First Minister of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 510

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Jimen Pass, Youzhou Terrace.

The much-anticipated Youyan joint military exercise was held as scheduled.

On the Youzhou stage, Gao Chong sat at the main seat, and on one side were Turkic nobles headed by Tuli Khan and tribal leaders under his command, such as Turkic Jia Bitqin Ashina Simo, Tuli's younger brother Ashina, Khitan The chief Dahe Mohui, the Xi tribe chief Ahui Suzhi and others.

On the other side are the officials of the Tang Dynasty headed by Shi Li Xiyu, the governor of Youzhou, such as Wang Junkuo, the governor of Youzhou, Liu Hongji, the governor of Yizhou, Wang Shen, the governor of Yanzhou, Cheng Ji, the governor of Tanzhou and others.

However, neither the famous Wagang general Wang Junkuo nor Jinyang Yuancong Liu Hongji sat in the second place, and a white-haired barbarian sat next to Li Xiyu.

I saw that the white-haired barbarian was full of vicissitudes of life, with a smile on his weather-beaten face, and he looked very kind. Li Xiyu turned his head to talk to him from time to time, and his attitude was quite respectful.

This man is the governor of Yingzhou, the Duke of Yarrow, Tudiji.

On the same day, Gao Chong handwritten a letter to Cheng Ji, the governor of Tanzhou. He wanted Cheng Ji to pass the letter to Tudiji after returning to Tanzhou. He was not in a hurry, but Cheng Ji wanted to do things for Gao Chong. That night, he asked his younger brother to carry the letter to Yingzhou.

After Tudiji received the letter and heard about the grand military exercise at Jimenguan, he took his only son on a journey day and night regardless of his old age and infirmity, and finally arrived at Jimenguan before the military exercise started.

"Ambassador, the army is assembled, please give an order."

Wang Junkuo is dressed in a military uniform, which makes him extraordinarily heroic, with a beautiful beard under his jaw, and a dignified body, he really lives up to his reputation as a handsome bearded man and handsome in green robe.

Seeing this, Gao Chong immediately got up, held his sword in his hand, and strode to the front of the stage. Looking at the endless army formation on the plain, his aura could not be expressed in words.

With a howl, Gao Chong pulled out the Seven Star Longquan Sword bestowed by Li Yuanyu, raised the sword and shouted, "Wansheng, Tang Dynasty".

As the sound spread to the audience, the shout of "Datang Wansheng" spread to the sky like a wave from the frontmost army formation.

"Wang Junkuo, Liu Hongji", Gao Chong shouted in a deep voice.

"In", Wang and Liu came out loudly as assistant officers in the military exercise.

Gao Chong divided the soldiers of the sixteen prefectures of Youyan into the Eastern Army and the Western Army. Wang and Liu were the commanders of the two armies respectively.

The young soldiers of each state are in front, the elders are behind, and the queue turns around in the opposite order.

Among them, the tall ones hold bows and arrows, the short ones are equipped with spears, the strong ones carry banners, the brave ones hold gongs, drums, knives, and cymbals to move forward, and the archers are at the end.

"We teach martial arts today to teach people to fight. Advance and retreat are like military law. Those who use their lives are often rewarded, and those who do not use their lives are punished, but they are not encouraged." Gao Chong looked at the two of them, his voice was low and powerful.

The two took the order, stepped down and read the oath to the commanding army and other generals of the military mansions in each state, and then the commanding army and other generals sent orders to all the ministries under their command.

Military exercises are just a common name for Gao Chong's words. This kind of boasting of military power is called martial arts lectures on formal occasions.

After the oath was announced to all ministries, the whole army beat drums and shouted the oath.

After the oath was over, the flag was raised, and the whole army stood up and marched. After marching to the marked place, there was a loud sound of gongs, and the whole army stopped.

Then after the three-way drum, the flag was lowered on the high platform, the whole army squatted down, and then the drum was beat, the flag was raised, and the whole army stood up.

Regular government soldiers act on the basis of flags and golden drum orders, which are the items of daily training.

Only those who are familiar with the dispatching of the flags and golden drums can truly kneel down when the flag is lowered, rise when the flag is raised, advance when the drum is struck, and stop when the gold is sounded. This is a qualified regular army, otherwise it is a mob.

At that time, Gao Junya defeated Zhu Can, who had tens of thousands of mercenaries, with only a few thousand trained regular soldiers. It was because Zhu Can's subordinates were all stragglers, with no organization and discipline at all, and the team marched in a disorderly manner. Such a team is not worthy of being called an army, but a veritable bandit of bandits.

For example, Du Fuwei, Li Mi, Wang Junkuo, etc. also gathered people to start their businesses as robbers. Why did they become famous, while other bandits, such as Wang Xuba, King of Mantian, Zhu Can, King of Jialuo, etc., were quickly defeated. Many of them A large part of the reason is the quality of the soldiers, and the fundamental similarities and differences are the methods of training.

Officers and soldiers are officers and soldiers after all, as long as the generals put a little effort in and practice according to the rules and regulations, it is absolutely beyond the reach of ordinary bandits and bandits.

After the drills that were prohibited by the whole army, they arrived at the second marked place, which was a wide and flat place.

The Eastern Army, Wang Junkuo issued an order, the drums of the Central Army sounded, the flag bearers held high the green flag, and the team quickly formed a straight line.

For the Western Army, Liu Hongji raised the white flag and lined up in a square formation to respond with the sound of drums.

In the second round, the western army took the lead in beating the drums, the flag bearers raised red flags and formed a sharp formation, while the eastern army raised black flags and formed a curved formation to respond.

In the third round, the Eastern Army beat drums and formed a circular formation holding up yellow flags, while the Western Army raised green flags and formed a straight formation to respond.

In the fourth round, the western army beat drums and raised white flags as a square formation, while the eastern army used red flags as a sharp formation.

In the fifth round, the eastern army beat drums and used black flags as a curved formation, while the western army held yellow flags as a circular formation.

The two armies each display five formations with five-color flags of blue, black, yellow, white, and red. This is a round of reciprocation, which is the process of demonstrating the transformation of the army formation.

When deploying an formation to fight, first raise the flag as the guest army, and then raise the flag as the main army, so as to distinguish the offensive and defensive trends.

Each round changes the formation, and the two armies will fight against each other.

In the first and second evolutions, the two sides took turns fighting bravely and cowardly.

For the third time, you will be in an evenly matched state, and for the fourth and fifth times, you will be in a state of victory or defeat.

After the five rounds of formation change, the two armies lined up in a straight line.

On the martial arts platform, that is, on the Youzhou platform, the three-way drum is struck, the flag bearer lowers the flag, and all the infantry squats and kneels, shouting.

Then beat the drums and stand up, the two armies closed together, and returned to the second marked point during the military formation exercise.

After beating the drum again, he retreated to the first marked point under the Youzhou stage, and then resumed the original formation, waiting for the military order.

So far, the infantry formation drill is over.

Wang Junkuo and Liu Hongji came to the stage and greeted in unison: "Please watch the cavalry."

Gao Chong looked at the dignified Tuli and the others, raised his hand and said, "Quite".

The two stepped down again, just like the previous infantry training process, first showing orders and prohibitions, and then conducting military drills.

Until the sun is high and the cavalry drills are all over, Wang and Liu Er will return to the stage and "report to the ambassador, the lecture on martial arts is over."

Gao Chong stood up, waved his hand, "return the troops back to the camp, and reward the whole army", Wang and Liu thanked the whole army on behalf of the whole army.

So far, the Youyan joint military exercise is over.

On the stage of Youzhou.

"Everyone, how about having a banquet on the icy and snowy Youzhou Terrace today?"

Gao Chong turned around and looked at the crowd and said with a smile: "Drinking the wind, dew and snow, but it has a special flavor."

"I will obey the ambassador's orders", Li Xiyu looked at Tudiji when he heard the words, and Tudiji bowed and responded with a very respectful attitude.

"Your words are serious." Gao Chong took off his sword again and again, waved his hands again and said with a smile: "You are the old man of the country, Gao Chong dare not be rude."

Tudiji was really as cautious as ever, according to his age and rank, even if he sat in the first place, others would have nothing to say, but he was always cautious and only willing to sit in the second seat.

The official worships the governor, the prince is the Duke of the country, and he calls himself old clumsy in front of Gao Chong, a junior. Self-proclaimed modesty.

As the attendants served the food and wine, Gao Chong raised his glass and said: "The conditions are difficult, and we can only celebrate the successful conclusion of today's martial arts lecture with dirty wine"?
The crowd raised their cups.

Tuli Khan showed admiration in his eyes, and raised his glass to look at Gao Chong, "I have heard about Ambassador Gao's demeanor for a long time, and we are very happy to meet today, and drink to win."

Gao Chong nodded slightly, and said with a smile: "Little Khan's sincere heart is precious, and he wins by drinking."

After drinking for three rounds, Gao Chong noticed an eight or nine-year-old boy behind Dudiji. He was slender, with a square face, and looked a bit steady. pace.

Seeing Gao Chong looking over, the boy just looked up, then quickly lowered his head and remained motionless.

"Duke Yarrow, who is the child behind you?" Gao Chong asked, already having some guesses in his mind.

Suddenly startled, "This... but this son bumped into the ambassador?"

"No", Gao Chong shook his head, and said with a helpless smile, "I just saw that this child is extraordinary and has the talent of a great hero, so I asked curiously."

Tudiji is really too cautious, at least he is also the chief of Sumo Mohe.

But if you think about it carefully, you can understand that Su Mohe's strength is average. The chief of Su Mohe at that time, that is, Tudiji's brother, Tudi Mandu, led Su Mohe to defeat in the battle between Heishuimohe and Goguryeo. , reluctantly withdrew from the Heishui Basin and defected to the former Sui Dynasty.

After migrating to Yingzhou and settling down, the eight tribes of Sumo Mohe had a total of only [-] people left, almost extinct.

After Tudiji took over as the chief, he served Emperor Yang of Sui with great care, and endured humiliation in Jiangdu, a place controlled by the Jiangnan gentry, and his temperament was smoothed out long ago.

It is no wonder that after two dynasties and four emperors, he has always been deeply trusted by the emperor. He has been an official for more than 70 years, and finally lived to be more than [-] years old.

Hearing Gao Chong's words, Tu Diji was a little puzzled, so he had to say truthfully: "Ambassador Xie said auspiciously, this is what a dog Tudi did. He is now nine years old and a child. When he heard that I was coming to the Central Plains to watch the ceremony, he quarreled. I wanted to come to see the world, I got a son when I was old, and I doted on him so much, so I brought him along, which made the ambassador laugh."

Walking suddenly, at the age of nine... Gao Chong's eyes lit up, that's right, this boy is the famous Mohe general Li Jinxing who will shock the frontiers in the future.

"Don't underestimate yourself, Lord Yarrow," Gao Chong said solemnly: "In my opinion, although this son is young, he is calm and steady. He is definitely not a thing in the pool. He will definitely do a lot in the future."

Seeing that Gao Chong was so solemn, he didn't seem to be joking, so he immediately smiled and thanked him again: "Thank you, Ambassador, for your kind words." Praise".

Tudiji has been an official in the Central Plains for a long time, and he deeply understands the influence of Han celebrities. Just a comment from a celebrity can make people famous.

For the Bohai Gao family's influence, Tu Diji has a personal experience. He has seen Gao Jiong, who was known as the "true prime minister" back then, and his disciples and old officials are all over the world. In the Bohai generation of Hebei, the Bohai Gao family has always been a first-class famous family.

Needless to say, Gao Chong's status, with the merits of the two dynasties, he will definitely ascend to the court and pay homage to the minister in the future. If he can get Gao Chong's appreciation, Su Mo Mohe will not have to be so troubled, and Su Dixing's official career will naturally be smooth.

Suddenly, Dixing came to his senses, saluted respectfully and thanked him, and said sternly: "Boy, thank you for the ambassador's praise, I'm ashamed."

"Come, sit here." Gao Chong was even more delighted when he saw this. He waved to him, motioning for him to sit beside him, and at the same time looked at the others with a smile, "I think this kid really hits it off. He's just a kid, everyone. Don't mind."

Gao Chong, as the dethroning envoy, sits high on the main seat, and directly lets a boy named Mohe sit next to him, that is, sits on the main seat and sits on top of other people. If he doesn't explain it, others will inevitably feel unhappy. .

Hearing Gao Chong's words, Wang Junkuo grinned and said, "He's a milk doll. I'll ask him to pour the bar for you."

Tu Dixing was a little dazed, looking at his old father, seeing that the others didn't mind, so he urged: "What are you doing in a daze, go and pour wine for the ambassador."

Nodding abruptly, he stepped forward, serving Gao Chong in a respectful manner.

"Come on, sit down, your hands are freezing cold, come and eat some grilled meat to keep you warm."

Gao Chong pulled Tu Dixing to sit down, looked at the little boy whose hands were as red as ice, and felt a little unbearable. Such a sensible child is rare, so he immediately took off his cloak and put it on Tu Dixing.

Du Diji and his son were flattered, Liu Hongji and others also looked surprised, it seems that Du Dixing is very lucky.

"Ambassador, I don't dare to be an ambassador," Tudiji said bluntly: "We and other people living in a bitter cold place have long been accustomed to wind and snow."

"What are you talking about, Mr. Yarrow, Yingzhou is under the rule of the Tang Dynasty, and the crown prince has said it many times, love Han Hu Ruyi, don't underestimate yourself." Gao Chong cut the roasted meat and handed it to Tu Dixing. While pretending to be dissatisfied, he frowned and said.

"Mr. Yarrow, you are so confused." Liu Hongji shook his head and smiled, "Didn't you hear that Youzhi started accepting apprentices this year? Since he values ​​your son so much..." Liu Hongji raised his brows as he spoke, indicating that you should be careful Look at Gao Chong.

Wang Junkuo swallowed the warm wine with difficulty, stared and asked, "Do you want this kid to learn from you?"

Li Xiyu was also a little surprised. In their view, no matter what his official title was, Tudiji was always a "people outside the culture", destined to be a barbarian. Although he didn't despise him, he still looked down upon him somewhat.

After Tudiji understood it, his face flushed slightly, he shook his head hesitantly and said, "How dare you climb up the ambassador's family status."

Liu Hongji had been friends with Gao Chong for many years, and when he saw him smiling and not saying a word, he understood his intentions, and immediately said: "You are not right, you are the Duke of the dynasty, the official of the frontier, how can you say that?" If you are so self-deprecating, how can you be the kind of person who only cares about family status? If you have the heart, then don’t hesitate, miss the opportunity, but it’s too late to regret.”

Tudiji looked at Gao Chong, saw that Gao Chong was only focused on talking with Tudixing, and pretended not to know what they were talking about, how could Tudiji not understand, so he came out and bowed down immediately.

"Ambassador, Lao Zhuo has an unfeeling request. This son is stubborn and doesn't know poetry and books. He has heard about the ambassador's literary skills and martial arts for a long time. He is a famous person in the world. I implore the ambassador to accept this son as a disciple. Su Mo Mohe will definitely remember the ambassador. Grace".

Gao Chong smiled without being pretentious. He nodded and said with a smile: "I really value this child. If that's the case, if you act suddenly, would you like me to be your teacher?"

Su Dixing was alert, seeing his old father's expression, he immediately prostrated himself on the ground and said, "I am willing."

Gao Chong smiled, "The conditions are limited, so let's simplify the red tape, toast a glass of wine, you are my fourth disciple.

Your senior brother is Hedong Xueli, your second senior brother Wenxi Pei Xingjian, and your third senior brother Licheng Luo Jian, we will get to know each other when we meet again."

Du Dixing immediately toasted politely, keeping these three names in mind at the same time.

Next, Liu Hongji sat next to Tu Diji with a jug in his hand, and introduced Gao Chong's three disciples one by one.

Du Diji was stunned when he heard the words, each of these three disciples came from extraordinary backgrounds, thinking of this, Tu Diji couldn't help feeling a little worried

(End of this chapter)