Late Tang

(Thanks to brother Peng, oont, Mao Ronglong, Ziyu Fengxue, everyone, thank you for your support, thank you!)

Although the northern country outside the pass is icy and snowy, Fuyu City still has a strong sense of the New Year. .

In Fuyu City, the fortress, there were lights and festoons, the bright red lanterns had already begun to be hung high, and everything was cleaned up.In the marshal's mansion in the inner city of Buyeo, plum blossoms swayed gently in the snow and rustled.The dark green pine trees stand proudly, and a few bamboos in the distance are also lush and green, making Major General Guo Chongtao feel very comfortable in the bearskin upholstered chair behind the glass floor-to-ceiling windows on the terrace of the Nuan Pavilion.

Looking from here, Guo Chongtao can have a panoramic view of most of Fuyu City. The strong and tall city walls are lined with arrow towers and towering turrets.Behind the female wall between the turrets of the arrow tower, there is still a Feilei cannon squatting obliquely pointing at the far outside the city. Behind the wall inside the city wall, there is a taller general cannon.

Under the banner of Lie Lie, the entire Fuyu City is as solid as gold.

Like most of the generals at this time, Major General Guo Chongtao of the Qin Dynasty was tall and tall, with a strong back and a strong waist, and his arms were powerful. He could run a horse on his arms and stand on his fists. Riding and archery, proficient in everything.If he hadn't originally served under Li Kexiu and Li Keyong, he would have occupied a higher position in the Qin army.

Guo Chongtao has the same bravery as other generals, but he also has a style that is rare for many military generals in feudal towns at this time.He is proficient in bowing and horses, and at the same time he is familiar with military books.In addition to loving martial arts in my life, the rest of my life is like reading.He has read almost all kinds of military books and war strategies, even the military regulations and various books issued by the Qin Fan military in recent years are the same.It's a pity that the experience of being a general under Li Ke's subordinates and being forced to surrender to Qin is like an indelible stain, and because of his aloof personality, many generals think it is a kind of arrogance , so he is not very gregarious in the army. Although Qin Wang Li Jing appreciates and reuses him, in the Qin army, although he once served as the commander of the army during the Northern Expedition, he was only a county marquis. As for the rank of military officer, he only got the rank of major general.

Although this new military rank does not affect other official titles, the highest rank now is Li Jing's general rank, but Lin Wei, Zhang Zimian, who were the same army commanders as him, were awarded lieutenant generals. Liu Yunniang, Megan, and Zhu Li, the three women in charge of the army, were awarded the rank of lieutenant general. Among the regiment commanders, only Liu Xunhe and Li Cunxiao were awarded the rank of major general, and even Gongsun Lan was awarded the rank of major general.

Of course, on the other hand, among the new military ranks, from brigadier general to general, there are only about [-] people awarded. It is already very rare that he can get the rank of major general, which has established his core position among the generals of Qin Fan up.

Guo Chongtao was born in the family of a wealthy frontier general in Daibei, and was the eldest son of that family.All of their family can be regarded as generals, although apart from him, there have been no senior generals.

After joining Li Jing's command, Guo Chongtao's life began to go smoothly.When Li Keyong was under him, although Li Keyong was also very important to him and made him the deputy commander, compared with Qin Fan, Shatuo's influence was still too small.A regiment commander in the Qin clan is already stronger than some feudal commanders.

Especially after he served as the head of the Northern Expedition, his official career became smoother.

Entering Bohai again this time, he temporarily served as a deputy in Zhou Dewei's Fuyu camp, and entered into a comfortable state of relaxation.He ate well and slept well, and every day after dinner, he added a new hobby, sipping red wine with the camp staff and watching the performances of Bohai and other tribal kabuki and dancers in the Northeast.He had nothing to worry about, Zhou Dewei and the others were busy with the affairs of the Fuyu camp, and the battle outside was as smooth as Qin Jun expected.

The four-way army has surrounded the tribal coalition forces, and tens of thousands of newly transferred Tibetan cavalry are constantly pushing in, clearing the outer strongholds of the coalition forces and forcing them out of the cave.

The tribal coalition forces have not yet begun to retreat to break through, but the current situation is bound to force the tribal coalition forces to finally break through.

Guo Chongtao is clear about his responsibilities, he is not here for vacation, nor is he here to sit on the bench.The king of Qin had told him a long time ago that by letting him come to Fuyu, he planned to lead his legion to chase after the tribal army broke through, and let them drive the tribal soldiers away.

His young staff officers didn't know this yet, and they were quite disappointed, feeling like they were left behind.For this purpose, the Staff Council specially reorganized a legion. In this new legion led by Guo Chongtao, half of the soldiers in the ten armies were the original cavalry from the Iron Cavalry Legion, and some were newly recruited. These Fanqi are composed of dozens of Fan tribes mainly composed of Goguryeo, Mohe, Tatar, Uighur, Shatuo, Tiele, Tuyuhun, Sogdian, Dangxiang, and Shiwei, especially the northern Fanqi. Tribal Tenth Army.

This new legion, uncharacteristically, did not break them up and reorganize them. Instead, they reorganized them according to their tribes. Ten tribes and ten tribe armies formed a 5-strong fan cavalry army.Many officers who were transferred to this new legion thought that this was a relegation. After all, this is an almost complete pan cavalry legion with very few Han people. Cannon Fodder Legion.But Guo Chongtao knew that the establishment of the Fanqi Legion this time was only a special establishment under special circumstances, and it would definitely be disbanded after the war.The establishment this time is to use Hu to control Hu at a critical time.

"How is the morale of our No.13 Corps soldiers?" Guo Chongtao asked.

The marching staff officer of the legion sighed: "You know, many cavalry originally served in various legions such as iron cavalry, but now they are suddenly transferred back to reorganize an army with their own clansmen, and finally formed with ten tribal armies The No.13 Legion, those tribal knights were very disturbed and thought it was not a good omen. They thought King Qin didn’t trust them, so they pulled them out of the various armies. Especially now that they have formed the No.13 Legion , but was only placed in Fuyu, and he practiced and practiced all day, and he was not very disturbed at the slightest combat mission. Now there are all kinds of rumors in the army, and rumors are flying all over the sky."

"Things are not what they imagined. From Fu'an to Da'an's [-]-mile defense line, the newly formed Ninth Army that just attacked, they are all tribal horses drawn from various ministries, and even many of them are recruits. Well. In comparison, the Ninth Army is only a second-line army. We are the real field elite army. They are all valued. Could it be that the King of Qin will let the elite like us not be used? Do the people in the propaganda department have nothing to do? Let them start, guide the public opinion in the army, and improve the morale of the soldiers. Good steel must be used on the blade. We are here now because we have not yet reached the time when we need to use it. Clear the outer strongholds of the coalition forces. Just leave it to the Ninth Legion, we are not needed now, how can we kill chickens with a sledgehammer? Let everyone get ready, we will receive a battle order soon, and by then, we need to see their abilities."

"Actually, it's not surprising that everyone is worried. In the awarding of military ranks this time, the ranks of the tribal soldiers are generally one or two levels lower than that of the Han soldiers. Up to now, the highest rank among the tribal generals is only the senior colonel. Not even a general."

"Is this a little strange?" Guo Chongtao glanced at his mouth, "As the commander of a dignified army, I am only a major general now. Don't be convinced, it's normal for Han generals to have higher ranks than Fan generals. If Fan generals are better than Han generals It's not normal to be highly talented. What's more, as we all know, Han generals have basically undergone advanced training in military academies and lecture halls, and their service time and seniority in the army are obviously much higher than those of Fan generals. Today's The situation is already good, at least it is relatively fair. If they want to be absolutely fair, this is impossible. The King of Qin treats the vassals well now, tell them, if they want to replace Jin Doudou, they should be ready That’s right, when you’re dispatched, just earn more merit.”

Guo Chongtao chattered a few words, and finally cut to the point: "Brother Zhiwu, do you have something to say?"

Guo Zhenhai, the Marching Staff Officer of the Thirteenth Legion, straightened up from his chair, "General Anshi, according to the information from the Military Intelligence Department, there are some intriguing things happening in our enemy territory on the western front. I think it is necessary to report to you. .”

"Oh, what's the situation?" Guo Chongtao raised his head and asked with concern.

"Some people in the Bohai area occupied by the accompanying troops on the western front are attacking the tribal coalition forces. There are even powerful nobles and wealthy businessmen in Bohai area planning and commanding behind the scenes. Many strongholds of the tribal coalition forces have been uprooted. Not only the patrols were attacked, but some strongholds The centurions stationed here are sometimes attacked by the entire team. It is reported that even some senior generals of the coalition forces have also been attacked!"

Guo Chongtao was taken aback, "There is such a thing? What is the reason?"

Guo Zhenhai smiled, and said eloquently: "You know, since the tribal coalition forces invaded Bohai, they have been using war to support war, and the search for the occupied area of ​​Bohai has been very serious. Moreover, they have continuously recruited strong men, and sometimes even wiped out women, etc. When the incident happened, they even forcibly took many young Bohai women away and brought them back to the barracks as military records. In the beginning, the coalition forces had a limit to their actions, and there was no limit to fishing, but since last year we cut them off Since the beginning of their retreat, they have also cut off their food and grass transportation in the front line. Therefore, the food and salaries of the tribal army are a little tight, and they have begun to increase their looting. From our information, since the tribe invaded Bohai in the past few years, Of the more than two million Bohai people in the area they occupied, at least two to three million people have starved to death, and there are hundreds of thousands of young and strong Bohai people who have been expropriated. Especially after the winter of this year, many villages have Men and young women were forcibly expropriated and plundered, which delayed production, planting and hunting. As a result, only a little food was forcibly expropriated, so the famine came early. In many serious places, entire villages died of hunger, resulting in massive no man's land."

"Originally, some Bohai nobles tried to join the coalition forces. Who would have thought that the tribal coalition forces would show no mercy to them. Many nobles and powerhouses in Bohai Sea were even more miserable than ordinary people. Their family properties were taken away, men were executed, and women were abandoned. battalion. Now the coalition forces are all looking at the nobles in the occupied area, which means that they still have a lot of food. The voles that are full of rat holes can get a lot of food and grass by digging the voles. The nobles can't protect themselves, so of course they will resist."

Guo Chongtao smiled, he thought things would not be so simple.If they were just being squeezed, the Bohai people would have resisted when the coalition forces first invaded.But now that such a large-scale outburst of rebellion has become so powerful, he has every reason to believe that there must be a third force involved in it. Undoubtedly, this third force must have the shadow of Qin Jun.And based on his understanding of Qin Jun, Li Jingmen of the Supervisory Office is specialized in foreign intelligence and is responsible for many foreign tasks such as incitement and subversion.He believes that Li Jingmen must be responsible for the current vigorous noble resistance movement in Bohai Kingdom.

It seems that they are getting closer and closer, he smiled. (To be continued.)