According to his original idea, he could only resort to conspiracy when he got to the mountain. Although he also knew that the Tang Dynasty's army was very powerful, no matter how strong the army was, when it came to this place, it would have to coil up like a dragon and lie down like a tiger. After all, this was an impression accumulated over hundreds of years.
The Sui army also conquered the world in the past, but failed to conquer this place. In the end, they could only agree to the other party appearing in the form of a country within a country. After the founding of the Tang Dynasty, it did not launch military action against this place for various reasons.
Therefore, whether it is the chieftains on the mountain or the common people at the foot of the mountain, they all think that this land belongs to them as a matter of course. Even if a large number of troops come from the foot of the mountain to encircle them, they have nothing to be afraid of. Using the methods left by their ancestors, they can definitely defeat the army at the foot of the mountain easily.
Now Zhang Jiuli has another idea. When he persuades his son-in-law to cooperate, there may be certain difficulties. At that time, he can use the army to attack a stronghold on the mountain. According to the elite nature of this army, it should be easy to take it down. By using both soft and hard tactics, the time can be reduced by more than half.
When Zhang Jiuli told Qian Ping about this method, although Qian Ping did not understand what military tactics were, he understood things about strategy. After being confined in the palace for so many years, he was very clear about what it meant to alternate between relaxation and tension.
"When we return from the mountain, you will report directly to His Highness. As long as it is beneficial to the overall situation, His Highness will definitely cooperate."
Qian Ping did not give a direct answer, but just said what he was thinking. In his opinion, there was no problem with this matter, but what Li Xiang would think was Li Xiang's business, and we could only pass the buck to Li Xiang.
Zhang Jiuli nodded beside him. He thought that Li Xiang would never refuse. The two chatted about some local customs and habits. When they walked forward, they could no longer see the Tang army. Apart from some people working in the fields, they could see mountains in the distance.
"This should be the first time for you, sir. Even though the mountain is right in front of us, we can't reach it before dark today."
Zhang Jiuli saw that Qian Ping was very interested in mountains. After all, Chang'an City was surrounded by the Guanzhong Plain, where such large mountains were not very common.
According to Qian Ping's idea, as long as we speed up, we will be able to reach the foot of the mountain soon. Who knew that as He Zhangjiuli said, we were still far away from the mountain when it got dark. We clearly walked a lot in the afternoon, but when we took a look before dark, it seemed that the road had not changed much and was still as far away.
This is what is called "looking at the mountain and running the horse to death". People like Zhang Jiuli have been there once, so they are very familiar with this place, but Qian Ping naturally is not very clear about it.
There is no village or shop nearby, so we can only set up camp here first and continue heading into the mountains when we get up tomorrow morning.
In order not to arouse suspicion from the people on the mountain, the army that Li Xiang brought from the north was not used this time. The entire team was not very large, with only about a hundred people in total, and they were all Zhang Jiuli's former subordinates.
If they had come to this place in the past, they would have had to drink and have fun, otherwise it would be difficult to relieve the boredom of the day. But now their families are being watched by people from the court. If they still do that, it is very likely to affect their families.
When it just got dark, everyone went into the tent to rest, and only a few people stayed outside to keep watch. Qian Ping changed his place and couldn't sleep. He was a little worried. He had no idea what the situation was on the mountain.
"Who?"
Just when Qian Ping was about to fall asleep, he suddenly heard the words of the guards outside. He quickly rolled over and got up. When he came out of the tent, several guards had already drawn their swords and stood in front of Qian Ping. These people were sent by Li Xiang. Each of them had a combat force of more than 25 people. If any danger occurred, they could definitely protect Qian Ping and leave. This was also an insurance for Qian Ping to go up the mountain.
"Don't move, don't move at all. Call your centurion over here. I'm Zhang Jiuli."
Zhang Jiuli could tell that these people were the chieftain's army from the mountain. The atmosphere on the mountain and below had been quite tense during this period, so these people should have come down from the small path.
Qian Ping was also feeling frustrated. "Didn't I tell you to block the way down the mountain?" It seems these local troops are really useless. I don't know where you are blocking the way.
Looking at Qian Ping's eyes, Zhang Jiuli didn't dare to look up. During the day, he boasted to Qian Ping that all the roads going up and down the mountain were blocked. They couldn't go down, and we couldn't go up. What was going on with this small group of troops in front of him?
"Ye Motong greets Master Zhang."
This man was a centurion on the mountain. He had met Zhang Jiuli before and knew that he was no ordinary man. His two daughters were married to the two sons of the chieftain. Although the eldest daughter had lost power, the second daughter was still very powerful.
"I didn't expect you to be acquaintances. Put down your swords, we are all family. I came up the mountain for something. I wanted to visit your chieftain's hometown. I thought I would reach the border tomorrow, but I didn't expect to see you today. Have you guys eaten yet? I'll ask them to prepare something."
It was impossible for Zhang Jiuli to remember this centurion, but he still spoke very warmly. After all, they were about to enter someone else's territory. If you act arrogantly, someone might shoot an arrow at you.
"Thank you for the meal, sir."
The centurion was also a low-ranking officer in the chieftain's office. They usually had no chance to come into contact with upper-class people. The reason why he brought people down the mountain this time was because he did not get the chieftain's consent.
Although the area around Chengdu is relatively stable now, there are still small groups of chieftain armies coming down the mountain to rob. They were originally going to go down the mountain to rob today, but after seeing Zhang Jiuli, they definitely couldn't go around to rob. He had already thought about how to explain when he returned, so he said that he found a strange team at the foot of the mountain, so he brought people down to check it out. Maybe he would get some credit after returning.
Zhang Jiuli naturally knew what they were here for, but he couldn't tell them. He still had to rely on them to lead him up the mountain tomorrow. If he exposed them on the spot, according to the way these chieftains' troops operated, they might kill him to silence him...
