Thief Emperor

Chapter 191 It’s hard to recover from a bad situation!

According to Li's original idea, he should have about ten years. After occupying a piece of land, ten years would be enough for him to develop steadily for a long time, improve technology, recruit soldiers and horses, and after he has strong soldiers and horses, he will at least become a local lord.

Protect yourself in troubled times.

Now, through his communication with Zheng Wei and the progress of the war in the Central Plains, he keenly felt that he had misjudged the situation.

The speed of the collapse of the Great Zhou Dynasty, which he had not yet glimpsed the full picture of, seemed to be far beyond his expectations.

This is not to say that there is something wrong with Li Yun's judgment ability, but it is because he has access to too little information and therefore has no way of seeing the overall situation.

And then there is…

The future and destiny of a country sometimes does not depend solely on its objective capabilities and objective strength. In many cases, it is the confidence of the people that determines the fate of the country.

It's pretty much the same thing as economics.

For example, even if a country’s economy is very strong, but its mouthpieces keep singing pessimistic messages, causing people to lose confidence in the economy and reduce consumption, then the country’s economy will really begin to decline.

The same is true of the fate of the country.

After all, whether it is a country or an economy, it is essentially made up of the participation of individuals.

If the people of the world, especially the local clans, lose confidence in the central government, then the country will surely collapse faster.

And now, the local big families... at least the Zheng family, have obviously lost confidence in the imperial court, or at least are skeptical.

This suspicion will lead them to take action, and it is precisely these actions that will ultimately accelerate the collapse of the dynasty.

Based on this situation, Li Yun’s original farming plan could no longer be carried out.

Even if he really spent three to five years to develop Yuezhou and make it a big city in the southeast and rich, he would immediately become someone else's food once the world was in chaos.

On the contrary, if he could possess a strong military force and ensure the safety of Yuezhou in troubled times, then the word "safety" alone would be enough to attract countless people to flee to Yuezhou in troubled times. By then, when the population increased, it would naturally prosper.

Li Yun took Li Zheng on horseback and rode around outside Yuezhou City, looking for a suitable place to set up camp.

The location of the camp is also important.

The first thing is to choose a place that is as open as possible, but preferably with some obstacles, to prevent being attacked by others without any cover and without even a place to hide.

Secondly, it is necessary to be close to a water source.

It is best to be somewhere with running water.

This kind of place is not easy to find. The two brothers rode on horseback for three whole days outside the city before they finally chose an open space. This open space was about ten miles away from Yuezhou City. There was a water source a hundred feet away, and it was also next to a slope. Even if it was strictly according to what was written in military books, it was a qualified place to set up camp.

After deciding on a place, Li Yun looked at Li Zheng and said, "Shou Hou, the camp building is now up to you. I'll give you 200 men. Build the camp as soon as possible. By then, half of us will be in the city and the other half will be outside."

"New recruits will be sent here for training."

Li narrowed his eyes and said softly, "We need to add another 500 people to our staff."

If he had enough resources, Li Yun would have liked to have four or five thousand people, but now, he really had no better way to feed these troops.

You have to know that this is still an ordinary army. As long as it is given food, wages and weapons, it can be raised up. It is already the most economical and practical army.

The armor is not complete.

If you want to become a qualified army, you need to equip it with heavy armor, complete bows and crossbows, cavalry, and other various expenses, which are astronomical!
Li Zheng scratched his head, looking embarrassed: "Second brother, how do we build this camp? I... I don't know how..."

Li Yun glanced at him and sighed slightly: "Skinny monkey, if you don't know how to do it, you have to learn. You must learn."

Li Zheng's expression became serious, and he lowered his head slightly and said, "Yes, second brother, I understand."

"I'll go back to the city with you first and ask someone in the city. Give me three days. Once I figure it out, I'll bring people here to set up camp!"

Li Yun said "hmm", looked at the empty space in front of him, and said slowly: "This place will be called Yuezhou Camp from now on."

"Our army can be called the Yuezhou Army."

Li Zheng said "Hey".

"A year ago, I wouldn't have thought that I would lead an army one day. My second brother is really..."

"so amazing."

Li Yun ignored the flattering words. He patted Li Zheng's shoulder lightly and his face became serious for the first time.

"Skinny Monkey, we are brothers from the same clan. You need to put in more effort at this time."

Li Zheng patted his chest and said in a muffled voice: "What are you talking about, second brother? From childhood to adulthood, I have always given my all to whatever you asked me to do!"

"I will definitely take care of this for you!"

Li Yun nodded gently, then looked into the distance and murmured, "It's a pity that Zhao Cheng was not caught when the rebellion was suppressed. If he could be caught and used for his own purposes..."

"Now it's much easier for us."

"I wonder where Zhao Cheng is now..." Li Zheng at the side couldn't help but say, "Brother, when Zhao Cheng escaped from Jiangdong, he had two to three thousand people with him, more than we have now!"

"Don't think about him. If he comes back, I'm afraid we won't be his match."

Li Yun smiled and said, "Zhao Cheng is from Yuezhou, and most of his people are also from Yuezhou, or at least from Jiangdong. They might..."

"Will be back."

After the defeat of the Yuezhou rebels, they naturally did not dare to return to Jiangdong for a short period of time. This was because they were afraid of the power of the imperial court.

But if the imperial court is in chaos and war breaks out everywhere, Zhao Cheng and the Yuezhou people under his command might return to Yuezhou.

General Li was leading a horse, walking on the official road with Li Zheng, one in front and one behind. The setting sun cast long shadows of the two men and their horses.

"When the time comes, there might be a fight."

"Before he comes back..."

Li Yun's voice was low.

"We have to be able to defeat him."

………………

"father."

In November, in the commander's tent of Su Jing's army in Songzhou, Su Sheng looked serious and saluted his old father with his fists clasped.

He said in a deep voice: "According to the report, within the territory of Henan Province, Yuzhou, Chenzhou, Bianzhou, Ruzhou, Xingyang County..."

“They have all fallen.”

Su Sheng said in a deep voice: "The rebels have already invaded Henan Prefecture and are marching towards Luoyang."

In the Great Zhou Dynasty, in addition to the two administrative units of prefectures and counties, there is also a "fu"-level unit. However, this prefecture is very different from the prefectures in the Ming and Qing dynasties. It is a relatively high-level administrative unit. Only a few extremely prosperous places can use the word "fu".

For example, Jingzhao Prefecture, Taiyuan Prefecture and so on.

Henan Prefecture is the core location of the entire Central Plains, and its capital is in Luoyang.

Seeing that Su Jing didn't say anything, Major General Su Sheng hesitated for a moment and said, "Dad, according to intelligence, the bandit Wang may have hundreds of thousands of soldiers. They have been attacking cities and plundering land along the way. After they conquer a place, they don't occupy it, but plunder it and then move on to the next place. Therefore, the troops are very concentrated."

"Right now, there are probably hundreds of thousands of them in Henan Prefecture. Even if 70% of them are killed, there are still at least hundreds of thousands of them."

Su Sheng lowered his head and said, "Dad, what does the court mean? Just let them go straight to rescue Luoyang?"

Su Jing, who had been silent the whole time, closed his eyes and thought for a long time before he sighed silently and said, "We have too few troops."

Make bricks without straw.

If General Su was leading his old troops in the border army, he might not be without confidence in defeating a rebel force of 20,000 or 30,000 men against a hundred thousand or even several hundred thousand.

But the army he is leading now was brought from Jiangdong, and even if the time spent suppressing the rebellion is included, the total time is no more than one year.

After one year, they could at most be considered a new army, and were not much stronger than the peasant uprising army in the Central Plains.

Their combat capabilities were similar, but the number of troops was very different, so Su Jing had no choice.

General Su was silent for a while again, then he said, "The court has issued an edict, allowing me to recruit soldiers and food along the way, but in a hurry, I can't recruit too many young and strong people. You have seen it along the way."

"Everyone who could escape has already escaped wherever the rebels have passed."

Su Jing clenched his fists and said slowly: "To raise an army of 100,000 people, it will take at least two to three years, three to five years, it's simply not enough time."

If he could burn, kill, loot and plunder without restraint like the rebels and coerce the people, it would not be difficult to gather hundreds of thousands of people in a short period of time, but Su Jing could not do such a thing.

Therefore, he had no way to quickly increase his troops.

Su Sheng looked at his old father and sighed: "Before coming from Jiangdong, I never thought that the battlefield in the Central Plains would be so rotten. Now..."

"Even Dad, you can't clean it up."

Su Jing snorted coldly: "The court is too incompetent, and the local officials are all good-for-nothings."

After cursing, he whispered to himself: "Now there is only one way to deal with this mess."

Su Sheng whispered: "Border troops..."

"Ah."

General Su looked outside the tent.

"We can only rely on those few Jiedushi, but they..."

"Is it reliable?"

(End of this chapter)