebel army encounters a setback in the western expedition and fails to achieve the goal of the western expedition, what countermeasures will Duan Wencao take? Will he join forces with Zhang Xutuo and Cui Deben to cut off the rebel army's way back to Mengshan?

If the rebel army did not solve the problem of the retreat, the Western Expedition was actually just empty talk, so Xu Shiren continued to ask, "General, if the Western Expedition fails, will Duan Wencao take action behind us and give us a fatal blow?"

Li Fengyun frowned slightly, realizing that Xu Shiren had a bad mentality. He neither wanted to rebel but could not resume his past life. He was very conflicted and worried about gains and losses. He always focused on Duan Wencao, trying to find a way to reconnect with Duan Wencao so that he could get Duan Wencao's assistance in times of crisis.

"I have told you many times that this Eastern Expedition was a foreign war between the emperor and the central government to implement the new national defense and diplomatic strategy, but in fact, the domestic conflicts caused by reforms have reached the brink of the outbreak. The emperor and the central government had to use this Eastern Expedition to divert and ease the contradictions, trying to further consolidate and strengthen the authority of the emperor and the central government by establishing unprecedented martial arts, and then win more time to resolve the fierce domestic conflicts. Because of this, someone has always been pessimistic about the Eastern Expedition. The Eastern Expedition may not win, and will be destroyed as we imagined, invincible, and go down in one go."

Everyone has indeed heard Li Fengyun say these words on different occasions many times, but the truth depends on the truth, and reality depends on reality. No one believes that Middle Earth cannot destroy a small barbarian country with the power of the whole country. To take a step back, even if Middle Earth is defeated, it is just a few more wounds on the giant's body, which cannot damage the root. If you take a breath, you can punch your fists again. The Goguryeo's small country blocked the first attack of Middle Earth, and it still has the ability to block Middle Earth's second attack? So the Eastern Expedition must be a great victory.

When Li Fengyun saw that everyone was dissatisfied with it and did not want to waste his talk on this matter, he just wanted to tell everyone that no matter the victory or defeat of the Eastern Expedition, it could not divert and ease the fierce domestic conflicts. On the contrary, it would only make the contradictions more and more intense, and only make the conflicts break out in a shorter and shorter time. Since the fundamental domestic conflicts cannot be resolved through a foreign war, the domestic rebel army will have political space for survival. In the past, domestic political groups have begun to use and manipulate the local rebel army in various places in political games to help them realize their political intentions.

From this we can infer that, whether during the Eastern Expedition or after the Eastern Expedition, Duan Wencao, the representative of the Qilu noble group, and Cui Deben, as a representative of the Shandong noble group, under the influence of the interests of the group, must use the rebel army as a pawn for political games and as a necessary or supplementary means to achieve the political goals of the political group. That is to say, before the political game at the highest level of power in China and Turkey was decided, before the most fundamental and fierce contradiction in China and Turkey was fundamentally resolved, because this game and this contradiction appeared, in name, "anti-East expedition, anti-duty, anti-come-service", in fact, it is "anti-reform, anti-employment, anti-Emperor, and anti-Sui". The rebel army composed of local heroes and their loyal followers and a large number of hungry and cold disaster victims will not be wiped out, but will grow stronger and stronger.

As a chess piece in the hands of a political group, of course, the more it is, the more it can play a role. However, things will turn out to be extreme. Once the chess piece is too strong, the political group loses control over it, and the consequences will be unimaginable. This kind of example is everywhere in history, and the lessons are profound. Of course, political groups must prevent problems before they happen, and of course they must control the strength of the chess piece. Therefore, chess pieces must have the awareness of being chess pieces, and cannot rush around because of ideals, but also have strategies. They must actively adjust their development strategies based on the political climate and the development of the political situation.

When the strength of the chess piece develops to a certain level, as long as you seize the right opportunity, you may transform yourself into a chess player on the political chess scale, sit with the aristocratic bureaucrats who controlled it back then, and participate in the feast of the division of power and wealth in Middle-earth.

This is the goal of the chess piece and Li Fengyun's goal.

Everyone in the tent probably understood. Now the rebel army is not strong enough, don’t watch Ning Yang beat Duan Wencao away in the battle. In fact, it was Duan Wencao’s “feeling mercy”. If he had attacked under Ningyang City, the situation in Lu County would have been one-sided. The current situation seems to be very passive, but combined with Li Fengyun’s analysis of the current situation and after careful consideration, Duan Wencao not only did not fall into a passive, but still firmly controlled the initiative.

It's very simple. Li Fengyun doesn't want to be in Lu County. He wants to go to the west to expedition. The west to expedition requires a large rear, which is actually the Lu County. This requires Duan Wencao's "cooperation". The initiative is naturally in Duan Wencao. On the contrary, if Li Fengyun continues to pervert Duan Wencao and beat Duan Wencao so hard that he can't retreat, seriously hindering the Eastern Expedition, then Zhou Fashang, Zhang Xutuo and even Cui Deben of Pengcheng have to rescue Duan Wencao for the need of common political interests and have to join forces to encircle Li Fengyun, but the initiative is still in Duan Wencao.

In a sense, Li Fengyun planned to attack the Central Plains in the west, and he had no choice but to develop and always seize the initiative, so he had to go out of Mengshan. Just like when he was in Xuzhou, he had to go all the way to Mengshan.

Li Fengyun seized the strategic initiative, which could advance or retreat, which forced Duan Wencao to tacitly "cooperate" in order to ensure his initiative. The two of them took their own needs and achieved their goals. When the Eastern Expedition ended, on the domestic battlefield, the developed rebels had to step back against the fierce attacks of the Guardian army. Similarly, in politics, Shandong people, who were already on the defensive, faced with aggressive political opponents, in order to ensure their vested interests and to ensure that their local forces would not be hit hard, must launch a fierce counterattack. The best way to counterattack is to use the rebel army that has developed to a certain scale to block the attacks of the Guardian army on the battlefield, and then win important bargaining weights for bargaining with their political opponents.

Li Fengyun stood high and looked far. Through his detailed analysis, the necessity and urgency of the Western Expedition to the Central Plains was already very clear. At the same time, the heroes and coaches from all walks of life know more. If the alliance is dissolved at this moment, everyone goes their separate ways and fights on their own. Although Li Fengyun's development pace is difficult and slow, others do not even have the opportunity to develop. They will soon be regarded as "bad boys" and "abandoned boys" and thrown into the garbage dump of history.

At this point, the development strategy of the Western Expedition to the Central Plains was unanimously recognized by all the heroes and many generals, especially the five heroes, who expressed their opinions in public and firmly supported Li Fengyun's Western Expedition strategy.

The alliance was finally saved, which made Li Fengyun feel relieved. He didn't have much hope before. Although the strategy was to retreat to advance, if you don't agree with my development strategy, we would disband, but the conflict between the Qi and Chu people is real. The various heroes and generals have different interests because of their different regions. If they want to tie them together through a development strategy, it would be a bit of a loss. Fortunately, the Eastern Expedition will end soon, and everyone thinks that the Eastern Expedition will return in triumph, so the pressure of survival is too great. Unless the rebel army has a qualitative leap in the next few months, they will definitely die. Everyone feels that the future is bleak, and Li Fengyun's development strategy has become a "life-saving straw", and it has to be seized if they don't catch it.

Next, there is a more specific battle plan.

During the Western Expedition, how should Mengshan defend and how to help the front-line army to the greatest extent. Han Yao fought against Lu County, what tacit understanding should Duan Wencao adopt, and what countermeasures should be taken when the two sides conflict to ensure existing interests.

On the battlefield of the Western Expedition, the environment of the Northern Army was very harsh. It was not because of the large number of officials, but because of the drought, the number of people affected by the disaster was increasing. The conflict between local governments, local aristocratic bureaucrats and local disaster victims became increasingly fierce. If the Northern Army ignored the status quo, they would inevitably fall into the three sides of the government, nobles, wealthy people and disaster victims. Everyone was in trouble and starving. At this time, you ran in and robbed them. Wouldn't it be that you rob the food from the tiger's mouth? If you don't let us live, how can we make you feel better? Therefore, if the Northern Army wants to achieve the attack target, it must come up with practical and correct strategies, otherwise it will definitely be defeated.

The situation of the Southern Army was also serious. The attack route of the Southern Army was very close to Tongji Canal, and Liang County and Xingyang County deployed heavy troops on both sides of the Grand Canal. Especially since Li Fengyun raised the army and plundered Tongji Canal, both counties passed through the Dongdu authorization and began to recruit a large number of village forces to strengthen the protection of Tongji Canal. Therefore, if the Southern Army wants to achieve the attack target, the strength of the army is very important. If the strength is not enough, they will inevitably be beaten passively.

In the end, everyone focused on the Central Army. As long as the Central Army was well fought, they attacked cities and camps and defeated generals, they would definitely provide strong support to the remaining rebels and strong support to the North and South armies.

Li Fengyun took on this important task without hesitation. His goal was that before winter came, that is, in the next five months, the number of troops would reach a scale of 100,000, and the main force, that is, the elite combatants mainly young and strong, must reach at least 20,000 to 30,000. Only with such strength can we persist in the bad situation in the future.

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Chapter completed!