Late Tang

In the bleak late autumn, take a comfortable hot soup bath, get rid of all the travel and dust, put on a dress and silk armor, shaved his face, and trimmed his beard. Zeng Yuanyu is actually a refined man in his early forties, full of mature charm.

Facing a three-foot-long, one-two-wide red sandalwood framed glass mirror inlaid with precious stones, which was carefully carried by two maids, he looked at himself in the mirror. His face was darker, his face was a little thinner, but he was in good spirits.

Looking at himself in the mirror, Zeng Yuanyu was slightly absent-minded.

Back then, he was also the son of a family who was a flying eagle, and there were many girls who were jealous of him in the court of romance.Horseback riding and archery, flying eagles and running dogs, hunting and shooting, cockfighting and betting on geese, Go calligraphy and painting, are also proficient in everything.How chic I was at that time, and in a blink of an eye, I was already middle-aged.Although he has a good family background, he can only end up as a noble but powerless Zuo Sanqi regular attendant. Apart from wearing armor and playing ball and goose fights with the young emperor every day, it seems that there is nothing else.

At the beginning, he also talked about wars on paper and pointed out the country, but in the end, he could only be the emperor's cavalry.

This time Tian Lingzi kicked him out of Beijing, but he was actually very happy in his heart, and even ignited the fighting spirit that had been extinguished for many years.Finally, with five thousand elite soldiers in hand, he wanted to wipe out the grass thieves and make contributions.

But he walked from Chang'an to Songzhou for several months. The 5000 men and horses ran out of food for several times and had to borrow food from the local government. When they arrived in Songzhou, the day lily was cold. There are more than ten thousand thieves.Even the eunuchs Ximen Sigong and Yang Fugong led the soldiers from the six towns to smash the 16 army of Huangchao, and killed all the bandits.Even Song Wei, who had always been considered as Lian Po's old man, was still silent, and he was astonishing, completely defeating the grass thief and Wang Ni in one battle.

I was the only one who came all the way, but the war ended without even seeing a grass thief.

The fire of passion in my heart was extinguished again. I thought I could only go back to Chang'an and serve as the emperor's cavalry. Who would have expected that Tian Lingzi would let him continue to Ziqing, and sent a secret envoy to let him obey the defeated general Li Jin. department orders.

Zeng Yuanyu and Li Xi can be regarded as old acquaintances. In Chang'an City, Zeng Yuanyu, Zhang Zimian, the three brothers Li Xi, Gao Pian, Zhou Bao, Song Wei, etc. were all old acquaintances.However, Song Wei, Gao Pian and others are more than ten years older than them, but he is about the same age as Zhang Zimian, Li Xi, Li Zhuo, Li Jun and others, and they are very good friends.At that time, he was young and frivolous, talking on paper and pointing out the country. He and Li Xi were the two strongest, and they often fought for days and nights to no avail.

The three brothers of the Li family had long served as commanders-in-chief of each town, but they were only the emperor's cavalry.

In a blink of an eye, Li Jun died in battle in Daibei, Li Xi was in Yanzhou, Li Zhuo was now Heyang Jiedu envoy, and he was given the title of envoy, but he wanted to give command to Li Xi, a guy who couldn't even beat grass thieves.

Two maids came forward to comb his hair gently, and Zeng Yuanyu suddenly recovered from his reverie.

He looked at the glass mirror again, it was indeed much more precious than the bronze mirror.I heard that not long ago, countless big households and giant merchants gathered in Dengzhou to participate in an auction held by Li Jing. As a result, a mirror that was taller than this one sold for millions of dollars.This glass mirror is naturally expensive.Not to mention millions, there are at least 20 and [-].

Zeng Yuanyu is not short of money, and the Zeng family is also a rich family.But besides this mirror, Li Jing also sent several sets of glass products, each of which was expensive.

He knew what Li Jing meant, Li Jing wanted this forbidden army.Although Li Jing has the reputation of being invincible, Li Jing's army has expanded extremely fast. In two years, it has expanded from a united army in one city to the current town of [-] [***].Although this town [***] has not yet repaid its defeat, it all depends on Li Jing's strategic command.Zhen[***] needs more experienced veterans, especially the Custodians like his.

Not only did Li Jing give him glassware worth hundreds of thousands, but the five thousand soldiers and horses under his command also received a reward of five thousand dollars each, and each of them also received two sets of brand new military uniforms.Red crotchless gown, back, swivel jacket, white singlet, underwear, and shoes and socks.In addition to cloth boots, ordinary soldiers also get a pair of short leather boots each, and officers even have a pair of long military boots.

Wuqian, who had suffered a lot along the way, bathed in hot water at the foot of Dengzhou city, put on brand new military robes, filled their pockets with rewards from Li Jing, and gorged on the wine and meat sent by the town [***].

The entire barracks was talking about Marshal Li's generosity everywhere, and everyone was lamenting that the clouds finally opened to see the bright moon. Although they left the bustling Chang'an, it was a good thing to be able to vote for such a generous Marshal.

Zeng Yuanyu knew that Li Jing bought the morale of five thousand soldiers with only one simple move.

Although Zeng Yuanyu couldn't help scolding local tyrants in his heart, he still had a good impression of Li Jing in his heart.Li Jing is a really capable person, capable people always look down on the incompetent, Zeng Yuanyu always looked down on Li Xi, even though he was able to compete with him in every debate in the past, and even often gained the upper hand.But Li Xi could only talk about war on paper. Although Li Jun and Li Zhuo couldn't talk about them at the beginning, they fought unambiguously.Although Li Jun died, it was because the Li Keyong he met was also a very powerful general.

He admires Li Jing's ability as a hero, and Li Jing is also a person who doesn't like eunuchs. He knows that Li Jing and Tian Lingzi have been at loggerheads, which makes him even more fond of him.

Since they can't go back, maybe it's a good choice to work with Li Jing, at least, this is a generous commander.These years, countless feudal towns mutinied, and two or three feudal towns mutinied every year. What was the reason for? Wasn't it just a fight for food and rewards?

It is a fact recognized by the whole world that the food rewards of the town [***] are almost higher than those of the Imperial Army.At the same time, Li Jing's high food and wages were not obtained by squeezing the people.On the contrary, he has heard countless rumors that Dengzhou and Liaodong have almost become the paradise that he has longed for countless times from the mouths of many people on the way from Songzhou to Qingzhou.

Li Jing brought a lot of wine and meat to comfort the imperial army who came from afar, and the camp was full of laughter.

In the big tent, the generals of the Five Thousand Shence Army and the three thousand Qingqi officers brought by Li Jing gathered together, laughing and feasting.Most of these Forbidden Army officers are repelled in the Forbidden Army, depressed people.Except for a few senior generals such as Zeng Yuanyu who came from aristocratic families, most of the others came from families of low-level and middle-level officers in the Forbidden Army.Since leaving Chang'an, they have been used to seeing all kinds of cruelty in the world. Now when they arrived in Qingzhou, they were immediately treated so favorably by Li Jing, and everyone felt flattered.

Li Jing looked at the clean and tidy Zeng Yuanyu, who was full of elegance, stood up and toasted, and said with a big smile, "I heard that General Zeng was extremely talented when he was a young man. He knows everything about military tactics. He has learned the art of war since childhood No one is invincible in discussing battles and strategies. I heard that there was a debate with the famous general [***] when I was young, and it was not difficult for General Zeng. Now that General Zeng is here, I believe that it is time for him to show his strengths."

Zeng Yuanyu smiled faintly: "The commander-in-chief has won the award. He was only young and frivolous at that time, and he was just talking about war on paper. He didn't know the real art of war. Li Shi was still above me when he talked about war, but now he is vulnerable to grassroots. But just like Li Xi, just another Zhao Kuo."

After saying these words, the expressions of all the generals present changed.Although Li Xi was the general of the defeated army, he was also transferred by the imperial court to be the marching commander of the Pinglu Army. Zeng Yuanyu belonged to the Pinglu Army, and this was his boss.What's more, Tian Lingzi asked Zeng Yuanyu's troops to listen to the Li family's orders. This is not a very confidential matter, and almost all the generals of the Imperial Army present know about it.And Li Jing is equally clear.

What does it mean for him to say these words in front of Li Jing at this time?Li Jing knew that Zeng Yuanyu was not the kind of villain who spoke ill of others, so the meaning of these words was obvious. He was showing his attitude to Li Jing and chose to stand in line.

Li Jing smiled and nodded to Zeng Yuanyu, accepting the standing.

"This Commander was ordered by the Son of Heaven to recover the old land of Andong, Liaodong and Liaoxi. Although he recovered Southern Liaoning some time ago, he had to recover only a corner. Before that, he was busy rebelling on behalf of Beiping and suppressing chaos in Henan. The Goguryeo people are gathering soldiers and horses to fight against the Khitan people, and the battle will be decided soon. The land of Liaodong was originally the territory of the Tang Dynasty, but now the two Hu tribes are fighting on our territory. Nothing. This commander has already decided that he will march to Liaodong soon. Now that the expedition to the East has been formed, this commander plans to ask General Zeng to serve as the left vanguard envoy of the battalion, and lead the [-] soldiers from the headquarters as the left forward. I wonder what General Zeng's plan is? "

Zeng Yuanyu was stunned for a moment, he didn't expect that Li Jing immediately decided to appoint him as the pioneer officer as soon as he declared that he would choose Li Jing's side.

He never thought that Li Jing planned to let him play the vanguard, so that he would have any idea of ​​killing people with a knife.Vanguard, this is the elite of the conquest army.As the vanguard generals, they are often served by brave generals, and the vanguard troops are also served by the most elite soldiers and horses.

They were just newcomers, and he had never led troops to fight before, yet Li Jing trusted him so much and let him be the vanguard.Although there should be a right vanguard, Tang Guan respects the left, and his left vanguard can be higher than the right vanguard.

In an instant, Zeng Yuanyu's heart was agitated, and finally he had the opportunity to lead troops to fight.And it's not that suppressing thieves is not suppressing rebellion, but fighting with the Hu people to regain the lost territory.

"Why, General Zeng is unwilling?" Li Jing asked with a slight smile.

"No." Zeng Yuanyu came back to his senses, clenched his fists and immediately made a decision, jumped up, walked to Li Jing's case in the tent, knelt down on one knee, cupped his fists, and shouted loudly: "The last general Take orders!"

"Okay!" Li Jing happily stepped forward to help Zeng Yuanyu up, "Your army will form an army of five thousand soldiers and horses, and now I am specially conferring on the Shenjie Army!"

After finally successfully taking the five thousand forbidden soldiers and Zeng Yuanyu into account, Li Jing was in a good mood and drank three cups in a row! (To be continued.)