Several prime ministers came out of the royal study worriedly. The war was fought for national strength. Everyone knew this truth. It took more than one million troops and more than three million civilians. It took half a year. This would indeed consume tens of millions of stones of food and hundreds of millions of people.
Thousands of weapons and millions of livestock.
But the question is, is it worth it to mobilize an entire nation to fight against the tiny Goryeo? More importantly, there are ongoing major disasters in the country, with more than one million hungry people, and it all depends on the local governments to provide relief to the victims. Once the food is empty, how will the government provide relief? This is
There's going to be a lot of trouble.
However, Emperor Yang Guang did not listen to the advice at all and insisted on going his own way, which made everyone frown. It was already dusk and everyone went back to their homes.
Pei Ju sighed and said to Pei Yun: "Come to my house! Let's talk."
The two of them sat in front of the imperial city gate and got on Pei Ju's carriage. Pei Yun asked, "Is there any news about Yuan Qing?"
"I came to you only because there was news about him."
Pei Ju took out a letter from his arms and handed it to Pei Yun, "I just received it at noon, take a look!"
Pei Yunchou sent out the letter, his body swaying slightly with the carriage. He read the letter carefully through the afterglow outside the window. He frowned slightly and said, "Yuan Qing was assassinated?"
"Fortunately, everything is safe. I wonder who did it? Yuan Qing thinks it's not the Yuan family, and I agree. It's unlikely that it's the Yuan family. Take a look below."
Pei Yun continued to look down. He was stunned for a moment. After a while, he looked up at Pei Ju and asked, "Do you think it's possible?"
Yang Yuanqing hinted in the letter that the Yuan family had the intention to cause trouble, which made Pei Yun quite surprised. Pei Ju sighed slightly, "I didn't believe it at first, but after thinking about it carefully, it is indeed possible. This time the Holy Emperor attacked Goryeo, it was obviously to deal with Guan Long.
The nobles are ruthless against them. I estimate that among the Guanlong nobles, some aristocratic families will jump out, and the Yuan family has been suppressed the most. I wouldn’t be surprised if it jumps out first."
Pei Yun thought for a moment and then asked: "Then when do you think the Yuan family will rebel?"
Pei Ju shook his head, "I can't say for sure. It requires a lot of preparation and waiting for the opportunity. I thought it would be at least the next year."
"If the Yuan family really wants to rebel, how should our Pei family respond?"
"This is what I want to talk to you about today. Let's talk about it when we get home!"
The carriage sped up and rushed towards Pei Mansion.
The imperial study became quiet, and only Yuwenshu was left among the seven prime ministers. At this time, Eunuch Li walked in and presented a letter to Yang Guang, "Your Majesty, news from Youzhou."
Yang Guang was formulating a battle plan. He immediately put down his pen, took the letter, opened it and looked at it carefully. This was a letter written by Han Chi, general Ying Yanglang. This was the second letter written by Yang Yuanqing after he went to Youzhou to take up the post of general manager.
The previous letter was about the assassination of Yang Yuanqing, but this letter was about Yang Yuanqing transferring Zhao Yuanzhen to the Bohai Sea for shipbuilding, and at the same time mobilizing 30,000 troops to prepare for a battle against the bandit king Baxu.
Yang Guang laughed. Yang Yuanqing was very good at using his will. At the beginning of the year, he had issued an order to mobilize the army to quell the banditry.
He told Yuwen: "Yang Yuanqing has begun to suppress bandits in Youzhou."
Yu Wenshu didn't know the content of the letter or Yang Guang's attitude. He didn't dare to speak nonsense, so he said cautiously: "Your Majesty, based on my many years of experience as a general, it is not suitable to fight in winter, especially to suppress bandits."
Yang Guang glanced at Yu Wenshu and said, "Tell me your reasons!"
"Your Majesty, the bandits usually build strongholds on the mountains, and the road up the mountain to the stronghold must be rugged, narrow, and steep. If it is covered with ice, it is even more impossible to go up the mountain. The bandits are condescending and can be stationed with bows and arrows.
I think that if the Sui army attacks by force, they may be able to attack it, but the cost will be too high and there will be heavy casualties, so I say it is not suitable to fight in winter."
Yang Guang nodded, "I understand, Aiqing, please step aside for a moment!"
"yes!"
Yu Wenshu slowly retreated and waited outside. Only then did Yang Guang ask Li Zhongliang: "Is there any other message?"
"Also, General Han hopes to be transferred out of Youzhou. He said that General Manager Yang may want to carry out a large-scale purge of Youzhou."
As Li Zhongliang spoke, he glanced at Yang Guang uneasily. As early as when Yang Guang was the king of Jin, Li Zhongliang was one of the four eunuchs around Yang Guang. Now he is the internal minister of the province and has considerable power, but the late emperor
Both Yang Jian and Yang Guang were diligent monarchs, and eunuchs had no chance to take charge of the military and state. Therefore, eunuchs in the Sui Dynasty could not enter the political stage.
Li Zhongliang changed his name after entering the palace. His surname was Han, and Han Chi, the general of Ying Yang Lang, was his nephew. It was through Li Zhongliang that Han Chi became Yang Guang's undercover agent to monitor Yuan Hongsi. Now Yang Yuanqing is in charge.
In Youzhou, Han Chi smelled that Yang Yuanqing wanted to clean up Youzhou, so he asked Li Zhongliang to find a way to transfer him out of Youzhou.
Yang Guang knew in his heart that Yang Yuanqing's plan to suppress the gangsters was just a cover. His real purpose was to take the opportunity to adjust the senior officers in Youzhou. The reason why it was adjustment rather than purge was because Yang Yuanqing did not bring many officers to Youzhou. Feng Feng
There are no signs of large-scale transfers in Youzhou, so when Yang Yuanqing first took over Youzhou, it was impossible for him to carry out a purge.
Yang Guang smiled and said: "You tell Han Chi not to think too much. When the Battle of Liaodong is over and I make major adjustments to the world's military, I will give him a satisfactory military position. Now let him stay in Youzhou with peace of mind and continue to serve for
I am monitoring Yang Yuanqing."
Seeing that Yang Guang refused to transfer his nephew, Li Zhongliang felt helpless. He could only sigh secretly, bowed and said, "I understand, I will write to him now."
Li Zhongliang withdrew, and Yu Wenshu returned to the imperial study. Yang Guang was in a state of ecstasy for a long time, and suddenly asked Yu Wenshu: "Does Yuwen Aiqing think Yang Yuanqing can really suppress bandits?"
At this time, Yu Wenshu had figured out Yang Yuanqing's true intention of suppressing the bandits. He understood Yang Guang's meaning, so he thought about it and said: "I think he will take action. Just deploying troops without fighting will harm him."
authority."
Yang Guang nodded, "I think so too. I hope he can bring me good news."
Yang Guang still thought wrong. Although Yang Yuanqing did not have Fengzhou officers to go to Youzhou, it did not mean that Yang Yuanqing had no available people. He took advantage of the opportunity of suppressing bandits to carry out a large-scale purge of the Youzhou army.
Yu Wenshu also made a mistake in his judgment. Yang Yuanqing had no plan to suppress the bandits in winter. He knew better than anyone else that even if Wang Baxu's army was wiped out, his Youzhou army would pay a heavy price.
It was late December, and Yang Yuanqing had led 32,000 Youzhou troops stationed in Yixian, Shanggu County for more than half a month, completing his purge of the Youzhou troops.
War is the best opportunity to adjust and purge the army, because war requires changing the army's organization and changing the peacetime military system into a combat organization. How to organize the army is the power of the commander-in-chief.
This time to suppress the bandits, Yang Yuanqing mobilized a total of 30,000 Youzhou troops from Zhuo County, Anle County and Shanggu County. He dispersed all 30,000 Youzhou troops and redivided them into ten teams. Each team appointed a general leader.
Except for the army directly under the control of the general administration, the rest were divided into teams of three thousand people, including one thousand cavalry and two thousand infantry.
There were originally a total of 28 Ying Yanglang generals in the 32,000 Youzhou Army, but he only brought 12 with him. The other 16 were from the list given to him by Luo Yi. All of them stayed in Zhuojun. In fact,
They were purged, and the sixteen Ying Yangfu Lang returned him to the Ministry of War, who would place them elsewhere, including Han Chi, who also returned to the Ministry of War.
Among the twelve generals he reorganized, five were his former iron guards, and the other five were generals recommended to him by Yang Jiachen. They were all among the five thousand cavalry that Yang Yuanqing commanded in the fourth year of Renshou.
The officers are the subordinates of the five Iron Guards.
Su Lie served as the tooth general of the army directly under the general administration. Yang Yuanqing expanded the army from 2,000 to 5,000, mainly cavalry.
He gave the last spot of regimental leader to Hou Mo and Chen Yi, a general who had fought with him back then. After half a month of mobilizing troops and deploying generals, he completed all the adjustments.
Yang Yuanqing's army of more than 30,000 bandits was stationed outside the city of Yi County. The camps were densely packed and stretched for several miles. Yang Yuanqing's Chinese army tent was located in the middle of the military camp.
In the big tent, Yang Yuanqing was busy reviewing documents piled up like a hill. These were originally matters of the long history, but because Zhao Yuanzhen went to the Bohai Sea to build ships, he temporarily took over the affairs of the long history, and these trivial matters were also handed over to him.
He was so confused that he simply threw all these documents to his clerk, Lang Jia Zhengyi.
Jia Zhengyi is the master who forged letters that Yang Yuanqing collected in Jiangdu. He has been following Yang Yuanqing in the past few years and handling documents for him.
What Jia Zhengyi has to do is to sort out these documents first, and then write out the brief contents, and then Yang Yuanqing will approve them based on these brief contents. This greatly reduces his pressure. After these documents are approved, they have to be handed over to Sima for review.
To prevent misjudgments.
At this time, a soldier outside the tent reported, "General Hou Mochen wants to see you!"
"Please come in!"
As soon as the curtain was lifted, a cold wind blew in, and the burly Hou Mo and Chen Yi walked in quickly. He knelt down on one knee and said in military salute: "General, I will see the general manager!"
"General, please take a seat!"
Yang Yuanqing asked Hou Mo and Chen Yi to sit down and said with a slight smile: "How are you? Are you still adaptable to the new army organization?"
Hou Mo and Chen Yi are over thirty years old and a veteran who has been in the army for more than ten years. He has been Li Jing's subordinate for many years, but he has always admired Yang Yuanqing. If he was asked to choose between Li Jing and Yang Yuanqing, he would choose to be loyal to Li Jing.
, but if he chooses between other people and Yang Yuanqing, he will choose to be loyal to Yang Yuanqing. Although Hou Mo Chen Yi is not a confidant like Yang Jiachen, he is a trustworthy person.
Hou Mo and Chen Yi scratched their heads and said with a smile: "Actually, no. Taking charge of three thousand people is actually the same as taking charge of one thousand people. But if you give me five thousand people, I'm afraid it will be a bit difficult."
"I know your ability. If I give you five thousand people, you can still manage them well. You just have to put more thought into them."
Yang Yuanqing smiled and asked him again, "Do you have anything to ask me about?"
Hou Mo Chen Yi said: "Actually, I just want to ask the manager about the arrangements for suppressing the bandits. Everyone has been holding back for half a month. I don't know when we can go to Wuhuiling to attack Wang Baxu."
Yang Yuanqing took a piece of information from the table and handed it to him, "This is the scout's information, take a look!"
Hou Mo and Chen Yi took the information and looked at it. His brows suddenly furrowed. The snow in Wuhuiling was actually three feet deep, and there were only five ways to go.
"General manager, what should we do? Go back to Zhuojun?"
"No!"
Yang Yuanqing shook his head decisively, "Just stay in Yixian to train for winter operations. When you have the army firmly under control, I will return to Youzhou City."
Yang Yuanqing added lightly, "Don't think about returning to the military government. The Liaodong Campaign is about to begin. I will maintain the current establishment for one or two years."