Suddenly, a beardless man riding a maroon horse jumped out from under the gate of Yingzhou City and opened the door with a sharp voice.
"Hurry up and open the city gate, the Za family are still waiting to enter the city!" No need to think too much, this person is the chamberlain Zhu Gui.
As soon as Zhu Gui's sharp voice came out, a guard at the top of the city frowned.
Who is this guy with a duck voice under the city gate? Why is he so arrogant and domineering? This Yingzhou City is a state government after all, so how come anyone dares to come here and run wild?
"Stop talking nonsense, open the city gate quickly. Do you want to be whipped? If you want to be whipped, go to the government office to get it. Don't feel uncomfortable here."
County Lieutenant Jiang Zheng glared at the guard and scolded him repeatedly. In Yingzhou City, all armament matters were under his control. Even the governor Qian would not interfere with his decision, so the little guard was still not there to scold him.
Under the words.
After all, Jiang Zheng had seen a lot of the world. From the way he dressed and behaved, he had already concluded that this person must be a nobleman from Chang'an. Regardless of the identity of that nobleman, even if he was just a steward in the palace of a Duke and a Marquis, they were not the ones to mess with.
Affordable.
"Hey, hey, I'll open it now, I'll open it now!" How dare the guard carry Jiang Zheng on his back? He immediately walked backwards to the iron wheel with a smile on his face and bowed his waist. Although he had already forgotten Jiang Zheng's ancestors in his heart.
Yashiro did it once, but now he had to open the city gate according to Jiang Zheng's wishes.
If someone is crushed to death by a high-ranking official, what else can be done?
"Creak! Creak!" The iron ropes stirred and made a creaking sound. After a while, the city gate was lowered. The iron city gate fell heavily and buckled on the snow, leaving clearly identifiable ruts and ravines.
"Bah! I don't know what to pay attention to. This snow foam has splashed all over the Zajia family, you little bastard!" Zhu Gui wiped the frozen snow on his cheeks, cursed angrily and bowed to Li Kuo.
: "General Li, please go first!"
Li Kuo held the reins with one hand and made a gesture of invitation to Zhu Gui: "Eunuch Zhu, please!"
"Hey, you are the commander-in-chief. How can the Zajia family enter the city before you? Your Majesty must hear this, and why should you strip the Zajia family?" Zhu Gui waved his hands repeatedly, showing no sign of compliance.
"So, thank you!" Li Kuo greeted Zhu Gui with a slight nod, raised his whip lightly, and rode the breeze into the city.
A pot of shochu, a pile of cucumbers, a pot of mutton in sauce, and a pile of peanuts. It's hard to imagine that this was the food and wine that Qian Yuan, the governor of Yingzhou, entertained Li Kuo.
When Qian Yuanke ordered his servants to bring these things to the table, even Pu Dachui, who had always been easy-going, opened his mouth.
Darling, the governor of Qian is too stingy. This meal is not good even in the military camp, but he is using it to entertain the governor? This seems to be a bit pricey, right?
"Haha, haha, don't be disgusted by General Li. In order not to collect grain and grass for the rebels, I pursued the policy of clearing out the country. Except for the necessary winter grain for each household, the rest of the grain was either collected or destroyed and would never be given to the rebels.
The rebels took advantage of this opportunity."
Qian Yuan could see that Li Kuo was quite surprised, thinking that he was resentful, so he hurriedly explained: "Our Yingzhou City is located in the Huaibei Plain. It is not as good as a mountain city where you can go hunting for game, and you can't store seasonal vegetables. Once winter comes, you can eat them."
It’s just some grains.”
Qian Yuanke accompanied him and carefully observed Li Kuo's expression. After confirming that he was not malicious, he breathed a sigh of relief.
"So that's it. It's a blessing for the Tang Dynasty and the people of Yingzhou to do what Master Qian did." Li Kuo heard this and cupped his hands at Qian Yuanke and said, "I just don't know how long the grain storage in Yingzhou City will be enough?"
When the two armies are fighting, the defenders will implement a policy of fortifying the walls and clearing the fields in order to prevent the attackers from raiding the surrounding villages for food and grass. Now that it has entered winter, the wheat has been ground into flour and put into the vat. But it cannot be ruled out that peace and security are still possible.
After the Lushan rebels captured surrounding counties, it was possible that they would send cavalry to plunder villages.
Therefore, Qianyuan can, on the one hand, bring villagers who are willing to enter the city with their grain into the city, and on the other hand, eliminate the soldiers and help the villagers bury most of the rice grain underground in their houses, leaving only a few days of rations. In this way, even if An Lushan's rebellion
Even if the army plunders so far, it will not be able to collect much food.
"If we save some food, we will be fine for about half a year. However, if the army is stationed, it may not last until three months at most." Qian Yuanke thought for a moment and stroked his beard and said.
"Don't worry, Governor Qian. Our army is just resting in Yingzhou City temporarily and will set off soon." Li Kuo saw that Qian Yuan was freeloading on himself and quickly explained with a smile to reassure him.
"Don't be anxious, don't be anxious. You have been in Yingzhou for a day, and the guy in Anlu Mountain is a little worried. Once the army leaves, the people of Yingzhou City will have to live on tenterhooks again."
Qian Yuanke shook his head helplessly, his expression full of loneliness.
"Where have An Lushan attacked now?" Li Kuo asked with a slight frown. Judging from the reports from the imperial court, An Lushan only controlled the prefectures and counties in the northern part of Henan Province, while most of the southern prefectures and counties were still in the country.
under the control of the Tang court.
Hearing this, Qian Yuanke took a map from his entourage and slowly opened it on the desk: "General Li, you see, our Yingzhou is at the junction of the Huai River and the Ying River, and is the southernmost part of Henan Road.
Going north is Chenzhou and Haozhou, and going further north is Songzhou and Xuzhou. Now Haozhou and Chenzhou are still waiting and watching, but Songzhou and Xuzhou have fallen into the hands of the thieves.
"
"I didn't expect the rebels to be so powerful. They have reached Xuzhou City!" Li Kuo slapped the case fiercely and gritted his teeth: "Once Xuzhou is defeated, the connection between Guanlong and Huainan Road will be cut off, and the imperial court will no longer want to transport rice from the Jianghuai area.
To get food to Chang'an, it has to take a long detour, and the losses are bound to increase."
Qian Yuanke nodded appreciatively: "General Li's analysis is good. Perhaps this is the reason why An Lushan is eager to capture Xuzhou. Once he completely opens up all the states and counties in Henan Province, I, the Tang Dynasty, will safely attack Guanzhong."
The cost of transporting rice grains is much higher. Although Guanzhong can be self-sufficient, it is not a long-term solution."
Li Kuo nodded and said: "Your Majesty wants me to enter Chang'an from Duji Road. In Lord Qian's opinion, where should Li take the route?"
Qian Yuan took a deep breath when he heard this, and thought to himself: Are you the one leading the army to ask me such a question?
"This, this, haha" After thinking for a moment, Qian Yuanke finally came up with a reasonable route.
"General Li, look here. If you want to go to Guanzhong, you must pass through Xuzhou. But now that Xuzhou is in the hands of the An thieves, it will be difficult for you to pass directly. It is better to take a detour on the Shannan East Road, pass through Xiangzhou, and go to Xijing from Shangzhou.
"
"Hey, how can this work? How can this work? Your Majesty has made it clear that General Li must enter Xijing via Duji Road. If he takes a detour from Shannan East Road, wouldn't he violate the holy will?"
Seeing that Qian Yuanke had come up with such a "bad idea" for Li Kuo, Zhu Gui quickly stirred up the situation.
"Eunuch Zhu, you don't know something. There is a card ten miles away from Duji Road. It is impossible to pass without fighting." Qian Yuanke had already learned Zhu Gui's identity from Li Kuo.
After many years of ups and downs in the officialdom, of course I knew that this kind of person was the worst offender, so I had no choice but to speak kindly to him, hoping to send this plague god out of Yingzhou as soon as possible.
But Zhu Gui didn't think so. He just raised the corner of his mouth slightly and said, "Hey, why can't the Zajia understand what Mr. Qian said? His Majesty ordered General Li to return to King Qin of Beijing, and he didn't ask him to go on a trip. This is the first time of the march.
How could we avoid a war? If we marched from Duji Road, we might be able to give the rebels a fight. If we took advantage of the situation and conquered Xuzhou City, wouldn't it be a happy event?"
"This, this" Qian Yuan didn't know that Zhu Gui was so stubborn, and he didn't know how to answer for a moment.
"Eunuch Zhu is right, and Governor Qian is rightly worried. It is probably impossible to enter Guanzhong without fighting, but we should still try our best to avoid the Anlu Mountain rebels. After all, entering the capital to defend the emperor is the best option.
What’s important is that there is no need to worry about temporary gains and losses.”
When Li Kuo saw that the two of them were quarreling, he quickly came out to smooth things over.
From the moment Zhu Gui insisted on asking to accompany the army, he confirmed that His Majesty the Emperor was suspicious of him, and that's when he came up with the idea of sending an internal servant to supervise the army. However, this approach obviously has no effective restrictive effect. If
If I am really rebellious like An Lushan, what effect can a eunuch supervise the army have? On the contrary, if I am loyal and loyal, and there is always a eunuch around me to point fingers, it will inevitably hinder the military.
Therefore, this does not look like a good plan.
It's just that up to now, there is really no better way except to have a good relationship with Zhu Gui as much as possible and minimize his influence on the Huainan Army.
"Look, look, the Zajia family still likes to hear what General Li said!" Zhu Gui curled his lips and said: "The Zajia family doesn't want to take care of these things anymore, you can do it, but there is something the Zajia family has said before. If anyone
If he becomes disloyal to His Majesty the Emperor, the Za family will fight against him, hey, fight hard!"
Zhu Gui raised his fist in a gesture of loyal protection, which made Qian Yuanke almost laugh.
"It was Qian who didn't think carefully just now. Come on, Eunuch Zhu, I will give you a drink!"
After saying that, Qian Yuanke filled a glass of soju for himself and raised his hands flat to respect each other from a distance.
ps: I always thought it was because of the eunuchs who misled the country, but that little Zhu Gui was so cute.