knife

Chapter 721 Helpless
When Li Dachui was still a bandit outside the Great Wall, he roamed freely with his three battalions of Heaven, Earth, and Man, and apart from Linghu Ye, he didn't take anyone seriously.

Li Dachui wasn't afraid of Linghu Ye's hundreds of thousands of troops, because the area outside the pass was too vast. These hundreds of thousands of troops could only be stationed at various key points, and it was basically impossible to catch a guy like Li Dachui who was always on the move.

What Li Dachui truly feared was Linghu Ye's personal guard, which he had trained and cultivated over decades.

That was a force comparable to Li Dachui's Heavenly Battalion.

Li Dachui could only support about three hundred people like that.

Linghu Ye had a full five thousand men.

After all, he was a high-ranking warlord, and he had the right to collect taxes and levies legitimately.
Moreover, before the Qin Dynasty's collapse, the huge military expenditures and supplies allocated to the areas outside the Great Wall every year were substantial.

No matter how skilled Li Dachui is at maneuvering and amassing wealth, he is no match for Linghu Ye.

Therefore, Li Dachui ultimately became the Lord of the Pass's means of dealing with Linghu Ye, which was deception.

He took full advantage of Linghu Ye's eagerness to enter the pass.

Because at that time, we simply couldn't beat them!

Of these 5,000 personal guards, 2,000 are now in Li Guohua's hands.

In addition, after the two crushing defeats at Yangguan and Huoshan, the army expanded to five thousand men, including the escaped Li family's Wu Zuo, Yang family's Bai Yu, and other members of other aristocratic families.

Li Guohua was a member of the Guanlong Li clan. After Li Zhengtai's death, these soldiers were brought under his command without any obstacles.

Yang Jiabaiyu only had a few hundred people left, but Yang Rong was still around, so he naturally bowed down to Li Guohua. What other thoughts could the rest have besides clinging to his leg?
Although these people are currently demoralized, their individual combat skills and military qualities are still quite good. Li Guohua simply dispersed them and incorporated them into his own guard, and the rest was done naturally.

This guard, which had never suffered a defeat, naturally calmed down those who were filled with anxiety.

Let alone the fact that the current armored men are just a newly formed rookie army, even the old armored men would have to lower their proud heads in front of this guard.

With Cui Ming dead and Cui Shu seriously injured and unable to recover, what right does the Cui family have to bargain with me?
Do you really believe that even a powerful dragon can't suppress a local snake?
That's wrong.

Even a powerful dragon can't suppress a local snake, simply because the dragon isn't strong enough.

If I become truly powerful enough, what's wrong with crushing you, this local bully, into mincemeat?
Local bullies will always exist; when the old ones disappear, new ones can quickly rise to power.

Wild fire, in spring.

But powerful dragons don't appear all the time.

More often than not, the saying "even a powerful dragon can't suppress a local snake" simply means that the powerful dragon doesn't think it's worth it, and is willing to pay a small price to make the local snake submit.

But if you cross the line, it's a different story.

Therefore, Li Guohua brought his most valuable and strongest troops with him this time to let Cui Shunian assess them.
If they really don't know what's good for them, then they shouldn't be with the Cui family anymore.

The imperial court needs the existing wealth of the Cui family, and of course, it can also take over the things that the Cui family has all over the world.

“Cui Cheng suffered a great loss in Nanyang!” Li Guohua turned to look at Yang Rong, who was riding alongside him, and said, “Yan Su finally found out a while ago that he was able to capture a city or a county in Nanyang, but each time he suffered heavy losses! As his territory expanded, his army became more and more scattered. Then, with a counterattack from his opponents, his scattered troops were defeated one by one in just half a month. They gathered their superior forces and wiped him out, and he lost all the territory he had captured.”

"Xiao Zhongren has this ability? Such strategy and planning are not those of an ordinary person!"

“Jiang Qian!” Li Guohua gave a bitter laugh: “Lord Yang, now you know why I’m so eager to reorganize the armies in various regions, right? If each region continues to act independently and pursue its own interests, our future will be uncertain! The place we need to defend is not comparable to a small place like Nanyang.”

"If you don't clench your fist with your fingers, your punches won't be powerful!" Yang Rong nodded and said, "Li Dachui's power is growing, and if we're still a disorganized mess, it will definitely be detrimental to the upcoming decisive battle. Shall we just let Nanyang go?"

“Of course not!” Li Guohua shook his head: “The commander is waiting for news from my side. I have temporarily stabilized the situation here and held off Li Dachui’s next attack. The commander is preparing to launch a counterattack in the south. If we don’t want to completely crush the eight towns in the southeast, we will at least cripple them.”

"Indeed, otherwise it would be really troublesome for them to cause trouble behind our backs while we start our decisive battle with Li Dachui. But the fact that we don't have a navy in the eight towns of Jiangnan is a big problem!"

"Everything that should be there will be there!" Li Guohua said with a smile.

Yang Rong glanced at Li Guohua, and seeing that the other party did not intend to elaborate further, he did not press the matter further. However, upon closer reflection, he could find some clues.

The Chu Kingdom is currently in complete chaos, and Na Wei is completely unable to control the situation. It can be said that Xiang Ying's death is Na Wei's biggest mistake.

Na Wei believed that by killing Xiang Ying, he could completely control the situation. In fact, with Xiang Ying's death, the State of Chu immediately lost someone who could stabilize the situation. For example, after Xiang Zhuang fled to the Yuecheng area, he immediately raised an army in rebellion.

When Xiang Ying was alive, Na Wei could have negotiated with him and relinquished some power. Perhaps he could have even built a stable triangular chariot in Danyang to control the overall situation of Chu. But Xiang Ying's death caused everything to spiral out of control.

Otherwise, how could Jiang Qian have been free to recruit Cui Cheng in Nanyang?

This move seems simple, but in the current context, it has become an intractable situation.

Cui Cheng wanted to rebuild his position within the Cui family, but the Cui family was in dire straits in Boling County and needed Nanyang as a place to stay. All of this combined meant that Cui Cheng had to take action in Nanyang.

Often, actions that seem foolish to outsiders are actually acts of desperation and unavoidable choices for the individuals involved.

Of course, Li Dachui's scheming skills are truly astounding.

He truly treated the vast world as a chessboard, making moves with composure and elegance, while his opponents were exhausted and struggling to cope.

Cui Cheng is still struggling in Nanyang. If Jiang Qian completely takes over Nanyang and uses Xiangyang as a base, what will she do next?
Naturally, the intention was to send troops to threaten the Eastern Capital.

If Luoyang falls, Chang'an will naturally be shaken.

Therefore, Linghu Ye needs to launch a war in Nanyang to defeat Jiang Qian in order to stabilize the Central Plains. In order to make his move in Nanyang without any distractions, he needs to keep the north quiet.

In the recently concluded Battle of Yangguan, even if we don't win, as long as we can achieve a stalemate with the Beiting Protectorate, Linghu Ye could launch a large-scale attack on Nanyang. However, he not only lost this battle, but he lost it particularly badly.

Li Guohua had no choice but to swallow his pride and forcibly reorganize all the troops, and the local powerhouse Cui family was naturally the most important link in this process.

(End of this chapter)