Late Tang

(Thanks to the three book friends, G, Qi Zhen, and Nanyanghuo, for their monthly ticket support. During the Chinese New Year, I wish all book friends a family reunion and happiness. It’s the holiday, and I have the audacity to ask for monthly tickets and mooncakes!)

In the northeast of Xiasui Jiedushi, Gyeonggi-do, on the gate tower of the Jinglue Army, which is located west of Dafei Kuyan Pond, Li Guochang, the Zhenwu Jiedushi and the Shatuo tribal army envoy, stood up straight and looked at the surrounding fields. The thunderstorm was about to come. Come, the sky is as black as an ink fountain.The yellow sand is vast and the earth is vast.

Inside and outside the military city of the Strategic Army, there were corpses of soldiers on horses everywhere, and the ground was dyed crimson.

The city was full of soldiers from both sides gasping for breath. Whether it was the Shatuo soldiers in black shirts, the Zhenwu soldiers in red shirts, or even the Youzhou Dangxiang soldiers in yellow uniforms, they were too tired to stand up at this moment.

However, the Dangxiang soldiers in Youzhou were surrounded in a big circle at this time, while the Shatuo soldiers and Zhenwu soldiers were sitting on the periphery.

Li Guochang walked down the tower, and a row of officers saluted him.

"General, we have won!" A young Shatuo officer had an excited smile on his weary face, "The party members have been defeated by us, and the next step is that Youzhou will also be occupied by us. Tuoba Sigong can no longer Stop us."

The Jinglue Army is an important military city in Youzhou. Datang has about 81 troops on the border.The Jinglue Army is stationed in Youzhou on the northern plateau of Gyeonggi-do. The Jinglue Army City has 3000 troops under its jurisdiction. The east is the Dafei Kuyan Pond, the north is the Kuye Ganbo, and the south is the Tuhe Libo. The desert land, the status here is very important.

As the land of Hequ in the north of Chang'an Gyeonggi in Tang Dynasty, Youzhou played an important role in shielding Chang'an.

On the outskirts of the Hequ, the Helan Mountains stretch from north to south to the west, and the Yinshan Mountains stretch across Changli to the north. Since ancient times, this has not only been an important geographical boundary, but also an important boundary between the Central Plains and the barbarians.

The Hetao Plain of the Yellow River on the inner side of the two dividing lines forms a zigzag-shaped big bend in the Yellow River channel.

Datang has Fengzhou and Shengzhou in the north of Hequ, Lingzhou, Yan, Xia and Yin are in the south, Linzhou is in the east, and Youzhou is in the south of the center.

The eight prefectures of Hequ, together with the three surrendered cities, constitute the northern barrier of Chang'an, the center of the entire Tang Dynasty.It is extremely important. At this time, the states are under the four Jiedushi, Tiandejun Jiedushi, Zhenwujun Jiedushi, Shuofang Jiedushi, and Xiasui Jiedushi.

Li Guochang raised his army at first because he didn't want to lose control of Daibei Datong, the stronghold of the Shatuo people.Among them, there are also those who are becoming increasingly arrogant, overconfident in the Shatuo soldiers, and miscalculated the strength of Datang.He sent troops only to separatize the Daibei.But the court's subsequent multi-pronged attack made him also full of worries.

After discussing with their son Li Keyong, Li Guochang and his son prepared to fight to promote peace.The father and son led troops to attack everywhere, and Li Keyong even sent troops to Youzhou, which had just undergone a change of commander.

Although the Ningwu army in Guizhou failed to attack, they did not lose much.On the contrary, they joined Xiadai, Xin, and Lan in succession, gaining momentum.Unexpectedly, not only did the court not come to appease him as expected, but instead replaced a formidable figure like Zheng Congxuan as commander in chief.Li Guochang and Li Keyong's father and son were a little panicked.

After the last discussion, Li Keyong thought that the imperial court had not been hurt. After all, they were far away in Daibei to make troubles, and the emperor and ministers in Chang'an City could not feel the pressure.After much deliberation, Li Keyong believed that he should continue to put some pressure on the court to facilitate reconciliation.There are two ways to put pressure on the imperial court. One is to capture Taiyuan, the northern capital, one of the five capitals of the Tang Dynasty, or to directly kill soldiers and horses into Guanzhong.

Afterwards, the father and son divided their forces again, and Li Keyong led his troops south to Taiyuan, preparing to look for an opportunity to attack Taiyuan.Li Guochang, on the other hand, led the Zhenwu Army and a part of the Shatuo Army to the south, and wooed Tuoba Sigong, who claimed to be the governor of Youzhou in the separatist regime, to expand his momentum with the party members.

It's a pity that the party members not only did not agree to his request, but insulted him instead.

Li Guochang's soldiers and horses killed Ben Youzhou not only for revenge, but also to put more pressure on Chang'an according to the previous agreement with his son.

In the Tang Dynasty, there were five main traffic routes passing through the Hequ.The first one is to take the Lingzhou Road in the west, and follow the west bank of the Yellow River to the north to the East Shoujiang City, which is located in the grassland outside the Yinshan Mountain.Going south along the Weiru River, Yuanzhou River and Jing River, you can go directly to Guanzhong.You can also enter Guanzhong by following Maling Mountain to the southeast.

The second main road is Xiazhou Road, which can enter Fengzhou and Tiande Army through Youzhou in the north.Go southeast via Yanzhou to enter Guanzhong.

The third main road is the Yinlin Shengzhou Road in the east, which leads to Shanyu Duhufu in the north and Yinshan and the grassland outside the Great Wall, and connects to Yanzhou in the south.

The fourth main road is the horizontal Lingyan Xiayin Road, leaning against Baiyu Mountain in the south, and taking Mengmenjin and Hehejin to the east, which is the main road leading to Hedong.

The fifth main road is the Yellow River waterway, which is about [-] miles from Lingzhou to Shengzhou and Shanyu Duhufu.

Of these five main roads, the Lingyan Xiazhou Road and the Yellow River waterway are east-west, while the Lingzhou Road is far to the west. Therefore, if Li Guochang wants to enter Guanzhong, he only has two roads to go: Xiazhou Road and Yinlin Shengzhou Road. .

Due to the large number of soldiers and horses in Yinlin Shengzhou, in the end Li Guochang chose to fight Tuoba Sigong, a soft persimmon.Youzhou was originally Xia Suiyin's next state, but the Dangxiang people are very powerful in Yuzhou. Now the leader of the Dangxiang people took the opportunity to recruit troops and claim to be the governor of Youzhou. Like Li Keyong and his son, they are not good birds.

Li Guochang went to attack Youzhou in the name of revenge. The drunkard's intention was not to drink. The ultimate goal was to capture Youzhou, and then take Yanzhou directly. Finally, he made a gesture of entering Guanzhong to force the court back. Come to the negotiating table.Beating Youzhou has an advantage over fighting Yinlin and winning several states. He thinks that the imperial court will be happy to see them fighting with party members without interfering.

Everything went smoothly as he expected.

Li Guochang left some troops to defend the Tiande army, and then the whole army marched southward. Ten thousand soldiers swaggered into the territory of the Tiande army, and then went south from Xiazhou Road to Yuzhou.Tuoba Sigong led [-] troops to meet the Zhenwu Army in Jinglue Army City.

The two sides have been fighting for several days, and they have been evenly matched.Li Guochang used only the Zhenwu army to attack the city for five consecutive days. By the sixth day, both the Dangxiang people and the Zhenwu army were exhausted. The exhausted DANGXIANG people were finally defeated and fought until dawn. Tuoba Sigong led more than [-] remnants of the enemy and fled south to Yan'en, Youzhou.

The victory in this battle not only defeated the party members and captured the Jinglue Army City, but more importantly, after this battle, Baba Sigong was no longer able to fight against him.The Zhenwu Army and Shatuo soldiers led by him can immediately use the Jinglue Army City as their forward base, first wipe out the remnant soldiers of the Youzhou Party, and then directly send troops to Yanzhou, approaching Guanzhong, forcing the court to negotiate a settlement.

"Marshal!" Officer Shatuo said loudly, "After defeating the Dangxiang people, there will be no more incompetent troops going south to Chang'an. The Dangxiang people can't stop us, let alone the Shence Army who look like shit. ! Shatuo’s army will be approaching the city of Chang’an soon, and your name will go down in history!”

"Famous in history?" Looking at the flushed cheeks of the young officer, Li Guochang couldn't help but laugh. He never thought of going to Chang'an City, and Li Guochang and his son were already satisfied if they could seize the land of Daibei.

He looked up at the dark sky, and the rainstorm was coming.

"Victorious, finally victorious."

In the confrontation between the two Hu and Fan soldiers in the Tang Dynasty, in the end, the more sturdy Shatuo people were better, and the Dangxiang people were finally defeated.Xia Suiyin Jiedu envoy sat on the mountain to watch the tigers fight, and did not send a single soldier to come.

In fact, the current Xia Suiyin Jiedu did nothing. He had watched the party member Tuoba Sigong drive away the governor, and claimed to be the governor of Youzhou.Hearing that Zhu Xiechi led an army southward to fight with the party members, not only was he not worried, but he laughed very happily.

In this battle, Tuoba Sigong led 1 soldiers and horses to reinforce the Jinglue Army City, the party had [-] soldiers and horses, and Li Guochang had [-] soldiers and horses.The two sides fought for five days and five nights, and finally the Shatuo people won the final victory.Jinglue City was captured by Shatuo people, more than [-] people were killed and injured by Dangxiang, and more than [-] people surrendered at this time. Tuoba Sigong fled back to Yuzhou with only [-] people.

However, in order to win this battle, Li Guochang didn't care about the loss.

The Shatuo soldiers were fierce and brave, and the Zhenwu Army was also very brave. During the battle, the [-] Zhenwu Army killed and injured a thousand people, and the Shatuo soldiers also lost more than [-] people.

However, although the casualties in this battle were not small, it was of great significance.After a brief visit to the city, the gate of Youzhou has been opened.

At night, there was a splendid campfire in Jinglue Army City, and more than a thousand party members were captured. Listening to the laughter outside, the mood was heavy and confused.The Shatuo people did not kill them, but imprisoned them in the city, as if they had no intention of killing them.

Compared with those party members, the Shatuo people and Zhenwu army at this time were jubilant, the campfires were jumping, and there were unique tones and laughter in Saibei everywhere.Since the beginning of the army, the Shatuo people have been invincible except for a small setback in Guizhou, and they have been invincible in every attack.They won the Jinglue Army City, and they gained a lot. Junlue City not only guarded the main roads of Xiazhou, but also took charge of the Dafei Bitter Salt Pond. The salt produced by the salt pond earns a lot of money every year, and now all of them have become Li Guochang's spoils of war.

Li Guochang has led troops for a long time, and he knows how to improve morale. At dinner, he announced on the spot that more than 100 officers who fought bravely in battle were promoted, and hundreds of soldiers also received special rewards. The soldiers also received a reward.Boxes of gold, silver, money and silk were distributed to the soldiers on the spot. These money and silk were stored in the treasury of Jinglue City, but Li Guochang was generous.

More than 8000 soldiers and horses drank and celebrated, and the good wine and meat were handed out without hesitation. Cans of fine wine were piled up in the camp, and the roasted fat was packed in barrels. Cheers were heard, and the scene was jubilant and enthusiastic. (To be continued.)