The Nameless of the Common Clans

"My Lord, why do you want to keep him?" After Hu Cai left, Dian Wei asked in confusion: "It seems that Hu Cai doesn't look like a capable person."

"Ninety percent of people in this world are incompetent. If I only pick capable people, even if I recruit all the talents in the world, I am afraid that I can't fill a state. Besides, Hu Cai can read and lead troops, which is more than 80% of people. He is more than enough to be a lieutenant." Chen Mo said with a smile while arranging things.

Moreover, after this incident, Hu Cai and the gentry in Hedong have completely torn their faces. If he is brought back to Hedong, it is impossible for him to join forces with those people again. Instead, he is more assured than others.

"You and Li Le are willing to hand over Jinyang, Yuci, Yangyi and other places to Yang Feng?" In the afternoon, Chen Mo finished dealing with the affairs of Zhongdu and called Hu Cai to study the map of Taiyuan County. Jinyang, Yuci and Yangyi are the best areas in Taiyuan County, with fertile land and convenient transportation.

Hu Cai was a little depressed when he heard this: "My lord, you don't know that I suffered heavy losses in the last fight in Yang County. Most of the soldiers under my command are newly recruited. When I first came to Taiyuan, there were only more than 3,000 soldiers."

"Yes, Yang Feng is indeed capable." Chen Mo nodded. At that time, he took Pingyang and Xiangling effortlessly, but Yang County was the only one that he could not infiltrate after several attempts. He could only rely on the internal fighting among the three families to break Yang County, but in the end, what he got was almost an empty city.

"My lord, you think too highly of Yang Feng. If he didn't have a good general under his command, how could he have the current situation?" Hu Cai said disdainfully. If Yang Feng was really capable, he would not have shared Baibo Valley with the three of them for so many years.

"Oh? A good general?" Chen Mo's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he looked at Hu Cai and smiled, "Can you tell me in detail?"

Hu Cai nodded, thought for a while and said, "This man is called Xu Huang, from Yang County. He was born into a noble family in Yang County. He used to be a county official in Yang County. Later, after we occupied Baibo Valley, Yang Feng occupied Yang County and recruited this man under his command."

Chen Mo nodded and said, "What are his abilities?"

"Xu Huang is very strong and good at using a big axe. He has no rivals on the battlefield. He is quite brave and proficient in military tactics. This time Yang Feng was able to quickly attack Jinyang, which was his credit." Hu Cai said with some envy.

At the beginning, he intended to dig Xu Huang to his side and set up a plan to sow discord between Xu Huang and Yang Feng. Unfortunately, there was not enough time, otherwise he would not have fallen into such a situation now.

"Did this guy come up with the strategy of joint defense of the villages in Yang County?" Chen Mo asked with a smile. The defense of Yang County was fine. At that time, Yang County had 30,000 soldiers and horses. Even if they did not take the initiative to attack, if they could send more soldiers and horses to patrol, it would not be easy for Chen Mo to win with fewer troops. It was just that the three of them wanted to annex each other, which gave Chen Mo an advantage and drove the Baibo bandits out of Hedong in one fell swoop. At that time, Chen Mo thought it was Yang Feng's strategy, but now it seems that it may have come from this guy's hand.

"That's right." Hu Cai nodded and said, "Although he is imitating the lord, I think this person has some ability in dispatching."

Chen Mo nodded, that was natural. This joint defense of the villages is simple to say, but the most challenging thing is the ability of dispatching and coordinating. The villages are united, support must be timely, and they must guard against enemy ambushes. Not to mention that Xu Huang himself made adjustments based on the terrain of Yang County, this dispatching ability alone is something that ordinary people cannot do.

"Are you sure that Li Le is in Qi County?" Chen Mo put this matter aside and looked at Hu Cai.

He didn't have much time left. If he wanted to take Taiyuan during this period, he had to fight quickly. If he fought one city at a time, with the current military strength of Hedong, he didn't know when the battle would end. Although it was a psychological warfare, if he really didn't arrive before the wedding, Chen Mo was worried that Cai Weng would directly chop him with a sword.

"If there is nothing going on, it must be like this." Hu Cai nodded.

"Then follow the plan. After Jiexiu and Wu County take over, you take 300 people with enough food and grass to surrender. I will arrange dozens of people to hide in the food cart. After entering the city, you will seize the opportunity to capture Li Le and occupy the city gate. I will lead the army to follow." Chen Mo smiled.

As for whether Hu Cai would have second thoughts and conspire with Li Le to murder him, Chen Mo was not worried. Hu Cai's family was here.

"My lord, rest assured. I will not fail you." Hu Cai bowed hurriedly.

"Uncle Wang!" Chen Mo turned his head to look at Wang Biao.

"I am here!" Wang Biao stepped forward and bowed.

"This time you and Uncle Zheng go there. You take some people to hide in the grain carts, and Uncle Zheng will follow Hu Cai into the city. Be careful." Chen Mo looked at Wang Biao and said that Uncle Wang and Uncle Zheng also needed some credit to secure their current positions.

"I will obey your orders!" Wang Biao bowed.

"Without further delay, you should leave immediately and let Bao Geng come to see me." Chen Mo stood up and said.

"Yes!"

The two agreed and turned to leave. Soon, Bao Geng came running and bowed to Chen Mo and said, "My lord, are you looking for me?"

"Well, you lead the cavalry, go up along the Fen River, pay attention to the movements of Qi County, and intercept the messengers on both sides." Chen Mo nodded. He did not have many cavalry under his command. They usually did reconnaissance or harassment, and rarely fought head-on.

"Yes!" Bao Geng quickly agreed and turned to leave.

Chen Mo ordered Cui Geng to stay and guard the city, and to gather Hu Cai's surrendered soldiers. The original generals stayed in the city to assist Cui Geng. Chen Mo selected the original generals from the army and promoted them to follow him. In the previous surprise attack on Zhongdu, the news could be blocked, but now it is difficult to block the news to attack Qi County. Hu Cai already had spies from Yang Feng and Li Le. Chen Mo blocked Zhongdu, but Jiexiu and Wu County could not be blocked. So he had to race against time with Li Le and Yang Feng, take down Li Le first, and then gather troops to fight Yang Feng.

…

The next day, at noon, in the Qi County government office, Li Le was holding a beautiful woman and drinking and having fun. Hu Cai was blocking the south. Even if Chen Mo sent troops to attack, he could not reach him for a while. So compared with Hu Cai's tension, Li Le was very relaxed here, drinking and having fun every day, so happy.

While playing with the woman in his arms, he saw a general coming in from outside the door, bowing and saying: "General, something happened!"

"What could it be?" Li Le said indifferently: "Is it that Yang Feng is here to attack?"

He almost killed Yang Feng before. Now the relationship between the two families is bad, and there are no big enemies around. He is not surprised that Yang Feng is here to attack, but at most it will be a small-scale fight. Now they have just occupied the territory, and this is not the time to take action.

"It's not Yang Feng, but General Hu Cai!" the general bowed.

"Hu Cai?" Li Le snorted coldly, "How dare he come here and act presumptuous?"

"It's not to provoke, but to come to surrender, and he also brought more than 20 carts of food!" the general bowed.

"Flee?" Li Le sneered, how did Yang County disappear in the first place? Wasn't it because Yang Feng accepted their surrender? He didn't want the incident of Yang County to happen again here, frowned and said: "How many troops did he bring?"

"More than 300 people, looking a little embarrassed!" the general bowed.

"Three hundred?" Li Le stood up: "What happened? Could it be that Chen Mo is calling at this time?"

"I don't know, but a scout reported this morning that many cavalrymen appeared along the river and killed our messengers." The general bowed.

"Why didn't you report it earlier?" Li Le said angrily.

"The general was..." The general glanced at the woman in Li Le's arms and whispered: "I dare not disturb the general."

"Go see him!" Li Le snorted coldly, and said nothing more. He led his men to the city gate and saw more than 20 grain carts being stopped outside the city gate. There were still many soldiers of Hu Cai around.

"Brother Hu, why is this?" Li Le gestured to the soldiers around to step back and looked at Hu Cai.

"Brother Li." Hu Cai said in a hoarse voice: "I am here to surrender sincerely this time. I hope Brother Li will leave me a way out for the sake of our past friendship. Hu Cai is willing to be loyal to Brother Li."

As he said that, he actually knelt down directly.

Li Le did not step forward to help, but asked the soldiers around him to help Hu Cai up. He looked at Hu Cai, then looked at the soldiers behind him, frowned and said, "What happened?"

"Those gentry in Hedong..." Hu Cai sighed, "They have joined forces with Chen Mo. I let them enter the city because of our past friendship. Who knew that these people secretly brought Chen Mo's troops. Without checking, Zhongdu City was occupied by these people. Jiexiu and Wu County were also easily taken by Chen Mo because of their help."

"Chen Mo is really cunning!" Li Le snorted coldly and said, "Brother Hu, don't worry. Go into the city to rest first. Chen Mo is not yet stable. Let's discuss and maybe we can help you take back the city."

Hu Cai shook his head and said, "I am willing to help Brother Li take the city, but... this commander seems glorious, but I don't want to participate in it anymore. I just want to live a stable life."

No future!

Li Le felt disdainful in his heart, and also doubted whether Hu Cai was deceiving him and trying to trick him into helping him take back the city? But after all, they were together in the past. Seeing Hu Cai in trouble, Li Le couldn't help but said, "Brother Hu, it's not that I don't believe it, but you and your people need to put down your weapons before entering the city."

"Of course." Chen Mo had already calculated this and had made arrangements. He ordered Wang Yue and others to put down their weapons, looked at the grain carts again, and said with some reluctance in his eyes, "Brother Li, these are my last things. Now I will give them to Brother Li, and thank you for taking them in."

Li Le glanced at the grain carts. Although he was a little moved, he still shook his head and said, "We are also heroes. How can we embezzle Brother Hu's talent? Brother Hu, don't worry, these grains still belong to you. I have ordered people to arrange a military camp for you. I will take them to rest first. I will host a banquet tonight to entertain Brother Hu, and it can also be regarded as a relief for Brother Hu!"

"Thank you!" Hu Cai's face was full of joy when he heard the words, and he bowed quickly.

Li Le shook his head with some disdain. After all, he was a man who had commanded thousands of troops, but now he acted like this for just a few carts of food. As expected, he was frightened by Chen Mo. It was ridiculous that he had regarded such a person as an opponent in the past!