A thousand-year-old family that began with the Battle of Makino

Chapter 919: Qizhou splits into two roads, Wang Huangbie, and the bandits are arrogant and besiege Songzhou

Qizhou was originally an important waterway town with prosperous commercial traffic.

But because it was now occupied by the rebel army, and the rebel leader Wang Xianzhi was angry at Huang Chao's words, he allowed his soldiers to plunder the state, making this place look extremely depressed.

In the former Qizhou government office, Wang Xianzhi sat on the commander's seat with a tired look on his face, as if he had no interest in anything.

Shang Junchang walked in and called out, "General."

"Oh, it's the Lord Commander who has arrived."

Shang Junchang hesitated for a moment and said, "General, Commander Huang has already led his men out."

"Ah."

Seeing Wang Xianzhi still had this attitude, Shang Junchang could not help but advise: "General, although the righteous army is now invincible in the Yangtze River, Huai River, and Han River, this is because the various towns have not sent out troops."

"At this critical moment of life and death for the rebel army, if we allow Commander Huang to leave, it will be a huge blow to the rebel army's situation. Please think twice, General."

Wang Xianzhi raised his eyelids and said expressionlessly: "So what do you mean?"

"I think it would be good if we can persuade Huang Chao to stay and work together for the great cause. But if Commander Huang insists on doing it his own way." Shang Junchang's eyes were sharp, and he gritted his teeth and said, "Kill him."

Wang Xianzhi's expression finally changed. He sat up straight, leaned forward slightly, and looked deeply at the old brother in the hall, as if he met him for the first time.

"My Lord, as far as I know, your brother Shang Rang is on good terms with Huang Chao and is in Huang Chao's army. He is his right-hand man. Can you be so cruel as to do that?"

Shang Junchang lowered his head and said solemnly: "The imperial army has gathered in Henan, eager to fight. Although the rebel army is weak, it has a large number. If Huang Chao escapes, it will definitely affect the reputation of the rebel army. It is still unknown whether it can guarantee 300,000 troops by then."

"So, no matter what, we cannot allow the rebel army to split. This is a great cause, how can we abandon it because of petty personal feelings?"

"Alas." Wang Xianzhi slumped down behind the desk again: "We are brothers, why has it come to this?"

Shang Junchang was helpless as he looked at Wang Xianzhi, who had lost his fighting spirit sitting in his seat.

At that time, Wang Xianzhi was in Zhengzhou and was defeated head-on by Zhaoyi's tens of thousands of troops led by Zhaoyi Military Judge Lei Yinfu.

If it weren't for Huang Chao's timely support, Wang Xianzhi would probably not exist today.

From then on, Wang Xianzhi seemed to have lost his ambition. Not only did he begin to consider accepting the amnesty, but he also resolutely refused to fight against the notoriously powerful vassal army.

"My Lord."

"My subordinate is here."

"Huang Chao plundered Qi and Lu in the north to divert the attention of the imperial army. It just so happens that the generals in Chen and Cai surrendered to the imperial court. You should go and defeat them."

Shang Junchang looked at Wang Xianzhi deeply, but still obeyed the order.

Qianfu 4th year
Without the rebel army threatening Luoyang, Li Xuan in Chang'an started to act up again and turned his attention to Daibei again.

Li Jun, the governor of Lingwu, was transferred to be the commander of the Daibei Army, and joined forces with Helian Duo, the commander of the Datong Army, to attack the Shatuo together.

Unexpectedly, Li Keyong skillfully used the mobility of the cavalry, first defeating the Zhalu army and then defeating the Kelan army. The Tang army was defeated several times, and the Shatuo forces became stronger as a result.

Under the leadership of Li Keyong, the Shatuo tribe occupied Wei and Shuo states in the north, invaded Xin, Dai, Lan, Shi and other places in the south, and reached Taigu.

February
The war against Shatuo in the north had not yet ended, and they did not dare to easily mobilize the Xuanwu Army to suppress the rebel army. The Zhaoyi Army was also transferred back to Zelu to guard against any changes in Hedong.

Without the support of a powerful vassal state, the Tang troops that were sent to fight against bandits stopped moving forward and stationed their troops near Luoyang to wait and see the situation.

On the other hand, without the strong attack of the Tang army, Wang Xianzhi finally broke through the important town of Ezhou in the south of the Yangtze River after several months of siege, crossed the Yangtze River, which was regarded as a natural barrier, and plundered the south of the Yangtze River.

In order to break the deadlock, Wang Xianzhi put aside his past grudges and, with the help of Shang Junchang, agreed to attack Songzhou together with Huang Chao.

Shang Junchang believed that the reason why the current court did not send all its troops to destroy him was because the Shatuo tribe, the spokesperson of the Daibei Bai family, threatened the reputation of the Li Tang Dynasty.

The reason why the Tang army did not dare to move south easily was that they were concerned about the Xuanwu Army entrenched in Bianzhou.

If we attack Songzhou at this time, the government troops will certainly stand aside and watch. On the contrary, if the rebel army takes Songzhou, it can not only replenish military supplies, but also greatly enhance its prestige.

It is also possible to divide the Xuanwu Army's territory into two, so that it cannot take care of both Bianzhou and Haozhou at the same time, thus eliminating the major threat to the rebel army.

April
Wang Xianzhi led 150,000 troops, Shang Junchang led 50,000 troops, Huang Chao led 100,000 troops, and a total of 300,000 rebel troops gathered in Songzhou.

There are two important places in Songzhou, namely Xiangyi, which borders Bianzhou, and Songcheng, the core city and the seat of government.

Among them, the Xuanren Army under the Xuanwu Town was stationed in Xiangyi, while the Xuande Army was stationed in Songcheng.

The Xuanren Army was originally formed by the powerful fortress owners from all over the country, but after more than ten years of winning over and dividing them, the Xuanren Army has completely turned into a fortress guard.

Like Xuande and Xuanyi, Xiangcheng Wei was set up near Xiangyi as a direct district of Xuande Army.

In order to capture Songzhou, Shang Junchang made a lot of preparations. He knew that the key to this battle was to block the support from Bianzhou and Haozhou.

So he planned to let the capable Huang Chao attack Xiangyi, Wang Xianzhi personally take Songcheng, and he himself led his troops to attack Gushu County south of Songcheng to resist the army from Haozhou in the south.

The news of the rebels' attack soon reached Bai Yi's ears.

At this moment, Bai Yi was no longer the ignorant young man who met Li Guochang at the beginning. The beard at the corner of his mouth represented his maturity.

"Envoy, do we need to send the Xuanwu Army to provide support?" Yao Qian, the Left Capital Yuhou, looked at Bai Yi worriedly and said.

"No need." Bai Yi waved his hand confidently, then looked at the generals in the hall and said with a smile:
"Although there are many bandits, most of them are a mob. Although we are few, we are all elite. Both the Xuande Army and the Xuanren Army have been established for nearly ten years. The veterans among them have been in the army for more than thirty years. They are just vagrants, not worth mentioning."

The generals agreed with Bai Yi's opinion and no longer mentioned sending troops.

"Sir, you still need to send some people." said the military commander Bai Banghan.

"Oh? Did Banghan teach me?" Since Du Xingguo retired, Bai Banghan took over the positions of military commander of the Xuanwu Army and president of the Bianliang Academy.

After that, the two of them became both teachers and friends, and cooperated very tacitly. They repeatedly smashed the court's conspiracy to interfere in Xuanwu Town, making it impossible for the court to get involved and the court had no temper at all.

"Although we are not worried about the bandits breaking into the city, if the bandits think we can be bullied, they might attack us every now and then. If this continues for a long time, it will definitely destroy the farming in our town."

"Why not use thunder and lightning to firstly break their spying on us, and secondly eliminate the excuse for the imperial court to send troops into the country."

Bai Yi nodded in agreement: "Military Commander is right, Li Kerang."

"I am here." A general who looked like a Hu man but was dressed like a Tang man came out.

Li Kerang, commander of the cavalry, was the younger brother of Li Keyong, a hero in northern Dai.

When Li Guochang was pacifying Pang Xun, he passed through Bianzhou and took away some infantry generals and left behind some cavalry generals.

In order not to put all his eggs in one basket, Li Kerang was left in Bianzhou.

He was asked to assist Bai Yi in forming a cavalry division, which was named "Xuanwu Armored Cavalry" with a quota of 3,000 men. The soldiers came from Hedong, Hebei, and even the northern border. They were all organized into fortress soldiers and rewarded with fertile fields and pastures.

With no worries and generous rewards, he practiced martial arts all day long and became a rare elite cavalryman with light armor, who was able to ride, shoot, and charge into battle.

"I order you to gather 3,000 cavalrymen from my army and march to Songzhou immediately to assist Bai Haoyuan, the garrison commander of Songzhou, in defeating the bandits. Do you have the confidence?"

Li Kerang grinned and said confidently: "Please rest assured, the bandits will be defeated."

"Okay, go ahead." Throwing a token to Li Kerang, Bai Yi watched him stride out of the tent, making the other generals who were itching to do so very envious.

"You don't have to envy him. In my opinion, the world is in chaos soon. Your military skills will soon be put to good use. I just don't know how many decades it will take to maintain the army. Are you still able to fight?"

All the generals said in unison: "The Lord has given the order, and we dare not not fight to the death..."

"Very good, the army's morale is good, go down."

(End of this chapter)