Walking out of Changyang County's endless Chongshan Danling, and passing through Qingtong Gorge, you will reach Zhengyang County, the richest county in Yue Kingdom. From the countless mountains of Changyang County, a trickle stream flowing out from the river, gradually gathering together, forming the only big river in Yue Kingdom, the source of Luoshui, which meanders and twists and turns, flowing all the way to Yuejing City.

The Luo River spanned the entire Zhengyang County and created this rich land. This is the most populous and richest county, and it is also the most important granary for Yue State. It has always been one of the places that the rulers of Yue State attach great importance to. A few years ago, when Moro rebelled, the Yue State immediately sent a 5,000-man Hu Ben Army to Zhengyang County, in order to ensure that Zhengyang County is not lost.

Of course, later, because Molo was defeated by the Taiping Army, Zhang Jian, a general of Huben County stationed in Zhengyang County, led his troops to risk out of Qingtong Gorge in order to make contributions. In the end, Wu Xin, the general of Shuntian Army, and the entire army was destroyed in Qingtong Gorge.

This battle also caused Zhengyang County to lose several county seats. After destroying Zhang Jian's Huben Army, the Shuntian Army took action and attacked several cities in a row. Later, it was exhausted and stopped the attack. With the destruction of the Shuntian Army, these county seats were taken over by the Taiping Army and separated from Zhengyang County for almost two years.

Zhengyang County was shocked by this. The officials of the county and the wealthy senators were frightened a lot. The people who escaped from Changyang County told the story of the miserable scene where the Shuntian Army passed by, without any grass growing and no tiles left. They all invested money to raise funds and established a civilian army, determined to fight with the Shuntian Army to defend their wealth.

Although the people of Zhengyang County and Shayang County are relatively rich, their roots are very different. In Shayang County, the five masters, Liu's family, actually ruled that area, but Zhengyang County, but the court had an absolute advantage. The same is that the wealthy people naturally did not want the Shuntian Army to loot themselves and make themselves have nothing. Therefore, the people here have a strong will to resist the Shuntian Army. Under the call of the Fuxu Family in Zhengyang County, they successfully recruited a civilian army of up to 20,000 people, and carried out training under the leadership of the court officers to prepare to resist the invasion of the Shuntian Army.

However, the defeat of Shuntian Army was beyond everyone's imagination. After the Taiping Army took over these places, it did not show the willingness to attack forward again. Moreover, as the two sides communicated more and more in business, the people in Zhengyang County also knew more and more about the Taiping Army, but their fear of it became increasingly weaker.

This is an army that is completely different from the Shuntian Army. Although they are also first-class bandits in the mouths of court officials. However, the knowledgeable merchant gentry in Zhengyang County has their own judgments. Many people even dressed up and went to Shayang County in person. After a tour of Taiping City, the prosperity of Taiping City made them even more amazing.

The five Liu family members lived like fish in water under the Taiping Army system. They not only flourished in business, but also rose step by step in the officialdom. These business gentry who were closely connected with their business were naturally very jealous.

You know, although they are rich, the court is very afraid of them. It is very difficult to enter the officialdom. For example, the Xu family was the number one master in Zhengyang. After working hard for many years, they have only become the position of the Ministry of War.

Business is naturally inseparable from power.

The situation in Yue State can now be said to have changed three times a day. When Zhengyang County and Shayang County under the control of the Taiping Army became more and more prosperous in Taiping City, Xu Jie returned to Zhengyang County to serve as the county magistrate.

So the weather in Zhengyang County changed.

The business exchanges between the two sides came to an abrupt end, which made many merchants in Zhengyang County regret it. You should know that it was the honeymoon period between the Taiping Army and the imperial court. The Taiping Army left Yongping County and cooperated with the imperial court to destroy the Luo Yishui Incident, which made them think that the two sides had already agreed to compromise and could naturally do business with confidence. At this time, the five major merchant gentry groups in Shayang County and Taiping Fang, which were directly controlled by the Taiping Army, also strongly invited them to enter Changyang County to open together, and the two sides naturally hit it off.

Under the poison of the Shuntian Army, Changyang County was poor and its economy and people's livelihood suffered complete damage. However, it was this situation that gave merchants endless business opportunities. Zhengyang County merchants, who thought they had obtained a great opportunity to make a fortune, rushed in and invested a large amount of funds in Changyang County in order to get a share of the pie in the reconstruction of Changyang County.

A lot of money and goods have been invested. Xu Jie came back and banned all investments have been turned into flowing water. How can these businessmen not be sad?

No one's money is blown by the strong wind.

But this ban made everyone silent. The merchants were naturally extremely sensitive to the court's policies. From this unprecedented ban, they smelled the huge gap between the court and the Taiping Army, and Xu Jie's subsequent actions further confirmed their ideas.

The 20,000 civilian army was expanded to 30,000. The Xu family bleeded a lot, and the family spent half of the money for the expansion of the army. The other money naturally caused the other merchants to bleed. Now, the merchants could only grit their teeth and then invest money into the civilian army. It is obvious that Xu Jie's actions represent the intention of the court, and the court took action against the Taiping Army. At this time, the capital invested in the civilian army. Maybe after the court defeated the Taiping Army, they would have a chance to take back the money they had previously invested in Changyang County.

The facts later also proved their conjecture.

In early June, Xu Jie led 20,000 Zhengyang County troops and 30,000 civilian troops to attack several county-level counties under Zhengyang County under the control of the Taiping Army. At the same time, news came that the Qin people attacked the Taiping Army in Yongping County and annihilated a battle camp of Taiping Army. At this time, the Supreme Commander of the Taiping Army also transferred the main battle camp Canglang Camp stationed in Zhengyang County to Yongping County.

While shocked, they were also very grateful. They felt that following Xu Jie's pace was right. The Taiping Army was still the first-class bandit army after all, and could not be the opponent of His Majesty the Emperor. As soon as His Majesty the Emperor took action, he joined forces with the Qin army and gave the Taiping Army a fatal blow.

The attack was extremely smooth at first. The Taiping Army contracted its defense line, and the only remaining battle camp, Hanshan Camp, gave up two county seats, and the entire army retreated to Gong County, which was closest to Qingtong Gorge. Judging from this, once the war was not going well, the entire army would retreat into Changyang County through Qingtong Gorge.

Xu Jie was naturally energetic. When he was released from prison by His Royal Highness and entrusted with important tasks, the grievances in his heart had long disappeared, and he was thinking about assisting His Royal Highness in his mind to do a great cause. What he wanted was naturally to eradicate the tumor on the Taiping Army, the Dayue.

Taking down the Shanshan Camp, attacking Changyang County, and then taking advantage of the situation to march into Shayang County and conquering Taiping City, this is his plan. After all this, the position of the Minister of War was already waved to him.

His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's dissatisfaction with the current Minister of War Zhou Tai, in his conversation with him, showed no hidden instructions.

Until the attack on Gong County, Xu Jie had been smooth sailing. The Taiping Army, who was rumored to be good at fighting, was not so bad. Of course, this was probably because the so-called Hanshan Camp in front of him was adapted from the soldiers of the Qianshuntian Army, but so what? The main force of the Taiping Army has now reached Yongping County. As long as he takes down this last stumbling block, his tens of thousands of troops can rush into the territory controlled by the Taiping Army and be unscrupulous.

But when he arrived in Gong County, the Taiping Army Hanshan Camp, which had just left at the touch, seemed to have changed overnight. He fought for several days and suffered heavy losses. He did not even climb up the city of Gong County, a small county town.

The five thousand soldiers of the Shanshan Camp, like iron arms, stood in front of him.

Of course, Xu Jie has some real skills to be a member of the Ministry of War. The strong resistance of the Taiping Army was as expected by him. If this army was defeated, the Taiping Army would no longer be able to defend their base camp and naturally would have to fight to the death. However, even if he had ten times the strength of his opponent, he could have worn down his opponent. I believe that when news of the destruction of most of the Taiping Army in Yongping Army came, the resistance will of the opponent in front of him would also be frozen and disintegrated.

So, he was not in a hurry.

This is a big game, and he is one of the few people who know the trend of this big game. This makes him seem confident.

He was not in a hurry, and Dazhu, the leader of the Hanshan Camp opposite him, was naturally happy to see him. Like Xu Jie, he was waiting for good news from Zhongping County to come. He was not fighting alone. Liu Xingwen's five thousand city gate troops in Xingyang County were also coming to him. It was estimated that when Liu Xingwen arrived, it was time for the entire army to start a large counterattack.

The Taiping Army has never been a single military operation. While preparing closely for military preparations, another important figure in the Eagle Nest, Tian Zhen, had secretly sneaked into Zhengyang County.

Tian Zhen used to be the head of the Eagle Nest. With Guo Jiuling joining the Eagle Nest, his position has retreated to second place, but if we talk about real power, he will be third place, because Qin Feng's confidant is responsible for all field affairs, and he has far more resources than him.

This time, Qianmian was responsible for the affairs of Yuejing City, and Zhengyang County was handed over to Tian Zhen, which also gave Tian Zhen a chance to show his skills and show his value to Qin Feng, which was what he urgently hoped to do. With the expansion of the Taiping Army step by step, the five Shayang people seemed to be more prosperous, but in the entire Taiping Army structure, the original seating times were changing silently. The Liu family was on a downward path, and the Chen family was rising step by step. This is something that even a blind man could see. He naturally hoped that the Tian family could go to the next level and make greater contributions and make his position more stable, which was the foundation for ensuring the Tian family's success. Didn't you see that Old Man Liu, regardless of age and secret injuries to the Liu family, even went with the army with a cane in order to fight.

Liu Xingwen's city gate army was re-employed this time, which is not unrelated to Old Man Liu's actions.
Chapter completed!