Of the ten days for the alliance, Xu Mu only took eight days to reach the bank of the Kezhou River. Behind him, Ma Yi's navy of ten thousand people followed closely, carefully guarding the safety of the main ship.
"Let General Yuncheng set up camp on the river bank first." Xu Mu breathed a sigh of relief.
This time, the seven seats are meeting in Kezhou, and they are unlikely to encounter many strange people. Of course, there is no doubt that the Demon Queen will send out killers and dead soldiers.
"My lord, the head of the Huang family has come to greet the ship in person." General Pi walked back, cupped his hands and spoke.
"Very good."
Xu Mu raised his head and saw from a distance that Old Huang and only two or three people were waiting anxiously on the shore. He probably saw the building boat and waved in panic.
…
"I've met the King of Shu." Huang Daochong showed a rare smile when he saw Xu Mu again. Although the separation didn't last long, for some reason, he was more willing to deal with Xu Mu than other power leaders.
"Master Huang, you are polite."
"When the king of Shu enters Kezhou, it would be a great joy for someone to come and greet the ship."
Look, this is the normal mentality to win over people. Even Si Hu can't be fooled by the idea of entering Shu and talking about governing the country with benevolence and love.
After Huang Daochong finished his greetings, he quickly dispersed the two or three people who followed him. He knew that Xu Mu should have something to ask. The recent incident between the Dongling Alliance and Zuo Shiren had made him dizzy.
At that time, they wanted to get him to join the alliance, so they tried hard to persuade him and gave him a large sum of money as payment for the allied forces, so the matter was delayed.
"Master Huang, when Zuo Shiren came to Muyun State earlier, I told him that the Kezhou area does not need to join the alliance, but only needs to provide geographical advantages."
After joining the alliance, this nature was different, and it ran counter to the long-cherished wish of Lao Huang Baoquan's family. Xu Mu was able to help out with a little effort.
"Oh, thank you King Shu." Huang Daochong was indeed overjoyed.
"I don't dare to take credit, but I just said it to make the Huang family leader feel at ease." Xu Mu smiled.
"You're welcome, King Shu. When I came to Jiang'an earlier, guess what? I happened to find two five or six hundred-year-old wild ginseng trees on the way. I'll send them to King Shu later."
"What's the point of this? People who don't know better would think that this king is asking for a favor."
"No matter what they say, the relationship between my Huang family and Xi Shu has long been as good as gold and is not afraid of fire."
"Then it would be disrespectful for me to refuse again."
God knows how many rare treasures Huang Daochong has hidden in order to win over people. Others are easy to say, but the more of the ginseng, a life-threatening thing like Laoshan ginseng, is better.
"I know the King of Shu has something to say, but there's no harm in saying it." After a while of fussing, Huang Daochong's expression gradually became serious.
"Master Huang, this is the first time for me, Xu Mu, to join this kind of alliance, and I feel a little nervous. Could you please tell me, Master Huang, the intelligence on these people?"
"Speak everything you know."
Lao Huang is good at gathering intelligence and collecting Laoshan Ginseng.
Xu Mu asked someone to lay out a mat, and he and Huang Daochong sat on the ground.
"King of Shu, I won't talk about Zuo Shiren. I guess you know more than me. In that case, I will start with the Tang family in Qingzhou."
"please."
Huang Daochong coughed twice and spoke seriously, "The head of the Tang family in Qingzhou, Tang Yiyuan, is over sixty years old. I have dealt with the Tang family in the past. In my impression, the head of the Tang family, Tang Yiyuan, has no great ambitions.
, prefers drunken poems and ink paintings. I don’t know... why this time, he is so brave, actually using the Tang family’s two hundred years of heritage to claim the title of King Jianbing.”
"I'm still checking the details, but King Shu needs to be careful about one person."
"Tang Wuyuan?"
Huang Daochong was startled and said, "The King of Shu is right, it is this person."
Xu Mu frowned. Dongfang Jing's previous analysis also said that Tang Wuyuan was not simple.
"Tang Wuyuan was a versatile civil and military man. Although he was a scribe, he left Qingzhou just after his age. He visited all the masters of military art all over the world and wrote military books. At first, the young marquis wanted him to join the court, but Tang Wuyuan was I declined."
"Back then, the false emperor Yuan Song led the remaining troops to attack Qingzhou again. If Tang Wuyuan was really capable, how could he be defeated?"
"The person who commanded the Qingzhou Army was not Tang Wuyuan. I checked and found that he was not in Qingzhou at that time and had just rushed back some time ago. I estimate that the King of Shu should be able to see him during this alliance meeting."
"how old."
"Just over thirty, he is the youngest of the Tang family. In front of him, in addition to the head of the family, there are Tang Yuan and Tang Sanyuan. Tang Siyuan died of a serious illness a few years ago."
"What a casual name."
"The road is simplified. King Shu, the Tang family is not simple. There are thirty states in the world, Cangzhou is a great state of martial arts, and Qingzhou is a great state of scholars."
"I know this. Mr. Huang, tell me about the others."
Immediately afterwards, Huang Daochong talked about Taoist disciple Mi, which was not very different from what Xu Mu knew. According to Xu Mu's expectation, it is very likely that such chaos in the world has obscured a layer of benevolence. He is just waiting for the opportunity to turn against you.
"There is nothing to say about the Shang Duo Guard Army. It is also done by a few Dongling families, and the business is not as good as mine in Kezhou. Previously, they wanted to reach out to get my business in Kezhou. King Shu didn't know, I got angry at that time, so I sent troops directly and smashed eighteen of his porcelain carriages... Finally, Zuo Shiren came forward and I paid a sum of money."
"Without business, there is no money. Without money, many aristocratic families in Kezhou cannot survive."
"Understood." Xu Mu nodded.
"There are others, the Nine Tribes of Dongyue, those Shanyue tribes, who originally served Zuo Shiren. Like the Shang Duo Guards, they also came out alone and gathered together. The Shanyue people fought fiercely, especially in the mountains and forests. , compared to the plain barbarian camp of the King of Shu, we don’t make too many concessions.”
"The last one is the Yandao Army."
"Are they also Zuo Shiren's men?" Xu Mu felt a little guilty in his heart. All this going around was Lao Zuo's own play.
"This should not be counted." Huang Daochong thought for a while and said, "Salt Island was originally a few islands outside Lingzhou. A few years ago, it was used to dry tribute salt for the Ji family. But as Emperor Ji moved three times, The dignity of the royal family was lost, Zuo Shiren sent troops to Yandao, and after a battle, Yandao had no choice but to vassalize himself under Dongling."
"This is the case. Yandao is still not counted as Dongling people?"
"It doesn't count. Pei Shang, the owner of Yandao, has always been dissatisfied with Dongling. Of course, I found out these secretly. On the surface, Yandao still doesn't dare to make mistakes. That's why this time, he joined Dongling. Lingmeng."
"Master Huang, thank you for telling me."
"I told you earlier, I know everything about the King of Shu." Huang Daochong smiled, "This time in Kezhou, please rest assured that the King of Shu, Huang Daochong, will do his best to protect the safety of the King of Shu."
Even though there was Dongfang Jing's secret moves step by step, Xu Mu was still somewhat moved when he heard what Lao Huang said.
Benefits are benefits, but Lao Huang has done a very good job.
"By the way, Master Huang, how many troops are there in the entire Dongling Alliance?"
"Except for the King of Shu's troops, there are only more than 80,000 people. Zuo Shiren's army alone has 40,000 troops, the Qingzhou army has 20,000, and the remaining five small forces total more than 20,000."
Just listening to this, Xu Mu's expression turned a little helpless for a moment.