When Zhou Qingfeng saw Jia Gang, this ghost cultivator was chained to the cell by a chain around his neck. He looked dispirited and listless as he sat on the ground. In the past, his face was always gloomy or shrouded in black aura. But now, he revealed his true appearance, which made the female guards tremble with fear.
"Brother Jia, how are you?" Zhou Qingfeng asked happily as he stood outside the iron bars of the cell.
Jia Gang raised his head weakly, glanced at him, and sighed, "Little Zhou, I admit defeat this time. I'm willing to serve you for three months. Spare my life. I'll do my best to help you in three months. I won't disobey you, and you're not allowed to bully me. You have to let me go after three months, and you're not allowed to stop me. If you're willing to swear on your true name, I'll give you one of my souls as collateral. "
This ghost cultivator was quite straightforward, showing his trump card as soon as they met. Zhou Qingfeng said happily, "Why not six months, six years, or even a lifetime? You have no choice now. Your life and death are in my hands. "
Jia Gang snorted coldly, "My soul can leave my body for ninety-nine days at most. Otherwise, I won't be able to take it back. And if I'm under your control for a lifetime, how is that different from being a slave? I might as well die now. If you're willing, then agree. If not, then kill me. I want a quick death. "
Zhou Qingfeng really didn't understand this. He just felt that three months was too short. It should at least be a few years. But no matter how he bargained, Jia Gang didn't back down. He bluntly said that if it was more than three months, he might as well kill him.
Zhou Qingfeng simply stopped talking about the matter of being under his control and asked, "You seemed to be the first to escape last night. Why didn't you escape?"
"Your spiritual power is very strange. One arrow hit me, and it made the spiritual power in my body flow in reverse, causing my true essence to dissipate. I was almost killed on the spot. How could I escape? "Speaking of which, Jia Gang was really annoyed." Why does your spiritual power feel like a beam of light? "
Zhou Qingfeng's light-elemental spiritual power was so special that it could directly restrain a ghost cultivator like Jia Gang, who was full of Yin energy. He then asked, "How is the situation in Hetuala now?"
"After Chu Ying escaped, Hetuala's defenses became much tighter." Jia Gang glanced at Zhou Qingfeng. "Your Master, Gu Yuanwei, recruited quite a number of great bandits and abandoned disciples from famous sects in the Central Plains. Many of them are quite capable. You'll have a lot of trouble. "
"Where's Nurhachi?"
"He's the Khan of Jianzhou. How could I know what he's doing?"
"That's true."
"Zhou Qingfeng, Yang Jian is here to assassinate you. If it wasn't for us being too rash and directly bumping into you, who would've won and who would've lost? There will be more people who want to kill you in the future. Among the people recruited by Gu Yuanwei, there's a guy called 'Sly Thorn'. His real name is unknown, but he's very good at stealth attacks. Aren't you going to guard against him? "
"You'll guard against him if I keep you alive?"
"I'm a ghost cultivator. I'm not good at facing the enemy head-on, but I'm better than other cultivators at monitoring, spying, poisoning, and setting up ambushes. With me by your side, you'll be able to sleep peacefully for at least three months. Otherwise, it's very likely that you won't be able to open your eyes again after you close them one day. You won't even know how you died. "
These words moved Zhou Qingfeng. He had originally intended to take Jia Gang as a younger brother, but he also lacked a trusted personal guard. Although three months was too short, it was better than nothing. Therefore, the two of them swore an oath with each other's real name. Jia Gang handed over his soul to Zhou Qingfeng to complete the temporary master-servant relationship.
After taking Jia Gang out of the prison, he was very uncomfortable with the broad daylight outside. He used a spell and simply hid in Zhou Qingfeng's shadow. Ordinary people would not be able to see him, but it did not hinder his communication with Zhou Qingfeng.
Zhou Qingfeng was also curious about this. Apart from a cold and gloomy feeling around him, there was nothing else that hindered him. Because the situation described by Abahai was still unclear, and some key points were deliberately concealed, he was still a little confused. Therefore, he hurriedly ran to find Chu Ying, wanting to talk to him on a strategic level.
After arriving in Ekullen, Chu Ying had been helping the nobles in the city train the soldiers. It was said that after his training, the combat power of more than a thousand soldiers in the city had greatly increased. However, Zhou Qingfeng did not find Chu Ying in the training ground of the Kullen people. Instead, it was Uța's personal guard who hurriedly came to find him, saying that the division leader was discussing something important, and asked him to come up with an idea.
After a round, Zhou Qingfeng returned to the meeting hall in the city. Uța and the other nobles in the city were all there, and Chu Ying was also present. Seeing that Zhou Qingfeng had rushed over, Uța said a lot of things, the gist of which was' I heard that you're awake, we're all very happy. It just so happens that we have something important to discuss, so we specially asked you to come up with some ideas'.
Even though Zhou Qingfeng had recently grown in height, his appearance was still about ten years old. Letting a ten-year-old participate in the tribe's important matters … Hmm, this was not a surprising thing in the Jurchen people. When Nurhachi was about to die, he even let his three most beloved youngest sons directly become the Banner Master of three of the Eight Banners, becoming the Heshuo Baylor who held a large number of troops — they were the three sons that Abahai gave birth to.
At that time, the youngest, Doduo, was only eleven years old.
Zhou Qingfeng's Manchu language was mediocre, and he even needed Old Man Sun to translate for him some of the more complicated words. However, his ability was outstanding, and he was also a Baylor in the city. In addition, he could also control the military formation, so none of the other Baylor sons present dared to look down on him. Uța even specifically repeated what they had discussed before.
"Now that our Heculun has begun to become prosperous, many wild Jurchen people from the north have come to seek shelter. However, Jianzhou in the west will definitely not sit idly by. They sent people to assassinate 'Goat' Baylor in an attempt to sabotage us, and I'm afraid there will be a battle within this year. All of us gathered together to discuss how to deal with it. "
Uța and the others must have already come to a conclusion after their discussion. Zhou Qingfeng only thought that his current influence was not small, so he was specially pulled to discuss with them. He felt slightly proud in his heart, and after secretly speculating for a while, he said, "I think you only have two paths. One is to defend, and wait for the enemy to send troops all the way over the mountains to attack. "
The road from Hetuala to Heculun was not easy to travel, and Zhou Qingfeng had personally experienced it. Chu Ying had already anticipated this situation. He was just waiting for the enemy to attack with great difficulty, and then he would make a defensive counterattack.
Uța and the others nodded …
Combined with Abahai's suggestion, Zhou Qingfeng thought further. "If it's just for this matter, you don't need to gather so many people to discuss it. I'm guessing that you want to sweep the north before the Jianzhou troops come to kill you. You want to search for more Wild Nüzhen. Those who are willing to join Heculun will be accommodated, and those who are not will be killed and pillaged. You're planning to send troops soon, right? "
Zhou Qingfeng's guess was very accurate, and Uța and the others laughed out loud. Only Chu Ying was a little annoyed, as this idea was most likely his. After Uța laughed, he also ordered someone to spread out a sheepskin map, on which the terrain around Heculun, rivers, and mountains were roughly drawn. There were annotations in both Manchurian and Chinese, and it seemed to be drawn by Old Man Sun.
"There are 13 strongholds in the north and east of us that are relatively close. It's the end of September, and we plan to use ten days to prepare food and troops. At the beginning of October, we will sweep through these strongholds, and we should be able to take in more than 5,000 people. The food in these strongholds will also belong to us. "
Uța spoke excitedly, and even decided on the allocation of troops. Among them, Zhou Qingfeng could even bring more than 100 troops, and two to three hundred slaves carrying supplies to rob. This was actually the situation that Zhou Qingfeng had expected when he first expanded his army.
However, things were different now, and Zhou Qingfeng had grown too fast. After he took control of the military formation, he had even more powerful combat power. His gaze was no longer limited to the wild women in the north and east, but to Jianzhou in the west. "Since you're going to fight with Jianzhou sooner or later, and since you want to rob people and food, why don't you attack the strongholds in the west?"
As soon as this was said, everyone in the meeting fell silent, and even Chu Ying was stunned. No one had expected this direction of attack, because the west was Jianzhou's territory. Persimmons always picked on the weaker ones, and Uța always chose to attack those weaker than him.
After Zhou Qingfeng arrived in Heculun, he had been thinking about how to protect himself and how to escape under Chu Ying's supervision. However, as he gained more and more power, he also had the urge to have a real battle. Seeing that everyone was in a daze, he continued, "It's hundreds of miles from Hetuala to Heculun, and it's impossible for the Jianzhou army to attack directly.
Nurhachi will definitely need to use the villages along the way to stock up on the rations that the army will need to travel, and these rations will have to be prepared before the army sets off. Chu Ying Baylor once said that Nurhachi's first batch of troops will be about 2,000, and 2,000 soldiers will have to bring at least 4,000 slaves to supply them along the way. This will consume a lot of food for the people and horses.
"I'm thinking that if Nurhachi wants to start the war in November this year, then he might start building military stations along the way and stock up on rations now. Why don't we go and snatch the fat meat in the west, and instead rob the poor people in the north? "
With Abahai's reminder, Zhou Qingfeng set his sights even further. He came from an era where information was highly developed, and it was natural for him to draw inferences about other cases from one instance. Since he thought that the wild women in the north would really come to Heculun to submit to him, and that Nurhachi would think of ways to get rid of future troubles, then it was necessary to continue thinking about the benefits in the west.
Uța and the other Kulun nobles became even more silent. It was not that they had not thought about the benefits in the west, but their consistent thinking was that Jianzhou in the west was stronger, and they would not provoke it if they could. But now, if war could not be avoided, they naturally had to think of ways to create trouble for the enemy.
The biggest trouble in a long expedition was eating and drinking. Even someone as strong as Chu Ying would become a soft-footed shrimp if he were to starve for a few days. How to make the enemy starve and unable to rest? This was a battle method that could yield big profits with small costs.
Uța and the others were still deep in thought when Zhou Qingfeng turned to look at Chu Ying and asked, "Baylor, what do you think? Is this feasible? "
Chu Ying's body was solemn, and he even closed his eyes slightly. After a while, he opened his eyes and stared at Zhou Qingfeng. "When I first met you, you could not even cast a spell, and your life vitality could not be awakened. But now, not only do you know the way of military formations, but you also have a convincing general strategy of war. You Han people have a saying, 'born knowing'. Is it someone like you? "
This boast was too much. Zhou Qingfeng quickly denied, "I was not born knowing, I learned it."
Uța and the others did not know about Zhou Qingfeng's eccentricity, and really treated him as a child. They were very impressed by his farsighted plan, and even shocked. To be able to find the enemy's weakness when one was still weak and dare to attack was not something an ordinary person could do.
Uța knew from the bottom of his heart that Zhou Qingfeng was right, but as a division leader, he did not dare to take the risk. He tried to smooth things over, "Why don't we split up, one to the west, the other to the north, and see what we get before making a decision."
'You cowards, do you want me to go scout and die?'
Zhou Qingfeng immediately looked at Chu Ying. He felt that Chu Ying would definitely follow him west. If Chu Ying did not follow him west, he would definitely kill his way back to Daming.
Chu Ying stared at Zhou Qingfeng for a few seconds, but said, "I won't go west, I'll attack north."
'Eh … the sun is rising from the west.'
'Chu Ying, if you don't stop me, I'll definitely escape!'
Zhou Qingfeng looked at Uța again, and thought to himself, 'I'm so important now, you won't just watch me go west alone, right? You'll definitely send people to fight with me, right? '
But Uța also stared at Zhou Qingfeng for a few seconds, and then looked at the other Jurchen nobles who were discussing with him. Everyone just looked at Zhou Qingfeng coldly, without any reaction. So, Uța said, "If that's the case, I'm afraid only Goat Baylor will go west."
'Goat my ass!
Wait … are you really not going to stop me?
I'll give you one last chance.
If you don't stop me, I'll run.
I'll go back to Daming. '
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