Chapter 132: Preemptively Reducing the Power of the Cetiya Mansion

"General Yuwen." After Qin Qiong and Yuwen Wudi finished sparring, it was Pei Yuanqing and Ling Zhan's turn. People sparred in the military camp every day; even some small soldiers liked to spar with each other.

There were specialized places set up on the drill ground.

After all, training in the military camp was boring, and sparring was the best way for them to vent.

After the few finished sparring, they learned of Su Fan's arrival and quickly returned to the main camp tent.

"We bring greetings to you from General Pei Renji!"

"Haha! General Pei is too polite."

Su Fan smiled and said, "Everyone, please sit!"

"How is General Pei doing?"

From the moment Pei Yuanqing appeared and severed Wang Shichong's army of ten thousand, Su Fan knew that Pei Renji would definitely have a hard time.

Previously, because Wang Shichong needed to win him over, he kept providing supplies to him at Luokou.

But now, he wished he could kill him, and outside, Wagang was constantly attacking, so it could be said he was facing enemies on both sides.

It was definitely not easy. He still had twenty or thirty thousand troops under his command, including ten thousand elite soldiers—veterans who had been fighting continuously for several years.

Their strength was still strong, but as for grain and grass, it was not good.

The army moves, but the grain and grass go first; the importance of grain and grass went without saying.

Once the grain and grass were insufficient, the army would likely be the first to turn against him.

"General Pei is doing well, thank you for your concern, General Yuwen." Although Qin Qiong knew that Pei Renji was having a hard time, the former had already told him not to say too much, so he could only gloss over it.

"Hehe! It seems General Pei is really not doing well. As for the issue of grain and grass, Wang Shichong is truly short-sighted."

"Luokou is the first line of defense against Wagang. If Wagang breaks through to Luoyang, I'd like to see what Wang Shichong will do then?"

Su Fan said with a mocking smile.

Currently, apart from the Yuwen Clan, Wagang was the most eye-catching. They expanded extremely fast, especially after Li Mi became the leader of Wagang, which attracted a group of noble family disciples.

This improved Wagang's strength.

The original leader of Wagang was Zhai Rang. He was one of the rebel armies at the end of the Sui Dynasty. Under his leadership, Wagang was not bad, but compared to Li Mi, it was still a bit inferior.

After all, Li Mi came from a famous family and had some ability himself. Plus, his signboard attracted a group of noble family disciples to join, allowing Wagang to rapidly transform from a peasant uprising into a warlord force.

Historically, in the 13th year of Daye, Li Mi and Zhai Rang had an internal strife, which caused Wagang's strength to decline a lot.

But in this plane, perhaps because of Su Fan's appearance, a deviation occurred. Li Mi acted in advance, secretly killing Zhai Rang, and became the leader of Wagang as early as the 10th year of Daye.

Wagang's current strength could not be underestimated.

Especially with the entry of a group of fierce generals, their strength had greatly increased.

Over at Luokou, if it weren't for the dangerous terrain, it would have been very difficult to defend.

Once Wagang broke through Luokou, they would be directly threatening Luoyang City. Moreover, the current Wagang was strong in troops and horses, with fierce generals like clouds, although they didn't have Qin Qiong and the others.

But fierce generals like Shan Xiongxin and Wang Bodang were all at the innate first-rate level, or even super first-rate.

As the chaotic times broke out, the strength displayed by the martial generals became stronger and stronger.

After these powerful families in Shandong joined Wagang, Wagang's strength increased explosively.

The only pity was that Wagang had no forces supporting them from behind. If they had the support of the Buddhist, Daoist, or Demonic sects, it might have been different.

Wang Shichong was able to have today because he relied on some support from the Confucian school.

Currently, Wagang had no internal strife. As long as Li Mi didn't do anything stupid, Su Fan believed they could defeat Wang Shichong.

This was not the historical plane.

Unless Wang Shichong had other means behind him.

Shaking his head, he looked down on Wang Shichong; his vision was not large. Even if he suspected Pei Renji, he should still make the best use of everything.

"In this way, I will send people to transport a batch of supplies over to let Pei Renji hold on for a period of time."

Su Fan hoped that Pei Renji would become a nail in Luokou, constantly putting pressure on Wang Shichong and Wagang so that they could not develop wholeheartedly.

And he would take down the south.

In the south, Du Fuwei was finished, and Fu Gongyou only had tens of thousands of scattered troops left, most of whom were old, weak, sick, and disabled, and he had joined forces with Li Zitong.

But even if the two joined forces, they would not be Yuwen Chengdu's opponents.

Some time ago, Yuwen Chengdu had already returned to Jiangdu, leading ten thousand Xiaoguo soldiers to Lujiang to take down the remaining territory of Li Zitong, at which point the other party would be finished as well.

Yuwen Chengdu paired with the Xiaoguo soldiers was an invincible existence in the south.

Yuwen Chengdu, who had combat power comparable to a Grandmaster, plus the elite Xiaoguo soldiers of the Great Sui, was not just one plus one.

The Xiaoguo soldiers established by Yang Guang now benefited the Yuwen Clan. Because Su Fan suggested bringing the families of these soldiers to the south, the tens of thousands of Xiaoguo soldiers were settled.

As for being reluctant to leave their homeland, they were given free land in the south. Compared to the north, the south still had fewer people, and the land occupancy rate was even lower. Tens of thousands of Xiaoguo soldiers were not much.

Su Fan had been constantly developing over the years, and the land he owned had reached tens of millions of mu, and this number was still increasing.

Therefore, the Xiaoguo soldiers who betrayed Yang Guang became the private army of the Yuwen Clan.

Tens of thousands of Xiaoguo soldiers, the elite of the Great Sui, were now in their hands. This was also the reason why the world was wary of the Yuwen Clan. Everyone was gnawing on the big cake of the Great Sui, but the Yuwen Clan got the most, which naturally made many forces wary.

Apart from Li Zitong and Fu Gongyou in the south, there were also Lin Shihong and others. Of course, the strongest was the Song Clan of Lingnan.

The Song Clan joined forces with the Duzun Fortress of Chuan-Shu, and their strength could not be underestimated. However, fortunately, the Song Clan had no successors.

As long as Song Que was resolved, the Song Clan would almost have no threat.

Song Que was comparable to a Grandmaster, but Su Fan's strength was even stronger.

Therefore, unifying the south was really not difficult for Su Fan. The northern warlords were Su Fan's real heart-and-mind trouble, and the Li Clan was the most headache-inducing.

Therefore, Su Fan knew that the Li Clan had the support of the Buddhist sect behind them. In the original timeline, Li Yuan and Li Jiancheng were supported by the Demonic sect, and Li Shimin was supported by the Buddhist sect.

As a result, relying on the Twin Dragons at Xuanwu Gate, Li Shimin won the throne of the emperor.

Now, the Demonic sect was shrinking its power, and the Buddhist sect would likely increase its efforts.

Even the Mending Heaven branch of the Demonic sect would support Li Yuan; after all, Pei Ju, the incarnation of Shi Zhixuan, had a good relationship with Li Yuan.

Su Fan had quite a few grudges with the Buddhist sect and Shi Zhixuan.

The support of these two forces for the Li Clan would make the Li Clan's strength even stronger, making their originally scarce experts no weaker than the Yuwen Clan.

"To resolve the Li Clan, besides using strong strength to suppress them, the other way is to absorb more military talent and reduce the power of the Cetiya Mansion."

"Qin Qiong and Luo Shixin are now in my hands. If I take down Li Jing and also bring some of Wagang's martial generals into my pocket, then the Li Clan's strength will be much weaker."

Su Fan looked at Qin Qiong, who was a bit happy to hear that he would provide grain and grass, and pondered secretly in his heart.

Especially Li Jing, who was a true great master of the Military School in history. Sun, Wu, Han, Bai, Wei, Huo, Li, Yue—these eight were definitely the top military masters of China.

Su Fan didn't care about Li Jing's martial prowess; what he truly valued was the other party's military strategy.

During the Sui and Tang periods, this person's military strategy was the number one, definitely at the level of planning for the country. With him, Su Fan could be much more relaxed in future wars.

And Su Fan also knew that Li Jing and the Li Clan were originally opposed to each other. ===== CHAPTER 133 =====