Late Tang

(Thanks for the reward from Yeduzui, thank you!)

Hezhong Township, Hezhong Mansion, in the Tent of the Commander-in-Chief of the Hedong Allied Army, the Marshal of the Hedong Allied Army of the Tang Dynasty, the Jiedu Envoy of Hedong, and the Governor of Taiyuan, stayed behind in the northern capital. Zheng Congyu, the king of Xingyang County, was dressed in light fur and black on his head. Sitting in front of a chess table is Li Keer, a black crow with a cross-legged head and one-eyed, scarred face. Opposite them are Zhenwu Jiedu Envoy Helian Duo, He Zhong Jiedu Envoy, and the newly appointed Second Marshal of the King of Han Wang Chongrong. Sipping ice-cold green cider, while playing "four [***] chess." From time to time, guards would bring in roasted venison from outside the tent, put it aside respectfully, and then quietly retreated out .

These four [***] chess originated from Qin Fan, and it is said that it was also made by Li Jing, just like mahjong, checkers, backgammon and other small games.Simple, yet fun.Especially the military chess among them, because it is full of war elements, it is especially loved by soldiers.Now it has become popular throughout the Tang Dynasty, and it is said that even the emperor Li Xuan often played military chess with the imperial guards and generals in the palace, which made the generals of all towns and towns all over the world follow the popularity of this game.

If we say Go is the earliest and most elegant game, then Xiangqi is the most common.Literati must know how to play Go, but there are many Go games on the streets of teahouses, but now in the army, most people play military chess.When the army is free, in the military tents, the sergeants have nothing to do, so they play military chess there.Two-player army chess, four-player army chess, bright chess, dark chess, all kinds of ways.The rest gathered around to watch the battle, and even gambled a little money and things, which became a common practice, and the superiors didn't care too much.

At this time, the four generals of the Hedong coalition army are playing together, which is the four [***] chess in military chess. There are four main ways to play military chess today, two-man army chess, two-person Ming chess, and four[***] Chess, Four Kingdoms Double Ming Chess.At this time, what Zheng Congxuan and the others played was four[***] chess.

The four people occupy four corners on the chessboard and are divided into two parties. The opposing two alliances fight against the other two and cooperate with each other to fight;

The chess pieces of the four are all standing up, Zheng Congxuan and He Lianduo allied to fight against Li Keyong and Wang Chongrong.The Four Kingdoms Dark Chess still needs referees. At this time, the eunuchs who supervise the army of the four towns will stand on the side to be the referees and make decisions for them.

This kind of dark chess is to face the direction of oneself, with the mountain boundary as the boundary, and set up the formation in the grid other than the camp.The walking route includes the horse route and the track line. The prominent and thinner one is the horse route. Any chess piece can only walk one step on the horse route. The thicker and darker one is the track line and cannot stop at the front line.When there is no obstacle on the track, the engineer can walk arbitrarily on the track line, and other chess pieces can only go straight or pass through the arc line on the track line, and cannot turn at right angles.

The landing points of the chess pieces include the node, the camp, and the commander's mansion. The camp is a safe island. After entering, the enemy chess pieces cannot eat the chess pieces in the camp. The military flag must be placed in the commander's mansion, and the chess pieces entering any commander's mansion cannot be moved.Engineers have the ability to dig mines, and they can place and set chess pieces at the beginning of the game. Engineers also have the ability to scout. When engineers encounter enemy chess pieces, the enemy's chess pieces will be seen by all players, but the engineers will also disappear.Bombs cannot be placed in the first row, mines can only be placed in the last two rows, and military flags can only be placed in the commander's mansion.

The rule is Marshal-General Governor-Military Leader-Chamber Master-Battle Master-Captain-Team Leader-Group Leader-Engineer, the big one eats the young one, if the big ones are the same size, they will disappear together.If the marshal disappears, the military flag must be displayed.When the bomb meets any pawn, both sides will die together, the mine cannot be moved, and the sapper can eat it.The bombs hit the landmines and died together, and the rest of the bombs hit the landmines and died by themselves.If the military flag is pulled out by the opponent and there is no move to go, it will be judged as a loss, and engineers can take bends on the track.

Compared with Go, this army chess is easier to start, and it is more lively than Xiangqi, and because small soldiers can also command generals such as marshals, governors, and generals on the chessboard, ordinary soldiers like this feeling of commanding thousands of troops.

Zheng Congxue was originally a master of Go, but he also had some research on this ordnance. Compared with Li Keyong and Helian Duo who didn't know Go and only played chess, he obviously had an advantage.However, Li Keyong is a little bit fond of military chess, so he felt a bit like meeting his opponent at first.

However, today he is playing four [***] chess, and his partner in the alliance is the landlord of this place, Hezhong Township Commander Wang Chongrong.Wang Chongrong was unlucky today, he ate the marshal at the beginning of the game, and then Zheng Congzhen blew up the marshal, and directly lit up the army chess.

Next, Wang Chongrong became the target of Zheng Congxuan and Helianduo's siege, and lost the governor and military leader one after another, leaving only one military leader to support him. It can be said that he was almost disabled.Although Li Keyong was determined to save the situation, it can be seen that his righteous brother Wang Chongrong was losing his mind one after another, and at the same time he was a little distracted. Seeing that not long after, Zheng Congxuan's engineers flew straight along the track and pulled down the military flag of Wang Chongrong's commander-in-chief.At this time, Zheng Congxuan and Helianduo's marshals and military commanders were both preserved, and the eldest son was almost lost. Li Ke used one person to fight the two alone, obviously there was no chance of winning.

Accidentally, Li Ke's marshal was knocked off by Helian Duo, and the governor was eaten by Zheng Congxuan's marshal.

Seeing that the defeat had been decided and he was powerless, Li Keyong let out a long sigh, pushed the pawn in front of him, and surrendered.

Seeing Li Keyong admitting defeat, He Lianduo took a sip of the cold and sour cider with a smile, and took a sip of the slightly cool roasted venison in his spare time, and said with a smile: "Jin Wang is a little lucky today. In this round, King Jin and King Han have already lost three games in a row to the county king and me, and we accepted, accepted. King Jin sent someone to fetch that precious white tiger skin in a short while. King Han lost The one hundred carts of salt that I had agreed to take out were used as military funds.”

"Gu never pays for gambling, and someone will send it to Dingxiang County King in a while." Li Keyong shook his head, picked up a cup of wine, drank it, and said, "Gu will bring up the old story again today. , Li Siyuan, the rebellious son of the Gu, rebelled, and Gu Zheng wanted to lead the troops back to the town to quell the chaos. He also asked for permission from Marshal Zheng. If Marshal Zheng, Marshal Helian and Marshal Wang support him, I will be very grateful, and I am willing to present three war horses to each of them. Thousands, and another [-] horses as a gift to the other commanders of the coalition army."

Fifteen thousand war horses, this is by no means a small number.

Even if the land east of the river is also a horse-producing area, war horses are still precious strategic materials. If a war horse is brought to the Central Plains or Shannan and Huainan, it can sell at least a hundred guan, which is still the previous price.If it is exchanged for grain, at the current high price of one stone worth at least ten thousand yuan, it can also be exchanged for twenty stones of grain.A family of [-] war horses is at least equivalent to more than [-] shi of food.

Even if Li Keyong occupies the land of Daibei now, he has gone through several battles successively, and after losing the battle, Li Keyong now has [-] war horses, and it is estimated that he will give up half of his family property .Li Ke was willing to spend such a large amount of money, and only wanted to lead his army back to Daibei, which shows how urgently he needs to go back.

Fifteen thousand war horses, whether it is Hedong Town, Hezhong Town, or Zhenwu Town, they can also get it, but it is definitely about half of the war horses in this town.Especially in today's situation of chaotic battles in feudal towns, the cavalry are all the soldiers of the towns, and they are usually armed cavalry who save money on food and money. Who would give up their horses and give them away?

The Shatuo people even ruled the roost with their cavalry. Back then, they fought all over the world for the Tang Dynasty, relying on the Shatuo cavalry. Now Li Keyong wants to give away the cavalry. It can only be said that Li Keyong is really anxious.

Under normal circumstances, it would be absolutely impossible for Li Keyong to have such a generous gift of giving away [-] horses.But right now, he can only be reluctant that the child can't catch the wolf.In fact, ever since Li Keyong returned, killed Li Sizhao, and regained the military power of the fifty thousand Shatuo who went south, he has been thinking about returning north.

However, Zheng Congxuan, the marshal of the coalition forces, would not let him easily.

When the generals in Hezhong went south to King Qin the last time, Zheng Congxuan entrusted Li Keyong with the heavy responsibility of crusade against Hebei feudal towns. He led the army to the south to rescue Luoyang. The Dai, Xinzhou, and Wei prefectures were seized in one fell swoop. Among them, the Dai and Xin prefectures were snatched from the territory of Hedong Town.

When Li Keyong fell for the first time, Zheng Congxuan would never fall into the same pit for the second time.

When Li Keyong got the news of his death and Li Jing came forward, Zheng Congxuan did not take the opportunity to counterattack these untrustworthy people in Shatuo because of national affairs.Unexpectedly, Li Keyong suddenly came back to life, killed Li Sizhao, forced Li Siyuan to rebel, and even attracted 20 Hu people to go south.

If Wang Chongrong, Yang Fuguang, etc. hadn't spoken good words for Li Siyuan, and the emperor had issued a secret edict to him, telling him not to pursue Li Keyong's past, Zheng Congxuan and Helian Duo, Shatuo's old enemies, would have released their horses to besiege Li Keyong long ago.Now, Zheng Congxuan barely maintained his peace with Li Keyong, but that was only on the premise that Li Keyong was willing to continue to lead the Shatuo army to the south to serve the king and recover Luoyang.If Li Keyong wanted to go back north alone, Zheng Congzhen would definitely kill this rebellious Shatuo white-eyed wolf as soon as possible.

What's more, Zheng Congxuan also received several secret letters from Li Jing. In the letter, Li Jing asked Zheng Congxuan and the towns to drag Li Keyong and his Shatuo Corps to the south, and he would personally lead the troops into the army. The north confronted the Hu people who invaded the south, wiped out these Hu ugly in one fell swoop, and at the same time recovered the land of Daibei occupied by the Shatuo people.In the letter, Li Jing also made an agreement with Zheng Congyu that if the Qin army regained Daibei, then Xindai and the two prefectures would be returned to the rule of Hedong Town.

Because of this, Zheng Congyu, who had been dissatisfied with Li Keyong for a long time, actually wished to trap Li Keyong, use Li Jing's hand to break through Li Keyong's old lair, take the land of Daibei, and take back the two prefectures of Xindai.

Li Keyong has always wanted to return to Daibei, but although he has 5 troops, he is only a small part of the 20 Hedong coalition forces.If he returns north alone without permission, he will definitely be attacked by Zheng Congxuan and He Lianduo. Li Keyong is still fighting Li Jing on that side. The coalition forces went to war.It was just that Zheng Congxuan was unmoved by all kinds of promised benefits. Now that he heard that Li Jing would lead the levy to the north, he couldn't help but feel that something was wrong.

With 20 Hu people going south, together with the Shatuo soldiers from Yanmen, it may be enough to deal with the traitor Zhang Zimian and Li Siyuan, but if Li Jing also sends troops to replace the north, the chances of winning are very slim.

In any case, he had to return north, and for this, he did not hesitate to use all his chips.

What is a mere [-] war horses compared to his Daibei roots?

"Prince Jin was joking. I don't care about your Shatuo's housework, but right now the troops are on the front line, and the battle to recover Luoyang will soon be launched. At this time, King Jin is going back north. Could it be that you are joking?"

"Zheng Xiangguo forgive me, it is Li Siyuan who caused rebellion on behalf of the north, and now he has attracted Hu people to go south. Since Gu is guarding the border for the emperor, he has the responsibility of guarding the land."

"Li Siyuan attracted the barbarians to go south?" He Lianduo sneered casually, "This is really funny. What about the other saying that he is responsible for guarding the land? The king of this county remembers that the king of Jin seems to be bestowed the title of king of Jin by the emperor, But it is only the envoy of the Yanmen Festival. Yanmen Town governs Dai, Xin, Wei, Xin, Wu, Ru, and Gui, but it does not seem to govern the two states of Yunshuo? The two states of Yunshuo are the territory of Datong Town, and Datong Jiedu Envoy, I remember that it was Li Sizhao who was just murdered by you for no reason. Now Li Sizhao's elder brother is taking over as the Commander-in-Chief of Datong, and he is not in Yanmen Town!"

Li Keyong's face was reddened by Helian Duo's words, his one eye almost burst into flames, and the scar was even more protruding, showing a ferocious look.

"Li Siyuan is my Shatuo traitor general, and I must clean up the family alone."

"Family affairs can be done after the state affairs. After the eradication of the puppet Qi rebels in Henan, after the triumphant return, I have no right to ask how the king of Jin wants to clean up the house. But now, since the king of Jin is in the coalition army of King Qin of Hedong, If you want to leave without reason, you should know the consequences!" Zheng Congxiang had never had the slightest liking for Li Keyong, and his words at this time were threatening with a gun and a stick.This is not just a verbal threat, but something that can be said and done.

Restricted by the imperial court's interference, he could not take the initiative to deal with Li Keyong, but if Li Keyong bumped into his military law, then he would never be soft.

"If Zheng Xiangguo is willing to help, I am willing to send out another three thousand high-quality war horses as a gift!" Li Ke said through gritted teeth.

Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Zheng Congxuan: "King Jin, don't talk nonsense, don't you think someone is disregarding the affairs of the country for his own self-interest? Don't forget, King Jin, why did His Majesty pardon him?" Your continuous rebellion, if you hadn’t promised to be the vanguard of His Majesty, desperately sweeping away the puppet Qi, do you think this commander can tolerate you to this day?”

Zheng Congxuan shook his head as he spoke, "If it wasn't for His Majesty's kindness and willingness to give you another chance, this commander would have already beheaded you, so why leave you here. You don't need to say anything else, rest assured here, and prepare to cross the river to attack Thief, if you are loyal to the king's affairs, His Majesty will not treat you badly in the future. If you are half-hearted and have any mischievous intentions, you must be careful of the sharp sword above your head. Li Keyong, remember, from now on, this commander will always Staring at you!"

"Okay, now you can step down!" Zheng Congxuan mercilessly yelled at Li Keyong!

Li Keyong's face was cloudy and full of anger, but in the end he gritted his teeth, turned around and strode out of the tent. (To be continued.)