In early June, the weather in Kyoto seems to be hotter than in previous years, and there is no cool breeze in the air. [Read the novel with the correct chapter, search on google]
Although it was early morning, the splendid Tai Chi Hall was still stuffy.
More than half a month has passed since the last court meeting. Today, the saint suddenly called for an early morning meeting. The courtiers all knew what was going on, but many people did not expect that the Tai Chi Hall was so stuffy and hot.
After all, no matter how hot the weather was in previous years, when a court meeting was held in the Tai Chi Hall, someone would place ice cubes in advance to prevent the hall from getting stuffy.
The air was stuffy and hot, but the mood of the courtiers was uneasy.
The Shence Army was defeated in Xuzhou. News had begun to spread in Kyoto a few days ago, and it was too late for the government to block the news.
Now the whole city knows that Jingan Hou Tantai Xuanye died in Xuzhou in a battle, and 20,000 Shence troops were either killed or captured. This has caused panic in the people of Kyoto.
But what is even more frightening is that Taishi Cunxu, the general of Zhenbei, actually raised his flag to rebel. Almost when the news of Tantai Xuanye's death in battle reached Kyoto, he also led his troops to the capital.
After the saint got the news, he almost immediately ordered the Shence Army stationed at the foot of Cuiyun Mountain to be transferred to Kyoto.
The elite main force of the Shence Army has been lost in Xuzhou, and the remaining 10,000 soldiers and horses, although they cannot be said to be old, weak, sick or disabled, are indeed mostly new soldiers with very little combat experience.
When everyone thought that Taishi Cunxu would take advantage of the emptiness of Kyoto, he would attack directly. But to everyone's surprise, although Taishi Cunxu sent some rangers to patrol outside Kyoto to investigate, the main force of his troops was directly attacked.
He pounced on Luokou Cang.
After the Ministry of War received the news yesterday, it immediately reported it to the palace, and the saint called a meeting of ministers early this morning, obviously because of the Luokou Cang.
When the ministers were whispering and discussing in the sweltering Tai Chi Hall, they suddenly heard the arrival of the sage. They all stood up immediately. After shouting three times, the sage raised his hand to let the ministers level up. The ministers stood in two rows on the left and right, all with their heads down.
He kept his head down, not daring to look at the saint.
Although the situation in Kyoto is very critical, the saint looks good. He is wearing a dragon robe and a crown, and he is not angry or powerful.
However, during the court meeting, Wei Wuya, the chief steward of the palace, and Sun Meier, the chief of the inner palace, who had been standing by the saint's side, were no longer seen.
"Where is Su Lun?" The saint glanced at the ministers and suddenly shouted.
Immediately, an official came out and knelt on the ground, "Su Lun, Minister of the Ministry of War, kowtow to the saint!"
The Ministry of War has experienced many disasters in recent years.
When Qin Xiao first entered Beijing, the official in the Ministry of War was Fan Wenzheng from the Princess Party.
< br>After Fan Wenzheng was beheaded and Dou Fu came to power, the Ministry of War immediately became the sphere of influence of the Prime Minister.
However, when Xiahou Yuanzhen was defeated and expelled from Kyoto, the Prime Minister's party was also purged by Tantai Xuanye. Dou Fu and many of his followers in the Ministry of War were killed, but Su Lun replaced him and now became
He became an official in the Ministry of War.
When Tantai Xuanye came to power, he was very repulsive to civilian officials and used a large number of people in the army. Su Lun was from the army and had also served in the Huaishuo border army. He was later transferred to Kyoto and served in the Ministry of War.
After many years, he was just a staff manager, and he was considered a frustrated person.
Tantai Xuanye only looked at his resume and knew that Su Lun was from the border army, but he directly promoted him from the position of chief to the position of Minister of the Ministry of War.
"Tell these civil and military ministers, where is Taishi Cunxu now?" the saint said calmly.
Su Lun hurriedly said, "Taishi Cunxu went south all the way under the banner of crusade against Xuzhou, and the journey was smooth. When he was about to enter Yanzhou, he ordered the entire army to be stationed, and then under the banner of the imperial court, he raised a lot of money and food from around
Nine days ago, he suddenly ordered the entire army to turn west and enter the capital unexpectedly. Then he used the banner of reviving Li Tang to confuse the people. However, they did not directly attack the capital of Kyoto, but rushed to Luokou Cang.
"
In fact, many officials in the palace are aware of this matter.
"How is the situation in Luokou Cang now?" The saint was quite calm.
Su Lun said, "There are two thousand troops garrisoned in Luokou Cang. They are guarding the key points. If the whole army uses their lives, they can last for several days." After a pause, he said, "But without reinforcements, Luokou Cang will fall sooner or later."
The saint said calmly, "Everyone has heard it. Now Luokou Granary is in danger, and the rebels are attacking the Kyoto granary. You all know that Luokou Granary is the lifeblood of Kyoto. Once Luokou Granary is lost, Kyoto's food supply will be completely destroyed."
Cut off. I learned from the Ministry of Revenue yesterday that the combined grain stored in the official warehouses and market grain stores in Kyoto can feed the millions of people in Kyoto for only one month at most. Yuzhou and Yanzhou have already fallen to the rebels.
This is the most important production area in the empire, so it is no longer possible to expect more grain and grass to be transported from the south."
There was an immediate commotion among the officials.
In fact, everyone is worried about this problem. No matter how strong the city of Kyoto is, the rebels cannot capture it, but if the food is cut off and everyone has nothing to eat, then there will be no need for the rebels to fight.
"What the sage said is absolutely true." A minister came out and said, "Kingto official warehouse
The grain stocks have been counted, and the first priority is to meet the needs of the palace and the soldiers guarding the city. Just two days ago, grain merchants in Kyoto began to raise the price of grain, causing some chaos. Food is the most important thing for the people, and I boldly gave advice.
, if the food problem in Kyoto cannot be solved quickly, the situation will only get worse, please ask the saints to make a decision."
When the ministers saw that it was Zhang Guquan, the Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, who was delivering the speech, they thought about how they could solve the food problem at this time. The food and grass in Kyoto were all transported from Luokou warehouse, and now Luokou warehouse is almost in the possession of Taishi Cunxu.
Is it possible that reinforcements should be sent from Kyoto?
"Do you think it is necessary to send reinforcements to relieve the siege of Luokou Cang?" the saint asked.
The ministers looked at each other, but no one spoke.
"Su Lun, do you think we should send reinforcements?"
Su Lun hurriedly said, "Reporting to the saint, there are 30,000 defenders in various departments in Kyoto City, with the Wuwei Battalion and the Shence Army as the main force. The main force of the rebels attacking Luokou Cang is also more than 20,000. If we want to break the siege of Luokou,
How many soldiers and horses need to be deployed? The rebels guard the border all year round. They are like wolves and tigers, and they are brave and good at fighting. If too few reinforcements are sent, it will undoubtedly be a sheep entering the tiger's mouth, but too many reinforcements will cause big problems in the defense of Kyoto.
Moreover, I boldly said that the Rouxuan rebels are not good at siege warfare, but they are accustomed to decisive battles on the plains. Even if all the soldiers and horses in Kyoto are sent out for reinforcements, I am afraid!" But he did not dare to continue.
"Sage, Mr. Su's words make sense." A minister said, "The top priority is to fully deploy the defense of Kyoto. It won't take long for the rebels to capture Luokoucang. As long as the corpse of Luokoucang is left, the rebels' next target will be
It must be to take Kyoto directly. If Kyoto strengthens its defense and uses defense as offense, the rebels will definitely not be able to break through Kyoto in a short time. The food and grass in the city can still last for a month. I think that one month is enough to wait for the King of Qin from all over the country.
The army came to rescue Kyoto."
Many ministers in the palace nodded, but some officials disagreed.
After Xiahou pacified the three states and seven counties, the biggest move he made was to carry out drastic reforms in the military forces of various states and counties in the Tang Dynasty. In order to prevent the states from having the ability to raise troops to cause rebellion, the number of soldiers and horses in each state was repeatedly reduced, resulting in the defense of each state.
The troops are very small and can be used to suppress bandits, but it is impossible to carry out large-scale military operations.
During the Qingzhou Queen Mother's Rebellion, the Qingzhou Battalion was unable to quell the Queen Mother's Rebellion due to insufficient military strength. In the end, the Shence Army had to be dispatched from Kyoto to quell the rebellion.
When the Tang Dynasty was at its most powerful, it once had hundreds of thousands of troops. However, under Xiahou's military reforms, the empire's military strength was at its lowest point since the founding of the country.
Although this can In order to prevent rebellion in local states and counties, it also led to a serious shortage of military strength in the empire. Once a large number of troops were needed, it would be stretched.
The most powerful armies of the empire are the four northern towns, the southern army and the Shence Army guarding Kyoto. The state camps in various places can only be used to maintain local order. When the troops are actually used, they actually have little effect at all.
This also led to the fact that after the Xiling Rebellion, the Tang Empire was unable to send a strong army to recover.
Everyone knows that it is impossible for the states around Gyeonggi to have King Qin's troops come to reinforce them. Even if they have the intention, they are powerless. Once the state camp troops and horses are easily mobilized to King Qin, the defenses of the states will be empty and there will be no soldiers and horses to guard them.
There is a bigger mess.
The only troops that Kyoto could count on from King Qin were the four northern towns and the southern army that could compete with Taishi Cunxu's rebels.
The Southern Army cannot be counted on.
Mobilizing a large army from the south to reinforce Kyoto, not to mention the long distance, they will definitely not be able to catch up within a few months. The most important thing is that there are still soldiers and horses of Sheyue in the south. Once the southern army goes north to reinforce, Sheyue will definitely not sit idly by.
, troops will inevitably be sent to intercept.
So the only ones with hope are the four northern towns.
However, the responsibility of the four northern towns is to guard the northern border, which is a very important responsibility. Thinking back to the Xiling rebellion, the court never dispatched the soldiers and horses of the four northern towns to quell the rebellion, and everyone knew that once the soldiers and horses of the four northern towns were
Reinforcements are sent south, and the northern defense line is empty, so the grassland tribes will definitely take action.
Twenty years ago, when the Monan tribes were still scattered, they dared to gather large armies and go south. Now Monan is almost unified by Du'er's tribe Tie Han. This man is ambitious and has always coveted the Tang Dynasty. Once
If an opportunity arises, you will definitely not miss it.
Once the iron hooves of the grassland take advantage of the situation, even if it does not penetrate into the hinterland of the Tang Dynasty, the lives of the people in the border states will be ruined.
Therefore, knowledgeable ministers do not want the four northern towns to go south to Qinwang, which will only repeat the tragedy of twenty years ago.
"As long as we persist for a month, reinforcements from King Qin's army will arrive." The saint said, "I have already given Pei Xiaogong a decree to lead troops to conquer the south of the Yangtze River. If he learns that there is trouble in Kyoto, he will definitely go north to King Qin. The officers and soldiers of Wuchuan Town
They will not just sit back and watch Taishi Cunxu, they hate the Taishi family deeply and will definitely come to King Qin day and night."
The ministers did not dare to speak. Some people felt that the saint said this, and they really had hope in their hearts. However, many people still felt that the saint was just daydreaming and harboring illusions.