Elegy of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 514 Strategic Transition
The civil unrest in Bozhou and Beizhou seriously interfered with the transmission of information, or greatly increased the amount and speed of spread of false news, thereby covering up the real emergency military intelligence.

It was just nightfall that day. Huangfu Weiming, who had checked the progress of the construction of the "temporary palace" in Yecheng during the day, dragged his tired body back to the government office and immediately attended an important banquet.

The autumn harvest is coming soon, and collecting military rations is the top priority.

The silk from Beizhou was almost used up last year, and was basically given to the wealthy families in Youzhou to buy military rations from them.

Since the war began, grain prices have been rising. Hebei's "industrial structure" has also changed, with large households expanding their grain-growing areas and reducing silk production.

Therefore, it was not easy for Huangfu Weiming to collect some silk and exchange it for food from the wealthy families.

Tonight's evening banquet for the representatives of the wealthy families in Youzhou is just to "borrow grain" from them, the kind of "borrow" that can never be repaid.

At this moment, in the hall of the government office, the sound of orchestral music was floating around the table, and several tall, half-naked Hu women were dancing. Some of the people at the table were busy eating, some were squinting at the Hu women's buttocks, and some were whispering to their followers behind them, their voices barely audible.

Looking at this scene, Huangfu Weiming couldn't help but yawn. He had the illusion that he had become Brother Ji.

Of course, the best it can do now is a scaled-down, copycat, poor version of Brother Ji.

Huangfu Weiming doesn't like these vain tones, but life is not satisfactory. Many things and scenes are done for others to see.

It's really impossible not to participate.

The fact that the Hebei rebels failed to capture Luoyang as planned has caused many fence-sitters to have second thoughts.

It's just that the army hasn't suffered any major setbacks so far, so most people still have confidence in them. But as time goes by, doubts will grow louder.

Huangfu Weiming hosted a banquet this time, and he seemed to be indulging in all kinds of pleasures, all in an effort to calm people's hearts!
He had the leisure to enjoy singing and dancing. To outsiders, if the commander was so confident, then the Hebei rebels had a bright future.

Many times, the situation is still unclear and confidence is more important than strength.

At this moment, Huangfu Weiming's aide Li Shiyu quietly came to him and whispered a few words in a low voice.

The muscles on Marshal Huangfu's face twitched suddenly! The hand holding the wine glass was shaking slightly when he placed the wine glass on the table!

But he soon regained his composure, waved gently at Li Shiyu, and said nothing.

Li Shiyu left with a sad face, but the banquet continued.

Huangfu Weiming was like nothing had happened. He chatted and laughed with the representatives of the wealthy families in Youzhou and other places during the banquet, and did not mention the matter of "borrowing grain" from them. He just talked about some old things that happened when he was the governor of Youzhou.

For example, inflicting heavy damage to the Khitans and sweeping out bandits in border towns.

Those representatives of wealthy families also flattered Huangfu Weiming, saying that he was the pillar of the country and so on.

The atmosphere at the banquet was very friendly and harmonious, like a gathering of old friends, and it lasted until the hour of midnight. After the guests left the table one after another, Huangfu Weiming's face suddenly became extremely gloomy.

He walked steadily into the study of the government office. Li Shiyu had already sorted out the relevant information, written it on several sheets of paper, and placed them neatly on the table.

"Marshal, the military intelligence has been summarized, please review it."

Li Shiyu made a gesture of invitation to Huangfu Weiming.

The latter sat down on the cushion, picked up the paper on the table, and read it quickly. After finishing reading, his face was full of disbelief!
He read it again word by word to make sure that he was not mistaken.

"Is it a civil uprising, or did the Silver Spear Filial Piety Army cross the Yellow River?"

Huangfu Weiming asked doubtfully, his face full of dark clouds, which seemed to turn into a violent storm in the next moment.

“Replying to the Marshal, it’s a bit of both, so the situation is very complicated.

However, the enemy's troops are few and not to be feared; instead, the scale of the civil uprisings in Bozhou and Beizhou is quite large and should not be underestimated.

Beizhou is the location of Hebei's major granary. If the grain and fodder are burned, it will affect the army's march southward. "

Li Shiyu spoke cautiously, fearing to anger Huangfu Weiming.

The information sent back so far is not very comprehensive or specific. It is just sporadic reports, and there are contradictions among them.

But the only thing that is certain is that Beizhou and Bozhou have escaped their control! The government at the prefecture and county levels no longer exists!
Only a few thousand people from the Silver Spear Filial Piety Army crossed the river, but the impact they caused was huge.

"Xuanwu governs six states. Fang Qing doesn't defend his territory and dares to attack Hebei!"

Huangfu Weiming crumpled the paper in his hand into a ball and threw it to the ground.

He muttered to himself calmly, but the veins on his arms were bulging and even his fingertips were white from being pinched.

It was obvious that he was extremely angry, but he was trying hard to suppress it.

"Judge Li, of the four armies, now that Wu Lingxun's army has been eliminated, we still have three armies left.

Li Guiren's troops stationed in Liyang, Weizhou, will not move for the time being.

An Shouzhong stationed in Guantao, Weizhou, and Tian Qianzhen stationed in Linhe, Xiangzhou, which of these two groups of troops would be better to provide reinforcements?"

Huangfu Weiming asked in a deep voice, tapping the table with his index finger.

"Tian Qianzhen only has 10,000 soldiers and horses, and he was originally stationed at Linhe to guard against the enemy troops on the south bank and attack Xiangzhou. If he is sent to Beizhou and Bozhou to quell the rebellion, it may not be possible to quell it in a short time.

Although An Shouzhong is a detachment, he was originally designed to be the main force to feign attack and plunder land after moving south. It would be better to let An Shouzhong move eastward to Bozhou, cut off the retreat of the Silver Spear Xiaojie Army, and catch the turtle in the jar.

only……"

Li Shiyu was a little hesitant.

In fact, mobilizing troops is not a problem, but food is difficult.

The main granary of Beizhou was destroyed. Although there was still some grain stored in several other nodes, it was not enough for large-scale military operations!

Li Guiren's troops were in Liyang, which was the main route for transporting grain through the canal and the Yellow River, which was enough to maintain the food and fodder needed by the army.

But An Shouzhong's troops had to go upstream along the canal, so they needed to transport food and fodder from the other end of the canal.

Simply put, the area closest to the Beizhou Canal is the most short of food! An Shouzhong's group didn't have much food.

The most convenient grain route has now become stagnant after losing the supply from Beizhou’s warehouse.

This is like people who can go downstairs and shop at a large supermarket a few meters away every day, and they will not store much food at home.

Once the big supermarket closes and there is no place to buy things nearby, this person's life will be completely disrupted.

"There is plenty of food and grass in Liyang. Let the grain ships deliver food to An Shouzhong. I will issue a military order now and let An Shouzhong lead his troops to Qinghe County to quell the rebellion."

Huangfu Weiming waved his hands and sighed helplessly.

"General, if this is the case, how can we go south to Bianzhou in winter?"

Li Shiyu became anxious. If Huangfu Weiming really gave such an order, the "all-out attack" would become a "focused attack."

This is how Yuan Shao lost back then.

With the detachment destroyed, Fang Chongyong could concentrate his forces to deal with the offensive of the Hebei rebels, and he would have a chance to turn the tide.

"Beizhou cannot be in chaos. Hebei will never find another such convenient grain route again."

Huangfu Weiming sighed lightly. The burning of food and fodder was secondary. The main issue was the convenience of the Yongji Canal. There was no alternative route.

The reason why later feudal dynasties dared to establish their capital in Youzhou was because there was the northern section of the Grand Canal, which is the section north of the Yellow River.

Although it does not completely overlap with the route of the Yongji Canal, the principles and political and economic needs are the same.

If Beizhou’s grain reserves are gone, they can still stockpile more, but if the grain supply is cut off, it will be a disaster!

All kinds of supplies from Youzhou were sent to Beizhou via the canal for transit. If this line was lost, there would be no need to fight the war.

It is obvious that Fang Chongyong's attack this time was extremely ruthless and sharp!
The strike hit the Hebei rebels where it hurt the most. "General, are we not going to fight in Bianzhou anymore?"

Li Shiyu asked in a trembling voice.

We have been preparing for this battle for nearly half a year, and now we are just going to stop fighting?
Huangfu Weiming rubbed his eyebrows, looking lost.

Many times, it is true that man proposes but God disposes.

Finally, he couldn't help but sighed and said, "Just think that Fang Qing, that little bastard, succeeded this time. Let him be proud for a few months."

Huangfu Weiming is well versed in the general situation and has broad vision. He is not the kind of person who acts recklessly and on impulse.

As long as the Hebei rebels remain strong, he has sufficient capital in his hands and there is no need to gamble against the enemy when he is the banker.

Fang Chongyong did play well this time, but so what?
It just delayed the time for the Hebei rebels to move south!

If we look at it from the perspective of businessmen who believe that "if you don't make money, you're losing money", this time we have indeed suffered a huge loss.

However, from a military perspective, this was only a small-scale successful raid and a short-term occupation of a small area.

Huangfu Weiming felt that as long as the outcome of the battle in Guanzhong was decided, he would still have other options and could put his capital to gamble elsewhere.

On the contrary, we cannot act now and alert the enemy!

There was no need to focus on Fang Chongyong, as it was impossible for him to capture any city in Hebei anyway.

"What the commander said is very true, but I just feel it's a pity."

Li Shiyu also shook his head and sighed, it was really a pity this time.

"The autumn harvest is coming soon, and I think it's about time that saint from Hedong started to act like a demon.

How could there be no chance? "

Huangfu Weiming sneered.

After dealing with the civil unrest in Beizhou and Bozhou, Huangfu Weiming also had to adjust his deployment and the next route of advance.

"I will pass on the message now!"

Li Shiyu quickly retreated and trotted off to deliver the message.

After he left, Huangfu Weiming showed a bitter expression and kept shaking his head and sighing.

Obviously, his decisive adjustments just now and his indifference to past gains and losses were all pretended.

In fact, Fang Zhongyong's blow to him was so painful that he had already broken down. He just couldn't show it in front of others.

"It was a brilliant move to defeat Beizhou, but so what? It's a one-time thing, but it won't happen again. Will you have another chance next time?"

Huangfu Weiming muttered to himself. He reviewed the situation in his mind and had roughly figured out Fang Zhongyong's tactics.

Before the war, he colluded with Yongwang Li Lin and pretended to attack Lu County, deceiving the Hebei defenders on the other side and paralyzing Wu Lingxun.

Recalling Wu Lingxun's military skills, Huangfu Weiming felt that it was normal for Fang Zhongyong to succeed. If An Shouzhong was here, perhaps they would not have been defeated so badly.

After the successful surprise attack on Liaocheng, Fang Chongyong launched a surprise attack on Beizhou, almost non-stop, without even thinking about defending the city.

In other words, the attack on Liaocheng was just a passing move, and the enemy's original target was Beizhou!

He is worthy of being a commander who has survived hundreds of battles and is capable of taking charge of everything!
Huangfu Weiming felt deeply moved that the Fang father and son were of a very high level and none of them were easy to get along with.

"But what about the civil uprising?"

Huangfu Weiming looked everywhere for the piece of paper he had just found, only to find that he had crumpled it into a ball and thrown it on the ground.

He quickly picked it up and unfolded it, then read the analysis of the battle situation again. The more he read, the more confused he became.

Huangfu Weiming was a child of an aristocratic family who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He was born into the glamorous world of Chang'an, where the people who came and went were either princes or bureaucrats.

He was completely confused as to why the lower-class people were suddenly causing trouble and had no idea what had happened.

Those people are very far away from his world.

"Fang Qing is an outsider who can't even speak the local dialect, and doesn't even recognize anyone.

Will the local people be instigated by him to riot? Why would they listen to him?"

Huangfu Weiming's eyebrows were wrinkled into the shape of the Chinese character "川". He felt that it was basically impossible for Fang Chongyong to gain the support of everyone in Hebei. No one would follow him unless a knife was placed on their neck.

"An Shouzhong is a famous general with great military strategy and command. He should be able to solve these problems.

It’s just a civil uprising.”

Huangfu Weiming pondered over and over again. Although he had not figured out all the details, he felt that there was nothing wrong with his arrangement. With 20,000 elite soldiers under his command, it should not be a problem for An Shouzhong to calm the situation.

As for the civil unrest, Huangfu Weiming felt that it was nothing to be afraid of.

……

Beizhou is not a large area, but its county towns and market towns are extremely concentrated!
Jingcheng in the northeast, Zongcheng in the west, Linqing in the southwest, Wucheng and Liting in the east, Zhangnan in the northeast, etc., are all incredibly densely populated.

Based on the principle of "since they are here, they are here", Fang Chongyong sent people to the villages and towns to mobilize the people to come to Beizhou Prefecture, which is the granary outside Qinghe County to collect grain, and also distributed various weapons such as swords, wooden spears, etc.

The surging momentum was almost unanimous.

The people of Beizhou who had benefited were very actively and enthusiastically "persuading" the local county to open the city gates and to open the granaries to release grain, showing no shame.

All the warehouses in the country have opened to release grain, so why isn’t the county treasury open?

Now the people have knives in their hands. How many people are there in the county government? Do they dare not open the city gates? Do they dare not open the granaries to release the grain?
So in just a few days, the Silver Spear Filial Piety Army successfully took over all the county towns in Beizhou with the "cooperation" of the local people!
The process is so easy it’s unbelievable!

Looking at the increasingly "thin" Beizhou warehouse, Fang Chongyong felt that the time was almost right and it was time to lead the army to move in.

That day, he summoned all his generals to the Qinghe County government office to hold a meeting to discuss the next course of action.

Seeing that everyone was happy, Fang Zhongyong coughed and asked, "Everyone, the matter in Beizhou has been almost settled. Where do you think the next stop would be?"

He asked, looking around at everyone with a smile.

"General Jie, aren't we going to go south to Weizhou, threaten Huangfu Weiming, and then return to Lu County from Bozhou?"

Che Guangqian asked doubtfully.

This was a strategy that had been discussed before, and it was not hidden even from Prince Yong Li Lin!
"No no no."

Fang Zhongyong waved his hand gently and said, "Let's go along the canal, all the way north, and visit Youzhou."

Eh?
Hearing this, all the generals were shocked!
"General! If we go deep into the enemy's territory alone and have no one to support us, we will be trapped!"

Che Guangqian exclaimed loudly, and knelt down to petition with his fists clasped. Then, other generals followed suit and knelt on the ground.

They really knelt down to Mr. Fang Chongyong!

Even if they followed the canal, they would have to pass through Dezhou and Cangzhou before they could get close to Youzhou. But the problem was that Dezhou was fine, but the areas of Cangzhou and Youzhou were equivalent to three or four Beizhous!
Moreover, Youzhou is also the stronghold of Hebei rebels!

Fang Chongyong is so courageous!

Even if we can kill all the way to Youzhou, how do we get back?
The generals knelt on the ground and could not get up. The scene was awkward for a moment.

(End of this chapter)