Late Tang

(Thanks to Mengmengmengmengmeng and fumin1980 for their rewards, thank you!)

On the last night before the expedition, Li Jing had dinner with his family.Li's mother is at the top, and Li Jing's family sits below, ten wives, eighteen children, two sister-in-laws who were married as adopted daughters by Li's mother, and five sisters who married early and became mothers .

Sister and brother-in-law, younger sister and brother-in-law, niece and niece are really a prosperous family with four to fifty people.

Although it was not the first time for Li Jing to go out on an expedition, the meal was still a bit heavy, and Li's mother kept saying a lot of exhortations.

It was not until it was time to light the lamp that he returned to the main room.As a result, all the wives, big and small, came with their children. Among the ten wives, except for Zhang Huier, Xiao Yulou, Megan, and Julie, who had not yet given birth, the others had already given birth to several, such as Wang Wan Jun's big belly is already the third child, and the younger sister of Pei's sisters has given birth to all three, and two of them are twins. One person gave birth to five, three sons and two daughters , which made Wang Wanjun a little jealous. Her first two babies were all sons, and according to an experienced mother-in-law, this will be a son again.Wang Guiniang was also very envious. She was the main wife, but it was difficult to conceive. Up to now, she has only given birth to one daughter, and there has been no further movement.

With such a large group of children, and they are all only three or four years old, Li Jing, who rarely has time at home, even sometimes can't tell their ranks.However, although the children are small, each of these little boys has at least a seventh-rank rank on their backs, and the eldest son born by Wang Wanjun even has the official position of the fifth rank.

A group of wives were reluctant to part with Li Jing leaving home to fight.

On the contrary, Megan and Julie were very happy. They were recalled from the barracks by Li Jing during this period, and they stayed at home with Mother Li and others every day, which made them a little restless.Now that the Navy has expanded into the Fourth Army, both of them have become the masters of the first army.I have been thinking about training the fleet all day long, so I don't want to say hello every day, and chat with the elderly and children about family matters.This time when Li Jing went to war, they still regretted that the Liaohai and the Yellow River were frozen in winter, and they could not follow Li Jing to send troops.

On the last night before the expedition, a group of wives wanted to accompany Li Jing, but there were too many monks and too little food. In the end, Li Jing asked Guiniang to stay, which made Wang Wanjun a little unhappy and didn't look at his big belly.

But that night there was not much intimacy, the husband and wife just had a chat with each other, and Gui Niang asked Li Jing to rest early.

After not sleeping for a long time, he was woken up by the pearl chiming clock in the room, and it was already bright daylight.

After a while, Wan'er had already walked to the door and knocked lightly on the door.

This girl who came from Fuhai of Silla and was finally sent to Li Jing by her parents as a slave because of the famine, has become the mother of a son and a daughter in the blink of an eye.However, although she is the second wife in the backyard, in fact, besides taking care of the children, this girl only devotes herself to being filial to Li's mother and respecting Gui Niang. The battle between Wan Jun and Xiao Yulou is avoided, and they don't get involved in any side at all.

Early in the morning, she had already washed up and tidied up her two children, and brought them here to greet Li Jing.

"Greetings to my lord father."

The eldest son of a pair of children is three years old, and the youngest daughter is only two years old. As soon as they entered the door, they looked at Li Jing with a strange feeling in their eyes, and followed Wan'er's mother's voice and said hello in a childlike manner.

The two children are very cute. Although the mother is from Silla, they can't see the shadow of Silla, they are pink and jade carved.Two children, the boy is named Li Wei who is the fourth in the family, and the girl who is the seventh in the family is named Li Lan.The boys take the king's side, and the girls take the grass head.

At this time, Wang Guiniang had already picked up her daughter from the nanny. The little guy was still sleepy, but he was very happy to see his brother and sister coming. He didn't even remember Li Jing as his father.

Wang Guiniang caught him back and told him to ask Li Jing seriously before letting him go.Li Jing looked at the third daughter Li Ying and could only shake her head and smile.On the contrary, Wang Guiniang looked at her daughter with a hint of loss.Li Jing understood that she did so because she failed to have a few more children, and even failed to give Li Jing a legitimate son.With Li Jing's current status, but he doesn't have a direct son, as a result, there is always an undercurrent surging in the backyard.It is precisely because Wang Wanjun has no legitimate sons in her family, she gave birth to three sons in a row for Li Jing, and she also gave birth to the eldest son, that's why she is so aggressive in the back house.

Wan'er came in, turned around and went to the side to get clothes and armor, fetched water, toothbrush powder and soap.

When Li Jing was dressed neatly, Wan'er took a comb to comb Li Jing's hair, combed it neatly, tied it in a bun, tied it up with a hair rope, put on a cover, and finally put on the golden helmet, and put the whole body in the blue dragon style one by one. Put on the armor for Li Jing.

Wang Wanjun and other wives have also brought their children to pay their respects. Megan and Julie have also put on a suit of Suzaku-style flaming full-body armor, standing aside with their helmets in their hands, waiting for Li Jing.Wang Wanjun looked at these two wives of the Hu family who were incompatible with the ladies in the back house with his stomach full, and he always felt a little contemptuous in his heart. As a woman, since she is lucky enough to marry such a good man as her husband, she should feel at ease at home. Godson, serve the mother-in-law, continue the incense for the husband's family, and spread the branches and leaves.But like them, they don't stay at home, but go out to lead soldiers to fight, and show their faces all day long. They have been married to the Li family for so long, but their stomachs don't even move at all.

A barbarian woman is a barbarian woman, Wang Wanjun thought to himself.However, with their eyes, they couldn't help but look at the heroic armor of the two of them several times, and a flash of admiration flashed in their hearts from time to time, they are so brave and heroic.

In a blink of an eye, she saw Wan'er's hands fluttering like sparrows, and she had helped the county king put on that complicated armor so neatly by herself.This skill is really beautiful, and looking seriously at Wan'er, Wang Wanjun is already a little wary of this second wife who is usually low-browed and never gets involved in the chaos of the back house.It turned out that this Silla maid was not so simple.

Li Jing bid farewell to a group of children one by one, and explained some things to the wives and concubines, then bid farewell and left home.

Before going out, when he turned his head and waved goodbye to everyone, his eyes inadvertently looked upstairs in the west courtyard, and a beautiful figure leaned behind a window to wait and see.

The two eyes collided, and Li Jing saw that Yu Youniang was also well-dressed, staring at him silently.For a moment, he felt a little guilty, bowed his head and walked away.

Hebei, Yichang Army, Cangzhou.

In the early stage, the Yichang Army was Henghai, then Cangjing Town, and finally Yichang Army.

In the 13th year of Kaiyuan, Cangzhou set up a naval envoy, one of the nine armies under the jurisdiction of Anlu Mountain, the envoy of Fanyang Jiedu, with [-] soldiers, and was attached to the three states of Cang, De, and Di.The jurisdiction has changed frequently, but for a long time it has four prefectures of Cang, Jing, De, and Di, about south of the Machangjia River in Hebei Province, east of the Canal, east of the Pujin Route in Shandong Province, north of the Yellow River and Boxing County northern region.

After the Anshi Rebellion, because it was located among the three towns in Hebei, it was the target of the competition among the three towns.At the same time, due to the continuous melee between the three towns, the ownership of Cang, De, and Di states is uncertain.Successively belonged to the towns of Chengde, Weibo, and Ziqing.

Before Li Jing rose to take control of Ziqing Town, the Lulong Army of Youzhou, the Yichang Army of Cangjing, and the Lu Army of Ziqingping all had naval forces, among which the water army of Ziqing Town was the strongest.Li Jing also started his career by relying on the navy.

Up to now, Li Jing's navy has a powerful fourth army of 2 horses and hundreds of large and small warships.The navy in Youzhou Town was completely defeated and captured by Li Jing. Although the Yichang Army still had a water battalion system, the Liaohai was completely controlled by Li Jing, and its navy survived in name only because of insufficient military expenditure.

As one of the feudal towns in Hebei, compared with the three towns of Heshuo, Yichang Town is too weak. For more than a hundred years, it has been plundered and occupied by various towns in turn. Although it can still maintain a feudal town system, its strength belongs to the world One of the weakest feudal towns among the towns, the total strength is only 6000, including the navy with only 1000 men left, and [-] troops on land. A huge feudal town does not even have a single cavalry unit.

Speaking of which, the Yichang Army owns the three prefectures of Cang, De, and Di, facing the sea in the east, surrounded by the flat North China Plain, and close to the Yellow River and the North Canal. It has the advantages of farmland and sea salt transportation, convenient transportation by boat and vehicle, and convenient transportation.

But in fact, Yichang Army is not only weak, but also poor.Cangzhou is the easiest place for disaster victims.

Because its site is close to the sea in the east and the Yellow River in the south, the four towns bordering it are exactly the four powerful vassal towns of the Tang Dynasty, Lulong, Chengde, Weibo, and Ziqing.Surrounded by powerful enemies, the Yichang Army will never succeed.

The three strong towns in Hebei, together with the current Yicheng Army, the four rebellious towns, and Lulong town were originally based on Yanshan Mountain in the north, Taihang in the west, and relying on Shanhaiguan, Lulongsai, and Junduguan, which are extremely stable.Occupying the highest situation in Hebei.

However, the Yiwu army was separated from the Chengde army, controlling the Feihu and Boyin, the main road connecting the Datong Basin, and its position is still very dangerous.

Although the territory of the Chengde army has become smaller and smaller after several rebellions, the lands of Zhen, Zhao, Shen, and Yi controlled by it are the most important places in Hebei, connecting the north and the south. The river passes through Puban and goes straight to Guanzhong.

Weibo town is guarding the gate of Hebei, with the Yellow River in the front, Zhangshui in the back, and the gate in the south of Hebei.

It can be said that the three towns in Hebei have been separated for more than a hundred years, and each town occupies an extremely dangerous terrain. Together with each other, they completely blocked the imperial court's troops in Hedong and Henan.Now that Huang Chao has entered Henan, the three towns in Hebei immediately began to attack from all sides.

The Yichang Army, which was the weakest in Hebei, immediately became the target of the Chengde Army.

Li Jing wanted to go south from Hebei. If he just went south through Hebei instead of attacking Hebei, then taking the road of Cang, Di and De would naturally be the best route.But now that the Chengde army has entered the Yichang army, Li Jing is faced with the primary problem of competing with the Chengde army for Yichang first.

Because of this, Li Jing dispatched [-] troops to the south this time, dispatching the cavalry troops that are most conducive to fighting on the North China Plain.

There are [-] armies of [-] soldiers and horses, of which there are twelve armies of cavalry.

Among the four veteran elite cavalry units, the Jinjiasheng Jiejun, the Silver Spear Suburban Army, the Black Banner Army, and the Crane Controlling Army, the Silver Spear Suburban Army is stationed in Dengzhou, and the Crane Controlling Army is stationed outside Liaoyang. The remaining Jinjiasheng Jiejun and Black Banner Both ace cavalry units of the Army are in this southward sequence.

In addition, Li Jing mobilized all the eight newly formed cavalry units to go south this time.

The Wu Cavalry Army, the Tun Cavalry Army, the Xiao Cavalry Army, the Ranger Army, the Flying Cavalry Army, the Brigade Cavalry Army, the Yunqi Army, the Feather Cavalry Army, and the [-] cavalry of the Eighth Army all went south.

The sixteenth army went south, and the cavalry occupied the tenth army.

Since Li Jing invaded Liaodong, Li Jing owned a large number of horses and pastures. With enough horses and enough cavalry candidates, Li Jing envoys began to form cavalry troops on a large scale.From the original 18 warriors to the current 5 warriors, the navy has quadrupled, adding three armies, and the cavalry has tripled, adding eight armies.Although the infantry has expanded to ten armies and [-] horses this time, in fact it has only doubled.

The battlefields of the Central Plains, especially the battlefields of Hebei and Henan, are huge plains, which are most suitable for large-scale cavalry operations.Therefore, Li Jing devoted all his efforts to the cavalry in terms of the rationing of all soldiers and the training of officers.Even recruiting new troops, those who seem to be capable of fighting, riding and shooting, are all selected first by the cavalry.Others, such as going to the lecture hall for further training, and the distribution of graduates from various military academies, also satisfy the cavalry unit first.

It can be said that the cavalry unit is a treasure. Not only are the military ranks of officers generally one or two higher than those of other arms, but even new recruits who have just been recruited into the army are at least given the rank of upper class.

It has expanded from less than 18 soldiers to 6 soldiers, and even the cavalry has as many as [-] horses. Even now that Li Jing's territory continues to expand, and the industry, commerce, and trade have become popular, raising this cavalry is also a challenge for Li Jing. He gritted his teeth and persisted.

For the cavalry of the Twelfth Army, each cavalry must be equipped with two war horses. In addition, it must also be equipped with a heavy camp composed of tens of thousands of camels, mules, donkeys, and poor horses.

Among the cavalry of the Twelfth Army, the main ones are light cavalry, and the new Eighth Army is all light cavalry.But the rest of the Fourth Army are not all light cavalry, such as the Black Banner Army. Although they only fought a few battles, their organizational system has been expanding in the past few years. Up to now, the Black Banner Army has [-] cavalry, including heavy cavalry Just two thousand rides.This is a real armored cavalry. Every soldier is equipped with the latest full-body plate armor, and even the horses are equipped with the latest full-body vest. Both men and horses are covered by plate armor and armed to the teeth.The equipment is also equipped with two long weapons of horses and long spears, and four auxiliary weapons of short spears, sabers, round shields, and hand crossbows. The full body armor on them is heavier than the infantry's plate armor, but lighter than the original armor. , but the protection power did not decrease.

These heavy cavalry not only still retain the ability to charge with heavy equipment, but also have the ability to fight in close combat.And they were also equipped with sharper weapons, and each soldier was equipped with ten thunderbolts.

The Thunderbolt is a melon-style grenade, one per catty. It explodes after a five-second delay after ignition.

The infantry were equipped with another kind of Human Torch, two catties each.The Thunderbolt is a grenade with a wooden handle, which also explodes with a five-second delay. With the handle, it can be thrown ten feet away, and the damage has a range of three feet.

Although the effects of Thunderbolt and Thunderbolt are far inferior to the hand grenades of later generations in Li Jing's opinion, in this era, they have been the result of several years of research by the Ordnance Department.Throwing a grenade at the foot can also blow up people to death.

The cavalry of the newly-built eight armies can be regarded as cavalry archers, and they are all equipped with bows and crossbows.The combat requirements of cavalry archers are riding and shooting, flank breakthrough, outflanking, pursuit, etc. They are not required to engage in direct confrontation and melee combat.

Cavalry archers mainly shoot from horseback, but they can also shoot from horseback, but the hit rate of horseback shooting is much worse.However, if the number is sufficient, this is still a very sharp force.

Li Jing was very satisfied with this. A cavalry unit not only needs good horses, but also good cavalry.Most of these cavalry were Han Chinese from Liaodong, Hebei and other places, and there were also a large number of Hufan soldiers among them. If it weren't for this, several cavalry troops would definitely not be able to pull out and go south now.

Although there are a large number of foreign soldiers in the cavalry, Li Jing is not very satisfied, but at this stage, it is impossible without these foreign soldiers.Li Jing can only take one step at a time, and wait for his own Han cavalry to be trained, and then replace these foreign soldiers.

Generally speaking, Li Jing is very satisfied with his new cavalry of the Eighth Army.

For the commanders of the Eighth Army, Li Jing finally sent all his disciples up. Among his eleven disciples, Li Rang became the Secretary of the Household Department, and there were ten remaining. This time Li Jing promoted them all to Lord of the army, all the cavalry of the unified army.

Among them, Liu Xun served as the commander of the Jinjiasheng Jie Army, and Li Cunxiao served as the commander of the Black Banner Army.

Wang Yanzhang served as the military envoy of the feather cavalry army, Gao Si succeeded as the military envoy of the cloud cavalry army, Fu Cun served as the military envoy of the brigade cavalry army, Yang Shihou served as the military envoy of the flying cavalry army, and Wang Tan served as the military envoy of the ranger cavalry army. Li Si'an knew the envoy of soldiers and horses, Li Si'an knew the envoy of soldiers and horses when he was in the cavalry army, Gao Jichang knew the envoy of soldiers and horses when he was in the cavalry of the Tuen army, and Dong Zhang was in the cavalry of martial arts.

The cavalry of the Tenth Army going south were all served by Li Jing's disciples.

The remaining infantry of the Sixth Army, Tiger, Longxiang, Yingyang, Leopard Rider, Flying Bear, and Sirius, after the latest transfer, were also appointed by Zhang Chengzong as the leader of the Huben army, Liu Shouqian as the leader of the Longxiang army, Li Wei as the leader of the Yingyang army, and Qiu Shengong. He was the leader of the Leopard Cavalry, Xuan Cheng was the leader of the Flying Bear Army, and Zhou Dewei was the leader of the Sirius Army.

The sixteen main troops going south were appointed by Li Jing's generals, and all of them were Li Jing's confidantes. Through these old disciples, Li Jing completely controlled the troops of all the troops on this expedition.Most of the original military leaders in the army were promoted by Li Jing to higher positions such as the Staff Council, the Governor's Office of the Five Armies, the Ministry of War, and the Governor's Office of the Five Provinces.

Handing over the control of the various armies to the hands of the most trusted young and strong faction, Li Jing set up a crusade camp and transferred Jing Xiang, Gai Yu, Guo Cheng'an, Li Zhen, Zhao Ji, Zeng Yuanyu, Zhou Shunli, Wang Pu and many other general advisers into the camp , served as an important post in the camp, and went south with the army.

On February [-]th, Li Jing awarded the military talisman to the generals. After offering flags and worshiping the sky, the [-] army officially sent troops south.

With an army of [-], the cavalry has one man and two horses, and the infantry is equipped with one horse to ride. The whole army carries seven days of dry food, but does not bring the supply battalion and logistics battalion. The plan of Li Jing and the generals is very simple. They will pass through Yichang within seven days The army went to Qizhou, Shandong Province, south of the Yellow River! (To be continued.)