While Zhang Xutuo's army was attacking Qinghe County in full swing, debates broke out within the Wagang Army as well. One faction was led by Zhai Hong and strongly advocated march eastward, while the other faction was dominated by Xu Shiji and advocated continuing to keep a low profile and not becoming the main target of the Sui Army. ⊙,

However, the senior executives of the Wagang Army knew that Xu Shiji's claim was actually General Li Er's attitude. However, General Li Er has become very low-key in the past two months and rarely directly participates in the decision-making of the Wagang Army. Instead, he is invisible behind the scenes and pushes Xu Shiji and Wei Zheng who support him to the forefront.

In the room, Xu Shiji frowned and said, "Zhai Hong is very strange recently. He has always opposed eastward expansion, but this time he has been trying hard to expand eastward. His attitude is very firm. I really can't figure it out."

Li Jiancheng sneered, "Is there someone behind him instructing him?"

Wei Zheng next to him nodded, "Young Master may have made the decision."

Xu Shiji raised his eyebrows, "Old Taoist, how do you say this?"

Wei Zheng said calmly: "Two days ago, I got a news that someone went up the mountain to visit Zhai Hong, but he did not leave after going up the mountain. This person seemed very mysterious. He sat up the mountain in a curtain and carriage. No one had seen what this person looked like."

Li Jiancheng became a little worried, and he asked again: "How much support is Zhai Hong at present?"

Xu Shiji sighed, "Most of the generals of the Wagang Army come from Shandong, such as Hao Xiaode, Meng Rang and others. Zhai Hong has received great support in the military, and even Shan Xiongxin supports him. In comparison, our support is much smaller, but I think the key is still to look at General Zhai's attitude, after all, he is the Lord of Wagang."

Li Jiancheng didn't say anything. Since the change of the leader of Wuchuan Mansion, he felt that Zhai Rang's attitude towards him was a little cold. Of course, Li Jiancheng also knew the reason, because Zhai Rang knew his true identity, the Dou family was suppressed, and his backstage was weakened. Zhai Rang was also indifferent to him. Li Jiancheng also tried not to oppose Zhai Rang's decision, so as not to have conflicts between the two.

But this time Li Jiancheng did not want to give in. The expansion of the Wagang army to the east was not in line with the strategic interests of the Guanlong nobles. He hoped that the Wagang army would expand in the direction of Hanoi County. He prepared to enter Bingzhou and respond to his father.

None of the three of them spoke. At this time, someone outside the door reported: "Second General, General Zhai is invited!"

Li Jiancheng and the other two looked at each other. Wei Zheng said slowly: "I'm afraid there's something to say."

Li Jiancheng came to Zhai Rang's study room. When he walked to the door, he saw two strong guards Zhai Hong. The two guards were nearly seven feet tall, like giants. Wherever Zhai Hong went, they would follow him. Seeing these two people, they knew that Zhai Hong was also here. Li Jiancheng sighed in his heart, and it seemed that Wei Zheng had guessed it.

He was led into the inner hall by the guards, and saw the Zhai brothers chatting and laughing. Zhai Hong's face immediately became gloomy when he saw Li Jiancheng, and he snorted heavily, and turned his head over.

Zhai Rangze stood up with a smile and greeted him, "I haven't seen my brother for a while. What are you busy with recently?"

Li Jiancheng already understood Zhai Rang's scheming. Zhai Rang was actually ridiculing himself and let Xu Shiji stand up. He was not upset and said with a faint smile: "I went out recently. I mainly went to the south to learn about the defense of the Sui army in the south, and prepare for our next step of expansion to the south."

Zhai Rang's face showed a look of embarrassment, and he laughed dryly. "My brother, please sit down and talk!"

Li Jiancheng was not polite, and walked into the hall to sit down. Zhai Hong was opposite him. Li Jiancheng smiled slightly, and Zhai Hong still had a gloomy face and ignored him.

Li Jiancheng left Wagang Mountain some time ago. But it was not what he said to go to the south to investigate, but because Zhai Rang knew his true identity, Wuchuan Mansion changed its leader, and Dou Qing and his group were suppressed. Will Zhai Rang betray him to the Yuan family?

But the final result was that Yuan Yong did not come to Wagang, which meant that Zhai Rang was not willing to defect to the Yuan family, which allowed Li Jiancheng to touch Zhai Rang's bottom line. He was not willing to be completely swallowed by Wuchuan Mansion. He had to seek refuge in Wuchuan Mansion, but also had to maintain a certain distance.

At this time, Zhai Rang also sat down and said to Li Jiancheng: "The generals of Wagang have requested to expand eastward in the past two days and petition me every day. Brother, I am under a lot of pressure!"

Zhai Rang's implication is that he is ready to give in, but not his personal intention, but the unanimous request of the generals of Wagang.

Li Jiancheng had a solution in his mind. He pondered for a while and asked, "Why must the general expand eastward?"

Zhai Hong was about to take off, but Zhai Rang waved his hand to stop him and said calmly: "The reason I considered expanding eastward is because there was a rare opportunity in the east. Zhang Xutuo led his army to attack Qinghe County, and Jibei County was empty. If we can take Jibei County, then Dongping County and Jiyin County can also be wiped out in one go, so that we have the territory of four counties, centered on Juyeze, can attack and defend when advancing. What do you think?"

"If attacking Jibei County will make the world mistakenly think that the general has formed an alliance with Zhang Jin. I am worried that it will affect the general's reputation."

Zhai Rang sneered coldly, "Everyone is a gangster, and you can laugh at it for fifty steps, what reputation can you say!"

After a while, Li Jiancheng sighed softly, "If the general must attack Jibei County, I have nothing to say, but I hope that while the general attacks Jibei County, it is best to inject a wedge north of the Yellow River to prepare for the future attack on Liyangcang."

Zhai Rang was acceptable to this plan. His face was slightly relaxed and he asked with a smile: "Where is the best place to hit the wedge?"

"I'm considering laying this wedge in Xinxiang County."

Xinxiang County is located between Ji County and Hanoi County, and its geographical location is very important. Zhai Rang nodded, "Okay! Let me think about it."

Zhai Hong next to him didn't say anything. As long as the second general didn't stop his plan to expand eastward, he didn't care about a small Xinxiang County.

Zhai Hong returned to his residence, and he kept walking towards the back house and said to the two tough guards: "Prevent at the door, no one is allowed to come in!"

He quickly walked into the back house and walked directly into a yard where four sword guards stood. They watched Zhai Hong come in with vigilance, as if they had no idea that Zhai Hong was the owner of the house.

Zhai Hong changed his indifferent attitude and smiled and said, "Are you here, madam?"

"Madam is here, General, please come in!"

A guard opened the door of the outer room, and Zhai Hong walked in quickly. The room was decorated very luxuriously, filled with a faint warm fragrance. A brazier was placed in the middle. The charcoal in the basin was burning vigorously, making the room very warm. On the soft couch next to the brazier, a woman dressed in charm was lazily lying on the soft couch next to the brazier, which was Gao Hui, the vice president of the Bohai Association.

Gao Hui had had contact with the Wagang Army more than once as Yang Xuangan rebelled. The intermediary she contacted with Zhai Rang was Zhai Hong. Zhai Hong tried his best to push the Wagang Army to join the Bohai Association, but because the conditions offered by the Bohai Association were too harsh, Zhai Rang finally decided to join the Wuchuan Prefecture, which was also winning over him.

However, the Bohai Association has never given up its fight for the Wagang Army. Gao Hui has always kept in touch with Zhai Hong in secret, which is one of the main reasons why Zhai Hong hated Li Jiancheng. Li Jiancheng represents the interests of the Guanlong nobles. Another reason for hatred is that Li Jiancheng took away his power.

This time, Zhai Hong suddenly vigorously promoted the eastward expansion of the Wagang Army, which was actually Gao Hui's instruction behind the scenes.

As the plenipotent representative of the Bohai Association, Gao Hui of course hopes that the Wagang Army will expand eastward, gradually break away from the control of the Guanlong nobles, and turn to the Bohai Association. If Dou Jiande and Luo Yi represent the interests of the Bohai Association in Hebei, then the Wagang Army is an important pawn for the Bohai Association to expand to the Central Plains.

The Bohai Association is very clear about the power struggle within the Wuchuan Prefecture, so at the critical moment of changing the head coach, he attacked the Wagang Army. The eastward expansion of the Wagang Army is a key part of the Bohai Association's entire plan.

However, Gao Hui asked the Wagang army to attack Jibei County, which was more or less her personal emotion. Zhang Xutuo's refusal to her and Zhang Xuan's teasing of her made her feel full of hatred for these two people. Therefore, taking advantage of Zhang Xutuo's opportunity to attack Qinghe County in the north, Gao Hui began to lobby the Wagang army to attack Jibei County.

Gao Hui looked at Zhai Hong eagerly, "How is it, did your brother agree?"

Zhai Hong was quite afraid of Gao Hui. Although he had some relationship with Gao Hui, he still did not dare to be rude to her. He replied respectfully: "Madam Qi, my brother has agreed to send troops to attack Jibei County, and he will lead the army to the expedition in person."

"Beautiful!" Gao Hui sat up suddenly and praised without hesitation.

Zhai Hong was flattered and quickly smiled and said, "This is the correct plan for the wife. I mobilized the generals to persuade my brother in turn, and he finally agreed."

"You don't understand this!"

Gao Hui's slender eyes narrowed into a slit and sneered, "Your brother was shaken not because of the persuasion of the general, but because Yuan Min wanted to swallow the Wagang army, which made him wary of Wuchuan Mansion. So he wanted to place bets on both sides while continuing to rely on Wuchuan Mansion, but at the same time he would be flirting with Bohai. I think he should know that I am with you, right?"

Zhai Hong nodded, "He knew that his wife was with me, but he said it was not convenient to see her for the time being, so he would look for another opportunity next time."

"I'm not in a hurry! But I want to know, when will your brother be planning to send troops to Jibei County?"

Zhai Hong smiled proudly, "Just as the wife hoped, I will send troops tomorrow!"

.........
Chapter completed!