Northern Dynasties

Chapter 530 Chaos in Jingzhou
Go out of Huazhou, cross the Wei River, go south to Shangluo, and then go down through the Dan River and pass Wuguan, then go out of the Qinling Mountains, and will soon enter the scope of the Nanyang Basin.

The Danshui flows down along the western edge of the Nanyang Basin. When entering here, the team needs to go east, cross the Junshui of the Danshui, and then enter the heart of the Nanyang Basin.

There are no fixed bridges on the Junshui River, and the only way to cross the river is to rely on boats.Li Tai's men consisted of more than [-] armored soldiers, craftsmen, military servicemen, etc., plus a huge logistics team, it was obviously not enough to use three or five ferries to cross the river.

As early as when he was about to arrive at Wuguan, Li Tai took a quick step forward and notified the local prefecture and county chiefs to prepare for the army.Xizhou was the first place the team entered when they walked out of the ancient Wuguan Road, and Cui Xuanyou, who was the governor of Xizhou at the time, had already led the officials to welcome Li Tai and his party in the state.

"The next official, Cui You, had sent his envoy to deliver a message. Today, the state government's assistants are here to welcome the envoy. The state government has also tried its best to prepare the boats and vehicles needed for the army's journey. If there are any deficiencies, please forgive me!"

Seeing Li Tai riding out surrounded by all the soldiers, Cui You hastily led the crowd to meet him, and stood in front of the horse on the left side of the road to salute.

When Li Tai saw this, he quickly got off his horse and raised his hands to support Cui You's arms, not daring to accept the ceremony, and said with a smile: "Cui Qiqi rides first when he is in business, and when he is private, he will be virtuous, and the younger generation will come here later. I still need more advice, please don't be polite and make fun of the younger generation."

When he first entered Kansai in the early years, when he was made things difficult by Li Hu and unintentionally offended the eldest grandson's family, Cui You had come forward to help him. Now that he meets here, Li Tai will naturally not act arrogantly because of his higher official position.

Seeing Li Tai's attitude, Cui You felt relieved, but he still insisted on the etiquette of his subordinates, and introduced the people in the state capital to Li Tai one by one, and then said with a smile: "I know that the envoy is about to have an accident in Jingzhen. The lower officials are really excited, making you a proud son of a famous family, bravely crowning the army, harmonious with the masses, and able to inspire people to make progress. Now the masses can admire your outstanding demeanor, and you should know that the words are true!"

Today's Li Tai can be said to be the favorite of everyone among the aristocratic families who migrated to the west. It can be said that he has broken through and elevated the treatment and power of the Kanto aristocratic families in the Western Dynasty with his own power.Relative party members such as Cui Qian have made real progress because of it.

In recent years, Li Tai has often shown people with a strong and brave image. Every time the praise is related to his military exploits, people in the past are also cautious and respectful when facing him. It has been a long time since he heard such praise. After hearing the words, he was also very happy. Talking and laughing with Cui You went to the state.

Xizhou is also one of the thirteen prefectures of Li Tai, but its jurisdiction is not large. It is located in the transition zone between the Qinling Mountains and the Nanyang Basin, and its basic function is to guard Wuguan The entrance and exit of the road.

Li Tai only supervises military affairs, so it is not good to inquire too deeply about the people's livelihood and government affairs here, but when he asked Cui You about the state's military and military preparations in this state, the answer he got was a bit dumbfounded.

Although Xizhou is at the administrative level at the state level, the only thing that can be called an armed force is the more than 2000 barbarians allocated to the state capital. If there is a military need, it can barely scrape together 500 barbarians.

Although Xizhou's armed forces are weak, it is because of the positioning of the state government, and it is not without merit.This place is an important transit point between Nanyang and Guanzhong, so the reserves of vehicles, horses, boats and boats are very considerable, and the guards of Wuguan often rest here when they are on duty.

Hearing Cui You's introduction here, Li Tai immediately became interested, and asked Cui You how he was preparing for the warships and attacking equipment used in water warfare.

Cui You shook his head and smiled wryly after hearing the words: "Water warfare is definitely not the director of the northerners. Even if warships and the like are prepared, they will inevitably be idle for a long time, and the annual maintenance cost is not small, so there is not much preparation in the state. Even Jingzhou This town also doesn't have much equipment, and the boats and ships we use are only ferrying. But if the war requires it, we can attack the enemy's waterfront docks. If we can't attack, it's useless to think poorly."

Li Tai also heard the implication of Cui You's words, that is to say, we are really not good at water warfare. If you really want to do it, you can use warships to take down the enemy's docks, but if you can't even attack the southerners' docks Come down, then just wash up and sleep.

So being poor is not useless, at least you can have a safety bar when you are hotheaded. If you have what you want if you are rich, then the gift of the head is very smooth.

Li Tai stayed in Xizhou state capital for another night, and asked Cui You about the current situation around Jingzhou by the way, and Cui You's answer made him dare not be too optimistic.

All in all, it was Wang Sizheng who abandoned the town and went to Henan before, which caused a very bad impact on Jingzhou, and even almost created a power vacuum.

Changsun Jian has been in the town for many years. Although he has made little achievements in military and political affairs, he can finally maintain a basic stability.Under Changsun Jian, the most important military and political figure in Jingzhou is Quan Jingxuan who moved from the Heluo battlefield.Quan Jingxuan's troops were also the army with the most impressive combat effectiveness in Jingzhou before, relying on this to defend the territory and deter the inside and outside.

Although some of the more than [-] people Wang Sizheng took away from Jingzhou were the original works he brought from Hengnong, most of them were locals in Jingzhou.

Since the Overlord Mansion seldom directly increases troops in Jingzhou, the development of Jingzhou's armed forces is also very slow. Although there are tens of thousands of people, most of them are local powerful tribes and barbarians, and those who are really under the jurisdiction of the state capital are only Thousands of people.

When Wang Sizheng went to Henan, he took away most of the state soldiers, especially Quan Jingxuan's troops, so that Jingzhou had no military force representing the Western Wei Dynasty's hegemony at all. Can't suppress the mighty barbarian at all.

These local tyrannical and barbaric chiefs lived in the border area where the north and the south meet, and they themselves were cunning, trouble-free people. Seeing that Jingzhou's defenses were so empty, it was inevitable that they would be ready to move.Even some people who already had close contacts with the Southern Dynasties took advantage of this to pass on news, intending to attract the Southerners to invade.

Fortunately, when Shangluo Haoqiang Quan Zhongzun arrived in time, he led his troops to build up defenses and called on the people of the state to resist. Only then did they successfully defend the state without losing it.The main way Quan Zhongzun ordered the state people was to distribute a large number of state and county officials to those powerful and barbaric chiefs who attracted the crowd to wait and see.

So even though Jingzhou is preserved, the administration of personnel and officials is in a mess. It can be said that it is an out-and-out mess.

Cui You only knew a general idea about the military and political chaos in Jingzhou. After all, he was still a subordinate in Jingzhou in terms of power, so telling Li Tai about this was just a vaccination for him.

But after Li Tai listened to it, he couldn't help feeling that even if it was just a vaccination, the potency of the medicine seemed a bit strong.

Feeling that the situation in Jingzhou was not good, Li Tai didn't continue to stay on the way. The next morning, when he was halfway through the crossing, he led his [-] elite troops to Rangcheng.

The Nanyang Basin used to be prosperous in the Han Dynasty, but it soon fell into decline after the Wei and Jin Dynasties. In addition, it was already late autumn when Li Tai arrived here, and the fields were withered and lonely, and there were few people in sight , Occasionally, there are places where villages and towns live together, and there must be walls to separate the inside and outside, which shows the depth of the war.

Seeing this scene, Li Tai couldn't help frowning.In his opinion, Nanyang has rarely been at war with the Three Kingdoms for several years, and the latest situation that his cousin Cui Qian inquired from Changsun Jian also said that the life of the people in the state is stable, and there is no tendency for chaos.But based on what he saw on the ground, the people were in a state of fright, which was far from what they should have been in the peaceful years.

They marched all the way, and the ranger scouts scattered around also reported that there would be some groups of disciples around them, probably because they were afraid of the size of their team and did not dare to bully them, and they scattered after chasing them. It didn't look like a kind person .

The cavalry brigade of more than 3000 people is still very intimidating in this wilderness. Li Tai and his party arrived outside the city of Rang without any danger.

The circumference of this city is nearly twenty miles, and its scale is not small. There is a river running across the city in the south of the city, and it goes around the city; Closed tightly, it looked like it was well-prepared.

Li Tai went around the city to admire it for a week, and there were guards shouting nervously from the top of the city, and several city gates that were opened were also hastily closed.

Li Tai was waiting to see how the guards' response to stress would be, so he was not in a hurry to announce their names, and his troops only lined up in the west of the city.Looking at the soldiers who are constantly running around in the city, they are not out of order, but Li Tai also noticed that quite a few of these soldiers are not wearing the usual hakama pleated military uniforms, but many have colorful patterns and decorations, and they shout a lot. It is a dialect with obscure tones and difficult to distinguish.

Just at this time, another stream of smoke and dust came from far and near behind, and several cavalry rushed forward, waving their hands to indicate that there were no weapons on their bodies, and after approaching, they shouted loudly: "May I ask if the general of your department is going to enter the town?" Xihe Gong Li Shijun? A certain subordinate of Yizhou Prefecture, originally waiting for the envoy at the post road, heard that there was a large group of people entering the side road..."

Only then did Li Tai wave his hand to signal his soldiers to come forward to display the talisman order and identify themselves. After the other party checked that they were correct, they rode their horses to report back. Soon, the group of knights came to this trip one after another. The leader was Quan Zhong, the former governor of Jingzhou. follow.

Quan Zhongzun had met Li Tai before, and they had only parted for a few months, and now he returned with the same enthusiasm as when they met before, so he got off his horse and walked from a distance, crossed his hands and said with a smile: "Since the order, the end It will be convenient for the territory to look forward to envoys to enter the town, but it is rude to welcome the wrong one at this time!"

But the people behind him were not as enthusiastic about Li Tai's arrival as Quan Zhongzun was. A short, stocky middle-aged man in variegated clothes who seemed to be a barbarian chief said in a deep voice: "Jing The situation in the town is vicious, which is different from that in Kansai, so if you wander around as much as you want, you may be disturbed in the wild."

(End of this chapter)