Xiaojiangkou is now not just a village, but two cities that are horns to each other.
After spending more than half a year, Zhe Zongben massively recruited servants from three counties and built a military city with a capacity of 5,000 troops, plus a warehouse city with a capacity of 150,000 hu of grain. Currently, there are more than 40,000 hu of grain.
The 2,000 soldiers from the Zhe family and the 2,000 soldiers from Junzhou who had been brought over by Zhe Zong were dispersed and reorganized into half combat and half auxiliary soldiers. Shao Shude personally gave him the title "Weisheng Army".
There are certainly more than 4,000 Weisheng troops.
Zhe Zongben had already ordered the 5,000 Fengxiang troops who were transporting grain and grass between Guanzhong and Shangzhou to go south to Junzhou and be incorporated into the Weisheng Army.
With the current strength of the army alone, we can only fight on a small scale in the Xiangzhou area, but cannot create any big scenes.
Nine thousand soldiers, in wartime, would probably consume close to 100,000 hu of grain a year. Including war horses and draft animals, it would be more than 100,000. Junzhou only collected more than 200,000 hu of grain and beans in local taxes last year, which was not enough.
It is just enough to give the nine thousand soldiers a fixed monthly grain gift. There may be a slight surplus of 20,000 to 30,000 hu of dendrobium, and there is still a gap of 100,000 hu of dendrobium.
In terms of wealth, it is even less adequate.
To put it bluntly, Junzhou cannot afford to support so many troops.
Zhe Zongben's solution is also very simple, plunder!
The Zhe family army is different from the general army. The Yang family in the northern part of Guan Dynasty may be the Yang family, and the Wang family is somewhat similar to them. The clan is the backbone and absorbs peripheral personnel. Such an army has strong cohesion and can tolerate poorer treatment. The sergeants are not so
Easy to mutiny.
During the Northern Song Dynasty, the Zhejia family held Fugu to fight against the Liao Kingdom and Xixia. Of course, the Northern Song Dynasty court would give some money and food rewards, but the treatment of the Zhejia army was not comparable to that of the Western Army, and they were very poor.
However, the Zhe family can still control the army, and it seems to rely on the cohesion of the clan. The army plunders everywhere, but does not become wild, and is willing to obey orders, which is very different from the general armies of feudal towns.
But this method of running an army and training troops is difficult to replicate.
First of all, in order for a family to be prosperous, the main family and branches must have several thousand people in total, right? The men among these thousands of people are the officers and the backbone.
Secondly, you must be good at martial arts. Practice martial arts since childhood, be proficient in various weapons, understand various tactics and methods, be not afraid of death, dare to fight and fight hard.
Third, cohesion must be strong. Managing a large family is not a simple task and requires the wisdom and skill of the leader.
By achieving these three points, a frontier wealthy family has taken shape. If you want to continue to improve, more detailed work must be done. The Zhejia family has been operating for more than 200 years and cannot be underestimated.
This army, to say the least, if the Zhejia breaks up with Shao Shude, the army will just follow the Zhejia and rebel.
The children of the Zhe family who serve in Shuofang's army may still have their own opinions and may not oppose it, but the Zhe family army will really do this.
Shao Shude's attitude toward the Zhe family was contradictory.
I want to take advantage of it, but I also want to be defensive, but for now, the relationship between the two parties is relatively harmonious.
After the Zhe family moved some family members to Fengxiang Mansion, the Yang family quietly rose up in Linzhou to offset the influence of the remaining Zhe family members. If there was no approval and tacit approval of Shao Shude, no one would believe it.
The Yang family is very favored now!
Yang Hongwang became the Flying Bear Military Envoy, Yang Anji became the governor of Fengzhou, and Yang Yao served in the Duhu Mansion. The family also sent two direct-line women to serve Shao Shude. It was almost a small family.
Zhe Zongben is also a fox who has been practicing for thousands of years, so he can certainly see the current situation clearly.
He admired his son-in-law's methods very much. In Linzhou, it was probably not easy to break up the family. The Yang family did not seize all the power. Local affairs actually had to be decided by the governor appointed by the shogunate.
Generally speaking, the relationship between the Zhe and Shao families is relatively close.
If the son-in-law didn't guard against the family, Zhe Zong would have thought there was something wrong. Since the Northern Dynasties, relatives and powerful ministers have usurped power in many cases. If he doesn't have this political instinct, he is obviously not someone who can be entrusted with the future of the family.
"I'm already old, and I still have to fight for my son-in-law. If I don't treat my grandson well, I'll be against his mother!" Zuri Zongben joked with several nephews and asked at the same time: "The army is ready.
?”
"Go back to Father Ji, everything is ready and ready to go at any time!" someone responded.
"Uncle, the Gucheng County magistrate sent someone privately, willing to transport 20,000 dendrobiums of grain, but he has lost his courage." Someone else said.
"Haha!" Everyone laughed.
Gucheng is a county under Xiangzhou, very close to Xiaojiangkou, and was the most plundered.
The county magistrate was also very clever and actually came up with the trick of spending money to buy peace. Zhe Zongben agreed, because it was no different from collecting taxes.
Two thousand infantry and three hundred cavalry were already arrayed in the open space outside the stronghold.
Surrounded by his followers, Orimunemoto walked along the only street.
There are many buildings on both sides of the street, including armories, public houses, stables, warehouses and even some houses. These are residences allocated to military generals, but there are no families.
When the Zhejia army went south to Junzhou, many of them were still unmarried. After they captured Junzhou, some of the soldiers got married and most of their families were settled in Junzhou City. There were a thousand Weisheng troops garrisoning the city, so they could control the city, and the other two
The county should take care of itself and just submit the tribute.
Overall, governance is still somewhat weak.
There is a sheep and horse wall outside the military city, which houses some goats, black pigs, and war horses.
A city god was built outside the Yangma Wall, and water was diverted into it. There were two suspension bridges, east and west, connecting the inside and outside. There was also a pier near the west suspension bridge, which could accommodate eight ships at the same time. The throughput was not large, but it was barely enough.
.
After leaving the suspension bridge, Zhe Zongben looked back at the military city and told the remaining generals: "When the army goes out, you must always be prepared and not be careless. There is still room for the city fort to be built. Cangcheng
There is a master over there, and as soon as he has time, he will build it and finish it as soon as possible."
"Cousin-in-law (father's cousin), don't worry, he will make sure nothing happens." The general responded.
Zhe Zongben nodded, then got on his horse. The soldiers carried the big flag and flew in the wind.
After a little mobilization, they rode 2,300 paces away from Xiaojiangkou, down the Han River, and headed overland to Gucheng County.
A few days later, the army arrived outside Gucheng County, and the county magistrate Jingdao sent people out of the city to negotiate.
Jingdao is a descendant of Wailang Jingchun, a member of the military department of Wenzong Dynasty. He served as the governor of Gucheng for more than two years. His skills were so-so, but he was not a bad person. He also liked to encourage farmers and mulberry trees. Gucheng was relatively stable under his governance, and the output of money, grain, silk and silk was not high.
few.
"Let Jingdao come out and see me." Zhe Zongben said arrogantly while riding on his horse.
The envoy was the warden of Gucheng County. Hearing this, he was a little embarrassed and said: "General, I'm afraid this is inappropriate. It's a big mistake to transport food in private. Just leave as soon as you get the food. It's all newly harvested."
If the summer grain is really insufficient, there will be tens of thousands of dendrobium left after the autumn harvest. No matter how much there is, it will be gone. Jing Ling couldn’t bear to see the lives of people in ruins, so he took this step. Gucheng is still a county in Xiangzhou after all."
"You, the envoy, are just as slippery as Jingdao." Zhe Zongben laughed and scolded, "What will I say when I defeat Zhao Kuang Ning?"
"If Zhao Kuangning is defeated, why should we hesitate? We will surrender from Kaicheng." The warden said in a bachelor's voice.
The Zhao family and his son were from the old tribe of Qin Zongquan. They were not very fond of Xiangzhou natives like them.
If an external force like Zhe Zongben can defeat Cai Thief, then what else is there to say? Just surrender.
Shannan East Road, unlike the three towns of Yan, Yun, and Xu, has localized government armies, state and county soldiers at all levels, and united soldiers. Their own armed forces have been wiped out by Cai thieves, and there is no soil for separatist rule.
It can only be conquered by various external forces.
If Zhao Kuangning is given another ten years to slowly localize these Cai thieves and rebuild the armed forces of Shannan East Road, he may be able to try to separate the country, but it is really not possible now.
They will vote for whoever is strong. This is very realistic and is also an effective means of self-protection.
"That's all, I'll let you wait this time. Prepare your own ship and send the grain and grass to Xiaojiangkou, and someone will deliver it there." After saying that, Zhe Zongben flicked his whip and his horse galloped forward.
The army moved forward as a whole, heading straight towards Xiangyang.
…
In the Hanyin Post in the west of Xiangyang City, Zhao Kuangning had just seen off Lei Man's envoy.
Lei Manzhe is the leader of the barbarians in Wulingdong, Langzhou.
He had a good relationship with Zhou Yue in his early years, and they often hunted together. During the Chao Rebellion, the two gathered thousands of barbarians, nicknamed "Tu Tuan Army", and recommended Lei Man as their commander.
When Gao Pian was appointed as the governor of Jingnan, he once recruited Lei Man under his command and used barbarian troops to attack the nest bandits. Later, he moved to Huainan to control Huainan, and Lei Man followed him.
At this stage, Lei Man improved a lot and learned a lot of professional military knowledge, including his men who also experienced a lot of training in the military.
After escaping from Guangling, they gathered a group of barbarians, trained them into an army, killed the governor of Langzhou, and occupied the city. Then they attacked Lizhou, and their power was very large.
Li Kan, who was also the governor of Kuixia and Jingnan towns, always regarded Lei Man as a thorn in his side.
After his unsuccessful attempt to move west to central Sichuan, he had given up the idea of developing there. Recently, he even moved Li Li to Jiangling Mansion, preparing to take action against Lei Man.
Lei Man was a little panicked, so he sent an envoy to take a detour to Xiangyang and asked him to attack Jiangling Mansion.
Zhao Kuangning finally did not agree to Lei Man's request, leaving the other party's envoy disappointed.
In fact, he is still somewhat interested in Jingnan Town, for no other reason than he wants to find a way out.
The external situation faced by Shannan East Road is far from being as good as imagined. The main pressure comes from the Xuanwu Army in the north.
Zhao Kuangning was not stupid. He had long seen that after Zhu Quanzhong destroyed the three towns of Tianping, Taining and Wuning, he would definitely go south in a big way, either to eat Huainan or Shannan East Road, or even to annex the two towns.
There were only 30,000 yamen troops in Shannan East Road. The Cai soldiers left behind from Jingnan Second Town by my father five years ago were used as the backbone, and some local generals were recruited. Although five years of peace had passed, the combat effectiveness was still there.
It's just that Zhu Quanzhong's reputation is too great and he has many soldiers and horses. If he meets the enemy head-on, he probably won't be able to defeat him.
This is a hungry wolf!
To be on the safe side, it is best to annex Jingnan Town and have a stable rear area in order to deal with Zhu Quanzhong.
But something happened unexpectedly.
Fengxiang Jiedu envoy Zhe Zongben used the excuse of Junzhou governor Feng Xing to attack Jin and Shang, and led his army southward. In Shangjin County, he defeated Junzhou soldiers, captured and killed three thousand people, and Feng Xingxi also died in the battle.
Not satisfied with this, they reorganized their troops in Junzhou, went down to Xiaojiangkou to set up a stronghold, and from time to time went east to loot places, which was very abominable.
This is also a hungry wolf!
After discussing with his staff, Zhao Kuangning basically analyzed Zhe Zongben's intention to go south, which was to annex Shannan East Road, then go north to attack Ru, Cai and other states, threaten Zhu Quanzhong's southwest, and cooperate with Shaanxi and Guo's offensive against Henan Prefecture.
Attack Luo, Ru, Cai, and Xuzhou from the south and the north, and the Quanzhong rear will never have peace!
But this strategy is bound to step on the corpse of Shannan Dongdao. How can we endure it?