Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 407
On August [-]th of the second year of Dashun, in Bianzhou, Zhu Quanzhong was discussing with Jing Xiang, Li Zhen, and Wei Zhao, three confidant advisers.

"In the third year of neutralization, Wang Rong of Zhenzhou, Le Yanzhen of Weizhou, Zhu Xuan of Yunzhou, and Li Keyong of Taiyuan took the title of Jiedushi with me. Now eight years have passed, how is it?" Zhu Quanzhong is in a good mood recently.

Ding Hui led the army to attack Shi Pu, and Wu Ning's army did not dare to fight in the field, and relied on defending the city to resist.

At this point in the battle, they are actually quite passive.

Shi Pu strictly controlled Xu and Su, which are currently isolated and surrounded.Xuzhou is hard to say, but Suzhou is not difficult to win. Currently, the method of attacking the city and attacking the heart is adopted.

The two prefectures of Si and Hao are theoretically subordinate prefectures of Huainan Town, but they are controlled by the Wuning Army.

Of course, these two prefectures should have been under the jurisdiction of Xuzhou, but who made Xuzhou's soldiers fierce, and made troubles repeatedly.

Ever since Li Guangbi, who supported the soldiers and refused to go to court during the Guangde period, Xuzhou has never been worry-free. The court had to "manipulate" many times and tried every means to suppress the big soldiers here.When it really doesn't work, you can only slaughter them all.

But just like Wei Bo, there will be another crop after killing it.The older generation of Xuzhou soldiers had been killed, and a new generation of unruly yamen soldiers appeared again. Now they are the main force against Zhu Quanzhong.

In Si and Hao states, Shi Pu's control was not very strict, and the Xuanwu army did not take the initiative to attack this time, and the two sides maintained a tacit understanding of peace and harmony.

After defeating the two prefectures of Xu and Su, the troops can enter Huainan, and the prefectures of Si and Hao are still easy to capture?

Jing Xiang frowned, he felt that the Lord's recent strategic goal was a little unclear.

"Marshal, we still have to attack the three towns of Wuning, Tianping, and Taining, and the feudal vassals of Hebei. It's better not to provoke them for now." At the end of last year, after the Xuanwu army retreated from Zelu, they plundered Weibo along the way. Luo Hongxin couldn't Control, bow your head and tie your hands.Although it seems straightforward, it is unwise to have secretly made an enemy.

"Respect Sima's words are reasonable." Zhu Quanzhong realized that he was getting carried away when he heard it, and immediately got up and saluted to apologize, and then said: "Suzhou Zhang Yun, capricious, really hateful, can he accept this time?"

Zhang Yun is a Suzhou general, and he surrendered with the governor.But last year, he expelled the governor and attached himself to Shi Pu again, which made Zhu Quanzhong a little annoyed.

"Suzhou is at stake, and Zhang Yun has nowhere to go. The commander-in-chief might as well accept his surrender, and reduce casualties." Jingxiang said: "After entering Suzhou, transfer Zhang Yun to another place. After a few years, You can do whatever you want.”

Zhu Quanzhong laughed when he heard this.

Of all the generals in the army, Jing Xiang is the only one who understands me!
Before dispatching troops to Zelu last year, I could see from the dispatch of troops that I wanted to kill two generals, Li Xuan and Li Chongyin. Such a great talent, I got it, isn't it God's help?

"Shi Pu is already a dead bone in the grave, so there is nothing to worry about. The two towns of Yan and Yun have repeatedly sent troops to help Pu, and they must be resolutely conquered." Zhu Quanzhong asked people to spread out the map and carefully looked at the mountains and rivers on it.

His eyes are bright, staring at every state and county above, showing different emotions from time to time.There's annoyance, there's calm, and there's even a hint of slyness.

His left hand stroked his beard, his right hand hung down, and his fingers were occasionally twisted together, as if he wanted to hold the names of several enemy generals recorded on the map in his palm and play with them at will.

He is qualified for this.

Since defeating Qin Zongquan, taking over the six prefectures of Henan, Ruzhou, Xuzhou, Chenzhou, Caizhou, and Zhengzhou as the rear, and stabilizing production, the strength has become the number one in Henan.

Zhao Dezhen, Yang Xingmi, and Luo Hongxin also bowed their heads and surrendered on the surface, and Wang Shifan still had troubles in Xiao'er Town, so it was nothing to worry about.

Only Shi Pu, Zhu Xuan, and Zhu Jin stubbornly resisted to the end.

I have to admit that the soldiers of these three families are still very capable of fighting. It is no longer easy for the inferior troops to contend with the main force of Xuanwu.

But they won't be around for long!
Zhu Quanzhong turned his gaze back to Suzhou.

The outer city of Suzhou has been breached, and the defender Zhang Yun is trapped in the inner city. In fact, he doesn't want to fight for a long time.The reason why he didn't surrender was just because he was afraid of being settled by Qiuhou.

"Send an order to Dinghui to accept Zhang Yun's surrender, and don't move him for now." Zhu Quanzhong looked at Li Zhen, who was temporarily serving as the secretary of Xuanwu Jiedu, and said, "Suzhou soldiers are not weak. After they are dispersed, they will be organized into various armies. Damaged by the war, Zhang Yun and his family moved to Bianzhou."

"Obey." Li Zhen began to draft the order.

He knew that Zhang Yun's fate was probably going to be bad, unless he showed some extraordinary talent, then the commander-in-chief would be able to let him go.

"How is the harvest in Suzhou this year?" Zhu Quanzhong suddenly remembered this and asked.

"I'm afraid it won't work." Jing Xiang replied: "The people have lost their crops and are waiting to be fed."

"This year in Huaixi Daren, don't bring back the army rations in Suzhou, distribute them to the common people, let's help them get through this."

"As ordered."

"Guo Zhu, the capital of Caozhou, wants to surrender. What do you guys think?" Zhu Quanzhong tossed his sleeves and sat back on the bed, with a sneer on his lips.

"Marshal, Caozhou is ruined, this matter is probably correct." Jing Xiang looked at Zhu Quanzhong's face, and secretly sneered in his heart. The lord is good at everything, but he likes to play tricks. Sometimes he talks cloudy and foggy, and refuses to confide the truth. He hides his true purpose in the deepest part. place.

"Let Guo Zhu kill Guo Ci's family so that I can trust him." Zhu Quanzhong said calmly.

"As ordered."

Guo Ci was the governor of Caozhou appointed by Zhu Xuan. If Guo Zhu killed his whole family, he would definitely not be tolerated by Zhu Xuan. This surrender is true and there is no way out.

"General Cai, Liu Hong'e, please surrender. Dare I ask the commander-in-chief how to deal with it?"

Liu Hong'e was a general of Sun Ru's department and stayed in Shouzhou.After Sun Ru's main force went south, the land of Huainan was considered unowned, and each general had to make his own plans.

Yang Xingmi was defeated by Sun Ru in the south of the Yangtze River. After seeing the main force of Cai Bing crossing the south of the Yangtze River, he sent people to sneak back to the north of the Yangtze River.First extinguished the fire set by Cai Bing in Yangzhou, and then pulled out hundreds of thousands of rations abandoned by Sun Ru from the fire.

Zhang Jian, a semi-separatist force in Wuning Town and the governor of Sizhou, was short of food and asked Yang Xingmi for help. Xingmi gave him tens of thousands of dendrobium to support his army without saying a word. Zhang Jian was very grateful.

Except for Zhang Jian, Cai Bing, who was left by Sun Ru to guard the prefectures and counties in Jiangbei, was at a loss, and secretly sent people one by one to recruit them to surrender, and gained a lot.

This is where the weirdness of the world lies!

Yang Xingmi was beaten repeatedly by Sun Ru, almost never won, and lost to the end.As a result, he lost and lost, and his territory became bigger and bigger, and many elite Cai soldiers were recruited to make up for his biggest shortcoming.

What about Sun Ru?He has won consecutive battles and is arrogant, but he wins and wins, but his subordinates are eccentric. He even gave up his hometown Yangzhou and became a rogue.

What else is there to say?Qian Liu and Yang Xingmi, a pair of crouching dragons and phoenixes, crazily snatched Sun Ru's elite soldiers. Yang Xingmi recruited in Jiangbei, Qian Liu lured them to surrender in Jiangnan.

Abandoning Yangzhou was perhaps Sun Ru's most fatal mistake.

"Send someone to find out the bottom line of Liu Hong'e. If he really surrenders, let him be the governor of Shouzhou and send troops to attack Haozhou." Zhu Quanzhong doubted Liu Hong'e's determination to surrender, and planned to test it out.

He doesn't trust anyone, not even his son.If Liu Hong'e wanted to surrender, he had to show a good performance. Attacking Haozhou was a good test.

Winning or losing is a good thing for Zhu Quanzhong.

After dealing with these matters, Zhu Quanzhong talked about civil affairs with Jing Xiang, Li Zhen, and Wei Zhao.

The main purpose is to attack the powerful and powerful, and get out the land they have occupied and distribute it to the common people for cultivation.

The other is to support scholars from small families and small households, and not let aristocratic families monopolize the power of states and counties.

There is also the lack of cattle, the shortage of war horses, and a bunch of things, the three of them discussed until the sky turned black.

"By the way, Li Ke used the Northern Expedition to no avail. If there is an action after the autumn harvest, where will he attack?" After the three of Liu Jingxiang had dinner, Zhu Quanzhong was full of energy and did not intend to waste the night, but continued to work.

"Xingzhou is in hand, if you can use it, you will attack Zhenji." Jing Xiang said directly without thinking.

Li Ke's use of this person is actually easy to guess.All his emotions and intentions are clearly exposed, and every step is traceable.

His adopted brother Shao Shude is similar, and he can guess what he does.

The biggest difference between the two is probably that the elder brother is irritable and irritable, while the younger brother is kind-hearted and dark-hearted.In general comparison, Shao Shude is more difficult to deal with, because he doesn't mess around.

And Shao Shude's way of thinking made people very speechless.

Shameless, marrying a Qiang and Hu woman, gathered a bunch of miscellaneous Hus around, half Hu and half Han in the town, no literature, but strong martial arts, no wonder he and Li Keyong are brothers.

"Wang Rong is young, so many people despise him." Zhu Quanzhong also laughed, and said: "But Wang's family has become a town of virtue for five generations and six commanders. Is he so easy to fight? This person is better than Wang Shifan."

Wang Shifan is the envoy of the Pinglu Festival, leading the six prefectures of Qing, Qi, Zi, Lai, Deng, and Di. He succeeded to the throne two years ago. He was only fifteen or sixteen years old at the time. organized.

There are also many soldiers in Pinglu town. If you work hard, you can still pull out more than [-] people.There is no way, there has been no war in the area for many years, and the treasury is well-off, it is so arrogant.

"When Chengde and Youzhou were begging King Yiding to live there, Li Keyong fought with him and killed more than [-] prisoners. You should think that Chengde's army is weak, so there is nothing to worry about." Jing Xiang also said with a smile: "We will fight again this time. , full of confidence."

"The crow's army only counts those ways, brave!" Zhu Quanzhong said with a sneer: "Fighting and fighting, it all depends on the blood of the soldiers. If you can't attack again and again, let go of this breath, you will collapse. Sooner or later, you will enter Jin Yang, slaughtered the whole family of Shatuozi."

"What the commander-in-chief said is true. For people like Li Ya'er, as long as the city is strictly guarded and the thieves have nothing to plunder, it will not last long. Our army will attack later, and there will be gains." Jing Xiang said.

The way of thinking is actually the set of building high walls and accumulating food widely.

The Hedong soldiers are indeed brave in battle, and they like to rely on this desperate momentum to overwhelm their opponents, and they believe that the brave wins when they meet in a narrow road.From top to bottom, counting from Li Keyong and his hypocrites, they basically follow this path.

In the past few years, some new generals have emerged, which can be regarded as some strategies, but their status is still very low, and they cannot change the overall atmosphere of the Hedong Army.

"Shuofang's army seems to be fighting in this way." Zhu Quanzhong was not very sure when he said this.Because the time when he fought against Zhuge Shuang and Shao Shude as a master-student pair was too long ago to be used as a reference.

"No." Jing Xiang put away the smile on his face, and said seriously: "Commander, please don't underestimate this person. According to Hao Zhenwei, the former envoy of the Zhen Guojun, Shude studied military books, used soldiers in a dull manner, and was too crafty. , I don’t really believe it. Shude’s soldiers should not be less than 15, or [-]. According to the land of Xingsheng, there are many war horses, and there are countless Qiang and Hu soldiers. If you use your troops carefully, you will be able to invade Guanzhong in the year of the monkey and the moon. ?”

"Well, indeed." Zhu Quanzhong agreed: "I'd rather he come out in full force and make a decisive battle, otherwise he can only be exhausted. What's happened to this person recently?"

"There is not much movement. It should be saving money and food, training soldiers and horses, and reorganizing troops in Lingxia."

"I have been training for a whole year, but I am very patient." Zhu Quanzhong admired: "This is an act of solidifying the foundation. Patience and resourcefulness, how can restraint be compared with it? After the autumn harvest this year, will he use troops abroad? "

"Should be."

"Where is the attack? Could it be the gold merchant Li Xiang?"

Zhu Quanzhong didn't expect Shao Shude to attack Hedong.In fact, he sent envoys several times to make an appointment to attack the east of the river, but they were all rejected.

"Jin Shang, Hexi Dangxiang, Hezhong, and Shanguo are all possible." Jingxiang said: "Vice Envoy Xie sent his watch to Chang'an. The meeting has not yet left. The commander-in-chief might as well send him to Lingxia to buy horses. For the sake of the head, to find out the truth."

Zhu Quanzhong pondered for a while.

Letting Xie Tong go to Lingxia is of course risky, what if he is detained or even killed?

"What Jing Sima said is very close to my heart, so let's do it this way." Zhu Quanzhong finally made a decision: "After the autumn harvest, there is no need to attack Shi Pu, and we will gather troops to attack the Tianping army. Continue to attack Xuzhou, but let Shi Pu be united. Can he do what he wants?"

This is actually Cao Cao's strategy against Hebei Eryuan back then.

First hit you hard, make your internal structure unbalanced, then take a step back, wait for your internal conflicts to erupt, and finally easily pick the fruits of victory.

Zhu Quanzhong has also used soldiers for many years, so of course he understands this truth.

He is not the kind of commander that Li Ke used to rush and fight, relying on momentum, bravery and blood to defeat the enemy. On the contrary, he often used some cunning tricks, but they were still very effective.

Kill this pair of false brothers sooner or later!
(End of this chapter)