Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 773 Meeting
Li Tangbin boarded the mountain and overlooked the whole Yingdong.

The distance was foggy, and the sound of the golden drum came faintly.Taking advantage of the fog to sneak attack has always been something that both sides never tire of.Sometimes it succeeds, sometimes it fails, but neither determines the overall situation.

The entire two sides of the Yingshui River were almost transformed into continuous fortresses by both sides. More than 20 troops were stationed in these fortresses, attacking each other day and night, splattering blood and consuming lives.

The situation is tilting to one's own side a little bit.

The southern line annihilated more than ten thousand Liang troops, and Caizhou fell into his own hands. After learning that Yingzhou was impenetrable, Zhe Zongben resolutely decided to send his troops northward to attack Yancheng and start a war with the Youguo army.

Liang Jun on the northern front had the upper hand.Li Tangbin sent more than 4000 Henan Fuzhou soldiers up.Li Renjun in Huaizhou sent another [-] Baoyi Army to the south, under the command of Chishui Army envoy Fan He, and the situation was considered stable.

The three-way attack on Liang, counting the Tutuan villagers, each side has more than 20 soldiers and horses, which is rare in the history of the country, probably only during the Anshi Rebellion and the crusade against several famous thorns and rebels. scale.

This battle is of great significance to Xia Jun, but it has nothing to do with life and death, but it is a matter of life and death to Liang Jun.

In fact, there is still a way behind the enemy.Qi Bizhang, the Flying Dragon Army, evaded the reality and took the three counties of Bozhou, shaking the hinterland of the Bian Song Dynasty.I don't know what happened in Puzhou, and there is no movement for the time being, but it's good to keep Zhu Zhen in check, there is no other request.

This battle has entered the end of the middle game, and the decisive moment is approaching.

"Send all the news to Liangzhou." Li Tangbin ordered as he went down the mountain.

The messenger left Xiangcheng, went north and west all the way, crossed the Yiluo Basin, walked through the Weihan Valley Road, crossed the Guanzhong Plain, drove across the Huizhou grassland, crossed the natural danger of the river, entered the vast desert, and then drove all the way , Arrived in Liangzhou on February [-]th.

But in Liangzhou, there were only concubines of the royal family and officials and generals who accompanied him, while Shao Shude himself led a brigade of cavalry westward, and rushed to Suzhou along the way.There was no other way, and the post station sent messengers to rush all the way, sending the battle report from the front to Shao Shude immediately.

"It costs a lot to maintain the courier delivery system all the year round." Shao Shude asked someone to reward four bolts of silk to the courier, and said to Chen Cheng with a smile: "A post station is tens of miles away, and it travels five hundred miles a day. I don't know how much it was wasted." horse."

"Your Majesty has the six horse farms of East Envoy, West Envoy, Yinchuan, Yongqing, Heishui, and Zendan, and there are Tibetans paying tribute. Is there still a shortage of horses?" Chen Cheng said: "The difficulty of maintaining the station is not so much about horses. Speaking of people, this is the biggest expense.”

In the heyday of the Kingdom, there were thousands of post stations, with three or five small people and dozens of people. The country’s postmen added up to more than [-], and there were even more horses. The postfields that only raised postmen and horses were allocated I don't know how much, in addition to this, the imperial court had to spend a lot of money, so that after the Anshi Rebellion, it gradually became unable to afford it, and most of the contracts were contracted to local wealthy households.

Xia Jun’s post station system is gradually recovering, but it has not yet reached the level of one station for thirty miles and more than 6000 water and land stations at the peak of the country. The business model has not changed, and it is still contracted to reduce expenses as much as possible.

The military newspaper spread from the front line of Ruzhou to Ganzhou, and the main roads were the Luoyang-Xiangyang line, Luoyang-Chang'an line, Chang'an-Lingzhou line, and Lingzhou-Anxi line. These main roads have generally restored the post station system.

"Let's talk about the battle situation in Henan. The deadlock has been loosened. Can we enjoy the delicacies next?" Shao Shude said.

"Your Majesty, Li Tangbin is a prudent man. Zhe Linggong is a little more aggressive. Under the control of the two of them, the situation on the southern line should be able to enter the stage of closing the net. There are three things to worry about. There are many fortresses, and when the enemy's morale has not collapsed, it is not easy to attack; the second Shucong may still defeat Qi Bizhang, so that the southern line can continue to be maintained; the third Zhu Quanzhong may personally lead the army to the south to reinforce Bo and Ying. "Chen Cheng said: "Overall, I have gained the upper hand. Now I can gradually plan for it. The main goal is to annihilate the enemy. The primary goal is the five armies of Longjian, Kuangwei, Jiama, Youguo, and Jianrui under Pang Shigu's tent. The five armies are full of 6 people, and they should be the pillars of Liangdi. After the annihilation, Zhu Quanzhong has no power to return to heaven, so he can only return to Zheng, Bian, Song, Hua, Cao, and Shan states to die. Cai, Chen, Xu, Bo, Ying, Xu, and Su seven prefectures can send partial teachers to take them lightly."

Feeling relieved, Shao Shude looked at Zhang Huaishen, the envoy of Guasha Jiedu and Guiyi Army who stood beside him, and said with a smile: "Zhang Pushe, after the Central Plains matter is settled, we can go out to destroy the Gaochang Uighurs. The southern towns have few troops. , I haven’t paid attention to it yet.”

He didn't believe that anyone could make him suffer defeats such as Feishui, Chibi, and Qingkou these days, and attacking the southern towns was like searching for something.

"Prince Xia has such pride, I admire him very much." Zhang Huaishen replied.

"Aren't these people the rising stars of the Zhang family?" Shao Shude looked at the people behind Zhang Huaishen and asked.

Zhang Huaishen also brought out his sons.He and his wife, Yingchuan (Xuzhou) Chen, had six sons in total. This time, I traveled eastward to Suzhou with my father and met King Xia who was so powerful in Kansai.

Mrs. Chen and her daughter Mrs. Zhang also came over, and they were talking next to Princess Zheshi.

"The loser still doesn't come to see King Xia?" Zhang Huaishen turned around and asked.

"Zhang Yanhui, Commander of Guiyi Army, Zhang Yanli, Governor of Guazhou, Zhang Yanshou, Commander of the Back Building, Yamen of the Shogunate..." The six people came forward to salute together.

Shao Shude stepped forward to help them one by one, and gave a few words of encouragement casually.

Standing behind his father, the 14-year-old Shao Siwu quietly looked at Zhang Huaishen's sons, but met Zhang Yanli's peeking gaze, and both of them avoided in embarrassment.

He has performed very well recently, serving his parents with respect and courtesy, never slacking off in practicing literature and martial arts, and treating others more modestly.In addition, the Northern Expedition to the Yinshan Tatars made a dispensable contribution a while ago, which was praised by my father.

He is familiar with history books and knows that Taizong led the army at the age of 14. He is also 14 years old this year, which is the time for a good man to show his ambitions.Since the west tour, I have seen too many things, most of which are things that you can’t touch or understand while sitting at home.

"Da Lang, why don't you come forward to greet your uncle?" Shao Shude said suddenly.

Shocked, Shao Siwu immediately stepped forward and bowed in salute.

Zhang Huai returned the salute deeply.

Then he greeted Zhang Huaishen's six sons one by one, and it was a lot of work.

Shao Shude watched with a smile.

Yesterday I heard from the Secretary-General that Zhang Huaishen was accompanied by Shazhou Suo family, Cao family, Yin family and Tuyuhun Murong family who tried to contact Shao Siwu, but they did not meet.

The tyrants in these places knew how to make money, and felt that since they could not replace the status of the Zhang family, they simply flattered the more promising Shao family to seek greater benefits.

"For the matter of Shazhou, please Zhang Pu shoot it. If you can take Yizhou, you can take it, and if you can't take it, you can put it aside for the time being. When I have free hands, I can move westward." Shao Shude said.

The relationship between Shuofang and Shazhou is called an alliance, and there is actually a master-slave relationship, which Zhang Huaishen also admits.Besides, over the years of our relationship, Shazhou has also benefited a lot, and its strength has recovered.At least, after a lot of effort, they gradually subdued the rebellious Murong Ministry, and the dilemma of being attacked internally and externally improved.

This is called win-win!If they cooperate, both sides will benefit. If they disagree, there is a high probability of perishing in internal and external troubles.

Suzhou Inspector Long just stood aside silently, not saying a word.

King Xia brought [-] troops of golden swords, black horses, iron cavalry, and flying bears to march westward. Along the way, there were many flags and flags, and the sound of golden drums resounded through the desert grassland, and all ethnic groups near and far were terrified.

The Long family is not an absolutely dominant ethnic group in Suzhou. In fact, there are Han, Uighur, Tubo, Dangxiang, Sogdian, Gamo, Tatar and many other tribes in Suzhou, which are extremely complex.As soon as King Xia came, all the tribes came forward to pay homage, offering thousands of horses and 3000 cattle, sheep and offal.It can be said that [-] warriors were selected away, which can be described as extremely respectful.

When Long saw it, his heart turned cold, and he was immediately dejected. He didn't dare to say anything about taking back the power of Suzhou.

Yesterday, Chen Changshi from the palace had already confessed to him. He had to choose between entering the court or serving in the Hexi shogunate.Long thought hard for a long time, and finally decided to go to Liangzhou to serve as the deputy envoy of Hexi Jiedu.

This is a noble position, with respected status and generous salary, but without any real power, Long would not like it at all, but what can be done now?Seeing that the king of Xia wanted to replace the Tang Dynasty and stand on his own, after the establishment of a new dynasty, most of them would not allow the state of the vassals to be separated, so they could only think of ways to use their brains on wealth and honor.

Fortunately, the Long family tribe is still there, and with this foundation, it won't be too bad.On the other hand, I heard that King Xia still likes the red-haired woman sent by the Long family, saying that it is "unique style".In the past, Long sent only nieces and the like, and he was considering whether to add some points, send his own granddaughter there, or give it to the son of King Xia?

He glanced at Shao Siwu, and felt a little pity that he was not the heir of the eldest son.However, I heard that Shazhou Suo, Yin, and Cao tried their best to curry favor with Shao Dalang, so should I also place some bets?For a moment he hesitated.

"I don't have much time left, I hope I can wait until the day King Xia comes over." Zhang Huai sighed sadly and said.

It was a pity that Yizhou was once recovered for him, but lost again later.Suzhou is similar, get it in your hand and lose it.Coincidentally, the Uyghurs occupying his two sites are the Uyghurs of Gaochang and the Uyghurs of Ganzhou.

Liangzhou was once occupied by Yan Mo, and he led the army to regain it. However, he was not the Jiedushi of Hexi after all, and it was impossible for the court to allow one person to hold the positions of commanders of two towns at that time, so Liangzhou was gained and lost.

Shan, Kuo and other prefectures were actually obtained after expelling the Tubo people by local tribes in the name of Guiyi Army. They only belonged to him in name, but they were not obedient at all. Solid man.

In its heyday, there were eleven prefectures in name, but now there are only two prefectures, Sha and Gua, and there will be no more than a few people and no more than ten thousand soldiers, so it can only support it.

How difficult it is to succeed.

Shao Shude was also very emotional when he heard this, but he couldn't make any guarantees. After all, the Central Plains was important, so he could only comfort him: "Gaochang Uighurs, I will destroy them. Once the Central Plains are settled, I will send troops to join forces with Zhang Pushe."

(End of this chapter)