I served as an admonisher in the Song Dynasty

Chapter 168 Vacation-style business trip, the difficulties of troop reduction in the northwest

The next day.

The sky is slightly bright.

Su Liang said goodbye to Tang Wanmei, his father-in-law Tang Ze, and Su Zimu who was still sleeping soundly, and left the house.

Uncle Ji set up a carriage and pulled the luggage, and sent Su Liang to the gate of Yushitai.

At this moment, Tang Jie, the censor Zhongcheng, and Bao Zheng, the magistrate of Kaifeng Prefecture, were standing at the door of the censor's platform.

Ouyang Xiu, Fan Zhen, Zhao Peng, Lu Hui and others had already set off yesterday. In fact, the Taiwanese admonishers preferred to go out for inspections.

"Brother Zifang, brother Xiren!" Su Liang walked over and quickly handed over.

Tang Jie said sternly: "Jingming, the military situation in the northwest is more complicated. You must use our authority to remonstrate with us this time and get things done smoothly. As for the affairs in the court, with me and Brother Xiren here, everything will be fine!" "

"I obey the director's instructions!" Su Liang said with a smile.

Bao Zheng patted Su Liang on the shoulder and said: "Pay attention to safety, and also say hello to Mr. Fan!"

"Yeah, definitely." Su Liang nodded.

After the three chatted for a few words, Su Liang saw that the luggage had been loaded and was ready to set off.

This time.

Su Liang's guard captain was a captain of the Sanya Guards' personal army, Ma Junsi, named Cao Hu.

That's right, it's the Cao family.

Everyone in the Cao family is very grateful to Su Liang and is the best person to protect Su Liang.

Cao Hu is about 30 years old, more than eight feet tall, with a strong back and a strong waist. At first glance, he looks like a practitioner who can defeat many with one.

When he received the mission yesterday.

Not only the head of the Cao family but also Cao Guo's uncle Cao Yi met him in person and ordered him to protect Su Liang.

Even Queen Cao sent a message to her to protect Su Liang at all costs.

Cao Hu also knew very well the importance of Su Liang to the current court, so he would naturally risk his life to protect Su Liang.

Except Cao Hu.

There is also a soldier driving a carriage and two guards on horseback. They are all subordinates of Cao Hu.

Including Su Liang, there were five people in the group.

Of course, this is just the number of people on the surface.

There are more than twenty soldiers who will follow him secretly and will appear when Su Liang is in danger.

These people all hold crossbows in their hands, and they use their killing moves.

This is what Zhao Zhen specifically explained.

The northwest is no better than Kaifeng Mansion. The people there are fierce and fierce, and there are even foreign races. If they disagree, they may use force.

Most other censors also have this configuration.

Traveling like Xia Song.

The luggage can be loaded into five or six carriages, the escort can be hundreds of people, and the motorcade can be lined up for two or three miles.

Su Liang was on inspection this time and needed to keep a low profile, otherwise he might not see any problems.

This time, Su Liang did not choose to ride a horse.

Because he also needs to report in time during the inspection process.

Moreover, the disarmament policy has just begun to be implemented, and many problems have not yet emerged. It would be a good thing to go slower.

He expects to arrive in the northwest in late April.

……

Five days later, near noon.

The carriage drove on a wide official road.

The current weather is neither cold nor hot, which is especially suitable for traveling.

Su Liang guessed that Ouyang Xiu might have written several poems or articles on the road.

Cao Hu and the four others were also in a good mood.

They have never encountered such an easy job, they have enough food, they rest when they encounter a post station, and they never travel at night.

What's even more valuable is that Su Liang treats them like brothers.

Just yesterday.

Su Liang proposed a picnic, and the five of them caught more than ten fish by a wild lake.

Su Liang took action himself.

He kills and grills fish without any official authority at all, and his cooking is much more delicious than theirs.

They had protected many officials, including many with lower official positions than Su Liang.

But almost all officials are either bossy or just treat them as subordinates.I have never met anyone like Su Liang.

at first.

Cao Hu's impression of Su Liang was in three words: little firecracker.

He is quick-tempered and has a fierce temper. He will yell at others when he sees them doing something bad.

This is basically the case for Taiwanese admonishers in the court.

But Su Liang never scolded them, and always spoke with a smile.

This made Cao Hu feel incredible.

What he didn't expect was that when it came to eating, drinking, having fun, and enjoying life, this supervisory censor was also an interesting person.

Let them be a few rough guys and benefit a lot.

Recently.

Everyone ate what they should eat, drank what they should drink, played what they should play, and saw what they should see.

Occasionally, Su Liang would take long detours to see a certain scenery or taste local food.

This made the four of them very happy.

It's not a business trip, it's just a vacation at public expense.

……

April 22.

Su Liang and his party have reached the northwest boundary.

Gradually, both sides of the official road became slightly deserted, and there was more sand and dust.

There were many soldiers but few people in the northwest, and the land was not fertile enough, which resulted in many uncultivated wastelands.

Inside the carriage.

Su Liang was lying in the carriage, leaning on a soft pillow, near the window, and looked at the map of the northwest.

Currently, the northwest border is divided into four routes.

They are Fuyan Road, Huanqing Road, Jingyuan Road, and Qinfeng Road. These four roads belong to the Yongxing Army.

The divisions of individual states and counties are chaotic and always changing.

The total strength of the Fourth Army is nearly 30, and the number that needs to be reduced is nearly 9.

In fact, before the Song-Xia War, the northwest had maintained a population of around 20.

After losing all three battles, the number of soldiers soared.

On the surface, there is not much pressure to reduce troops in the northwest.

actually not.

Su Liang pointed to a mountain range and frowned slightly.

This mountain range is called Hengshan, and it is the boundary mountain range between the Song Dynasty and Xixia.

now.

Xixia occupies most of Hengshan.

The Hengshan Mountains extend from the northwest to the southwest, with the desert border to the north and the Loess Plateau to the south.

Like a big knife, it split the northwest into two parts, with the back of the knife standing tall.

The Hengshan area controlled by Xixia has higher terrain and is a good place to raise horses.

There are extensive forests and pastures, as well as salt ponds and iron mines.

As for the areas controlled by the Song Dynasty, the terrain was flat and low-lying, which was a bit worse.

In order to prevent the attack of Xixia cavalry, the Song Dynasty built more than 200 fortresses on the border.

This resulted in the troops in the northwest being very scattered.

Like the Battle of Sanchuankou during the Song-Xia War.

The general's decision-making was indeed problematic, but Yuan Hao led more than 4 soldiers in a surprise attack. Even if the Song army waited for reinforcements, they would only have [-] or [-] soldiers at most.

The Song army suffered from the terrain.

In addition, the Xixia army attacked the Song border just for looting.

Many Xixia people were not considered Xixia soldiers at all and did not receive any instructions.Just because there was a famine, they headed towards the Song Dynasty border to plunder, and they were unable to guard against it.

After Fan Zhongyan took charge of the northwest, most of his energy was focused on repairing the city wall, in order to prevent Xixia soldiers from raiding and robbing money and food.

The organization of the Northwest Forbidden Army is very complicated, and it is not easy to reduce the troops now.

Northwest people have always been tough, and this energy is not only for Xixia people, but also for our own people.

At present, Su Liang only hopes that Mr. Fan can come up with good ideas. Reasoning with this group of people is obviously not feasible.

(End of this chapter)