Late Tang

Guo Chengan was a little worried about Li Jing's plan to sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight, and then reap the benefits of the fisherman.Whether they are Khitan people or Goguryeo people, these are fierce Hu people.Since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, Khitanhe has been at war with the Tang Dynasty.

From Tang Gaozong, to Wu Zetian, and then to Tang Xuanzong, there were many wars with the Khitan. The Tang Dynasty lost more than it won, and it never completely defeated the Khitan. Instead, it was repeatedly defeated and even wiped out.

Especially in the few battles during Wu Zetian's time, countless soldiers were lost.

The Khitan leader whose name was changed from Li Jinzhong to Li Jinmi by Wu Zetian, the governor of Songmo Dudufu, and the governor of Chengzhou who was changed by Wu Zetian from Sun Wanrong to Sun Wanzhan once defeated the Tang army several times.

At the beginning of the first year of Long live Tongtian, a famine broke out in Khitan, and the majority of the people had no means of living and were destitute.The self-willed governor of Yingzhou, Zhao Wenhui, not only refused to give relief, but instead treated the Khitan leaders as slaves. Since then, he has repeatedly invaded and insulted the Khitan subordinates under his jurisdiction.Zhao Wenhui's behavior aroused strong dissatisfaction among the Khitan people headed by Li Jinzhong. Li Jinzhong seized the opportunity of internal and external troubles in the Tang Dynasty, and after discussing with his wife and brother, Sun Wanrong, the governor of Guicheng Prefecture, took the opportunity to raise troops against the Tang Dynasty.

Li Jinzhong led his troops to rebel against the Tang Dynasty, captured Yingzhou, captured hundreds of people, and beheaded Zhao Wenhui.Li Jinzhong called himself the "Supreme Khan", and with Sun Wanrong as his commander, he plundered the land and was invincible.Since all the Khitan tribes could not bear the oppression of Tang Dynasty officials, they came to defect one after another. Li Jinzhong's army quickly grew to tens of thousands of people within 10 days, and he claimed to be 10.Then he attacked Chongzhou and captured Tang Longshan Army to fight against Xu Qinji, the deputy envoy, and his momentum grew stronger.

When the news reached Luoyang, Wu Zetian was furious.Order Zuoying Yangwei General Cao Renshi, Right Jinwuwei General Zhang Xuanyu, Zuoweiwei General Li Duozuo, Sinong Shaoqing Marenjie and others (generals) to lead troops to conquest. As a result, the former army of the Tang Dynasty was defeated before the battle The treacherous plan was defeated. Then the army ambushed in the valley of the yellow deer, filling the valley with the dead. The generals Zhang Xuanyu and Sinongqing Marenjie were captured alive. The Tang army was annihilated in the ambush.

Then Wu Zetian was furious.He ordered that "those who are prisoners of the world and slaves of common men and women who are brave, the officials will pay their worth, and send them to attack Khitan!" He ordered the states near Shandong to set up martial arts regiments.He also appointed Wu Youyi, the governor of Tongzhou, as the general of Youwuwei, and the general manager of the Qingbian Road march;Concentrated an army of 18 to attack Khitan.As a result, the Khitan set up an ambush again, and the 18 Tang army was wiped out. Even Wang Xiaojie fell into the valley and died.

After more than a month, Wu Zetian ordered Wu Yizong, the general of the Right Jinwu Guard, to be the general manager of the Shenbingdao march, and He Jiami, the general of the Right Baotao Guard, led the army to reinforce Hebei.On the eighth day of May, Tong Pingzhang Shide Lou Shide was appointed as the deputy head of the Qingbian Road, and Sha Zha Zhongyi, the general of Youwu Weiwei, was the head of the forward. He led the army to attack Khitan in an attempt to save the defeat.In the end, the Turks sent troops to raid the Khitan's lair, and the Khitan army was defeated.

The Goguryeo people are also not to be underestimated. In the Sui Dynasty, Yang Jian, Yang Guang and his sons conquered Goguryeo four times. Finally, Tang Taizong and Tang Gaozong's father and son used troops for two generations. Yang Guang and Li Shimin both attacked Goguryeo in person.Together, the four emperors of the two dynasties used troops for decades, and finally joined forces with Silla to finally destroy Goguryeo.It can be seen that Goguryeo is also a fierce tribe.

The Khitan people and the Goguryeo people are really two fierce tigers. Even if the two tigers fight like this, even if they really lose, as long as they are not dead, there is still a big risk if they want to take advantage of it.

Li Jing said: "Although the land of Liaodong is bitter and cold, if we can own Liaodong, it will be of great benefit. After acquiring Liaodong, our territory can be expanded by more than ten times. Moreover, we can obtain the land where war horses are produced, and we can directly border Yingzhou in western Liaoning. If we can take back Yingzhou, we will be able to circumvent the Liaohai Sea and directly border on the Lulong Army."

After taking the map, Li Jing pointed to the map above and said, "We currently occupy Dengzhou, but it is difficult to expand the territory in a short time. There is no chance to expand to Laizhou and Qingzhou, but we can take the opportunity to recover Liaodong. If we can regain Liaodong Liaoxi, then we can form a two-headed snake situation. One head is Dengzhou, and the west is Qingzhou Prefecture and Xuzhou. The other head is Liaodong and Liaoxi, and the west is the towns of Lulong in Hebei."

Li Jing's plan is very big. Now that Huang Chao and others have just started to mess up, and within a few years, it is estimated that the situation in Qingzhou will hardly change.It is better to use this period of time to fully manage Dengzhou and southern Liaoning, compete for eastern and western Liaoning, and then turn the Liaohai into an inland sea. When the time comes, attack with two heads and attack Hebei.

The strategic terrain of Shandong is not good, and the advance base is good, but it is difficult to build a foundation.But if Hebei can be captured, it will be completely different.Taking Hebei as the foundation and Liaodong as the backyard, capturing Shandong in the south and Hedong in the north is a good move.

But to play this move, the most critical thing is to regain Liaodong.It is extremely difficult to cross the Yellow River from Shandong to attack Hebei to the north.However, it would be more appropriate from a strategic point of view to enter the customs and fight for Hebei from the west of Liaoning.

Li Liang raised his concerns: "At present, Duli Town and others have not really surrendered, and there are also many large and small forces such as Shicheng and Shirenzhucheng. If you go to Liaozhong at this time, I am afraid that the road ahead will be unstable."

"Don't worry about Duli Town. As long as we control Beisha City, the passage to the hinterland of Eastern Liaodong on the tip of Duli Town and Qingni City will be completely blocked. It's our forces, they seem to be stuck by us, how dare they move. At least the other forces are small forces, and they will never dare to confront us."

Near Beisha City, due to the proximity of Qingni Port and the western port, the distance from east to west of this section of land is only ten miles wide.And Beisha City is just located on the Dahei Mountain overlooking this narrow passage. As long as Beisha City is controlled, the passage from Duli Town and Beisha City to the hinterland of Liaodong will be completely controlled by Beisha City.

This throat is controlled by the Zhendong Army, and Duli Town is completely stuck in its throat. How dare they make any changes.

"Duli Zhen just negotiated peace with us, and last time he wrote a letter expressing that he would belong to the imperial court. There will be no disagreement. Even if there is disagreement, as long as Wang Zhong leads the army to garrison Beisha City, and the navy of Zhenhaiying is in Qingni City, Duli Town will never dare to make any changes. On the surface, Shicheng and Shirenzhu, two slightly larger forces, have also belonged to the imperial court, and the rest are small forces, so there is nothing to be afraid of. As for Dengzhou, only one The general is guarding, Qingzhou and Wang Jingwu are fighting fiercely, let alone attacking. Right now is a great opportunity to enter Liaodong, not to be missed."

Some people also persuaded that Liaodong was bitterly cold and there were many barbarians, and it was a loss-making business to compete with them because the risks were high and the benefits were not obvious.

"It's a big mistake. No matter how bitter and cold Liaodong is, it is still a piece of land. For us, who now only have one Dengzhou, this is extremely important."

There was no one to persuade him anymore, so Li Jing and the generals began to draw up a plan to enter the Liao Dynasty.

In the end, it was decided that this time, the five battalions of silver guns, bodyguards, flying eagles, flying cavalry, and controlling cranes in the middle compartment of the Zhendong Army would be brought together, plus two battalions of officer guards, Tieying and Luoyan, and the second battalion of Tiaoqingnicheng and Beibei. There is a Hu cavalry battalion in each of Shacheng, namely the flying ax battalion in Qingni city and the ranger battalion in Beisha city, an infantry battalion and a cavalry battalion.

They dispatched nine combat battalions, including three cavalry battalions. In addition, from several auxiliary battalions in the rear compartment, one each of medical, engineering, logistics, transportation, and military police was dispatched to form ten battalions. army.

Li Jing regarded himself as the commander, with Li Zhen as the marching commander, Li Liang as the marching staff, Guo Chengan as the secretary in charge, Lin Wei as the deputy general, and dozens of people as the list for the expedition.

With 1 horses, Lin Wei led the three battalions of Flying Eagle, Flying Cavalry, and Flying Axe as the forward, and Li Jing led the four battalions of Silver Spear, Guards, Tie Ying and Luo Yan's two officers' guard battalions as the Chinese army.The logistics battalion led by Lin Wu and the three battalions of Konghe and Youqi are the rear army.

Li Jing sent Zhang Chengzong to guard Dengzhou, Liu Shouqian to guard Daxiezhai Islands, and Wang Zhong to guard Beisha City.

After choosing an auspicious day, sacrifice the flag and raise troops.

The second battalion of Zhenhai and Nutao dispatched warships to transport troops and horses to Qingni City to assemble the various ministries. Li Jing had just entered Qingni City, and someone reported that someone wanted to see him.Those who came were envoys from several small forces of Tang people in southern Liaoning.

The Khitan people in Jian'an Prefecture and the Goguryeo people in Jili Prefecture have now received reinforcements, and they are fighting harder and harder.The two armies didn't have much food and grass, so they sent troops and horses to fight grass valleys.Those Tang forces close to Jili Prefecture were first extorted by Khitans and Goguryeos for money and food, and then the villages below were looted and killed by the two armies.All parties were miserable, but they were afraid of the power of the Khitan and Goguryeo people, so they did not dare to be enemies with them.Finally, after much deliberation, he thought of Li Jing, the new imperial guard of Anton, and sent envoys to Qingni City one after another, preparing to send reinforcements to the Zhendong Army.

When Li Jing heard the news, he superficially comforted the envoys from all parties, but he was a little happy in his heart.The barbaric behavior of these barbarians has already made the forces of the Tang Dynasty too much to bear.In the past, the two sides fought in small ways, which had little effect on them. Now that both sides have sent a large number of reinforcements, they are fighting desperately, and they are also unlucky.

These small forces are panicking now, either they can only endure the burning, killing and looting of the Hu people, or they can only ask Li Jing to come here.Of course, Li Jing couldn't make decisions for them in vain, so Li Jing took the opportunity to propose that he could help them drive away these barbarians, but asked them to send troops to unite together.

The envoys from all parties returned with Li Jing's request. A few days later, those small forces agreed to Li Jing's request and were willing to send troops together.Not far from the city, Wang Pu from Duli Town came to Qingni City in person. He brought three thousand soldiers and horses and expressed his willingness to send troops to help Li Jing.

There are three thousand soldiers and horses in plain sight, and Li Jing naturally does not refuse anyone who comes.Regardless of the mentality of sending troops in Duli Town, but under the current battle between the Khitan people and the Goguryeo people, Li Jing played the banner of the governor of the Andong Governor's Mansion, and proposed the slogan of expelling the Hulu and recovering Liaodong.The large and small forces in southern Liaoning responded one after another at this time, and some of them remained silent for the time being, but Li Jing immediately sent envoys to urge them to send troops.

At the beginning, some tribes ignored the envoy sent by Li Jing. After Li Jing heard the envoy's reply.They are not at all polite to these forces, they salute first and then soldiers, the salute has already been greeted, and then the soldiers will follow.

The army marched all the way north, and the speed was not fast every day, but it was not a simple march.Along the way, Li Jing had already issued strict orders to suppress bandits while marching.Anyway, the Khitan and Goguryeo people let them fight first.

Except for dozens of people who have signed up to express their willingness to join them, Li Jing classified all the other big and small forces as objects to be wiped out together with the bandits.The first one to be wiped out was Langya Village, a stone village with a population of about [-] and thousands of soldiers.It is not a big or small force, and has always been farming and hunting for a living. Because of the tough folk customs, there are thousands of soldiers guarding the village, and ordinary forces can't swallow him.

Li Jing's envoys came twice to ask them to return to the court, but they ignored them and didn't even let the envoys into the city.Yesterday Li Jing sent a third envoy to inform them that they would welcome them today, hand in the account map and account books, and send [-] soldiers to join the coalition.

However, the cottage did not reply at all. When Li Jing's troops arrived at the cottage early in the morning, the gate of the cottage was closed tightly, and the shadows of defenders could be seen behind the stone wall.

"Who is the owner of this cottage, and what is his reputation?" Li Jing asked a spy.

"Mr. Hui, this village is called Langya Village. The owner of the village is named Zongshou Qin. He was a mercenary when he was young. There are some famous people in this area, but this person has been a mercenary and a horse thief. Now, This Langya Village usually does field hunting, but if there is a chance, it will do a lot of moneyless business." The spies told all the information they knew, but in fact such a thing can be done to Xu Woren in Liaodong.Liaodong is a chaotic land without a master, there is no law of the king, and the law of the jungle is the law of the jungle.Robbery and murder are really too common.

But Li Jing doesn't care about these things. Since Qin Zongshou has a dark history of horse thieves, and now he refuses to surrender, there is no pressure to use him now to kill chickens and monkeys, and eliminate him.

"Give me an order to destroy Langya village!" Li Jing sat on the horse with a solemn expression on his face, slowly drew out the sword from his waist, pointed at the mountain obliquely, and shouted.

Li Jing didn't say which troops to send up. The leaders of many small forces surrounding Li Jing looked left and right, and saw that the soldiers and horses of the Zhendong Army were not dispatched.He didn't quite understand what Li Jing meant for them to take the lead. Although he was a little reluctant, at this time, he could only bite the bullet.

The soldiers and horses brought by the various ministries were not many, the few were three to five hundred, and the many were two to three thousand. Basically, except for those who stayed at home, they had already brought all they could bring.At this time, everyone shouted, dozens of forces in a mess, and there were 6000, [-] people, and they swarmed forward!

(To be continued)