Neon Clothes and Iron Clothes

"Wait until it burns out?" Li Xian frowned: "General, what do you mean, wait until the rebels run out of food?"

"Yes, but it's not just food!" Wang Wenzuo nodded: "There are other things as well. Your Highness, just wait patiently. Things should turn around in the spring of next year!"

"We still have to wait until the spring of next year?" Li Xian sighed: "It's not that I don't believe in the general's plan, but the court may not be patient anymore. Do you know? Since you left Chang'an, the court has made as many accusations against you and me as snowflakes. generally!"

"Impeach you and me?" Wang Wenzuo smiled: "Your Highness is too good at talking. I'm afraid I am the only target of impeachment by the ministers, right?"

"Haha!" Li Xian said with a smile: "I have figured this out a long time ago. This time when we go out to Chang'an, I am the general marshal, the general is the marching commander, and the two of us are just grasshoppers on a rope. Those It’s true that the memorial didn’t mention me, but if you were to prove one-tenth of the charges, I would be able to get away with it?”

Wang Wenzuo smiled and said nothing. It seemed that His Highness King Pei was not idle these days and had some contact with Chang'an. However, he still did not understand the mutual trust between himself and his brother, the king and his ministers.To take a step back, even if Li Hong is really disturbed by these memorials, he will still think about how to fight here, and he will wait until the battle is over before thinking about anything else.Marshal Liu once said: "If you are uncertain, you will lose completely!" For things like fighting, you either don't fight. If you fight, you have to focus on how to win.

When Li Xian saw that Wang Wenzuo was silent, he had no choice but to say: "How about we fight a small battle first, even if we just recapture one or two cities and kill hundreds of people, so that we can seal the victory document to the emperor's brother and suppress it." The arrogance of those admonishers!"

"Haha! King Pei has made great progress these days!" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile: "Then, Your Highness, would you like to go back to Chang'an in person and stop the mouths of those admonishers? Wouldn't it be a done deal?"

When Li Xian heard what Wang Wenzuo said, he didn't know that the other party was mocking him. His face turned red and he stopped talking. After a while, he found an excuse and walked away.

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Liaodong New Town.

"The messenger from the Silla people is here again, urging us to attack the Tang people again!"

"These Silla people!" Qi Sibiyu's voice seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth. He picked up the wine glass and took a sip. He said to the subordinate who informed him: "You can step back first and say that I went out to hunt. , not in Xincheng!”

"As ordered!"

The door closed, and only Qi Sibiyu was left in the room again. He walked to the fireplace. Although it was only early autumn, there was already a chill in Liaodong at night.The jumping firelight shone on Qi Sibiyu's face, making it look even more ferocious.

"You will win this time and establish your own country. But you will be killed by the Tang people in the end, but your blood can become a king, and your name will be praised! Then in this game, the people of Silla will What role? An ally? A backstabber? Or. Both?"

Since the covenant was signed under the witness of the witch Harwin, the war has gone more smoothly than Qi Si Biyu expected. The banner of the descendants of the Goguryeo king has brought him a large number of supporters, including a considerable number of people who can serve as professionals. The bureaucratic Goguryeo aristocratic intellectuals were essential to the founding of the country.

With the addition of these supporters, the army under Qi Sibiyu also slowly transformed from mere destroyers to partial builders.He began to divide the occupied land into several states and counties, appointed his supporters as local governors, and ordered them to provide a considerable amount of food supplies and soldiers to enrich his army.

However, these aristocratic intellectuals warned in unison that the situation in the area occupied by Beginning Sibiyu had been squeezed to the brink of danger. He must reduce taxes and labor, release some of the young and strong labor force from the generals back to their hometowns, and let them resume agricultural production, so that he could maintain the Go down, otherwise a terrible famine will break out next spring or summer at the latest. At that time, let alone taxes and labor, people will do anything to survive.

If the warnings of one or a few local officials can still be regarded as alarmist, then it is impossible to ignore the unanimous begging of almost everyone.He had to sadly let some of his troops return to their hometown to do farm work. Although he also agreed that everyone must come back after plowing in the next spring, he also knew that this would be difficult-most of his soldiers had With a considerable amount of plunder, and if they return to their hometowns to do farm work for a few months, I am afraid that not many of them will want to risk their heads and return to the army.
At this juncture, the Silla people's urging became more and more dazzling: Silla attacked the Xiongjin Governor's Mansion, while Qi Sibiyu attacked Liucheng, making the Tang people unable to care about each other.This plan sounds good, but the problem is that everyone knows that the Ungjin Dudufu is actually surrounded by Silla on three sides, and can only communicate with the outside world by sea; and behind Liucheng is Hebei of the Tang Dynasty, and the difficulty and complexity of the war are The level is different. These Silla people really know how to assign tasks!Qi Sibiyu gritted his teeth and thought to himself.

But it is impossible to completely ignore the Silla messengers. Qi Sibiyu's idea of ​​establishing the Mohe people's own country cannot be separated from the support of the Silla people: food, weapons, armor, horses, money, cloth, these are all needed to form an army. The army is indispensable and the Qi Si Biyu is indispensable. Of course, the Silla people are not responsive to every request, but they do provide a considerable number. If the Qi Si Biyu wants to continue to win, they cannot always avoid Silla. The face of the messenger.

"It seems we still have to fight. It doesn't matter how big or small it is, or even the outcome, as long as we can stop the Silla people from talking!" Qi Si Biyu had already made up his mind, and he called the guard at the door: "You Tell the Silla envoy that I have returned from hunting and can see him."

Liucheng.

A long call came from the distant night sky. Xue Rengui raised his head from the desk and subconsciously held the hilt of his sword. He could feel the boiling of the barracks under the city. A scout was back!He thought to himself.

This long and low horn echoed in the night sky for a long time before gradually disappearing.The sentries on the city wall stood motionless, turning their heads to the north, breathing mist.A horse neighed and was immediately comforted.In an instant, it seemed as if the entire city held its breath and listened.The soldiers of the Anton Protectorate Corps were waiting for the next trumpet sound, but they secretly prayed not to hear the answer to the fear that it might come.

Xue Rengui walked to the window and looked into the night. He saw a tail of light moving towards the city in the dark mountains and forests in the distance. He exhaled a long breath. Judging from the scale, this should not be a rebel army - the number was too small!

"I hope it's good news!" Xue Rengui sighed: "I need good luck so much now!"

Outside the moat, Tang army guards were moving away their spiked horses to clear the passage.Soon, the Tang army who had just sounded the horn came out of the woods and climbed over the slope. They were all wearing leather and sweaters, and their bodies reflected steel. Their thick beards covered their strong and thin faces, making them look like they were the same as those on their crotches. The hair is as shaggy as a horse.

As the distance shortened, the sharp-eyed sentry discovered that many horses were ridden by two people.As they got closer, they saw more clearly that many people in the crowd were injured. It seemed that they had encountered trouble on the road.

"What's going on? Met a thief?" an old sentry asked loudly. "It's the Mohe people's cavalry!" A knight with a wound on his face responded: "At least 500 people have crossed the Laoya River and are heading southwest!"

"I bumped into you? What happened next?" asked an enthusiastic man.

"They were discovered by our A Zhiluo early!" Another knight laughed: "Then we spread our wings, surrounded them, and killed them!"

"It's Ah Zhiluo again, God has given him a pair of sharp eyes!"

"Then you won a big victory and cut off the heads of many thieves, right?"

"That's right, the head of Hakan the White Wolf is right there. Did you see it? It's on the tip of the flagpole!"

The knight's words immediately aroused cheers. White Wolf Hakaner is a famous leader of the rebels. He is said to have shot his first prey at the age of 14 - a huge white wolf, which he made from wolf skin. Cloak, and White Wolf became his nickname.This fierce and cunning Mohe man caused great harm to the Tang army and was considered a dangerous element among the rebels. However, he was actually killed this time, which was surprising.

"Azhiluo, Azhiluo is here, our Azhiluo!"

With cheers, more and more soldiers and civilians ran to both sides of the road to cheer for their hero. He was riding on a gray horse, his back straight like a spear, and his cheeks. There were two scars that had not yet completely healed, and his expression was solemn, without a victorious smile.On the tip of the flagpole and spear he held was a grinning head.

"Smile! Smile!" A veteran shouted loudly: "You should smile when you win!"

"Yes, laugh, laugh loudly!" People echoed in unison.

When Ah Zhiluo heard the cheers of the people on both sides of the road, his face twitched twice, as if he wanted to laugh, but froze again.At this time, an officer came forward and nodded to A Zhiluo: "General Xue wants to see you, please come with me!"

Ah Zhiluo handed the flagpole to his companions behind him, got off his horse and said, "Take good care of my men and horses, they are all exhausted!"

"Don't worry!" The officer nodded: "Follow me!"

When A Zhiluo walked into Xue Rengui's room, an attendant was putting the jug into a silver bucket of warm wine. Xue Rengui waved his hand and signaled the officer leading the way to exit, and said to A Zhiluo: "You haven't eaten yet. Well, then come and have something with this old guy like me!"

"Yes!" Ah Zhiluo bowed and saluted. This was not the first time he reported the battle situation to Xue Rengui. Knowing that the other party was not polite in private, he walked to the bed next to the table and sat down.

"How's the situation? I heard the cheers outside. You should be back with good news!" Xue Rengui pushed the plate filled with boiled eggs towards A Zhiluo.

"This time we met the 'White Wolf' Halkan. Qi Sibiyu sent him to search southwest along the Laoya River, but he ran too fast and didn't even have the scouts ready, and he happened to bump into our encirclement. As A Zhiluo spoke, he traced the tables with his fingers. "Halkan can no longer harm good people, but many of his people escaped. I planned to pursue them, but I saw the flag of the rebels and ordered the withdrawal."

"What's the price?"

"Twenty-five people were killed and more than 25 were injured. The enemy's losses were three times ours. We also captured prisoners and got some information from them."

"Oh? What information?"

"Qi Si Biyu has ordered one-third of the soldiers in the army to go back for the autumn harvest and wait until the next spring to come back!" A Zhiluo said: "But Bai Lang opposed this order, so he took his People come to Liucheng to plunder, hoping to get rich trophies to prove that they are right!"

"Begging Sibiyu to ask one-third of the soldiers to go back for the autumn harvest?" Xue Rengui showed a playful smile: "This is a strange news! Ah Zhiluo, what do you think of this news?"

"My subordinates believe that the authenticity should be confirmed as soon as possible. Once confirmed, we should report it to General Fan Yang immediately!"

"Yes, you are right!" Xue Rengui picked up an egg and cracked the shell: "It seems that Beggar Si Biyu really wants to establish a country and establish a government, instead of always being a bandit. If he can have such a vision, It seems I underestimated him before!"

"Yes!" Ah Zhiluo nodded: "The people around him should have told him to do this. After all, before this, he was plundering all over the place and didn't care about so many things!"

"It's his ability to listen to what others say! As for his previous practices, it's even more amazing if he can change them from time to time!" When Xue Rengui said this, he sighed and stroked his temples. Gray hair: "Since the defeat of Dafeichuan, I have been doing nothing but trying to find an opportunity to repay the emperor's great kindness of not killing. But I don't want to fail to quell the chaos in Liaodong. I am really shameless to the people of the world. Now Wang Wenzuo Leading the army to pacify Liao, I just hope that I can do something for the future generations, so that it will look better in the history books of future generations!"

It is not difficult to confirm the intelligence brought by A Zhiluo. There are many rebel leaders who oppose Qi Sibiyu's disarmament order. They regard Qi Sibiyu's order as a way to strengthen weak branches. After all, Qi Sibiyu is It has the most troops, and it also has the most Goguryeo survivors and cultivated land. If everyone does this, Qi Si Biyu's strength will grow the fastest in the coming year.The reaction of these rebel leaders was almost the same - provoking a new conflict with the Tang army, so that they would naturally not be able to cut down the army, and they could also use the loot to attack Qi Sibiyu's policy - why should the soldiers go back to collect it? Planting crops?Wouldn't looting the Tang people also solve the problem of food shortage?After confirming the authenticity of the information, Xue Rengui sent the information to Fan Yang as quickly as possible.