Late Tang

(Thanks to Lingling kkexin for the 1888 reward, and thanks to leafgl, alan 07 for the monthly ticket support, thank you everyone!)

In the Battle of Linyi, Wang Jingwu was first defeated by Huang Chao and then surrounded by the Pinglu Army. Seeing the general trend, Wang Jingwu did not make the last stubborn resistance, but led his army to surrender as soon as he saw the Pinglu Army.

Counting after the war, Wang Jingwu in Linyi City had [-] soldiers before the war, and [-] soldiers after the war.In the chaotic battle with Huang Chao, Wang Jingwu's troops did not suffer many casualties, but more were disrupted.After the war, those stragglers saw that their former comrades didn't have any embarrassment, and they all came out and surrendered one after another.

Song Wei did not kill Wang Jingwu, but disarmed them and imprisoned them temporarily.

It’s just that Song Wei would never have imagined that after the court knew that Wang Jingwu was captured, not only did he not order execution on the spot, nor did he order someone to escort him to Chang’an. middle.Not only that, even Wang Jingwu, the leader of the rebel army, was not punished in any way, but was promoted instead.

Before the rebellion, although Wang Jingwu said that he was the actual controller of the Pinglu Army, his military rank was not very high. It's just that all the soldiers and horse envoys were known in the Pinglu Army Yamen, and they all held their teeth.But now, not only did the imperial court not pursue his crimes, but instead appointed Wang Jingwu as the governor of Qingzhou, General Jinwu, and even appointed the third-rank Shangyunhui general Sanjie, and served as the deputy envoy of Ziqing Jiedu and the military envoy of the Pinglu Army Yamen. .As for Wang Jingwu's two generals, Zhang Chan was appointed as the fourth-rank Shangzhongwu General, Qizhou Governor, and Pinglu Army Yaqian Brigade and Horse Envoy.Lu Hong served as the fourth-rank Shangzhongwu general, the governor of Zizhou, and the military envoy of the Pinglu Army Yamen.

The [-] soldiers and horses under him were not disbanded, and they were still under the command of three people.

When he heard the news, Li Jing always thought that the eunuch who passed the decree was joking with him.

"Eunuch Zhang, this joke is not funny." Li Jing smiled at Zhang Chenggong, Zhang Tai's other adopted son.

Zhang Chenggong, who was in charge of delivering the decree, was Zhang Chengye's brother, the elder brother of the eunuch family who was not related by blood. Over 30 years old, white and fat, shook his head and said: "How dare our family make fun of the commander-in-chief with this important military matter, it's true."

Li Jing's smile suddenly froze on his face, this is true, how could this be true?People in the imperial court are all fools, how could they make such a decree.Wang Jingwu is a rebel. If the court can't destroy Wang Jingwu and make peace with him, such a result is still possible.After all, this is how the three towns in Hebei came to be, but the result now is that Song Wei has defeated Wang Jingwu, and all the rebels have been captured. Not only Wang Jingwu, Zhang Chan and Lu Hong have been captured, but even the tens of thousands of auxiliary troops of the rear army have been captured. captured.Moreover, Qizhou, their last lair, was breached, so there was absolutely no need for these people to stay.Even if they were not killed, they would not be able to hand over swords and guns to them, let alone allow Wang Jingwu and others to occupy more important positions.

"Marshal, my father told us to turn to Marshal. This decision was insisted on by Tian Lingzi and Lu Xie. Wang Jingwu will serve as governor of Qingzhou and deputy envoy of Jiedu. Li Xi, the envoy of the Ning Army, will serve as the Sima of the marching army in Ziqing Town." Zhang Chenggong lowered his voice a little, "After Xue Chong and Li Xi returned to Beijing, His Majesty wanted to punish them, but Tian Lingzi and Lu Jiali protected them. Both of them are the families of heroes of the capital. The Li family, Li Zhuo, the governor of Heyang, and Li Jun, the former governor of Zhaoyi, are the grandsons of Li Sheng, the king of Xiping County. Both families have found Tian Lingzi, and now they have joined Tian Lingzi's family It is said that Wang Jingwu's family also asked Tian Lingzi to surrender, and Tian Lingzi will save them."

The words are not clear, but they are transparent.

Back and forth, it turned out that this was another power struggle.

After he became Ziqingliu, Tian Lingzi lost a move in chess, and refused to suffer, so he came to stir up shit.Wang Jingwu was saved, and they were also appointed governors of Qingzhou, Zizhou, and Qizhou. At the same time, they also had more than [-] soldiers and horses.In this way, for the rest of Wang Jingwu's life after the catastrophe, he can only follow Tian Lingzi closely and fight against himself to the end.Wang Jingwu was not a grass thief, he was a local general, and Arita Lingzi tried his best to protect him. Although this incident made Li Jing feel dumbfounded and gritted his teeth, such an absurd thing is not surprising.

As for Xue Chong and Li Xi, this time because of the grass thief incident, their future is uncertain in terms of crime.After taking refuge in Tian Lingzi, although he was demoted, the governor and Sima of Yizhen are also not low positions.

This Tian Lingzi really put everything aside for the sake of power struggle.Although Li Jing of Ziqing Town is now in his hands, the four prefects of Ziqing and Qingzhou are all opponents, even the Deputy Envoy of Jiedu and Sima of Jiedu Marching Army are opponents.And these people didn't come empty-handed, Wang Jingwu still had [-] soldiers in his hands.

Li Jing wanted to scold her mother very much, and even more wanted to lead troops to kill Wang Jingwu.

But he restrained this impulse, he understood that maybe Tian Lingzi was waiting for him to get angry, waiting for his reaction.If he really dared to lead troops to move Wang Jingwu, what Tian Lingzi lost was just a dog, but he would have to bear many disadvantages.Resisting the decree cannot be escaped, and it will shake Li Jing's current image. Once the emperor feels disgusted with him, the situation will not be good.

What Li Jing has to do now is to develop in a low-key manner, and must not become a young bird.There is a huge difference between getting the support of the emperor now and fighting against the court now.

Zhang Chenggong has been paying attention to the expression on Li Jing's face. When he first saw the anger in Li Jing's eyes flash past, he even thought that he would be furious as he guessed.But this anger was only fleeting, and in an instant Li Jing had regained his composure, as if it had nothing to do with it.He deeply remembered this change in his heart.Immediately, the comments about Li Jing that his adoptive father said to him before were imprinted in his mind.

Li Jing really has a sense of stability and calmness that is far beyond the youthful appearance, no wonder the foster father admires Li Jing so much, and has even decided to tie him wholeheartedly with Li Jing.

Wang Jingwu and his soldiers are still in Qingzhou, as are Song Wei, Kang Chenghui, and Cui Yunqing.

Let the military supervisor Zhang Chengye go to entertain Zhang Chenggong in person, specially selected a batch of rare and expensive gifts, and gave a lot of money, and prepared a generous gift for Zhang Tai, Li Jing then handed over the entertainment to Zhang Chenggong. Zhang Chengye.

Although Huang Chao has not been wiped out, no one cares about this little thief running around.Although Li Jing knew that Huang Chao might make a comeback, he didn't want to worry about him anymore.Compared with a wandering grass thief, Li Jing's biggest trouble now is Tian Lingzi, Wang Jingwu, Xue Chong, Li family, and even Khitan and Goguryeo people.

The governor's mansion in Licheng, Qizhou, temporarily became Li Jing's meeting hall.All the generals arrived and gathered together.

"Xingxu, what do you think?" Seeing that all the generals were silent, Li Jing turned to look at Li Zhen who was holding a teacup.

Li Zhen pondered for a while, and said: "Tian Lingzi's move is indeed very ruthless. He completely disregarded the interests of the court and recruited Wang Jingwu, Xue Chong, Li Xi and others. This meant to destroy Ziqing Town. We got it, and he had to do it. When Wang Jingwu had no one to support him, even a general dared to fight against Song Jieshuai, and even rebelled. Now that the rebellion has been going on for so long, his heart is getting bigger and bigger, and with Tian Lingzi backing him, he is in his hands. With tens of thousands of soldiers and horses in his hands, how can he honestly obey the command of Jieshuai in the future? I am afraid that there will be another rebellion in Ziqing Town in a short time. Regardless, Ziqing Town is in chaos. No matter how we deal with Wang Jingwu, We are the ones who suffer in the end, and what Tian Lingzi loses is nothing more than a dispensable pawn."

Guo Chengan also nodded, "Wang Jingwu has more than 2 soldiers and horses, and the governors of the four prefectures of Ziqing have all fallen into their hands. We can fight now, but we can't fight. Once we fight, we will follow Tian Lingjiang's move. He We must wait for us to fight with Wang Jingwu and the others. Once we fight, no matter what, it will be very bad for us. But if we don’t get rid of them, this Ziqing Town can’t really master it. If you can’t master it, you can’t develop it, and you can do anything It's useless."

Li Jing couldn't help frowning all the time. When he heard that the emperor asked him to be the empress of Ziqing, Li Jing really felt excited.Although the town [***] is not weak, its territory is too small, a small Dengzhou, and it is still close to the sea.If Ziqing Town can be obtained, it is the land of four states, and what is more important is the geographical location of Ziqing Town.Occupying Qi, Zi, and Qing in Ziqing Town is tantamount to occupying the gate of Dengzhou, or even occupying the top of the entire Shandong, with the momentum of building a high house.Whether it is crossing the Yellow River north to the North China Plain, or going south to the Huanghuai Plain, or even going west to control the canal, this is the foundation of the struggle for hegemony.

But now, he knew that it was too early for him to be happy.Tian Lingzi would not let him go so smoothly. For a moment, he even wanted to send troops directly to kill Wang Jingwu and the others, and then directly occupy Ziqing Town, and even take all the empty Tianping Town and Taining Town together.

But Li Jing immediately woke up. With the ability of the town [***], it is not difficult to take down Ziqing, Taining, and Tianjun.But so what, the town [***] is not as strong as it appears on the surface, and the number of town [***] is too small.

At the beginning, he was able to take Zhucheng with a lightning strike, but he couldn't hold it, and couldn't support a long-term battle.Especially right now, the orders of the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty can still mobilize the world.

The defeat of Li Keyong's father and son is a lesson from the past. Whoever dares to attack each other at this time, whoever doesn't pay attention to the emperor, is the one who stands out, and will be besieged by the crowd, and in the end there will be no one left.

Just like the Three Kingdoms, before the Yellow Turban corrupted the world, the prestige of the imperial court was still there, and no one dared to mess around.But when the emperor completely lost his majesty and could not control the place, then it was the time for the princes to fight.

Li Jing can't be this early bird. If Zhen [***] wants to develop as quickly as possible, he can't become the target of public criticism.Not only can it not be the target of public criticism, but it must also have the strong support of the emperor.

But after finally getting this opportunity to take over Ziqing Town, how could Li Jing just let it go?

His eyes inadvertently glanced at Gai Yu, who was at the bottom. His position was very low, he was just a staff officer, and he was also a general.On such an important occasion, he wanted to speak, but hesitated.

"Consultant Gai, please speak directly." Li Jing admired Gai Yu's ingenuity, and Gai Yu's many plans were often out of ordinary viewpoints.

Gai Yu was called by Li Jing, and stood up excitedly at the end of dozens of civil and military members in the hall.First he bowed his hands and bowed to everyone in the hall, then he coughed and said: "Back to Commander, I have something to say about my humble position, but I don't know if it's appropriate."

"Just say it."

"In my humble opinion, the current situation is a hole dug by Tian Lingzi."

"Oh, how do you say that?" Li Jing nodded.

Encouraged by Li Jing, Gai Yu finally said loudly: "Tian Lingzi's strategy is actually very simple, he just wants to force us to deal with Wang Jingwu, and then he uses this as an excuse to attack us. In the end, he must want to make the commander give up Ziqing. bit."

"We all know this, you just say your way." Wang Zhong said with some dissatisfaction, he didn't have a good attitude towards this demoted official.

"It's better to retreat!" Gai Yu looked up at Li Jing with a firm expression, "Since this is a hole dug by Tian Lingzi, we can't jump forward, but we can't just hand over Ziqing Town to Li Jing." They. Therefore, for the time being, let's take a step back. However, we can't retreat in vain. Commander, simply move all the young and strong from the four states of Ziqing Town to Liaodong. Directly come to a plan to draw wages from the bottom of the pot."

Drain from the bottom of the pot!Li Jing couldn't help but be moved.Gai Yu is ruthless enough to come up with such a plan.The most important thing to rule is population. Although in many cases, population represents a burden, but also without population, there is nothing. This is the most important basis.

Ziqing Town has always been rich, so the population is even higher than before the Anshi Rebellion, because there are sea trade ports along the coast of Ziqing, and Ziqing Town is also the second of the Yellow River and Jishui, the Tang Dynasty.There have been famines in the past two years, and Ziqing Town is much better than other places in the Central Plains.For example, the population of Dengzhou has even doubled several times, which is a bit deformed and prosperous.However, the population of Ziqi has decreased a lot this year, mainly due to the chaos of Wang Jingwu.

"Move all the young and strong to Dengzhou and Liaodong. In this way, the four prefectures of Ziqing will lose their population, and they will lose everything. Without farmers to cultivate land, Ziqing will have no food and no taxes. So what do Wang Jingwu and others get? Raise the army?"

Li Jing chuckled, Gai Yu's idea is very poisonous, but he really likes it.Without the population, not to mention food taxes, even the soldiers who fought can't make up for it.Take a step back first, but take people away and leave those old and weak to Wang Jingwu and the others, how can they persevere?Don't think about it, in a year or two, Ziqing Town will inevitably be in chaos. At that time, after a year or two of development, Li Jing must have become stronger.

If they come back then, how will Wang Jingwu and the others stop them?What's more, maybe in another year or two, the situation will change again. It is estimated that at that time, no one will have time to manage the internal affairs of this feudal town on the coast of the East China Sea.

"Marshal, can we afford to move the young and strong from Ziqing Town to Dengzhou and Liaodong? Now we have more than 50 young and strong in our hands." Guo Chengan asked worriedly.

Li Jing smiled: "Then let's gather 80 people, take all we can take away, and go to Liaodong. This time, we will directly lay down a land with a million people in Liaodong!" (To be continued .)