"There are actually 180,000 people in the three counties of Chengfu, Yongcheng and Linhuan?" Qi Bizhang was sitting in the county office, pretending to listen to official business. When he heard this number, his jaw almost dropped.
It is estimated that there are only more than 10,000 people in a county in Longyou, and 60,000 in a county in Henan? This country has been devastated by war. If there is peace for 20 years, how many people will there be? Qi Bizhang cannot imagine.
"Since we are so rich, let me recruit troops! Five thousand people from one county, with ten days of rations, will be gathered in Linhuan County for training." Qi Bizhang slapped his thigh and said happily.
The county officials looked at him looking like a big boss and did not dare to resist, so they could only respond with a grimace.
Will the Tutuan countrymen fight for unrelated outsiders? I'm afraid it will be difficult. What if they hear that they are summer thieves who have been attacking them all year round? It will be even more difficult. But what can be done? Who will save them?
The county officials were kicked out that afternoon. Qi Bizhang set a time limit for them. If they didn't come, they would bear the consequences. He would bring the Feilong Army to surprise them.
Of course, this may just be a bluff. If these people regret it after returning and are determined not to obey orders, it will also be troublesome if they gather the recruited village warriors into the city. In order to deter the thieves, Qi Bizhang may
Lead the army to attack the city. As for who will be used to attack the city, you don't need to think about it.
Some people may ask, isn't this Qin Zongquan?
Indeed, it's a bit like it. Qin Zongquan likes to recruit soldiers on the territory he has just captured, and then train and plunder at the same time. When it is almost done, he will continue to roll and develop to another territory. The recruited sergeants will be trained in battle, and they will be eliminated at a high speed.
Come on, those who survive are all capable.
And this is probably one of the important reasons why Meng, Huai, Luo, Ru and other states were destroyed. If you don't flee to Weibo, Xuanwu and other towns, you will be arrested by Qin Zongquan, so the people will quickly
Die or flee, there is no one around for hundreds of miles.
After all, Qi Bizhang did not dare to act recklessly like Qin Zongquan, but recruiting troops to attack cities was a routine operation for warriors in this era. He was ready to learn from other people's excellent experiences. What do you think? Come and stop me?
On the seventh day of February, the first batch of more than 2,000 rural warriors recruited from Linhuan County arrived at the school grounds outside the city, and Qi Bizhang went to review them in person.
What surprised him was that these local warriors still knew several common formations, and they could also roughly read the golden drum flag.
"No wonder Zhu Quanzhong swept through Henan. All the villagers in Tutuan are decent and well-organized." Qi Bizhang praised: "The foundation is good. If there are vacancies in the yamen army, state and county soldiers, they can be filled directly. Go to the army and work hard.
After playing for a few years, I will become a good player again."
Lin Huanling, who was following him, forced a smile.
Henan is suffering, and the people of Henan are suffering! During the An-Shi Rebellion, Henan was the main battlefield, with earth-shaking killings and blood flowing everywhere. Later, in order to deal with the rebel vassal in Hebei, a series of vassal towns were set up in Henan for long-term campaigns. Later, in order to deal with
The Henan vassal town set up by Hebei to rebel against the vassal clan also became a rebel vassal, and there was another chaotic war.
Such a general background naturally injects strong martial ethics into the people of Henan. But you ask them whether they prefer the peaceful days before the Anshi Rebellion, when there was no war for a hundred years, or the tense days now where they often receive military training and often fight in battles.
?
I just want to be a peace dog, but I didn’t have a choice before, and I still don’t seem to have a choice now.
"These soldiers are very suitable for me." Qi Bizhang looked at them for a long time and said happily: "Zhu Quanzhong is a waste, he can't use these local warriors. Before the Anshi Rebellion, these local warriors could penetrate the entire Henan. Haha, hurry up
Quickly recruit Ding, five thousand people, not one less. I want to take Shi Shucong's lair."
Linhuan ordered a wry smile on his face. It was not that they were unwilling to surrender, but they were really worried about being liquidated.
It is true that if we put it aside a few years ago, there would be very few people willing to surrender. After all, King Liang was very kind to the people of Xuanwu Town. Light taxes were a trivial matter. The most important thing was that he killed Qin Zongquan and did not let him
Turn Xuanwu Town into a hell on earth like Henan Prefecture, Ruzhou, and Heyang.
In the past few years, King Liang had suffered consecutive defeats, and his thoughts had undergone subtle changes. Although King Xia had a very bad reputation in Henan due to various bad rumors that were difficult to distinguish true from false, but at their level, they had a certain ability to distinguish.
He knew which ones were true and which ones were false, so he was not very reluctant to seek refuge with King Xia.
But the problem is that you have to stand firm and don't run away. Just like conquering Heyang and Dongdu, don't run away and work hard, so that people dare to join you.
"Look at your bearish look." Qi Bizhang saw Lin Huanling's ugly face and sneered, "Don't worry, Shi Shucong can only fight with an army of more than 20,000 people, so I won't be afraid of him. If he attacks
Come on, you just have to defend the city, and I'll give him a good look on the outside."
"General Qibi is also a veteran, so why doesn't he know the morale of the army? If your army leaves, these local peasants won't be able to hold on for even half an hour, and they will surrender directly." Linhuan ordered bitterly: "They won't know how.
If we have even half of our morale, we will never be able to withstand the siege of Shi Shucong's army, and we will all die without a burial place."
"What you said is not entirely because you are greedy for life and afraid of death. There is some truth in it." Qi Bizhang thought for a moment and said, "If I leave two thousand soldiers to help guard, I will not let the thieves succeed."
"It's difficult." Linhuan Ling shook his head and said: "The people's hearts are not solidified, and the local braves are unwilling to fight to the death. It is difficult to hold on."
"Then you still want to run away?" Qi Bizhang was angry. I finally wanted to be a bandit, but as a result, so many things happened, it was so annoying!
"Don't worry about the abundance. Recruit troops first. I will be of great use." Qi Bizhang said, "Otherwise, open the treasury and count the goods. I want to recruit troops."
Conscripted soldiers and recruited soldiers are definitely two different things.
Just like Qibizhang once planned to recruit troops from three counties to attack Suzhou, but now I feel that he may not be so optimistic. Morale and combat effectiveness are very problematic. Unless you learn from Qin Zongquan, indulge them in rape and plunder, let go of the evil of human nature, and let the conscripts
The local warriors become beast soldiers. There is no military pay, only rations. Everything can only be obtained after you break the city, whether it is wealth or women. This can maintain considerable morale and the possibility of conquering Suzhou is not small, but the contract must be written.
Don't dare to do that yet.
But recruiting soldiers is another matter, because they are voluntary. They know the risks before joining the army, know that they are working hard, have already built up their psychology, and their morale is still there.
As for the family members who are worried about Zhu Quanzhong's revenge, there is no need to do so because there is no such rule.
At that time, two brothers, Zhu Cun and Zhu Quanzhong, defected to the army. The eldest brother Zhu Quanyu was still farming in his hometown, and no one bothered them. The same was true for Zhang Quanyi, Li Tangbin and other family members. Maybe this was the custom. After all, people who rebelled after hard times were real.
There were too many, and the court was too lazy to take care of them.
"General, in order to support the war in recent years, the county treasury has been empty..."
"Shut up! You guys are really talking too much today. Every time I say something, you have to babble, do you think I don't know how to kill people?" Qi Bizhang said angrily: "If you don't have money, just go and send someone."
Donate, I’ll wait.”
Linhuan ordered Huixi to run away without daring to say anything.
****
Zhu Quanzhong actually knew what happened in Bozhou before his uncle Cong did.
The "regime behind enemy lines" has been established. This is the first time in history. What does it mean? It means that you no longer have enough troops to drive away the Feilong Army. They have dared to stay in one place for a long time to collect supplies and personnel.
This is a qualitative change, which means that there has been a fundamental change in the strength of the enemy and ourselves.
Zhu Quanzhong, who had been full of confidence for many days, had a dark face in front of others for the first time.
By now, everyone could see that the Xia thieves were simply taking advantage of their large number of horses, cavalry, and mounted infantry to continuously conduct mobile operations, give full play to their own advantages, exploit their strengths and avoid their weaknesses, and win successive victories.
In a head-on battle with the infantry, the Xia people did not have the absolute upper hand. Even the Xia cavalry could not get any advantage when facing the enemy Liang Army infantry. However, unrestricted mobile warfare and repeated harassment of the rear were very disgusting tactics.
Moreover, the Xia cavalry troops who entered the empty Bian-Song hinterland did not kill people indiscriminately. Although it seemed pedantic, the effect has gradually shown over the past few years: no one is willing to fight them head-on, and at most they will lose some property.
It seems acceptable.
On the other hand, if they go behind enemy lines to destroy farmland, kill people and burn houses, and act unscrupulously, they are likely to be unable to move forward. Zhu Quanzhong did not know that during the Five Dynasties, Yelu Deguang's hundreds of thousands of Khitan cavalry were plundering supplies in Henan, burning, killing, and looting, and were finally beaten by the village brave militia.
What a bird, but he had common sense and knew that the people of the Central Plains at this time were no better than those during the Anshi Rebellion, and their martial virtues were still very strong, so he could not push them to a dead end.
"Your Majesty..." Wei Zhao hurriedly walked into the festival hall, and when he saw everyone's faces gloomy and worried, he immediately closed his mouth.
"What's the matter?" Zhu Quanzhong glanced over and asked.
"Uh..." Wei Zhao hesitated.
"Tell me, I can still hold on." Zhu Quanzhong said, making a joke that he thought was good.
"Your Majesty, Caozhou came to report that on the night of the fourth day of the second lunar month, the army in Puzhou was in chaos. Tianping's army and horsemen marched to Yuhou He Gui. Shaolun, the governor of Puzhou, joined forces to kill more than a thousand people and imprisoned Zhu Xuan. He Gui led his army back to Yunzhou and escorted them to the Yamen.
Zhang left Chu Canghuang and fled to Yanzhou, and He Gui then appointed himself as the governor of the Tianping Army. Zhu Wei, the governor of Qizhou, killed He Gui's envoy, and surrendered the county to Zhu Jin, claiming that he wanted to take over He Gui and Shao Lun, the second general." Wei Zhao tried his best to emphasize the key points.
Finished.
After saying that, he looked carefully at Zhu Quanzhong's face.
Zhu Quanzhong was also surprised when he heard this and asked, "Can Thief Xia be involved in this matter?"
"They must have participated." Wei Zhao replied: "Zhu Xuan wanted to chase Xia Bing, and the traitor general Liang Hanyong was the most anxious. He hooked up with Shao Lun and He Gui to take risks. It is normal for them to take risks."
Although Wei Zhao has no evidence, this guess is not far from the truth. Obviously many things are obvious. If he can understand it, others can also understand it.
"Accidents happen so often." Zhu Quanzhong sighed: "I originally wanted to join forces with Zhu Xuan to block Liang Hanyong and force him to run north to Weibo. But now it seems that they actually took the initiative themselves."
"Your Majesty, why don't you send an envoy to Yanzhou and invite Zhu Jin to send troops to attack He Gui and Liang Hanyong?" Pei Di, who rarely spoke, suddenly said.
He was a technocrat and rarely talked about these strategic matters. But Zhu Quanzhong trusted him and often brought him over, and he was able to become one of the four great counselors. He was much better than Xie Tong, the veteran counselor who didn't even have much money in Chang'an.
But as soon as these words came out, the secret was immediately exposed. It was obvious that the situation between the towns was unclear.
Zhu Jin may be dissatisfied with He Gui, but will he unite with Xuanwu? Stop being ridiculous.
"Yes, you can give it a try." Zhu Quanzhong didn't take it seriously, encouraged Pei Di, and then said to Li Zhen: "Pick someone who has no worries about his family."
"As ordered." Li Zhen responded.
It was not appropriate for him to go to such an occasion, because he might be killed by Zhu Jin, so he could only send someone who was determined to die.
"Let's go back to the Bozhou incident." Zhu Quanzhong turned his head again and asked: "The army in Yuncheng was in chaos and Bozhou was trapped by bandits. What do you think of these two incidents?"
"Commander, you may be able to mobilize Ge from Zhou to send reinforcements southward," Li Zhen offered his advice.
