Early Tang Dynasty: forge ahead

Chapter 349 Exchange camp
Xiongjin Governor's Mansion.

Fang Renyu looked at the map in front of him motionlessly, his brows furrowed into the character Sichuan.

Compared to Chen Qingsi's speculation, Fang Renyu was facing the situation where the rebels were getting stronger as they fought.

As the top military and political commander of Baekje, Fang Renyu was not unaware of Baekje's hidden dangers. On the contrary, he realized this earlier than anyone else.

After all, he was directly facing these hidden dangers, and Chen Qingsi needed to ponder them from more than sixty good news reports.

Fang Renyu did not explain the situation to the court, of course he had some selfish motives.

Fang Renyu was born in the Fang family of Qinghe, a family of officials.

The Fang clan in Qinghe has a long history, but there has never been a person to carry the cauldron until Fang Xuanling appeared.

The founding mastermind of the Tang Dynasty and the commander-in-chief of Baisi, he was in charge of government affairs for twenty years and brought the Fang family to its peak.

However, such an outstanding figure as the father and son of the tiger, actually gave birth to a house that completely ruined the lintel.

Fang Yiai followed Princess Gaoyang's plan, and Li Zhi was so angry that he directly abolished Fang Xuanling's treatment of the Ancestral Temple.

Of course, this is not just as simple as abolishing a treatment, it means that the descendants of the Fang family can no longer enjoy the glory brought by Fang Xuanling.

The ancients valued family status.

Fang Xuanling's lineage collapsed due to Fang Yiai, and the burden of the Fang family naturally fell on Fang Renyu.

In particular, Fang Renyu lost his father in his early years and was raised by his mother, Li. It was a troubled time at that time, and he was cared for and protected by the Fang family while growing up.

Fang Renyu was deeply favored by his family, so he naturally stood up and took up the responsibility of the Fang family.

It's just that Fang Renyu's official career was not bumpy, but it was not smooth either. He was promoted through meritorious service and the highest position was General Wei, the leader of the left army. He was still very different from his nephew Fang Xuanling, who was younger than him.

Fang Renyu's current meritorious status can only guarantee his son's success in life, but cannot protect the entire Fang family.

This time to pacify Baekje, it gave Fang Renyu a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Fang Renyu's current qualifications and achievements are just a step away from becoming a general. As long as he seizes this opportunity, he can protect the Fang family and revive the Fang family.

Although rebels are everywhere in the country and many government orders are not implemented, causing public dissatisfaction. However, because the imperial court had left enough soldiers and horses, and Fang Renyu was a man who knew the military and could win the battle, everything was still under control. Naturally, he was unwilling to tell the truth and reported the good news about Baekje. Don’t report worries.

But in response to one sentence, one lie needs ten lies to round it off.

Fang Renyu continued to deliver good news to the court, and he looked like he was under control. He originally planned to look for opportunities to kill the leader of the thieves, but he missed the opportunity again and again, so that now he is becoming more and more out of control.

As the commander-in-chief of the three armies, Fang Renyu had noticed that the Tang army was a little tired.

There were sixty-three battle reports worthy of boasting to the court, and more than a hundred frictional victories that were not worthy of a book.

The thieves took advantage of Baekje's terrain and harassed them. They attacked passively. Although they can win every time, there are also situations where they are exhausted.

"This can't go on like this!"

Fang Renyu kept banging his thighs with his fists. He already felt exhausted. If the war could not be ended in a short time, he would not be able to fight.

The situation will be completely out of control.

Fang Renyu thought hard about countermeasures, but to no avail.

The current situation is neither a fight nor a fight.

During the attack, most of the rebels fled upon hearing the news and hid in nearby mountains.

The mountains of Baekje are connected to the Changbaishan Mountains. The mountains are dangerous and the forests are deep, making it difficult to penetrate deep.

But if you really don't care, the other party will be like a prairie fire.

Fang Renyu couldn't come up with a good solution despite racking his brains, so he couldn't help but feel a little frustrated, and he had a thought: "Why don't you report the matter to His Majesty truthfully while everything is still under control?"

Just when he was hesitating, he suddenly heard someone coming from the capital.

Fang Renyu hurriedly asked: "Do you know who he is?"

The concierge guard said: "But he didn't say anything. He just said that he was an old friend of the Protector in the capital."

Fang Renyu was surprised. In fact, he had no old friends in Beijing. However, when he was promoted to the governor of Xiongjin, he received a secret letter from Empress Wu. The letter expressed her gratitude to him for her generous support and gave him a large gift.

Fang Renyu didn't take it to heart at first. He supported the deposing of Wang Liwu not for Empress Wu, but took the opportunity to join forces and wanted to stay in the capital by pacifying Chen Shuozhen, but he failed. He has nothing to do with Empress Wu and is not interested in her gift.

After all, the harem was not allowed to interfere in politics. As Queen Wu was the mother of the country, and he was a foreign minister, it was not appropriate for the two of them to have contact.

Therefore, Fang Renyu burned the letter immediately, ignored it completely, and didn't even think of replying to the letter.

Then not long after, he got the decree and was promoted to the governor of Ungjin, responsible for the control of Baekje.

Fang Renyu immediately realized that this was a great gift.

Empress Wu actually had the ability to arrange for her to be sent to Baekje as the guardian of Xiongjin. This power far exceeded Fang Renyu's expectations.

I also took a good look at Empress Wu who was in the deep palace, and wrote a letter of thanks and sent it to the Wu family.

Upon hearing "an old friend from Beijing", Fang Renyu immediately realized that he might be a member of the Wu family, and immediately invited him into the hall.

Just as Fang Renyu thought, this "old friend in Beijing" was from the Wu family, named Wu Weiliang, Wu Zetian's brother.

Wu Zetian hated her father's two sons Wu Yuanqing and Wu Yuanshuang deeply, but she did not have much hatred towards the rest of the Wu family.

What's more, the talents of her mother's clan were withered, and there were no spare people to choose from. Wu Weiliang was one of the few talents in the Wu family, and he was also highly regarded by Queen Wu.

However, because Empress Wu did not take power, Wu Weiliang only held a sinecure position without doing practical work.

"I, Wu Weiliang, have met Fang Duhu."

When Fang Renyu heard that he was indeed a member of the Wu family, he immediately became quite enthusiastic and led him to his seat.

Wu Weiliang respectfully handed over a letter and said, "This is a close aide of Mrs. Rong Guo. Please accept it, Fang Duhu."

Fang Renyu knew that Mrs. Rong Guo was just an excuse, so he took the letter and couldn't wait to open it and read it.

Now he is in a dilemma. He is not willing to give up the future, but he also feels powerless and wants to retreat.

He was in a dilemma and needed someone to make a decision for him.

Fang Renyu looked at the content of the letter, which contained many words of encouragement. He said that Li Zhi was very happy when he heard about his good news and praised him as the pillar of the country. At the end of the letter, he also wrote that someone was impeaching him for not doing things well, even though good news came frequently. , but the effect was not good, and it was suspected of lying. I hope he can achieve results as soon as possible, so that he can put in good words.

Seeing this, Fang Renyu felt a little uneasy. He didn't expect that someone in the distant Chang'an was aware of the situation in Baekje.

I suppressed my uneasiness and continued reading. At the end of the letter, there was a sentence full of temptation.

"Ren Xianggong is ill in bed, and there is not much time left. The position is about to be vacant. If the Protector can pacify Baekje, wipe out the bandits, bring out generals and ministers, glorify the Fang family, and revive the Fang family, it will be within easy reach." This is what he said. The most powerful thing about Empress Wu is that she is good at reading people's hearts.

Although she had never seen Fang Renyu in person, Fang Renyu inadvertently revealed a little bit of his long-cherished wish in his letter of thanks to the Wu family.

Empress Wu immediately took this as a temptation.

Out and about!

Glory to the Fang family!

Revitalize the Fang family!

Thinking of the heavy burden on his body, Fang Renyu's originally hesitant determination no longer wavered.

Looking at Wu Weiliang in front of him, Fang Renyu gave him a lot of treasures and treated him warmly.

Next, Fang Renyu faced the rebels and attacked more decisively. He even went deep into the mountains and forests many times to look for the enemy, trying to kill the thieves before the situation collapsed.

Statewide.

Fang Renyu once again defeated a wave of thieves who attacked their grain transport team.

Looking at the mess on the ground, there was no joy of victory in Fang Renyu's eyes, only a trace of exhaustion.

We won, we still won, but we just didn’t win cleanly.

"Protector, good news!"

Du Min, the captain of Zhiguo School, came closer with a face of joy and said: "The general has caught a deserter from the rebel army. He hid a bag of noodles. His subordinates felt something was wrong, so they asked the military secretary to interrogate him. You Guess what?”

Fang Renyu raised his riding whip and cursed: "Speak quickly!"

Du Min didn't dare to show off, and said hurriedly: "He is a soldier of the rebel army guarding food. He hides a little bit every day, and collects a whole bag of noodles, intending to secretly bring it back to his mother. He said he has a seventy-year-old boy." My mother and two children were about to run out of food and couldn't survive any longer. So I stole the food and went down the mountain to help my mother."

Fang Renyu was instantly ecstatic and said, "So, he knows where the thieves hide their food?"

Du Min licked his lips that were still stained with blood and said, "That's exactly it."

"Great!"

Fang Renyu waved his arm suddenly and said: "The place where the thieves hide their food should be the thieves' lair."

Baekje has many mountains and forests but few plains, so there are even fewer places suitable for farming.

Su Dingfang mobilized troops in the early spring and destroyed the country in three months. Immediately after Fang Renyu took command of Baekje, rebellions broke out in the territory, including rebels and thieves who took advantage of the situation. Some fields were deserted, and the harvest this year was severely lacking.

The Baekje rebels have recently frequently attacked the grain roads they pass through, which shows that the rebels have insufficient food reserves.

They couldn't have extra granaries, and they couldn't build their hiding places too far away from the granaries.

Fang Renyu suppressed the joy in his heart and said with some hesitation: "Is there a scam?"

Du Min said: "I don't think it looks like this!" He paused and said: "I think I have to give it a try, otherwise I will be too passive. They are like mice, wandering around, so we will let them lead us. The nose looks the same."

Fang Renyu was not willing to give up this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. He thought for a moment and said, "That's it! Go and verify it. Take the secretary and go to the other party's house to see if there is a mother and a child as he said. If everything is true, then Take control of the other party's mother, wife and children, and tell him to lead the way well. If the matter is successful, the ponto protector will give him a hundred taels of gold, plus ten thousand coins. If there is fraud, he will chop up his wife, children and mother with a knife. .”

Most of the upper-class people in Baekje understand Chinese language and writing, but not many officials and people at the middle and lower levels understand it. Therefore, their army has many secretaries who understand the Buyeo language family to communicate with officials and people who do not understand Chinese language.

**********
Datun Mountain.

Bo Jie is inspecting the camp.

Compared with Onimuro Fuxin and Daochen who like to talk loudly with Fu Yufeng, Bojie pays more attention to the troops he has finally gathered together.

When they arrived at the gate of the camp, Bo Jie unexpectedly saw his personal attendant Cheng Zhong walking up the mountain escorting a person. He couldn't help but pause and wait.

When the two came close, Cheng Zhong kicked the person escorting in front of him and rolled him several times.

Bo Jie frowned. He cared deeply for the soldiers and did not agree with such behavior.

The opponent stumbled and did not get up. Instead, he came to Bo Jie's body and kept kowtowing.

"General, spare your life, general, spare your life!"

Bo Jie looked at Cheng Zhong and said, "What's going on?"

Cheng Zhong said: "This guy was lax in his discipline and his soldiers escaped. He actually wanted to hide it and went down the mountain privately to catch him."

Bo Jie's eyes and pupils shrank, and his words were immediately cold, "Where are the people?"

"Caught by the Tang people!"

His tongue began to curl up as he spoke, and his body was shaking with fear, like a master's upper body.

Bo Jie took a step forward and lifted the person off the ground. With a cannibalistic look in his eyes, he shouted sternly: "Speak quickly and tell me everything."

"Yes, it is like this. Agou was on duty today, but he was nowhere to be seen. I, I, I knew that he had the habit of hiding food, so I went to look for him where he hid food. I found that there was no one around him, and the food was also missing. I knew he had escaped. If he ran away, I would have to be punished. I thought about catching him before he was discovered. I also secretly went down the mountain. He saved my life. We have a good relationship. I knew he must have brought him back. He went home with food to his mother. On the way into the village, I found that Tang Jun was escorting him into the village. Then he escaped back."

After hearing this, Bo Jie's eyes showed a trace of fear, he pushed the person to the ground and said: "Press down first!"

Bo Jie walked towards the main village without looking back.

Fu Xin and Dao Chen, the ghosts in the main village, were happily talking about the general trend following Fu Yufeng.

Bo Jie interrupted them directly and said, "Quick, our whereabouts have been exposed and we must move immediately."

Onishi Fuxin and Dao Chen were a little dissatisfied with Bo Jie's rash intrusion, but after hearing his words, they immediately broke into a cold sweat and asked hurriedly: "What's going on?"

Bo Jie roughly explained the situation in detail.

Onishiro Fuxin was so angry that he cursed: "Shuzi is causing trouble."

Dao Chen rolled his eyes and said, "So, Tang Jun still doesn't know that we know that they have discovered our whereabouts?"

Bo Jie was startled when he heard this, and nodded: "That's true. If the Tang army finds him, he won't be able to escape."

The Tang army had cavalry.

Dao Chen suggested: "Then, why don't we take advantage of the strategy and set up an ambush around the camp or on the road on their mountain?"

Fukunobu Onimuro patted his thigh and said, "I think it's feasible!"

But Bo Jie's eyes lit up and he said: "It's not appropriate. The Tang Army's recent actions have become more and more aggressive, and they even went into the mountains to search many times. It can be seen that they already know that it will be detrimental to them if they waste it. Faced with this opportunity, they will definitely be cautious Act. They are more numerous than us, and their troops are brave and wise. Our ambush may not be able to hide it from them. It is also possible for them to withstand the ambush and defeat us and annihilate us."

"But the master's words have awakened the general. If he discovers our foothold this time, he will definitely mobilize all our troops to attack. Why don't we just abandon this place and go all out to attack their camp?"

(End of this chapter)