The Great Arcanist Who Traveled Through the World of American Variety Shows.

Chapter 417: Fengming Yanyun Zhou Kingdom is on the rise
The capital of Khitan Liao Dynasty.

The Liao army has completed its assembly and the vanguard has already set off.

At the same time, the great monk Benyuan also began to accompany the army. When the Khitan army went to war, there were often monks accompanying the army. These monks came to comfort the soldiers. The Khitan people believed in Buddhism, and having monks accompanying the army could give them psychological comfort and stabilize the morale of the army.

Guo Rong led the army to attack. The Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun were originally Han territory, and there had been many feuds between the Han and Khitan. Although he occupied the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, his rule was not stable.

In order to control this place, many powerful people in the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun were even asked to send hostages. At the same time, many troops were stationed here, and these Khitan garrisons often oppressed the local people.

In the past, the Khitans were powerful, and although these people were resentful, they did not dare to resist. But now, the Central Plains army is so close, and any man with blood in his veins would want revenge.

At the same time, the Khitan army also discovered something unusual, so they took precautions against it, prohibited the Han people in the city from gathering, forcibly confiscated their weapons, and sent people to guard them. For a time, undercurrents surged in the city.

Guo Rong's army arrived here quickly. At this time, the imperial army of the Great Zhou had won battles in a row and their morale was high. Guo Rong was also a good fighter, and the Han people in the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun began to contact each other.

The Northern Expedition Army was unstoppable. In April, the Northern Expedition Army took Cangzhou to the north, with tens of thousands of infantry and cavalry marching straight into Ningzhou. When they arrived in Ningzhou, the Ningzhou governor Wang Hong opened the city and surrendered.

Soon after, the entire Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun acted like dominoes, and wherever the army went, cities opened their doors and surrendered.

When the army reached Yijin Pass, the defending general Zhong Tinghui opened the city and surrendered. When the army reached Waqiao Pass, the defending general Yao Neibin surrendered, and Liu Chuxin, the governor of Mozhou County, surrendered the whole state. The army marched northward all the way, and people surrendered wherever they passed.

In May, Gao Yanhui, the governor of Yingzhou, surrendered the city, and Sun Xingyou, the governor of Yiwu, conquered Yizhou and captured Li Zaiqin, the governor of Yizhou. In the same month, Zhang Cangying, the vanguard commander, defeated hundreds of Liao cavalry at Waqiao Pass and captured Gu'an County.

Only one and a half months after the army set out, Guo Rong recovered three passes and three states, and the Northern Expedition was booming.

"Sir, our army is unstoppable and the enemy has surrendered. We will definitely be able to recapture the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun in one battle!" Guo Rong said excitedly in the tent.

Richard's face did not relax at all. During this period of time, he had been paying attention to Guo Rong's health, but Guo Rong had always been strong and had no illness.

In order to prevent them from getting sick, Richard imposed strict requirements on the military camp. All water used came from wells and had to be boiled before drinking.

There are strict regulations for everyone's eating and drinking, and the entire camp is in good order.

Because Richard took personal action this time, few soldiers fell ill and no one suffered from acclimatization.

This made the generals who had originally complained about Richard convinced after seeing this situation.

After the army arrived here, the Khitan army finally arrived. After a small battle that afternoon, the Khitans retreated. So Guo Rong summoned all the generals to discuss the capture of Youzhou.

But what surprised Guo Rong was that the situation in which he originally thought all the generals would unite to fight the Northern Expedition had changed, and many generals were unwilling to continue the attack.

Richard watched coldly from the sidelines. Guo Rong's face remained calm, but he was very angry in his heart. He thought that after giving these arrogant soldiers money, they would be satisfied. Now it seems that he was too naive.

The emperor of Chang'an and the soldiers of Wei Bo were indeed like this. The soldiers of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period were extremely arrogant and domineering.

The military governors of each town looked glorious, but if they could not satisfy the soldiers under them, they would be killed at will. Now these soldiers just paraded around armed and occupied a lot of territory, and they began to ask for rewards.

Guo Rong did not seem to have changed on the surface. He personally appeased the soldiers and sent a large amount of copper coins and cloth. In ancient China, cloth could be used directly as currency for a long time.

This is because there was often a shortage of money in ancient times. In ancient times, copper coins were never enough, because those noble families, powerful people, and wealthy families liked to store copper coins in cellars.

In addition, high-ranking officials would often be buried with a large number of copper coins after their death. The foreign countries around China would use the copper coins of the Chinese dynasty because their casting technology was not up to standard or they did not know how to cast coins. In addition, some people would melt the copper coins to make various copper utensils, and for many other reasons, ancient copper coins were basically not enough.

This time, Guo Rong recast a large number of copper coins in order to reorganize Buddhism, which gave him the strength to launch the Northern Expedition.

With the rewards of large amounts of copper coins and cloth, the soldiers who were clamoring to go back gradually calmed down.

Guo Rong was very clear about the character of these soldiers. At this time, part of the imperial guards of the Great Zhou Dynasty and the guards under other military governors were all of this kind.

Since he ascended the throne, Guo Rong has recruited a new group of imperial guards, and then dismissed the old and weak ones. After several major battles, he established his own prestige, which ensured the loyalty of his imperial guards.

But the same cannot be said for the other imperial guards and soldiers.

"Sir, do you have any good ideas to solve the problem of soldiers?" Guo Rong asked.

Richard naturally had a way. The first one was the method that Zhao Kuangyin used later. He gave those generals high positions and generous salaries to let them give up their military power, and then gradually eliminated them. During this process, he must maintain his combat effectiveness to suppress others.

With the military power in hand, he sorted out those soldiers, laid them off, and then recruited new soldiers. In the end, the soldiers and generals were not even familiar with each other.

This approach enabled him to control the army, but without good generals to lead it, its strength declined significantly.

The second is to recruit good family children, these people have land, family and business, usually will not rebel. With the help of military rules, rewards and punishments are clear, it is not difficult for him to win the hearts of the army.

Richard told Guo Rong the method, and also told him that the army's food and wages should not be in arrears, and rewards and punishments should be clear.

“Even if you become an emperor, you must control the army. Only if you have the army, you are a real emperor. Without the army, you are just a puppet.”

"Your Excellency can review the three armies every three days to let the soldiers know that you are the emperor and their commander. It is also best if you personally come to distribute the silver every month to let them know who is paying them."

Richard's method was simple, but very effective. If he could do this, his soldiers would basically not rebel. Even if a general rebelled, these soldiers might just chop off his head and run away to report their achievement.

Richard's method seemed simple, but not many emperors could do it. People are lazy. It's okay to do it once or twice, but it's not easy to do it every day for decades, especially for an emperor.

After pacifying those soldiers, Guo Rong led his army to the north again. At this time, the Khitan army was just some vanguard cavalry, facing Guo Rong's tens of thousands of infantry and cavalry, they could not gain any advantage.

The vanguard cavalry were basically unarmored or leather cavalry, and even their bows and arrows were not necessarily made of iron. They could only be driven away by the Zhou cavalry. As for attacking infantry, that was courting death.

For infantry supported by cavalry, it is not easy to defeat these light cavalry, and the Khitans can only harass them from a distance.

Guo Rong's army marched straight in. Even if the Khitan army arrived at this time, they were still no match for the Zhou army. You could say that the soldiers and generals who had fought their way out of the chaotic Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms era had no bottom line and were capricious, but you could not say that they were weak.

The warriors of this era can be said to be in an era with the most abundant martial virtues.

Hundreds of thousands of troops fought in the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun. Under the attack of the Zhou army, the Khitan cavalry of 100,000 were beaten back again and again. In the end, they could only rely on the constant harassment of the cavalry to barely stabilize their position.

Guo Rong commanded the army to attack the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, and ordered the Zhaoyi Jiedushi to attack the Northern Han in order to contain the Northern Han and prevent it from sending troops.

The Khitans could not gain any advantage on the battlefield, so they wanted to lure the enemy deep into their territory, and then use cavalry to bypass the main force of the Zhou Kingdom and attack the logistics. However, because the three states and three passes in front of them all surrendered, the Zhou Kingdom obtained a forward base for attacking the Sixteen States of Yanyun, and it was very difficult for the Khitans to cut off the logistics of the Zhou Kingdom army. In addition, the Zhou Kingdom had a large number of cavalry. If they were not careful, the Khitan light cavalry would be surrounded and solved by the Zhou Kingdom. On the other hand, in order to prevent the Khitans from cutting off the logistics, Guo Rong also used water transportation to transport food and grass, advancing both by land and water. The Khitans could not find any solution for a while.

Richard did not intervene in the war. From his full view of the map, he could see that the Zhou army had the upper hand. Guo Rong deployed his troops and suppressed the Khitan. Unless something unexpected happened, the Khitans would definitely lose.

He came along with the Northern Expedition to prevent any accidents from happening.

In the Khitan camp, in a tent located in the center of the army, Benyuan was blessing the Khitans in order to stabilize the morale of the army. Soon after sending away the last Khitan soldier, a monk hurried in.

"Brother, those Central Plains monks haven't made a move yet! Are they playing tricks on us again?"

"Benzhi, be patient!" Benyuan said calmly, "It's not us who are begging them now, it's them who are begging us."

“They are more anxious than we are.”

"Then why is there no movement now?"

"It's nothing more than wanting more benefits." Benyuan held the Buddhist beads in his hand and kept moving them.

"Go tell them that after the matter is accomplished, I will give them five states to spread the Dharma, so that they can practice with the help of the country's fortune!"

"Brother, this is too much."

"Go if I tell you to!" Benyuan said, "After you go, remember to bargain with them. The more intense the better. Increase the price little by little, otherwise they won't believe it!"

Hearing this, Benzhi's eyes lit up and he immediately understood something. He immediately put his hands together and saluted, saying, "I understand, Senior Brother."

Then he turned and left in a hurry.

There is an inconspicuous temple in the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun. The temple occupies a very small area, with only twelve rooms in front and back, and the houses are very dilapidated. There are not many monks in the whole temple, and there are only a dozen acres of thin land outside the temple. It can be said that it is extremely poor.

But today, there are a lot more people in this temple.

Cheng Hui sat in the main seat, surrounded by several of his fellow apprentices. Just now, a group of Khitan cavalry had just left.

"Tell me, do you want to take action now?" Cheng Hui said.

"Senior brother, the arrow is on the string and must be shot!" Cheng Fei said.

"Yes, brother, the original wish has been fulfilled. We are granted the land of five states."

"Stupid! As long as the promise is not fulfilled, it will always be false!" another monk next to him suddenly spoke up.

"Then we won't do it?" Cheng Fei said angrily.

"Barbarians cannot be trusted! I think it's better to support a new emperor! Anyway, those unruly soldiers have done this a lot over the years!"

"The Emperor of Chang'an, the soldiers of Wei Bo! There are many such generals in the Zhou Dynasty now!"

"But this way, we won't be able to support Long Ting."

"There is still a chance! As long as he can control Zhou, he will naturally unify the world!"

"Amitabha, if that's the case, then don't hesitate any longer!" Cheng Fei said.

"Go do something!" Cheng Hui said.

Richard was sitting in the tent compiling books, which were his enlightenment books and books specifically used for local governance. Richard was going to compile all these books and then have the bookshop print them.

In addition to these, Richard also wrote about mathematics, natural sciences, and agronomy.

These books are all written in vernacular Chinese, without any unnecessary annotations or explanations. Anyone who can read can understand them.

These books were prepared by Richard in order to train officials and bureaucrats in large numbers.

In order to govern the world, at least tens of thousands of officials and staff are needed. In many cases, the ancient imperial court had to rely on local powerful people and wealthy families to rule the local areas. With these people, the imperial court could reduce the influence of local powerful people and wealthy families.

At this moment, the Phoenix Qingxuan flew back and landed on Richard's desk.

"Master, I found the smell of plague in the river water. Someone must have taken action."

"Sure enough, these people are bastards checking out—I can't hold it in anymore!"

Richard sneered, "I've been waiting for them to come. I haven't done anything for so many days, and I feel itchy!"

"Master, I will go and disperse the plague and force them to take action!" Qingxuan said.

"Go!" Richard waved his hand.

The phoenix is ​​the king of all birds, a divine beast of good fortune, and is naturally the nemesis of filth, sin, plague, poison, and other evil arts. If those people want to attack secretly in this way, they are making a wrong calculation.

Qing Xuan immediately spread her wings and flew high, and a phoenix cry resounded through the sky. The next second, her true form of a phoenix appeared. Many soldiers in the camp saw it, and countless soldiers cheered.

"Phoenix! Look, it's a phoenix!"

"The phoenix is ​​flying over our camp!"

"The auspicious phoenix has appeared! A great omen!"

The whole camp cheered, and Guo Rong, who was in a meeting, was also alarmed. When everyone heard the noise, they thought it was a mutiny, but when they came out to take a look, they saw a phoenix flying in the sky.

"Good luck to your majesty!"

"The phoenix sang on Mount Qishan, King Wu defeated King Zhou, and the Zhou Dynasty prospered! Now that the divine phoenix is ​​singing here, our Zhou Kingdom will surely prosper!"

(End of this chapter)