Kai Fu Han

Chapter 264
(If you see a lot of typos, please download this chapter again and publish it before 0 o'clock. I didn't have time to correct the mistakes, and they have been corrected now.)
"Huang County is two hundred miles away from Laiyang. Even if Liu Lin is lightly equipped and not burdened by supplies, he still needs to go around plundering grass and plundering grain to satisfy his hunger, so the traveling speed will definitely not be fast. It will take at least five days for us to catch up. Let’s take a look at the situation and then make a decision.”

After that, everyone stopped chatting and went on their way with all their strength.

Half an hour later, he finally saw the rear of the rebel team in front. Liu Xinyuan led everyone away from the official road and into the mountains, marching in the same direction as Liu Lin's troops.

"who!"

While he was on his way, Liu Xinyuan suddenly stopped, pulled out his knife and pointed it at a bush.

"Captain Liu, I'm from the Military Intelligence Department."

A man came out from behind the bushes and reported to Liu Xinyuanhui.

Liu Xinyuan looked at the other party's figure and clothes and knew that he was not lying. In this era, it was rare for a soldier to have a burly figure, and this man could name Liu Xinyuan's military rank at once. The outside forces did not know the military rank system within the Xinghan League. .

"Are you also following Liu Lin?"

"Yes, the alliance leader instructed us to have two groups following Liu Lin."

"Can you tell me about the current situation?" Liu Xinyuan asked.

This person knew that Liu Lin belonged to another intelligence organization of the Xinghan League, but it was wartime and Liu Xinyuan's military rank was much higher than his own, so he could only answer truthfully.

"It has been confirmed that Liu Lin's troops are going to Laiyang. There were about 5000 people when they set out from Huangshui. However, during the past two days, soldiers escaped along the way. Now it is estimated that there are only about 3000 people left."

"And because there are some not-so-rich villages and towns along the way, Liu Lin did not collect enough food supplies to support an army of tens of thousands, and the phenomenon of desertion was not curbed. According to various trends, by the time he reaches Laiyang, there will be only 1 people left. It's pretty good."

"Where is Liu Lin in the marching team?" Liu Xinyuan asked.

"Front."

Along the way from Huangxian County to Laiyang, there are many mines, including iron mines, coal mines, and even gold mines.

About fifty miles further on, there is a gold mine in Phoenix Ridge, a very large gold mine.

Diting has been exploring various information on Jingdong East Road since its establishment, and Laizhou is naturally within the scope of investigation.

Liu Xinyuan only saw this information recently. It turns out that Deng and Lai have a very long history of gold mining. Statistics were already available 100 years ago, not long after the founding of Zhao State. The annual gold mining volume in Deng and Lai reached thousands of taels, accounting for [-]% of the total. It accounts for [-]% of the total output of Zhao State.

Liu Lin chose to go to Laiyang because he probably wanted to get the support of these large mine owners. Otherwise, the land of Laiyang County would not be enough to support Liu Lin's comeback.

The gold mine in Fenghuangling is much larger than the Jinhuashan gold mine that Xinghan League had dealt with before, so this mine is not decided by one person. As for the interest disputes within the gold mine, Di Ting has not yet explored too deeply. So Liu Lin didn't know much about it. He just knew that there were several companies operating in this mining area, and there were tens of thousands of people living on the gold mines, forming a fairly small fortress in Phoenix Ridge.

This fort can already be regarded as a small city, and its defensive capabilities are no less than those of ordinary county towns. Because the gold mine is so profitable, there will always be jealous forces, and it is inevitable to use swords and guns, which is why the original intention of building a fort for defense was there.

"We rush to Phoenix Ridge first, contact the mine owners first before Liu Lin, and try to prevent Liu Lin from getting their support." Liu Xinyuan decided after thinking for a while.

After bidding farewell to the spies from the Military Intelligence Department, he led his own men to speed up the journey and rushed towards Phoenix Ridge.

Finally arrived at Phoenix Ridge before dark. After entering Phoenix Castle, it took a lot of trouble to meet the heads of the three families who were in charge of the gold mine.These three families are the Gu family, the Cui family and the Li family.

The Cui family is the most powerful, but Liu Xinyuan has already offended the Cui family severely.

Before entering Phoenix Fort, the first thing I saw was some low-level servants of the Cui family. Naturally, it was not so easy to meet the supervisor. I shot and injured a few "little devils", and finally caught a manager with a high level, and let the three This family believed that Liu Xinyuan was sent by the Xinghan League.

"You must already know that Liu Lin is coming towards you with a group of rebels, right?"

After a brief introduction to each other, Liu Xinyuan asked straight to the point.

Being able to control the largest gold mine in Laizhou is naturally not easy for anyone. The gold mine must be surrounded by informants.

"Just received the news." Cui Guanshi replied.

Regardless of whether he really just received the news, as long as they know, Liu Xinyuan continued to guide the topic:
"Liu Lin did not choose to withdraw directly, but took a detour to Laiyang. He must have a plan. There are so many strong miners in your mine. These miners not only have good physical fitness, but also have good discipline. In addition, you have money and There is food. How do you think Liu Lin will treat you?"

Liu Xinyuan directly put the conflicts between the two parties on the table.

In ancient times, innocent self-cultivator children were the first choice for recruiting soldiers, because they were easy to control and easy to draw on white paper.

The second is miners. In an era of underdeveloped technology, mining operations are very dangerous and require much higher discipline than other professions.

The best soldiers in the American Civil War in later generations were miners from Abalakia, and the main force of China's Qi Army and Taiping Army were also miners.

These gold mine managers naturally understood this truth, so they understood the meaning of Liu Xinyuan's words.

"It is said that they have tens of thousands of troops."

Liu Xinyuan replied: "There are tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, but they are all newly recruited recruits, and they have already been defeated by us in Huangshui, and their morale is completely gone. It is still unknown how much fighting power they will have left."

"Even if he has tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, you also have a lot of miners. I believe you will not be short of weapons. With the fortress wall to rely on, you can completely refuse any request of Liu Lin."

Manager Cui thought for a while and did not continue to refute Liu Xinyuan's words: "Actually, we have already considered it and made a decision. If the prince's request is not excessive, we will try our best to satisfy him. If the request is too much, we will turn him away. I don’t know what you mean by this?”

"Aren't you afraid of offending the Xinghan League when you supported Liu Lin? The Xinghan League defeated the Jin-Qi coalition with nearly [-] troops."

Liu Xin was far-sighted and began to threaten.

As soon as this sentence came out, it was indeed very effective, and the three of them fell silent.

"Our requirements are not high. You don't need to go out to fight Liu Lin. It is enough as long as you can refuse Liu Lin's supply request." Liu Xinyuan said his request.

"But this will definitely offend Liu Lin. Liu Lin is the crown prince of Qi..." the steward of the Gu family said worriedly.

"Do you think our Xinghan League will let Liu Lin return to Jinan alive? Moreover, we were invaded this time and suffered huge losses before defeating the Jin-Qi coalition. How could we still be limited to the small Penglai County? Don't think about having both sides. , you can only choose one side."

(End of this chapter)