Late Tang

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"Although Daibei is bitter and cold, it is also the place where our generation made contributions. Although the Central Plains is prosperous, it is not a place where heroes are intoxicated." Li Jing's voice was deep and soft. "Brother Xin is here to take office, and I have nothing to do to help you. This is [-] yuan, and you can pick it up in Taiyuan or Fengzhou. It can be regarded as my little help to Brother Xin."

Xin Yan held the thin flying money, but he was filled with emotion.Although friendship is worth a thousand gold, Li Jing still made him grateful for helping him in this way.At the beginning, he just drew his sword to help when he saw injustice, and he didn't mean to curry favor with the powerful, but Li Jing's help to him was real.Not only helped him become the Deputy Jiedu Ambassador of the Datong Army, but also personally invited the emperor to invite [-] magic infantry and [-] cavalry for him.

If it weren't for Li Jing, even if he took office, he would be a bare-bones commander. Mi Haiwan, Shi Jingcun, and Qi Bizhang each led a prefectural governor and held important positions in the shogunate. Soldiers and horses, without the five thousand soldiers and horses that Li Jing invited for him, he would have nothing to do even if he took office.

"My brother is already very grateful for Sanlang's help to me. I can't accept this money."

Li Jing pressed the hand that Xin Yan stretched out: "If my brother thinks of me, Li Jing, don't return the money. Although I, Li Jing, am old, I have a lot of money in my hand. I can't help you, but a little money is fine. If you feel bad, brother, then do me a favor."

"What's the matter, just tell me." Xin Yan said cheerfully.

"If my brother finds that the Shatuo people crossed the Yin Mountain and entered Daibei, kill them immediately. If you find Li Keyong, I want his head!" When Li Jing mentioned Li Keyong's three words, his expression was a little cold.

Nodding hard, he agreed to Li Jing.

Li Jing then met with Mi Haiwan, Shi Jingcun, and Qi Bizhang respectively.These three people had all surrendered to Li Jing's command at the beginning, although now they have all become governors of Daibeiyi Prefecture and also serve as important posts in the commander's mansion.But Li Jing still has the title of Jiedushi of the Datong Army, and they still appear to be Li Jing's subordinates.To these three people, Li Jing sent them a batch of gifts respectively, and then said some kind words.

"I will pay two guan for the head of each Shatuo person. If the living Shatuo people are fighters, they will pay ten guan for each. If they are young and strong women, they will pay for each six guan. Three guan, old and weak, each guan. No matter how much you send, I will give you as much as you want, and I will take as much as you have." Li Jing said the same words to these three people.

"In addition, the price of Khitan people is halved, so you can get as much as you want!"

All three of them patted their chests with excitement and expressed that they would try their best to complete the tasks assigned by Li Jing, and then left excitedly with the [-] guan flying money that Li Jing handed over to each of them.

"Marshal, will this price be too high? If they really send a large number of prisoners, will we take them all by then?" Guo Chengan asked worriedly.The price of ten guns for a fighter is quite a lot.In the current situation where refugees are all over the world, even if you want slave workers, you don't need to pay such a price to buy Hu people.

"Secretary, you don't need to worry about it. This is not just a simple matter of getting some slaves." Li Jing took a glass of fruit wine and drank it. The wine was vermilion. It was bayberry wine, full of fermented flavor, very strong , thick enough to almost solidify.But it is indeed very mellow, this is the wine he bought in Chang'an Street Market, and the logo of Dengzhou Distillery is tattooed on the jar.The merchants in Chang'an are really powerful, and they have sold Dengzhou's fruit wine to Chang'an on a large scale so quickly.

Li Zhen was on the side to explain Guo Chengan's doubts, "The commander has a lot of meaning in this move. He used money to buy the heads and prisoners of the Shatuo people and the Khitan people. Those three Hu generals are greedy for profit, and they will definitely cross the border on their own initiative. Fight against the Shatuo people and even the Khitan people. In this way, in the end, without any accident, the Khitan people will inevitably fight with the three tribes of Daibei. The commander's move is very clever. With a little money, the three tribes can be driven Willing to fight the Khitans, this is to share part of the pressure of the Khitans for us. When we launch a battle against the Khitans in Liaodong, it will be of great help."

"Then this trick can also be used in Lu Long." Guo Chengan's eyes lit up, "Lu Long's army is closer to the Khitans, and they have more troops. If they fight against the Khitans, the whole situation will definitely change."

"Not necessarily." Speaking of Lu Longjun, Li Jing's eyes were full of worry.The current situation in Youzhou has been completely changed. Due to Tian Lingzi's insidious tricks, now Li Jing has become the Lulong Jiedu envoy in name, and the imperial court has now appointed Chen Jingxuan, who sells cakes, as Lulong Jun Jiedu's deputy ambassador and Jiedu But did they forget that Lu Longjun still has Li Keju, the queen of Jiedu.Even Li Keju can't be the leader of Youzhou, and there are many opposition leaders.The situation in Youzhou was already extremely complicated, but because of Tian Lingzi's chaos, Li Jing has lost control of the whole situation.

In particular, it was Chen Jingxuan who went to Lulong. Li Jing thought that the situation in Youzhou, which had undergone more than 20 mutinies over the past century, was tense, and another mutiny might happen at any time.This will break the effect that Li Jing managed to manage in Youzhou by taking advantage of the momentum, but he is beyond his reach now, and there is nothing he can do.

"Chen Jingxuan will not be short of money. Moreover, Youzhou is likely to fall into chaos in the future, and there is no spare energy to deal with the Khitan people." Li Jing sighed. Since he can't change it, let's put it aside temporarily and let Chen Jingxuan But let's pay back to Youzhou's proud soldiers and warriors for their strength. "The most urgent thing we need to do now is to go back to Dengzhou first, and then prepare to enter Liaodong and compete with the Khitan people to curb the momentum of the Khitan people going south."

"The commander-in-chief has already ordered General Lin, who was left behind in Dengzhou, to call up troops and horses to enter the front line of Weiba Mountain City for defense. Even at the right time, he can make a posture of attacking from the side, threaten the Khitan people, and give the Goguryeo people Some solidarity, let them hold on for a while longer. On the other hand, the commander also sent envoys to Jili City, ready to persuade them to vote for us."

"Then there is no need to worry about the situation in Liaodong?" Guo Chengan said,

"Not necessarily," Li Zhendao, "the Goguryeo people in Jili City are not alone and helpless, they still have a lot of power in the area of ​​Wugu River and Yalu River. Wugu City, Dahang City, Bodiao City, etc. Summoning soldiers and horses."

"These people don't need to worry too much." Li Jing said slowly, "The Goguryeo people in Liaodong are not monolithic, and more often they are actually fighting. In fact, they can smell the breath of victory and veto these unscrupulous families. They will send out troops so soon. Although Jili City is indeed on the verge of collapse, the Khitan people have not suffered much damage. The air is full of defeat, and they will think more before sending troops .As for the Bohai State, it is even more impossible to send troops from thousands of miles to aid a land in Liaodong that has already supported itself and lost control."

"The situation in Liaodong, if we defend, it will be difficult for the Khitans to go south for a while." Li Zhen frowned, "But I am worried about the grass bandits and Wang Jingwu's rebels. Since they can defeat the Tianping army and the Taining army successively , it’s definitely not as simple as what the princes of the court said.”

"They may be really powerful." Li Jing dragged his voice, "But they are not our enemies. Although we are also one of the soldiers and horses of the Twelve Towns this time, I believe that the bandit army will not dare to face it head-on. At that time, we will return directly to Dengzhou. Let Marshal Song take the credit for destroying the bandit army."

"Marshal thinks Marshal Song can't defeat the rebels? Impossible, this is the encirclement and suppression of the Twelve Routes feudal towns. Even if we don't do our best, with so many feudal towns, one mouthful of saliva can drown the rebel army." Guo Chengan couldn't believe it.

"In any battle, no one can guarantee victory before it is over." Li Jing said indifferently: "Although Song Jieshuai was quite famous in his early years, he fought Wang Jingwu for more than half a year, and there is still no result. But I know what happened to the soldiers and horses in his hands now. It's not that Song Wei is old, but the soldiers and horses in his hands can't fully obey his command. Now that the Twelve Towns are encircling and suppressing, this situation is similar to that of Song Wei commanding the Pinglu Army It's the same as when all the ministries attacked Wang Jingwu. The bandit army is only threatening the territory of Xuanwu Town, and the soldiers and horses of other towns may not be willing to contribute as much."

What's more, the Tianping Army and Taining Army in the Twelve Routes were basically disabled by the Cao Army. The Yicheng, Heyang Army, Zhaoyi Army, and Zhongwu Army were all disabled in Daibei.Twelve towns went to six towns at once, and the remaining six armies of Dongdu Army, Xuanwu Army, Huainan Army, Probation Army, Zhen[***], and Pinglu Army, Dongdu and Xuanwu were weak armies, Huainan and The probation army has not recovered from the Pang Xun Rebellion a few years ago.Because of Wang Jingwu's rebellion, the Pinglu Army, like the Zhendong Army's independent sect, is no longer as powerful as it is now.After all, among the twelve soldiers and horses in the town, the only one whose strength is well preserved is the town [***].

But before the battle was fought, Li Jing had already decided that he would not deal with the thieves this time.Then the outcome of these twelve towns to suppress the bandits is almost doomed.

"Your Majesty is still too young. If you won the First World War on behalf of the North, you would think that the imperial court was strong and strong. However, the imperial court paid a huge price of 30 soldiers for the victory in the First World War on behalf of the North. Several feudal towns in the area have not recovered their vitality due to the Pang Xun Rebellion. In addition, the Tianping Army and Taining Army were defeated by the bandits, and the imperial court did not have much advantage. Especially in the face of the famine in the Central Plains, countless people are hungry, The people in scanty clothes are the supplements of the bandit army. This battle cannot be won by flying flags and pointing the country on the sand table. If there is a war, countless people will die in the sword. Especially when the court mobilizes such There are many towns with soldiers and horses to suppress bandits. Once the soldiers and horses of each town leave the town, the imperial court will be responsible for supplying the army. Where will the imperial court get the money and food now? Twelve towns with soldiers and horses will get at least [-] shi of food supply a month , plus the cost of transshipment, the rewards of the soldiers, military pay, pensions, etc. As long as there is no supply in time, I am afraid that no one from all walks of life will have the intention to kill thieves. No one wants to fight when they can’t eat enough. ?”

Fighting wars is more about logistics and food.The more soldiers and horses mobilized by the imperial court, the greater the pressure on logistics supply.This is also the reason why Li Jing was shocked when he heard that the imperial court mobilized the soldiers and horses of the Twelve Towns in the Hall of Yanying.

No matter how many grass bandits there are, they don't have to worry about logistics and food, because they can grab wherever they go, grab those who are capable, and die if they are not.However, if the officers and soldiers have no supply of food and grass, there will be a possibility of mutiny immediately.

From the very beginning, Li Jing had no hope of winning this encirclement and suppression plan.

Since it was a war doomed to failure, Li Jing had no intention of spending it with them at all.From now on, he is already preparing to withdraw to Dengzhou.Li Jing, who is familiar with history, knows that the Huang Chao Rebellion did not really destroy the Li Tang Empire, they were just a fuse.It just completely detonated all the contradictions of Li Tang. They ran around the world, and finally broke the last delicate balance of Li Tang Empire.

The Huangchao is in chaos, and the Tang Dynasty will enter the era of the real Tang Dynasty with separate regimes and mutual attacks.

From now on, Li Jing had to prepare early to consolidate his own strength.

It's not that Li Jing didn't want to turn the tide and destroy Huang Chao.But Huang Chao is different from Li Keyong's father and son. The grass thief's biggest thing is to be able to run away. Their soldiers can't be killed or used up. When threatened by the Khitan people, he chased Huang Chao and others all over the world.And with the current situation in Datang, even if one Huang Chao and Wang Xianzhi were killed, there would be a second and a third soon. (To be continued.)