Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 254 A strange combination of circumstances
"Drive... drive..."

In the cold winter, three thousand elite cavalrymen rode on draft horses and mount horses, with military horses leading beside them.

They had eight hundred infantrymen guarding the center of the official road, and eight hundred infantrymen driving horse-drawn carriages, on which were placed extra armor and food.

The team of 3,800 people stretched for several miles and ran rampant in the land northwest of Beijing.

At the same time, a group of elite cavalry came galloping from the northeast and soon met the Tang cavalry of the Tianping Army.

They stopped and waved flags towards the elite cavalry of the Tianping Army over a hundred steps away.

Seeing this, the elite cavalry of the Tianping Army who were scouts in front immediately waved flags in response and reported to Wang Shouwen.

The front army cavalry was more than ten miles away from the team, so when Wang Shouwen learned the news, it was already quarter of an hour later.

"Xu..."

Wang Shouwen reined in his horse first, then frowned and asked, "Are you sure it's the flag from Longyou?"

"It is indeed the flag of Longyou. When the brothers were in the Chishui Army, they saw Longyou light cavalry carrying flags into Guzang City to deliver a letter."

Wang Shouwen was about to explain. He paused for a moment before saying, "Order the three armies to rest where they are and bring the people from Longyou up here."

"I obey your command!" The general turned his horse around and left, and soon disappeared into the horizon.

When Wu Wei learned that the three armies were resting, he immediately chased after them from the rear.

"What's going on? Why are you taking a break?"

The horse under his crotch was spinning in place, and only became obedient after he soothed it with his hands a few times.

When Wang Shouwen saw him coming, he did not hide anything and directly told him the news that the Longyou army had appeared there.

After hearing this, Wu Wei pondered for a moment and then said, "I heard that the tooth merchants in Longyou have a wide range of business. Could it be a tooth merchant from Longyou?"

"It's possible. Let's just wait and see." Wang Shouwen nodded in agreement, and then he and Wu Wei waited in place.

Half an hour later, as it grew darker, Wang Shouwen simply ordered the army to set up camp on the spot.

Shortly after they set up camp, a team of elite cavalry from Tianping and a group of elite cavalry from Longyou walked into the camp and saw Wang Shouwen and Wu Wei sitting on horses.

"Ren Sihan, the captain of the third squadron of the second brigade of the sixth regiment of the Wuquan Army in Lanzhou Town, Longyou Protectorate, greets the two generals!"

After all, he was from Longyou, and even though he was only a captain, Ren Sihan was neither humble nor arrogant when he performed the ceremony.

Seeing this, Wang Shouwen was somewhat impressed: "I heard that military officers above the rank of Longyou team leader are all literate. Is this true?"

"Of course it's true!" Ren Sihan responded.

Seeing this, Wang Shouwen and Wu Wei looked at each other, surprise flashed in their eyes, but soon returned to normal.

"Why are you in Xiazhou?" Wu Wei pretended to be a bad guy and questioned everyone.

Ren Sihan bowed with neither arrogance nor servility, and then explained: "I originally followed Chen Yaya to Hedong, and now I am returning to Longyou, and temporarily stopped in Xiazhou."

"Today, the Ya Ya received the request from Xiazhou and specially sent us to ask the two Ya generals about their intentions."

Seeing the result, Wu Wei looked at Wang Shouwen, and Wang Shouwen also breathed a sigh of relief.

Although talking to the enemy at the gate is very effective, if Tian Zaibin is narrow-minded, then these eight hundred brothers from Xia Sui will inevitably be targeted.

It would be more convenient now that we can discuss things first.

Thinking of this, Wang Shouwen also got straight to the point:

"We are not familiar with Tian Zaibin, the governor of Xia Sui, but General Liu is well-known, and we trust Chen Yaya, who is under his command."

"To be honest, we mutinied just to return home."

"Most of the brothers from Guannei Province in the team have returned to their hometowns and settled down. Now there are only more than 800 brothers from the four states of Xia, Sui, Yin and You who have not returned to their hometowns."

"The brothers are not familiar with Envoy Tian, so they want me to meet with Envoy Tian. Please don't embarrass my eight hundred brothers and their families."

After Wang Shouwen finished speaking, Ren Sihan couldn't help but nod his head, thinking that although Wang Shouwen was a materialist, he was very loyal to his comrades.

"If that's the case, then I will return to Shuofang and inform my yamen officer of this matter. I will ask him to be a witness and seek justice for the eight hundred soldiers."

"Thank you very much, Captain Ren!"

After Ren Sihan finished speaking, Wang Shouwen immediately looked at a general next to him. The general took out a hundred yuan from his pocket and handed it to Ren Sihan, saying with a smile: "Brothers, run over and buy some wine to warm your body."

"Thank you!"

Ren Sihan bowed in return, then turned around, mounted his horse, and left with more than a dozen elite cavalrymen from Longyou.

After they left the camp, Wu Wei said, "Their horses are about the same as those in Hexi, or even better."

"Not only that..." Wang Shouwen took a deep breath and said:
"Look at them, they are strong and muscular, and they are also good players on the old scale."

"If all the soldiers of Longyou Army are like this, they will probably be more brave and skilled in fighting than Youzhou Lulong Army."

The old Tianping Army mentioned by the two men is the Pinglu and Ziqing Army under the command of Li Shidao, the governor of Pinglu, Ziqing, Qilai and other places in the past.

When Li Shidao and Wu Yuanji rebelled, Emperor Xianzong of Tang ordered the towns of Xuanwu, Weizhou, Yicheng, Wuning and Henghai to go and attack Li Shidao.

Li Shidao was killed by his subordinates, and Zibo, Qinghai, Qilai and other places were divided into three parts.

As for the Youzhou Lulong Army, there is no need to mention it.

At the beginning, Zhu Ci and Zhu Tao directly proclaimed themselves emperors with the help of the Youzhou Lulong Army.

Despite the failure, the court was unable to do anything to Zhu Tao, and Zhu Tao died of depression.

The fact that the Longyou Army received such a high title from Wang Shouwen is enough to show how powerful its fighting capacity was.

"With the intervention of people from Longyou, these eight hundred brothers should be able to return home safely. Even if the court orders otherwise, Tian Zaibin will not retaliate against them."

Wang Shouwen explained to Wu Wei, who nodded and said:
"I don't care about anything else, but the brothers in Yunzhou must return to Yunzhou."

"Of course!" Wang Shouwen nodded.

Having said that, Wang Shouwen knew very well what happened to the two thousand Chishui troops in Guannei Road, but he did not expose it.

He brought the Chishui Army from Guannei Road back to his hometown in order to boost their morale.

Now that they have entered the territory of Xia Sui, they will be able to reach the border with Hezhong in six or seven days at most.

By then, they will be able to cross the river, pass Heyang and Yicheng, and return to Huizhou.

Although the imperial court did not respond to their request, it did not send troops to encircle and suppress them. It seems that the matter should have been settled.

Wang Shouwen thought optimistically, but he didn't know that hundreds of miles away from Xiazhou, the Tang court had already begun to gather troops and was preparing to severely deal with their rebel army.

There are many hills and gullies in the northern part of Guanzhong, making it difficult to gather a large army.

Because of this, the troops in each town were not moving very fast.

By the time Wang Shouwen and his men entered Xiazhou, Xiahou Zi had just entered Fangzhou and began to gather troops from various towns.

It is for this reason that Tian Zaibin was worried that Wang Shouwen would invade Xiazhou.

Fortunately, as the elite cavalry from Longyou returned to Shuofang County, Tian Zaibin learned of Wang Shouwen's intention.

"I wonder how Envoy Tian plans to treat these eight hundred soldiers and their families?"

In the main hall of the government office, Chen Ying asked Tian Zaibin, the governor.

After all, he obtained the intelligence in the name of his own commander-in-chief. If his reputation as a commander-in-chief was damaged because of Tian Zaibin, he would naturally not do it.

Tian Zaibin also knew Chen Ying's idea, so he discussed it with Chen Yaya: "I wonder what Chen Yaya thinks about it?"

After hearing this, Chen Ying thought for a while before saying, "These 800 garrison soldiers have been trained in Liangzhou for three years. Although they cannot be called elite, many of them are skilled in archery and horse riding."

"In my opinion, it would be better to incorporate them into the Xia Sui Army and eliminate the old and weak ones."

"They have committed a crime. If Envoy Tian protects them, they will naturally be grateful to Envoy Tian."

Chen Ying didn't point it out, but Tian Zaibin heard it clearly.

Although he was the governor of the four states of Xia Sui, the relationships within the Xia Sui army were complicated and he could not interfere.

Right now, there are eight hundred well-trained guardsmen delivered to his door. As long as he accepts them, he will have eight hundred loyal guardsmen in his hands.

In the future, administrative decisions will no longer have to depend on the opinions of the old military leaders in Xia Sui’s army.

Thinking of this, Tian Zaibin immediately smiled and said, "That's right!"

"In that case..." Tian Zaibin looked at Wang Qun and said:
"Send someone to the rebel camp and tell them to receive the eight hundred Xia Sui soldiers at noon tomorrow."

"After they came back, they took their families to live in Shuofang County and gave them land to farm."

"Yes!" Wang Qun bowed in response. Tian Zaibin then looked at Chen Ying and said with a smile:

"If this is accomplished, the control of the various states of Xia Sui will be entirely at the disposal of Chen Ya Ya."

The number of people and horses in the four states of Xia Sui is quite large, at least one or two thousand.

Although Tian Zaibin would not give money to Chen Ying, as long as he could buy a horse to take to Longyou, Chen Ying would be satisfied. "In that case, I would like to thank you, envoy."

Chen Ying bowed and saluted, and seeing this, Tian Zaibin hurriedly asked the chef to serve the dishes.

A banquet began and gradually dispersed after two hours.

The next day, Tian Zaibin brought Wang Qun, Chen Ying and the Longyou soldiers to the south gate tower of Shuofang County and waited.

From noon to afternoon, a team of hundreds to nearly a thousand people gradually appeared in the south.

They were dressed in cloth and came unarmed, and handed all their armor and weapons to Wang Shouwen.

Seeing this, Tian Zaibin signaled with his eyes, and Wang Qun quickly sent light cavalry out of the city to investigate.

The light cavalry explored four miles to the south and saw the three thousand Tianping troops marching eastward on the banks of the Shuoshui River.

Without eight hundred soldiers to drive the carriages, they could only let one thousand men dismount and drive the carriages, while the rest of the men, wearing armor, marched on horseback, being extremely vigilant.

The light cavalry followed them for more than ten miles, and seeing that they had no intention of setting an ambush, they sent someone back to Shuofang to tell Tian Zaibin the news.

When Tian Zaibin learned the news, he immediately sent people to deliver tents and food to the 800 old soldiers, and arranged for them to rest outside the city first. They would not be allowed to enter the city to rest until the Tianping Army arrived at Rulin County, 100 miles away.

The old soldiers in Guannei Road did not make trouble, but quietly listened to Tian Zaibin's orders, which made Tian Zaibin very satisfied.

Although these eight hundred old soldiers had a record of mutiny, their attitude was much better than those of the generals of Xia Sui's army.

Now that he had these eight hundred veteran soldiers, those military leaders no longer dared to act aggressively against him.

Thinking of this, Tian Zaibin held a banquet in the yamen and had a banquet with Chen Ying for several days.

While they were having the banquet, the Tianping Army, which had separated from the soldiers in Guannei Road, also moved very fast, and all the soldiers returned home like arrows.

Two days later, they arrived at Rulin County, a hundred miles away, and continued to march southward along the Shuo River.

At the same time, their movements were reported by Xia Suijun and placed on Xiahou Zi's desk.

Due to terrain problems, the troops from various towns were slow to gather. It was not until November 17 that Xiahou Zi managed to gather 6,000 armored soldiers in Bining Town.

On the 18th, as Wang Shouwen and his men entered Suizhou, where the terrain was complex, their speed gradually slowed down, and Xiahou Zi also sent people to inquire about their purpose of crossing the river.

On the 20th, 14,000 soldiers from Jingyuan and Fengxiang arrived at Fushi County, the seat of Yanzhou, less than 300 miles away from the rebels led by Wang Shouwen.

"Screw rustle..."

Outside Fushi County, the camps stretched for several miles in the river valley, flames shot up to the sky, and most of the trees in the ravines had been cut down, leaving the area bare and looking very ugly.

The soldiers on duty were still patrolling, while the troops from Jingyuan and other towns who had come from afar had gone to bed early.

Inside the tent, Prime Minister Xiahou Zi, who was the chief commander in the encirclement and suppression of the rebels, sat in the main seat, and on his left and right were Fengxiang Jiedushi Jiang Xi, Jingyuan Jiedushi Lu Dan, Bining Jiedushi Zheng Zhu and military supervisor Ma Mingguang.

"When will the Tianxiong Army arrive?"

Inside the tent, Xiahou Zi was determining the rebels' position based on the map while asking other military commanders in the tent.

"We received news half a day ago that they have arrived in Fengxian County. It will take at least three days to arrive here."

"Has there been any news from the Pingxia tribe?" Xiahou Zi continued to ask after hearing this, and the military commander continued to respond upon seeing this.

"The Pingxia tribe has received the imperial edict, and its young leader Tuoba Sigong has led his troops south to Rulin County. The three thousand Pingxia elite cavalry can launch an attack on the rebels from the rear at any time."

Hearing this, Xiahou Zi let out a breath of foul air, and then arranged:
"Tell Li Shijun to lead two thousand elite cavalrymen of the Tianxiong Army to assemble in Yanshui County."

"Order Tuoba Sigong of the Pingxia tribe to lead his troops to follow the rebels and wait for our army's order to launch a surprise attack from the rear."

"Order the three armies to move camp and head to Yanshui County tomorrow!"

Xiahou Zi made all the arrangements in an orderly manner, but at this time Jiang Xi, the governor of Fengxiang, questioned:
"It will take at least three days for our army to travel from here to Yanshui County."

"The rebels marched more than fifty miles a day, and it would only take three days to cross the Yellow River."

"May I ask, sir, if that is the case, then when the rebels flee into the river, should our army enter the river?"

Jiang Xi's question stumped Xiahou Zi, but Xiahou Zi did not panic, but spoke directly:

"I have not considered this matter carefully. What do you think?"

He was straightforward, but the three looked embarrassed. Finally, it was Jiang who spoke up: "We can send cavalry tonight to go north to stop the rebels at the point where the Shuo River merges into the Yellow River."

"I have 1,500 cavalrymen from the three armies, more than enough to stop the rebels!"

He was very confident, but Lu Dan said, "My cavalry has been running for several days and has not had a rest yet. I am afraid they cannot gallop to Yanshui at the moment."

Jiang Xi frowned upon hearing this and said in dissatisfaction: "Is Jingyuan even farther away than Fengxiang?"

"Fengxiang has a flat terrain, but our Jingyuan has many gullies and is naturally far away." Lu Dan said righteously.

Seeing this, Xiahou Zi interrupted and said, "In that case, the elite cavalry of the three armies will set out first at 11:00 a.m. tomorrow."

"Yes..." Lu Dan didn't dare to cause trouble with Xiahou Zi, but agreed honestly.

Seeing that he agreed, Xiahou Zi said to his general, "If that's the case, then urge Tuoba Sigong of the Pingxia tribe to attack from the rear when our elite cavalry cuts off the rebels' front."

"I obey your command!" The military commander bowed in response and then quickly gave the order.

Seeing that everything was arranged properly, Xiahou Zi immediately signaled the three military governors to retreat and rest.

Four hours later, 1,500 elite cavalrymen in the army, led by the military commander Lai Chong, galloped towards the mouth of the Yellow River where the Shuo River merges into it.

At the same time, 18,500 armored soldiers and 30,000 civilian laborers stationed in Fushi County began to march towards Yanshui County.

When the news reached Chang'an, Li Chen simply asked Linghu Tao and others to pay more attention, while he took regular medicine in the Purple Palace to treat his headache and cough.

Time passed, and two days went by in a flash. Wang Shouwen, Wu Wei and three thousand elite cavalrymen went south along the Shuo River with armor, money and food.

However, when they marched into Pingcheng, Wang Shouwen also vaguely sensed that something was wrong.

When the army came to the intersection of Pingcheng and the south, Wang Shouwen reined in his horse and frowned, saying, "Stop first!"

"What's wrong?" Wu Wei relaxed his vigilance because of the peace in the past few days, but Wang Shouwen pointed to the front and said:
"From here, follow the Shuoshui River southwards for about thirty miles to reach the river mouth, but it's too early now, and the Yellow River may not be frozen yet."

"So what?" Wu Wei asked in confusion, "At worst we can just build a floating bridge to cross the river!"

The Yellow River is not very wide, and it is winter now, so crossing the river should not be a problem as long as a floating bridge is built.

Wang Shouwen just shook his head and said:
"I asked the brothers in Guanneidao about the river mouth ahead, and they said that the terrain is long and narrow, and it is very easy to be ambushed."

"I thought about it carefully, but I was still a little worried, so I told my brothers to change the route to Pingcheng County, go south from Pingcheng County to Yanchuan and Yanshui, and then go through Yonghe Pass to enter the river!"

"Okay, I'll listen to you!" Wu Wei nodded, and then issued orders to the three armies.

After all, they have been old brothers in Yunzhou for six years. The three thousand Tianping soldiers did not express any opinion on Wang Shouwen's temporary change of route, but simply changed the route to Pingcheng County.

They crossed the Shuoshui River, which was more than ten feet wide, and then marched towards Pingcheng County in the southwest.

Because of this, they missed the 1,500 elite cavalry led by the military commander Lai Chong.

When they arrived at Pingcheng County, the city gates were closed and it was unclear why the rebels took a detour into Pingcheng.

Seeing that they had set up camp outside Pingcheng County, the county magistrate Wang Junchen sent someone to Yanchuan to deliver the news, while he continued to wait and see in the city.

Unfortunately, the man he sent out was captured by the Tianping Army's cavalry outside the city not long after he rode his mule out of the city, and was sent to Wang Shouwen in the camp.

"General, this peasant sneaked out of the city at night, and he had a letter sealed with wax on him!"

Two Tianping soldiers escorted a Zhibai into the tent and handed over a letter sealed with wax.

Upon seeing this, Wang Shouwen immediately drew the dagger from his waist, opened the sealing wax and took out the letter.

After reading ten lines at a glance, he realized that the imperial court had regarded them as rebels and was preparing to encircle and suppress them in Yanzhou.

"Damn it! These crooked officials in the imperial court actually labeled us as rebels!"

"what?!"

As soon as Wang Shouwen finished speaking, the soldiers inside and outside the tent were all shocked.

"Go and ask General Wu Ya to come over!!"

As soon as Wang Shouwen opened his mouth, someone ran to find Wu Wei. When Wu Wei heard the news, he didn't even bother to put on his boots and ran over barefoot.

"what happened?!"

Wu Wei came running in a panic, and Wang Shouwen handed him a letter: "The court has labeled us as rebels and is preparing to attack us at the mouth of the Yellow River today."

"If I hadn't changed my mind and came to Pingcheng County, I wouldn't have known that these dog officials were so vicious!"

"What should we do?" Wu Wei was suddenly at a loss and even a little panicked.

Instead, Wang Shouwen looked at Wu Wei and the other generals who followed him, gritted his teeth and said:
"Damn it, if they don't let us live, we'll make them die!"

"The elite cavalry of the officers and soldiers are all in Shuoshui. Let's go to Yanchuan overnight and teach the damn court how powerful our Tianping brothers are!!"

(End of this chapter)