Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 613 Turmoil
Under the sky, the surrounding fields are vast.A small river like a jade belt divides the land into two halves.

On the left bank of the small river, more than a hundred fan cavalry frantically urged their horses to distance themselves from the enemy, and then turned their heads and shot.

Several Bian Army cavalry fell off their horses, screaming one after another.

The rest of the people yelled curses, dispersed their formation, and chased and intercepted them from multiple directions.They only need to catch up with these hateful foreigners, and they can use their thick horses to pick them off.

But the place is too open, and there is a lot of room for detours and fights. It took a long time to stop more than ten Tibetans.Then it was a one-sided massacre, and the gap between amateur cavalry archers and professional shock cavalry was vividly displayed.

But after careful calculation, it seems that it is still a loss.

He was shot to death and wounded more than [-] people before and after, only to behead more than ten levels, and he was still a barbarian recruited by Xia Bandit from who knows where, which is a big loss.

On the right bank of the small river, hundreds of Bian army cavalry stood still.

Xia Zei Hou is a good monkey, knowing that there are forests, swamps, and rivers on the right bank. The terrain is cut into fragments, and there is very little room for twists and turns. I'm afraid they can't play with spear knights like them.After all, there is no essential difference in the speed of the two sides. After being divided into several teams to surround them, most of them will not be able to escape, so they simply stopped coming.

Chasing and killing cavalry is actually the same as chasing and fleeing people.Forcing the opponent to turn constantly, it is impossible to walk in a straight line, but if you chase in a straight line, you can always catch up at the same speed.

Once close, the Xia thief who is good at riding and shooting can only wait to die. On the contrary, those cavalry who are good at fighting will be played to death with bows and arrows in the middle distance.

This is a game for the brave, and it's all about being bold and careful.

"Hmph!" Zhu Quanzhong snorted coldly with a livid face, and left with a flick of his horsewhip.

When I visited the counties in Zhengzhou, I didn't expect to encounter a fight between the two sides. This is really a great irony.

Jing Xiang followed up with a heavy heart.

Li Zhen and Wei Zhao looked at each other and sighed helplessly.

The summer bandits are getting more and more rampant.Often with a group of more than a hundred riders, they harassed the transportation team of the Bian army everywhere. Although it did not cause much damage, it was very damaging to morale and took up a lot of manpower.

After all, anyone who thinks they are very safe in the hinterland will always panic when they encounter the harassment of enemy cavalry suddenly.

In the past, the grain and grass that could be transported by the master alone, now they have to be equipped with guards.If the Xia thief came with a hundred cavalry, you must have at least sixty or seventy infantry to repel them, right?If regular infantry cannot be dispatched, and the number of state and county soldiers or local peasants will be changed, the number will increase. This is actually a very extravagant behavior. Even during the war, it is impossible to equip every transport team with guards. personnel.

At the same time, due to mental stress and increased physical exertion, the transportation team must also increase the rest time, which reduces the efficiency of transportation and increases the cost.

Over time, the extra cost will be terrible.

Of course, the above are not terrible.In a densely populated place like Henan, a mere cavalry team cannot cause huge damage unless they wantonly kill the people.But it has been more than 100 years since the chaos, and few people have done this.

What really scares people is actually a Xia thief named "Flying Dragon Army".They have the ability to dismount and fight on foot, and they often gather together to fight. Most of them are heavy armored warriors. One hundred thousand dendrobium grains and beans, and tens of thousands of bales of hay.

Possessing the powerful combat capability of infantry and the mobility of cavalry at the same time, this may be the direction of future development.

After Zhu Quanzhong returned to Zhengzhou, his mood has calmed down.

"The news came from the south that Shenzhou has been lost. Guang and Cai sent troops to rescue and were defeated by bandits. What's going on? Why did Zhe Zongben suddenly become active again?" Zhu Quanzhong looked at it with his hands behind his back. Looking out the window.

His feet are still stained with muddy water, which is the trace left over from the inspection of the farmland just now.

His face was full of fatigue, and his eyes were slightly swollen. It could be seen that he hadn't slept well for a long time.

Yes, anyone who faces such a difficult situation will feel powerless.

Jing Xiang secretly sighed, the lord is obviously a British lord, good at running the army, good at fighting, and gentle with the people, not cruel at all.Since leaving the town of Bianzhou, he has overcome obstacles and worked hard day and night, but he has fallen into this field.

"Your Majesty, it should be the Shao bandits who have increased their troops on the southern front," Jing Xiang said.

"Affordable?" Zhu Quanzhong turned around, glared at him angrily, and asked, "Ding Hui won twice in three days and captured countless captives. According to his seal, Tang Deng and the people of the three states were almost captured. The people lost their crops, and there was no food in the army. I believed in him, praised him many times, gave him a mansion, a beauty, and treasures, and handed over 3 troops to him, but he was beaten. Shenzhou is here. He and Zhang Quanyi, one of them must be lying, who do you think?"

Jingxiang ignored Zhu Quanzhong's useless rebuke and resentment, calmly analyzed the possibility, and only heard him say: "My lord, it must be Shao thief who ordered people to transfer grain and grass from Guanzhong to Nanyang. But the mountain road is tortuous and dangerous, Danshui At this time, there is no way to ship, and this kind of transshipment must not be able to support consumption. Some people think that the summer bandits should rely on the food, grass and equipment accumulated in previous years to fight, but in fact it is difficult to support the harvest of summer grain."

"Moreover, Shenzhou has changed hands three times in the past few years. The fields have been barren and the people have been scattered. It is difficult to raise enough food and grass. Gwangju is not very rich, and the summer bandits have nothing to plunder. Naturally, the troops will retreat after the food is exhausted. "

"In the direction of Caizhou, the offensive of the [-] troops of Zhezong's headquarters has been defeated by General Ding. Now it seems that this is a move to respond to the advance of Shen and Guang. The bandit army is not strong enough to fight and does not want to fight to the death. repel."

"Your Majesty, in fact, the situation is not so critical." Jing Xiang finally concluded: "General Ding can handle the situation here. If you are still not at ease, you can call back the troops stationed in Xu and Su to reinforce Caizhou line."

Hearing Jingxiang's analysis, Zhu Quanzhong's anger eased a bit.

In fact, he has fought for most of his life, how could he not know the actual situation on the southern front?The main reason is that a series of recent incidents have made him very angry, and he is just making use of it.

"Does Yang Xingmi have any ideas about taking Xu and Su's soldiers?" Zhu Quanzhong asked suddenly.

"Someone is about to talk about this." Jingxiang said solemnly and earnestly: "Now, please let the king leave Chuzhou and make friends with Yang Xingmi. Now, we can no longer be distracted by other battlefields."

Li Zhen glanced at Jing Xiang in surprise.

Is this guy out of his mind?Or is it true loyalty?Even dare to make such a suggestion, are you not afraid of being liquidated in the future?

"However, the messenger found nothing in Yangzhou."

"Your Majesty, Yang Xingmi also has some skills. Shao Shude's momentum has been getting stronger and stronger every day in the past few years. Yang Xingmi knows the importance of forming a good relationship with Bianzhou if he has a vision." As a screen, Huainan, Liangzhe, and Jiangxi used Xuanwu as a screen. How could Yang Xingmi not be afraid of Shao's bandits so powerful? He still had an expansion direction at this time, and he had fought against Du Hong several times, and had no direct conflict with the king. Please go to Yangzhou as an envoy, and make sure to persuade and act in secret, so that it will not be a border threat."

"Will Du Hong vote for Shao thief?" Zhu Quanzhong asked suddenly.

"It is very likely that I will vote." Jing Xiang said without hesitation: "This kind of grass has always been attached to whoever is strong, and self-protection is the top priority. The secrets have repeatedly invaded, and Du Hong panicked. , it is not impossible to invest in Shao thief."

Zhu Quanzhong sighed.

If the thief Shao did not go east to make things difficult for him, after defeating Erzhu and Wang Shifan, he would go south to attack Huainan.

Huainan's troops are few and weak. Since the hardships, no matter who goes south, they can easily capture it and take it easily.Even if Yang Xingmi incorporated Sun Ru's remnants, Zhu Quanzhong was confident that he would win the battle: Cai Zongquan, the main force of the Cai thief, had been wiped out by him. Could it be that he was still afraid of Sun Ru, the Cai thief who was partial to his teacher?
It's a pity that Thief Shao had to go east to make things difficult for him, and even nailed him to death in the Central Plains, unable to draw enough troops to expand outward.Seeing that others are attacking and destroying neighboring towns and expanding their power, but I can't move, how can I not make people feel aggrieved?

"If Chuzhou is given to Yang Xingmi, what will he do?" Zhu Quanzhong asked again.

"Mostly appoint Zhu Yanshou, Tian Kai, An Renyi and other confidantes as governors."

Zhu Quanzhong nodded again, it should be like this.

Places bordering foreign towns, especially enemy towns, are generally "enfeoffed".Because if you don't do this, you probably won't be able to hold on, and even if you can hold on, the price will be too high.

During the Tianbao period, Xuanzong set up ten festivals in the border areas. Why did he do this?Because of strong combat effectiveness, high efficiency, and no internal friction of all kinds of bullshit, the military and government can make decisions very quickly. They can respond to changes in the situation as quickly as possible, seize fleeting opportunities, and win.

In the era of the separatist rule of feudal towns, the two towns are adjacent to each other, one side is in control of the military and government, and the other side is separated from the military, government, and finance. .

Zhu Quanzhong asked himself that if he defeated the bandits Shao and occupied Lingxia, he would not be able to rule directly, so he must appoint a Shuofang Jiedu envoy to efficiently deal with the threats from Hexi, Yinshan and even Hedong.

This kind of Jiedushi is different from Xuanyi's nameless Jiedushi who are close at hand. They must control both military and political power, otherwise problems may arise at critical moments.

Of course, with high efficiency comes a high risk of rebellion.

Especially when the appointed governor or Jiedu envoy is getting farther and farther away from your ruling center, the complicated and dangerous situation has enabled him to gain military and political power, and his constant battles have accumulated his prestige. At this time, if he is a little ambitious, or If you think you have been treated unfairly, rebellion is just a matter of words.

But there is no perfect thing in the world, it all depends on how you choose.

Chuzhou should be handed over to Zhu Yanshou, An Renyi and others.Zhu Quanzhong turned his gaze to Li Zhen and asked, "Is there any news about Li Keyong?"

"Back to the king, I went to Weizhou and met Li Keyong. Although the generals of Jinyang raised their eyebrows coldly, but I can see that they are very afraid of the Shao thief. In the future, even if they will not join forces with our army , there should still be some tacit understanding." Li Zhen replied.

Zhu Quanzhong laughed when he heard the words, and said: "This is a pair of false brothers! To be honest, Shude is sorry for Ke Yong, but Ke Yong is a real person. But Ke Yong is not stupid, but he just can't save face. In the second year of Dashun, Shude had just broken Hao Zhenwei of the same state swept away all the heroes in Guanzhong, and then went east. That should be the last time this pair of false brothers joined forces. After more than three years since then, Ke Yong has gradually stopped bothering me. People say that Li Keyong is stupid, is he really stupid? I don’t think it’s stupid, and I understand it very well. It was a big mistake for Shao thief to take Hezhong, but even if he didn’t take Hezhong, Li Keyong is not a fool, and he won’t come to trouble me again. He will only concentrate on taking Hezhong. Hebei. Even if the bandits Shao live to be 80 years old, they will not be able to unify the world. I can’t bear the temptation to change places.”

Li Keyong is currently leading an army to attack Weizhou. To be honest, it is not going very smoothly.

In the most recent battle, Ge Congzhou led [-] Rucai infantry and defeated the [-] heavy cavalry of the Jin Tielin Army. Li Keyong's eldest son Li Luoluo only escaped.

With the infantry who were not dominant in numbers, they defeated the armored heavy cavalry on the rampage, and their own casualties were very small. Ge Congzhou's battle was indeed beautiful.

After this battle, Li Keyong knew that Wei Bo was not easy to fight, and most likely retreated after a plunder.

"There is still more activity in Jinyang." Zhu Quanzhong said: "Li Keyong doesn't like to listen, but his subordinates will listen to it. Gai Yu, Kang Junli and others talk a lot, and Li Keyong will There is a thorn, and it is not far from their brothers turning against each other."

"Yes." Li Zhen replied.He just likes to play these private activities, and thinks it is much more interesting than the so-called temple.

"Looking at it this way, the situation is not that bad." Zhu Quanzhong stopped standing, sat down, and said, "There is still a chance—"

At this moment, a clerk from the Yuhou Division of the shogunate came in and handed Zhu Quanzhong a copy of the document.

Zhu Quanzhong took it with a smile, and stood up abruptly, making a loud bang even on the bed.

"The Xia bandits conquered three cities in five days. Xianju, Dingcheng, and Guangshan were lost. Our defeated troops broke through the Weishui River all the way. People in Yincheng and Gushi counties were in turmoil. They were in constant panic. It was only a matter of time before they fell. "Zhu Quanzhong crumpled the document into a ball and said expressionlessly.

Jing Xiang, Li Zhen, and Wei Zhao looked at each other in blank dismay.

Since Shenzhou is lost, it should be known that Gwangju is hard to protect. This is all expected.

But that being said, everyone is not stupid and will not add fuel to the fire at this time.

"Your Majesty, Shen and Guang have fallen, and Caizhou is already facing the front of the bandit army. Now we need to control the news so as not to turmoil people." Wei Zhao, who had been silent all this time, suggested.

There was still half a sentence he didn't say.Xia Zei's cavalry army crossed the ice and went south, harassing everywhere, which has already made people flustered. If bad news comes from the south, it may not be good.

"That's right, I lost my composure." Zhu Quanzhong settled down, sat back on the bed, thought for a while, and said, "Ge Congzhou defeated the Jin thief, Ding Huiyong defeated Zongben, I want to reward you. You can handle this matter. Spread the fanfare and let everyone know."

"Of order." Wei Zhao responded.

"Call me Uncle Shi again." Zhu Quanzhong said again.

(End of this chapter)