Yang Quan's respect and fear for Xiao Cheng are directly proportional to the times.

When Xiao Cheng first arrived in Qianzhou, Yang Quan only regarded him as a friendly friend.

Yang Quan, who was thrown to Qianzhou as a hostage by his family because of his irresponsible temperament and playfulness, had no idea at that time that his fate would change dramatically because he met Xiao Cheng.

Xiao Cheng defeated Ma Liang, the magistrate of Qianzhou, and gained real power in Qianzhou. Yang Quan admired him greatly.

Xiao Cheng carefully planned to conquer Dushan, Sanshui and other places, making Qianzhou reach out to these Jisuzhou for the first time, which made Yang Quan's eyes light up.

Then with the help of Dushan and Sanshui's tentacles, Xiao Cheng slowly revealed his minions. This time, even Yang Quan was shocked.

In just two years, more than 40 Jizhou prefectures under Qianzhou fell into the hands of Xiao Cheng. Some were defeated, some were subdued by power, some cooperated through negotiation, and some joined voluntarily because of collusion of interests.

of.

The methods are different, but one thing is the same. These people have all become Xiao Cheng's subordinates.

And because Yang Quan has been following Xiao Cheng in the past two years, he has risen in the family with the growth of Xiao Cheng's power.

At this time, Xiao Cheng had already won Yang Quan's absolute respect.

Next, he destroyed the Luodian Kingdom, swallowed up the Luo Kingdom, and planned to take over the three barbarians in Xuzhou. In the process, he temporarily cooperated with the Chu king's family, who were originally enemies, to establish the Guizhou Road, and suddenly became a great empire.

The youngest pacifier of Song Dynasty.

Yang Quan was already afraid of Xiao Cheng.

If he didn't think Xiao Cheng could do it in the past, if it were him, he might be able to do it if he worked hard.

But at this point, Yang Quan has deeply realized the gap between the two.

He was completely convinced.

He also completely became a follower of Xiao Cheng.

In the process of Xiao Cheng's power growing, Yang Quan also completed his transformation.

Yang Qing placed his treasure on this son whom he had not been optimistic about before, and for this reason he did not hesitate to abandon his eldest son, whom he had carefully cultivated for many years.

Yang Quan, who has just turned thirty, is now the prefect of one of the six prefectures on Guizhou Road. Coupled with the addition of the head of the Yang family in Bozhou, he is now one of the core leaders of Guizhou Road and a joint director.

One of the core figures of the society.

However, Sizhou Tian Yi, who seemed to be more valued than Yang Quan at first, gradually fell behind Yang Quan in the process.

It's not that Tian Yi didn't do his best, but that the Tian family has never made up its mind to follow Xiao Cheng at all costs during this process. Compared to Yang Qing, Tian Chou, the leader of Sizhou, has fallen behind on this point.

So up to now, Tian Yi can still only serve in the Yamen of the Soothing Envoy, while Yang Quan has become the sole ruler.

And this gap will only grow wider as time goes by.

Cautiously half a shoulder behind Xiao Cheng, Yang Quan accompanied Xiao Cheng and walked slowly on the embankment. The guards and staff all stayed a dozen steps behind so as not to disturb the conversation between the two.

This is already Xiao Cheng's seventh year in this land.

He was only eighteen years old when he came.

Now he is twenty-five.

For Xiao Cheng, he has experienced too much, but for others, the twenty-five-year-old comfort messenger is still unprecedented, and I am afraid it will also be unprecedented.

"The fighting in Dali is really lively now." Yang Quan said with a smile: "I just didn't expect that Gao Yingxiang can really hold on. He has been fighting for eight months. Although he is extremely embarrassed, he has not collapsed yet!"

Ever since Gao Yingxiang led the border troops to launch a counterattack, the two sides have been fighting fiercely for eight months. According to Xiao Cheng's plan, Gao Yingxiang should soon be unable to hold on. Because after Dong Xian took control of the center, he also gained a key

With the support of the state capital, and more importantly, he controlled a considerable number of the families of the frontier soldiers, especially the families of the officers.

Like the Song Dynasty, most of Dali's military officers came from general families.

After his plan to defeat Dong Xian quickly failed, Gao Yingxiang fell into trouble.

More and more people are betraying him, and the territory he can control is getting smaller and smaller.

The reason why he can still hold on to this day is that firstly, the generals under Dong Xian are too stretched and have far less combat experience than Gao Yingxiang. Secondly, the Gao family has been in power in Dali for many years, and Yu Ze has not yet exhausted them.

But as time went by, the people gradually became extremely disgusted with the war, and people decided that they no longer wanted to fight. The support Gao Yingxiang received was dwindling little by little.

Dong Xian also began to boldly use the frontier generals who had betrayed Gao Yingxiang to fight against Gao Yingxiang.

These guys who have regained military power have rich combat experience and are even more cruel to Gao Yingxiang than the original generals who commanded the army.

Nowadays, Gao Yingxiang is having a hard time.

"It's almost time. He should ask us for help this winter." Xiao Cheng said with a smile: "Otherwise, he won't survive this winter."

"So, Dali will soon become Yunnan!" As the core figure of the joint council, Yang Quan naturally knew Xiao Cheng's plan for Dali.

Xiao Cheng laughed loudly: "I hope I can finish these things next year, and then I can focus on other things. Time waits for me, and I always feel that there is not enough time."

"Futai is still so young, how can he not have enough time?" Yang Quan said with a smile.

"I really think it's not enough. The Liao Kingdom is so aggressive!" Xiao Cheng stopped, stretched out his hand to brush away the weeping willows in front of him, looked at the slowly flowing river at his feet, and said: "The construction of Zhongjing is almost completed. Once

Let the Emperor of Liao complete the integration of the five capitals, and the next step will inevitably be to conquer the south."

"So, we need to strengthen our strength as soon as possible, so that we can go north to fight against the Liao Dynasty?" Yang Quan took a deep breath: "Futai, with our current situation, even if we are willing to be King Qin, the man from Bianliang, he will not let us

Go for it!”

"You are thinking too much!" Xiao Cheng sneered: "With the way the Bianliang man is doing it now, once the Liao people move south in large numbers and Hebei cannot be defended, the Liao army will probably march straight in and directly attack Tokyo!"

Yang Quan opened his mouth wide: "This, this is impossible, isn't it?"

"Isn't it possible?" Xiao Cheng chuckled: "Did you know? Wang Jun, the deputy governor of Hebei Road, was escorted to Beijing."

"Wang Jun? He is Mr. Xiao's former deputy, right? I heard that he is also a good man in the military. Didn't he rely on him to appease the envoy Ma Xing in the past, such as military training and deployment in Hebei? Why did he suddenly fall?

?”

"Wang Jun is my eldest brother's deputy, and he was born unclean." Xiao Cheng said: "The court was originally suspicious of him. If it weren't for Ma Xing's strong support, he would have collapsed long ago. In the past two years, the Liao army has become stronger.

Big and all-pervasive, in order to consolidate the border defense, Wang Jun's methods became increasingly fierce, and finally touched the vital interests of the wealthy gentry on Hebei Road and many officials. These people worked together to take him down. This time, Ma Xing could not protect him.

The best outcome is to be dismissed from office and lose one's position."

"People, you really have to follow the right people in this life." Yang Quan sighed: "If Wang Jun had not left Mr. Xiao, now in the northwest, I am afraid that he would be inferior to one person and superior to ten thousand people. But it was just such a difference back then, and now he is in trouble

Being behind bars, the future is uncertain."

"I'm too lazy to care about Wang Jun personally." Xiao Cheng said: "But once he goes, Hebei's border defense will be leaked through a sieve. Neither Ma Xing nor Zheng Xiong knows as much as Wang Jun about Hebei's defense.

Even if they want to do something about the problem, under the alliance of those local snakes in Hebei, these two people will probably be stuck in the quagmire and find it difficult to move forward."

"If this is the case, what should we do once the Liao people come?"

"What should we do? Naturally, the Liao army was defeated thousands of miles away, Hebei was lost, and countless cavalry troops of the Liao army were able to reach Kaifeng in an instant. Then they would regret it and have no place." Xiao Cheng said: "The reason why I am anxious is that

It's because I'm worried that there won't be enough time. The Liao people are coming, and I'm not ready yet. The Liao people are using all the strength of the country, but I only have this place at the moment."

"There will be three roads soon!" Yang Quan said: "Dali is about to take over. Cen Futai's situation on Guangnan West Road is still not fully open. It is only a matter of time before he surrenders to Futai. By then, the council will fully control these three places.

After that, with the power of pacifying the platform, I will be able to turn the tide before it falls."

"When a building is about to collapse, it cannot be easily restored. What we have to do is to survive first and then fight back." Xiao Cheng pointed to the ships passing by on the river: "This is my year.

Over the past few years, why have you put more thought into the inland water division?"

Xiao Cheng's worries are considered by many people within the Joint Council to be unfounded.

Because Xiao Cheng told them that once the Liao Kingdom launched a war against the Song Dynasty, the Song Dynasty court would not be able to support it at all, and the north would collapse in an instant.

In open areas like the north, it would be difficult for the Song army to confront the Liao army.

Once it got to this point, Xiao Cheng wanted to stick to the south first and use the unique geographical conditions of the south to repel the Liao Kingdom. The water system in the south was developed, and the Liao people were weak in this aspect.

Therefore, just as Xiao Cheng had presided over the large-scale road construction earlier, he advocated putting aside the development of land forces first. The focus in the next few years was to build a powerful inland navy capable of controlling the southern waters.

Since the beginning of this year, there have been dozens of shipbuilding masters transferred from Leizhou Naval Base alone.

Leizhou Naval Base and Shipyard build sea-going ships and train ocean-going sailors.

However, the Wujiang Navy and Shipyard in Zunyi built river boats and trained river sailors.

One is for the future,

One is for the present.

The two stood on the embankment, looking at the large body of water below them and the rows of densely packed houses beyond.

Over there is the shipyard and naval camp.

"What do you think of Jiang Xiong?" Xiao Cheng asked Yang Quan with a smile: "We have made great efforts to dig this man from Jinghu Lake."

"Very cautious." Yang Quan said: "The key is that he can convince those experienced shipbuilders, which shows that he is an expert. As for what happens in the future, we have to wait and see. Yang Quan dare not speak nonsense."

As they were talking, they saw a boat on the water, which was like flying, heading straight from the dock. A group of guards followed the two people, and immediately some people got off the river embankment, and some were left.

He also approached the two of them and watched the boats coming up the river with vigilance.

Yang Quan said: "I sent someone to notify Jiang Xiong and asked him to come and see Futai. What does this guy want to do?"

"Maybe he wants to see me. It's been half a year since he came to Guizhou, and I haven't seen him yet! I know his worth, so he probably wants to find out more about me!"

"Very brave."
To be continued...