Warrior in Turbulent Han Dynasty

The chief general Guo Shao and the Hakka ambassador Zan Jurun led his army from Tokyo, marching for more than a thousand miles, and only reached the Qizhou boundary (now northeast of Shijiazhuang City) near October. Baidu: +

"Look! Hutuo River." Zhou Duanyao pointed to a quiet river in front of him. The river was very conspicuous on the deserted plain during autumn and winter.

Seeing Zhou Duan's expression a little agitated, Guo Shao was surprised, and hurriedly asked Hutuohe what allusions are there? Zhou Duan said: "There is no allusion, but this Hutuo River is one of the three major rivers in Hebei. The land of quiet clouds, once passing the north-south direction of Yanshan Mountain, there is a map of Pingchuan, which is safe to guard, but not always. These are the three barriers of Hebei. One is the Juma River, which is under the control of Liao State; the second is Hutuo River, which is the barrier that guards Hebei Middle Road; and the third is Zhangshui, the last line of defense in Hebei. The Central Plains has little danger to defend, (later) the Jin Dynasty loses Beizhou, and the country will die. In fact, it will lose water."

The strategic positions of these places are not visible, but are summed up in countless wars in history. Guo Shao reads few history books. The famous history books only record major events. The specific local language is not clear. If it weren't for Zhou Duan's explanation, he would not know what is important about the Hutuo River.

Zhou Duan can explain the situation in the north clearly. I am afraid that he has read a lot of books that ordinary people can't see. Even people from the family, even if they are poor, they seem to be able to borrow from relatives in the family, and they are better than ordinary people. A little bit more insight. Zuo You listened attentively. There was no words. He probably didn't understand these things, and his face was quite envied.

"It's no wonder that the Privy Council asked us to'patrol the border' and chose Qizhou." Guo Shao suddenly said, "I was a little puzzled before, why Qizhou seems to be not well-known and has never heard of it. The place, it turned out to be the Hutuo River! According to the husband, the northernmost Juma River is in the hands of the Liao people, and the Hutuo River has become the frontier of Hebei's defense line."

"Exactly, but there is a strong defense in front of the city, which is a forward stronghold." Zhou Duan said, "Dingzhou is not in Zhou Jun's hands."

Guo Shao listened to him so well that he respected him more in his words, calling him "Mr." instead of calling him by name as before.

At this time, Li Chuyun rode his horse and said: "There is no bridge on this river. You have to send someone to Qizhou to find a local governor and ask them to take things to build a floating bridge, so that the army can cross the river."

Guo Shao thought it was good, so he asked Zuo You to write a message with a seal and send it across the river to contact the local official.

He and Zhou Duanzheng started talking, and they were interrupted just now, so they brought up the topic again, wanting to hear more opinions from the civilian officials. He just said casually, "The foreign bandits rose up in the Northeast, and the Central Plains lost the clouds. Only by this barrier to defend, fortunately we are crowded..."

Unexpectedly, Zhou Duan didn't give Guo Shao face at all, with a scornful expression: "Many people?"

Upon seeing this, the companion next to him also watched with interest how Zhou Duan ended. Everyone seemed to be fed up along the way. This guy didn't rush over by himself (actually, he was caught in the beginning), but he was always the same. He looks very arrogant.

But Guo Shao was not angry about Zhou Duan. Instead, he looked humble and asked curiously: "Isn't it that the Han people are the most?"

Zhou Duan sneered: "If only the tribal ancestry is compared, there are probably the most Han people. However, the Han people in Shu, Tang, Northern Han and other places can be ruled by Tokyo? Even in places like Wuyue and Nanping, I don’t necessarily want to use them. Just use it. And there are many Han people in Youyun, Bohai Old Land and other places in the Liao Kingdom. Who are these people helping?

I’m not mistaken. Before the Battle of Huainan, there were only more than 900,000 households in the Zhou Dynasty. Even if some people weren’t documented in the archives, there were still not much to go... For decades, this is the only number in the world. At present, the Zhou Dynasty emperor Wen ruled martial arts, and his political affairs were clear, but the emperor and the officials could not change their lives. Instead, they spent years fighting and consuming the strong and the dynasties. "

Guo Shao did not refute, because he did not know the specific data and did not specifically inquire through courtiers. He is a military commander, and those things have little to do with him for the time being... And with his intuition that he took for granted, he never felt that the Han population was a problem. Modern society still has too much family planning. In ancient times, insufficient population was a big problem. .

Zhou Duan said again: "In the Liao Kingdom, there are not only the Khitan people, but also Xi, Bohai, Han, Data, Jurchen, Five Kingdoms, Daluguo... many tribes, most of the tribes have surrendered to the Liao Kingdom. To serve it. The number of Khitans alone may not be as much as the Hans; but if it is more than the Liao and Zhou dynasties, obviously there are more people in the Liao and not a little bit more. Just say that there should be several million in the old Bohai country. People (three northeastern provinces, coastal Russia, northern North Korea). Youyun Sixteen Prefectures are also densely populated places, with a territory comparable to the Hebei area controlled by the Zhou Dynasty; but how many Hebei is there in Dazhou?

Rumor has it that the standing army of the Liao nation can immediately mobilize 300,000 cavalry. If it is a long-term battle, it can use tribal soldiers and conscript troops. Can Zhou Dynasty have a million troops? How many people are there in the Forbidden Army? "

Yang Biao yelled after hearing this: "This servant came from the Southern Tang Dynasty. Southern Tang had colluded with the Khitan in the past. Could it be a spy! Extinguish others' aspirations and destroy their own prestige!"

"Haha..." Zhou Duan raised his head and laughed, pointing at Yang Biao and ridiculing. "What else did I say? Shu and Nantang are all Han people. Can the court of Tokyo beams use it?"

Guo Shao simply said: "Second brother, don't talk nonsense." He turned his head and said to Zhou Duan, "You didn't say this last time you came back."

Zhou Duan stopped laughing and said calmly: "I couldn't finish talking about Youzhou last time, so naturally I didn't talk about Bohai Country and other places."

Guo Shaodao: "According to Mr. Zhou's words, my Zhou Dynasty attacked Liao, but my strength was actually weaker than Liao?"

"It's self-explanatory." Zhou Duan said unceremoniously, "General Guo is a general under the emperor, don't know why the emperor of the Zhou Dynasty is so famous? He dared to fight against the Liao country by attacking the weak and strong. Think of the battle of Gaoping, Yang Dang, a member of the Liao Kingdom, had a partial division of 50,000 troops, plus the Northern Han Army, and there were more soldiers than the Zhou soldiers; the Emperor Zhou also fought Jinyang... In this Northern Expedition, the Zhou Dynasty had only a few hundred thousand elites. No one can change more anymore, no one, and the national strength can't afford it; and the Liao State controls millions of strings. The emperor of the Great Zhou dared to attack, this is prestige and strength."

Guo Shao couldn't help but shudder when he heard this. He was reminded that China's survival pressure has reached such an unbearable level in this era; the rise of the surrounding hostile tribes has become unstoppable. He hadn't paid attention to these issues before, but now he has listened to Zhou Duan in detail, and he has realized that his strength has long changed. It's just that the north of Youzhou is too far away, ordinary people can't see it, and those with knowledge don't want to say it. .

Thinking of being able to get to the current situation is actually a national luck. If luck is a little bit worse, it is not impossible to get to the stage of five chaotic flowers.

The Song dynasty that followed was passively beaten, unable to control the rise of the surrounding tribes. It was under the trend that the Khitan and Jurchens took turns to dominate, and then the Mongols even ransacked the world, probably It's all to blame for the Central Plains Dynasty's inability to do anything about the situation in this era; otherwise, so many nomads will have no chance and space to rise, and without development space, they will naturally not be able to grow.

Guo Shao felt depressed for a while.

Zhou Duan's words may be exaggerated, but his judgment is still relatively credible. Since the Jin Dynasty, the Central Plains had been threatened by the Khitan, and the Jin Dynasty itself was still attacked by the Liao Kingdom; the rulers of the dynasties were like sharp swords. In recent years, the Liao Kingdom is undergoing civil strife, and the War of Gaoping also made the Zhou Dynasty feel the threat of life and death... If Liao does not have the strength, how can it be done?

When Guo Shao looked back, he saw a crowd of people on the road approaching the Hutuo River, and the crowd he saw was the left side of the Tiger Jiefang under his command. I was a little lamented at the moment, looking back at the people saying: "I always thought that'China' is very big and there are many people, but we can see that the 20,000 people are already one-eighth of the elite of'China'; this point is the whole country. The power supports a part of all the power. Everyone, I have a great responsibility, and I really can’t take it lightly.”

The generals just listened to Zhou Duan's "warranting" remarks, and now they were also serious and clasped their fists to agree. Dong Zunxun said loudly: "I would like to follow Uncle Guo and strive to be strong."

Guo Shaodao said: "I think of the glory of Qin, Han, Tang and all nations.'China' has always been a prosperous and civilized country with four directions, and it has become the largest and most powerful country in the world. Today, it has fallen to the dead! I hope that one day my country can regain its strength and recover. The glory of the past."

Zhou Duan and Zuo You listened to Guo Shao's generals so well, and they also expressed admiration at the moment.

......Not long after ~www.readwn.com~ Qizhou sent people to the army, saying that a pontoon has been erected upstream to wait. Guo Shao came to the generals of the scout camp to ask, but he didn't notice.

At the moment, Qizhou local officials were asked to lead the way, the vanguard army went first, and the army followed by crossing the river. There was only one bridge that was not too wide, and it was impossible for 20,000 people to cross the river with all their luggage that day, so Guo Shao had to set up camp by the river and wait.

In the afternoon, the governor of Qizhou came to the Chinese army to meet him, nodding and bowing very obediently. Guo Shaohua’s official post is the post of Jiedushi, followed by defense envoys, regiment training envoys, and then the governor level, which is actually a few levels higher than Qizhou governor.

The governor said: "Qizhou City has few huts and there are not so many vacant houses for the imperial army to live in. According to Shangfeng's intention, we transferred the local county residents to build ten camps on the northern bank of the Hutuo River. We could only wronged Mr. Guo. And the brothers of the Forbidden Army are stationed outside the city. There are mountains to the northeast in the selected place of the camp, which can block the east and north winds, and can shelter a little from the cold after winter."

After Guo Shao listened, he thought that the local officials might also be reluctant to station troops in the city; in particular, no one can restrain the forbidden army, they are afraid that the people in the city will be bullied and cause conflicts. At the moment, it is inconvenient to compete with Qizhou Governor and other officials to win or lose, and promise to station in the army village on the river bank first.