Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1093: 1088 [Even in war, we must be polite and worldly-wise]

(Correcting the errors in the first two chapters -

Gao Yuchengsheng and Gao Yuchengguang are father and son, not brothers.

Gao Yuchengsheng and Gao Guanyinlong's fathers are cousins, so the two of them can only be considered brothers.

Gao Zhenming is Gao Zhenshou's elder brother, not his younger brother.)
……

Outside Shanchan City.

Yang Zaixing saluted towards Bai Qi and said, "I pay my respects to the Marshal!"

Bai Qi and the other generals dismounted and walked over to hold Yang Zaixing's hands. "General Yang is truly a match for ten thousand men. I couldn't believe the news I received in the north."

"It's all thanks to the great blessing of the Emperor." Yang Zaixing was humble and proud.

Lin Chong, Fan Ruwei and other generals also came forward to pay their respects, and praised Yang Zaixing's behavior of charging the battle line with 800 cavalrymen.

In fact, they were somewhat unhappy because the achievement of conquering Shanchan Prefecture was snatched away by Yang Zaixing!

Fortunately, Bai Qi is not the eternal emperor Yang Guang, and Yang Zaixing is not He Ruobi and Han Qinhu.

Otherwise, the relationship might have ended there.

Moreover, it can still be salvaged later. After all, the Dali Kingdom has not yet collapsed, and Bai Qi, Lin Chong and others can still gain military merits.

In the afternoon, the army set up camp.

A banquet was held to celebrate in the evening, and after the banquet, Bai Qi met with Yang Zaixing alone.

The two had known each other in Hunan a few years ago, and Yang Zaixing had even asked Bai Qi for advice on the firearm version of the Mandarin Duck Formation. Even as early as when they attacked Zhong Xiang, Yang Zaixing was nominally under Bai Qi's command.

After they finished reminiscing about the past, Bai Qi asked tentatively, "General Yang, you have been on a fast journey and have been through a series of hard battles. Do you need some time to rest?"

Yang Zaixing patted his chest and said: "No need to rest, we can fight at any time!"

Bai Qi felt a bit of a headache and could only make it clearer: "Shanchan Prefecture and the barbarian tribes in eastern Yunnan were conquered by General Yang. If General Yang stayed to guard the area, those surrendered generals and tribes would definitely not dare to rebel again. With General Yang in the rear, the Sichuan and Hunan troops I brought with me can continue to advance westward with peace of mind."

This statement has three meanings.

First, to acknowledge Yang Zaixing’s great military achievements, Bai Qi would personally recommend credit for Yang Zaixing.

Second, after the establishment of Yunnan Province, Bai Qi promised to find a good job for Yang Zaixing, that is, to leave Yang Zaixing's troops in Kunming to garrison.

Third, the generals from Sichuan and Hunan came from far away, so they must be given some share of the credit for the victory, otherwise Yang Zaixing would definitely offend many people.

"Marshal, rest assured. Even if I don't stay in Shanchan, these states will not dare to rebel again. Also, there is no need to attack Huichuan Prefecture and Dongchuan County in the north. All the Dali soldiers there have been subdued by me. I also have some information about the situation of the Gao clan princes in the west..."

Yang Zaixing was still immersed in the great victory and clamored to continue the western expedition.

Bai Qi's words, which were almost explicit, were just flirting with a blind man, and Yang Zaixing couldn't understand them at all!

Bai Qi could only listen with a smile, and even stood up to hand Yang Zaixing some tea to moisten his throat: "General Yang has indeed worked hard and made great contributions. He has conquered Huichuan Prefecture and Dongchuan County. I believe that the tribes in the south can also be conquered by issuing an order. In this case, one-third of Dali Kingdom was conquered by General Yang. I will definitely report this to the court."

This was a promise to continue increasing Yang Zaixing's merits when reporting his achievements, and to count all the states and prefectures that could currently be conquered by a single order as territories conquered by Yang Zaixing's army.

Yang Zaixing still didn't understand, and patted his chest loudly: "More than one-third, Marshal, give me another 5,000 soldiers and horses, I can recover the entire Dali Kingdom!"

Bai Qi still kept smiling, but he was smiling so hard that he wanted to cry.

Doesn't this guy understand what people say?
The generals of Sichuan and Hunan have been planning to attack Dali for so many years. In the early stage, they constantly encroached on the territories of southern Sichuan, western Hunan, and Guizhou, and put in so much effort, all in order to pave the way for the actual control of the Yunnan-Guizhou region.

If it weren't for the efforts over the years, even if Yang Zaixing had conquered the entire Dali Kingdom with just a few thousand soldiers, it would have been just an isolated territory and would have had to rely on the Dali clans to govern it.

It meant that everyone worked hard to dig holes, plant trees, apply fertilizers, and catch insects, and finally waited for the trees to bloom and bear fruit, and suddenly Yang Zaixing came to pick peaches.

Bai Qi was even willing to let Yang Zaixing pick one third of the peaches, but Yang Zaixing still wanted to snatch the remaining ones from everyone else.

Forget it, if you can’t explain it clearly, then don’t say it.

Bai Qi was speechless and said, "Then General Yang will take a short break and we will attack Dali together tomorrow. As for Shanchan, I will leave some of my own troops to garrison there, and we will be safe once the auxiliary troops and immigrants arrive."

After chatting for a while, Yang Zaixing bowed and left.

Watching Yang Zaixing leave, Bai Qi rubbed his forehead and began to think about which of his subordinates should be left behind.

A general must not only know how to fight a war, but also how to divide the cake.

Yang Zaixing returned to the camp, called his generals and ordered them, "Rest well. Tomorrow at the earliest and the day after tomorrow at the latest, we will continue to march west and capture the ruler of Dali alive and present him to the emperor!"

"Capture the Dali leader alive!" the generals shouted excitedly.

Only Li Shao and Bi Jin were surprised to hear this. They looked at each other, shook their heads, and nodded.

The generals returned to the camp to sleep one after another, and Li Shao and Bi Jin deliberately slowed down their pace.

After everyone had gone far away, they suddenly turned back to ask for a meeting. "Do you have anything else to add?" Yang Zaixing asked.

Li Shao reminded: "General, our military exploits are already great enough."

Yang Zaixing laughed and said, "Are soldiers afraid of having too many military achievements?"

Bi Jin continued to remind: "General, do you still remember that when we conquered Xixia, General Yue Fei also made great achievements."

"I've read the military newspaper," said Yang Zaixing.

Bi Jin said: "General Yue Fei made great contributions and immediately led his army to fight back against Keyi Gate, and did not participate in the siege of the Xixia capital. After this battle, all the generals in the north praised General Yue. But if General Yue did not leave at that time, and stayed to compete with everyone for the credit, what would the result be?"

Yang Zaixing was stunned.

Li Shao asked, "The general went to see the marshal just now. I wonder what they talked about?"

Yang Zaixing recalled: "He said that I had been fighting hard for days, and he wanted to keep me in Shanchan to guard against the rebellion of the state tribes here... Oh! If he has something to say, just say it directly. He has to beat around the bush. I am not an unreasonable person."

Bi Jin asked, "How much military merit did the Marshal promise to leave for us?"

Yang Zaixing thought about it carefully and said: "They said that we should be credited with recovering one third of Dali's territory."

Li Shao said: "Too many."

Bi Jin suggested: "Let the credit for retaking Huichuan Prefecture and Dongchuan County be given to our friendly forces. In fact, the fact that we have taken Shanchan Prefecture is enough to reward the soldiers. What's more, we have also captured those barbarian tribes in the east and conquered those states in the south."

Yang Zaixing said: "The Marshal also arranged it this way at the beginning."

"Because this arrangement is the most appropriate." Li Shao said.

Yang Zaixing added: "It seems that he wants to keep us in Shanchan Prefecture permanently."

Bi Jin praised: "Shanchan is rich, and the Marshal's move is very kind. I heard that the Marshal will also stay here. From now on, we can become the Marshal's direct line."

"Let me think about it again." Yang Zaixing closed his eyes and thought, recalling the conversation with Bai Qi.

He is not a fool, he just didn't think about it that way. Now that he has been enlightened, he will naturally understand.

After a long while, Yang Zaixing stood up and said, "You guys go back to sleep. I'll go to the marshal again."

Handsome tent.

"Marshal, General Yang Zaixing wants to see you."

"Invite him in quickly."

Bai Qi hadn't even put on his clothes when they met, but Yang Zaixing knelt on one knee and said, "Marshal, I was confused before. The soldiers under my command have indeed fought hard for many days and need to rest."

Bai Qi's frown finally relaxed, and he said in return: "Those Dali surrendered generals you subdued are temporarily under your command. Zuining Prefecture and Xiushan County in the south are also handed over to you. Cooperate with the subsequent officials and immigrants as soon as possible to keep those places firmly under your control!"

In other words, there were no major achievements afterwards, but many small achievements were left to Yang Zaixing, even including the credit of protecting officials and resettling immigrants.

Yang Zaixing was a little embarrassed and explained: "Before..."

"Don't talk about that," Bai Qi gave Yang Zaixing enough face and asked casually, "General Yang seems to have a wise general under his command."

Yang Zaixing said: "One is called Li Shao, and the other is called Bi Jin. Li Shao is the eldest son of Li Gong, the former general of Hebei. The Marshal also knows him and once served under him. Bi Jin is from Yanzhou, Shandong. He has followed many generals and was later transferred to Guangxi."

Bai Qi nodded and commented: "I know Li Gong. He was born as a military scholar in the former Song Dynasty. He is a man of both wisdom and courage. He was invincible in Guangdong, Guangxi and Jiangxi at that time. But he is a bit arrogant and looks down on generals who are born as bandits. It is not easy for him to retire smoothly due to illness... Well, I won't talk about him behind his back. I didn't expect his son to be both wise and courageous. He is worthy of his family's learning."

Yang Zaixing said: "This Bi Jin is not bad either. He is very steady in marching and fighting. Although he can't achieve extraordinary feats, it will definitely not go wrong if we hand over the cities, mountain strongholds, and food supplies to him."

"It seems that this man has the spirit of a great general." Bai Qi also wrote down the name Bi Jin.

Bai Qi was in a very good mood at the moment and chatted with Yang Zaixing for a long time.

The next day, the army marched westward.

Before the march, Bai Qi said to his generals: "General Yang not only won a great victory with a small force against a large one, but also took the initiative to stay in Shanchan to guard the rear for us. He is truly a loyal and brave man!"

Hearing this, all the generals were happy and had a very good impression of Yang Zaixing.

The army advanced westward for several days when it suddenly received news from Gao Liangcheng.

Bai Qi called all the generals to a meeting: "Gao Liangcheng annexed the remnants of Gao Zhenshou, and the total force is about 20,000. There is a general named Gao Yuchengsheng, who sent troops to control Dali City and Dali King, and proclaimed himself Prime Minister and Duke of Ningguo. Gao Liangcheng asked us to lead the troops to join him quickly, and then divide the troops into two groups to attack Dali... Leave the extra auxiliary troops and civilians in the cities we occupy along the way. Gao Liangcheng's Weichufu City was also directly presented to the court, and our army can make detailed arrangements when we get there."

"Gentlemen, it is time to wipe out Dali. This is a land that the Tang Dynasty has not recovered. You can all leave your names in history with this!"

"Destroy Dali, long live the Ming Dynasty!"

(End of this chapter)