Chapter six hundred and fifteen the foundation of life
As soon as the dust of war started in Xiaoguan, the river and Huang blocked the spring in a foreign land.
The Han people were talking nonsense, but they were cursing the Han people at the top of the city.
——"A Feeling of Hehuang" Sikong Tu (Tang Dynasty)
…
That night, Bai Fu called Tang Kui, Tang Huan and others into the tent to discuss matters.
Tang Kui told Bai Fu that three hundred secret spies from the Tang Sect had been lurking in batches in Hebei and Hedong roads according to Bai Fu's instructions, surveying the enemy's situation and waiting for instructions.
Bai Fu said: "Okay, let's not activate them first and let them hide deep in the rebels or civilians. If they are left alone for a year or two, they will be of great use."
Tang Kui said: "Persian General Alberts has also returned. He went south to Lingnan according to your instructions and has found out the truth about the Guangzhou riot:
After retaking the two capitals, the coalition forces of Persia and Dashi were originally planning to set off from Guangzhou and return to Dashi by sea.
Unexpectedly, Guangzhou was so rich, but its defense was extremely loose. These soldiers set out to plunder Guangzhou, burned the state and county offices, massacred local officers, soldiers and people, and robbed a large amount of treasures and took them to sea."
Bai Fu sighed: "This is the consequence of luring a wolf into the house. The same is true for the Uighur army to suppress the rebellion. We must be on guard against it."
At this point, Bai Fu's eyes flashed and he said decisively: "Tubo and Huihe are ambitious. If they dare to covet the Central Plains, I will make sure they never come back!"
…
After the "Eight Laws of Loyalty and Succession" are deeply rooted in people's hearts, there is no need to micromanage everything and ask about it one by one. After setting the goal, the tasks can be broken down according to the authorization system.
Generals at all levels perform their duties and bear their own responsibilities, with equal rights and responsibilities.
The number of buck-passing incidents in the army has been significantly reduced. Troops and horses have been mobilized, and the efficiency of military supplies has been significantly improved.
Without being tied down by trivial matters, Bai Fu, as the commander-in-chief, can save more time and energy to think about more important things:
After the siege of Suiyang, Bai Fu kept revisiting the situation. Why didn't the nearby Tang army rescue Suiyang?
If we only use the evil nature of human nature to explain it, saying that Helan Jinming, Xu Shuji and other generals were sinister, vicious, cold and ruthless would not be able to fully explain the truth.
Both Taifu Xu and Yan Zhenqing often said: "If you are unable to do something, then seek others from yourself."
Looking at it from another angle, are Zhang Xun and Xu Yuan also responsible?
The Shaanzhou government office has a large number of battle reports from that time. Bai Fu ordered people to copy these documents and transfer them to the army.
Bai Fu looked through these military reports and found that when Zhang Xun was guarding Yongqiu and Suiyang, two Jiedu envoys appeared in Henan Province. One was Li Ju, the king of Guo, appointed by Xuanzong, and the other was appointed by Suzong.
Helan Jinming.
"The sun and moon hang over each other to illuminate the universe." The situation in which the two festivals stand side by side is obviously the projection of the power struggle between the two emperors in the DPRK and China in Henan Province.
In the Battle of Ningling, Zhang Xun and Xu Yuan fought fiercely with the rebel general Yang Chaozong. They fought for dozens of times day and night, and beheaded more than ten thousand rebels.
After the war, Zhang Xun was appointed deputy envoy to Henan Province, but the King of Guo, Li Ju, was stingy with the rewards and refused to provide food, wages, troops, and horses, making Zhang Xun's deputy envoy to Jiedu a mere name.
As for Xu Yuan, there were 60,000 shi of grain stored in the city. King Guo Li Ju forced Xu Yuan to give 30,000 shi to PY and Jiyin County. After Jiyin County got the grain, they rebelled. Xu Yuan worked hard to accumulate the grain.
It fell into the hands of the rebels.
Prime Minister Fang Guan disliked Helan's entry into the Ming Dynasty, and ordered Xu Shuji to be the military envoy to the Ming Dynasty, and also a censor. Xu Shuji relied on his elite men, and was of the same rank as Helan's entry into the Ming Dynasty, so he was not subject to his control.
Helan Jinming did not dare to divide his troops. Firstly, he was jealous of Zhang Xun and Xu Yuan's military achievements. He was also afraid that Xu Shuji would attack from behind and annex his troops.
On the surface, the conflict between Prime Minister Fang Guan and Helan Jinming, the governor of Henan Province, caused Helan Jinming to sit back and watch Suiyang's peril without providing reinforcements.
In other words, due to the differences between Xuanzong and Suzong, the Henan Jiedushi, who was in charge of the overall military and political affairs of Henan Province, had lost control of the warlords in various places. These military leaders took advantage of the Anlushan Rebellion to grow and become the imperial court.
A force that is difficult to control.
This may be the deeper reason why Suiyang City is alone and has no chance to meet.
After coming to this conclusion, Bai Fu repeatedly asked himself a question: If he was surrounded, would Wei Zhi and Li Ruoyou come to rescue him?
If someone comes to rescue, who will it be? Will it be Wei Boyu or Li Zhongchen?
Master Zhongsi said: "In this world, if you want someone to help you, you must be 'necessary and useful'."
What kind of exchange of interests do I have to go through to get Wei Zhi, Li Ruoyou and others to come to my rescue?
After much deliberation, Bai Fu had no hope for Wei Zhi, Li Ruoyou and others.
In times of war, the soldiers and horses under your command are the foundation of your life.
No matter how good the relationship is on weekdays, at critical moments, the other party will not come to the rescue as long as it will cost the friendly troops.
Bai Fu relaxed his mind and body, sat in meditation for a day, and finally came to a conclusion: You can't base your destiny on anyone. Once you are surrounded, you must be fully prepared that no one will come to help you.
Only when you have absolute strength and can defend the city and defeat the rebels without relying on anyone else can you be truly safe."
The truth is so simple. Once you figure it out, Bai Fu suddenly becomes enlightened.
At this point, as for the entertainment of Wei Zhi, Li Ruoyou, Wei Boyu and others, Bai Fu would push it back if he could, and if he couldn't push it, he would give in. He would not spend too much time and put all his energy on running the army.
…
In order to have absolute strength, the first task is to recruit soldiers and train them into qualified warriors as soon as possible.
Although Bai Fu received permission from the imperial court to recruit and train troops, no one from the military and political officials in Shaanzhou was optimistic about them.
Because after several years of fighting, there were very few soldiers of suitable age left in the Henan area. It's not that there are no young people, but because the battle battlefield is dangerous, no one in the local family is willing to let their young men join the army.
Seeing An's recruitment order for the Beiting camp, Hengmu dismissed it and said: "Bai Fu thought that everything would be fine with the imperial court's recruitment charter. He took it too much for granted. In the final analysis, he is still naive."
Shitaiqing stroked his beard and nodded, saying: "On this point, I agree with your point of view. General Wei recruited troops in Shaanzhou for three rounds, but he could only recruit a handful of soldiers. General Guangbi's wishful thinking may have been in vain."
As these two people said, the Anxi Ting camp had been recruiting for ten years, and there were only a few dozen soldiers recruited, and they were all hungry, cold and weak refugees.
It was obviously not possible to just wait and see. Bai Fu decided to take action in person, visiting the surrounding villages and mobilizing the folks in Shaanzhou.
Bai Fu took Tang Kui, Hu Yan Tieyi and others, dressed in ordinary warrior attire, to conduct overt and covert inspections of nearby villages.
Along the way there were broken walls and ruins, and thousands of miles of fertile fields were turned into scorched earth.
We passed through several villages, but none of them were inhabited. Not to mention young and middle-aged people, not even old, young, women and children were seen.
After walking for several hours, I didn't see a single person. I only saw numerous bones in the ditch beside the road.
When we came to a mountain col, the mouth of the valley was long and narrow, facing the Yellow River. There were several rows of bamboo rafts scattered on the river beach, which should be used for crossing the river or fishing.
Huyan Tieyi replied to Bai: "General, the villagers in this area are all hiding in this mountain col. Do you want me to lead troops to drive them out? If there is a young man who dares not to join the army, I will pinch his balls out."
"
Bai Fu smiled and said without comment: "We have been walking for a long time and everyone is tired. Let's bury the pot and make rice here."
The soldiers immediately set up stoves, gathered firewood, and cooked meals.
Soon the food became fragrant and gave off an alluring smell. Everyone sat around and talked while eating.
Everyone quickly had enough to eat and drink, packed up, and was ready to continue on their way.
The crowd had just walked less than 500 steps when seven or eight lean young men emerged from the mountain col. They were as agile as rabbits and rushed to the place where the cooking pots were buried to look for the leftovers left by Bai Fu and others.
The leftovers are cold.
Huyan Tieyi turned the horse's head, whipped it and whipped it, and in a few short steps he rushed in front of the seven or eight teenagers and blocked the group of teenagers in front of the horse.
Huyan Tieyi pointed his horsewhip at the group of teenagers and shouted: "You kid, you are old enough to join the army. Come back to the camp with me as soon as possible. I will guarantee you good food and drink. It is better than hiding in the mountains and drinking the northwest wind."
These young men ignored Huyan Tieyi's solicitation at all.
The leader of the young men shouted, and the three young men took action at the same time, shooting stones with slingshots and hitting Huyan Tieyi's horses.
Huyan Tieyi snorted coldly, waved a pair of iron whips in his hands, opened his bow left and right, and knocked down three stones.
Huyan Tieyi laughed proudly and was about to speak. The young man in charge didn't know when to take action. The slingshot and stones came first and hit Huyan Tieyi's horse in the crotch.
The war horse was in pain, and the man stood up, almost knocking Huyan Iron Clothes off the horse.
In an instant, the group of teenagers dispersed like birds and beasts, huffing and puffing. Some fled towards the col, while others plunged into the water.
Huyan Tieyi was furious and led his cavalry to gallop and blocked the young man who was fleeing towards the col at the mouth of the valley.
Huyan Tieyi gave an order, and all the cavalrymen took out their crossbows and aimed at the group of teenagers.
Facing the encirclement of the Tang Army's cavalry, the young men showed no fear. The leading young man put his hands together, put them to his mouth, and blew a sharp whistle.
Just listen to the loud sound of gongs in the mountain col, and hundreds of fully armed young village warriors rush out from the woods in the mountain col. They hold bows, arrows and steel forks, and they rush out bravely, surrounding Huyan Tieyi and others.