The World of Yellow Sky

Chapter 793
Qingzhou, Pingyuan County, Pingyuan City.

The main force of the Wei army who evacuated from Qingzhou is now stationed in Pingyuan City.

The atmosphere in Pingyuan City is dull, there are few pedestrians on the streets, and there are few people on the official roads.

The war brought a large number of casualties and brought about the decline of all walks of life.

Bandits are like carp crossing the river, and it is difficult to stop them. Among the caravans that are still trading, only a few families in Jizhou dare to do business. After all, their caravans have many guards and official protection. Ordinary bandits dare not easily offend them.

Ordinary Guishou and ordinary people stayed in the countryside. They gathered together, strengthened the defense of the settlement, and took up crude weapons to protect themselves.

The entire Qingzhou to the north of the Yellow River is said to be under the administration of Wei State, rather than under the jurisdiction of Qu Yi.

Qingzhou, north of the Yellow River, has two counties, one is Pingyuan County and the other is Le'an County.

There was only a small part of Le'an County in the northern part of the Yellow River, and there were no decent cities, and the prefect of Le'an County had already fallen into the hands of the Han army. The jurisdiction of Le'an County in the north was naturally in the hands of Qu Yi.

The power in the hands of the sheriff of Pingyuan County appointed by Yuan Shao was deprived by Qu Yi on the day after Qu Yi arrived in Pingyuan City.

After Qu Yi learned the news of the Han army's Northern Expedition, he made the choice of sitting on the sidelines after weighing the pros and cons.

First, he summoned all the generals in the name of a military discussion, and then made indirect remarks to find out what everyone thought.

In the end, it was discovered that those soldiers who were loyal to Yuan Shao and wanted to quickly support Wei County's war were all imprisoned by Qu Yi.

Jiang Yiqu's military power was deprived by Qu Yi and placed under house arrest in the government office of Pingyuan City, and the tiger and leopard riders were also firmly in the hands of Qu Yi.

Lu Zhao was not under house arrest, and still commanded the generals under his command, but his personal guards were replaced by private soldiers under Qu Yi's command. In fact, the military power was also controlled by Qu Yi, and his wealth and life were controlled by Qu Yi.

Then Qu Yi used his confidants as generals to divide his troops across Qingzhou in the north of the Yellow River, and at the same time led his own army to station in Pingyuan City.

In fact, the entire Qingzhou area north of the Yellow River was already under Qu Yi's control.

The news of Wei County's battle was also blocked by Qu Yi. Now the Wei army in Qingzhou only knows that the Han army crossed the Hebei Expedition and captured Liyang. The situation in Wei County is a bit dangerous, but they don't know what happened.

However, compared to those generals who were a little bit emotional, even arguing with Qu Yi at the beginning, the ordinary Wei soldiers were extremely indifferent.

They didn't care about Wei Jun's situation at all, and they still did what they had to do every day.

In fact, this is also normal. Most of them were forcibly recruited into the army. If they could live in peace, how many of them would want to fight.

Whether it is the Han court or the Wei court, they have to pay so much taxes, the people who collect the taxes are still the same group of people, and the generals and schools who let them fight are still the old generals and schools, but they just changed their titles.

They don't have any loyalty to Wei Ting. When they serve as soldiers, they only know that the food and military salary are paid by the Shangguan, so they just obey the Shangguan's orders.

As for what kind of emperor or emperor, that is too far away from them, so it has nothing to do with them.

Tian Zhong glanced at the soldiers sitting sluggishly on the ground outside the tent, the most he saw on the faces of those soldiers was depression and numbness, without much life at all, like walking dead.

Xu An handed over all the matter of recruiting Qu Yi to Yan Zhong, but since Qingzhou is so far away, it is naturally impossible for Yan Zhong to go there in person.

Therefore, the task of sending envoys fell to the Foreign Affairs Department of the Ministry of Rites. Tian Zhong, as the director of the Foreign Affairs Department, took the initiative to invite Ying to go to Pingyuan County after a short period of thought to take on this important task.

After all, Qu Yi has [-] troops under his command, and one of them is a heavy general. He served as General Zhengdong in Wei Ting. In fact, his position is higher than that of Tian Feng. After all, Tian Feng was imprisoned for a long time. Tian Feng The reason why he was able to be the commander-in-chief at that time was also because of Yuan Shao's order.

This is also the reason why after Tian Feng's death, Qu Yi could easily control the Wei army in Qingzhou.

Tian Zhong once saw the appearance of the regular army of the Han army. He was ordered to recruit the soldiers of Xihe County who were trapped in the north of Hedong County.

Although those county soldiers were poorly equipped, surrounded by heavy siege, and suffered repeated defeats, their spirits were not bad, and they were not as sluggish as these soldiers.

Compared with the old Han army he had seen, these Qingzhou soldiers in front of him were far from the old Han army. Whether it was in terms of energy or military equipment, they were more than a star and a half behind.

Said the army...

Rather, a group of farmers...

These Qingzhou soldiers seem to be weaker than those in the Taipingdao army. Many of them are thin and thin, which makes people wonder how long they can last on the battlefield, or can they really fight?
Tian Zhong didn't know the details of the Wei army currently stationed in Qingzhou, but it seems that there are more than [-] Wei troops who were born in Qingzhou, more than half.

The place where he is now is the camp of the former Qingzhou soldiers. If the Qingzhou soldiers are like this, the evaluation of Qu Yi's troops may be even lower.

Tian Zhong's eyes turned slightly, and he also had a plan in his mind. After observing for a long time, he also took advantage of the time to go to other military camps a few times. The scene he saw was similar, and he was even more determined. Convincing Qu Yi, but seeing the appearance of Qingzhou soldiers, he was already [-]% sure in his heart.

It has been some time since he arrived in Pingyuan City. He set off before Xu Andong's expedition. He rode a horse all the way through Jingxing from the four counties of Changshan, Julu, Anping, and Hejian in Jizhou, under the cover of Yinglangwei. Down into Qingzhou.

Along the way, Tian Zhong did not encounter too many obstacles, and it can even be said that he passed through many places in an open and aboveboard way.

After all, at that time, the main force of the Wei army and the main force of the Han army were already in a stalemate in Wei County, and Youzhou and other places were in emergency one after another. Yuan Shao focused all his attention on the Han army, and he was constantly dispatching troops. There is no time to take into account what is happening elsewhere.

Tian Zhong was also able to easily enter the territory of Qingzhou.

After entering the territory of Qingzhou, Tian Zhong disguised himself as a merchant who rewarded the army, was able to meet Qu Yi, and then handed over the letter written by Yan Zhong himself to Qu Yi.

Tian Zhong was not worried that his life would be in danger. After all, if Qu Yi really wanted the Han Dynasty, he should turn against Wei now.

If he was really loyal to Wei Ting, then Qu Yi would definitely not be in Qingzhou now, but would rush to help Wei County with his army early.

After Qu Yi received the letter, as expected, he neither agreed nor refused. He said some insignificant words, and then found an excuse to say that he really wanted to join the Taiping Dao, but there were different opinions in the army. Let Tian Zhong wait for a while.

Regarding Qu Yi's excuse, Tian Zhong naturally did not expose it, but was very reasonable and even filled in some details of the reason for Qu Yi.

Although Qu Yi's communication time was not long, Tian Zhong's years of experience made him understand Qu Yi's inner thoughts.

Qu Yi is just evaluating the value now, he will rely on whoever has the greater advantage.

Yan Zhong's evaluation of Qu Yi is not wrong, Qu Yi is indeed temperamental, unpredictable, and ambitious.

There was a complete meal in the tent, and Qu Yi even sent a few maids to take care of Tian Zhong's daily life, but Tian Zhong refused in the end.

The reason why Qu Yi has such a good attitude towards Tian Zhong is firstly because the letter written by Yan Zhong roughly wrote down some directions for the Taiping Dao to use troops.
The second is that he received an urgent letter from the eastern coastal area, and learned that hundreds of naval warships flying the flag of the Ming army passed the offshore area.

A burst of footsteps came from outside the tent, interrupting Tian Zhong's thoughts.

"Tian Lingjun, General, please see me if you have something to do."

A general of the Wei army in a blue robe stood outside the tent and shouted in a low voice.

Tian Zhong narrowed his eyes slightly, with a smile on his face.

When he heard the word "please", he already understood what happened.

Regarding the Battle of Wei County, Tian Zhong never thought about the possibility of losing. Of course, this is not because Tian Zhong understands military affairs and made a judgment. Although he is a foreign affairs order, he is not qualified to participate in the planning of the battle. Unaware.

The reason why he thought he would win was because Xu An was not someone else who led the main force of the Ming army to Weijun.

Tian Zhong doesn't think that there is any army in the world that can defeat the current Ming army.

"Wait."

Tian Zhong stood up, straightened his robes, and walked out of the big tent.

Following the general who led the way, Tian Zhong walked from the outer camp to the inner camp.

When Tian Zhong first met Qu Yi, Qu Yi met Tian Zhong in the government office of Pingyuan City, he only saw the soldiers guarding the government office, and the soldiers guarding the government office were indeed elite.

This is the first time for Tian Zhong to enter the inner camp. The soldiers in the inner camp and the outer camp are completely different. Different from the idleness of the soldiers in the outer camp, most of the soldiers in the inner camp are busy with their own affairs in silence, or arranging their armor. Or wipe down weapons.

Occasionally, the conversation was very short, and there was a sense of murderousness in his body.

During the occasional conversations, Tian Zhong also had an idea in his mind that most of the soldiers stationed in the inner camp were from Jizhou, because they all spoke Jizhou dialect, and they should have been from the Wei army of Jizhou.

After walking for a while, Tian Zhong saw more soldiers. These people even seemed a little frightened. The words they spoke were mostly Liangzhou dialect, and some even spoke Hu language soldiers.

These people looked a little stronger than the soldiers in the Ming army, and they should be the personal guards and Yi Cong brought by Qu Yi from Liangzhou, or the battalion soldiers who entered the camp first.

"Tian Lingjun has gone out of the tent."

Outside the big tent, the blue-robed general stopped at the tent door and respectfully reported.

Then the blue-robed general lowered his head, waiting for the order from the tent.

But there was no call from the tent, but the sound of footsteps.

While Tian Zhong was in doubt, the curtain had been lifted, revealing Qu Yi's tall figure, he grabbed Tian Zhong's hand, and enthusiastically pulled him closer to the tent.

"Recently, the military affairs are busy, and I have neglected the distinguished guests. Please forgive me."

Qu Yi took Tian Zhong's arm and walked all the way into the military tent, even sitting on the same mat.

"Where is it."

Tian Zhong laughed.

"I'm busy with official duties in Chang'an City, but this time I'm at General Qu's place, I have a lot of leisure time, and I can take advantage of this free time to rest for a few more days."

"That's good, that's good."

Qu Yi laughed a few times in agreement, and then turned bitter, and said to Tian Zhong with a sincere look.

"Yan Gong and I are old acquaintances. He once recommended me, and he has never forgotten his righteousness. However, most of the generals in the army are former officials of the Yuan family. Although I am the chief general, I still want to control the entire army. But it also takes time.”

"Thanks to Huang Tian's blessing, he was able to understand the righteousness and persuade the generals in the army."

Tian Zhong's expression was as usual, what Qu Yi said was righteous and convinced the generals in the army, and he said it sounded grand, but in fact the so-called righteousness was those swordsmen buried in the government.

All the generals and schools who opposed him were either killed or imprisoned. The Qingzhou Wei Army had long been what Qu Yi said.

"The world is in turmoil, the people's livelihood is suffering, wars are everywhere, and bandits are rampant. Every time I see it, I am heartbroken. I wish to lead the whole division of Qingzhou to join the Taiping Dao to respond to the people."

Qu Yi spoke earnestly, holding Tian Zhong's hand, with an upright expression on his face.

Even though Tian Zhong was well-informed, he hesitated for a while.

If he didn't know Qu Yi's true face, just looking at Qu Yi's tone and expression now, he would even think that Qu Yi had joined the Taiping Dao as early as the first year of Zhongping.

"General Qu's words are serious. General Qu's ability to abandon the dark and turn to the bright is really a blessing for all people."

But even if he knew, Tian Zhong didn't have much contempt, and just continued to follow what Qu Yi said.

After all, as long as Qu Yi was persuaded, then they could take over the entire Qingzhou north of the Yellow River without bloodshed, and at the same time get a large number of high-quality soldiers.

Qingzhou soldiers were unbearable, but those Jizhou soldiers and the soldiers who entered the camp first were all first-class elite soldiers, and the more than [-] tiger and leopard riders were even more elite among the elite.

The cost of raising heavy cavalry is extremely expensive. The cost of raising a heavy cavalry is even higher than the cost of raising five or six heavy infantry. There are still people who eat horse chews. Various logistics and the selection of war horses are extremely complicated.

Up to now, the Ming army has only raised a thousand heavy cavalry, and it still gnawed at the money left by the past, as well as the war wealth obtained by searching for powerful families.

The training of heavy cavalry is different. After getting the tiger and leopard cavalry, the number of heavy cavalry in the Ming army will exceed two thousand, which is already an extremely terrifying number.

Combined with bow cavalry, light cavalry, and ranger cavalry to form a cavalry formation, the cavalry of the Ming army will truly become an invincible existence.

"General Qu led the uprising, which is really an act of righteousness, and I will definitely ask for the title of General Qu in front of the Taoist Lord."

"All the official positions of the generals in the army are now reserved. General Qu can ask Changshi to record the names of the generals. When I return to my post, I can also submit the list to the Zhongshu Office for a new certificate."

"Tian Lingjun is bothering you."

Qu Yi's attitude was quite respectful. Tian Zhong first said that he would retain his official position, and then asked Qu Yi to record the name of the general and school. It was undoubtedly to let Qu Yi assign military positions by himself to win over people's hearts.

He also said that in front of the Taoist monarch, he asked for a title. The subtext is that, on top of the original official position, additional officials will be added to the rank.

Both of them tacitly did not mention the outcome of the battle in Wei County.

　Xu An had already used this word before abandoning darkness and turning to light, so it was not a clerical error when Tian Zhong said it.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)