Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 1002
"Father!" On September [-]th, in Daizhou City, Li Siyuan bowed to Li Keyong to salute.

Li Keyong waved his hand, his expression was not very good.

"I heard there was a fight in the east?" he asked.

In fact, the news is not very clear, vague, indistinct, and it still came from Youzhou.

Li Cunzhang came to report, and some scouts found out from behind the mountain that Xia Bing had fought a big battle with Khitan.

Dog eats dog, sounds like good news.But sadly, they fought on Li Ke's original territory.

"I heard that Xia's army sent out troops, [-] people, to raid Khitan. However, after the raid, they withdrew quickly." Li Siyuan replied.

"Run after hitting?" Li Ke asked with his eyes fixed.

"Yes."

For some reason, Li Keyong suddenly became envious of Shao Shude, teaching the Khitan people a lesson like this, killing them happily.

"Didn't the Khitan people take revenge?" He asked again.

"I don't know." Li Siyuan also sent his men to go north, but it was too far away from the battlefield, so he couldn't find any useful news.

"How many people are there in Khitan? This time the loss should be serious, right?" Li Keyong turned his head to look to the north, where there are mountains and mountains, but he seems to have seen the scene of thousands of horses galloping on the grassland.

"The Khitan should be less than a million people." Li Siyuan said: "No matter what happens this time, tens of thousands of people will be looted, maybe even more."

Khitan's population figures, I am afraid that Khan Hendejin himself is not very clear.

The Khitan system, the ancestral law handed down from the Yaozhan family, is for the people in peacetime, and for the soldiers in wartime. Each household sends out two men, and they bring their own weapons and dry food. Follow Babu Yili to set off.

Because Khitan did not carry out population statistics, it can only be judged from the scale of their troops.

Three years later in history, that is, in 902, Abaoji sent 40 troops to conquer the "southwestern barbarians".

In 916, Abaoji encircled Youzhou, "50 riders", "or a million clouds".

Let's assume that there is no moisture in these figures. In 902, the Khitan hadn't conquered the Bohai Kingdom, nor had they invaded even the land behind the Youzhou Mountains. There were 40 troops, which meant there were 20 households.The Khitan eight tribes have 8-10 people per household, and the rest of the slave tribes or looted agricultural population have 5-6 people per household. If the 20 households are divided in half with other tribes, then the population will be 50 million .

In fact, most of the "40 soldiers" are worthwhile. At this time, the total population of all ethnic groups under the Khitan rule should be less than one million, which is incomparable with that after the establishment of the Liao Kingdom.

After the establishment of the Liao Kingdom, the Shangjing Road alone, namely the Huangshui and Tuhuzhenshui basins, had a population of more than 100 million. The nomadic population and the agricultural population accounted for half. The Khitan was not a purely nomadic regime. Before China, there was a large agricultural population.

"Even if there are millions of people, what's the use!" Li Keyong lost his temper for some reason, and only heard him say: "The tribe is young and vulnerable, what trouble can it cause Shao thief?"

In the past, Lao Li didn't want Khitan to be strong, and he didn't want them to be able to fight, but now he hoped that they could fight more and cause more trouble for Shao thief.

"Father, why don't you send someone to contact Khitan?" Li Siyuan suggested, "It's always a side of Austrian aid. It would be good if Xia Bing can be restrained."

Li Ke didn't say a word, he couldn't hold back his face.

You have fought two battles before, and recently invaded the land behind Youzhou Mountain. How can you make a person as proud as Lao Li willing to cooperate with Khitan?

Li Siyuan quietly glanced at the face of his adoptive father, and immediately understood.

This matter can be done, and the adoptive father will act as if he doesn't know.

"Can the Land of Clouds and Wei still survive?" Li Keyong didn't want to talk about Khitan any more, and asked, "This time tens of thousands of people have been looted, and the states have been destroyed. Life will be difficult in the future."

"The strong city of Yunzhou, the Xia people can't take it down. The commander-in-chief flag of General Shi is still flying on the top of the city, and it is safe and sound." Li Siyuan said: "Yunzhou is fine, and the states of Wei, Xin, Yi, and Gui will be fine. Halfway through In less than a month, the Xia people should retreat, maybe they are already preparing to retreat at this time. Father, maybe you can send troops to pursue them."

Li Keyong hesitated to speak.

Of course he knew the advantage of taking advantage of the enemy's retreat and chasing after him, but there was really no one there.

Lanshi, Yundai, Zelu, and Xing Mingci had to divide their troops to guard everywhere, and faced the pressure of the Xia people everywhere.Even if Jinyang came out in the air, he could only draw [-] soldiers and horses at most.

But these 3 people really can't take all of them away.In case something goes wrong somewhere, there will be no reinforcements.That is to say, he can bring up to 2 people to attack. Such a small number of people is too few in a battle of [-] people.

After being exhausted, some elite cavalry were dispatched to follow behind the Xia people's broken rear troops, to pick up some small bargains, that's all.

Li Siyuan is also a smart man, seeing that his adoptive father didn't speak, he didn't mention the matter, instead he said with a smile: "Father, Xingzhou has sent more than 1 new recruits, and the fifth battalion is complete."

It's all about the establishment, not the organization.

In fact, in order to make up for the loss of the Cixi War, Li Keyong ordered the establishment of five new battalions, mainly composed of Xing Mingci and Yun and Wei. Yes, each has 1 people.

The Front Battalion, Middle Battalion, and Back Battalion, which had just been formed for only a month or two, only had three to five thousand troops each.

The fifth battalion of the new army, with a total of [-] infantry from Xing Mingci and [-] cavalry from inland tribes, could not be used in the short term, so they could only practice while guarding the pass.

"The Fifth Battalion new army is good at training." Li Keyong forced a smile and didn't say much.

This year's Xia army aggressively attacked Yunzhou, which was very shocking to him.

In the past, I only knew that Shao Shude had many soldiers, but I didn't know it perceptually.Now suddenly, the three battlefields of Cixi, Datong, and Zelu ignited at the same time, pressing him firmly on the east of the river, barely relying on the advantage of geographical advantages to defend.

After fighting for half a year, he suddenly found that he couldn't even spare much mobile force.If it weren't for the strong support of the towns in Hebei, most of the flaws would have been exposed.

In a few more years, is there hope for Hedong?

He suddenly remembered one thing.Just before leaving, the daughter (Wang Ke's wife) said that my uncle is very kind, and if a new dynasty is established, the Li family in Jinyang will not be treated badly, and maybe he can be crowned king.

Li Keyong scolded his daughter to tears at that time, and reprimanded her for disturbing the morale of Hedong army.

Thinking about it carefully at this moment, it doesn't matter if his will is firm, I am afraid that the people below will think so, and they will not want to fight to the death against Xia Bing.

Thinking of this verse, he glanced at Li Siyuan.

With the way Shao—the righteous brother treats others, his nephew defected to the past, and most of them have official positions and riches and honors. Would he not be willing to fight to the death?Is it because you have a different heart after you have been in power for so long?
But he suppressed his unfounded suspicions.Hedong can be a town, and in today's troubled times, the internal unity is united, the whole is on the rise, and the atmosphere is good is the main reason.

At this time, you can't mess up your own position.We must unite our own people, and more importantly, unite the towns in Hebei, so that the stalemate can continue.

******
After leaving the state office, Li Keyong went to the military camp outside the city.

The Fifth Battalion of the New Army was actively training, and the sergeants' emotions were fine, because if they wanted, their families would move to Xindai Erzhou.

He Dong said that there is a prefecture and seven prefectures, but when it comes to the population, most of them are concentrated in Taiyuan prefecture, and the other six prefectures are sparsely populated, and there are not many people - counting the families of soldiers who moved from Youzhou, today There are more than 45 people in the thirteen counties of Taiyuan Prefecture.

Well, not many actually, there were nearly 80 during the Tianbao period.

The second most populous is Fenzhou, with about 20 people.

The remaining six prefectures each have a population of tens of thousands, and the three counties of Qinzhou with the least population even have only about 2 people, which is pitifully small.

The two prefectures of the Xin Dynasty, if not counting the inland tribes, add up to less than [-].This is mainly because when Li Ke rebelled with his own crimes, he stationed troops in Xin Dai and bargained with the court, but the [-] troops he brought over were constantly looting places.You know, Li Keyong was the observer of the Xin Dynasty at that time, and this was Zheng'er Bajing's own territory.

The people of Xing Mingci probably moved over [-] households, [-] people, which can be regarded as restoring the popularity of the place.If the family members of the sergeants continue to be relocated later, they will be arranged in Liao and Qin prefectures to enrich the local household registration.

Although Li Keyong didn't want to admit it, he still felt scared in his heart, and his physical actions were also very honest.

There are 60 to [-] people in the three eastern prefectures of Zhaoyi, and the whole territory is mostly plains, separated from Xiangwei controlled by Xia Jun only by a river.Once someone forcibly crosses the Great North River to attack, even if the city is defended, there is no doubt that many people will be looted with Xia Jun's methods.

Li Xiji repeatedly proposed to relocate Shandong people to Hedong. After Li Keyong thought about it, he finally started to implement it, but the action was still too slow.If Xia Jun hadn't been restrained by Wei Bowufu who was about to make a move, the three Shandong provinces would have been caught in the flames of war.

"Lu Yanwei and Wang Rong sent people to send some farm tools and cattle, let's distribute them as soon as possible." Li Keyong looked at Li Xiji, who personally presided over the restoration of the Xin Dynasty, and said.

"Of order." Li Xiji responded.

He was a little surprised.The king of Jin finally understood the importance of people's livelihood, plowing and plowing, plowing and plowing, without plowing, how can there be war?It's a pity that I only know now, isn't it a bit late?I hope it's not too bad to make up for it.

In fact, he was also a little hesitant.The east of the river is trapped, and the geographical advantage of the mountains and rivers inside and outside is the fortress that protects them, but it is also the shackles that trap them.External expansion is mostly hopeless, and if you cannot expand, you can only sit back and watch the enemy grow stronger step by step.

Within a year and a half, Shao Shude successively conquered the three towns of Yun, Yan, and Qi, gaining more than ten prefectures and a population of two to three million. Isn't it much better than what they tossed about?
All he can do now is to do his best to repay King Jin's respect over the years.To take a step back, let these people take root and live and work in peace and contentment in the Xin Dynasty, which is also a matter of benefiting all people.In the future, times will change, and Hedong will be defeated. He has a clear conscience and is worthy of these people.

Li Ke used to turn around along the crevice water again.

It's autumn, the leaves are falling, and the riverside scenery is so beautiful.

He stared blankly for a long time, not knowing what to think.

(End of this volume)
(End of this chapter)