Chapter Five Hundred and Fortieth Eighth Chapter Loyal King Raises the Army
Everyone knows that if Emperor Qianwen is allowed to destroy the four states of Qi, he is afraid that the spearhead of the Qian soldiers will be directed at him. There will be a war no matter what, and it is better to take the initiative to attack than to be beaten passively.
Prince Yi of Tang Dynasty was also sent back by the former Princess Di, so King Zhong had no worries about using troops. So on May 20th of the 19th year of Hanchang, King Zhong gathered his troops and issued an order to march to Daliang City in Jizhou.
Before this battle, King Zhong made a lot of preparations. First, he recruited a large number of troops and bought food and grass everywhere.
Yi Qiu'er, the former Empress Dowager's personal officer who was rescued by the former Princess Di and returned to King Zhong. She was just such an inconspicuous female officer, but she gave her a big gift after arriving in Liaozhou. Those were the instructions given to her by the Empress Dowager before her death, a piece of wealth that belonged to Emperor Qian Jing when he was reincarnated.
There have long been rumors that when Emperor Qianwen came to the throne, he was not fully recognized by his father, Emperor Qianjing. It was just that Emperor Qianwen had just defeated Beidi and returned to Daliang City with his own troops. The situation was stronger than others, forcing him to Emperor Qian Jing had no choice but to abdicate. Unwilling to do so, Emperor Qian Jing soon died of depression. After his death, there was only less than ten million taels of silver in the treasury.
This number does not match the national strength of Daqian at that time. Some people say that it was Emperor Qianjing who transferred the gold and silver in the treasury in advance. Since the person involved was deceased, the matter became an unsolved case. Later Emperor Qianwen also wanted to I consulted the Queen Mother about this matter, but there was no answer. Unexpectedly, the Queen Mother really knew where the wealth worth 100 million taels was hidden. And she did not tell Emperor Qianwen until her death, but relayed it The most trusted female officer around her asked her to find a way to find her beloved loyal king and give away her wealth.
Yi Qiuer was frightened when she got an errand. She was worried about how to contact King Zhong, so the former Princess Di helped her fulfill her wish. The moment she met King Zhong, Yi Qiuer asked the Queen Mother The instructions were spoken out.
The acquisition of a full 100 million taels of silver gave the already strong King Zhong more confidence. With the money, he began to recruit troops continuously. Soon, the Liaozhou army became stronger.
With enough troops and money, King Zhong finally had the confidence to ask his brother, Emperor Qianwen, for an explanation. In his opinion, the fact that his mother gave him the wealth left by his father proved that the throne should have been his. In contrast, it was his elder brother Emperor Qianwen who stole his throne.
Burning with anger, King Zhong used the excuse that Emperor Qianwen was unfilial to the empress dowager, causing her to die from overwork, and Liaozhou troops marched out of Daning City in high spirits.
For this battle, King Zhong mobilized a total of 120,000 horses and 4,000 cavalry. It was known to the outside world that an army of 150,000 set out from Ningcheng and headed straight for Luancheng in Jizhou.
The 120,000 people are not all the troops under King Zhong. Over the years, it seems that King Zhong has only 20,000 to 50,000 troops, which is not something to be afraid of. This is just an illusion created to avoid causing interference. It was just Emperor Wen's suspicion.
In fact, Liaozhou recruits troops every year, and some sergeants retire. And those retired sergeants actually enjoy half of their military pay. While receiving this, what they need to pay is that once there is a war, they must return immediately. The army is always ready for a battle.
Calculating 10,000 people retiring a year, in more than ten years, there will be more than 100,000 people. Just like when King Zhong came to Jizhou with an army of 120,000 people, the family was only fighting with Jizhou Ten thousand troops were left at the border with Guzhou each to prevent Tang Ao or Sang Doubei from taking the opportunity to attack him.
Although the intelligence that King Zhong received was that there were not many soldiers in Jizhou, and he had provoked Beidi, he might not have the energy to cause trouble for himself, but he still had to be on guard against others, so it was still better to send troops to the border between the two states. Very necessary.
As planned, the vanguard of the Zhongwang Army quickly arrived outside Luancheng and launched an attack with lightning speed. Without sufficient preparation, the thousand soldiers defending the city merely resisted. In less than half an hour, they retreated after dumping hundreds of corpses.
The fall of Luancheng meant that the northern gate of Jizhou was open. When the battle report reached Daliang City, it aroused the roaring anger of Emperor Qianwen. In the Yangxin Hall, in front of several important ministers, he threw the battle report to On the ground, a man looked furious and shouted loudly, "What the hell is going on? Where did Prince Zhong get so many troops? Can any of you explain to me? Ah!"
His eyes glanced over the several important ministers with cold eyes, but at this moment, no one dared to meet Emperor Qianwen's eyes. Even Dai Mubai, who was already at the Grand Master level, lowered his head, looking cautious.
The Emperor's Guards are also responsible for the King's Loyalty incident. They did not figure out the situation in time, which is why the current court was caught off guard.
After venting his anger for a quarter of an hour, Emperor Qianwen returned to his seat on the Golden Dragon Chair. Then he glanced at the important ministers below and asked, "Tell me, King Zhong has come with a large army. Should we?" how to respond?"
As soon as Emperor Qianwen finished speaking, Zuo Pushe Fan Shitong jumped out. The former prince was dead, and King Xiang escaped from Daliang City. The call for King Qing to ascend to the throne is now the highest, especially when he added a bead a while ago. , after being named the Prince of Sanzhu, many courtiers began to take the initiative to get closer to King Qing, which also made him, a teacher, have a relationship with Rong Youyan, and he would show off himself when there was nothing wrong, like this How could a big event happen without him?
"Your Majesty, the art of war says that when soldiers come, they will be blocked, and when water comes, the soil will cover them up. King Zhong's troops are unknown, and their words are not correct, and their names are not good. We only need to send troops to block the opponent's offensive, and at the same time send ministers to rebuke King Zhong. It is reasonable to know and to be moved. After a long time, under the pressure of public opinion, King Zhong should lead his army to retreat."
"Well, the matter of sending ministers will be left to Fan Aiqing. As for how many troops and horses should be sent? Cheng Shangshu, you are the Minister of the Ministry of War. You can tell me." Emperor Qianwen did not think that sending someone to talk about peace would cause any trouble. It has no effect, but fortunately it is better than nothing. Since Fan Shitong wants to give it a try, he will give him this opportunity. All he needs to do is prepare for the worst and send troops to block King Zhong's offensive first.
Cheng Bolin looked bitter when his name was called. In recent years, because of the peace in the world, at least on the surface, Daqian's main energy has been on recuperation and economic development, and the number of troops is not very large. This time in order to regain The ground has formed enough pressure, and most of the military strength has been emptied. There are really not many available troops. Some of them are newly recruited troops. This is because of the good foundation laid by Tang Ao when he was the Duke of Zhongguo. Otherwise, I'm afraid, The Ministry of War has fewer people to call upon.
But no matter how difficult it was, even if the emperor asked, Cheng Bolin could only answer truthfully, "Your Majesty, the Ministry of War currently has 50,000 new soldiers."
"Fifty thousand? This number is still too small. Then the Ministry of Revenue will give you a sum of money, and you will have to continue recruiting troops." Emperor Qianwen was a little dissatisfied with this result. In fact, speaking of fifty thousand recruits, It's not that small anymore, but it's just too small compared to King Zhong's 120,000 troops.
"No." Cheng Bolin replied with a somewhat ugly look on his face. He had already heard that the emperor was going to send all 50,000 new soldiers to the battlefield. He wanted to say that at least 20,000 of these soldiers were just recruited. They have not even done basic training. To put it bluntly, they are just farmers who have just put down their hoes. If they go to the battlefield to fight, they will lose more than they win. But Emperor Qianwen was not in a good mood. , it is better not to say these disappointing words at this time. Not only will it not solve the problem, but it will also attract the emperor's anger. It is really just looking for trouble.
"Let's do this, choose 10,000 silver-armored guards and 10,000 gold-armored guards each. Add these 50,000 troops, a total of 70,000. It should be enough to defend the loyal king's army." It seemed to be telling the ministers, but also seemed to be saying. After talking to himself, the matter was decided by Emperor Qianwen.
Yan Fu then left the palace with the imperial edict and went to find Shi Hongyun, the general in charge of the battle.
After these 70,000 troops were sent to the northern front, the military strength in Daliang City was unprecedentedly empty, with only 10,000 golden armored guards and 10,000 silver armored guards left. As for the Ministry of War, although after receiving money from the Ministry of Household Affairs, Recruitment was launched immediately, but building combat effectiveness was not something that could be done overnight.
After Shi Hongyun got the order, he led the assembled 70,000 troops straight towards Pingcheng, which became the last barrier to the north of Daliang City. Once Pingcheng was broken, it would directly threaten the security of Daqian Kyoto.
...
Jicheng.
When Gongsun Guang came back here again, he had the look of a clear winner on his face. This time he had obtained the imperial edict from Emperor Daqian, and wanted to see if King Ji would let him go.
Coming to Jicheng with Gongsun Guang was a godson named Yin Mingping, one of Yan Fu's subordinates. He appeared in Jicheng as a eunuch delivering the decree.
Ordinary eunuchs still live in the palace and can hang around the emperor every day. After leaving the palace, they will feel a sense of superiority to others, especially eunuchs who deliver orders, which must be eunuchs with a certain status.
But this time when he came to Jicheng, Yin Ping kept a very low profile, not for any other reason, but because he knew the Ji Wang Tang Ao very well. The crazy Duke was once famous in Daliang City, the former prince, Dou Qing King, King Xiang, even the mysterious Heavenly Prison in people's eyes, have all stayed in it and walked out unharmed.
He was so majestic and majestic back then when he was the Duke of the Kingdom. Now that he is the fourth prince of the current dynasty, who knows if his temper will become even worse?
In addition, when he arrived, he asked his godfather Yan Fu, and the answer he got was that you just pass on the decree, and you can listen to whatever King Ji does or says. Yin Ping had an idea in his mind, which made him appear here. When Jizhou was the governor of the prefecture, he would smile at everyone he met, without any intention of being disrespectful.