Late Tang

What is supposed to come will always come. When Li Jing heard Song Wei ordered him to send troops to suppress the bandits, he was actually very excited.All along, all kinds of adventures and desperate development, isn't it just to wait until the time comes when he has the strength to participate.But slightly surprised that he was transferred to Zizhou and Qizhou instead of Qingzhou.

"May I ask Judge Lei, who is it that the commander-in-chief ordered me to send troops to Daxie Village?"

"Hong Balang!"

Li Jing frowned, why is it this person.This person appeared in the history books of later generations.However, according to historical records, this man was a great thief in Hebei, and it was also said that he was the remnant of the Pang Xun Rebellion.After the defeat of Xuzhou, he has been running around and looting in Zi, Qi, Di and other states on both sides of the Yellow River.The reason why he really left a mark in the history books is related to Wang Jingwu.According to historical records, in the first year of Guangming, that is, six years later, there was a giant bandit Hong Balang who gathered people in Qi and Di to create disasters.As a result, after Wang Jingwu sent troops, he suddenly returned, driving An Shiru, who was very useless at the end of the Tang Dynasty, and was expelled by his subordinates in several towns, out of Ziqing Town, and took the post of himself.

During the mutiny in Ziqing Town, Hong Balang was completely a soy sauce character.Li Jing didn't expect that he jumped out five or six years ahead of schedule. According to history, he made a big fuss because he responded to Huang Chao.Could it be said that his own appearance has already had such a profound impact?

"Why is this person?"

"Why, who does brother Ji Yu think it is?" Lei Gang asked with a smile.

Li Jing laughed: "I heard that the private salt dealers on the Tianping Festival were making a lot of trouble earlier. I also arrested a Caozhou salt dealer who dared to come to buy salt from me, and I was escorted to Qingzhou. , I don’t know what the result will be?”

"Ji Yu is talking about the gentleman who respects etiquette. I have heard of this person, and he has some prestige in the rivers and lakes. After he was escorted to Qingzhou last time, Marshal Song Jie said that since this person is from the Tianping Army The people under the rule of Xue Jieshuai sent people to send him to Xue Shuai. I heard that Xue Shuai sent him to Caozhou again, saying that he would be a model in Caozhou, and he would be an example to others. But who would have thought that there are many thieves On the day of the execution, hundreds of thieves rioted in the execution ground and snatched him away from the sword. Although Caozhou also sent arresters to arrest him, these people disappeared without a trace." Lei Gang said with a light smile, as if he was just telling a very common little joke. "This time, Xue Jieshuai has lost his face. It is said that Xue Jieshuai scolded the governor of Caozhou severely, and then directly dismissed him."

Li Jing couldn't help but let out a long sigh in his heart, these people would never have thought of who they let go.It was even more unexpected that who would rob the execution ground.How serious it is to dare to bring hundreds of people to rob the court in Zhoucheng, but these people only pass it on as a joke.

"The people who robbed the court are probably Wang Xianzhi, Zhang Guiba and other private salt dealers in Caozhou." Li Jing sighed.

Lei Gang was a little surprised, that Caozhou was under the rule of the Tianping Army, although it was a neighbor of the Pinglu Army.But Caozhou is close to Luoyang, and Dengzhou is one in the west and the other in the east, separated by no less than a thousand miles.How could Li Jing know so clearly?

"I heard that Wang Xianzhi was indeed robbed. Wang Xianzhi is the largest private salt dealer in Caozhou, and the Wang family of Caozhou and the Huang family of Puzhou are the two largest private salt dealers in the Central Plains. It is said that Wang Xianzhi has ten people who are known as ten voters. Great thief, I heard that Shang Junchang you arrested is the number one confidant general under Wang Xianzhi. As for the others, I don’t know their names. But the names are scary, but they are just a group of private salt dealers. It's not going to happen, and once the officers and soldiers are dispatched, none of these clowns will end well."

This is how Tang officials treat Huang Chao, Wang Xianzhi and others. They never thought that Datang would be messed up by this group of people.Seeing Lei Gang's attitude, Li Jing gave up the idea of ​​reminding them.Now it is estimated that he will not listen to what he said.Let's wait until Wang Xianzhi scares these people.

But for the news of Hong Balang right now, we should inquire more.

"How many troops did Hong Balang have? I wonder how many troops Song Jieshuai mobilized this time?"

The corners of Lei Gang's mouth twitched a few times in embarrassment, and he said, "Hong Balang has 800 troops, and all of them have horses."

"Only 800 people?" Li Jing was stunned for a moment. Hearing that Song Wei had issued a military order from Qingzhou to call him to send troops, Li Jing thought that some bandit had gathered a crowd, and there were tens of thousands of refugees and bandits under his command.Unexpectedly, after all the talk, there were only 800 people in the end.Even if these 800 people are all old horse bandits, there are only 800 people.No matter how fierce the horse thieves are, can they still compare with the soldiers and horses of the imperial court?

"Don't underestimate this Hong Balang. He is extremely fierce, and his subordinates are even a group of desperadoes. They burn, kill, loot, and do everything. In the beginning, they caused chaos in Dizhou, north of the Yellow River. When they had the most soldiers and horses, they were called the Three Thousands of soldiers and horses were defeated several times by the Hebei Yichang Army. In the end, Zheng Hanqing, the commander-in-chief of the Yichang Army, mobilized tens of thousands of soldiers and horses to encircle and suppress him. , Qi two prefectures. Both Zi and Qi prefectures have sent troops to clear up and suppress them. They can send troops several times. If there are few soldiers, they will be defeated by the bandits. If there are too many soldiers, the bandits will flee far away. Now seeing the possibility of Hong bandits gathering in Zi and Qi prefectures, no one in the Pinglu army is willing to fight."

"So, this time, only one of the Shamen Township is the one who is begging for thieves?" Li Jing asked.

"That's true." Lei Gang explained: "Originally Marshal Song Jie didn't want to call your troops to suppress the bandits, but in the end it was General Wang Jingwu who suggested that you are both intelligent and capable of killing the bandits. He also explained how you defeated the One-eyed Jiao Pirate and exterminated Feng Zhang, saying that you were young and had been promoted one after another, and Song Jieshuai was going to be promoted to be the military envoy of Daxie Village. He thought that if you were promoted to you For Daxie Zhai soldiers and horses, then the matter of suppressing the bandits will be your responsibility."

"Wang Jingwu meant to say that if I don't go to suppress the bandits, then I'm not qualified to serve as a military envoy in Daxie Village?" Li Jing sneered.

"That's what he meant, so this time you must fight a good battle to wipe out Hong Balang, and completely silence other people who have objections to your promotion. Song Jieshuai is very optimistic about you , not only promoted you in advance to Daxie Village Brigade and Horse Envoy, but also added the title of Suppression Envoy to you, don't let down the wishes of Marshal Jie." Lei Gang was afraid that Li Jing would not agree, so he said kindly.

"Don't worry, I don't care about eight hundred horse thieves."

"I still don't know how many troops Ji Yu plans to lead into battle?"

"I have a newly built Crane Controlling Cavalry Battalion under my command, with 2000 troops. I think that 2000 troops from this Crane Controlling Battalion are enough to deal with mere horse thieves. It is the best policy to ride against cavalry." Li Jing replied confidently.

Lei Gang hastily persuaded: "There are too few soldiers, I advise you to bring more soldiers and horses. I have been in Shamen Town for a few days, and I heard that you have more than 6000 elite soldiers under your command, why not bring more. Bring at least [-] people. Don't be careless, and be taken advantage of by thieves."

Li Jing shook his head, Hong Balang's subordinates are all horse thieves, coming and going like the wind.Only cavalry can quickly find them and destroy them.If there are too many soldiers and horses, the march will be slow. Once the opponent finds them, they may flee far away, and it will be difficult to destroy them.

Seeing Li Jing's persistent insistence, Lei Gang was so anxious that he almost jumped, he quickly winked at Li Jing, and said softly: "Please step back, I have a secret to tell."

"Please go to the study." Li Jing invited Lei Gang into the study. As soon as Lei Gang entered, he immediately said to Li Jing: "Why don't you understand? In fact, this time Wang Jingwu proposed to let you go to suppress the bandits, because he didn't know the true nature of your subordinates. Strength. He wants to take the opportunity to use the hands of thieves to eliminate or consume your strength. You don’t know. In fact, there are famines everywhere and there are so many bandits in Ziqi and Qizhou. It’s not just Hong Balang and his gang of horse thieves. It is easy to be taken advantage of by bandits."

He looked left and right again, and then whispered: "Actually, the most critical one is that both Song Jieshuai and Cui Sima think this is a rare opportunity."

"What chance? Could it be?"

Lei Gang smiled: "You're right, Wang Jingwu didn't have good intentions, but he made a foolish move. He wanted to transfer you to Ziqi, but he forgot that to go to Ziqi, he had to go through Qingzhou first."

"Destroy Guo in a false way!" Li Jing couldn't help exclaiming, Song Wei and Cui Yunqing were really old-fashioned.On the surface, it is impossible to transfer Li Jing to Ziqi and Qizhou to suppress bandits.But in fact, they planned to ask Li Jing to bring more soldiers and horses, and under the banner of suppressing bandits to cross the border, when they arrived in Qingzhou, they would give Wang Jingwu a heart attack.Right now, Qingzhou Wang Jingwu's Yajun and Song Wei's Jiedu soldiers, Qingzhou United soldiers, and the Supervising Army's personal guards have reached a balance.But if there is a new force like Li Jing joining, Wang Jingwu will definitely lose.

No wonder Lei Gang has been asking Li Jing to bring more soldiers and horses, that's the reason.Bing Shao was afraid that he would not be able to defeat Wang Jingwu's Ya army.

This is indeed a great opportunity to kill Wang Jingwu. As long as he is willing to help Song Wei at this time, then Song Wei will have absolute strength.Should he do this, or rather, he has to consider whether he should do it.Will it do him any good?

Seeing that Li Jing seemed to be hesitating, Lei Gang couldn't help but look anxious.This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.I always thought that the couple in Jieshuai's Mansion were in a very embarrassing situation because they couldn't get rid of Wang Jingwu and won the control of Qingzhou Yabing.In the other states of the Ziqing five prefectures, Song Wei has already begun to take the initiative, but Qingzhou is suppressed, and Wang Jingwu's mutiny may directly take away Jieshuai's mansion at any time.

After pondering for a long time, Li Jing opened his mouth slowly and asked a sentence: "After the matter is completed, what reward will Commander Jie give to this general and his brothers!"

(To be continued)