Late Tang

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Yucheng has changed hands in just a few days!

It was originally close to the Bianqu Canal and close to the bustling city of Songzhou, but now there are ruins everywhere.After Wang Xianzhi broke through the city, he looted for three days. After Wang Xianzhi left, Cao Shixiong entered the city and beat the bones and sucked the marrow again.When Liu Xun and others seized the city, they set off a few more fires. Although the fire was put out immediately after breaking the city and there was no robbery, the city was almost in ruins.There used to be nearly 5 people in the city, but now there are only more than [-] left, most of them are old and weak, and most of the young and strong people were taken away by bandits.

The people in the city were already in despair. Although Liu Xun led the troops to take back Yucheng, when Wang Xianzhi led countless troops to come, everyone was in despair.How can a mere three thousand recruits defeat one hundred thousand grassroots thieves?But even so, during the daytime defense of the city, there was no need for Liu Xun to send people to recruit organizations, and everyone in the city, young and old, went to the city to help.All the people have already made up their minds to die with the city.

Unexpectedly, Songzhou also sent reinforcements.When the first reinforcements were defeated, they were already only struggling at the end.When the second reinforcements arrived, they gave up all hope.But it never occurred to them that the mere [-] reinforcements from the second route defeated tens of thousands of rebels.What made them even more unbelievable was that the leader of this adventure would be Li Jing, the commander-in-chief of the town [***].

When they saw the six yamen bowing down to the young general for luggage in front of the city gate, everyone finally believed it.Marshal Li not only sent reinforcements, but also personally led the reinforcements, and defeated the bandits.

"The commander-in-chief took the risk to come here. If something goes wrong, I will never redeem him!" Liu Xun was excited and scared. There are twenty thousand.The commander actually brought only 5000 people and killed them.

Li Jing smiled, "You guys insist on defending Yucheng, and I couldn't give up the tactics of outflanking, so I had to go out myself. Facts have proved that grass thieves are indeed a bunch of idiots. A simple show of weakness, they have already Start arrogantly and underestimate the enemy, and 5000 troops will defeat tens of thousands of them."

The combat effectiveness of the grass army is indeed not strong. Their most commonly used tactic is the sea of ​​people tactic, coercing a large number of people, and fighting with a large number of auxiliary troops, using the sea of ​​people tactic to overwhelm the opponent.And in today's battle, Li Jing has revealed a great weakness of the Cao army, that is, they have no command power at all. Although there are many people, they are messy and there is no reasonable and effective command at all.If you change to a slightly stronger general, with these numerical advantages, you can still achieve better results.

"Get ready, the thieves may come to attack tonight!" Li Jing took the water and towel from a personal guard, wiped his face and washed his hands.

"The bandit army was defeated today, how dare they attack the city?" Li Cunxiao asked puzzled.

Li Jing changed the ordinary armor on his body, took off his battle robe, and wiped off the bloody smell from his body with his bare upper body, and he immediately felt much better.Liu Xun stood on one side, pondered for a while, and explained: "Although the grass bandit was defeated today, it was just caught off guard. There were not many real casualties. Two thousand or three people died in battle is not a big deal for the grass bandit." It's worth mentioning. Today's defeat was only due to the chaos of the bandit army. When they gather their soldiers and horses, they will definitely not be convinced. After all, there are only 6000 to [-] people in the city, and the grass bandits still have a great advantage."

At this time, several soldiers brought food, mainly cooking cakes, white porridge, some dried meat, and strips of pickled vegetables.Li Jing directly grabbed a bowl of porridge and drank it down in one gulp, feeling better.

"How much food is there in the city?" he asked.

"There is a lot of grain, about tens of thousands of shi. Originally, there were over [-] shi of grain in the city. There are many grain merchants and granaries near Songzhou Bianqu, and there are many wealthy households in Yucheng. When Wang Xianzhi left, he brought They left a lot, but Cao Shixiong didn't have time to take the rest of the food when he left." Fu Cun reported to Li Jing.

Li Jing nodded: "Since there is no shortage of food, let's give food to the people in the city. Today, these people are doing their best to help the thieves. We are the army. Now that we have arrived, we must naturally help the people."

Liu Xun nodded. He also had the same idea. If Li Jing didn't arrive, he would also distribute the food.

Looking at the six disciples, Li Jing was very relieved. This time they performed very well. Although they led a new army, it was remarkable to be able to fight the battle to this extent.In particular, they knew the current situation and were willing to stay in Yucheng to attract and contain the grass army without fear of death. Although they did a bit too risky, their momentum and courage were commendable.

"This time the auxiliary army performed very well. I have decided to formally organize the auxiliary army into an army, and give the military number to select the front army. The formation in the town [***] is the Yaqian army in the five Yamen. The number of horses is short, wait for soldiers to replenish you." Li Jing said with a smile.

Liu Xun and the other six were very pleasantly surprised when they heard the news.The auxiliary army was originally cannon fodder, but now it has suddenly become one of the five armies, five yamen and ten armies. Now only six of the town [***] have established official military titles, namely Black Flag, Tielin, and Konghe .Even the troops in southern Liaoning, Dengzhou, and the southward east of Zhejiang don't have new military numbers yet. Their auxiliary army, which has just been recruited for less than half a month, actually has a separate military number. This is not gratifying.

But under the joy, they couldn't help but feel uneasy, wondering who would be the main officers of the forward selection army.Now there are only six battalion-level commanders in the auxiliary army, and neither the upper Xiang level nor the lower Du level have appointed officers, let alone the army level.

"Marshal, I wonder who will be the leader of the army and the leader of the chamber?" Liu Xun asked with a hint of expectation in his eyes.

In Zhen [***], the chief officer of the first army is the soldier and horse envoy of the capital, the chief officer of the other side is the soldier and horse envoy, the chief officer of the first battalion is the command envoy, and the chief officer of the first capital is the commander.However, there is another set of titles in the army, that is, the chief officer of one army is called the military master, the chief officer of one wing is called the master of the wing, the chief officer of the other battalion is called the battalion master, and the chief officer of one capital is also called the general, or capital master.

In the town [***], everyone knows that the rank of military envoys is quite high, only a little lower than the main positions of the shogunate.A Xiangzhu, with [-] troops, is already a mid-to-high-ranking general, and a military leader, with [-] troops, is a high-ranking general.Although Liu Xun also understands that although the six of them are all very high, they are still too young after all.Now he is only the battalion master, and it is still possible to be promoted to the master of the chamber. It is a bit too extravagant to be directly promoted to the master of the army.

Li Jing smiled, looked up at the six disciples who were full of expectation, and said with a smile: "Why, what positions are you looking for, Xiangzhu? Junzhu?"

Several people blushed slightly, smiled but did not answer.

"It's good to have ideas, so there's nothing to be ashamed of. If you think you have the ability, then fight for it!" Li Jing encouraged.

In fact, Yang Shihou was full of expectations in his heart, and his goal was to be promoted to be the leader of the draft army.He knew that he had little qualifications, and he didn't dare to expect the military leader.Taking a peek at the brothers, seeing that no one spoke, he stood up bravely and said, "Commander, I think it's better for the officers to be promoted from the original auxiliary army when the front army is selected. Brothers live and die side by side. , can cooperate better.”

"What position do you want to take, Xiangzhu? Junzhu?" Li Jing still had a smile on his face.

Everyone's eyes shot over at the same time, and Yang Shihou couldn't help feeling a little nervous, "I feel that Commander Liu has performed outstandingly in this battle, he is brave and resourceful, and can coordinate the overall situation. I recommend Commander Liu to Serve as the leader of the selection front army. As for me, I think I should be able to be the deputy head of the chamber." Although he really wanted to be the head of the chamber, he also knew that the first army now only has a hatchback organization, and among the brothers of the sixth division, He is only ranked fifth. In terms of qualifications, it is difficult for him to compete with Gao Siji and them.

Li Jing also put down her chopsticks at this time, and looked at the few people with a smile.

"How about this, there are only about [-] people left in the frontline selection army, so for the time being, we will only make up one side, and the rest will be discussed after the battle. Liu Xun!"

"I'm here!" Liu Xun stepped out and knelt on one knee, his face flushed with excitement.Although the teacher's words have already stated that there is only one side of the selection front army, which means that it is likely to be only set up for the main side for the time being, and the officers above will not be appointed for the time being.But that's good too. It's not realistic to be promoted to the army leader all at once.Now the military leader will not be appointed for the time being. In fact, this can also be regarded as the commander-in-chief temporarily retaining this position. If there is no accident, this position will still be theirs in the future.

"This commander now grants you the post of envoy to the left wing of the Selected Front Army in Yaqian, and you will be given the rank of envoy, because you will lead the fifth battalion of soldiers and horses in the Selected Front Army." Li Jing got up and said solemnly to Liu Xun.

"Thank you, Marshal!" Liu Xun took a sword from Li Jing, and it was too late to engrave the official seal of the military talisman, so this sword from Li Jing was regarded as a temporary talisman.

Lifting Liu Xun up, Li Jing also nodded slightly, and patted his shoulder, "Do it well!"

It is indisputable that Liu Xun was appointed as the head of the chamber. First, he is the eldest among the six disciples. Second, he has always performed very well and has the highest prestige among the disciples.And the performance of this battle has proved that he can stand on his own.

After awarding Liu Xunxiang as the master, Li Jing reorganized the current tenth battalion of the auxiliary army into five battalions, and Gao Siji and other five people each led a battalion to command the formation.In addition, Gao Si succeeded as the deputy horse envoy of the left wing of the Yaqian Selection Front Army, Yang Shihou was appointed as the marching commander of the left wing, Wang Yanzhang was appointed as the Marquis of Yu, Fu Cun was appointed as the marching judge, and Li Cunxiao was appointed as the coach.Li Jing also selected a staff officer named Leng Yu from the town's [***] staff department to be promoted to the teaching envoy of the left wing.

"For the officers at the lower level, you should report them as a list. The staff department will appoint and remove them after the assessment. As for the two levels of corps, the left wing will decide on their appointment and removal and then report to the staff department." Decentralization, which is a core right, must not be delegated.

Li Jing's appointment was announced, and everyone had no opinion. Liu Xun was promoted two levels, and the other five were also promoted one level, and they were all very happy.In particular, Fu Cun and Yang Shihou, who served as marching Sima and marching judge respectively, ranked higher than Li Cunxiao's coach.

"Marshal, I would like to ask the Marshal to rule on a matter under my post." Liu Xun asked.

"Oh, is there anything else you can't make up your mind about?" Li Jing chuckled lightly.

Li Cunxiao on the side shouted: "Actually, it's not a big deal. It's just that one of my team leaders was in charge of intercepting and reinforcing grass bandits in the south of the city when we were fighting Yucheng. After the battle, I asked him to clean up the battlefield. Ah San killed more than 100 captive grass thieves. In fact, it is not a big deal, but Ah San fought fiercely. With two hundred people, he blocked thousands of grass thieves from charging. Moreover, Cai Wenqiu, the leader of the grass bandit, was captured alive. However, his brothers suffered heavy casualties, so he was furious for a while, and killed the prisoners without asking for instructions when cleaning the battlefield. In fact, those prisoners were also seriously injured and could not escape. The knife still gave them a good time, otherwise, it would have been more painful for a few more days."

After hearing this, Li Jing pondered for a while, "Where is he now?"

"I will imprison him and wait for the commander to deal with it." Liu Xun said, "This kid is indeed meritorious, and he fought fiercely, but he is too undisciplined. If he is not dealt with severely this time, I am afraid that if this opening is opened, he will be selected as a front army in the future. It’s hard to get rid of the atmosphere.”

Li Jing also understood that Liu Xun wanted to make an example to others, to make an example to others, and the front army is still a new army, so military discipline is really important.However, military discipline is important, but so is military spirit.This officer has made great military achievements this time. If he is not rewarded, he will be held accountable instead. I am afraid that the negative impact of approval will be even greater.

After some thought in his mind, Li Jing said slowly: "The most important thing in governing the army is fairness and strictness. He should be rewarded for his meritorious service and punished for his demerits. He should be rewarded heavily for his meritorious service, even if he is promoted to a deputy soldier and horse envoy, it is enough. How about this, reward him for his military exploits, promote him to be a general, and reward him with a hundred coins and a hundred bolts of silk. But at the same time, he will be punished for his deeds. Private killing of captives is because these captives are seriously wounded, and At that time, when the enemy outnumbered us in a special battle, he was punished with one hundred sticks. One hundred army sticks, executed in ten days, and each time must be executed in front of the whole army, so as to set an example to others!"

Hearing this ruling, everyone present couldn't help feeling that it was very fair.Liu Xun thought about it, and felt that the commander-in-chief's ruling was better than what he planned.I only thought of military discipline, but didn't think of military spirit.Feeling admiration, he nodded his head.

"Okay, my brothers are working very hard today. The commander-in-chief has decided that each of the soldiers who died in the battle will receive [-] guan, the seriously injured will receive [-] guan, and the remaining soldiers will be given [-] guan. Whether it is our town [***] or Songzhou soldiers, the casualties and rewards are the same. In addition, each grass thief head will be rewarded with [-] coins! In addition, the soldiers will be rewarded with meat. Everyone eat well and prepare to meet the enemy tonight !"

"The last general takes orders!" All the generals shouted together. (To be continued.)