Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 949 The Last Straw

"Zizhou received more than [-] surrendered soldiers and [-] hu of grain and beans. The surrendered soldiers are being screened, and all the peasants of the Tutuan will be released, and the rest will be sent back in custody."

"The two armies of Pinghai and Tuanjie were defeated. By dawn on the 24th, thousands of people were beheaded, ten thousand people were captured, and the rest were scattered. General Qibi is sending people to gather them. We must not let them live in the countryside and do harm to one side."

"Zhu Quanzhong was besieged in Jiaoshui County. More than [-] people from the three armies of Yicong, Dingnan, and Feilong surrounded him. Quanzhong sent people out of the city several times to test, but they were all repelled. Li Tangbin urgently mobilized thousands of soldiers. , Collected the horses of the convoy, and rushed to help the glue. Zhu Quanzhong was already unable to escape."

"Wang Maozhang of the Huai Army seems to have gotten some news and is attacking Yizhou in the north. The Yi soldiers are still in Mizhou, and the state is empty, and they are in frequent emergencies."

"The bandits from Xuzhou attacked Shanzhou in the west, and fought the cavalry at Yutai, and the bandits retreated."

"Shao Bo, the governor of Dizhou, went south to attack Shouguang, but was defeated and left."

"Lu Yanwei sent troops to the south, plundered the counties in Dizhou, robbed another [-] carts of salt, and burned the salt farm."

"Zhu Yu led hundreds of thieves to rebellion, and killed Wang Jiao, the commander of the Qizhou Army."

"Zhu Jin led the army out of the city and defeated part of Long Xiang's army."

……

When Shao Shude returned to Weizhou, his staff gathered the information and made a briefing, which they read aloud one by one.

There is a lot of information, but there are only two important ones. One is that Zizhou was conquered, and the other is that Wang Shifan's new army has been established and destroyed nine months after it was formed, and he lost his only reserve force.

As for the matter of Zhu Quanzhong being besieged, it was actually not the main point, and Shao Shude didn't even pay too much attention to it.

He is not even as dangerous as Zhu Xuan and Zhu Jin.The reason is also very simple. He cleaned up Henan very well. All kinds of separatist forces were swept away.

Putting Zhu Xuan back in Yunzhou, he is more likely to make a fuss than Zhu Quanzhong returning to Bianzhou and paying attention to what he is doing.

Of course, at this point, Shao Shude has to thank Zhu Quanzhong—you have done a great job, and everyone who is interested in unifying the world can use Henan as a foundation.

"In order to catch Zhu Quanzhong, Li Tangbin changed the battle plan without authorization. It's a bit too much. This is not an example." Shao Shude put down the account book in his hand, and said: "Qingzhou, hurry up and finish it, don't delay until the New Year. After killing Wang Shifan, leave behind the guarding soldiers and horses , all the ministries went to Yanzhou, and besieged Zhu Jin. After fighting for almost a year, the soldiers and horses from all walks of life are already exhausted, and the soldiers also want to return, so we can't wait too long."

Zhao Guangfeng answered yes repeatedly.

After dealing with these matters, Shao Shude inspected the newly formed Weizhou State Army, and then began a series of troop mobilization.

The Tianxiong army returned to the right chamber and returned to Heyang.The two armies of Tujiang and Xiaojie stayed behind to guard each other, while the Tiande army returned to Luoyang for reorganization.

This is the key task before the Chinese New Year, and the various departments that have been reorganized are already on the way, trying to complete it before New Year's Day, and start training after the Chinese New Year.

The left and right Tiande Army is the number of the sixth forbidden army, with a military strength of [-]. It is formed with the Tiande Army, Dingyuan Army, and Zhenwu Army as the backbone.

Theoretically, these three armies have [-] infantry and [-] cavalry in total. The initial decision is to let the [-] infantry from Helong be trained as cavalry, and then more than [-] strong soldiers will be drawn from Liang Jun's surrendered troops.

The quality of Liang Jun's troops in the "Second Phase" was relatively high. For the first time, 6000 troops were dispatched to charge 6000 troops for the battle losses of the various ministries. In the second time, 9000 soldiers were dispatched to participate in the reorganization of the Second Army of the Golden Sword and the Black Army. More than [-] people were used up, and the remaining [-] relatively inexperienced old and weak people were sent to Ruyuan—the population of Ruyuan slave tribe will reach about [-].

The military envoy of the Tiande Army is Cai Songyang, and the deputy envoy is Zhang Yanqiu, who is over 50 years old. He has worked hard all these years and has been stationed far away many times. He had a good relationship with Shao Shude in his early years, so he should be the deputy envoy.

Du Yuhou is He Gui. He just became the Dingyuan military envoy for a few days, but the army was reorganized, and he doesn't know how he feels.

The envoy You Yi handed over to Yang Sheng, who was Cai Songyang's general and was originally from Dasanguan Township, Fengxiang Town.

The commander of the Henan Fuzhou Army, He Kui, was transferred to the left wing.

This person was born in martial arts. He was seriously injured during the Battle of Luoyang. After recovering from his injury, he was transferred to the state army system. This time he returned to the field army.

Xie Yanzhang, the deputy envoy of the Guangsheng Army, served as the envoy of the soldiers and horses in the right wing. He was the representative of the surrendered generals of Liangdi and comforted the people of Liangdi.

Some of the family members of Zuotian Dejun are still in Lingxia, and they will move over in batches after the Chinese New Year and settle in Henan Prefecture.Before them, the family members of the Wuwei Army had already started to relocate and lived in Zhengzhou.

There is still half of the Yanei army left on the battlefield in Yunqi, and the designation will be revoked soon. The sergeants will serve as supplementary soldiers and be scattered into the four armies of Tielin, Yicong, Tianxiong, and Tujiang to supplement the battle losses.Han Zhu, deputy envoy of the Yanei Army, was transferred to be the commander of the Henan Fuzhou Army.

After such an operation, the most essential part of Zhu Quanzhong's military assets has been dealt with in sevens and eighties.This process took a whole year, I don't know how many interests were considered, how many brain cells died, and the whole work was finally completed.

"If you stay in the Xiangwei for a while longer, get in touch with the gentry and local tyrants more. The hearts of the people in Hebei are hard to conquer, and it will take a lot of work." Shao Shude said: "I will keep the Tujiang and Xiaojie Second Army here. Take precautions against the Jin people, as well as the Wei people. If there is a disturbance in the two prefectures, immediately dispatch troops to suppress it. I will return to Luoyang and reorganize the army."

"Of course." Zhao Guangfeng replied.

With this sentence, he is the de facto guard left behind, with great power.The appointment of local officials, the arrangement of taxation and land registration, etc., the Heyang shogunate had to discuss with him.This is also the easiest time to cultivate cronies and accumulate political favors. It would be a pity not to make good use of them.

******
The Xia army in Qingzhou moved frequently and made great moves, but the Qi army seemed to be dead and did not respond.

Wang Shifan sat slumped on the bed, sighing unceasingly.

Four brothers Shi Yue, Shi Ke, Shi Hua, and Shi Lu all came over to accompany him to worry.

"Zhu Quanzhong patted his chest and promised that Pinghai and the United Army can fight, but once they start fighting, the result is that they are not as good as our old troops." Wang Shiyue was very annoyed and kept complaining.

He used to trust Zhu Quanzhong very much, thinking that his defeat by Shao Shude was a crime of non-war. It was really that the place of the Fourth World War in Henan was too difficult to defend, and it had nothing to do with his own ability.However, the shogunate spent a lot of money and food to form a new army, with a total of [-] cavalry, and it was defeated without much use.

Not to mention supporting the Qingzhou battlefield, he didn't even manage to hold Denglai's rear. What use is Zhu Quanzhong?

"Brother, if you really can't do it, why don't you surrender? After the news of Liu Po's surrender and Denglai's fall came back, the morale of the army plummeted, and they couldn't fight anymore." Wang Shike had just returned from Linqu, his hands still wrapped in cloth, obviously hurt.

"There are rumors in the army that Liang Jun's surrendered troops have not been dismissed as a whole. After they surrendered, they can continue to serve as soldiers. The resistance is not as strong as before." Wang Shike said again: "I don't want to fight anymore."

"When I heard that I was serving as a soldier for the Shao bandits, everyone cursed and threatened to fight to the end. After fighting for a year, they are all happy again?" Wang Shilu sneered, "They are all a bunch of scumbags."

Wang Shifan glanced at the third brother, suspecting that he was talking about himself, the evidence is very sufficient.

"That's enough!" Wang Shifan sat up straight and said, "I don't blame you guys, it's really... alas!"

"My lord died of illness in the past, Zhang Chan and Lu Hong deceived me when I was young, and wanted to seize the foundation of Qingzhou. After the execution of these two people, the sons and daughters still recognize my Wang family." Wang Shifan continued.

After Wang Jingwu's death, Wang Shifan, who was only 16 years old, succeeded to the throne, but Zhang Chan, the governor of Dizhou, refused to accept it, and asked the court to send another Jiedu envoy.Wang Shifan sent the general Lu Hong to lead the army to conquer. At this time, a miniature version of the "Chenqiao Mutiny" occurred. Want to attack Wang Shifan.

Wang Shifan murdered Lu Hong with a trick, and then reviewed the army and issued rewards. The soldiers finally decided to support Wang Shifan as the military governor, and Cui Anqian, who was sent by the court, returned to Chang'an in desperation.

Qingzhou soldiers recognized Wang at the critical moment and stood firm.

"I also agree to surrender." Wang Shihui, who has been in charge of contacting Xia Jun all this time, said: "I have checked in many ways, and Shao Shude is still very trustworthy. Since he promised his elder brother to enter the court, he will not change his mind, nor will he turn over old accounts. Even if you don't like your brother in your heart, you won't openly break your promise. The world today is different from before. No matter whether Shao Shude can succeed or not, he will definitely fight with the leaders of all walks of life. We in Qingzhou are weak , It’s really embarrassing to be caught in the middle. If one is not good, it’s easy to ruin the family. Chang’an is still relatively peaceful, and there’s nothing wrong with avoiding it.”

Wang Shifan nodded frequently at the beginning, but when he heard the word "success", he frowned, and finally heaved a long sigh.He is powerless to help the world, so there is nothing he can do.

"Second brother, if you want to surrender, I have no objection. If you don't want to surrender, I will fight to the death. We brothers, we should advance together and retreat together. Don't let outsiders bully you." Wang Shilu also spoke, and only heard him say : "The fourth brother also said that King Xia is quite generous and broad-minded. Of course, you can enter the court, but why not do things for King Xia directly? In this world, being a rich man may not be stable. Then If the King of Xia doesn't pursue it, there is no guarantee that there will be villains who want to punish us, so we have to guard against it."

Wang Shifan nodded silently, then turned to his elder brother Wang Shiyue, and asked, "What do you mean, elder brother?"

"What else? I can't beat Li Tangbin." Wang Shiyue said, "On the other hand, does Second Brother know the situation in the army?"

"Brother, do you mean that the morale of the army is unstable?" Wang Shifan asked.

"Yes." Wang Shiyue said: "I have sent people to investigate the matter of Zizhou. Some soldiers made a rebellion, and they took Wang Yanwen as the commander of the capital, robbed the treasury, and harassed the people. Liu Wei was forced to go to the Xia bandits. If this is the case in Zizhou, will it be the same in Qingzhou? Frustrated, some people want to trade our brothers for wealth. It will be lost, and it will be destroyed sooner or later. It is better to take advantage of the fact that there are still some soldiers, so that the whole family can be safe."

Master Wang was silent.

Of the five brothers, three of them explicitly supported surrender. Although the fifth brother was ambiguous, the meaning inside and outside the words was actually inclined to surrender.

What is there to hold on to?Wang Shifan sat back on the bed, sighing continuously.

At the age of 16, with the help of Liu Po, Lu Hong was beheaded, eliminating a military chaos.At that time, I was smug and praised as a talented young man.

He once had a dream, but the reality in the town made him realize his limitations: external expansion is impossible, and the warriors do not agree.

Since then, I have been obsessed with Confucianism and lived in a daze for more than nine years without knowing it.

Nine years have changed a lot.The situation in the world has changed drastically, and now you can't even keep your family business, so what else can you say?What is there to hold on to?

Well, everything in the past has gone with the wind.Ziqing Town, which has been inherited for more than 140 years, is ruined.

On the last day of October, Wang Shifan personally received Li Shouxin, the envoy of the Xia army, and expressed his willingness to serve as an official in the court. The Wang family moved to Chang'an.If the king of Xia guarantees the wealth and wealth of hundreds of members of the Wang family, tens of thousands of soldiers and horses in Qingzhou will be surrendered.

Li Shouxin was overjoyed, and immediately sent someone back to report the letter.

Li Tangbin, the commander of the Puzhou camp, also gathered his troops and adjusted their deployment, but the Qi soldiers did not stop them, obviously they already knew something.

In Ziqing Town, the dust has almost settled.

(End of this chapter)