I studied in modern times

Chapter 394 Attacking Gao Zunhui
Yiwei in March of the first year of Yuanyou (the second day of the lunar month)
Zhang Dun, with a large group of chieftains and followers, finally arrived at his destination - Yongzhou.

Yongzhou City is not big, slightly longer from north to south and slightly narrow from east to west.

Common names: Zhicheng Sanliqi, Hengcheng Qilisan.

There are five gates in the city, all of which were newly built after Xining.

The city wall is tall and solid, the city gate is thick, and an artificial moat is dug outside the city. There is also a design like a sheep and horse city outside the city gate.

Obviously, all of this was rebuilt based on the lessons learned from the fall of Yongzhou when Jiaozhi invaded the invaders in the eighth year of Xining.

When Zhang Dun arrived, construction was still going on on the towers of Yongzhou City.

It can be seen that the shadow of the Eight Bull Crossbow has appeared in the female wall of the city tower.

Su Ziyuan introduced from the side: "My lord, since the last general received the imperial residence report, we have begun to strengthen the defense of Yongzhou City and train the Yongzhou Baojia households."

"Today, a total of 500 and [-] armored soldiers have been trained. Including the original garrison in Yongzhou, the city defense strength of Yongzhou has reached [-]. Even if the Jiaozhi bandits come again, there is nothing to fear!"

In the eighth year of Xining's reign, Jiaozhi's [-] troops besieged Yongzhou.

The defenders of Yongzhou consisted of 500 men and held on for more than a month. In the end, Yongzhou fell because some rebels taught the Jiaozhi bandit Kou Leitu how to attack the city.

After the war, Yongzhou City began to rebuild based on the lessons learned from the last fall.

The city gates were reduced from twelve to the current five, and the city walls were thickened and heightened.

Su Ziyuan came to Yongzhou and became the magistrate of Yongzhou. He continued to lead the army and civilians to expand the city defense of Yongzhou.

Not only did a large number of city defense equipment be added, but Yangma City was also built at each gate outside the city, which was a supporting urban defense measure that the Song Dynasty had perfected in actual combat on the northwest border.

Zhang Dun rode his horse and patrolled Yongzhou City.

He is very satisfied with the defense of Yongzhou City. From his perspective, Yongzhou City on Guangnan West Road can already be regarded as a powerful city.

In addition to not having a hugely expensive horse face, this city is already very close to the northwest fortress-type cities like Dashun City in terms of defense.

Even if Jiaozhi soldiers and horses besiege Yongzhou again, relying on the city's defense, it will not be a problem to hold on for half a year.

Of course, if the Song Dynasty is prepared, if the Jiaozhi soldiers are called to attack Yongzhou again.

That was his failure as an administrator.

The chieftains who patrolled the city with Zhang Dun were all very strange.

This was the first time they saw Yangma City, a new type of fortification that developed from the melee in the Central Plains in the late Tang Dynasty and Five Dynasties, and matured in the war between the Song Dynasty and the Western Bandits.

They all clicked their tongues in admiration and pointed at those sheep and horse cities, feeling inexplicably powerful.

Zhang Dun, however, led everyone into the city after taking a look around Yongzhou's city defenses.

As soon as he entered the city, he received Di Yong's military report.

The military report showed that the army led by Di Yong had already set off from Guizhou and rushed to Yongzhou on Dingwei Day ([-]th) in leap February last month.

It is expected to arrive in Yongzhou in three to five days.

The reason why he walked so slowly was because Di Yong still needed to escort 30 yuan of military supplies.

At the same time, there are [-] shi of food that will come with the army.

Of course, food and military supplies are all young and strong civilians recruited by the Guangxi Transport Envoy.

Miao Shizhong recruited more than 1 young men and more than 4000 mules and horses in Guizhou, and built thousands of chicken carts and handcarts for this material transfer.

After reading the general's report, Zhang Dun looked at Su Ziyuan who had been following him on horseback and said: "Zhizhou Su, you can select an official who is smart, reliable and eloquent to go to Jiaozhi to read out the emperor's edict."

As early as the first month of this year, the government and the opposition were discussing war and peace.

The emperor has already set the tone for this battle.

Jiaozhi invaded our frontier, killed and plundered officials and people, slandered the late emperor, and insulted the holy dynasty. It was a heinous crime!

At that time, there was already a decree - an envoy should be sent to investigate the crime and order Jiaozhi to hand over the culprit of the Northern Song Dynasty - Yang Jingtong, the magistrate of Guangyuan Prefecture in Jiaozhi.

At the same time, hand over the two culprits who insulted the Holy Dynasty and slandered the late emperor.

One is an unknown poet who wrote: Because of greed, he lost Guangyuan gold.

The other one was the Jiaozhi Taiwei and the auxiliary general Li Changjie who rebelled against the country and insulted the Holy Dynasty.

The decree had already been written by Deng Runfu, a Hanlin scholar.

But it was not sent directly to Jiaozhi, but was handed over to Zhang Dun.

When Zhang Dun moved south, Di Yong's army arrived in Yongzhou. At the same time, Guangxi was ready before sending to Jiaozhi.

The purpose is obvious, which is to anger the other party!
Forcing Jiaozhi to take the initiative to send troops to invade, thus completing the central temple's plan - looking for opportunities to surround and annihilate the main force of Jiaozhi north of the Fuliang River.

At least it should be severely damaged.

Su Ziyuan was stunned for a moment, but finally nodded: "General, I will obey the commander's military orders!"

Zhang Dun nodded and looked back at the chieftains following him.

These chieftains have basically been mobilized now.

Each of the four bastards of Mo Shiren in Nandan Prefecture recruited about [-] to [-] Dong Ding.

In total, there are almost [-] men and horses.

However, among the major chieftains, the Mo family did not send the largest number of troops.

The person who sent the most troops was the local chieftain officer of Yongzhou, and he was also a new chieftain.

Along the edge of the stream, Dong soldiers and civilians Xuanfu envoy and Huaiyuan general Cen Ziting.

Cen Ziting's father is Cen Zhongshu, who was a general who followed Di Qing in the southern expedition. After defeating Nong Zhigao, Cen Zhongshu had great prestige due to his hard work and familiarity with the Dongxi situation in Guangxi. Therefore, he knew Guizhou and Yongzhou successively during the Renmiao Dynasty. , and finally paid homage to General Huaiyuan and Yanbianxi Dong Xuanfu envoy.

After Cen Zhongshu's death, he was posthumously granted the title of Duke of Guangdong, and his son Cen Ziting inherited his father's position.

He is still the Xuanfu envoy of Yanbianxi Dong and the general Guahuaiyuan.

Two generations of the Cen family run more than a dozen Dongxi tribes in Yongzhou, Lianzhou and Qinzhou.

Therefore, the largest number of troops can be used.

There are a total of 3000 Dong and Ding, [-] of whom are battle-hardened soldiers who have prepared their own armor.

Of course, here in Guangxi, the so-called battle-tested formation is probably to suppress the dissatisfied Dong Xi, and the so-called armor is most likely to be leather armor or even cloth armor.

Zhang Dun never expected that these chieftain soldiers would become the main force on the battlefield.

If they can wave flags and shout from the side, guard the back roads and food routes, so that the main force of the Song army has no worries, it is considered that these people have performed exceptionally well.

The real main force of the battle still depends on the five thousand forbidden troops brought by Di Yong.

They are the officers and soldiers from Guizhou, Yizhou, Yongzhou and other places.

Zhang Dun didn't count on them either.

These people are all chess pieces on the chessboard to fill in the blanks and build momentum.

Just be able to complete these tasks well.

Of course, these people are also important!
They are the key to the future governance of northern Jiaozhi during the Song Dynasty!

At the same time, it is also the basis of some of the emperor's plans.

Thinking about the emperor's plan, Zhang Dun suddenly remembered.

It seems that he has never received any news about Gao Zunhui, the uncle of the country who went south with the army?

So, Zhang Dun asked Su Ziyuan: "General Su, do you know the news about Gao Zuoma?"

Su Ziyuan was stunned for a moment, thought for a while, and replied: "My lord, the last general heard someone say that he went to Guihua Prefecture, Shun'an Prefecture and other places."

"Huh?" Zhang Dun frowned: "What is he doing there?"

Su Ziyuan shook his head: "The general only knows that Zouma seems to have brought many people with accents from Mingzhou, Suzhou and other places."

"Mingzhou or Suzhou accent?" Zhang Dun became even more curious.

"Ok!"……

Gao Zunhui braved the scorching sun and walked on the barren hills between the sloping fields in Shun'an Prefecture.

A family member followed him closely.

This man is the son of Nong Shengde, the magistrate of Shun'an Prefecture.

It was Nong Shunde who was specially sent to assist him.

On the barren mountains, there are a large number of Dong and Ding women and children, sweating profusely under the scorching sun.

Small green seedlings were planted by them.

These black sugarcane seedlings with roots are the sugarcane seeds that the government in Mingzhou, Suzhou, Changzhou and other places specially found from the private sector.

Then he traveled thousands of miles and sent someone to deliver it to Gao Zunhui who was traveling south.

At the same time, a group of farmers who were good at growing sugar cane were also hired by the government and sent over.

There were not many people, only about a hundred people.

But with the guidance and assistance of these people, the barren mountains of Thuan Anju were reclaimed.

Sugarcane seeds were also successfully cultivated and grew into sugarcane seedlings.

Watching the sugarcane seedlings being planted one after another.

Gao Zunhui had a pleasant smile on his face.

He was already thinking about the future.

Countless amounts of sugar seemed to be rushing toward him.

The only pity is...

"There are too few people!"

Nong Shengde naturally welcomed him in every possible way, as his uncle of the Song Dynasty.

Almost on demand.

But, how many people are there in the entire Thuan An Prefecture?
Even the Nongzhi Association in Guihua Prefecture also provided some support.

However, the two states merged into one, and only two thousand women, children, old people and weak people were able to help him reclaim wasteland and plant sugar cane.

Others, when they need to be busy farming, plant rice.

In addition, because the war is approaching, a large number of young and strong Dong Ding have been mobilized to form an army.

The Dong people in Shun'an Prefecture and Guihua Prefecture are now thinking about fighting back to Guangyuan Prefecture and killing all the Yang family.

Therefore, although Gao Zunhui was the first to arrive in Guangxi - he had already arrived in late February.

But after working hard for more than a month, a thousand acres of barren hills were reclaimed in the wilderness of Shun'an Prefecture, and the sugarcane seedlings brought there were planted.

A thousand acres?
Certainly not enough.

At least not enough to make a fortune!

Therefore, Gao Zunhui turned his attention to Guangyuan Prefecture and Silang Prefecture in Jiaozhi.

There seem to be a lot of people over there!
If I ask them to help me plant sugar cane...

Gao Zunhui licked his lips.

Then, the uncle suddenly felt that he had understood the way of benevolence and forgiveness of Confucius and Mencius.

"When the war begins, I must monitor the army!"

"We must not let those Qiu Ba kill prisoners indiscriminately!"

Gao Zunhui had heard a little bit about the military discipline of the Song Dynasty's official army - back then, when Gao Zunyu stepped aside, a member of the Gao family was beheaded by those Qiu Ba and used it as military merit.

Had it not been for Gao Zunyu's discovery during the head count.

That Gao family member is going to die in a mysterious way.

Naturally, Gao Zunhui would not overestimate the military discipline of the officers and soldiers now heading south.

If it had happened in the past, he wouldn't be too lazy to use the army to kill good people and take credit.

But now it's different!

How can you kill prisoners?

It is ominous to kill prisoners since ancient times!
We still have to use the teachings of Confucius and Mencius to influence our enemies and educate them with benevolence and forgiveness.

Let them know they were wrong and let them atone for their sins.

Therefore, it is appropriate to punish them with military service.

It would be better to choose the sugar cane planting land of Gao Zouma as the land for military labor.

I believe the officials will definitely agree.

only……

Gao Zunhui held his cheek and thought about it.

"It's not difficult for the officials to agree. The key is how to make Qiu Ba understand the way of Confucius and Mencius and understand the righteousness of benevolence and forgiveness?"

Qiu Basi of the Song Dynasty killed Han people with great enthusiasm on the battlefield, and even chopped off the heads of his own people.

It is indeed difficult for them to understand the way of Confucius and Mencius, benevolence, forgiveness, loyalty and righteousness.

However, nothing is difficult in the world, only those who are willing can do it!

Gao Zunhui is from the Gao family, and she grew up listening to the stories of her father and ancestors.

He also had a very good relationship with Gao Zunyu. After Gao Zunyu was defeated and demoted, Gao Zunhui often visited him.

Therefore, I also heard Gao Zunyu talk about the bad habits of the Song Dynasty army and the methods to control these bad habits.

Very simple, two methods.

First, the coach has authority and everyone obeys orders.

For example, Liu Changzuo, Zhong'e, Wang Wenyu, and Yao Si's subordinates are all elites who enforce orders and prohibitions.

Second...

Naturally, it is the magic of copper coins.

Qiu Ba went to battle for rewards.

As long as the reward offered is large enough, they can also be educated.

When Gao Zunyu first took over the military power, he relied on generous rewards and continuous recommendations of meritorious officers to win the morale of the army and let the top soldiers obey his command. He won some battles and achieved many military exploits.

If the people in Lingzhou City hadn't lost their minds, they might have given birth to the Jiedu Envoy!

"Money?" Gao Zunhui looked at the sugar cane field in front of him.

I thought about the price of a pound of sugar in Bianjing City.

That’s a high price of more than [-] yuan, and demand exceeds supply!
So, he gritted his teeth and made a decision.

Buy heads!
As long as the reward for capturing a living person is comparable to the reward for beheading.

Qiu Ba people believe that they will have benevolence and righteousness, and they will know the way of benevolence and forgiveness of Confucius and Mencius.

Thinking like this, Gao Zunhui couldn't wait to return to his temporary residence and immediately began to write memorials.

As long as the imperial court is willing to pay part of the reward, he will add some more.

This should solve the problem.

(End of this chapter)