Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 402 Situation

The nights in midsummer in July were extremely hot and muggy.

As the Deputy Envoy of the Volunteer Army, Gao Renhou certainly didn't have to be bitten by mosquitoes in the field like the soldiers, he still had a place to live.

It's already Haishi, and I'm still looking through the files by the oil lamp.

He used to only know a rough idea of ​​the origins of this unit of the Yi Cong Army, but now he has read the military history and other books, and he understands the context.

Someone actually said it was a miscellaneous brand!Can no-names have so many armors?
Gao Renhou also rose up step by step from a low-ranking officer, and he really knew everything about the barracks as clearly as the palm of his hand.

There are 3000 soldiers in the two capitals of Yi Congjun and Hengshan. Half of the soldiers are in iron armor.Ye Li and Wu Zang are also relatives-in-law of a handsome man, and they are very trusted.

There are [-] people in the Qingtang capital, and they selected Qingtang Tubo to join the army. They are "subjects" under another identity of the commander.

"I've offended a lot of people when I took office this time." After putting down the booklet, Gao Renhou smiled, his expression was calm, as if he was in the same mood as usual, and he didn't have any worries.

"Duke Ming's determination is as firm as a rock, so he won't be disturbed by villains." Staff member Du Xiao said.

Du Xiao is the second son of Prime Minister Du Rangneng. He is not very old, not yet thirty.He has taken the Jinshi exam several times, but he still hasn't passed the exam. Ben was still studying at home and was preparing to fight again, but his father asked him to "tour" in Lingxia.

Everyone knows about this tour.Du Xiao was soon hired by the Shuofang shogunate, and then sent to Gao Renhou's side to help with the paperwork - if he has the talent to praise military aircraft, of course he can, it depends on whether he can grasp the opportunity.

And Du Xianggong is also really interesting.Now he still speaks bad things about Shao Shude from time to time in the court, but secretly sent his second son to the Shuofang shogunate to seek a job. If the saint knows, can he still trust him?
Hearing that the imperial court has recently enlisted a group of civil servants from the shogunate of various feudal towns to serve as officials, it seems that they are also somewhat disappointed with the level of court officials in Beijing and China.Du Xianggong's move was probably out of frustration, right?
"Warrior in the army, speak according to your ability." Gao Renhou laughed when he heard Du Xiao say this, and said: "I also know that some things were done improperly in the past, but I am old and I don't want to change it. Since the commander-in-chief Xinzhong, what else can I say, I will go south to Huazhou in the future, and I will definitely capture Shaanxi for the commander in chief."

Du Xiao just smiled and said nothing.

The military envoy of Yi Congjun is the general's in-laws who have no Tibetan family. General Gao's rhetoric is afraid that he will be offended.

I heard that when Chen Jingxuan sent General Gao to attack Dongchuan and promised him the position of Jiedu envoy, in fact, he just said it casually, not really wanting you to be equal to me.

But General Gao was good at commanding troops. After capturing Dongchuan, he didn't even resign, but accepted the position of Jiedu envoy without hesitation, which made Chen Jingxuan feel murderous.But General Gao didn't know it, he didn't have the slightest precautions against Chen Jingxuan, until the two towns turned hostile, he still wanted to resolve the relationship, and the harmony remained as before. This kind of wisdom in life is hard to describe.

"Mingyuan thinks how the situation in the Central Plains is now?" Gao Renhou opened the window to let the cool breeze from outside blow in.

Lao Gao is not young, but he is very angry. This summer night is really too stuffy.

"Zhu Quanzhong is advancing furiously, Li Keyong is in a dilemma, Li Kuangwei is unyielding, and Yang Xingmi is waiting for the opportunity." Du Xiao replied.

Gao Renhou didn't ask him why he only mentioned these four people. The facts are obvious. Only these four people have the ambition to make progress.

"Continue to talk." Gao Renhou sat down and said.

"Zhu Quanzhong is the most powerful. He has more soldiers than the commander-in-chief. The three towns of Yan, Yun, and Xu are in danger and are not his opponents. After breaking these three towns, there will be two directions. One will invade Huainan in the south, and the other Expedition to Weibo in the north."

"Why didn't you attack Hedong first, and then attack Weibo?"

"The purpose of attacking Weibo is to attack Hedong. First cut off Keyong's outer wings, force him back to Hedong, and then send out several routes to attack Jinyang in one fell swoop."

"What evil intentions does Li Kuangwei have? Can we know in the future?" Gao Renhou said in a questioning tone.

"The three towns in Hebei, up and down, have been married for several generations. Since the hardships, they have joined forces to fight against the imperial court many times. Youzhou has enough soldiers and food, has a prosperous household registration, and even the prairie tribe provides war horses. Its strength is second to none among the three towns. Zhou Wang Rong was young, Converse looked down on him, and his words were too big. He regarded himself as an elder, and always wanted to annex Zhenji, and then plan for Yiding and Weibo. If he is allowed to cover up the land of these four towns, he will be Quanzhong. Don't dare to take it lightly."

"Xuan Shuai Yang Xingmi is good at caring the people, but his soldiers are not refined and food is insufficient, and he has been defeated repeatedly. Since this year, Sun Ru has raised the Huai and Cai Zhi's troops to cross the south of the Yangtze River, and Tian Kai and An Renyi have fought in the north several times. When the cities under the secret rule heard the arrival of Cai Bing, they all feared the wind and collapsed, not daring to speak out, and finally retreated Cai Bing by relying on the flood. He still needs to wait for a good opportunity." Du Xiao said again.

Sun Ru suffered too much in Huainan.Hunger is everywhere, people eat each other, and they have no money to support the army, so they can only go to the south of the Yangtze River to plunder.

Cai Bing was brave and brave, Yang Xingmi and Qian Liu were killed and defeated, and all the ministries collapsed.

A while ago, Zisun Ru attacked Xuanzhou, the secret nest.Xing Dian assembled the last [-] soldiers and fought to the death, but the result was still a big defeat.Originally, they were about to run away again, but God got angry, and the rare flood flooded Cai Bing's camp. They suffered heavy losses and had to retreat.

Yang Xingmi had saved his life, otherwise he, the Jiedu envoy of Xuanshe, would have lost all his territory, which is not worthy of his name.

After Sun Ru withdrew, Yang Xingmi bravely attacked Chuzhou and Hezhou, and the Cai soldiers left behind in the local area surrendered and left, and the momentum rose a little.

Yang Xingmi is talented, but his soldiers are too poor, this is his Achilles heel.

"Where is Li Keyong?" Gao Renhou asked again.

"Ke Yong is in a dilemma, it's nothing to worry about." Du Xiao said: "Based on the current situation, the enemy on both sides of the river will only become weaker and weaker. Ke Yong annexed the five prefectures of Zhaoyi, and Zelu appointed Li Hanzhi to guard them. The brutality, the frequent looting, the loss of crops and the fleeing of the people. The three prefectures of Xing, Ming, and Ci, after years of fighting, the treasury is empty, and the people are waiting for food. However, Keyong is still recruiting soldiers. .If it wasn’t for the victorious place in the east of the river, it would have died long ago.”

Gao Renhou stood up, feeling a little excited.

Hedong should have the best background among the towns in the north, but Li Keyong cannot absolve himself of the blame for being played into such a virtue.

If the general wants to enter the Central Plains, how should he choose?Now it seems that there is no choice, there is only one way, and that is to attack Wang Chongying and his son.If Li Keyong had knowledge, he would not sit idly by. This is another problem.

******
Under the city of Datong, the atmosphere was stagnant.

The armies took turns to go into battle, but failed to attack repeatedly, resulting in heavy casualties.

It's not that the army doesn't have to die, it is really Yunzhou city, and there are many defenders in the city. When the food is not exhausted, a strong attack is really the next strategy.

Li Keyong didn't want to hurt people's lives in vain.

During the siege, more than [-] soldiers conscripted from Xingzhou and other places were killed or injured. If the fight continued, they would mutiny, so he ordered the withdrawal of troops.

Historically, Li Ke used more than five months to besiege the city, but he couldn't take it down. In the end, Helianduo's army ran out of food and had to abandon the city.

At this time, the Datong Army showed no signs of running out of food at all. Under the persuasion of everyone, Li Ke had to retreat sadly, and look for opportunities later.

"Marshal, you must prepare for the worst." Gai Yu said on the way back to the teacher.

His voice was not loud, obviously afraid of being heard by others.

Li Ke raised his eyebrows and said, "The coalition forces in several towns have been repelled, so why be afraid?"

The Marshal's words were not loud, Gai Yu knew it well, and said again: "Quan Zhong has transferred troops to attack Shi Pu, now is the opportunity."

"what chance?"

"Now we can turn our troops to attack Hebei. The four prefectures of Hebei have a household registration of nearly one million. Wang Rong is young, so it is not difficult to obtain. Yunzhou has no money and no food, and the only group of murderous soldiers..." Gai Yu said.

Hebei in this era may be the most affluent area in the Tang Dynasty, and Jiangnan cannot match it.

Since the hardships, there have been occasional wars, but generally calm and stable life.

The fertile plains are densely populated and rich in silk, grain, and a lot of profits from salt and iron. They also trade with the grasslands, and they can become emperors if they get them.

Wang Rong can pull out "[-] cavalry" at a time, and Li Kuangwei can send out [-] cavalry at every turn. Even if it includes a large number of temporarily recruited state soldiers, county soldiers, and local regiment soldiers, it is very amazing. Without any economic foundation, it is not possible.

The real decline of Hebei had to be Sanyi Huihe in the Northern Song Dynasty, which completely tossed this fertile land, but at this time it was the essence of the whole country.It was for this purpose that Gai Yu persuaded Li Keyong to attack Hebei—Hedong originally had a population no less than that of Chengde and other towns, but now it can't, so it has to find compensation from outside.

"Do you know where Helian Duo's food comes from?" Li Keyong asked with a dissatisfied expression.

"Naturally from the west." Gai Yu sighed with a heavy heart, and said, "You might as well pretend you don't know about this matter."

"You!" Li Ke didn't expect the mastermind to say that, a little angry, and said: "The Shao thief deceived me so much, just pretend nothing happened?"

"How is the commander-in-chief?" Gai Yu asked.

"After the autumn harvest, there was plenty of food and grass, so I raised my troops to go north to attack Shuozhou, and I must have done this." Li Ke flicked his horsewhip and left directly, not wanting to listen to Gai Yu's advice.

He understands the truth, but he feels uncomfortable. At worst, he and Shao thief are done fighting, and they die together.

"Why is Your Majesty so angry?" Princess Liu opened the curtain of the carriage and asked with a smile.

Li Ke was silent.

The Liu family is a wealthy family in Hedong, and his wife is well-educated and wise. Li Keyong has always respected her, but this will be in a bad mood and she doesn't want to answer.

"A few days ago, my sister-in-law came by letter, saying that there is a lot of bran gold in Shanzhou, and Qiao'er has been sent to make gold wares, and a batch will be sent over before the twelfth lunar month to celebrate Dalang's birthday." Mrs. Liu beckoned, and Li Keyong With a sigh, he got into the carriage.

"Sister-in-law is much better than righteous brother." Li Keyong snorted coldly.

Mrs. Liu smiled and said: "I originally planned to send some gold and silverware to Lingzhou, but I heard that some soldiers looted the mine, and the mine supervisor couldn't make it..."

"This gang of killers!" Li Keyong cursed, and said, "When we go back, we will rectify military discipline. Anyone who loots the people and mines will be executed!"

"Your husband is fine with a small punishment. The sergeants are also complaining about the lack of rewards, and they are just unhappy. Now that the treasury is not abundant, if we tidy it up and encourage production, the people will be diligent in farming and the treasury will be abundant. Naturally, the sergeants will not plunder. That's it." Mrs. Liu took Li Keyong's hand and said with a smile: "My husband is a hero who stands up to heaven and earth, and these trivial matters should be handed over to special personnel. The mountains and rivers inside and outside the river are known as fertile soil. As long as the people are stable, why not worry about it?" Not rich?"

"What Madam said is true." Li Keyong is also a person who knows good and evil, but often he can't control his temper.

As he gets older, he actually gets better, but he still beats and scolds sergeants, and even kills them in a fit of rage.

As for not listening to advice, that's more.The Hedong generals all know that when the commander-in-chief is in a bad mood, don't persuade him, otherwise the end will probably be bad.

"Go back to Jinyang first, not Shuozhou. Bandit Shao is cunning and militaristic. He expects that the poor will have nothing to loot, so it's better to beat Wang Rong's son." Li Ke said with a sigh of relief.

(End of this chapter)