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

Chapter 922: The flag falls and Xingye's ambition collapses, and rewards and punishments are fair to defend Baoli

On the nameless hill, Wang Xianzhi's general flag, which was also his great banner, stood upright on the highest point of the hill.

Because it is so big, even the wind can't blow it up, and it can only stand weakly on the top of the pole.

Fortunately, the flag was rectangular, with ropes supporting the four corners, so the human-sized “王” character on it could be easily seen.

Just as the generals were preparing to continue the siege, the sound of fighting suddenly appeared not far to the west. Wang Xianzhi asked, "Is there any fighting in the west today?"

One general replied: "No, there is no plan to attack West City today."

"Come here, go investigate immediately and report to this general as soon as possible."

After thinking for a moment, Wang Xianzhi gave another order: "Order Cai Wenqiu to lead his troops to the west side of the camp to form a battle array to guard against the disorderly soldiers in the west."

"Order."

Wang Xianzhi didn't have to wait long before someone came to report: "General, a group of cavalry suddenly appeared in the west. Commander Wang was unable to defend against them. The brothers fled in all directions. The west was gone."

"What."

Before Wang Xianzhi was exposed, another person came to report: "General, Commander Cai was attacked by enemy cavalry, the army formation collapsed, and the enemy general is coming here."

"General, hurry up and leave. As long as the green mountains remain, there will be no shortage of firewood."

"Yes, General, let's go first."

Upon hearing that the enemy cavalry was approaching, everyone around him hurriedly advised Wang Xianzhi to temporarily avoid the enemy.

"I won't leave, General. I won't leave. Huang Chao is making trouble for me."

Although he said so, his physical resistance was not that fierce. He pushed it away twice and then, with the support of his personal soldiers, mounted his horse and fled southward surrounded by them.

After Wang Xianzhi and his companions had been walking for about a quarter of an hour, a group of cavalry suddenly arrived, with a number of about several hundred people, led by Li Kerang.

There was no one here, only the big banner flying in the wind.

"Commander-in-chief, Bai Liushou in the city has sent troops out of the city to help. Most of the bandits have been defeated, but there are still a few bandits who have not yet fled."

Li Kerang ordered: "Order Yu Shaoyi to lead his troops to attack the enemy's formation. We must not let the enemy gather together again."

After the cavalrymen who had received the order left, Li Kerang rode alone to the front of Wang Xianzhi's banner.

He looked up at the banner with the huge word "King" embroidered on it, sneered, drew his sword and cut the rope without hesitation.

The flag with the word "King" fell down like a rag.

In Bianzhou, except for Yongqiu on the border between Bian and Song, there was a murderous atmosphere because of the 5,000 Xuanwu troops stationed there.

The city of Bianzhou in the hinterland was still prosperous. Although the bandits had cut off the canal in the south, caravans from the north would still come here from the Yellow River to sell their goods.

So if we say that the siege of Songzhou had an impact on Bianzhou, it definitely did, but it was not that big. People just earned less money, but they did not go hungry.

"Get out of the way, get out of the way, military information is urgent." A cavalryman with three pennants on his back rushed in from the west gate of Bianzhou.

Pedestrians along the road dodged for fear of being hit.

If such a situation were to occur, it would be considered bad luck. Not only would the government not stand up for him, but they would also hold him accountable for disrupting military intelligence.

In the East Palace, Bai Yi was dealing with miscellaneous matters in Bianzhou while listening to the summary of the front-line military reports from the past few days by a soldier nearby.

In Bianzhou, the Bianzhou Governor had become a vassal of the Xuanwu Military Government and was almost only able to carry out orders without having independent administrative power of his own.

In the three states of Bian, Song and Hao, all matters need to be sent to the Xuanwu Military Mansion first. After being handled by Bai Yi, they will be handed over to the three state governor's offices for execution.

Therefore, Bai Yi had the political secretary to assist him in handling government affairs and the military secretary to handle military affairs, forming his left and right arms. In the room, the political secretary Han Wenxiao handed the documents he had initially processed to Bai Yi for review and stamping.

Military commander Bai Banghan was reading the military report brought by the messenger who was running on the street:
"On May 14, the fourth year of Qianfu, General Li Kerang attacked the bandits outside Song City. Bai Haoyuan, the governor of Songzhou, saw the opportunity and sent troops to fight. Together with General Li Kerang, they attacked the bandits. The bandits were defeated and the bandit leader Xianzhi fled."

"At sunset, we pursued the bandits to Chenzhou and returned. According to statistics, in this battle, Kerang's tribe beheaded 3,637 people, and Haoyuan's tribe beheaded 2,323 people. The two tribes captured a total of 20,000 bandits."

"On May 16, the bandit Huang Chao withdrew from the siege of Xiangyi. The military commander Chen Daniu pursued and killed him, beheading 1,300 of them and capturing 10,000 of them."

"On May 18, the bandit leader Shang Jun heard that Wang Xianzhi had been defeated and withdrew from the siege of Gushu County. The commander of Gushu County, Wang Changgong, had few soldiers and ordered his men not to pursue, so no one was captured."

Bai Yi nodded and praised: "Wang Changgong did a good job. Most of his men are fort soldiers. Although they are well-trained, they are not well-equipped and have hardly been on the battlefield. They are good at defense but not good at offense."

"Moreover, Shang Junchang is the wisest among the bandits. According to his intelligence, he will not retreat without leaving a backup plan. If we go into battle rashly, we will be easily ambushed by the bandits."

After a moment's silence, Bai Yi gave the order: "Wang Changgong has made great contributions in this battle. He will be transferred to the rear of Xuanren Army as the military governor. Another general will be selected to serve as the head of a thousand households in Gushu County."

"Also, all the generals and soldiers who have made contributions in this battle must be listed to me. I will reward them generously."

Bai Banghan did not dare to be careless and wrote them down one by one.

The captain of a thousand households was a military position in the guard garrison of the Xuanwu Army.

The Xuanwu Army was composed of 40,000 combat soldiers from the Xuanwu, Xuande, Xuanren and Xuanyi armies as the main force, and the rest were young and strong men selected from the guards as auxiliary troops.

These two systems are not subordinate to each other, but belong to the same Xuanwu Military Government system.

The highest commander of the combat troops is the military commander, and the auxiliary troops are the garrison commander. The combat troops are centered in the garrison city, while the auxiliary troops are scattered throughout the place to form garrison areas.

The highest military and political chief of Xuanwu Town was naturally the Jiedushi Bai Yi, and under him were the military commanders of the four combat armies and the garrison commanders of the four auxiliary guards.

Under the military commander were the commanders-in-chief of each capital, the du yu hou, the yu hou, the lieutenants and the minor lieutenants.

Under the garrison commander were the thousand-household chiefs, fort chiefs, hundred-household chiefs, and ten-household chiefs.

Due to the existence of the Weibao system and the ubiquitous fort owners after the Anshi Rebellion, Xuanwu Town has completely broken the previous rural baojia system.

In the three states of Xuanwu Town, the governor's office can only manage the markets in the state and county towns, while the forts and strongholds outside are under the management of the four major garrisons.

Such a unique administrative division is designed to adapt to the special geographical location of Bianzhou, a place surrounded by four wars.

Take Wang Xianzhi's attack on Song as an example. If there had not been the protection of the forts scattered throughout the place, and the people in the countryside had not fled to the forts in time, it is unknown how many people would have been lost.

These rebel forces could not capture large cities or small counties, but they had no problem capturing some undefended villages.

But the problem is that Songzhou is full of forts, and they will have to pay a heavy price every time they capture a fort.

These forts were all built in strategic locations, either against rivers or mountains, or were built to be extremely tall.

Let's get back to the point. After Bai Banghan wrote down his order, Bai Yi said to the two people in front of him with emotion:

"This time the bandits plundered Songzhou. If it weren't for our ancestors' foresight, I'm afraid the losses would be beyond our ability to bear."

Han Wenxiao also praised: "Yes, I used to think that these forts were the reliance of the powerful and the source of troubles. Now I know that these forts can also become a powerful tool to protect the country and the people."

"Haha, now that the bandit has been beaten, I guess we can have a few years of peace." Bai Banghan also said with a smile.

Bai Yi disagrees:

"I don't think so. The situation in the world has become increasingly unclear in recent years. In the past, it would take more than ten years for the enemy to attack. It wasn't long before Pang Xun and his ilk were pacified. This time, the bandits have been rising for more than a year and they want to attack Bian. The situation is becoming more and more chaotic."

(End of this chapter)