Six hundred and twentieth chapters self-respect for raising pirates
Xiaoxiao rustle, the sound is everywhere, I worry about the garrison and Zhengji.
The iron clothes are cold, the horses' hooves are stained with blood, and they are ridiculed.
——Excerpt from "Ganzhou is everywhere, the autumn wind is tight" by Mao Wenxi (Five Dynasties)
…
Bai Fuzhi's army training methods were unconventional and unconventional, which aroused criticism from the senior generals stationed in Shaanzhou.
The two Jiedu generals Wei Boyu and Li Zhongchen (Dong Qin) were both battle-hardened veterans. Although they had a good relationship with Bai Fu, they did not agree with Bai Fu's army management methods.
However, the feelings of the middle- and lower-class soldiers were different. The troops at the Anbeiting camp were well paid and the food was good, which was enviable.
In particular, the former Anbeiting camp general who defected to Wei Zhi and Li Ruoyou had mixed emotions.
Wei Zhi and Li Ruoyou were not born in the military, and they did not seek military advice from the generals. They only knew how to run the army through meetings. They often asked everyone to come to the camp for meetings.
As a military meeting, the meeting did not have any operational command issues. It was nothing more than conveying the hadith, how to write a court report, etc., and repeatedly emphasized the wording, grammar and other details of the report.
These two adults also like to lecture and talk eloquently.
Not only was the meeting worthless, it was also extremely lengthy and made the generals miserable.
Many generals discussed and worked in private, trying to transfer back to their camps, but Bai Fu declined all of them.
…
Bai Fu's recruitment of troops in Shaanzhou went smoothly, which surprised all the generals.
Later, the generals heard that there was a conflict between new soldiers and veterans in the Anbeiting camp. Everyone was gloating about this misfortune.
Deep down, everyone still feels that Bai Fu succeeded as a young man and rose to a high position, and they feel somewhat jealous.
Bai Fu had some idea of what Shaanzhou officialdom and military circles thought of him.
Bai Fu thought: "No matter what you do, you will be criticized by others. The most urgent task is to prove yourself with a victory."
On this day, Emperor Yan Shi Siming sent general Li Guiren with 5,000 elite cavalry to attack Shaanzhou.
Wei Boyu, the military governor of the four towns in the west of the town, led hundreds of cavalrymen to defeat the rebels at Zizizan (south of SMX City in present-day Henan Province) and captured 600 war horses. The rebel general Li Guiren escaped.
A few days later, Li Guiren once again led the rebels to attack Shaanzhou. Li Zhongchen (Dong Qin), the military envoy of the Shence Army, fought several battles with the rebels in Shazha (today's west of Luoning County, Henan), and continuously defeated Li Guiren.
military.
Li Guiren had no way to advance westward, so he had to lead his army north. Bai Fu was ordered to intercept the rebels in Yongning North (now north of Luoning County, Henan Province), and Li Zhongchen was ordered to intercept the rebels in Yongning South (now south of Luoning County, Henan Province) to block the rebels.
The army's retreat.
Li Guiren set up camp a hundred miles away from Yongning. Li Guiren needed repairs to relieve the fatigue of the soldiers from the past few days of fighting.
Li Guiren had some considerations in choosing to set up camp here.
This place is hundreds of miles in circumference and the terrain is open. There is no sign of the main force of the Tang army. There are only two or three Tang army scouts and a small number of farmers cultivating the land.
The main force of the Tang army was infantry. At this distance, it would take half a day for the infantry to arrive in time. By the time they arrived, they were already exhausted and could not withstand the charge of Fan Yang's cavalry.
If the Tang army launched a cavalry attack, without the coordination of the Tang army's infantry, Li Guiren would not take the Tang army's cavalry seriously at all.
At the same time, Li Guiren was also waiting for a reinforcement of five thousand cavalry.
This support army is led by the Yan Army general Hu Guangji. It is the main force of Fan Yang's army and is capable of fighting well. Once this new force arrives, the capture of Shaanzhou will be just around the corner.
Li Guiren's army buried pots and cooked rice. After dinner, the soldiers wrapped their clothes and pillows and armor, and soon they began to snore and fell asleep.
Running and fighting non-stop for days left the team exhausted and exhausted.
At dawn, it is the sweetest time for sleep.
Dozens of Sichuan disciples, wearing night clothes and carrying powerful crossbows and fire starters, secretly approached the rebel camp.
A hundred steps away, Tang Huan, Yue Suigong and others used slings and slingshots to throw drugged fresh rabbit meat into the camp.
Just hearing a burst of gobbling, a dozen mastiffs rushed out of the darkness and feasted.
Tang Huan lit a stick of incense in a secluded place and calculated the time for the onset of intoxication.
After the incense burned out, Tang Huan waved his hand, and dozens of Sichuan disciples approached the military camp silently from all directions.
Several sharp archers fired their arrows without missing a beat, killing the sentries and patrol posts on the hanging bucket cleanly, and replaced them with Tang Sect disciples on duty.
Dozens of Sichuan disciples relied on their superb Qinggong skills to climb over the barracks fence and leap into the barracks silently. Ten disciples pulled the door bolt and slowly opened the camp door.
After entering the military camp, the Sichuan Gang disciples quickly dispersed and invaded various parts of the military camp with ease, stuffing fire starters into stables, fodder and other places.
With the sound of "dy", the Sichuan disciples started to set fire at the same time. Suddenly, fires broke out everywhere in the military camp, and the horses fled in panic.
"The Tang army is coming to kill!" shouts of killing were heard everywhere.
A Tang army cavalry force of nearly a thousand people descended from the sky like a divine soldier, armed with long spears, and charged into the rebel camp like a torrent of cavalry.
The sleepy rebel soldiers hurriedly got up, wearing armor, holding weapons, looking for horses...it was a mess.
Before the cavalry could mount their horses and the infantry formed formations, the Tang army's cavalry had already rolled over, waving their swords and sabers, killing the rebel soldiers half asleep and in a daze.
Before Li Guiren could put on his armor, he was surrounded by soldiers and pushed onto his war horse. Before the horse could even put on its saddle and stirrup, it carried Li Guiren and fled the camp.
Li Guiren led more than a dozen of his own soldiers, discarding their helmets and armor, and fled in defeat.
Just after running ten miles, they met a Yan army cavalry of several hundred people. The leader was none other than the reinforcements he had longed for, General Hu Guangxu.
Li Guiren was overjoyed. He raised his whip and stepped forward. He gritted his teeth and said: "General, you came at the right time. Follow me and fight back. I will kill all the Tang troops without leaving a single piece of armor behind!"
Hu Guangji looked at Li Guiren's troops and asked, "General Li, when will your camp be breached?"
Li Guiren sighed: "Just half an hour ago."
Hu Guangjin sighed, took out a letter from his arms, handed it to Li Guiren, and said: "We have all fallen into the trap.
Three hours ago, I received an urgent report of one hundred thousand troops sent by Meteor Kuai Ma. It contained your handwritten letter asking for help.
Not daring to delay, I left my baggage behind, led the cavalry myself, and ran towards your camp.
Unexpectedly, we encountered an ambush from the Tang army twenty miles away from you.
I saw that the Tang army was not large in number, so I was careless and led my troops directly into the formation. Unexpectedly, the Tang army had a weird formation, and in less than an hour, all five thousand cavalry were strangled..."
The two comrade-in-arms discussed it and decided that staying in Shaanzhou was meaningless. They gathered the remaining troops and withdrew towards Luoyang.
This battle was the first battle of the new army in Anxi's Beiting camp, and attracted much attention.
Bai Fu's new army was fierce and ferocious and defeated the rebels. If Li Zhongchen's army had not successfully blocked it and leaked the personal troops of Li Guiren and Hu Guangjin, the rebels marching westward could have been completely wiped out in this battle.
After this battle, Wei Boyu, Li Zhongchen and Bai Fu all received promotions and awards.
But at the same time, Li Guangbi sent a close associate to send Bai Fu a secret letter.
In the letter, Li Guangbi reminded Bai Fu: In this battle, the Anbeiting camp defeated the rebels and won a complete victory.
Your Majesty originally wanted to promote Bai Fu to be the Military Envoy of the An Lushan camp in Beiting, but some important ministers in the court reminded Your Majesty that the military power of the Beiting camp in An Lu was too strong and Bai Fu's military power should be restricted to prevent him from becoming the next An Lushan.
Li Guangbi warned Bai Fu that if he holds military power, he should keep a low profile and go deep without showing his sharp edge. He should learn from Wei Boyu. On the one hand, he should make friends with important ministers in the court and speak kind words in front of his majesty at critical moments; on the other hand, he should not expose all his combat power.
, which can both confuse the rebels and retain military power.
The secret letter was burned after being read, and Bai Fu's mood could not calm down for a long time.
Bai Fu lamented that the reason why the Anshi Rebellion could not be quelled was due to the battle of Shaanzhou.
If I defeat the rebels, some people worry that I will become the next An Lushan; if I lose, they will say that I have spent so much food and money from the court but cannot win against the rebels. Such incompetent people should be replaced.
The Tang Dynasty did not lack brave generals, nor did it lack wise advisers. What it lacked was a kind of trust and a kind of tolerance.
Without the court's trust and generosity in the generals, it would be difficult to gain the generals' loyalty to the court.
Although the Anlushan Rebellion was caused by the excessive power of the Jiedushi, it would be too much and not enough to treat every Jiedushi as an Anlushan to guard against.
The imperial court designed a series of measures to check and balance the military generals: rotation of generals, division of the army, eunuchs supervising the army to check and balance...
But the more this happens, the more the upper and lower parties are divided, the harder it is to win the hearts of the Tang soldiers and the loyalty of the three armies.
It can be said that before external troubles are eliminated, internal worries arise again.
Bai Fu suddenly had an epiphany: "Why are the Tang army and the rebels always in a stalemate? Because the stalemate is not good for the court, but it is good for all the generals in charge of the army!"
The longer the war is delayed, the more powerful the commander will be. When the end is strong, there will be no situation where the cunning rabbit dies and the lackey is cooked.
Up and down the government and the public, the old balance will continue to be broken until a new balance is established.