Northern Dynasties

After one year of governance since Li Tai entered the country, Jingzhou today has changed greatly compared to last year, and it may not have reached the level of prosperity and prosperity, but it can also be called a place where people live and work in peace and contentment peaceful.

But the success of Jingzhou does not mean that the whole world is like this. The flood outside the city of Yingchuan, Henan, which is not far away, has just subsided due to the season, and was surrounded by the army of the Eastern Wei Dynasty with a long wall.

As for Huainan, it was even more lively. Hou Jing, who fled from Guoyang to Shouyang, finally regained some of his strength after more than half a year of recuperation, and colluded with some unstable local forces in Huainan. In the middle of the month, troops were officially raised.

Not long after this incident happened, Hou Zhi, who was stationed in Biyang, East Jingzhou, reported the news, and also speculated that Hou Jing might want to attack Yiyang in the upper reaches of the Huai River, and then build a forward base in Huainan and return to Huaibei Henan.

Of course, such a situation did not happen. The army of the Eastern Wei Dynasty defeated the army of the Southern Liang and Northern Expeditions and the army of Hou Jing in two consecutive victories at the beginning of the year, which can be described as extremely majestic.Even if Hou Jing had such an idea, the people in Huainan would never follow Hou Jing to Henan to die, just like Hou Jing's soldiers abandoned him in Guoyang.

However, nearly two months have passed since Hou Jing raised his troops in Shouyang, and there is still no further news, although due to the distance between each other, the transmission of news has lagged behind.

However, in Huainan, Hou Jing did not take any further actions at least more than a month after the formation of the army. It can be seen that he still did not have a complete strategic plan and goal in the early stage of the formation of the army, and he was quite confused about the way forward.After all, with a few thousand mobs heading straight to the capital of a country, and there is a natural moat along the Yangtze River on the way, as long as the enemy has a little bit of normal brains, this matter will never be done.

After Li Tai learned that Hou Jing raised his troops, he also made a series of military and political arrangements.Although the initial stage of the turmoil only occurred in the Jianghuai area, and there was no strong interaction with Jianghan in Mianbei, where Jingzhou is located, but it was not completely without opportunities to take advantage of the fire.

Biyang, guarded by Hou Zhi of East Jingzhou, is not far to the east, and the north bank of the upper reaches of the Huai River can be reached from the pass north of Tongbai Mountain, and not far south is the large town of Yiyang to the west of Shouyang.

Nanliang Yang Yaren who had retreated from Xuanhu had been stationed in Yiyang. With Hou Jing raising troops, Yang Yaren would inevitably send troops to counter the rebellion, and the strength left behind in Yiyang might not be as sufficient as before.

However, Li Tai did not blindly and optimistically send troops to the east, after all, the last one who did this was surrounded by the Eastern Wei army in Henan.

He is very clear that the strategic opportunities brought about by the Hou Jing Rebellion are mainly in the Jianghan area. As for the Huai River Basin, after all, it is a bit out of reach. It is okay to take advantage of the fire and loot it. If you want to expand wantonly and occupy it for a long time, it is not only putting the cart before the horse, but also still powerless. catch.

Therefore, Li Tai sent [-] more elite cavalry to Hou Zhi, so that he could flexibly investigate the changes in the situation near Biyang. If there is a wandering team that transfers here due to the war, he will also be admitted in time, but this situation is probably not going to happen. too much.

At the same time, Zhao Gang, who was appeasing the barbarians in Jingzhou, was also recalled by Li Tai, and he arranged for him to mainly communicate with the Yuzhou barbarians in the Tongbai mountain area in the southeast, trying to win over a group of not weak Yuzhou barbarian tribes. come over.

Today's barbarians have been divided into raw and acquainted. The raw barbarians are completely immature, have been living in seclusion in the mountains, and have very little communication with the outside world.As for Shuman, they mainly live in plains and hilly areas. Although there are still obvious barbaric winds that have not faded, they are already consciously moving closer to the customs of the Han people.

People like Zhao Gang who know the customs of the barbarians very well, respect them, and are willing to guide them to move closer to the Han people's residential areas are very easy to gain the favor of these familiar barbarians, and they are also happy to communicate and interact with them.

On this day, Zhao Gang, who was ordered to go east, returned to Jingzhou City again, and brought back several Yuzhou barbarian chieftains and his followers, and nearly a thousand people arrived outside Rang City in a mighty manner.

Li Tai was overjoyed when he heard the news, and hurriedly dispatched his staff to welcome Zhao Gang and his companions into the state capital. He did not meet in the official hall, but held a banquet in the state hall for guests.

"Fortunately, the last general did not disgrace his fate, and he is going to lead the governor back to the commanders in various realms who have their hearts attached to Wang Zhi and Shang Yi wants to be attached to him!"

After Zhao Gang and the barbarian chieftains entered the hall, he first returned to Li Tai, and then introduced them one by one. These barbarian chieftains are all the leaders of the barbarian tribes active in the upper reaches of the Huai River and the Tongbai Mountain area, and there are many of them The left officer who has been appointed by all parties.

Although Li Tai is not proficient in dealing with these barbarian chiefs, he also understands that if he wants to make them admire him, he must first have hard enough fists, and secondly, he must have enough benefits.

So at the banquet for these barbarian chieftains, Li Tai ordered his soldiers to compete with these barbarian chieftains. At the same time, various treasures were placed in the hall as rewards, similar to the methods used to subdue the Jingzhou barbarian chieftains.

The barbarian chiefs naturally liked this kind of activity very much. They were elated when they won, and even kowtowed to Li Tai to thank Li Tai after receiving the reward.

The banquet was halfway through in such a lively atmosphere, but when Li Tai took advantage of the opportunity to talk about some ideas, these barbarian chieftains' performances were always a little bit off, and their reactions were not as positive as those of Wudou receiving rewards.

"Don't these barbarians want to go further to Huainan? I will supply the armour, staff and armaments. As long as they take advantage of the emptiness of Liang people's defenses and approach Yiyang, they don't seem to be happy?"

While the barbarian chiefs were drinking and having fun, Li Tai signaled Zhao Gangru to come forward and asked with a frown.

After Zhao Gang heard this, he whispered: "When the general went to contact, he also felt that the barbarians in this area seemed to be different from those in other areas. They were not keen on plundering and plundering, but were willing to buy and sell goods. Ask deeply It turns out that Hou Jing was exempted from the market assessment in Shouyang..."

Li Tai couldn't help being happy when he heard this. No wonder these barbarians don't like to rob and buy and sell. Their feelings are encouraged by policies, but soon he asked again: "Hou Jingjin has rebelled against Liang, and Shouyang is the center of the war. Even if the previous order is still maintained, aren't they afraid that this is a set up snare?"

After Zhao Gang heard the words, he said again: "Huainan has been separated from the north and the south for a long time, and the people's customs are also quite tough. How many goods are owned by the tyrants and the mountains? , so who dares to get close to the rich families? Especially at the moment when the Liang army is besieging its division, it is not appropriate to make enemies all over the place because of the convenience of the moment, so the needs of the division and brigade still need to be bought in the market. Only the capital of Dayi City is carried , There is no other force, there is no harm in looting..."

Li Tai was a little stunned when he heard this, he dared to rebel directly, but he had to be fair and trustworthy when doing business, which was really unbelievable.

But it's normal to think about it carefully. The most powerful people in border areas like Huainan will never be the two countries, but the tyrants who control the land and population.At least for now, Hou Jing needs to unite these forces, of course not without a bottom line.

But the problem is that he hopes to win over and encourage these Yuzhou barbarian tribes to go east along the Huai River to be the vanguard of his division, but these barbarians are not willing to make progress, which is really a bit of a headache.

After thinking for a while, he said again: "Since these barbarian chieftains intend to go to Shouyang to sell goods for profit, but they also surrender to Ximian, they must have something for me, right?"

"That's right, the final goal is to persuade these barbarian chieftains to come here and wait and see through official-market trade."

After Zhao Gang heard the words, he replied that although he was good at dealing with barbarians, at least he had to come up with something attractive to convince them.After all, the barbarian is not a fool, and he will not do anything with a slap on the head.He has attracted people here now, but how to drive and use the other party still depends on Li Tai, the governor of the state.

It is not unacceptable for Li Tai to infiltrate and find out the situation in Huainan through business and trade, but what do these barbarians use to trade with him?

After thinking for a while, Li Tai said: "I can provide these barbarian chieftains with a batch of goods, but they need to use their tribe members as hostages within the territory. There is Liyang City in the east of Jingzhou, which is the old city of Anman Mansion in Southern Qi Dynasty. Here, let’s activate the garrison again today, please Zhao Cheqi to be stationed in charge, and I will send another general and a thousand paces to garrison for Zhao Cheqi to calm down the barbarians.”

After Zhao Gang heard this, he nodded and took the order, and immediately told the barbarian chiefs present Li Tai's decision, all the barbarian chiefs kowtowed to Li Tai and thanked Li Tai after hearing it, obviously with the heart in mind.

So the next day Li Tai sent Dou Chi's nephew Dou Yi to lead 1000 troops, together with Zhao Gang's troops, to escort a batch of material merchants to Liyang City in the east.

He had just arranged this matter here, and there was new news from the southern border that Hou Jing's rebellious army had successfully crossed the river.In addition, there was an invitation from Yueyang King Xiao Xi, and there were important matters to be discussed with Li Tai.