Beiting Protectorate, this is a purely military city.
This is not so much a city as a military fortress.
Beiting City was built during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and is only a few dozen miles away from Luntai County.
In the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Han forces withdrew from Beiting, but the old Beiting Protectorate had survived hundreds of years of ups and downs and remained intact.
When the Tang Dynasty once again pushed its influence here, it naturally accepted the legacy of the Han Dynasty, re-established the Beiting Protectorate, and once again spread its influence to Mobei.
Cao Lingzhong is a fifty-year-old veteran. His hair is gray and he looks like an ordinary old man when he is not wearing armor.
At this time, he was sitting in the lobby of the Governor's Mansion, looking at the sand table in the center of the lobby and thinking hard.
"I am sending an order that the Altay tribe has deposed the Khan without authorization and is disobedient to the Tang Dynasty. I ordered the Han navy to send troops to attack it."
"Pass an order, there are bandits in Wenquan and Bole. Order Taler and other four troops to unite to fight against them."
"Send the order, the Tianshan Army escorts the military supplies to the north. Don't let the news get out and be robbed by the Uighurs."
Several military orders were issued in succession, and each time an order was issued, the secretary-general of the Duhu Mansion would write it down quickly, and then hand it over to the ordering soldiers who were kneeling in the hall.
These messengers wear clothes of different colors, corresponding to the three directly governed state capitals in Beiting and the seventeen Jisu prefectures. Whenever an order arrives for the corresponding state capital, the messengers immediately go down with the order and gallop on their horses.
to deliver military orders.
Cao Lingzhong controlled the entire Beiting through this system.
After giving several orders in succession, Cao Lingzhong felt a little tired.
It was bitterly cold in the northern part of the Great Wall, and Cao Lingzhong's health was not as good as before.
I used to process military orders for a whole day without stopping, but now I have to think about it for a long time every time I order an order. I feel dizzy after just a few military orders.
It's always hard to disobey others. It's a pity that there is no successor in the Beiting army.
Originally, Cen Shen, the judge of the Protectorate of the Protectorate, was a talented person, and Cao Lingzhong thought that he could hand over the title of the Protectorate of Beiting to him.
Unexpectedly, An Lushan's rebellion changed the situation in Beiting.
Cen Shen led the Beiting branch into Guanzhong. The last letter he sent said that he had led troops to Xiangzhou. I don't know if the Tang Dynasty has recaptured the eastern capital.
However, Cao Lingzhong no longer has time to think about this. Now Beiting has been deprived of many troops, and Gaochang City no longer transfers military resources. In order to maintain the situation in Beiting, Cao Lingzhong is working hard every day.
Relying on the power and popularity he had accumulated in the past, Cao Lingzhong finally took control of the situation.
A few days ago, King Jianning sent people over and asked Beiting to surrender.
Cao Lingzhong asked the envoy to bring a message to King Jianning, asking him to make up for the arrears of military rations in Beiting.
The envoy left cursing, and Cao Lingzhong was quite disdainful. A county king in his twenties, didn't he just rely on his noble birth?
Cao Lingzhong was also a veteran who had guarded Beiting for the Tang Dynasty for ten years. The imperial court sent this young prince to take charge of Longyou Road. Cao Lingzhong was originally unconvinced.
Don't you have a clear idea of what the royal family of Li and Tang Dynasty has done to the world? Now you have sent a young boy to Longyou to fight for power. Do you think your ancestors' empire is too big?
Cao Lingzhong was disdainful of Li Yan's attitude. Beiting was not only a border area for the imperial court, but also the base camp for the Tang Dynasty to control the nomadic peoples in the north.
Therefore, the Governor of Beiting is a high-ranking official of the second rank. This is not the governor of a state in the mainland who only needs to manage civil affairs. This is a full-fledged feudal official.
Cao Lingzhong did not expect the well-dressed Prince Li Tang to understand the difficulties of his northern general. He only asked Prince Jianning not to come and cause trouble for him.
Northern Xinjiang is already in dire straits and can no longer withstand the hardships!
"Daduhu!"
A secretary-general rushed in quickly.
Although Cao Lingzhong was only the deputy commander-in-chief of the Beiting Protectorate after being retained by the Beiting Protectorate.
However, the imperial court did not appoint a new Protector of Beiting. Secondly, Cao Lingzhong's reputation in Beiting was too high, so everyone from top to bottom called him the Protector of Beiting.
"What are you so worried about?"
Cao Lingzhong was strict in managing the army, and he treated the officials in the Duhufu in the same way as he did in running the army. On weekdays, the officials reported their work with great care.
The secretary-general immediately crossed his arms and returned the greeting and said: "Great Protector! Gaochang City's military supplies have been transferred! This time there is not only food and grass, but also ordnance for a thousand people!"
Cao Lingzhong asked in confusion: "You said Gaochang City's military resources have been transferred?"
After the new emperor ascended the throne, he completely gave up the strategy of balancing the Uighurs in order to borrow troops from the Uighurs.
Since last year, the Beiting Protectorate has been short of food and clothing, and even applications for daily replacement weapons have been rejected.
Cao Lingzhong even threatened to lead troops to Gaochang City to rob it, but Li Xiuzhang, the governor of Xizhou, had a tough attitude, so Cao Lingzhong had no choice but to hold back.
A few days ago, King Jianning's envoy came. Cao Lingzhong also mentioned this matter and asked King Jianning to make up for the military supplies owed by Beiting before negotiating.
Didn't expect military supplies to be sent so quickly?
Cao Lingzhong was also surprised at this time. The secretary in charge continued: "Sima Shangbo, the king of Jianning, represents the king of Jianning and will arrive in Tingzhou tomorrow."
Now that the military supplies have begun to be transported, Cao Lingzhong breathed a sigh of relief.
Most of Beiting is vast sea and wasteland, and the food supply is not bad. After all, the imperial court has transferred 20,000 people to Guanzhong, and the stored food can still support it.
But the weapons and equipment must be replaced, and these must rely on the support of other cities in Longyou Road.
In this case, let's meet an envoy from King Jianning.
Shang Bo was wearing official uniform. This time he did not show any restraint. Instead, he walked directly into the lobby of Beiting Protectorate as a marching commander of King Jianning, the chief administrator of Longyou Road.
Shang Bo was very arrogant and arrogant, but Cao Lingzhong received him warmly according to etiquette.
Being an envoy these days, you don't have any diplomatic immunity. Many Tang envoys were beheaded and assassinated. Even the envoys sent by the Tang Dynasty to the feudal towns were killed quite a lot.
In order to test whether An Lushan was really rebelling, the emperor sent an envoy to Fan Yang. Unexpectedly, as soon as the envoy arrived, An Lushan had already raised troops, and directly killed the imperial envoy to sacrifice the flag, which became the first sign of An Lushan's rebellion.
A victim.
The Beiting Protector's Mansion was unruly. Shang Bo stood in the lobby of the Protector's Mansion with a calm demeanor. This actually made Cao Lingzhong look at King Jianning.
What Cao Lingzhong didn't expect was that this domineering military commander named Shang Bo didn't say any correct nonsense like loyalty to the emperor when he opened his mouth, but said directly:
"The Bafu is willing to support the Beiting Protectorate's strategy of balancing the Uighurs. I am not here to raise an army to question the guilty, but to ask Cao Duhu if there is anything he needs Bafu's support for?"
Shang Bo stood in the lobby and said this to Cao Lingzhong in front of the Beiting generals. After he said this, even though Cao Lingzhong was strict in his military management, the generals in the hall all started whispering.
This King Jianning doesn’t play his cards according to the routine?
Cao Lingzhong was also startled when he heard Shang Bo continue: "His Royal Highness has said that he is willing to recommend Cao Liu to be the Protector of the Beiting Protectorate. The Beiting generals have worked hard and have made great contributions, and they should also be commended by the court."
At this time, everyone was even more stunned. They thought that this businessman was here to ask for help, but they didn't expect that he came to bring money, food, and official positions.
Cao Lingzhong didn't know if it was because he had been attracted to the Li Tang royal family for a long time, but he was inexplicably moved.
However, Cao Lingzhong is already in his fifties, and this is not the first time he has been painted. It is one thing to say he is beautiful, but we will wait until the benefits come.
In this way, Shang Bo stayed in the Beiting Protector's Mansion. Cao Lingzhong did not express his position on whether he wanted to submit to King Jianning, but allowed Shang Bo to freely enter and leave the Beiting Protector's Mansion, without giving any reply.
Shang Bo was not in a hurry. After reading out the Bafu's order, he kept wandering around the Beiting Protector's Mansion, chatting with others when he had nothing to do.
In addition to looking for people to chat with, Shang Bo would go out to drink with the low-level officials in the Beiting Protector's Mansion when he had nothing to do. By spending money like water, Shang Bo established a good relationship with these people.
A group of merchant players from the "Street Lamp Pendant" guild escorted the rations and weapons northward. They accepted a secret mission from King Jianning. In addition to sending the rations and weapons to Beiting, they also had another secret mission.
Nowadays, the "Street Lamp Pendant" union is committed to opening up trade routes to the four towns in Anxi. These players, including the president Sun Jianguo, organized a large caravan to Anxi.
So the people who took over the mission to go north this time were all ordinary members of the trade union.
Pancake tycoon Pang Yawei is among them. Now his pancakes have become a famous delicacy in Longyou. He hires people to set up several large pots to make pancakes every day.
But making money is making money, but Pang Yawei was naturally not satisfied with being a pancake seller, so he signed up for this mission to the north.
The first batch sent to Beiting were the weapons and armor that had been eliminated from the Moli military treasury.
Now Mo Li, Doulu and the newly surrendered Yumen Army have all used weapons made by Guazhou Iron.
The weapons in the treasury were either recast, and those in good condition were kept, and this time they were sent to the Beiting.
Pang Yawei is a merchant player. This is his first time venturing out of the city, and everything he sees feels new.
But after a day out of the city, Pang Yawei's mouth was full of wind and sand, and he no longer felt anything new.
He finally understood why those big food merchants wore veils. It turned out to be to keep out the sand!
Fortunately, the journey from Gaochang to Tingzhou was not far, and Pang Yawei saw the city wall of Tingzhou after walking for four days.
Pang Yawei, who had eaten all the sand, burst into tears. Running a business was too hard! I want to go home and sell pancakes!
However, his mission was only half completed, so Pang Yawei could only follow the escorting troops into Tingzhou City.
[Blue rare task: This task is a task chain, and the task reward is calculated according to the completion of the task. 】
[1. The escort of military supplies and weapons arrived in Tingzhou City, completed. 】
[2. Winning over low-level officers and officials of the Beiting Protectorate, the task progress is 0%.]
All players who have accepted the mission know that the most important mission in this mission chain is the second mission.