Northern Dynasties

The first batch of 10,000 Kansai soldiers who returned to the imperial court quickly packed their bags and prepared everything. They only had to join the people in Shicheng to embark on the return journey. However, at this moment, something unexpected happened again.

The surprise this time was not that Li Tai imposed another obstruction, but Yu Jin. Yu Jin is sick again, this time for real. When Lu Tong and others had just set off on their way to Shicheng, news that Yu Jin was critically ill was sent to Jiangling from Shicheng.

Li Tai was also very nervous after learning about this, and hurriedly sent doctors to diagnose and treat Yu Jin's condition. Don't let Yu Jin die of illness in the end, but Yu Wentai misunderstood that he had done something else. In order to avoid further setbacks, all the slightly famous doctors in Jiangling, even Yao Sengyuan and Li Tai, who were sent to Xingzhou to be their wife and children's health care doctor, specially rushed to Shicheng.

"How is Mr. Chang's condition?"

After arriving in Shicheng, Lu Tong also came to the city lord's mansion where everyone was staying with a nervous look on his face, and asked about Yu Jin's condition.

In the room, Yu Yiyi was standing beside his father's hospital bed with his clothes untied, while Yu Jin was lying on the quilt with a gloomy expression, his whole body was listless and lacked vitality.

Outside the room, Marquis Mo Chenshun sighed and said: "The climate in Jingxiang is humid and cold, which is very different from that in Guanzhong. Chang Shanggong is not a young man after all. His muscles and bones have been invaded by evil winds, and he himself has accumulated depression. It is normal for him to suddenly fall ill."

The cold weather here is really a bit overwhelming for the Guanzhong people who are used to the dry and cold winter climate in Guanzhong. Even the strong and strong camp soldiers feel that it is a bit too much for them, and Yu Jin, who is over six years old, Of course, the old man is also a little uncomfortable.

But in fact, the most critical factor is caused by heart disease. Although Yu Jin does not show any arrogance in his daily life, he has been in charge of the military and made contributions since the beginning of the Six Towns Mutiny. This time, he was highly expected to lead the army southward from Wuguan. , as a result, the power was taken away before the destination was reached, and the feeling in my heart was naturally very uncomfortable.

During the period of being under house arrest in Shicheng, whenever Yu Jin heard any good news from the front line, he couldn't help but drink to drown his sorrows. His physical condition also worsened, and finally he couldn't afford to fall ill when the new year came.

After Lu Tong visited the room, his brows couldn't help but furrowed deeper. After exiting the room, he looked at a few people and sighed: "My lord, my original intention was for Chang Shangong to lead the brigade back to Guanzhong, but now that Chang Shangong is ill, he may not be able to start the journey immediately." . Returning to the army will be arriving soon. Should we go on the road for the time being, or should we stay here and wait..."

"Hurry, hurry, or something will change later!"

Yuwenhu, who looked even more haggard than Yu Yi, heard this and quickly said that although he was very angry when Wuning City was controlled and seized power, his mental state was still good, but when he heard Yuchi Jiong's voice coming from the north, After the news of his death, he became worried, and in his heart he only looked forward to returning to Guanzhong as soon as possible, and did not want to stay here any longer.

Seeing that everyone was looking at him, Yu Wenhu said a little unnaturally: "Right now, Li Boshan is gaining power, but he is too busy to conquer new people and land and has no time to care about it. Once everything in front of him is settled, he will definitely He will not give in easily! This dispute is enough to alarm people. Do you still think that he will be a benevolent person? How can it depend on one person if everyone wants to stay or not? I think there will be no serious problems if Chang Shangong stays here. We will send out troops as soon as possible. The top priority is to send him back to the mansion!"

After hearing Yu Wenhu's words, several people present were not in a hurry to express their opinions. Although this is the truth, it is still a bit unreasonable to directly abandon the seriously ill Yu Jin here, which is neither easy to say nor easy to hear. Even if Yu Wenhu spoke what was in their hearts, they were too embarrassed to echo him.

At this time, Yu Yi walked out of the room, leaned towards Lu Tong and said, "My father asked me to tell Duke Suide that I am ashamed of what happened before. I should have gone straight to the palace to sue and apologize, but my old body cannot bear the ravages of disease." , I can only ask Sui Degong and others to take the first step. If you are lucky enough to survive this disaster and your condition is slightly relieved, you will definitely return home as soon as possible..."

At this point, Yu Yi's tone became choked with sobs. After giving Yu Wenhu a cold glance, he bowed his hands to several people and retreated into the room.

"It seems that we can only do this first. After we return to the mansion, we will inform the Lord to send an envoy to the south to comfort him."

Lu Tong pondered for a moment before speaking. He was also worried that something might happen if he stayed any longer. He was not afraid that Li Tai would go back on his word and cause trouble, but he was worried that the soldiers would do something wrong again. After all, these people But not all of them may return home as quickly as possible.

So after Wei Xiaokuan and several other people arrived in Shicheng, the group could only stay with Yu Jin and his son for the time being, and then hurriedly set off northbound. Traveling day and night along the way, it only took a short time to arrive at Wuguan.

After passing Wuguan, envoys from the Chinese and Foreign Governments were waiting here, mainly to announce the transfer of Wei Xiaokuan, so that he would not have to return to the court and the Chinese and Foreign Governments, but directly lead his troops eastward across the river to garrison at Yubi City.

Not to mention what the situation was like in the Zhongwai Mansion after the return of Zhengshi, after Li Tai received the official title, he also began to quickly form his Xingtai team. The staff of the former Jingzhou General Manager's Office can be directly recruited to be appointed to the Xingtai. For example, Chang Sun Jian can directly serve as the director of the Xingtai.

Although this person was initially used as a nail in the Jingzhou Military Mansion by the Zhongwai Mansion, when Yuwen Hu led his army south to seize power, Changsun Jian also showed that he was on the military government's side, and was also attacked by those who were eager to seize power. Yu Wenhu's punishment will obviously no longer be trusted by the Chinese and Foreign Governments.

Changsun Jian was talented and experienced. He had previously served as the director of Xingtai Prefecture, and now it was just right for him to serve as Li Tai's director of Xingtai Prefecture. As for the Sima of the Chinese and Foreign Affairs Office, Li Tai decided to recall Zhao Gang who was guarding Yiyang to take charge, and replaced him with Shi Jing to guard Yiyang.

As for Xingtai Silu, Li Tai did not continue to appoint Pei Xia. He planned to place Pei Xia in the prefectures and counties to give full play to his talents in managing herdsmen. Liu Min was appointed as the internal steward of the Taifu such as Xingtai Silu.

Pei Hong and Cui Yansheng were also old men who had followed Li Tai since the days of the Dushui Administrative Office. They had a tacit understanding of working together, and they were suitable for serving as the right and left ministers.

With such appointments, the personnel structure of the senior officials in Xingtai has been basically established. As for the appointment of other Langguan, Jiangjun and other assistants, they can be more casual and select those with more experience from the old subordinates to serve in Cao Cao.

As for the future residence of Xingtai, Li Tai plans to place it in Xiangyang instead of the original Rangcheng. Now that the area under his control has become larger, Rangcheng is no longer suitable as the center of the platform in terms of location and strategy. And Xiangyang, which is located at the strategic point between the north and the south and is surrounded by mountains and rivers, has become a suitable choice.

In fact, as early as when he first arrived in Jingzhou, Li Tai had dreamed of making Xiangyang the center of his power one day next year, and today he finally achieved this goal.

It's just that Xiao Qing, the king of Liang, who was occupied by a dove, would not be too happy, but there was nothing he could do about it. Things in the world change, and the forces of all parties rise and fall. Once a situation is formed, it will never change based on individual feelings. With the fall of Jiangling, it was impossible for Liang Wang Xiao Jin to occupy Xiangyang no matter what.

At present, King Liang still stays in Jiangling because Li Tai still needs his cooperation to receive the people of Xiangyang. In the face of the unification of the Southern Dynasty, Li Tai was reluctant to use strong methods such as killing. No matter how corrupt the ruling class of the Southern Dynasty was, the civilians were always innocent. When he had spare power, he could use a more peaceful way to unify. , so he is unwilling to resort to force in everything.

Even if the process becomes a little tortuous, Li Tai thinks it is worth it if only a few twists and turns in the procedure can lead to a smooth transition of the situation and the people to be protected from the impact and harm of the war.

As for any personnel hidden dangers that have not been eliminated in time, these hidden dangers can also be eliminated through long-term management. On the other hand, if his rule is unpopular, no matter how thorough the purge is at that time, there will still be constant rebellions in the future.

At present, Li Tai still needs to supervise the war in Jiangling for a while, so he ordered the subordinates he appointed to go to Xiangyang first to set up the personnel structure of Xingtai.

After gaining the power to control the feudal lordship, Li Tai could also recruit and appoint subordinate officials to improve the local personnel structure. Nowadays, the area under his jurisdiction is vast, and a large number of affairs cannot be completely handled by the executive branch alone. It is inevitable that subordinate administrative levels must be set up.

So Li Tai divided his territory into five general offices for management. The first was the Jingzhou General Office, which basically retained the area controlled by the Jingzhou Prefecture when Li Tai first came to Jingzhou, with Mianbei as the main body. , including some surrounding cities and areas, are also the areas where Li Tai paid the most attention.

As the candidate for the general manager of Jingzhou, Li Tai planned to use his cousin Li Pei as the candidate. Li Pei had already served as an official in the Eastern Wei Dynasty. After coming to Guanzhong, he served in the Bafu for several years. Naturally, he was familiar with various government affairs procedures. Moreover, as the oldest person of the Li family in Longxi, he was ranked first in the government. The general manager is also very suitable.

In addition to Li Pei serving as the general manager of Jingzhou, Li Tai also specially recruited Li Licheng's uncle and Yang Su's father Yang Funan to serve as the governor of Jingzhou. This was an agreement between him and Yang Kuan. Although Yang Kuan was killed by the ruthless black otter, and Li Tai did not intend to overturn the case for Yang Kuan, the previous agreement must still be abided by, but the way We must follow Li Tai's ideas.

Next is the General Manager of Liangzhou, with Hanzhong as the main body. Cui You, the current governor of Liangzhou, can also serve as the General Manager of Liangzhou and manage the lands south of Hanzhong and Shannan without much adjustment.

Then there is the Anzhou General Administration Office, which mainly focuses on the Handong area. The Handong area has been developed for several years, and the control over this area has been strengthened. As many powerful tribes are transferred to Huainan, more in-depth arrangements for household equalization and other matters will also be implemented one after another. Therefore, Li Tai appointed Hu Yanbao as the general manager of Anzhou, responsible for the implementation of various decrees.

Hefei, which is far away in Huainan, also needs to set up a Hezhou General Administration Office. As the most turbulent area under Li Tai's rule, setting up a General Administration Office in Hefei is conducive to the overall planning and dispatch of human resources in Huainan, and to accept those Huainan who are moving closer to Xingtai. personnel. As for the candidate for general manager, that one is already available, Quan Jingxuan.

Since Xiangyang has Xingtai in charge, there is no need to set up a general administration office for management. But there must be one here in Jiangling, and it is more special than other general administration offices.

If Jiangling sets up a general administration office, its jurisdiction will include part of Bazhong area west of Xiakou, and a series of areas around Dongting Lake south of the Yangtze River will inevitably be under its control. Both the area under its jurisdiction and the subsequent variables are relatively large, so The selection also needs to be more careful.

Originally, if Wei Xiaokuan had not left, it would have been perfect for Wei Xiaokuan to serve as the general manager of Jiangling. But now Wei Xiaokuan has returned to Guanzhong, and Yang Zhong will not stay here for long, so he must choose from Li Tai's original generals.

Li Tai currently prefers three candidates, namely Li Qianzhe, Liang Shiyan and Xu Wensheng. As a general who surrendered from Nanliang, Xu Wensheng may not need to hold the important position of general manager for the time being. As for Li Qianzhe and Liang Shiyan, Li Tai had no choice.

After weighing it up, he decided to examine the performance of several people based on the subsequent clearing campaign against Wang Lin's troops. Both in terms of talent and qualifications, both of them are actually qualified to serve as general managers. In the end, Li Tai did not rule out the possibility of setting up dual general managers and letting them manage part of the area respectively.

These five general offices basically constitute the jurisdiction of Shannan Daxingtai, and there should not be any major personnel adjustments in the next period of time.

The more detailed appointment of state and county chiefs and garrison generals under the general managers will require Li Tai to make more detailed selections and adjustments after arriving in Xiangyang. Moreover, this Battle of Jiangling only provided material rewards. As for the generals' titles, they also needed to be awarded with more comprehensive evaluations based on their merits.

The power that Li Tai possessed to ennoble and depose officials, in addition to basic personnel appointments and promotion and demotion of officials, also included the granting of official titles. Therefore, the rewards for soldiers can only be completed through the processing of the court. Of course, the final results still have to be reported to the imperial court and recognized in the name of the imperial court.

After handling these adjustments and appointments in the personnel structure, Li Tai began to arrange an offensive against Wang Lin's troops in Xiangzhou.

Wang Lin is by no means an easy opponent to deal with. Not to mention Li Tai's understanding of his original life history, even in this time and space, he still has fresh memories of the time when Wang Lin led the army to besiege his water camp.

This man's reputation as the leader in quelling the Hou Jing Rebellion was not in vain, and his troops were also very brave. They even occupied Changsha and started a rebellion without Wang Lin's command, which made Wang Sengbian even defeated. This shows that his The troops are extremely powerful in combat.

The New Year has just passed and it is still in a dry season, which will restrict the combat effectiveness of Wang Lin's navy and the mobility of his troops to a certain extent. If we wait until the weather gets warmer and the water in the rivers and lakes rises, the battle will undoubtedly become more difficult.

Even though Li Tai's troops have been equipped with a considerable number of boat equipment, the development of water warfare experience does not happen overnight. If you have a choice, of course you still have to choose to defeat your opponents in the areas you are good at.

Therefore, Li Tai also planned to deal with Wang Lin's powerful enemy before the beginning of spring. Even if he could not be completely surrounded and eliminated, he would still be driven away from Jiangling.

This time, Li Tai did not intend to cross the river to conquer in person. Instead, he took Li Qianzhe as the commander of the west route and led 10,000 troops together with Xu Shipu and other troops to go south along Tianmen County and launch an attack on Xiangzhou from the west of Dongting Lake. Changsha City.

At the same time, Liang Shiyan, the commander-in-chief of the East Route Army, also led 10,000 horses southward from Baling. With Xu Wensheng as the commander-in-chief of the naval force, they attacked down the Dongting Lake by both land and water.

In addition, Gao Le and other generals also led their troops across the river and stationed themselves in Chiting, Huarong and other places between Dongting Lake and the Yangtze River. While controlling the main roads, they also supported the two groups of troops at any time. There are nearly 50,000 soldiers and horses, and they take Wang Lin very seriously.

After completing these arrangements of troops, Li Tai stayed in Jiangling City and waited for the results of the battle to be reported back from the south.