In a small thatched cottage in the eastern suburbs of Fuping County, Xie Tong had just sat down and was about to eat.
Suddenly there was a sound of dogs barking.
Xie Tong turned around and looked around, only to see an old female dog on the other side of the narrow stream, holding a puppy in her mouth, swimming quickly across the river.
"Your Majesty, I'm afraid there are rebels." The followers who were sitting outside the store drew out their swords, guns and rifles and said nervously.
The west road of Shannan was in flames, and the rebels were scattered. They experienced countless life and death crises along the way. Although they felt much calmer after entering Fengxiang and Guanzhong, their nerves were always tense and did not relax.
The shopkeeper also rushed out of the back kitchen, muttering as he walked: "There are Xia soldiers in town, where did the rebel soldiers come from these days?"
The sound of horse hooves came clearly.
Soon, a large group of cavalry appeared on the other side of the river. They held flags high and wore bright armor, galloping in a loose formation in the fields. At this time, the spring sowing had not yet begun, and the fields were empty.
"Grandpa, they are indeed rebels. Let's leave quickly!" The shop owner's son packed his things in a hurry and was so anxious.
Some cavalry have already begun to wade across the river, and Maodian is even more nervous.
"Don't panic, the brown cloth military uniform is from the Xia soldiers." The shop owner squinted his eyes and looked at it carefully for a while before coming to a conclusion.
"Ah..." The shop owner's son stayed there.
"Hurry back and make steamed cakes. These customers are waiting for them." The shopkeeper kicked his son and smiled at Xie Tong: "Don't worry, diners. These are the troops of the King of Lingwu. Don't worry, they won't disturb the people."
.”
Xie Tong seemed unaware. He stopped his chopsticks and looked outside. He saw a large group of cavalry jumping into the shallow stream in batches in an orderly manner, just like dumplings. On this side of the stream, there were already dozens of cavalry, scattered far away.
, shouting and galloping.
"This cavalry is very elite." Xie Tong said with a complex expression: "How do you compare with the people on the grassland?"
"I'm afraid the grassland herdsmen are not as good as them." Xie Yanzhang summoned dozens of his men and formed a small circular formation to protect the Maodian.
Although there are many grassland herdsmen who can ride horses and do archery, their daily life is hard and their work is heavy, so they may not have much time for military training. Therefore, any grassland hero will find a way to raise a large number of professional cavalry who are out of work. These people have cattle and sheep to support them.
, you don’t have to worry about life, so you can train constantly and become very elite.
Once there is a war, these off-duty professional knights will be the core, coercing a large number of herdsmen, and going out together. If the cavalry trained by the Central Plains dynasty encounter ordinary herdsmen, they don't have to worry too much about suffering losses and can fight - of course, if these Central Plains cavalry themselves
My training has also been wasted, so forget it.
The one in front of me is obviously an elite professional cavalry!
Xie Yanzhang watched intently.
He was also a cavalry commander. It was not easy for the Xuanwu Army to build some cavalry. They tried their best to buy horses from Hebei, and then ran horse administration and raised horses in Henan.
The Prince of Wuxing County was obsessed with the cavalry team.
This stems from the fact that when he was fighting against Huang Chao in Guanzhong, he witnessed the bravery of Li Keyong's cavalry and was deeply impressed. After Zhijie declared martial law, the first thing he did was to form and expand the cavalry team. At that time, there were only a few hundred cavalry, led by Pang Cong.
.
Now it has gradually expanded, and Pang Cong has also been promoted. Li Chan, Hua Wenqi, Li Sian, Wang Tan and Xie Yanzhang were assigned to lead the army, each with hundreds to more than a thousand cavalry. The whole army added up to about 5,000 cavalry.
, considering that the Xuanwu Army only had 40,000 infantry and cavalry in total, this proportion of cavalry was already very high. Looking at the surrounding towns, except for Hedong Li Keyong, no one should have more cavalry than them.
Among the several cavalry generals, Li Sian and Wang Tan are the deputy cavalry generals of Tabaidu. They have hundreds of cavalrymen. They are all highly skilled and brave men who dare to fight to the death. In every battle, they must first scout the enemy's situation, search for and suppress scouts, and even raid the enemy's troops.
I thought they were very strong. After all, they were all warriors selected from various armies. Although many of them switched to horseback riding halfway, their superb skills were enough to make up for their lack of riding skills. Compared with Tabaidu, Xie Yanzhang felt that the thousands of people under his command were
There is no need to throw away the cavalry, and you will lose if you fight with more than less.
But what does he see now?
Thousands of cavalry came overwhelmingly across the stream. Although they were light cavalry, they were equipped well and had high morale. Most importantly, their riding skills were really good. They had been on horseback since childhood, right?
"Innkeeper, are you really the soldiers and horses of Prince Lingwu?" Xie Tong winked, and the attendant understood, immediately took out a piece of silk and stuffed it into the innkeeper's arms.
"Other people may not know it, but I have seen it. It is indeed the cavalry of King Lingwu, but I don't know which one. But there are cavalry in all the armies of Dingnan Army. It's hard to say. It's hard to say." The store owner smiled happily and accepted it.
He took the silk and said.
"Every army has cavalry..." Xie Yanzhang outside the door also heard it, and felt a little bitter in his mouth.
Qinghai Cong is better than the war horses of the Hedong Army, and better than the Khitan horses bought from Hebei. The king of Wuxing County once sent people to buy hundreds of horses, and they were all added to Tabaidu.
Is there more than ten thousand cavalry in the Difficult Army? Once a fight begins with them, how long will the Xuanwu Army's thousands of cavalry last? And without the cavalry, it will be too difficult to fight!
Dozens of riders ran towards the Maodian, and then stopped neatly twenty steps away. A primary school student came over and asked, "Who are you? Why are you gathering here?"
"We are merchants from Henan, going to Shannan West Road to do business, and we are about to return to Henan at this time." A guide came forward and explained carefully.
"Leave quickly!" the principal said without any doubt: "All loyal and brave people will camp here. If you don't leave, you will be arrested as spies."
Xie Yanzhang listened calmly. The mandarin of this junior officer was not very good, so he might have been a Qiang and Hu soldier. This loyal and brave man actually had three thousand cavalry. Could it be that they were all Hu cavalry?
The Xuanwu Army once studied the named generals and their troops of the Dingnan Army, and knew that the Lingwu County Prince liked to use cavalry. He also had two horse farms in Yinchuan, Yinzhou, and Yongqing, Fengzhou. Every year, he sold war horses to draw horses.
Horses, riding horses for profit. I heard that he also controlled a large number of tribes, and these tribes should also provide horses regularly. The number of horses in the Dingnan Army is really enviable, and I am afraid that even Li Keyong from Hedong cannot compare with it.
Compare.
The Dingnan Army is the enemy!
They have both the strengths of the Central Plains infantry and the prairie cavalry. Once a fight breaks out, with the tough infantry group in the front and the elite cavalry attacking behind the enemy, the initiative on the battlefield will change hands.
Xie Yanzhang signaled his men to put away all the equipment, then walked to Xie Tong and whispered: "Your Majesty, let's go. The Dingnan Army has entered Guanzhong. This cavalry army named Zhongyongdu should be the vanguard.
There is still a large group of people. If we don’t leave, there may be an accident.”
"Where to the east?" Xie Tong asked.
He was originally serving as the governor of Shannan West Road, but there was a military turmoil, so he had the idea of returning eastward. The king of Wuxing County also cared about the old friendship between the two, and sent his confidants to pick him up, planning to take a detour to Heyang and return to Heyang.
Bianzhou.
"Forty miles away is Liangtianpi. There is a post station where you can stay overnight."
"Then let's go." Xie Tong did not hesitate, and after tidying up for a while, he set off on the road with Xie Yanzhang and others.
"General Xie, when I saw Zhongyongdu just now, my face changed drastically when I saw you. Is this cavalry army very strong?" On the way eastward, Xie Tong and Xie Yanzhang rode side by side and asked.
"The Xuanwu Army has four to five thousand cavalry. Once they go into battle, they can't defeat these three thousand cavalry." Xie Yanzhang said with a wry smile: "Maybe our infantry is not weak, but the cavalry army has been established for a short period of time and has insufficient foundation. Compared with the Dingnan Army,
The species is not comparable. Most of the major horse farms in the Guo Dynasty are in the Helong Prefectures, with a small amount in Shuofang. In other places, there are very few."
Xie Tong nodded. He could understand that once the prairie horsemen were trained according to the Chinese system, provided with sophisticated armor, equipment, and good food and drink, they did not have to work on weekdays and only needed to train continuously, then their combat effectiveness would be
Very amazing.
What's more, the origins of these Hu Qi are not ordinary...
"General Xie, when I was on the west road in Shannan, I heard that the king of Lingwu County selected warriors from various grassland tribes to join the army, and he got 3,000 people, all of whom were skilled in bow and horse. He was also good at caring for the soldiers, and he always won the hearts of the army, and the warriors from all tribes were very popular.
I'm willing to fight to the death. I didn't think these three thousand cavalry were very strong, and thought the rumors were too false. But now that I hear you say it, Zhongyong must be a rare elite cavalry." Xie Tong said.
"Besides the Zhongyong Capital, there are also Iron Cavalry Army and Leopard Cavalry Capital. There are also many cavalrymen in each army..." Xie Tong looked up at the sky and said: "The grassland is a plate of loose sand, which is a blessing for the people of the Central Plains. If the grassland is like
Unifying and establishing a country would be a Tubo and a Turk, which would not be a blessing to the people of the Central Plains. Shao Shude unified the Hulu tribes in Hetao, Hengshan, Yinshan, and Hexi. He was already a small Khan on the grassland, and he was a member of the Tang Dynasty.
The commander-in-chief is a commander-in-chief and has the strengths of both families. If the commander-in-chief of Wuxing wants to take over the world, he should pay close attention to this person. He is more difficult to deal with than Li Keyong."
Xie Yanzhang agreed with this view. The role of cavalry on the battlefield is really too great.
"Shao Shude has gone to Henan many times to recruit troops. Can we also go to the grassland to recruit troops?" He suddenly asked again.
Xie Tong was startled and said: "Shao Shude is the king of the Tang Dynasty, and he is the envoy of the army. He went to Henan to recruit troops, and no one stopped him. If the king of Wuxing went to the grassland to recruit troops, it would not be that simple. It is impossible to represent the northern tribes.
, it is also impossible to reach Helongshuo area. Only the Khitan people in Yanbei can think of a way, but will the towns in Hebei give way?"
Hebei vassals are closely adjacent to Weibo Town.
Zhu Quanzhong sent people to Weizhou with ten thousand taels of silver to buy grain. As a result, people were killed, the money was robbed, and the relationship was very bad.
Weibo Town has also been experiencing internal strife recently.
Le Yanzhen, the Jiedushi envoy, built the outer city of Weizhou, which was eighty miles long. The people were unable to serve him, and the Yamen soldiers were noisy. Le Yanzhen was frightened, and asked to resign as the Jiedushi envoy, and became a monk in Longxing Temple to seek refuge as a monk.
Unfortunately, the sergeants recommended Zhao Wen? (biàn) as the successor to Jiedu.
Le Yanzhen's son Le Congxun was unwilling to give up and led 30,000 troops to the Weizhou city. Zhao Wen did not dare to go out of the city to fight, so he was despised by the soldiers and then killed.
If you don’t have the guts to fight with others in the wild, you still want to be a governor?
As soon as Zhao Wenqi died, the sergeants gathered again and shouted and asked: "Who is willing to be the governor?"
At this time, someone stood up and said that he had just seen an old man with a white beard and said that (Luo) Hongxin should be the landlord, so everyone recommended Luo Hongxin to be the governor. Luo Hongxin led his army out of the city and fought with Le Congxun in the field, winning a great victory.
People in Weibo Town are not to be trifled with! If you go to buy food, you will be robbed and killed, let alone recruiting soldiers. If you take the money and go on the road, you will be robbed before you even leave Weizhou.
"Then we can only organize a large-scale horse administration in Henan." Xie Yanzhang said without hesitation: "You and I will report to the king of Wuxing County together. If we don't handle the horse administration well, if Shao Shude gathers tens of thousands of horses and rushes over, everyone will just
It's okay if you can huddle in the city and let them plunder you. Once or twice is fine. But if they come and plunder you from time to time, the people and their wealth will be lost. So what if there is a strong city? If you don't attack, you will break your own!"
"What General Xie said is true." Xie Tong said: "Shao Shude is going to march on the south west road of Shanshan. Zhuge Shuang is not the old one, but his troops will come. The loyal and brave cavalry just now may be the vanguard. Zhuge Shuang, the old man
Moreover, there are no good generals in the army, but Wang Qianyu and Niu Cunjie are somewhat capable. If the Xia army does not arrive, it will fall apart sooner or later. Once the Xia army arrives, it is difficult to say who will own this inheritance."
The sound of horse hooves gradually faded away.
On the land of Guanzhong, military flags were flying and swords and guns were like forests. After two and a half years, the soldiers of the Dingnan Army once again set foot on this fertile wilderness.