After Li Keyong occupied Youzhou, it was not that he did nothing.
Leaving aside the bad things, let’s talk about the good things that Lao Li did. The most important thing is to rebuild the border defense system that was increasingly abandoned during the era of Li Keju, Li Kuangwei, and Li Kuangchou.
He appointed his adopted son Li Cunjin as the military envoy of Tanji Town, and reorganized the Jingsai Army with more than 10,000 soldiers. If the Tibetan soldiers and Xiangyong were recruited, it would not be a problem to expand it to more than 20,000. There is no doubt that the same is true for Youzhou Xiangyong.
It has considerable combat effectiveness.
Tanji's main defense direction is Gubeikou, this pass and the military town in the north of the mountain. The beacon system accounts for almost more than half of the Jingsai Army's strength, which shows the importance of it.
After Liu Rengong was defeated, he transferred Li Cunzhang, the governor of Yuzhou, to serve as the military envoy of Yingping Town and stationed in Pingzhou.
Pingzhou restored the Lulong Army's establishment during the heyday of the country. Although the number of troops was only 20,000, it was finally established. The military name of Youzhou Town was originally Lulong, also known as the Lulong Army Jiedu Envoy. What would the Lulong Army be like without the Lulong Army?
In the northwest direction of Xinyi Gui, the troops led by the adopted son Li Cunxiao were organized into the Qing Yi Army, mainly stationed in Guizhou, with 5,000 troops, mainly cavalry.
The three adopted sons are divided into three towns: Gui, Tan, and Ping. They control the Fan-Han tribe behind the mountain and serve as the anchor of the sea to the north of Youzhou Town.
Behind them, there were Li Cunxin, the governor of Zhuozhou, Li Siyuan, the governor of Shunzhou, and Li Sizhao, the envoy of Yingmo Town, each with thousands to ten thousand soldiers.
The total number of soldiers and horses under the command of these six commanders is 50,000 to 60,000. In addition to the tens of thousands of infantry and cavalry led by Li Luoluo, who was appointed as the marching commander of Youzhou Town, the total number of soldiers and horses in Youzhou Town is nearly 70,000.
Before the repeated rebellions, it was certainly no problem for Youzhou to raise so many soldiers, but after these few years of struggle, to be honest, the burden has become a bit heavy, the people are suffering, and the oppression of the Tibetan tribe has gradually become more severe.
But the people still gritted their teeth and persisted, because they were more afraid of the Khitans coming to plunder. To be fair, Li Keyong's troops had poor military discipline, but they still had military discipline after all, and sometimes they would pretend to catch the unlucky ones who committed crimes. But
The Khitan people are different. They haven't regarded Youzhou as their own territory. They have a mentality of just grabbing a handful and leaving. Naturally, there is no military discipline. Burning, killing and looting are commonplace.
On this day, Li Cunzhang, who had only been in office for a few months, was inspecting the frontier military town.
He set out from Lulong County, Pingzhou County, and headed eastward with three thousand cavalry, one man and two horses, and walked more than 180 miles to Linyuguan, Shicheng County.
This pass was later known as Shanhaiguan Pass, sometimes also referred to as Yuguan Pass. Over time, it was confused as Yuguan Pass.
Of course, it also has another name: Linlu Pass. From the name, we can see that this pass city must be located near the tail end of the mountain.
In fact, Linyuguan is indeed like this. It is located at the east end of the Great Wall in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. The east of Guancheng is where the Chongqing River enters the sea, hence its name.
Guancheng is surrounded by the sea on three sides, and only the north is connected to the land. There are Tu'er Mountain and Fuzhou Mountain, both of which are steep and insurmountable. There is a post road at the foot of the mountain along the coast leading to the north. The narrowest point is only a few feet, and only one carriage can pass in one direction.
There are six more openings in the Kansai Mountains, all connected by fences and guarded by beacons and a small number of defenders.
Since Li Cunzhang was the envoy of Yingping Town, he certainly knew the importance of Linyu Pass as a transportation node. In fact, he also served as the defense envoy of Linyu Pass. He also directly led the three thousand sergeants stationed inside and outside Guancheng. But he was usually not here.
On the border, Li Chengyue, deputy defense envoy, was actually in charge of defense.
Li Chengyue was a native of Jizhou. His great-grandfather Li Qiong served as a governor of Jizhou, his grandfather Li Anren was the governor of Tanzhou, and his father Li Juncao was the governor of Pingzhou. It can be seen from his family background that he was a local general in Youzhou, and Li Keyong was right
Youzhou's digestion is deepening step by step.
Li Cunzhang did not stay much at Linyu Pass, but inspected the garrison outside the pass.
On July 23, he arrived at Bailang garrison.
Bailang garrisoned a town with 1,500 troops, including 500 cavalry and more than 1,000 local soldiers to help guard it. It was the boundary of Yingzhou during the Tianbao period, and was roughly located on the west bank of the Daling River in the left wing of Karaqin, Liaoning.
Guard general Tan Jien, who has lived in Bailang garrison nearby for a long time, is a local native tribe. He is very brave and has excellent arrows and spears.
His ancestor Tan Zhong was from Jiangzhou in the middle of the river. During the Yuanhe period, Tan Zhong was "strong and strong and liked soldiers". Liu Ji, the governor of Youzhou, gave him 2,000 soldiers and horses to protect the white wolf's mouth.
"See the envoy." Tan Jien led the generals and Hu chieftains to come forward and salute.
Li Cunzhang returned the greeting, then looked at the Tibetan and Han soldiers and horses in the town, and said: "The reason for coming here is really an urgent military situation. Khitan soldiers and horses have appeared outside the east and west Khitan rocks. They are quite large and seem to have a plan. White Wolf
The garrison position is very important and must not be relaxed."
After the Anshi Rebellion, the state's control over Yingzhou was greatly reduced. Not only did it move the Liliu from Liucheng to Linyu Pass to build Yingzhou, but it also adopted a laissez-faire attitude towards the people of the Liangbo (Khitan and Xi) tribes in Yingzhou.
No matter. On the territory of Laoyingzhou, there are only twelve military towns including Wengou, Baiwang, Xixiaoshi, Dongxiashi, Zimeng, Bailang, Changli (not Changli County in later generations), and Liaoxi.
In the past twenty years, because Youzhou Town frequently interfered in the war in Datong, its vitality was severely damaged, and only eight towns were left one after another.
And because of the natural inward relocation of Yingzhou or Xingyingzhou, the governance of these military towns, soldiers, people and vassal tribes located on the boundaries of old Yingzhou has actually been transferred to the hands of the governor of Pingzhou.
Li Cunzhang's official title is the military envoy of Yingping Erzhou Town, the defensive envoy of Linyu Pass, and the governor of Pingzhou. The eight garrison troops outside the pass are all under his command, totaling more than 10,000 people, including Yan people, Khitan people, and Xi people.
Lord. If you include the temporarily recruited local soldiers, there are as many as seventeen or eight thousand.
It seems to be a huge force, but it is scattered in eight places, and a single military town always feels powerless when facing the Khitan people.
This is the difficulty in defending one side. The enemy can concentrate his forces and form a local advantage, but you have to divide your forces in various places, diluting your forces and making you very passive.
Fortunately, the morale of the soldiers was very high, they were not afraid of the Khitans, and even had a psychological advantage. None of the twelve garrison outside the pass were defeated by the Khitans on their own initiative, and the four missing ones were also evacuated by them on their own initiative. If not for Li Keju,
Li Kuangwei and Li Kuangchou liked to interfere in the war in the Central Plains and sent away waves of Youzhou elites. Will the Khitans take their heads?
"Envoy, a group of Khitan people came outside the city yesterday, and someone saw Liu Rengong." Tan Jien reported: "He led the way for the Khitans, which is really abominable. Since the envoy came with a strong army, we might as well gather troops and follow the town.
Send the troops out to the north to kill this bandit. If you encounter the Khitan, just kill them all, so that you don't have to look around all day long, which will annoy you to death."
"Inappropriate." Li Cunzhang simply refused and said: "I received news on the road that there were Khitan people grazing outside the city in the Zimengchuan area. The garrison general led his troops out of the city to rob cattle, sheep and horses, and was ambushed by the Khitan people.
Two thousand soldiers were lost. The Zimeng garrison may have been lost, so we must not be careless."
"This plan is so vicious!" Tan Jien exclaimed.
He thought for a while, if the Khitan people were playing this way outside the Bailang garrison, he might also fall into the trap.
Speaking of which, it's embarrassing. A martial artist just can't bear to see his wealth hanging around in front of him. The Khitan people are herding horses and sheep in front of you, and they don't seem to have many soldiers. Ask yourself, can you bear it?
Moreover, they did not rob the Khitan people just once or twice. Over the years, they robbed countless cattle, sheep and property, and even robbed some women and children. It was very possible that they fell into the trap.
"Guard the door carefully and don't act rashly." Li Cunzhang said: "I have dispatched five thousand cavalry to march eastward to Linyu Pass. I have sent another envoy to Youzhou to inform the King of Jin. Please move the army to Bailangshui (Daling River).
), shocking the Khitan."
"As ordered." Tan Jien responded.
"But what other difficulties are there? If there are any, bring them up now." Li Cunzhang said again.
"The arrows are a little short."
"I asked Qian Jinye to send someone over, is there any more?"
Qianjinye is located in Macheng County, Pingzhou. This county was founded in the 28th year of Kaiyuan Dynasty. It developed due to the navigation of Ru River (Luan River). There are still docks today. It is an important transportation channel in Youzhou and has direct access to the sea, but there is no sea transportation.
In the Tang Dynasty, the northern shipping ports were mainly in Dengzhou. There were trade routes to Silla, and of course there were also shipping routes to the south. Du Fu once wrote poems such as "Wu Gate turns to millet and silk, Panhailing Penglai" and "Yunfan"
"Transfer to Liaohai, Japonica rice comes to Soochow" refers to the grain from Wudi, and silk is transported by sea to the Bohai area.
"No more." Tan Jien said: "If the King of Jin is determined to conquer the Khitans, he might as well mobilize a large army. We have not been afraid of those bastards yet. We will try to beat them up once and for all so that they will not dare to peek at Youzhou again."
"Do you think the Khitan came in force this time?" Li Cunzhang asked.
"The plot this time is not trivial." Tan Jien said, "It just feels like this. I can't explain why."
Li Cunzhang nodded.
Outside the town, there are luxuriant grasses and lush vegetation. Occasionally, I saw some farmland, which was cultivated by the family of the garrison sergeant.
In the distance, there are Kunfa Khitan people grazing their herds. They are an affiliated tribe, commonly known as "Shu Khitan", and they have fought countless battles with the eight tribes of Khitan.
Such a place suitable for grazing and farming naturally attracted the Khitans to go south. After they conquered these military towns, they could farm and graze here, further threatening Linyu Pass and the Great Wall. The Khitans were not purely nomadic tribes, and they were not related to Xi.
Like people, they also grow food.
"Let's defend ourselves." Li Cunzhang sighed softly and subconsciously turned his head to look to the southwest.
In Youzhou City, hundreds of miles away to the southwest, Li Keyong also received news that the Khitans were marching southward, which made him a little angry.
"Yang Wu, you said we might as well wait for the Khitans and Xia thieves to get involved, and we can reap the benefits. What now?" Li Keyong asked angrily.
Zhou Dewei felt a little ashamed and apologized: "I am going to be comatose at the end, please punish me, Commander-in-Chief."
"Commander." Gai Yu coughed and came to Zhou Dewei's rescue: "Actually, I didn't expect the Khitans to be so treacherous."
Li Keyong glared at him and almost scolded him, but he couldn't hold it back and asked: "What kind of treacherous method?"
"The commander-in-chief wants to wait for the Khitans to fight with the Xia people and reap the benefits. The Khitans want to wait for our army to fight with the Xia thieves and reap the benefits. The Xia people are probably waiting for me to fight with the Khitans now..." Gai Yu said: "The Khitans
Going south, we have no idea who the general is, how many troops he has, or which way the large group of troops will go. We can't fight such a stupid battle. We can only give the camp more troops and make it guard its gates. The Khitan people will take advantage of this opportunity.
, retreat by oneself.”
Li Keyong took a deep breath. If he hadn't listened to Gai Yu and Zhou Dewei's "nonsense", he would have already led his army to Daning to fight Yang Yue. The battle would have been over by now. But now he can't act rashly, or even
It's annoying. When I think about the Xia thieves still attacking, breaking the bones and sucking out the marrow of the small tribe in Yanbei, it makes me even more angry.
"Which unit will be transferred to Yingping?" Li Keyong asked.
"Yingzhou soldiers are stationed outside the city. Zhuo, Shun and Ji soldiers can also be used." Gai Yu replied.
The Yingzhou soldiers were led by Li Sizhao, the envoy of Yingmo Town, with five to six thousand men.
Li Cunxin, the governor of Zhuozhou, had 5,000 troops, Li Siyuan, the governor of Shunzhou, also had 5,000 troops, and Li Cunjin, the governor of Tanji Town, had more than 10,000 troops. These three divisions combined can total more than 10,000 troops, mainly Yan soldiers, who have been trained for many years.
It can be considered a relatively reliable force.
"Let's do it like this." Li Keyong said depressedly: "Ying, Zhuo, Shun, and Tan soldiers sent out fifteen thousand infantry and cavalry. The Hengchong army...that's all, the Hengchong army didn't move. Let my son Luoluo Lietie
Lin Jun went to Pingzhou, and all the troops were under Li Cunzhang's control."
The Hengchong Army was originally called Hengchong Du. It was commanded by Li Siyuan and consisted of five hundred heavy cavalry. It was later expanded to a thousand cavalry and was changed to armored cavalry. The military envoy was Shi Yan.
The three thousand cavalry of the Tielin Army were not armored cavalry, but heavy cavalry, and were personally led by Li Keyong's eldest son, Li Luoluo.
Both of these troops were Jin soldiers, originally intended to deal with Xia thieves. Li Ke thought about it carefully and decided to transfer the heavy cavalry away and keep the armored cavalry.
There are many light armored cavalry in Youzhou City, such as Li Cunxian's Yi'er Army, Li Siben's Pioneer Army, Li Si'en's Assault Army, Yuan Jianfeng's Assault Cavalry, etc. The original establishment was not large, with a thousand soldiers and eight hundred cavalry.
, has expanded in recent years. Conquering Youzhou was probably Li Keyong's biggest achievement in recent years.
"It's all your fault that the situation is like this!" After giving the instructions, Li Keyong became more and more angry as he thought about it, and almost swung his riding crop to beat Gai Yu and Zhou Dewei.
Of course, he never thought that he was the one who made the decision at the beginning. Now the three parties have their own agendas and are deadlocked here, and it seems that Youzhou is the party with the biggest trouble. In anger, he is indeed a bit unscrupulous.
