The latest capital of Jie Kingdom, Xindu, was the palace where Jie Lord Shihu operated the government of Youyan and Daibei affairs several years ago. As the power of the southern country became increasingly prosperous, especially last year, crossed the Yellow River to explore the southern Hebei region, which caused the foundation of Jie Kingdom's rule in southern Hebei to collapse. Xindu became the new capital of Jie Kingdom, which was just right.

In fact, after seeing the Southern Kings Division's rapid advancement this year, many subjects from Jie Kingdom who were pessimistic about the future of the country already felt that even the letter seemed to be unsafe, and Boling and even Zhongshan in the rear should be a better choice.

However, people who hold such opinions only dare to communicate in private and dare not publicize them in public. Because the letter of departure is already the limit of the patience of the Jie Lord Shi Hu. He is powerful for life and has rarely compromised and concessions, and at least he has always shown himself in this way.

However, due to the great defeat in southern Hebei last year, especially the fall of Xiangguo, the country was turbulent and its power was insufficient to integrate, and it had to take a step back. However, it did not mean that Shi Hu was willing to give up Hebei's hegemony. The reason why he chose Xindu, a city that could not be called absolutely safe, was to accumulate strength and fight back!

Of course, Shi Hu's true intentions are really hard to tell, at least the attitude he showed was exactly like this. After arriving in Xindu, he acted as if he was determined to endure humiliation and be determined to take revenge, and he sent all the soldiers who could fight in the surrounding counties and states, and gathered around this capital, preparing for war, and striving to defeat the army that advanced north in the south.

In the past year, the Xindu area has undergone earth-shaking changes, with the biggest change being the increase in the population. Since last year's decision to move the capital, Shihu has ordered the surrounding cities and suburban people to move to Xindu on a large scale. At the same time, people in several counties in northern Hebei are also continuously recruiting them.

As winter approaches this year, more than 100,000 households have gathered around Xindu, and the number of reorganized soldiers has exceeded 200,000.

So many military and civilians gather in this place, the original Xindu city was naturally not enough to accommodate it. However, the geographical situation where Xindu is located is quite similar to that of Xiangguo. They are all flat, and the military and civilians that cannot be accommodated in the city are placed on the vast field, making many camps outside the city, the shacks where the forts and the people gathered are stacked like lotus leaves, and within a radius of dozens of miles, there is almost no idle soil!

The failure of southern Hebei brought heavy damage to the national strength of Jie Kingdom, especially the large number of veteran soldiers who died in battle, and the losses were so great that they caught up with the defeat of Shihu in the southern expedition of Jie Kingdom. In particular, the several great victories of the Jin army demonstrated that the king's army could not match its combat effectiveness in this world, and even though Dexindu had a large army gathered, the generals still did not dare to talk about military affairs lightly.

Putting aside the original armored soldiers in Jie Kingdom, in the past year, the Jie Lord Shi Hu Yu Xindu reorganized tens of thousands of soldiers. Almost all young and strong laborers in Youji were enlisted in the army, and of course, it did not include the population of living beings protected by the local tyrants.

Although Shi Hu was still strong, the current predicament forced him to make some concessions to the local tyrants. The southern country pressed step by step, and he was determined to counterattack, and he had no energy to attack those rural families who were protecting themselves. If the force was too much and inspire large-scale civil unrest, it would be enough to cause the already precarious national situation to fall apart!

These tens of thousands of newly formed armored groups were divided into six armies by Shi Hu, and were led by six generals. The so-called six armies of the emperor are the leaders, guards, left and right guards, cavalry, guerrillas, and the six armies each led 20,000 soldiers. This is the so-called six outer armies. Corresponding to this are the six inner armies, chariots, cavalry, central army, military guards, Longxiang, and Longteng, each of which is 12,000.

The six outer armies were divided into various places outside the capital, and there was no order to enter. The six inner armies were personally led by the Jie master Shi Hu to garrison the city. In addition to the 200,000 internal and external armies, there are still people from King Zhangwu Shi Bin, Governor of Youzhou Zhang Ju, Sikong Li Nong and other people. If Shi Kun, the king of Wu'an of Xiangguo, would still have tens of thousands of soldiers.

If we put aside the quality and combat effectiveness of the army, the Jie Kingdom still has nearly 400,000 troops. In addition, the various powerful and powerful people who depend on Jie Kingdom and the righteous people, this number is even more exaggerated, far exceeding 500,000 soldiers. It is precisely because of this that although the current power of Jie Kingdom is declining, it still gives people a sense of being able to compete.

Now the surrounding area of ​​Xindu is crowded, and in order to prepare for war, the city has not been expanded on a large scale. With this limited space in the city, only the real important officials and powerful people in the country can have a seat, and the others can only stay in the countryside.

Located in the northeast of the city, there is a grand mansion. It was originally the palace where the Jie Lord Shi Hu lived here in the old year. However, after Shi Hu officially ascended the throne and became emperor, this palace naturally could not match the emperor's dignity and chose a place to build another palace. As for the vacant palace, it was not idle, but divided into large and small areas and rewarded to the important civil and military officials that the Jie Lord Shi Hu valued.

The residence of Zhang Chai, the general of the army, is located in this original palace, and it occupies nearly a quarter of the scale of the palace, and even far exceeds the residence of the prince Shi Jian, Shi Bao and others, which shows the honor of honor. In addition to being the general of the army, Zhang Chai also serves as the attendant, entering and leaving the palace garden, and following the left and right.

But even though he enjoyed such an honor, Zhang Chai himself was not very excited. His so-called position as a general of the army was neither in charge of the defense of the six outer armies nor in charge of the six inner armies in the city. There was no practical benefit except for the train in front of him. After serving as the Shizhong, he was named as a member of the army, but in fact he was restrained and was even more uneasy.

In the twelfth lunar month, Zhang Chai's youngest son died young and was unable to overcome his sorrow, so he was able to return home to mourn for a few days.

Although Zhang Chai has been under vanity, he seems to be a veteran and important official who is trusted and valued by the Lord. Therefore, after learning that he returned home, there were endless visitors.

Among these visitors who were entering and leaving, several of them did not go straight to the front hall to wait for reception after entering the mansion, but were led by the Zhang family around the central hall and went straight to the inner courtyard.

In an inconspicuous warm pavilion in the inner courtyard, Zhang Chai was in it, and there was not much sadness on his face. He looked up and saw several people walking in, and asked, "Is the matter done?"

Several people stepped forward to salute and bowed their heads and said, "The thieves have been executed outside Fucheng, but there are many camps and garrisons, and it will take some time to clear them. The city ban is very strict, and the thief's heads dare not bring them into the city..."

While speaking, a man walked forward and took out the talismans representing Ma Qiu's official title from his arms and put them out one by one.

Zhang Chai raised his hand to take these talisman orders, observed carefully for a moment, and threw them on the case casually, frowned and cursed: "The dog thief was defeated by the famous name. The war was so ruined that he still had the face to return home? Could it be that he thought that he would have committed such a serious crime and that the Lord could spare his life?"

After a pause, he said: "In addition to banning the news of the West and East, you should also carefully investigate the news about Xiangguo, especially Zhang Hedu's life and death. Alas, this fool had promised me earlier that he would be able to lead tens of thousands of veterans back to Xiangguo, but in the end, Xiangguo was captured so easily! If I had known that his talent was so unbearable, I would not have dared to force him to stay in Xiangguo before the Lord!"

These people were all loyal subordinates under Zhang Chai’s long-standing loyalty. After hearing this, they responded respectfully. One of them said: “There are tens of thousands of guards in Xiangguo, and it is believed that the Jin army will not easily encircle and annihilate. Now that the city has been lost, the thieves fleeing into the country, but Zhang Hedu has no news, just because he has surrendered to Jin. It will cause trouble to the Lord. Will he wait for an opportunity to kill him?”

After hearing this, Zhang Chai shook his head and sneered: "The people in the country are now distorted, so it is a rare choice to join Jin. If he can really establish the Jin court, if there is another change in the next year, it may be a helping force."

Afterwards, Zhang Chai asked about the latest situation outside the city, and then said to several people: "The Lord may not allow me to stay outside the garden for a long time. If there is any secret matter to be conveyed in the future, you can tell Goro directly. I will soon know what instructions I have, and Goro will convey to you."

After a few people withdrew, Zhang Chai instructed his family to close the door and not let idle people harass them like this. He would write down at his desk and plan for gains and losses.

In the past year, the Jie Lord Shi Hu's defense against Zhang Chai has become more and more obvious, but it has not completely suppressed all Zhang Chai's power. In other words, it is precisely because Zhang Chai's power is too strong that he has attracted the guardianship from the Jie Lord.

On the surface, although Zhang Chai no longer commanded the people in the country, the private soldiers he owned were tens of thousands. Especially many powerful portals that were originally moved to Xindu between Guangping and Julu, most of them were dependent on Zhang Chai.

Although Zhang Chai's power was suppressed, Shi Hu could not completely ignore the appeal he had among the powerful Jin people, and still accepted his clan's brother Zhang Li as the right guard general of the six outer armies. At the same time, General Longxiang Liu Zhu, among the six inner armies, was also in-laws with Zhang Chai.

In addition, there are many middle-level generals and commanders in the 12 internal and external armies, either for the disciples of Zhang or for his kindness, which have long been intertwined into a dense net. Although Zhang Zhai himself was detained in the garden most of the time, it did not hinder the activities of his forces.

For example, this time, when Ma Qiu was intercepted and killed, he sent to Xiangguo, he had Zhang Chai's confidant. When he learned that such a big change had occurred in Xiangguo, he hurriedly reported Zhang Chai. Zhang Chai also responded that he was quick-minded. Taking advantage of the convenience of being with the emperor, he first blocked several channels into the garden, and secretly ordered his family to poison the young son. He got this opportunity to leave the forbidden garden and personally arranged the interception against Ma Qiu.
Chapter completed!