Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 10 Cutting the Wheat

Although Zhongshoujiang City was under the jurisdiction of Zhenwu Army, it was really far from its core area.

From Zhongcheng to Dongcheng, if you take the main road, it is about [-] miles away. The surrounding situation is complicated. There are a large number of Hexi Dangxiang, and there may be some Heishan Dangxiang or Tuyuhun tribes. They are all "illegal immigrants" who have moved in since this dynasty.

Heyi Dangxiang is mainly based on farming, reclaiming wasteland along the river, and its living habits are very different from those of Heishan Dangxiang and Hexi Dangxiang. Tang Ting called it Sinicization Shufan, and often recruited its strong men to join the army, and from time to time they also collected a little tax. .

Especially in the area under Zhenwu Army's rule, tax collection is still very frequent, Hexi party projects are also relatively honest, they speak Chinese well, and there are few troubles in history.

The 5000 people of the German army went straight along the avenue, and if you count all kinds of cars, it stretched out for two or three miles.

It was really hard for Shao Shude to imagine what a spectacular sight it would be if it were an army of [-].He put himself in his shoes and thought about it, and felt that if he were a general in command of the army, tens of thousands of horses would not be able to control them, and it was estimated that they would disperse when they walked.In the event of an enemy attack, it is a high probability event that the entire army will be wiped out.

Still have to learn more!

If you can organize an army of [-] people in an orderly manner, take them to battle, and go back and forth with the enemy, you can be called a general.

Such generals, no matter which force they are placed in, are the core high-level leaders.

He remembered that in the early Southern Song Dynasty, after the death of General Qu Duan, no one in Shaanxi Wulu was able to organize an army of more than 50,000 people to participate in the battle. Only by progressing and having a group of officer corps that you are familiar with can you come to the top.

Shao Shude knew that his ability was seriously insufficient at this time, and he commanded a few hundred people to the sky.

In fact, there are quite a few such people here. The vassal towns that fight all year round are fine. The generals are more or less capable, and they also have a corps of officers they trust, which can support a large-scale army.

But in places where Chengping has been in place for a long time, even in the Shence Army in Chang'an, there are many generals who walk through the back door or slap their horses.Their abilities, I dare not say that they will definitely not work, but it is certain that there are many people who are slaughtering them.

Hao Zhenwei is actually not a great general. In fact, Shao Shude thinks that no one in the Tiande army can deserve this honor.

This expedition is probably the one that Hao Zhenwei has led the most troops since he became a military envoy.Before the expedition, he found a lot of people, and basically brought out those who had a little ability.

But to be honest, they are basically at the level of lieutenant generals and ten generals. How high can they be?Most of the lower-level officers at the level of Fengzhou were promoted by martial arts, and their ability to lead troops was uneven.

Shao Shude inexplicably remembered Lu Huaizhong, his subordinate, who fought very bravely, especially when the soldiers were close to each other. With his skilled long and short military skills, and his courageous spirit not afraid of death, it was like a heavenly soldier descending to the earth, cutting the opposite side. Whoa whoa.

But if you say that he has the ability to lead troops, I'm sorry, Shao Shude thought about it for a long time, but he really didn't think there was anything special about this guy.

A three-hundred-mile journey would take at least ten days, maybe more.

The [-]-strong army marched forward, set off on the fourth day of the seventh lunar month, and continued until the nineteenth day of the seventh lunar month, before arriving outside the city of Dongshoujian.

But at this time, the East City was empty, and even most of the people moved to Zhenwu Army City, which was more than a hundred miles away.

People living in troubled times have a deep-rooted distrust of warriors, and they all know that what they like most is not defending their homeland and the country, but looting places.

At that time, the three towns in Hebei were in chaos, and the warriors were fighting for power and profits. The major cities often changed hands, so that everyone met and did not rob each other's homes.This is still a battle within your own family. If you go to the outer town and expect these warriors not to loot, you can only say that you are too naive, and the probability is too small.

Dongcheng was quickly occupied.

Shao Shude is very happy, because this military fort is not small. During Xuanzong's years, there were 7000 troops and 1700 horses stationed there.

Such a military fort can naturally let them all live in, so it saves the drudgery of camping day after day.

On July 400th, when everyone was still arguing about whether to go to Zhenwujun City to try their luck next time, the Yulin Gatekeeper on the other side of the Yellow River sent envoys to contact them, saying that they had never rebelled with Li Guochang and were still loyal to the court.If Li Ni goes to the east, he must die without a place to bury him. If the imperial court has an edict, [-] people from all over Yulin Pass would like to conquer the thieves and return the world to a bright future.

Well, the words are beautiful.

But there was no mention of Guan's surrender, which made Hao Zhenwei and Qiu Weidao a little unhappy.

They have now found out that there are at least [-] soldiers in the Zhenwu army city, the city is high and deep, and the food and grass are enough for more than half a year.

Shao Shude followed Qiu Weidao, and listened to a lot of confidential things every day. Combined with the information he had learned, it was estimated that Hao Zhenwei did not want to shake up the military city.

Especially after hearing that the chief of the Tieleqibi tribe, Qibizhang, who lived inside and outside the Yinshan Mountains, led his troops on an expedition to the east a few days ago, he even went around the Zhenwu military city without fighting.

Qi Bizhang has [-] real soldiers under his command. He doesn't even want to attack the city. What are you trying to do?That's all, it's better to go to the field to pack up and plunder some goods to help the military needs.

Tiande's army is poor, and it has been a month since the expedition, and the food and grass supported by Lingzhou have almost been used.

The state was already unable to make ends meet, and it all depended on the support of the central government.Today, there is great chaos, and it is difficult to transport food and grass, and Fengzhou has only collected food and grass for January.

That is to say, if there are not enough new supplies, the thousands of people who go on the expedition can only continue to wave outside for more than a month, and then they have to go home.What?Didn't calculate the food and grass needed for the return trip?Your uncle's, we are soldiers, can't you just loot a few party tribes?
Therefore, under such a "guiding ideology", the main force of the Tiande Army began to station in Dongcheng, while monitoring Zhenwu Military City, while dispatching a small number of men and horses, with a brigade of auxiliary troops, to the countryside of Jinhe County near Dongcheng and Juncheng— —Uh, it’s not looting, in fact, there are no figures around, it’s harvesting wheat…

Yes, that's right, it's the harvesting of wheat!
The Tiande Army and Zhenwu Army are under the jurisdiction of the territory, and they plant spring wheat, which is generally harvested five to ten days ago.However, because of the war, the people fled one after another, and the wheat harvest was greatly affected.

The timid villages dared to collect the wheat and run away, but the timid ones just threw it away and ran away.The Tiande army had [-] soldiers and horses, and the consumption was not small. Therefore, they searched around and saw that the wheat in the fields was confiscated, and sent auxiliary soldiers to cut them directly.

Most of the auxiliary soldiers came from the Shannan Dangxiang in Fengzhou. They were mixed with some Sinicized Turks and Uighurs. They were originally engaged in a lot of farming activities, rather than nomadic herds.

The people in the military city were also indifferent when they saw this, as if they had made up their minds.Shao Shude felt that it might be because they moved fast and had already harvested a lot of grain in advance, and the rest of the outside didn't care much.

If the Tiande Army likes to take it, take it, it can't shake their foundation, as the so-called have no fear.

Sure enough, after staying in Dongcheng for half a month, the Rangers could no longer find a piece of unharvested fields, and thousands of troops were in danger of sitting on the mountain.

Moreover, these days, the soldiers and horses scattered to collect grain are not worrying. It is said that some people rushed to the Dangxiang, Uighur, and Tuyuhun tribes to loot.

Shao Shude had seen the capital of Fengzhou City. He brought back more than a thousand stone grains and hundreds of cattle and sheep at a time. The cavalrymen still had bloody heads hanging from their saddles, and many party women were taken captive to military camps for pleasure. , causing a headache for the officers headed by Hao Zhenwei.

"What a goddamn farce!" Shao Shude was a little helpless looking at the increasingly smoky Dongcheng.

Wufu's life is like this, Qiu Wuxun is just a fairy tale, he has been used to it for so many years.

What's more, he didn't have much confidence to accuse the sergeants of wanton looting, at most, he should not kill or hurt people or kidnap women.

What Shao Shude was really worried about was to keep messing around like this, for fear that it would provoke public outrage from the surrounding tribes.If they were besieged, the Tiande army would be lazy and rush into the field, and the possibility of failure is not low.

"Afraid those people will rebel?" Lu Huaizhong laughed when he heard Shao Shude's concern.He is now wearing iron armor, and he can't swear.If it weren't for Shao Shude's control and fear of military law, this fellow would have beaten those "sudden generals" to the ground.

"Leader of the team, I'm not as optimistic as Lao Lu. Although the Dangxiang tribe on the Zhenwu Army side has always been obedient, they will not be bullied by others. After these days of scourges, I guess it's approaching the limit." Ren Yu Ji came over and said: "Now Zhenwu Military City is a tasteless, you can't fight, if you withdraw, you will not look good, and the court will not be able to explain it. I think Hao Dujiang will also have a headache. I think it's better to cross the river. When we go to Shengzhou, didn’t the guard at Yulin Pass say he is loyal to the imperial court?

"I don't know what's going on in Shengzhou." Shao Shude sighed and said, "I heard from the military envoy a few days ago that Li Guochang's commander of the five towns along the river, Zhe Zongben, did not follow Dong. Go. After Li Guochang's brigade crossed the river and entered Hedong, he sent troops from Linzhou to take Hebin County and Hebinguan Ferry in the southern part of Shengzhou. If it wasn't for the lack of troops and he wanted to wait and see the situation for a while, I guess he would send troops People took over Shengzhou City. This was originally his defense area, and the Zhe family was a party member. With great prestige, it was easy to occupy Shengzhou. Didn't the cavalry of Zhe Silun, the son of Zongzong Ben, appear near Yulin Pass? Alas, I'm really worried, I look up and see that there is no friendly army, and sitting in Dongcheng at this time is definitely not the best policy."

"His grandma's! This is also worrying, and that is also worrying, why can't we just have a good fight? After all the calculations, it's all bullshit! Let my old Lu go into battle and chop off a few more heads of thieves, and this situation will be broken. Open." Looking at the laughter and laughter of the sergeants in the other regiments in the distance, and the solemn atmosphere in his own house, Lu Huaizhong felt a little depressed.

Shao Shude and Ren Yuji glanced at him together, and shook their heads together.The idea of ​​a typical warrior, but it doesn't help at this time.

(End of this chapter)