Bian Hao didn't know why the situation had come to this point, but it has to be said that the current Wu Kingdom is very different from the Wu Kingdom when Yang Pu was in charge a year or two ago.

Is it because of Yang Pu? Obviously not.

It’s not because he is Li Bing’s confidant general, but because it is the fact that no one can deny that Yang Pu has done so many years in power? He is arrogant and extravagant, eats and hunts all day long, and does not think about the country’s politics. What qualifications are such a lord to be the master?

But even with Yang Pu's example, the Wu State's power continued to decline. Instead, the lord got the throne and ended up in such a situation, which made everyone at the moment confused.

Bian Hao and Feng Yansi talked and concluded that the time was no longer in Wu. In the case of Yang, the invasion of the ant thief and the rise of Huaiyou in the west was a huge blow to the Wu Kingdom.

The ant thieves were still striking, and Lu, Hao, and Chu were taken away by Huaiyou. Although Hezhou was still nominally in the hands of the State of Wu, if Xuzhou wanted to take Hezhou, Bian Hao knew that Wu would not have the power to stop it. In fact, the gentry of Hezhou had already handed over the surrender to Xuzhou.

The loss of the four prefectures of Lu, Hao, He and Chu cannot be said to be a major damage to the vitality, but it can also be said to be a damage to the muscles and bones. Although Chu, Yang, Run, Chang, but Lu, Hao, He and Chu are the granary of the Wu Kingdom.

Once these four prefectures were lost, the four prefectures, including narrow and densely populated areas, Chu, Yang, Run and Chang, were almost struggling with food. It turned out that the Wu State had always been a major grain transporter, but the Chu and Yang states, especially Chuzhou, were ruined by ant thieves last year. They have not recovered their vitality so far, and they are not enough to protect themselves. Only Run and Chang states are left, and they can only barely maintain local needs. Moreover, they have been raided and plundered by ant thieves for so many years. They started to use food storage last year. This year, they are like this. I am afraid they have to transport it from outside.

Where did the food come from? Huaiyou's food is abundant, but under Xuzhou's control, they all have to be transported to the north. Jiang Feng, who annexed the Pinglu Town of Yanyunyi and Yi, probably has to be busy with the people's livelihood in these states, otherwise a large number of refugees who went south would have to submerge him.

Yue Guo? I'm afraid Qian Yuanguan has to tighten his grain bags and hesitate to sell them to increase the price.

Thinking of this, Bian Hao felt a headache. This should not be a problem he considered, but a headache for the lords of the Zhengshi Hall, but he had to consider the impact of the lack of food on the morale of the army.

While thinking, Li Bing, who was standing on the bow of the boat, had turned around and said, "Kang Le, the ant thief retreated, what should I do?"

"If you retreat but don't leave, the ant thief will probably still linger in Yanling. If you don't empty Yanling, the ant thief will not be satisfied." Bian Hao's eyes also became a little colder, "You might as well let Xizai go south from Jiangning, come out of Jurong, and insert his way out."

"Hmph, can people feel relieved over Jurong?" Li Bing snorted, "I'm afraid that the ant thief will know before Jurong."

Bian Hao is not easy to answer this question, and Jurong is unstable and Li Bing knows the same, but he can't find a way to solve it for a while.

After sighing softly, Bian Hao felt that he might have to make a decision on the situation here. If this problem is not solved as soon as possible, the problem of insufficient food alone will be enough to put Wu in trouble. This has not yet been discussed with the problem of Yue in the east.

"King, in my opinion, the director of our army, in this battle, just fits the thoughts of ant thief. Wen Zhen is stationed in Chuzhou, so it is better to draw some elite troops south, gather Yangzhou troops, plow the ground and sweep the caves and go straight to Xuanzhou, and completely solve the problem of ant thief."

Bian Hao has actually suggested this many times, but Li Bing has always been unable to make up his mind. Of course, there are many reasons. First, Jiang Feng in the north is becoming increasingly powerful, which puts great pressure on both Chu and Yang prefectures. He had to distribute a force to let Xu Wenzhen lead troops to station in Chuzhou, which greatly weakened the power of fighting against ant thieves here. In addition, the attitude of Yue in the east is always ambiguous, which greatly restrained the Wu army.

Just like in fighting against ant thieves, Li Bing repeatedly proposed to Qian Yuanguan to fight together, jointly sent troops to invade Xuanzhou, and proposed the opinion that Xuanzhou would return to Wu, while Shezhou and Muzhou would return to Yue, but Qian Yuanguan never argued. In dealing with ant thieves, the Wu and Yue families also performed their own ways.

There are many reasons, but one of the most critical factors is that Qian Yuanguan has always coveted the Runchang and the other states, and he has always wanted to let the ant thief consume the power of the Wu Kingdom. He intends to benefit from this fisherman.

Bian Hao also knew that if the troops from Chu and Yang states were drawn to the south, the north would be quite empty. But if the threat of ant thief was not solved in one fell swoop, and if he would drag it on like this, he would probably really have to delay something big. He would really go to Xuzhou to rescue his troops and send troops south. Even if Xu Wenzhen led his troops to guard the two Chu and Yang states, could they resist it? It would probably be a battle of the whole country of Wu.

Now Xuzhou is busy digesting the prefectures of Pinglu, Yanyun and Yi, and the Shatuo people invaded the Central Plains, which will also restrain Xuzhou's movements. Caizhou is also incompatible with Xuzhou, which is probably the best opportunity.

"Kang Le, Wen Zhen brings troops here, are we sure to wipe out the ant thief in one fell swoop?" Li Bing's face was also gloomy. This was too important for him. If he was careless, he might lose everything. He might not be a rich man like Yang Pu.

Bian Hao shook his head and gritted his teeth, "I'm afraid it's not enough, but we can ask Lord Feng to go to Jiangzhou to send troops from the west, hand over the western part of Xuanzhou to the Zhong family, and break it down with Jingxian, and hand over the Zhide, Qiupu, Shida, Taiping and Jingde to them in the west!"

"Ah?! All the five eastern counties are handed over to them? Where are Megan Jian and Tong Guanye?" Li Bing's face twisted with heartache.

Although the ant thief caused great trouble to the Wu Kingdom, from another perspective, the ant thief did not bring any benefits, that is, the Qiu family in Xuanzhou was completely finished. As long as such a large prefecture and county can defeat the ant thief, it can fall into the hands of the Wu Kingdom. Xuanzhou, which has a bronze official, is a treasure pot. Now Bian Hao actually proposed to hand over all the five western counties of Xuanzhou to the Zhong family, which made Li Bing not heartbroken.

In Bian Hao's opinion, there is no need to be stingy about the things you haven't gotten. The essence of the twelve counties in Xuanzhou is in the seven eastern counties. Even if you really hand over the bronze officials to the Da Zhong family, it's nothing. As long as the situation recovers, you can completely regain it. The key now is to let the Da Zhong family send troops from the west to restrain the ant thieves.

The Zhong family still has some strength, and can still be easily drawn out for 20,000 or 30,000 troops. As long as they advance from Raozhou or Jiangzhou eastward, even if it is just a hindrance, it can distract the ant thief a lot and greatly reduce the pressure on the Wu Kingdom.

"I'm afraid that the Zhong family will not be willing to send troops to the Zhennan Army." Li Bing sighed.

Zhennan Jun is the Xiao Zhong family, and the relationship with the Da Zhong family is as strong as water and fire. If there is an opportunity to take advantage of it, I will definitely not let it go.

"King, we only need the Da Zhong family to send troops. The number of troops does not matter. As long as they send troops, they can distract the ant thief." Bian Hao pondered for a moment, "It's really not possible. Send someone to go to Tanyue and give some gifts. I heard that the Ma family has a son, and the King can choose the two princesses, Yushan or Jianchang, to marry the Ma family."

Bian Hao's suggestion made Li Bing a little moved. If he married the Ma family and asked the Ma family to send troops to restrain the Xiao Zhong family, then the Zhong family could be relieved to send troops to Xuanzhou boldly.

"This matter is very important, I will consider it again." Li Bing hesitated for a moment.

"King, this matter has been settled early. My subordinates always feel that the north is the most threat. If they don't take advantage of Jiang Feng being restrained in the Central Plains to solve the ant thief, once the situation in the Central Plains stabilizes, the two states of Chu and Yang will be in danger." Bian Hao was a little anxious, "In addition, Qian Yuanyuan has ulterior motives, so he must be careful."

"I know." Li Bing nodded. Indeed, Yue Kingdom in the east is also a hidden danger and has to be considered.

************************

On the other side of the canal, Masu's eyes also lingered on the warships on the river.

The strong horse under her crotch exhaled impatiently, and Masu lifted up the copper mask on her face with a net pattern, her eyes were like a falcon, and the thick all-steel horse spear in her hand was like an ordinary wooden gun in her hand.

This is a real pure steel horse lance. The whole body is made of iron mixed with wuz steel. At the same time, magic is used to compress it during the forging process, so that its weight remains unabated. However, the gun body has been reduced a lot, but its power is doubled.

The full moon scimitar hidden in the knife bag on his waist showed half of the hilt. When Masu clamped the horse's belly, the strong horse began to walk westward, and dozens of riders who followed also began to follow.

He sighed softly, and a breath of turbid air was highlighted. The terrifyingly plump chest rippled slightly with the undulating horse back. One or two branches of brown-red hair stretched out from the helmet, giving the heroic and strong body a little more charm.

Damn Wu's army relied on the navy on the canal to come and go freely, which made the Yan army unable to surround it. Didn't Han Baling say that there was a navy help? Why did he never see it?

In fact, Masu also knew that the relationship between Han Baling and Quan Shuai was already in a state of harmony and separation. In the past month, Quan Shuai asked Han Baling to discuss matters in Lishui as an example. Even Qin Heng was a guarantee, he was flatly rejected by Han Baling, and even Han Bale did not come. This was unimaginable in the past.

However, in Masu's eyes, it is easy to deal with the bandits Han Baling, which is the bandits. As long as the General Quan authorizes her, as long as the army of 30,000, she can sweep Han Baling's entire army, or hand over this task to Qin He, and the battle can be resolved within one month.

But Quan Shuai never paid attention to the suggestions of the people below, and she didn't understand them either, but she didn't want to think too much. That was something Quan Shuai and the others were considering. Now she wanted to find the main force of the Wu army, kill for a while, and vent her anger about traveling around for so long. And robbing and burning and killing like that is meaningless to Masu. It was all done by a group of servants. As a warrior, she disdains to do such despicable things.
Chapter completed!