Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 828

After Li Keyong occupied Youzhou, he didn't do nothing.

Leaving aside the bad things, let’s talk about the good things Lao Li has done. The most important thing is to rebuild the border defense system that was gradually abandoned in the era of Li Keju, Li Kuangwei, and Li Kuangchou.

He appointed his adopted son Li Cunjin as the military envoy of Tanji Township, and reorganized the Jingsai Army with more than [-] troops.If you enlist Fanbing and Xiangyong, it will not be a problem to expand to more than [-] - there is no doubt that Youzhou Xiangyong also has considerable combat effectiveness.

The main defense direction of Tanji is Gubeikou. This pass and the military town and beacon system in the north of the mountain accounted for more than half of the Jingsai Army's strength, which shows the importance of it.

After flattening Liu Rengong, Li Cunzhang, the governor of Weizhou, was transferred to Pingzhou as the envoy to contain soldiers and horses in Yingping town.

Pingzhou restored the establishment of the Lulong Army in the heyday of the Kingdom Dynasty. Although the number of soldiers was only [-], it was established after all. ?

In the northwest direction of Xinyigui, the soldiers led by adopted son Li Cunxiao were organized into the Qingyi Army, mainly stationed in Guizhou, with [-] troops, mainly cavalry.

The three adopted sons, divided into Gui, Tan, and Ping, control the Han tribe behind the mountain, and they are the gods of Dinghai in the north of Youzhou Town.

And behind them, there are Li Cunxin, the governor of Zhuozhou, Li Siyuan, the governor of Shunzhou, and Li Sizhao, the envoy of Yingmo Town, each with thousands to ten thousand soldiers.

The total number of soldiers and horses commanded by these six is ​​6 to [-], plus the tens of thousands of cavalry led by Li Luoluo, who was appointed as the marching commander of Youzhou Town, the entire Youzhou Town has nearly [-] soldiers and horses.

Before the repeated rebellions, it was no problem for Youzhou to raise so many soldiers, but after a few years of tossing, to be honest, the burden is a bit heavy, the people are suffering, and the oppression of the Fan tribe has gradually become more severe.

But the common people still gritted their teeth and insisted, because they were more afraid of Khitan coming to plunder.To be fair, the military discipline of Li Keyong's troops is not good, but they still have military discipline after all, and sometimes they will pretend to catch the unlucky ghosts who committed crimes.But the Khitan people are different, they haven't regarded Youzhou as their territory yet, they have a mentality of grabbing it and leaving, naturally there is no military discipline, burning, killing and looting are commonplace.

On this day, Li Cunzhang, who had only been in office for a few months as a new official, was inspecting the frontier fortress town.

He set off from Lulong County, Pingzhou Lisuo, with 180 cavalry, one man and two horses, and traveled eastward for more than [-] miles to Linyu Pass in Shicheng County.

This pass is later known as Shanhaiguan, sometimes referred to as Yuguan, and was confused as Yuguan over time.

Of course, he also has an alias Linluguan. From the name, it can be seen that this pass city must be located near the tail of the mountain.

In fact, Linyuguan is indeed the case. It is located at the east end of the Great Wall of Sui and Tang Dynasties, and the east of Guancheng is adjacent to the place where Yushui enters the sea, so it got its name.

Guancheng is surrounded by the sea on three sides, and only the north side is connected to the land. There are Tuer Mountain and Fuzhou Mountain, both of which are steep and insurmountable.There is a post road leading to the north along the coast at the foot of the mountain. The narrowest point is only a few feet, and only one carriage can pass in one direction.There are also six openings in the Guanxi Mountains, all connected by fences, with beacon towers and a small number of defenders.

Since Li Cunzhang was the envoy of Yingping Town, of course he knew the importance of Linyuguan as a traffic node. In fact, he also served as the defense envoy of Linyuguan, and he directly led the [-] soldiers stationed inside and outside the pass.But he is usually not here. In fact, Li Chengyue, the deputy defense envoy, is in charge of defense.

Li Chengyue is a native of Jizhou. His great-grandfather Li Qiong was the governor of Jizhou, his grandfather Li Anren was the governor of Tanzhou, and his father Li Juncao was the governor of Pingzhou.It can be seen from his family background that this is a local general from Youzhou, and Li Keyong's understanding of Youzhou is deepening step by step.

Li Cunzhang did not stop at Linyu Pass, but inspected the garrisons outside the pass.

On July 23, he arrived at the White Wolf Garrison.

The White Wolf Garrison has a town with [-] soldiers, including [-] cavalry soldiers, and more than [-] local soldiers were recruited to help defend it. It was the boundary of Yingzhou during the Tianbao period, roughly located on the west bank of the Daling River in the left wing of Karaqin, Liaoning in later generations.

Guard Tan Ji'en, who lived near the White Wolf Garrison for generations, is a local Tu nationality, very brave, with excellent arrows and spears.

His ancestor Tan Zhong was from Jiangzhou, Hezhong.During the Yuanhe period, Tan Zhong was "vigorous and fond of soldiers", and Liu Ji, the Jiedu envoy of Youzhou, gave him two thousand soldiers and horses to block the wolf's mouth.

"See the town envoy." Tan Jien led the general and the Hu Ren Chief Hao to salute together.

Li Cunzhang returned the gift, then looked at the Fan Han soldiers and horses in the town, and said: "This time, the military situation is really urgent. Khitan soldiers and horses have appeared outside the east and west Xiashi. The scale is not small, and they seem to have plans. White Wolf The position of the garrison is critical, and we must not relax."

After the Anshi Rebellion, the state's control over Yingzhou was greatly reduced. Not only did it move the law from Liucheng to Linyu Pass, and build Yingzhou, but also adopted a laissez-faire attitude towards the two tribes (Khitan and Xi) in Yingzhou. do not care.On the boundary of Laoyingzhou, there are only twelve military towns left, including Wengou, Baiwang, Xixiashi, Dongxiashi, Zimeng, Bailang, Changli (not the later Changli County), and Liaoxi. In the last 20 years , because Youzhou Town frequently interfered in the wars in Datong and other places, its vitality was seriously injured, and there were only eight towns left one after another.

And because Yingzhou or Xingyingzhou moved inland, the ruling power of these military towns, soldiers, people and vassal tribes located on the boundary of the old Yingzhou has actually been transferred to the governor of Pingzhou.

Li Cunzhang's official titles are Envoy of Yingping Erzhou Town, Defense Envoy of Linyu Pass, and Governor of Pingzhou. The eight guards outside the pass are all soldiers and horses under his command, with a total of more than [-] soldiers and horses. host.If you count the soldiers recruited temporarily, there are as many as [-] to [-].

It seems to be a huge force, but it is scattered in eight places, and a single military town always feels powerless when facing the Khitans.

This is the difficulty of the defensive side. The enemy can concentrate their forces and form an advantage in a local area, but you have to divide your forces everywhere, diluting your forces and making you very passive.

Fortunately, the morale of the soldiers is very high, they are not afraid of the Khitans, and even have a psychological advantage.Of the twelve garrisons outside the pass, none were taken down by the Khitan on their own initiative, and the four missing were also voluntarily evacuated by them.If it weren't for Li Keju, Li Kuangwei, and Li Kuangchou who liked to interfere in the war in the Central Plains and sent away wave after wave of Youzhou elites, the Khitan people would take the lead to fight?
"The town envoy, a group of Khitan people came from outside the city yesterday, and someone saw Liu Rengong." Tan Jien reported: "He is leading the way for the Khitan, it is really abominable. Since the town envoy came with a large army, we might as well gather our troops and follow the town. Make them go north and kill the thieves. If you encounter Khitan, you can kill them all, so that you don't have to peep around all day long, and you will be annoyed to death."

"It's not right." Li Cunzhang flatly refused, saying: "I received news on the road that there were Khitan people grazing outside the city in Zimengchuan, and the general led his troops out of the city to snatch cattle, sheep and horses. Two thousand soldiers were lost. The Zimeng Army is likely to have fallen, so don't be careless."

"This plan is poisonous!" Tan Jien exclaimed.

He thought for a while, if the Khitan people played like this outside the White Wolf Garrison, he might also fall into the trap.

It's embarrassing to say, Wufu just can't see the wealth dangling in front of him, the Khitan people herding horses and sheep in front of you, it seems that there are not many soldiers, ask yourself, can you bear it?
Besides, they didn't rob the Khitan people once or twice. Over the years, they have looted countless cattle, sheep, and even some women and children.

"Keep guarding the door and don't act rashly." Li Cunzhang said: "I have transferred [-] steps to ride eastward to Linyu Pass. Another envoy will be sent to Youzhou to report to the king of Jin. Please transfer the army to Bailangshui (Daling River) ), deter Khitan."

"Of course." Tan Jien replied.

"But what's the problem? If there is any problem, bring it up now." Li Cunzhang said again.

"Arrows are a little short."

"I asked Qian Jinye to send someone to bring it, is there any more?"

Qianjinye is located in Macheng County, Pingzhou.This county was established in the 28th year of Kaiyuan, and it rose because of the Rushui (Luanhe) shipping. It still has a wharf, which is an important transportation channel in Youzhou. It leads directly to the sea, but there is no sea transportation.In the Tang Dynasty, the northern shipping ports were mainly in Dengzhou, with trade routes leading to Silla, and of course there were also shipping routes leading to the south. Du Fu once wrote poems such as "Wumen turns millet and silk, pan Hailing Penglai" and "Yunfan Transfer to Liaohai, japonica rice comes to Dongwu", which means that the grain and silk from Wudi were transported by sea to the Bohai Sea area.

"No more." Tan Ji'en said: "If King Jin wants to conquer Khitan, he might as well mobilize an army. We haven't been afraid of those bastards yet. Try to beat them up so that they don't dare to peep at Youzhou again."

"Do you think the Khitans are coming in a big way this time?" Li Cunzhang asked.

"The picture this time is not small." Tan Jien said: "That's the feeling, I can't say why."

Li Cunzhang nodded.

Outside the town, there are luxuriant grass and lush vegetation.Occasionally, I saw some farmlands, which were cultivated by the families of the soldiers in the town.

In the distance, there are Kunfa Khitan people grazing herds. They are an internal tribe, commonly known as "cooked Khitan". They have fought countless battles with the eight tribes of Khitan.

Such a place suitable for animal husbandry and farming naturally attracted Khitan people to go south.After they conquered these military towns, they could farm and graze here, further threatening Linyu Pass and the Great Wall—the Khitans were not purely nomadic tribes, and like the Xi people, they also grew food.

"It's better to defend yourself." Li Cunzhang sighed softly, and subconsciously turned his head to look to the southwest.

In Youzhou City, hundreds of miles away to the southwest, Li Keyong also received the news that the Khitans were moving south, which made him a little frustrated.

"Yang Wu, you said that we might as well wait for the Khitan and the Xia bandits to do it, and let's reap the benefits of the fisherman. How about now?" Li Ke asked angrily.

Zhou Dewei was a little ashamed, and pleaded guilty: "The general is incompetent, please be punished by the commander."

"Marshal." Gai Yu coughed and helped Zhou Dewei: "Actually, I didn't expect the Khitan people to be so treacherous."

Li Keyong glared at him and almost scolded him together, but Hao Xuan held back and asked, "What kind of treacherous method?"

"The commander-in-chief wants to wait for the Khitan and the Xia people to fight and reap the benefits. The Khitan people want to wait for our army to fight the Xia thieves and reap the benefits. The Xia people are probably waiting for me to fight with the Khitan..." Gai Yu said: "Khitan Going south, I don't know who the general is, how many soldiers he has, and which way the large group of people will go. This kind of foolish battle cannot be fought, and now we can only fight the camp and make them guard their gates. The Khitan people see that there is no chance , self-retreat."

Li Ke took a deep breath, if he hadn't listened to Gai Yu and Zhou Dewei's "nonsense", he would have already led his army to Daning to fight Yang Yue, and he might have finished the fight by now.But now I can't act rashly, which is very annoying.Thinking about Xia Bandit's continuous attack and attacking Yanbei's small tribe, he became even more angry.

"Which department to transfer to Yingping?" Li Keyong asked.

"Yingzhou soldiers stationed outside the city, Zhuo, Shun, Ji soldiers can also." Gai Yu replied.

The Yingzhou soldiers were led by Li Sizhao, the envoy of Yingmo Town, with 6000 people.

Li Cunxin, governor of Zhuozhou, had 1 soldiers, Li Siyuan, governor of Shunzhou, also had [-] soldiers, and Li Cunjin, the envoy of Tanji Town, had more than [-] soldiers. These three divisions can add up to more than [-] soldiers. The Yan soldiers are the main ones, and they have been trained for many years. It is a relatively reliable team.

"Let's do it this way." Li Keyong said dejectedly: "Ying, Zhuo, Shun, and Tan soldiers sent [-] cavalry. The Hengchong army... Forget it, the Hengchong army does not move. Let my son Luoluo lead the iron Lin Jun went to Pingzhou, and all the ministries were controlled by Li Cunzhang."

The Hengchong Army was originally called Hengchongdu, led by Li Siyuan, with an army of [-] heavy cavalry.Later, it was expanded to one thousand cavalry and changed to armored cavalry. The military envoy was Shi Yan.

The Iron Forest Army had three thousand cavalry, not armored cavalry, but heavy cavalry, led by Li Keyong's eldest son, Li Luoluo.

These two troops are Jin soldiers, originally to deal with the Xia bandits, Li Ke thought about it and decided to transfer the heavy cavalry and keep the armored cavalry.

There are still many light armored cavalry in Youzhou City, such as Li Cunxian's righteous army, Li Siben's vanguard army, Li Sien's assault army, Yuan Jianfeng's assault cavalry, etc. The original formation was not large, and it looked like a thousand children and eight hundred cavalry , has expanded over the years.Taking down Youzhou is probably Li Ke's biggest achievement in these years.

"The situation has become like this, it's all your fault!" After giving the order, Li Keyong became more and more angry as he thought about it, and almost beat Gai Yu and Zhou Dewei with a whip.

Of course, he never thought that it was actually himself who made the decision.Now the three parties have their own ghosts, and they are frozen here, and it seems that Youzhou is the party with the most trouble, and under the anger, it is indeed a bit unscrupulous.

(End of this chapter)