The midsummer night in July is extremely hot and muggy.
As the deputy envoy of the Yi Congjun, Gao Renhou certainly did not need to be bitten by mosquitoes on the field like the sergeants. He still had a place to stay.
It was already midnight, and he was still looking through the archives by an oil lamp.
He only knew a rough idea of the origins of the Yi Congjun unit before, but now he understood the context after reading military history and other books.
Some people actually say this is a no-name brand! How can a no-name brand have so many iron armors?
Gao Renhou also rose up step by step from a low-level officer, and everything about the military camp was as clear as looking at the lines on the palm of his hand.
In the two capitals of the Yi Congjun, there were three thousand men in Hengshan, half of them were soldiers, and everyone was wearing iron armor. They were all tall and strong Hengshan party warriors. They were wild and powerful, had no hidden possessions, and were the in-laws of the commander-in-chief, so they were very trusted.
There were five thousand people in the Qing and Tang Dynasties, but they chose the best Tibetan soldiers from the Qing and Tang Dynasties to join the army. They were "subjects" under another identity of the commander-in-chief.
"I have offended a lot of people when I took office this time." After putting down the register, Gao Renhou smiled and looked calm. He seemed to be in the same mood as usual, without any worries.
"Ming Gong's will is as strong as iron stone, and he will not be disturbed by villains." Du Xiao, an aide, said.
Du Xiao is the second son of Prime Minister Du Renneng. He is not old, not yet thirty. He has taken the Jinshi exam several times, but has not passed the exam yet. He is still studying at home and preparing to fight again, but his father lets him go.
He went to Lingxia to "travel".
Everyone knows about this travel. Du Xiao was quickly hired by the Shuofang shogunate, and then sent to Gao Renhou to help with paperwork. If he has the talent to paint military aircraft, of course he can, it depends on whether he can grasp it.
Take your chance.
And Xianggong Du is really interesting. He still speaks ill of Shao Shude in court from time to time, but he secretly sent his second son to the Shuofang shogunate to seek a position. If the saint knew about it, could he still trust him?
I heard that the imperial court had recently recruited a group of civil servants from the shogunate of various vassal towns to serve as officials in the court. It seemed that they were also a little disappointed with the level of officials in the capital. Mr. Du was probably a little discouraged by this move, right?
"A warrior in the army speaks on his own merit." Gao Renhou laughed when he heard what Du Xiao said and said: "I also know that some things I did in the past were inappropriate, but I am old and don't want to change it. Since the commander-in-chief is like this
Trust me, what else can I say? I will go south to Huazhou in the future and I will definitely capture Shaanxi and Guozhou for the commander-in-chief."
Du Xiao smiled and said nothing.
The envoy of the Yi Congjun Army is an in-law of the commander-in-chief, Wu Zang. General Gao's bold words may offend him, and he will inevitably find ways to resolve the issue for him in the future.
I heard that Chen Jingxuan sent General Gao to attack Dongchuan and promised him the position of Jiedushi. In fact, it was just a casual comment. I didn't really want you to be on an equal footing with me.
However, General Gao had good commanding skills. After capturing Dongchuan, he did not resign, but accepted the position of Jiedushi without any hesitation, which made Chen Jingxuan murderous. However, General Gao didn't know it, and had no regard for Chen Jingxuan.
Be on guard, until the two towns are at odds, but still want to resolve the relationship and maintain harmony as before. This wisdom in dealing with the world is really hard to describe.
"What does Mingyuan think of the current situation in the Central Plains?" Gao Renhou opened the window and let in the cool breeze from outside.
Lao Gao is not young, and he is very angry. This summer night is really too hot and muggy.
"Zhu Quanzhong is advancing furiously, Li Keyong is in a dilemma, Li Kuangwei is determined to be a thief, and Yang Xingmi is waiting for the opportunity." Du Xiao replied.
Gao Renhou didn't ask him why he only mentioned these four people. The fact was obvious. These four people were the only ones with enterprising spirit. The others might just want to separate one side or make progress, but they were severely restricted and unable to do so.
"Continue talking." Gao Renhou sat down and said.
"Zhu Quanzhen is the most powerful, with more soldiers than the general. The three towns of Yan, Yun, and Xu are in danger and are no match for him. After defeating these three towns, there are two directions. One is to invade Huainan from the south; the other is to invade Huainan from the south.
Northern Expedition to Weibo."
"Why not attack Hedong first and then attack Weibo?"
"The purpose of attacking Weibo is to attack Hedong. First cut off Ke's outer wings and force them back to Hedong, and then move out in several directions to attack Jinyang in one fell swoop."
"What is Li Kuangwei's evil intention? Does Mingyuan know?" Gao Renhou said in a questioning tone.
"Three towns in Hebei Province have been married for generations. Since the difficult times, they have joined forces many times to resist the imperial court. Youzhou has abundant soldiers and abundant food, prosperous household registration, and the prairie tribes provide war horses. Its strength is second to none among the three towns.
The state king, Rong Rong, was young and looked down upon by Kuang Wei. He spoke a lot of words and regarded himself as an elder. He always wanted to annex the town of Hebei, and then planned to Yi Ding and Wei Bo. If he was allowed to hide the land of these four towns, it would be Quanzhong.
Don’t dare to provoke him lightly.”
"Xuan Shuai Yang Xingmi is good at appeasing the people, but his troops are not well fed and are defeated in repeated battles. Since this year, Sun Ru has raised the Huaihe River, and Cai's soldiers have crossed the river and marched south. Tiankai and Anrenyi have fought in the north several times, and they cannot stop Cai's soldiers.
When all the cities under the secret rule heard that Cai's soldiers were coming, they all looked forward to the wind and retreated, not daring to fight. In the end, they relied on the flood to retreat Cai's soldiers. They still need to wait for a good opportunity." Du Xiao added.
Sun Ru caused too much harm in Huainan. The fields were starved to death and people ate each other. He had no financial resources to support an army, so he could only go to Jiangnan to plunder.
Cai's soldiers were brave, Yang Xingmi and Qian Liu were killed, and the army was defeated miserably. All the troops were defeated.
Not long ago, Zisun Ru attacked Xuanzhou, Xingmi's home base. Xingmi gathered the last 30,000 soldiers and fought to the death, but was defeated. He was about to run away again, but God showed his power and a rare flood flooded Cai Bing's camp.
, suffered heavy losses and had to retreat.
Yang Xingmi finally saved his life, otherwise he, the Xuanshe Jiedushi Envoy, would have lost all his territory and would not be worthy of his name.
After Sun Ru withdrew his troops, Yang Xingmi boldly attacked Chuzhou and Hezhou. Cai's soldiers who were left behind in the area surrendered and then left, and his momentum gained momentum.
Yang Xingmi is talented, but his soldiers are terrible, which is his Achilles heel.
"Where is Li Keyong?" Gao Renhou asked again.
"Ke Yong is in a dilemma, which is no longer a worry." Du Xiao said: "With the current situation, Hedong is surrounded by enemies on both sides, and will only become weaker and weaker. Ke Yong annexed the five states of Zhaoyi, and Zelu appointed Li Hanzhi to guard them.
They were extremely cruel and looted at every turn, causing the people to lose their crops and flee. In the three prefectures of Xing, Ming, and Ci, after years of fighting, the treasury was empty and the people were crying for food. However, Ke Yong was still recruiting troops aggressively, and his people were not as good as Quanzhong.
.If it weren’t for the beautiful place east of Hedong, it would have perished long ago.”
Gao Renhou stood up, feeling a little excited.
Hedong should have the best foundation among the towns in the north, but for being manipulated into such a bad behavior, Li Keyong cannot absolve himself of the blame.
If the commander-in-chief wants to invade the Central Plains, what choice should he make? Now it seems that there is no choice but to attack Wang Chongying and his son. If Li Keyong had the knowledge, he would not sit back and watch. This is another difficult problem.
****
Under the city of Datong, the atmosphere was stagnant.
The armies took turns taking turns to attack, but failed repeatedly and suffered heavy casualties.
Unless all the troops were spared, Yunzhou is actually a strong city with a large number of defenders. As long as the food supply is not exhausted, attacking by force is really the best strategy.
Li Keyong didn't want to hurt people's lives.
During the siege, the soldiers recruited from Xingzhou and other places suffered more than 7,000 casualties. If the fighting continued, they would mutiny, so he ordered the withdrawal.
Historically, Li Keyong besieged the city for more than five months, but could not defeat it. In the end, Helianduo ran out of food and had to abandon the city.
At this time, the Datong army showed no signs of running out of food. After everyone's persuasion, Li Keyong had to retreat sadly and look for opportunities later.
"Commander, you must prepare for the worst." Gai Yu said on the way back to the teacher.
His voice was not loud, obviously because he was afraid of being heard by others.
Li Ke raised his eyebrows and said: "The coalition forces in several towns have been repelled, so why should we be afraid?"
The commander-in-chief didn't speak loudly when he said this. Gai Yu knew it well and said, "Quan Zhong has transferred his troops to attack Shi Pu, and now is the opportunity."
"what chance?"
"Now we can transfer our troops to attack Hebei. We have four prefectures in Hebei Province and a household registration of nearly one million. Wang Rong is young, so it is not difficult to get him. Yunzhou has no money and food, and the only thing is to gather ruthless soldiers..." Gai Yu said.
Hebei in this era was probably the richest region in the Tang Dynasty, even behind Jiangnan.
Since the difficult times, there have been occasional wars, but generally it has been peaceful and life is stable.
The fertile plains are densely populated and rich in silk, grain, salt and iron, which are also very profitable. They also have trade relations with the grasslands, and they can become emperors if they get them.
Wang Rong could mobilize "100,000 cavalry" at a time, while Li Kuangwei could easily mobilize 100,000 infantry cavalry. Even if it included a large number of temporarily recruited state soldiers, county soldiers, and local regiment soldiers, it was very amazing. Without some economic foundation, it would be impossible.
possible.
The real decline of Hebei was due to the return of Sanyi in the Northern Song Dynasty, which completely destroyed this fertile land, which at this time was the essence of the country. Gai Yu persuaded Li Keyong to attack Hebei, for this purpose Hedong originally had a population of
It is no less than those in Chengde and other towns, but now it is no longer possible and must be supplemented from outside.
"Do you know where Helianduo's food comes from?" Li Keyong asked with a somewhat dissatisfied expression.
"Of course it comes from the west." Gai Yu sighed with a heavy heart and said, "The commander-in-chief might as well pretend that he doesn't know about this."
"You!" Li Keyong didn't expect the mastermind to say this, and he became a little angry and said, "Thief Shao bullies me like this, do you think nothing happened?"
"How is the commander-in-chief treating you?" Gai Yu asked.
"After the autumn harvest, there was enough food and grass, so I raised my troops and went north to attack Shuozhou. I had to do this." Li Keyong swung his horsewhip and left directly, not wanting to listen to Gai Yu's advice anymore.
He understood the truth, but he felt uncomfortable in his heart. The worst he could do was finish the fight with Shao Thief and die together.
"Why is the king so angry?" Princess Liu opened the carriage curtain and asked with a smile.
Li Keyong remained silent.
The Liu family was from a wealthy family in Hedong, and the woman was well-educated and resourceful. Li Keyong always respected her, but she was in a bad mood and didn't want to answer.
"A few days ago, my brother-in-law came with a letter, saying that there is a lot of bran and gold in Shanzhou, and he has sent Qiaoer to make gold vessels. A batch will be sent over before the twelfth lunar month to celebrate Dalang's birthday." Mrs. Liu waved, and Li Keyong
He sighed and got on the carriage.
"My brother-in-law is much better than my adopted brother." Li Keyong snorted coldly.
Mrs. Liu smiled and said: "I originally planned to send some gold and silverware to Lingzhou, but I heard that there were soldiers robbing the mines, and the mine supervisor couldn't make them..."
"These are killers!" Li Keyong cursed and said, "We will straighten out military discipline when we get back. Anyone who robs people or mines will be killed!"
"Husband, a small punishment is enough. The sergeants are also complaining about the insufficient rewards and are not happy with the benefits. Now the treasury is not rich. If we clean it up and encourage production, the people will be diligent in farming, and the treasury will be rich, the sergeants will naturally not plunder.
Now." Ms. Liu took Li Keyong's hand and said with a smile: "My husband is an indomitable hero. Just leave these small things to someone special. The mountains and rivers in the east of the river are fertile. As long as the people are stable, there is no need to worry.
Not rich?"
"What Madam said is true." Li Keyong was also a person who knew what was good and what was bad, but he often couldn't control his temper.
As I get older, I actually get better, but I still beat and scold the sergeants when I'm angry, and even kill people.
As for not being able to listen to advice, that's more serious. Hedong generals all know that when the commander is in a bad mood, don't give advice, otherwise the end will probably be bad.
"Go back to Jinyang first instead of going to Shuozhou. The Shao thieves are cunning and arrogant. I don't expect the poor and the poor to plunder anything, so why not go and kill Wang Rong's son?" Li Keyong took a breath and said.