Five Dynasties River Mountains Fengyue

Chapter 218 Father's Obsession

In Dongyue, Shi Congyun went to his father's house to have dinner with some elders.

The main ones who came were Gao Huaide, Xiang Xun, and Murong Yanzhao who were of the same generation as my father.

Shi Congyun ran over to join in the fun, and it was very pleasant to eat stewed mutton while drinking and talking around the charcoal fire in winter.

When the table asked what daddy was doing these days, the answer was as expected.

Dad directly said that he has been busy training his Long Jie cavalry these days.

Shi Yanchao didn't like government affairs, and spent most of his time with his cavalry soldiers.

The Long Jie Army is the most elite and most powerful force in the Great Zhou Dynasty.

It is dominated by cavalry, and under the leadership of his father Shi Yanchao, he defeated the Khitan several times. It is also one of the few southern regimes that can confront the Khitan cavalry head-on.

Long Jiejun started early, with old qualifications and many elites.

Most of the time, his father Shi Yanchao is leading the cavalry unit, and in his hands this cavalry unit can also exert its maximum combat effectiveness.

When he was young, his father defeated the Khitans in the river and led the Long Jie army. After the battle of Gaoping, his father still led the Long Jie army. Later, in the Huainan battle, his father still led the Long Jie army.

The cavalry of the Long Jie army is so strong mainly because the father leads the troops with strict discipline and well-trained, and the court attaches great importance to it. He gives a lot of money, and the Long Jie army generally wears more armor. In addition, it is also because there are many Shatuo in the Long Jie army. elite riders.

Shatuo is a part of the Western Turkic tribe. It was originally a nomadic people mainly distributed in the south of Jinsuo Mountain (now Bogduo Mountain in Xinjiang), east of Pulei Sea (now Barkol Lake in northeast Xinjiang), and close to the desert.

Later, Su Dingfang, a general of the Tang Dynasty, attacked the Western Turks and captured their lord. He set up Jinman in the area where the Shatuo people were active, and Shatuo was in two prefectures. Shatuo has since been brought under the rule of the Tang Dynasty.

At the end of the Tang Dynasty, the Huangchao uprising, the Tang Dynasty summoned the army from all over the world to suppress King Qin, Dangxiang (predecessor of Xixia) and other towns to send troops to Chang'an. As a result, they were either defeated one after another, or they dared not fight against Huangchao's army, but only dared to watch.

Only Li Keyong from Shatuo led the Shatuo and Tatar tribes to help, and defeated the Huang Chao army. Huang Chao was forced to withdraw from Chang'an. Therefore, the Tang Dynasty promoted Li Keyong as the governor of Hedong. Later Tang Dynasty was established in Hedong.

The Shatuo cavalry was almost invincible at the beginning of the late Tang Dynasty. Later Tang, Later Jin, and Later Han were all established by the Shatuo people. Among the Five Dynasties, only the Houliang and Hou Zhou were the Han dynasty, which shows the influence of the Shatuo people during this period.

Now the Shatuo people in the Long Jie army are actually almost the same as the Han people. In the next generation, there must be very few people who think that they are Shatuo people. They are too far away from home, the world is falling apart, and they can’t go back.

If the Tang Dynasty was still Gaozong, they might be able to go back.

Shi Congyun sometimes feels that people in this era spend a whole life or several generations of their lives from Xinjiang to Inner Mongolia, then to Shanxi, to Henan, and then they can never go back, all for survival.

In his memory, it took only [-] hours to travel from Zhengzhou to Urumqi by high-speed rail, but now it is a journey of a lifetime.

Everyone ate meat and drank wine, chatting without saying a word, talking and talking about the north, and talking about the Liao Kingdom.

Shi Yanchao, as a senior official of the Guards Division, already knew about the Northern Expedition to the Liao Kingdom.

This matter has spread slowly, and it is hardly a secret, especially in the winter moon and the twelfth lunar month, the officials will also release a lot of signals intentionally or unintentionally, and everyone knows it well.

"If you take Youzhou down this time, Yunzhou will not be far away." The old man ate his meat, but he still couldn't forget Yunzhou. "This time, I will definitely kill those Khitan thieves and drive them back to the north of Yanshan Mountain."

Dad was in high spirits and drank heavily.

Gao Huaide took a sip and wiped the foam from his beard: "Hahaha, I went back to Yunzhou in one fell swoop, I wanted to go north a long time ago, and I didn't have a good fight at Xinkou.

Passing through Xinkou and heading north is Daizhou, and from Daizhou through the pass city is Yingzhou and Yunzhou. "

The old man nodded, and said a little lonely: "Daizhou is only two to three hundred miles away from Yunzhou, and it can be reached in ten days. When I was young, I often went back and forth under military orders. A certain horse was faster than them. No one can beat me. I can do it in five days." arrive.

But the road to Guancheng is not easy. The mountain road is high and steep. It only took me four days to walk the main road, but it took me one day alone to climb the mountain. "

Recalling the past, my father cherishes it infinitely.

The history of Guancheng he said is known from Yun, and it was also told by Gao Huaide and Dong Zunhui that it is on the high mountain in the northwest of Daizhou, from the time when Zhao State resisted the Huns in the Warring States Period, there was an important pass, and it has been passing through all dynasties. On the two mountainsides, cities were built and soldiers were stationed.

The foreign enemies from the north want to enter the basin of Daizhou after passing through Yunzhou, Yingzhou and other places. When they arrive at Taiyuan, they must cross there.

Shi Congyun didn't realize it at first, but later he remembered, isn't that the Yanmen Pass?

"General Shi defeated Khitan in Xinkou that year, those sons of bitches were too frightened to go south, but it's a pity that they withdrew too early." Murong Yanzhao said, with the meaning of flattery in his words.

Shi Yanchao was victorious for a while, but it was harmless to the army of the Liao Kingdom. The Liao Kingdom did not dare to go south. On the contrary, they were too frightened to stay in Xinkou and retreated southward one after another.

But everyone didn't expose the words of consolation, and no one like Dong Zunhui was present, so they just fell silent for a while.

"If there is Youzhou, then Yunzhou is not far away." Gao Huaide even laughed.

"I'm afraid that without Jinyang, Youzhou will be unable to support itself." Xiang Xun was a little worried.

"Since ancient times, the line of Youzhou, Weizhou, and Yunzhou has been the northern line of defense. This generation has a good defense against the north, and there are also the Great Castle built by previous dynasties.

The current problem is that Jinyang is still in the hands of the puppet Han, which makes Youzhou too prominent and lonely." Xiang Xun is very calm.

He has always been a master strategist. When he attacked Huainan, he was the first to propose that regardless of the places in Yangzhou to the south, the key to concentrating troops to win Shouzhou was the key.

After listening to his words, Shi Congyun thought about it carefully and felt that it made sense.

Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures span hundreds of miles from east to west. Why such a long battle line can become a northern barrier is not only because of natural geographical conditions, but also because many fortresses have been built along this line in the past dynasties. These city walls and fortresses are connected. Being on the same line makes this generation the Great Wall against the North.

But at this time, Hedong (Shanxi) was still in the hands of the Northern Han Dynasty. The Northern Han Dynasty was the unrelated son of Khitan. If the territory on the east side of Taihang Mountain extended too far to the north, while the west side was still in the hands of the Liao State, it would make northern Hebei lonely.

This is indeed a big problem, and Xiang Xun is very sensitive.

"As far as my short-sightedness is concerned, I want to attack Jinyang first. If there is no Jinyang (Taiyuan) and we go to war with Liao, the Liao soldiers can go east, go south from Daizhou, and leave Mengzhou and Liaozhou near Jinyang. And so on, flank me on the back.

With Youzhou at that time, we will not be able to push the defense line to the vicinity of Yanshan Mountain, the belly and back will still be exposed, and they will still go south if they want to go south. "

"The Taihang Mountains are easier to defend than Hebei." Shi Congyun said: "At least there are Taihang Mountains to the west, and the situation will be much better. In the long run, we can't finish everything in a short time, and things in the future will be difficult. "

What Shi Congyun was worried about was not that the Khitan would go east and south, but whether they could win Youzhou.

In fact, many major events are very difficult. There is a problem in Chinese history books. Military affairs are always omitted when they can.

The biggest illusion created for future generations is that everything seems to be a big war, and it will be resolved in a few days or months.

But in fact, it’s not that simple. It took more than 20 years of continuous management to win the Northern Han Dynasty. The Northern Han Dynasty didn’t even have the entire Shanxi Province, but it went through countless battles, big and small.

There are four biggest ones, Guo Rong's Battle of Gaoping, Zhao Kuangyin's two Northern Expeditions, and Zhao Guangyi's battle to destroy the Northern Han Dynasty.Guo Rong wiped out the elite of the Northern Han Dynasty, and Zhao Kuangyin failed to encircle Taiyuan, but both times caused a lot of damage to the reinforcements of the Liao Kingdom, which caused the Liao Kingdom to gradually lose confidence and dare not reach out to the Northern Han Dynasty.

By the time of the fourth and final battle to destroy the Northern Han Dynasty, it was not as difficult and intense as before, because the Liao Kingdom was afraid of being beaten, and I probably started to wonder whether I should die for the Northern Han and Northern Song Dynasty. It's not a real son, so there's no need to work hard for it.

In the past 20 years, in addition to large-scale battles, many border generals such as Li Yun in the Later Zhou Dynasty and Guo Jin in the Northern Song Dynasty have been attacking and encroaching on the border of the Northern Han Dynasty for decades, weakening the strength of the Northern Han Dynasty and making it impossible An Ning, the small battle has never stopped, and it was finally won. The back and forth layout and war lasted for more than 20 years.

Fighting the Southern Tang Dynasty was also the result of the long-term management of the two generations of monarchs Guo Rong and Zhao Kuangyin for more than ten years. It is unrealistic to kill the Yangtze River at once, especially when facing a big and powerful country with similar national strength as oneself.

Therefore, Shi Congyun believes that strategically, the north will need long-term operation in the future.

If you want to restore the glory of the Han and Tang Dynasties, you can't do it overnight.

From such a height, the question raised by Xiang Xun may be a problem, but it is not a big problem.

It is impossible for them to shake their bodies all at once, and the power of the king and hegemony exploded, frightening the Northern Han Dynasty to bow their heads, the Liao Kingdom came to surrender, and took back Youzhou and Shanxi at the same time.

Since it cannot be done, choose the lesser of two evils and the more important of two benefits.

If Youzhou can be regained, it is always good to change the main body of the defense line from the Hebei Plain to the mountains to the west. When fighting Liao, it is better to fight in the mountains than on the plains.

He and Xiang Xun had their own considerations and expressed their own thoughts.

But the old man was a little upset, with an anxious expression on his face, "I don't understand your big principles, but I will definitely go north and fight back to Yunzhou! Don't talk to the officials."

Shi Congyun and Xiang Xun looked at each other with wry smiles, and they both understood why their father Shi Yanchao was so eager and understood.

The Shi surname may be the descendant of the Shatuo people who migrated from Xinjiang or Mongolia to Yunzhou, but the matter is unclear, because the old man regards it as his hometown.

The area from Jinyang to the north to Yunzhou has been fighting frequently since the end of the Tang Dynasty. People coming and going are very chaotic, and dead people are commonplace.

His father told him that he was adopted by an old soldier from Yunzhou, and after he grew up, he stayed in the army as a matter of course. He didn't even know who his parents were since he was a child.

When Shi Yanchao was in his teens and youth, his adoptive father died from an arrow wound and died of pain. It happened that the son emperor Shi Jingtang dedicated the sixteen prefectures to the Liao Kingdom.

The Liao army took over the fifteen prefectures smoothly, but Yunzhou refused to submit to the Liao state. Afterwards, the army and the people stood alone and fought to the death with the Liao army for a year. The Liao army was killed and injured, and they were still unable to enter the city. There were also many casualties in the city. His friend Many relatives died at that time.

Later Emperor Shi Jingtang forced Yunzhou to surrender. At that time, Yunzhou City had been fighting with the Liao army for so long. Many people in the city were unwilling to surrender and feared that the Liao army would retaliate, so they fled south in large numbers. He was at that time Southward.

So Dad beat the Khitan people the most ruthlessly, even to the point of dying.

He is the number one figure in the Zhou army who repeatedly defeated Khitan. He has a deep affection for his hometown in Yunzhou and a deep hatred for Liao.

Both Shi Congyun and Xiang Xun understood these things, and besides, they were powerless to change the decision of the officials.

"Dad, don't worry, we're just talking about the future and some pros and cons. As a commander, you have to think about all aspects before going to war, but as long as you send troops, the Khitan dogs will definitely be lost.

This is called despising the enemy strategically and paying attention to the enemy tactically. "

Only then did Dad laugh, and everyone laughed too.

"Father can listen to you for other things, but this is the only one." The old man said with a serious face: "As long as there is a chance, I will never let the Khitan dog thief go!".
Since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, with the expansion of China's power to the north, the area north of Shanxi has always been the center of ethnic integration. Various ethnic groups have gathered there from all directions for more than a thousand years. Can't tell.

No matter what the high-level decisions are, the general trend among the people is that northerners yearn for the prosperity of the south and desperately want to go south; while the south likes to bribe the desperate people in the north to work hard, and they all like to hire nomadic soldiers.

In this regard, the Han and Tang empires are very similar. At the end of the Han Dynasty, the national army was about 49, of which there were more than 25 troops of all ethnic groups except the Han, and most of them were nomadic peoples in the north and west.

At the end of the Tang Dynasty, the pattern was almost the same, with a large number of Shatuo soldiers, Uighur soldiers, Dangxiang soldiers, etc., in huge numbers.

The reason is very simple, combat effectiveness has nothing to do with nationality, the living environment is the main factor, and one-sided nationalism cannot be applied mechanically.

At the beginning, the Han people mastered advanced technology and culture, and started to work hard from a poor and a poor. At that time, the fighting power was the strongest for a better survival and life, and there was a terrifying combat power of "one Han as five Hus".

But gradually the Han people became rich and lived a comfortable life, and they didn’t want to fight anymore. They wanted to enjoy themselves and stay at home with their wives.

At this time, I found that it would be great to hire people of all ethnic groups who are still in poverty and let them fight and fight for themselves.

At this time, it entered a reincarnation, and it was the turn of the poor people of various ethnic groups in the surrounding areas to fight, so their combat effectiveness exploded again, and the Han people who had been enjoying themselves for a long time were no longer the opponents of the surrounding ethnic groups.

But soon there will be another reincarnation. When the Han people are poor enough, they will start to work hard again.

In short, if the timeline is extended to the historical dimension, combat effectiveness is not determined by blood, but by living environment.

The Han culture established from the Han Dynasty has an indescribable centripetal force, just like the Southern and Northern Dynasties, when the nomads were surging at the beginning, most of them became Han people later.

It is also like the Shatuo people, Turkic people and other soldiers of various ethnic groups in the Zhou army. After the Northern Song Dynasty was established, they all became Han Chinese. If they talked about Shi Congyun themselves, they would not be able to tell that they were not Han Chinese.

Therefore, if you want to understand the Han people with the theory of blood, the concept of the Han nationality cannot be explained, because people from too many regions, ethnic groups, and tribes have been continuously included in this concept for more than 2000 years.

The 2000-year-old system established by the Han Dynasty has its own unique features, but Shi Congyun's IQ still cannot understand its ultimate meaning.

In the twelfth lunar month, in the hope of Bianshui, the soldiers of Shenhuodu secretly conducted another rocket test-firing drill, which was larger in scale. Although no one had a chance to try their hands, only 40 real rockets were launched in the end, with an average of [-] people. Fat, already made Shi Congyun feel bad.

Later, in order for the soldiers of Shenhuodu to adapt to the new crossbow, they could only tie stones of similar weight to the front of the crossbow to simulate gunpowder and iron casing, so that they could adapt to the ballistic trajectory.

In addition, the new operating rules are also different from the previous ones because the Rockets joined, and the training materials need to be rewritten, which made him a headache.

Fortunately, the three wives are educated people who gave him a lot of help. Shenhuo quickly started training at the beginning of the twelfth lunar month.

For a time, Shenhuo became the busiest training unit in the camp outside the city.
And Xiande's five years are coming to an end soon amid such busy schedule.

(End of this chapter)