After thinking and weighing the pros and cons, Cui Deben replied to Duan Wencao, agreeing with his analysis and prediction of the situation in Lu County and its surrounding areas. In order to ensure the smooth progress of the Eastern Expedition, the stability of Qilu and Xuzhou was crucial. Therefore, the most urgent task was to kill all the rebels led by the white-haired thieves. For this reason, he decided to lead his troops north and attack Duan Wencao from north to south and kill the rebels.

In the last part of the letter, Cui Deben mentioned Nayan Yangda's death and expressed deep concerns about the emperor and the central government on this matter. The "intensive" death of the four highest officials of the central government had too great impact. During the Eastern Expedition, this influence would inevitably affect the ongoing foreign wars, and the originally sure conquest cast a shadow.

Cui Deben said just a few words, which seemed to be general, but there were too many things that were implicit, which was enough for Duan Wencao to think about it.

Cui Deben immediately rushed to Zuo Xiaowei Mansion to visit Wu Ben Lang General Liang Dezhong.

Liang Dezhong is under great pressure now. There are nearly two million bureaucrats, army and civilians on the battlefield in the Eastern Expedition, and the military supplies consumed every day are astonishing numbers. These military supplies are mainly transported by the Grand Canal that runs through the north and south of the Middle and Earth. Among them, Liang Dezhong is responsible for garrisoning the Huaihe River and Tongji Canal sections. Currently, Zhu Yingyang, who is left in Xuzhou, has only more than 2,000 troops. Liang Dezhong has to protect the counties of Xuzhou and garrison the Grand Canal. It is conceivable that he is very short of troops deploying.

However, what made Liang Dezhong feel lucky was that after the white-haired thief left Mengshan and entered Qilu, he placed his target of plunder in Lu County. Although he had also gone down the mountain in early spring to invade Lanling and Tancheng, he took it away and did not aim at the coastal transportation channel connecting Donglai and Jiangdu. Otherwise, Liang Dezhong would be in a dilemma of fighting on both sides. His limited military force must not only guard the canal waterways, but also suppress the rebellion and suppress the thieves. He would definitely lose sight of one thing and be unable to sustain it. The consequences were very serious. Once he was defeated, he would repeat Dong Chun's mistakes.

Therefore, Liang Dezhong closely monitored the battlefield in Lujun. When he learned that Duan Wencao was defeated and left Ningyang, he had a premonition that the situation was not good. Sure enough, a few days later, the white-haired thieves led their troops into Xuzhou and attacked Gu Ting and Fang Yu. Gu Ting was lost in an instant, and Fang Yu was still insisting. Peicheng Yingyang Mansion and Tingcheng Yingyang Mansion urgently called the Guard Mansion. Peicheng Yingyang General Wei Yunyue directly asked Liang Dezhong whether to send troops to rescue.

Liang Dezhong issued an emergency order to hold on the city and wait and see if there is no order from the Guard Office. Liang Dezhong was worried that his subordinates would not act without permission, so he specifically mentioned Fei Huai, the former Yongcheng Yingyanglang general, who was wiped out by the entire army, and Dong Chun, the former Zuo Xiaogu General, who had just retreated from Ningyang City. These people were defeated by the white-haired thief, which showed that this thief was not easy to deal with, so you should be more cautious.

With Liang Dezhong's current situation, he was not even able to complete his garrison duties, so where could he have any extra troops to suppress the thieves? Besides, with his origin, it would be impossible to advance to the ranks of senior commanders from the third-rank generals. The twelve prefectures had twelve third-rank generals, twenty-four third-rank generals, and a total of thirty-six senior commanders. Such a small position was not enough to divide the super wealthy families and first-rank families in Central China. Where could they get the second and third-rank generals like Liang Dezhong?

A nobleman? For Liang Dezhong, the general Wu Ben Lang, who had been in the military for decades, made countless achievements and was able to reach the fourth rank of official career, was already the pinnacle of his career, and was already very satisfied. There were only 48 general Wu Ben Lang Lang, who had a fourth rank of official rank of official 12 Guards, with too many monks and too many people staring at this position. If he accidentally made a mistake and grabbed the handle for his opponent, it would be a disaster. Liang Dezhong did not want to "fall the front" at the last moment of his life, so he was determined to be stable, only seeking no mistakes, not seeking merit.

Liang Dezhong's pursuit of stability was to place most of the troops on the garrison water and land transportation channels to ensure the safety of the military supplies in the eastern expedition, and to place a small part of the troops on the northern line of Xuzhou to prevent the rebels from going south in southwestern Shandong from invading. However, the situation did not go as expected, and the rebels in southwestern Shandong still went south. This was different from Liang Dezhong's speculation about the situation in southwestern Shandong.

In Liang Dezhong's view, after Zhang Xutuo left Lu County and returned to Qi County, Duan Wencao's strength could not control the development of the situation in southwestern Shandong, and the direction of the situation was also in line with Liang Dezhong's speculation that Duan Wencao failed to leave Ningyang and fell into a passive position. The Southwest Shandong Rebel Alliance led by the white-haired thief seized the initiative in the battlefield. Next, the rebel alliance should take advantage of the victory and attack, use Mengshan as the rear, and expand its territory to Lu County and its surrounding areas. As a result, the situation in Qilu deteriorated, resulting in a deterioration in the situation in Qilu.

, and the security of Xuzhou was also threatened, and directly affected the Donglai Navy's expedition across the sea and affected the plan of the Eastern Expedition. The Southwest Shandong Rebel Alliance immediately became the target of public criticism. In this case, Dongdu would send troops to quell the rebellion. Zhou Fashang, who was responsible for the military of Qi and Lu, and Liang Dezhong, who was in charge of the military of Qi and Lu, also had to send troops to suppress the thieves. There was no way, the thieves were too powerful, and they had already forced them to the edge of the cliff. The official hat on their heads was in danger, either you died or I died.

However, beyond Liang Dezhong's expectations, the Southwest Rebel Alliance, led by the white-haired thieves, did not take advantage of the victory to attack Xiaqiu and chased Duan Wencao to chase and fight hard. Instead, he went south along the Sishui River and attacked Kangfu, Gaoping, Fang and Heguting on the He and Si lines. These four cities are located in the hub of the Heshui River connecting the Central Plains, Qilu and Xuzhou, and the Sishui River waterways, and have certain strategic value. After the rebels occupied it, they can not only occupy this waterway to plunder wealth, but also use it as a stronghold to advance westward into the Central Plains, eastward into Qilu, and southward attack Xuzhou.

It is obvious that the white-haired thief has a new attack direction, and this attack direction is definitely not Qilu, otherwise the white-haired thief does not need to make such abnormal actions. The possibility of going south to Xuzhou is not high. Zhu Yingyang, who stayed in Xuzhou, is strong. In addition, Jiangdu is south of the Huai River, and Jiang is a rising place today. He has worked hard for nearly twenty years and is the number one important city in Jiangzuo. It has the secret reputation of accompanying the capital. The remaining troops assume the important task of guarding Jiangnan, with tens of thousands of troops. Once Xuzhou is in crisis, Jiangdu will inevitably send troops to help, which is bad news for the rebels. So after calculating this way, the white-haired thief's goal is clear at a glance, and he wants to advance into the Central Plains.

Liang Dezhong suddenly realized why Zhang Xutuo was sure to win and Duan Wencao suddenly turned around and left Lu County angrily, why Duan Wencao was defeated by Ningyang City with the advantage, why did the Xiao family of Lanling suddenly withdrew from Lu County when Duan Wencao was defeated by Lu County in a critical situation, and why did the white-haired thieves and the Southwest Shandong rebel alliance not take advantage of the situation to sweep Lu County? The reason is that for their own interests and to achieve the political goals of Shandong people, the Shandong people actually used rebels as weapons to control the situation in southwestern Shandong and even the entire Qilu area, and promote the development of the situation in a direction that is beneficial to Shandong people.

The center of the Central Plains is the Dongdu, and the capital is surrounded by the capital. When Shang ascended the throne, King Yang Liang of Han launched a huge military rebellion that swept across the entire Shandong region in order to seize the imperial throne. After the rebellion was overthrown, Shang deeply felt the threat from the Shandong direction, so he dug a large trench about a few meters wide along the Great Capital, and then built a pass along the large trench, deployed troops, and built a solid barrier.

This guard separates the Central Plains and Shandong. At the same time, the barriers and contradictions between the people of Guanlong and Shandong have been further deepened by the existence of this visible natural barrier. Therefore, this natural barrier naturally became a symbol of the opposition between the two major political groups.

Now, the Shandong Rebel Alliance is going to cross this natural barrier, enter the Central Plains, and start a war against the Guanlong people. From a political point of view, this matter is not good for the Shandong people and is beneficial to the Guanlong people. The Guanlong people can use this as an excuse to increase the containment and crackdown on the Shandong people.

However, under the background of the double attack of internal reform and foreign wars, the political interpretation of this matter is different, not bad for the Shandong people, but the Guanlong people, on the premise that the emperor and the reformists urgently need to use their outstanding martial arts in foreign wars to strengthen the central authority and then accelerate the pace of internal reforms.

Who are the conservatives who oppose reform? Vested interest groups. Who are the vested interest groups? Aristocratic bureaucrats who control power. Who controls the power of Middle-earth? Guanlong people. Guanlong people unified Zhongtu, Guanlong aristocratic group was the ruler of Zhongtu. Guanlong people naturally controlled the dominant power and wealth distribution of Middle-earth.

The Shandong people and Jiangzuo people failed in the war of unification, and the success and kings were defeated. As losers, they naturally had to accept the fate of being ruled, so they naturally lost the dominance of distributing power and wealth in China. However, the Shandong people and Jiangzuo people have always regarded themselves as the righteousness of Middle-earth, and the Guanlong people were just a group of vulgar barbarians. For this reason, the Shandong people and Jiangzuo people were determined to reverse the world. They used reform as a weapon and held high the banner of peaceful reunification and centralization, trying to overthrow the Guanlong people politically, regain the dominance of Middle-earth power and wealth distribution.

But the Guanlong people were also full of wisdom, especially those emerging aristocrats who rose with military merits. They also used reform as weapons and held high the banner of peaceful reunification and centralization, trying to destroy the politics of aristocratic families and gentry politically, and completely cut off the road to a comeback for Shandong people and Jiangzuo people.

Everyone demanded reform, and the essence of reform is to redistribute the power and wealth of China. As the Guanlong people of vested interest groups, they occupy the largest share of power and wealth. Once the reform continues, they will suffer the greatest losses. As a result, when the reform reaches a certain level, the Shandong people and Jiangzuo people are becoming more and more active, while the Guanlong people are becoming more and more passive. In the end, they inevitably embarked on the path of opposing reform and become political conservatives.

The Shandong rebels attacked the Central Plains and threatened the Dongdu, which was actually to help the Shandong people win the Eastern Expedition. In a sense, it can also be explained that this was the reformers attacking the conservatives, and this symbolic meaning was needed by the emperor and the reformers. After the emperor and the reformers won foreign wars, established prominent martial arts, and established strong authority, they could use this matter to attack the conservatives in order to accelerate reform.

Liang Dezhong was worried, and from his height, he looked at the future in a blur and confusing way. Since he could not see the future, he must ensure that his current interests were not lost. For this reason, Liang Dezhong decided to have a good talk with Cui Deben. As long as my interests were not lost, you, Cui Deben, would do whatever you like, and I would turn a blind eye to it.
Chapter completed!