Han Zuo Gaomen

Chapter 1256
Jingxing, located at the eastern foot of the Taihang Mountains, belongs to Changshan County, Jizhou. It is the fifth of the Taihang Eight Xings and an important channel for communication between Shanxi and Hebei. In ancient times, when Chu and Han fought for hegemony, Han Xin fought his last battle here and defeated more than [-] Zhao troops. Wan, since then the Han army has entered Hebei.

Times have changed, and the story has become ancient, but the fortress of Xiongguan remains intact.Today, in the countryside east of Jingxing, there is a huge camp for several tens of miles, with people roaring and horses neighing, and it is very powerful. It is where the king of Zhao Tianwang Shihu is now.

At the outskirts of the camp, there are several ditches stretching for dozens of miles, extending to tens of feet, and more than several feet deep. Drum orders, day and night drills, people are frightened, dare not come close to peep.

In the vast wilderness, there are many soldiers and cavalry running back and forth, ordering the laborers who accompanied the army to erect long fences, confining the wilderness, jungle, and even mountains and rivers, as the king of heaven to hunt and train troops. hunting grounds.

In these areas, there are many farmlands and villages, but if unfortunately they are imprisoned, they can only sigh their own bad luck. Not only the farmhouses and mulberry gardens will be used for military use, but even the old, young, women and children will be ordered by the army to gather together and become Serves with the army to help in the war.

The entire camp is huge in scale. Apart from the fixed military camps, there are also many special camps, each with different purposes.Some camps house tens of thousands of cattle, sheep and livestock, while others house numerous war horses.In others, thousands of craftsmen gathered to forge different equipment in the army.

There is also a special camp among them, which mainly accommodates women recruited by various parties. In addition to satisfying the king's own lustful enjoyment, it is also used to reward and reward those soldiers who have done meritorious service.

"A man's great desires are nothing more than wealth, sex, and power. What is the pity of the life of a husband? The farm is exhausted, the food is not enough, the wife and children are cold. Those who are diligent in the king's order, loyal, brave, and fierce, and seek pleasure. Exhausted!"

This type of slogan is widely spread in Hebei, and it is even more deeply rooted in the hearts of some brave and powerful people. They have joined the Heavenly King's command one after another, relying on their courage and violence against others in exchange for various rewards and enjoyment.

In addition, there is a separate camp in the camp, in which hundreds of monks are placed. Every time they go to a place, they pray to heaven and earth, wishing the king of heaven to enjoy the power forever. Dharma, in order to seek the protection of gods and Buddhas, invincible.

The core of the camp is where the Heavenly King's Yujiawang Tent is located, and several independent camps are set up around it, where the most elite cronies and strong soldiers in front of the Heavenly King's Imperial Palace are stationed, including the Heilonglong Army, which was built according to the heavy cavalry of the Jin Army. With armor, it seems to kill the god.

In addition, there is a special team in Tianwang Yijia, a total of one thousand cavalry, all of which are composed of women.These women are all white-armored and red-tasseled, not only are they beautiful in appearance, they are also very skilled in bow and horse, and they are not inferior to strong men when they are used in battle.

Around the king's tent, there are rows of strong and huge black iron fences. Inside the fences are tigers, leopards, bears and other large and unusually ferocious beasts, howling day and night, and the sound is shaking the world.Ordinary people would be frightened out of their wits when they heard these terrifying howls from a distance, and they didn't even dare to come within the radius of the king's tent.

This royal tent was also built by the most skilled craftsmen in Hebei.The entire tent is huge, as wide as a mile, and as high as several zhang. Surrounded by pockets, there are many leopard tails, towering banners, and fierce banners.

Those who can haunt the king's tent are all the confidantes of the king of heaven. Anyone who has a strange face and walks in the vicinity without being summoned will be immediately punished by thousands of arrows and swords.

"The majesty and majesty of ancient kings has never surpassed that of heavenly kings. Gods and Buddhas are the shelter, tigers and leopards are the drive, and the heroes of the world are all under the tent. Even if the powerful enemy invades, it is difficult to break the grass and trees under the tent!"

No matter how majestic the heavenly king is, all the viewers feel that the world is unparalleled, but no matter how majestic the appearance, after all, there are people who can't see it and don't know its majesty.

From the king's tent in front of him, the king of heaven roared angrily: "Do you dare to hope to share the mountains and rivers with me? He, a dog who wanders outside the gate of the court, what virtue and strength does he have to ask me for Shanxi?" King of?"

After the roar, a series of chaotic begging for mercy sounded in the big tent, but soon a group of tiger warriors rushed into the tent, and dozens of people were squeezed out in no time.

"Heavenly King, spare me...don't kill envoys lightly..."

The howling of one of them stopped abruptly, and the steel knife he swung directly cut off his head, and the spewing plasma immediately aroused the viciousness of the tigers, leopards and beasts in the fence, roaring again and again, shocking everyone Everyone inside and outside the big tent was pale.

However, the warriors who executed the sentence did not change their expressions. Some even deliberately spared the life of the tortured, and directly stuffed their heads, hands and feet into the fence with iron rods, so that the beasts inside could bite and eat.No one could bear to watch such a bloody and cruel scene, but all the warriors laughed happily, as if they were enjoying a pleasing scene.

In the big tent, Shi Hu was half lying on his back on the huge imperial bed carved with gold and jade. On both sides of the imperial bed, there were light and delicate maids supporting his fatter body with their soft bodies.

As he got older, Shi Hu became more and more fat and fat, especially the fat bags under the eyes were trembling because of his angry panting. From his face to his physique, he became more and more like the former master Shi Le.

The anger made him unable to calm down, he irritably pulled off the jade belt that was tight around his stomach, and then roared angrily: "Quickly call the old dog Guo Yin to the tent!"

After hearing the words, the waiter in the tent hurriedly issued an order.But Shihu stood up from the imperial bed and walked to the other side of the tent, where there was a huge weapon rack. more cruel.

Shi Hu stood here, meditating silently in his heart, and it took more than a quarter of an hour before an old and panting begging voice sounded outside the tent.Hearing this voice, a stern smile appeared on the corner of Shi Hu's mouth, and he raised his hand to grab an iron staff with a sharp iron nail inlaid on the front, and then snorted coldly: "Get out!"

"The veteran sees the king of heaven..."

Walking outside the door was a white-haired old man in Zhangfu, who was Guo Yin, the servant of Zhao Guo's official residence. , and walked forward on his knees at the same time, but after seeing the rusty instrument of torture in Shihu's hand from the corner of his eye, the old man's body trembled suddenly, and then he said in a trembling voice: "Before the old minister got the order, he was still supervising the supply of grain from all walks of life." , Gaoyang, Boling and other prefectures were aware of their intentions, and re-transported more than ten thousand stones of grain and goods, because they were late..."

"The army is stationed here in the tens of thousands, and the surplus food and ten thousand stones may not be enough!"

With a sneer on the corner of Shi Hu's mouth, he lowered his head and stroked the stick in his hand and said.

After Guo Yin heard the words, he quickly said: "Heavenly King Xiongwei entered the county. Although the localities have been inspected, but after all, the location is far and near. I ask the Heavenly King to be sympathetic. It will be enough when all parties are finished."

After hearing the words, Shi Hu's expression sank again, he waved his hands and said, "Go ahead and answer."

While speaking, he walked back to the imperial bed, waved the staff in his hand casually, and suddenly a maid was caught by the iron staff, and the sharp iron nails instantly smashed into the maid's body, and the maid screamed subconsciously. But the sound aroused Shi Hu's ferocity even more, he raised his leg and stepped on the maid's heart, trampling her to death on the spot.

Seeing this scene, everyone in the tent fell silent, several pale-faced maids tremblingly stepped forward to carry out the corpse of their companions, and then hurried back to serve as servants.

"People say that I am old and slow, but I am not. I still have a fiery temperament. Since I am listening and using it nearby, my hands and feet are so slow, but I have to ask Pu She, whose fault is it that this wicked maid died? "

Shi Hu looked down at Guo Yin who was kneeling in front of him, and said in a cold tone.

"Heavenly kings are revered, as are heavenly beings. How can it be hoped for the rotting bones of fools and old people?"

Guo Yin crawled on his knees to a distance of more than Zhang away from the imperial bed, and dared not come any closer, kowtowed and said.

Shi Hu laughed when he heard the words: "If Pu She is old and rotten, then I will have no talents in the court. The army moves back and forth for thousands of miles, and the loss of men and horses must be paid by Pu She. I am really worried. Do you have any old illnesses or misfortunes, otherwise my brave soldiers inside and outside will be cut off from cooking and drinking!"

Guo Yin was even more frightened when he heard this, and kowtowed repeatedly: "Chencheng is old and disabled, fortunately, he was favored by the Lord, so he can..."

"Forget it, I'll talk about these gossips later. I called you today to ask Pu She, are those relatives and friends in your hometown full of ambitions for a long time, so that they dare to come to me today and say that they want to help my servant become the king of Shanxi? "

After beating Guo Yin, Shi Hu opened his mouth to speak, and when he talked about this, his face flushed with anger.

After Guo Yin entered the account, he suffered a lot of beatings, and now he feels that his thoughts are chaotic except for panic, and for some reason he angered Shi Hu.After hearing this, he wanted to cry without tears. He paused and said: "Since I entered the country to enjoy the favor, I have been with the king for a long time, and I have used this to diligently whip my children, lest I will lose my favor. But I really don’t have time to look back, and I don’t even know that there are local thieves who dare to make such a rebellious argument..."

While talking, he kowtowed again and again, his gray beard and hair became messy, and even his forehead swelled up quickly.

Seeing Guo Yin like this, Shi Hu vented his anger a little bit.The reason why he was so angry was because of those people who were pushed out of the account and tortured before.

It was the envoy sent by Shi Sheng from Shanxi, who dared to ask him to be the king of Shanxi, which directly angered Shi Hu.This dog thief is just a dog who lost his family. He couldn't defend Dahao Guanzhong, and was driven away by the Jin army and fled northward in a hurry. The evil heart is not dead, but he still hopes to rule with Shihu across the Taihang Mountains.

In this way, Guo Yin suffered such an innocent disaster just because his ancestral home was Taiyuan, and was angered by Shi Hu.However, Shi Hu didn't think that the old thief was wronged, he was crawling in front of him, he looked like an old dog wagging his tail, but in fact he was not as obedient as he appeared on the surface.

In the old days, Cheng Xia and other thieves controlled Shi Daya in Xiangguo, and Shi Hu frequently attacked outside, and also contacted Guo Yin and others.But the old thief is cunning, he has been seeing that he can't hold on, and he came here when Xiangguo was about to collapse.

In the past few years, the development of the Southern Kingdom has been huge, especially the failure of Yecheng earlier, which also made Shi Hu realize that the dilapidated Hebei, which has been in civil strife for several years, is no longer the opponent of the Southern Thieves, and it is not suitable to launch immediately decisive battle.

Afterwards, the turmoil in Jiangdong of Jin State also provided Shi Hu with a respite, and he was able to calmly sort out internal and external affairs.He is a position won by soldiers and horses, and he is most concerned about the construction of the army.

Although Zhao Guo used to be the overlord of the north, that is already a thing of the past.Those elite old soldiers who followed Shi Le galloped in Hebei in the early years suffered a lot of casualties in the process of unifying Hebei, and the rest of them were almost killed in the first battle when Shi Le marched south.

Afterwards, there were several years of internal strife. Although Shi Hu finally won and became the master of the Xiang Kingdom, the strength of the Zhao Kingdom at this time was not comparable to that of previous years, at least it had declined several times.

Otherwise, with Shi Hu's character, how could he tolerate Yecheng being attacked repeatedly.In particular, Fangtou, an important town for the Jin army in Hebei, was a thorn directly inserted into Shihu's heart, making him sleepless and dreaming of pulling it out.

However, he didn't have a truly elite and powerful army in his hands, which made it impossible for Shi Hu to realize even if he had any ambitions.

You must know that the opponent of Jin State is different from the tyrants and Wubi masters who their uncles and nephews faced when they started their business in the past years. They can be disintegrated and defeated separately.The Jin army has a complete organization, excellent armed forces, and strong logistics, which are not available in the dilapidated Hebei that he took over.

Although after taking over Hebei, Shihu was also poor in finding places and recruiting troops, and assembled a large number of troops in a very short period of time, but the combat effectiveness of such a newly built army is really worrying.Moreover, this army is mainly composed of Jin people from Hebei. Once fighting in the south, it is really not optimistic whether the army's morale can be controlled.

Therefore, even though the Jin army approached the Yellow River with an aggressive and powerful posture, Shi Hu endured it and arranged the military center of gravity in the north.

At least three effects can be achieved by doing so. The first is to use troops in the north to prevent the Hebei Jin people from being instigated by the southern thieves and flee south in large numbers, and to hold these Hebei young men in their hands.The second is naturally to wipe out the rebellious tribes in the north like the Murong family of Xianbei, so as to relieve the pressure of border troubles.The third is to consume these untrustworthy Jin people's armed forces in the north in exchange for those brave and random people in the border areas.

Although these goals are very accurate, once they are implemented, Shi Hu will suffer a lot of setbacks.Although he defeated the Duan Clan in western Liaoxi and subdued the Yuwen Clan long before he entered Xiangguo, his attack on Liaodong was not smooth.

On the one hand, due to the harsh geographical and climatic environment in Liaodong, the time available for military use is very limited every year. If any twists and turns occur in the process and the military period is delayed, it can be said that the entire year's combat will be in vain.

On the other hand, there is a lack of supplies. After Shihu took over Xiangguo, although he also received a part of the remaining savings from the previous year, the subsequent expansion of the army was also a huge waste.Coupled with the fact that many strong men were confiscated, the labor force in Hebei was greatly lacking, and the war potential was seriously insufficient.

Moreover, Liaodong is not a rich place, and even today's Youzhou cannot meet the requirements for local production and supplies, and it is impossible to support wars with war. Many supplies need to be transported from Hebei to the north.It is also because of this that the scale of operations invested in the Liao region is limited, and it is difficult to gather superior forces for large-scale battles.

It wasn't until he really made his own decisions that Shi Hu realized the shortcoming of his talents, that is, he was really not good at management.In previous years, he was able to command a strong army and fight in all directions to defeat powerful enemies. It was because the former master Shi Le was in the rear and provided him with military support.

But now that the country is in his hands, the only means he can use are extortionate extortion, exhausting resources, and plundering the private property of the people under his rule to maintain a large army and frequent wars.But he also understands that such methods are unsustainable, especially since the southern thieves are getting stronger and stronger, and it is already difficult to decide the winner through one or two short-term battles.

In this way, the role of a treacherous veteran like Guo Yin is manifested.

When the entire area of ​​Hebei that his troops could reach was already barren and unable to be squeezed out, the originally naturalized Hebei once again gave birth to cancerous Wubi forces, and the powerful rural households in the local area began to grow again. .This also means that the power in Shi Hu's hands will be intercepted and split up again, and because he has a bigger goal right now, he has no energy to sweep it up for the time being.

Therefore, he can only rely on Jin people like Guo Yin to negotiate with the local Wubi, and extract money and food from them to maintain the army.And he doesn't trust Jin people in essence. Seeing that old thieves like Guo Yin are getting more and more powerful, but he can't abandon them, so he can only catch the opportunity and beat them.

As for the theft of Shanxi, it was another reason.

When he learned that the Jin army was using troops in Guanzhong, Shi Hu originally had two choices, either gather heavy troops and go south to attack Qingyan, or go north and continue to clear the border troubles.But at that time, the pressure from the border troubles in the north was already very small. Although the Murong family was still shrunk in the corner of Liaodong to resist, it was not enough to cause much pressure to the north.

But after weighing many things, Shi Hu still chose to go north. This was not out of consideration for looting, but because he gradually felt that his power was being emptied.

For things like coordinating money and food, Guo Yin and other Jin people had to be entrusted.In terms of military power, he can't maintain his dominance, and there are Kui'an and other Jiehu elders standing in the way.In addition, there is a new mountain in the army under his command, that is, the Guangzong Qihuo army that he relied on after he entered the Xiangguo, and the rising generals such as Li Nong gradually grew bigger.

So after going north and arriving between Youji, Shi Hu immediately killed Kui'an and others, which was considered to have wiped out this group of old people. The cross-expansion with the Qihuo Army greatly weakened the control of these rising generals over the army.

In addition, Shi Hu also hit the stuffed beards by the way, especially Shi Yijian who was raised by him.Because of Yuwen's informant, Shi Hu found out that Shi Yiqian dared to flirt with Murongbu behind his back, and even proposed to Murongbu.

Naturally, Shi Hu couldn't bear this, and sent the reorganized begging army to Dai County in the west of Youzhou, pointing at Yunzhong, where the core of Dai State was located, and forced Shi Yiqian to bow his head.

When the Jin army marched westward, Shi Hu had no worries. Although he was very majestic in the north, he did not expect that the backyard caught fire, and Shi Sheng's lingering ghost actually captured Taiyuan with the support of Di and Qiang in Pingyang.

Of course, part of the reason is that Shi Hu was too aggressive when dealing with Kui'an and others, which directly aroused the vigilance and resentment of the Jiehu people, and Shanxi is the main settlement of Jiehu.Shi Sheng was able to enter Taiyuan and even be proud of Shanxi, which can be regarded as Shihu's own bitter fruit.

After all this busy work, as the Jin army's battle in Guanzhong gradually subsided, Shi Hu realized that he had made another mistake.Although he was able to eliminate internal hidden dangers and integrate the forces under his command during this trip to the north, his actual strength increased very little, and even the land of Shanxi was stolen by Shi Sheng.Although Shi Hu didn't think highly of Shi Sheng, a house slave, he wasn't qualified to be a strong enemy either.

However, compared with the great significance of the Jin army's recovery of Guanlong, Shi Hu really did nothing during this rare period of truce between the north and the south. In comparison, the already existing gap in strength must be widened.If he had been able to launch an attack from the lower reaches of the Yellow River and conspire against Qingyan, even if he could not attack, the Jin army would have lost sight of one thing and lost another, and would not have recovered Guanlong so smoothly.

Now that the situation in the south is gradually settled, it is too late to regret, especially the loss of Shanxi, which even made Shihu lose an excellent offensive line.

If Taiyuan is not lost, Shi Hu can also take advantage of the sharing of the Jin army's forces, gather superior forces, quickly pass through the Taihang Mountains, and go down from Pingyang along the Fen River to beat the east-west hub of the Jin army. It was an option he had planned before.

But now because of Shi Sheng's change, even if Shi Hu solves the problem of Bingzhou's centrifugation, it is already difficult to capture Hedong when the Jin army is caught off guard.The biggest possibility is that the Jin army gathered heavy troops in Hedong and launched a fierce confrontation with his army.

And if this happens, his battle line will also be stretched, and he will face a problem of scattered troops.The Fangtou operated by the Jin army before has become a steel knife directly inserted into his front line. Regardless of whether there will be surprise soldiers or not, at least it is difficult for his army in Hedong to replenish logistics through the north bank of the Yellow River. Through the rugged Taihang Mountains further north.

In this way, just a little disadvantage in logistics may become the last straw that crushes Shihu.Especially at present, the logistics subsidies of the Jie Kingdom are mainly concentrated in the hands of cunning old thieves like Guo Yin. This point of life and death may become a bargaining chip for these Jin people and dog thieves to seek refuge in the Southern Dynasty.

So as to what to do next, Shi Hu is also frowning. It is impossible to defend the place of Bingzhou with Shi Sheng. Once the Jin army draws its strength from Guanlong, the biggest possibility for the next step is to go up the Fen River Beat Shi Sheng hard and smash his dream of becoming the king of Shanxi.

Thinking of the confusion ahead, Shi Hu had another headache, and then he reprimanded Guo Yin and ordered him to continue raising military funds for the army.

But at this time, Li Nong, who was far away in Dai County, captured a group of barbarians fleeing from the desert. After learning about their intentions, he sent someone to escort them to Jingxing where the Shihu camp was located.

　This paragraph is a program for the future plot. After more than ten hours of grinding, it is even later. I am really sorry. . .

　　
　
(End of this chapter)