Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 436 Human Heart
The news that Shao Shude, king of Lingwu County, galloped fifty miles overnight from Xiashi to Shanzhou quickly spread throughout the streets and alleys.

The officials in Shanzhou were embarrassed and did not know how to deal with Shao Shude.In the end, I can only pretend to be deaf and dumb, as if I didn't see it.

The Shanguo soldiers in the city were very disappointed.

There are rumors in the army that Li Fan, the general of the yamen, sent people to Qilijian in the west of the city last night to borrow troops from Xia Shi to put down the rebellion.This made people scold, Zhu Jian's rebellion is a trivial matter, and it is a major matter to let foreign troops stretch their hands in!
Shanguo is a small place with not much land, but a large population. All kinds of resources and money are already very tight, and basically they are owned by the owner.

It may not be a bad thing for Zhu Jian to be a Jiedushi, at least he is considered a Shaanxi general, he knows how to share the benefits, and will not mess around.

If Shao Shude seized the military power of the generals and annexed the Shanguo Army as soon as he came up, would everyone still be able to keep their own interests?

To whom is the tribute of the passing business traveler?
Who is in charge of collecting taxes on Guancheng, pontoon bridges, and ferries?

Who is going to do the job of transferring rent and tax from the Kanto to Chang'an?
There are already many people and little land. Will those lands be redistributed?

Many of them are occupied official land.For example, during the Chaos, the Shence Army stationed in Shanzhou collapsed, and a large number of fields it owned were divided among the people.Some abandoned post stations and post fields have also been occupied in large numbers.Will someone turn over old accounts?
Also, Shanguo's original tribute to the imperial court was not too small, but not too much. Shao Shude wanted to fight Zhu Quanzhong, and his old nest was far away in Lingxia, so he couldn't transport more money and food, so he had to be there. Do you scrape money locally? Why?
On the west city wall of Shanzhou, Shao Shude looked at the mighty river, feeling emotional.

Li Fan explained these complex interests in a soft voice. There is only one core, and it is best to let the Shaanxi general be the commander-in-chief of Shaanxi.

Shao Shude listened quietly and thought silently.

Do we need to adapt measures to local conditions to rule the Northwest and the Central Plains?
In the four provinces of Guanbei, the population and economic strength are weak, and the size of the army is also small. The problem is not big, and it is enough to rule directly.

The towns in Guanzhong are not as powerful as the Central Plains towns, and the strongest Fengxiang Army only commands [-] troops.

The imperial court has always had a clear understanding of the strength of the Central Plains feudal towns.Before the chaos, they still had some prestige. They often sent people to the towns to ask the towns to maintain "appropriate balance" and not to keep too large an army.

Even so, the Tianping Army analyzed from Ziqing Town "is divided into three counties and has 3 troops in command."In other words, the Tianping Army's standing army is [-] people. This is just the number on the roster for the court to see. Who knows how many people actually have?
Taining Army, [-] standing army.

Xuanwu Army, a standing army of [-].

"Bianzhou has had many military affairs since the beginning of the year, and Liu Xuanzuo raised his division to [-]." This is what happened during the Jianzhong period.

"Chenliu is the largest town in the world today. There are [-] soldiers, and the land connects four prefectures." This is what happened in the Zhenyuan period.

In the Xianzong Dynasty, there were still "one hundred thousand troops".

Later, it decreased year by year, and some of them were taken away by Gao Pian to Huainan, and a large part was lost in the fight against Huangchao, so that when Zhu Quanzhong went, there were not many people, but the foundation was still there and the strength was strong.Many people were actually scattered, and Quan Zhong recruited scattered soldiers, which actually helped him a lot.

Wuning Army, 3 people.

Yicheng army, [-] people.

Heyang Army, 5 people.

Huaixi Town, 5 people.

……

Of course, the above are all figures before the Chaos. After the Chaos, the number of troops has risen just like the price of food.How much is now, the court can no longer figure it out, and it is useless to figure it out.

Shanguo Town originally had more than [-] soldiers.After Chaos Chaos, it has not increased but decreased, and there are still more than ten thousand, but it is mainly the Fanzhen soldiers, and the Shence Army has been wiped out.

"General Li, Zhu Jian's family, you will be escorted to the river and handed over to Wang Chongying. The captured Zhu Canjun will be taken with you." Shao Shude said suddenly: "You are a Shaanxi general, and your status is appropriate. If Wang Chongying asks, Do you know how to say it?"

"This military rebellion was done by Zhu Quanzhong with the intention of annexing Shaanxi. Zhu Jian has been included in Quanzhong's genealogy and changed his name to Youqian. One of them is ambitious and the other is wolf-hearted. , to punish the rebellious party." Li Fan replied.

What is said is basically the truth, and there are confessions.

Fengxiang Town is stationed seven miles southwest of Shancheng City, and the Sun Floating Bridge is only one mile away, and it can be reached in a short while. On the surface, there seems to be no problem.

Of course Wang Chongying could see that things were not that simple.

But so what?
Shanguo, the terrain is difficult and dangerous, and it is difficult to defeat it by force.Even if it is conquered, the loss will be huge.

I just want to go to Shanguo, let me give you a step down, can you take it?
It doesn't matter if you don't pick it up, the river will be attacked later, if Li Ke can't manage it.

If the Shuofang army wanted to go east, Shaanxi and Guo must be in their hands, and at least a part of Hezhong must be in control.Every time he used excuses to beat Zhu Quanzhong, Shao Shude's heart was not so big.

To put it bluntly, Hezhong Town may have become the first priority target now, not Zhu Quanzhong.

Just like Zhao Dejiao in Shannan Dongdao, if you don’t go east, you can still maintain a good relationship with others, hello, hello, hello everyone.But since he wanted to go east, he had to tear his face apart.

Hezhong Town, when faced with military pressure, may vote for Li Keyong, or maybe Zhu Quanzhong, there is no other way.

The same is true when Zhu Quanzhong came to occupy Shaanxi. Wang Chongying either voted for Li or Shao, but at this stage Zhu Quanzhong's priority is not the west, but the east.

Wanting to occupy territory without paying any price, how could such a good thing always exist.

After explaining to Li Fan, Shao Shude went down from the city tower. Now he still has a difficult task to deal with, which is how to deal with the Shanguo soldiers and the states and counties that have not yet been controlled.

Last night, 1000 Shanguo troops were dispersed, and there will be another [-] or so left.

There are probably less than 4000 people in the outer states and counties, and they are stationed relatively scattered.

"Commander, Li Fan's words are actually correct." Chen Cheng said: "At present, the whole loyal army is pressing down on the border. If the situation in Shaanxi and Guo cannot be dealt with as soon as possible, it would be unsightly to let it go to a stalemate. You might as well let Li Fan stay behind in Shaanxi and Guo." , He is a general of Shanxi Province. After he is appointed to stay, as long as he does not act recklessly, the counties will still obey. After the Quanzhong soldiers retreat, we will find a way to slowly deal with these army leaders."

When a warrior is in charge of the country and a coup d'état takes power, he has his own set of unspoken rules.

Wang Gong is dead, and one of the generals in the town takes the position. As long as the other generals in the military government agree to give him a high or low status, and then send envoys to various states and counties, the transfer of power will be completed. It has been like this for hundreds of years For play.In the future, the court only needs to make up a procedure to change from Jieduliu to Jiedushi, and it will be completely stable.

"We can let Li Fan stay first and then clean up the hearts of the people in the town. When Quanzhong comes to attack, the Shanguo Army can also play a role. When scouts come to report, Pang Shigu has sent his troops to divide into two groups, enter Xiong'er Mountain, and pass through Henan Mansion In the south, Lushi County in Guozhou is in a hurry, and it is likely to fall soon." Shao Shude said: "The interests of the old officials and generals in Shaanxi and Guozhou will not be moved for the time being."

Having said this, Shao Shude also sighed.Right now, he still has to coax these rascal officials first.

The west of Ruzhou, the south of Henan Province, and Shangzhou are all mountainous areas, belonging to the remnants of the Qinling Mountains.

But there are many counties in the valleys between mountains.Except for Shangzhou, the agriculture in Guozhou, Henan Prefecture, and Ruzhou mountainous area is still very developed, and the population is also large.

After the Bian army occupied the Lu family, most of them would attack Zhuyang, Yucheng and other mountainous counties in Guozhou, and then choose the next direction of action.

Here, it is a very pragmatic strategic choice to give full play to their advantages of having many infantry, rich combat experience, and sufficient supplies, and abolish Xia's cavalry maneuvering power.

If the people in Shaanxi and Guozhou are uncertain at this time, and a large number of people vote for Zhu Quanzhong, things will become very difficult.The Bian army in all the counties and townships in the mountainous area can choose to go north at will and attack the Xiaohangu Road, which is too passive.

"You go and talk to Li Fan about this matter, you must hurry up." Shao Shude urged again.

……

Near Xin'an County, the Iron Cavalry made Zhe Siyu see a strange army.

The Xuanwu cavalry came.

But if you look carefully, they are definitely not professional cavalry, because their horses are "wrong".

That's not a horse, some are simply mules!Although the rest are horses, they are all bad horses and inferior horses. What is the Bian army doing?
But after all, he was familiar with military books, and he quickly remembered the famous Huaixi Mule Army back then.

Huaiyi's riding skills are good, but they are short of horses and cannot form a large-scale cavalry unit.In Huaixi, there was a tradition of raising mules, so they collected bad horses, poor horses, and mules that the cavalry looked down upon as means of transportation, and let the infantry ride on the road and dismount to fight.And because they have good riding skills, they occasionally charge infantry.

At that time, the Huaixi mule army was too famous, "the most powerful, and the officers and soldiers were always on guard."

As far as a group of horses can be selected to be war horses, in fact, only about one-fifth of them can be selected. The rest of the horses are not looked down upon by the cavalry masters, and they are called "bad horses".

However, there are also people who use the horses, and they are usually bought by ordinary people as a means of transportation.

The Bian army gathered the poor horses, mules and the like, and selected infantry with a bit of riding skills to ride. Is this to revive the "Huaixi Mule Army"?
Mule-riding hoplites!

To be honest, the Shuofang army really didn't have much experience in dealing with mounted infantry.

But as far as the country is concerned, the application of mounted infantry is actually very common.

Back then, the area controlled by the Anxi Army was too large, but its strength was insufficient. In order to solve this problem, a large number of infantry were equipped with horses.Then at the Dajian Military Station, the infantry rode to a place on horseback, changed horses after a short rest, and continued on their way, so the mobility advantage was extremely strong.

When Su Ding defeated the Turks, his infantry caught up with the Turks on horseback, and then dismounted and fought in formation to defeat them.

"I still want to build cavalry infantry, but the Bian army will do it first." Zhe Siyu was a little dumbfounded.

Huaixi "Guangzhu Mule", this he knows.If the Bian army rode mules to fight the Xia army cavalry, then he would laugh his teeth out, but if he got off the mules to fight, he would have to think of a way.

Mules have good stamina. They are stronger than horses in terms of strength and load-bearing. The speed is a bit slower, but they are still faster than infantry.

The most important thing is that regardless of the feed, it is not easy to get sick, and the service life is longer than that of horses, so the cost has come down.

It is indeed a cheap substitute when there is no horse available, but it is still a specialty of Huaixi.

"Where did the Tianxiong Army guard the people go?" Zhe Siyu asked Li Renfu, Marquis of Yu, and asked.

"It has reached Mianchi."

"Okay, let's not fight them head-on, and focus on delaying." Zhe Siyu ordered.

Guochao used horse-riding infantry to deal with the Hu people, and usually went straight to the enemy's nomadic land, grasped the location of their camp, forced the Hu cavalry not to dare to fight, and attacked the big formation that you dismounted from the horse head-on, which would naturally lead to a disastrous defeat.

What would the mounted infantry of the Bian army do?What should you do if you have a small number of cavalry and a large group of mule-riding heavy infantry?

(End of this chapter)