Zhao Tai stroked his beard. Li Fen was quite powerful in Shandong, and the remnants of the Red Coat Army were also very influential in Shandong.

If Li Fen can be forced to rebel, Zhao Tai may be able to seize the opportunity to enter Shandong.

This is indeed a good place. There are many ports. Not only can we obtain fish and salt resources from the sea, but we can also use them for overseas trade. Even if we can't win, we can still hide on the island and survive. It can be said that there are many benefits.

At that time, the State of Qi relied on the power of Shandong's fishery and salt to dominate the Central Plains. If Zhao Tai got this place and managed it well, he would definitely achieve great things.

Now the Mongolian troops in Shandong are actually not many, but Zhao Tai dare not touch them.

Because even if he can capture Shandong, it will be difficult to hold it when the Mongolian army moves south.

To the northeast of Shandong is Hebei, which is a vast plain. He had just occupied Shandong with his front foot, and hundreds of thousands of Mongolian troops were pressing behind him. He could not stand at all.

In this way, he could only retreat to the south of the Yellow River again.

After establishing a foothold in Suining, Zhao Tai's next goal is Shandong.

This problem troubled Zhao Tai very much. After thinking about it, he only had a rough strategy.

After capturing Shandong, if you want to gain a firm foothold and prevent the Mongols from counterattacking, you can have your army enter the Yimeng Mountains to establish a stronghold, and at the same time set up camps on the islands along the coast of Shandong.

In this way, if the Mongols counterattack, he can defend the mountains and islands, preventing the Mongols' cavalry advantage from being used.

The Mongolian army has trouble attacking mountains and has no way to seize islands. If it is stationed for a long time, it consumes military supplies. In the long run, it will inevitably run out of food and retreat.

Now the Mongolian Empire mainly focuses on plundering and has not established a complete logistics system. They cannot keep their army in Shandong for a long time. Over time, they can only withdraw north.

However, to achieve this, it is necessary to reserve enough food in the villages and islands.

The islands can rely on shipping for supplies, but the Yimeng mountainous area must rely on the support of the people of Shandong.

The reputation of the Jin Kingdom was not good in the north, and uprisings continued uninterrupted in the Shandong area under their rule.

If Zhao Tai entered Shandong as a member of the Jin Army, it would be difficult to gain support from the local people.

Yang Miaozhen and Li Fen have been entrenched in Shandong for many years and have some reputation among the people of Shandong. If they can be instigated to rebel, then the plan to invade Shandong may be realized.

Zhao Tai came to Haizhou this time. In addition to inspecting whaling, he also had another purpose, which was to explore the coastline of Shandong to see if he could seize Shandong via land and sea cooperation.

At this time, he observed for a while, and then told Sun Li: "Wait a moment, you ask Li Zhongquan to come over, I have something to tell him!"

Sun Li nodded, "My lord, please go and have a rest. I'll inform Li Zhongquan!"

At that moment, Zhao Tai left the dock, came to Donghai Town, and moved into the house arranged by Sun Li.

At this time, he had just eaten something when Li Zhongquan came to Zhao Tai and said, "Mr.

Zhao Tai asked him to sit down, "Zhong Quan, you once served under Li Fen. I have something I want you to go to. Are you willing?"

Li Zhongquan just sat down and stood up again, "My lord, just give me your orders!"

Zhao Tai smiled and said: "You don't need to be nervous! I saw what happened just now. Li Jun in Haizhou really has no intention of fighting, and I don't want to fight with Li Fen. So I want to send you to Yidu with my letter.

Meet Li Fen and reach a secret peace agreement with him. Wouldn’t it be nice for both of us to maintain a tacit understanding and do business?”

After hearing what Zhao Tai said, Li Zhongquan's eyes lit up. He had always thought that fighting was boring, so it would be better to make money together.

He was captured in Haizhou and had relatives in Yidu. If he could persuade Li Fen and Zhao Xianggong to negotiate a peace secretly, it would be of great benefit to him.

Li Zhongquan immediately clasped his fists and said, "If you trust me, I am willing to go!"

Zhao Tai nodded with satisfaction, "I'll write the letter and you can leave tomorrow!"

At that moment, Zhao Tai moved over, wrote a letter full of typos, put it in an envelope, and handed it to Li Zhongquan.

Li Zhongquan took the letter, and Zhao Tai looked at his back with a slightly meaningful smile.

That night, Zhao Tai called his adopted sons to his side and taught them a literacy class for an hour. Everyone was going to have a rest, but Zhao Tai stayed behind.

Zhao Tai glanced at everyone. He had not gotten along with these adopted sons for a short time, but they were the group of people Zhao Tai trusted the most.

This is not to say that Zhao Tai treated them well by accepting them as adopted sons, but that Zhao Tai conducted political censorship when he accepted them.

These adopted sons have two characteristics: first, they have no one at home, and second, they have family members who died at the hands of the Mongols.

Now that Zhao Tai has certain strength, in order to know the current situation in the world and understand the situation in Shandong, he needs some eyes and ears.

He has long wanted to establish an intelligence system to systematically collect intelligence, conduct espionage, instigate rebellion, undercover and other matters, but there has never been a suitable candidate.

Because this intelligence system is related to whether the decisions made by Zhao Tai are correct, it must be handed over to reliable people.

If a traitor appears in the intelligence system, Zhao Tai will definitely suffer a fatal blow.

If Zhao Tai was born and raised, with relatives, relatives, and playmates who grew up together, things would be easier to solve.

But Zhao Tai didn't, so although he had ideas, he didn't put them into practice.

At this time, Zhao Tai already had some informants, but there was no organization to manage them.

At this time, Zhao Tai glanced at these adopted sons. They had not been with him for a long time, but Zhao Tai observed that they all seemed relatively reliable, but they were a little younger and did not have much experience.

Zhao Tai glanced at everyone and landed on the oldest Zhao Hu and Zhao Gui, "I will give you two a task."

"My lord, please give me your instructions." The two men quickly stood up and saluted.

Zhao Taidao: "I want to establish a Jinyi Guard, and you two will serve as the chief and deputy envoys, responsible for helping me collect intelligence and spy on military intelligence!"

Zhao Hu and Zhao Gui looked at each other, with a trace of confusion in their eyes, obviously not understanding this mission.

Zhao Tai had no intention of letting the two young men establish a powerful Jin Yiwei immediately. He waved the rest of the people to retreat, and then said to the two of them: "I will tell you slowly in the future what the Jin Yiwei will do.

Now you finish one thing first, Zhao Gui, go to Yidu, meet a man named Yang You, give him this letter, and then bring his letter to me!"

Zhao Tai did not tell Li Zhongquan that he had placed Yang You as a chess piece next to Li Fen.

Li Zhongquan didn't know that there was someone from Zhao Tai around Li Fen. If he was duplicitous, Yang You would notice him.

Zhao Tai's task for Zhao Gui was very simple, which was to ask Yang You to pay attention to Li Zhongquan, and then help Li Zhongquan persuade Li Fen to sign a secret peace treaty with him.

If this move is completed, then Mr. Zhao will move to the next move.
Chapter completed!