Great Han Empire

Chapter 169

Li Hong ordered Weizheng to return to Nulu, and rushed to Handan with his troops day and night.

Li Hong did not return to Zhending, but rushed directly to Xindu in Anping Kingdom.Jizhou Governor's Mansion is now in Xindu.Originally the governor's office was located in Gaoyi City, but because of the war, Guo Dian moved the office to Xindu.Li Hong came to ask for soldiers.

The new governor of Jizhou has not yet arrived.The main officials of the governor's mansion were the county officers, the Zhizhong officers, the Biejia officers, the meritorious officers, the chief secretary, the secretary, the soldier, the literature, the Wumeng, and the gate pavilion chief.Li Hong is now a Xingping prisoner general, and he is a high-ranking official for the local states and counties.Among these people, Li Hong knew the trial match.The examiner's body had basically recovered, so he pulled Li Hong and introduced his colleagues to him one by one.

Li Hong was so concerned about raising fifty thousand troops that he had no intention of going to the city to eat and rest.After exchanging pleasantries with the officials, he went straight to the point.He wants to recruit the Jizhou army that has already stationed in Zhending City.

The judge asked in amazement: "Has Zhending City been defeated?"

Li Hong said with a smile: "If it is defeated, other counties in Changshan Kingdom will recover soon."

After hearing the news, the people in Jizhou Mansion were very excited, and they all clapped their hands to congratulate each other.

Li Hong waited for them to calm down, and then said: "You already know that the imperial court recruited [-] troops from Jizhou to march westward to Liangzhou. It is very difficult to complete this matter now, so I ask for your full support no matter what. If we don't go west as planned, everyone will be involved."

Zhizhong was engaged in Liang Yi, but he raised objections. He said loudly, "After all the Jizhou troops have been recruited and moved westward, there will be no troops in Jizhou. If the Yellow Turban Army comes down from the Taihang Mountains, how will all parts of Jizhou be defended?"

Li Hong replied: "Now the Yellow Turban Army has been dispersed, and their strength has been greatly damaged. They have no ability to invade all parts of Jizhou in the short term. After the spring plowing begins in April, the refugees scattered all over the country will basically be resettled. By then, the Yellow Turban Army may It is even more difficult to survive. After we marched westward, you immediately started recruiting troops in various parts of Jizhou, which is the only way to solve the shortage of soldiers in Jizhou at present."

Don't worry, Wu Liang said worriedly: "Changshan has just been pacified, and the government and army have not yet gained a foothold. Your Excellency is in a hurry to transfer the troops away. Is it too hasty?"

Li Hong said: "I think that Qingzhou Pingyuan County soldier Cao Shushi and Liu Bei's troops are very effective. You can keep him for a while until Changshan is stabilized, and then let him go back to Pingyuan County."

The judge immediately said: "If your lord insists on recruiting all the troops again and again, and your lord is a fake, we can't object, but you don't want to recruit the captains of Julu County and Bohai County. They lead troops all the year round and fight wars. They have rich experience in training and training soldiers, and it is also a guarantee for Jizhou to keep them to train recruits and garrison the city."

Li Hong only wanted to get all the troops in Jizhou, and it didn't matter whether the senior officers gave him or not.Li Hong immediately agreed.Then he mentioned the military pay and food that the troops urgently needed.

The Jizhou officials cried out almost in unison, making Li Hong's head so loud.Money and food are too scarce.

Li Hong couldn't tell them, so he became anxious and shouted: "Are you going to give it or not? If you do, I'll go back to Handan and wait; if you don't, I'll immediately write to the emperor to tell you to go."

These people were not afraid of Li Hong's threat, they quarreled even more, all of them blushed, wishing they could eat Li Hong.

Yuan Hong, who was in charge of the department, hurried out to smooth things over.

He said to Li Hong with a pleasant face: "Li Zhonglang is not ignorant of the current situation in Jizhou, it is difficult. Temporarily providing the military supplies of [-] wind and cloud cavalry for the adults is still barely enough, but it will not work if there are more. Li Zhonglang recruited a large number of people in Handan The yellow turban captives joined the army, which caused a huge increase in the army's expenses, and we really couldn't afford it."

With a bitter face, Li Hong said helplessly: "I don't want to increase troops, where can I find 5 people to go to Xiliang? Also, we have 5000 troops in Fengyun Iron Cavalry, how did you just pay us 1 horses?" military pay?"

Yuan Hong immediately replied: "Didn't your lord's troops lose a lot in the battle of Yingtao? We have already paid the compensation for the soldiers who died in battle. What does your lord mean by saying that?"

Li Hong said solemnly: "According to the military law of the Han Dynasty, the cavalry's military salary in wartime is three times the normal military salary, but you have never paid us the military salary of the escort. Now I only ask you to increase it a little, and you still have to pay a lot." Nonsense, are you bullying us people in northern Xinjiang without counting? I already understand your difficulties, but you can’t bully people too much. If you don’t want to, I will write a letter to sue you for maliciously deducting military pay.”

A group of people stood in the cold wind, quarreling and making a scene, completely forgetting that they were important military and political officials in Jizhou.Standing in the middle of the crowd, Li Hong kept waving his hands, his face was red and his neck was thick, and he quarreled with more than a dozen officials from the Governor's Mansion. He didn't have the demeanor of a general.

Bo Wangtai, the head of Jizhou Prefecture, spoke slowly and gracefully. He said to Li Hong: "Li Zhonglang, we have explained to you the current financial situation of Jizhou many times, but you have repeatedly asked for an increase in military pay, as if you don't believe us. "

"Of course I believe it." Li Hong said: "Since Master Muguo died heroically in Jizhou, Jizhou has been supported by you. Your lords have really worked hard. No matter how difficult and poor Jizhou is, it is the granary of my Han Dynasty. It’s the money bank of the Han Dynasty. If you don’t solve it, who will I ask for it? If I gather [-] troops in Handan next month, and you don’t give me military pay, don’t give me food and grass, what do you ask me to do? Disband the troops No?"

"Why didn't the court pay for such a big action?" Yuan Hong said angrily, "Even if you put a knife on my neck, I can't pay you."

Li Hong said angrily: "There are so many powerful families in Jizhou, can't you come to borrow some? Tell them something nice and ask them to donate a little? The combined property of the rich and powerful in Jizhou is probably more than the imperial treasury, right?"

Wu Liang said on the side: "What's the reason? There must always be a reason for borrowing money. We have already asked to borrow money many times."

Li Hong said loudly: "Let them open their eyes wide and see if there are any rich people in Zhao, Zhongshan, and Changshan? The country is in war, what good will it do them? If the world is in chaos, they will even risk their own lives." Can’t keep it, let alone property?”

Liang Yi, who worked in Zhizhong, sighed, "It's borrowing money again. If we continue to borrow money, we won't be able to pay it back. Let's discuss it and see how much we can raise according to Li Zhonglang's suggestion."

The officials of Jizhou Prefecture discussed together for a long time, and finally reluctantly agreed to Li Hong's request. Before April, Jizhou was responsible for providing the money and food for the Western Expeditionary Force.

Li Hong was overjoyed and bowed to thank him again and again.Then he immediately bid farewell to the officials of the Governor's Mansion, and he was anxious to return to Handan.

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The trial match offered to give him a ride.

On the way, the judge told Li Hong a lot about the Xiliang battlefield.

"Chariot General Zhang Wen is knowledgeable, honest, gentle, and has many old students. When you arrive in Xiliang, you must establish a good relationship with this person. This will definitely be of great help to your future." Slowly said: "He has a student named Tao Qian, who is now a Sima in the General's Mansion. This person used to be the governor of Youzhou and served as Yilang. The situation in Liang is very clear, so when you arrive in Xiliang, you must not offend him, and make friends with him."

Li Hong nodded and said gratefully: "Thank you, Brother Zhengnan, for your reminder."

The judge continued: "This person is over 50 years old. Although he is a clean and honest official and quite talented, he is unrestrained and arrogant. He has always been unhappy in his official career. It’s over, I’m afraid you will be dissatisfied, and your words will inevitably be harsh. You must restrain yourself and your subordinates, be patient, and don’t act like you did with me, holding a sword.”

Li Hong smiled at him embarrassingly, and said, "I know that I have a bad temper, and I will change it. Brother Zhengnan, is there anything else you want to ask?"

The examiner pondered for a moment and said: "Then there is Dong Zhuo, the Polu general. He was defeated by Zhang Jiao on the Guangzong battlefield the year before last, not because he couldn't fight, but because he led Zhonglang General Lu Zhi's men. Fighting, that's why you lose again and again. Your lord should understand the reason, right?"

Li Hong nodded and said: "Master Lu was convicted for no reason, of course his subordinates will not accept it, the troops have no morale, whoever leads the army will be defeated and flee."

The examiner nodded and said: "This is only one of the reasons. Another reason is that Lu Zhi's subordinates did not listen to him at all. He rushed to the Guangzong battlefield alone, without his familiar subordinates and soldiers, and no one to support him. This is the main reason for his failure. He is a native of Longxi, Liangzhou, with a bold and cruel temperament, and outstanding judgment. When he was young, he had a close relationship with the heroes of Qiang. Famous. Later he was conscripted as Liangzhou governor's mansion Cao Shushi, stationed in the frontier. Zhang Huan was appointed as army commander from Zhonglang during the first emperor's time, and fought against Qianghu. Later, he was promoted to Langzhong because of his military achievements. Then he has been stationed in the frontier, He has repeatedly fought against the Qianghu and Xianbei people, and made great achievements in battle. After many years of accumulating military achievements, he was promoted to the captain of Wuji in the Western Regions. Over the past ten years, he has also learned to deal with the powerful in Luoyang, so his official career is prosperous. The prefect, General Dongzhong Lang, until now General Polu."

The judge took a look at Li Hong, and said slowly: "Does Li Zhonglang know why I say this?"

Li Hong smiled and said: "Brother Zhengnan wants to remind me that after arriving in Xiliang, I must humbly ask him for advice on Xiliang's military affairs, and don't offend him."

The judge shook his head and said solemnly: "With your qualifications and military achievements, you can't compare with him at all, but you are a general at the age of 20, what about him? He is a general at the age of 50. So he will be very Jealous of you, he might kill you on the Xiliang battlefield."

Li Hong's expression changed drastically, and he asked in surprise, "Why did he kill me? Because I became a general of Zhonglang at the age of 20?"

The judge looked at him seriously, and said slowly: "I don't know him well, I just analyze this matter from the perspective of a normal person. I think you two are similar in many places, you are both from the frontier , are bloodthirsty and bloodthirsty, both brave and good at fighting, but you are young, lucky, kind and honest, and even a little immature. So if he likes you, you may be friends, but if he wants to kill you, you are not his opponent at all This is why I remind you. On the battlefield, in order to compete for military merit, generals often intrigue, insidious, and dare to use any means. There are too many such things and lessons in history. you know?"

Li Hong really didn't know.He nodded again and again in fear, and was very grateful for the reminder given to him by the judge.Li Hong didn't expect that after he went to the Xiliang battlefield, he would not only fight the enemy, but also guard against the swords of his friends.All along, he was surrounded by friends who helped him. He had never experienced such a thing, so Li Hong didn't even think about it.

The judge continued: "Maybe I'm worrying too much, but there are too many stories about Dong Zhuo, and his bloodshed and cruelty are really shocking, so you have to be careful. After you arrive in Xiliang, you must pay attention to your own safety."

Li Hong dismounted and bowed deeply to the judge.He was really grateful to him, only a true friend would care so much about himself.The two waved goodbye.

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(End of this chapter)