Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 282: The First Year of Xiantong

"Uuuuuu——"

On February 17th of the first year of Xiantong, the Nanzhao King You Shilong cut off the emperor's banners and abolished the previous peace treaties. He proclaimed himself emperor, changed the country's name to Dali, and established the reign title and the Jianji era.

In early March, the Dali army was divided into two routes. One route was mainly composed of Fengzhou barbarians, a group of 100,000 barbarians who invaded Annan.

Along the way, General Duan Zongbang was the commander, leading 5,000 elite cavalry and 20,000 barbarians including the Wangjuzi barbarians, Puzi barbarians and Luoxing barbarians to attack Qianzhong Road.

As the thirty-year peace between the two sides was broken, the price of grain in Xichuan rose sharply, but the rent and labor service and the two taxes had not been reduced.

The officials of the prefectures and counties not only had no policy to stabilize grain prices, but they also demanded the payment of rent, taxes, and corvée labor, forcing the people into a desperate situation where they had no choice but to flee to the mountains.

"How dare such a small country dare to act so arrogantly!"

On the fifth day of March, when the news that Nanzhao changed its country's name to Dali and then divided its troops into two routes to attack reached Chang'an, the court and the public were shocked.

Li Yi also felt the pressure in his heart, but facing the ministers from the Southern Court and the Northern Court, he still pretended to be calm.

He looked down at the golden stage and saw Linghu Tao, Pei Xiu, Jiang Shen, Wang Zongshi, Wang Maoxuan, Qi Yuanshi and Qi Yuanjian already gathered in the hall.

In addition to these familiar faces, there was an older face that was even more familiar to him.

"Mr. Bai, what do you think about this matter?"

Li Yi asked about Bai Minzhong who had just arrived in Chang'an. Bai Minzhong, who had changed into a purple robe and came to Xianning Palace holding a tablet, did not rush to answer after hearing this.

He pondered for a moment, sorted out all the memorials he had checked in the past few days, and finally came to a conclusion:
"Your Majesty, Annan is guarded by Wang Shi, so there should be no problem."

"But the situation in Qianzhong, Lingxi, Dongchuan and Xichuan is not optimistic."

"I suggest that Gao Pian and his troops be transferred to the west of the mountains, and Rong Guan Songya be transferred to serve as the governor of Qianzhong. I order Dongchuan and Xichuan to defend the city strictly and hold on to the strategic locations such as Shezhou, Rongzhou, and Lizhou!"

Bai Minzhong served as the governor of Xichuan for several years, so he naturally knew the situation in Jiannan Road.

The reason why Jiannan Road was able to stop Nanzhao was mainly due to its reliance on Shezhou, Lizhou and Rongzhou.

These three states are the southern gate of Jiannan Road and are basically mountainous.

Although they could still launch an attack to the north from a high position over Dali, these three states were also in a high position over the Chengdu Plain.

By controlling these three states, the Xichuan troops can attack or defend.

If we lose these three states, we will have no choice but to passively take the blame, and it will not be so easy to push forward to the plateau in the south.

"This matter is entirely under the responsibility of Mr. Bai."

Li Yu is not like Li Chen. He does not have such a strong desire for control.

For him, all he had to do was hand things over to useful ministers and let them solve them.

As for him, all he needs to do is listen to music and have fun.

Perhaps it was because he had developed the habit of avoiding suspicion after experiencing emperors like Wuzong and Xuanzong, that when Bai Minzhong suddenly encountered a hands-off boss like Li Yi, he didn't know how to respond.

Fortunately, Pei Xiu gave him a signal with his eyes, and he immediately bowed and said, "I accept your order!"

"Okay, since there's nothing else to do, then leave."

As usual, Li Yi's meeting did not last more than three quarters of an hour. Pei Xiu and the others sighed and left, and Bai Minzhong also left in a daze.

Despite having been away from Chang'an for many years, Bai Minzhong remains sophisticated.

With the cooperation of Jiang Shen and Pei Xiu, various government orders were continuously issued, and Wang Zongshi of the Northern Office did not interfere in the Southern Court as Ma Gongru had done in the past.

Although he wanted to curb Liu Jilian very much, there were too many things that Bai Minzhong needed to solve, and the imperial court could not be attacked on three sides, so Bai Minzhong could only put the issue of Longyou on hold temporarily.

When the imperial court was unable to control Longyou, Liu Jilian had already made most of the preparations.

"The four government warehouses and the county treasuries stored a total of 2.95 million shi of grain."

"General Jie, how did you know that Nanzhao would be hostile to the imperial court?"

In mid-March, while walking between the official warehouses in Linzhou, Gao Jinda couldn't help but ask Liu Jilong.

In response to this, Liu Jilong explained while inspecting each barn:
"During the years when the imperial court and Nanzhao were recuperating, the imperial court was not able to solve many problems of the vassal states and the finance department, but Nanzhao has almost solved the problems of several southern countries."

"With Nanzhao's strength, it is not a problem to mobilize 70,000 to 80,000 soldiers and more than 100,000 barbarians."

"Now several countries in the south have submitted to or are vassal states of Nanzhao. Nanzhao doesn't care about what they have, so naturally they can only take action against the imperial court."

"It's a pity that we were too slow and failed to buy enough food."

Liu Jilong's tone was full of regret, but Gao Jinda was shocked when he heard it: "Nearly three million dan of grain, isn't that enough?"

Three million shi of grain, you know, this is enough for the people of Longyou to eat for a year.

However, Liu Jilong still shook his head and said, "It's not enough. At least judging from the speed at which refugees are constantly flowing in, it's not enough for now."

Gao Jinda nodded in agreement when he heard this: "From October last year till now, in just five months, more than 30,000 people have poured in."

"After the news of Nanzhao's military deployment spread, countless people from Xichuan fled north."

"The news from the southern states has not yet arrived, but I estimate that the number of people fleeing to Longyou will only increase, not decrease."

"Now the population of Longyou is nearly 600,000, and the number of Liangzhou people has also recovered to 100,000. Do you think we still need to migrate people to Liangzhou?"

Gao Jinda had his own ideas. He would rather keep the population in Longyou, especially in Lanzhou and Linzhou.

In response, Liu Jilong said, "Continue to arrange to go to Liangzhou. When the population of Liangzhou exceeds 200,000, tell me again."

"Two hundred thousand?!" Gao Jinda was stunned, then he realized:
"This... shouldn't be the case. Over the years, we have moved more than 300,000 people from Jiannan Road and Shannan West Road to Hankou."

"The population of Jiannan Road and Shannan West Road is only about 5 million, and we have moved nearly 10% of their people here."

"With the people fleeing like this, they should be able to find a way to stop them, right?"

Facing Gao Jinda's conjecture, Liu Jilong shook his head and said:

"The country is corrupt, and the government only talks about raising taxes, not reducing them. If this continues, the people will have no choice but to flee and become refugees."

"The five million people in Jiannan Road and Shannan West Road are already a thing of the past during the Tianbao period. In fact, most of those who fled to Longyou are hidden households that have grown in recent years."

Liu Jilian was not exaggerating. After all, the Bashu region had not experienced a major war in the past thirty years, and the population had increased dramatically.

Even after experiencing the turmoil of the late Tang Dynasty and the unrest of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, the population of Shu was able to recover to over a million households within 30 years of the founding of the Northern Song Dynasty, not to mention the current 30 years of peace.

Liu Jilian estimated that the population of Shuzhong might have exceeded six or even seven million long ago, and the people who poured into Longyou were all people who could not survive, the group of people who should have starved to death in the original history.

Even if the Tang Dynasty does not cherish them, Liu Jilong will.

The length of the struggle between Nanzhao and the Tang Dynasty will determine how much Longyou’s strength can grow.

Liu Jilong rubbed the corn on his hands. It was very clean and should have been stored in the warehouse last year.

"With this batch of grain in our hands, we can at least bring 200,000 people to Longyou to reclaim wasteland."

"Compared to what I want, this population is far from enough."

He put the corn in his hand back into the barn and continued his inspection:
"How many cultivated and uncultivated lands are there in our military territory now?"

Gao Jinda pondered for a moment and immediately gave an answer: "This year, there should be about 4.4 million mu of cultivated land and 2.2 million mu of virgin land."

"However, among this batch of virgin land, 300,000 mu were reclaimed at the beginning of this year, the remaining 1.3 million mu were reclaimed last year, and less than 600,000 mu were reclaimed the year before last."

"This year's land tax is about 1.1 million dan."

"With the output of the fields, every household can have enough food."

"Besides that, this year we should be able to produce enough hemp stalks to make 600,000 rolls of linen."

"Including spices, tea, salt, iron, and other items, the palace can earn at least 1.2 million strings of cash."

"It's a pity that the grain price in Jiannan Road has risen. It has now reached 700 per stone, which is more expensive than the grain we produce."

Gao Jinda realized it belatedly and looked at Liu Jilong and said, "The grain price in Jiannan will not be able to be reduced..."

"What do you think?" Liu Jilong asked Gao Jinda with a wry smile.

Only then did Gao Jinda understand why Liu Jilong said it was a pity. It turned out that he had long thought of using the money earned from the Silk Road to buy and sell grain from Jiannan Road in order to recruit refugees to Longyou.

Gao Jinda was a little discouraged and felt that Longyou had missed a good opportunity.

Liu Jilong smiled and said jokingly: "It doesn't matter. We can be self-sufficient anyway. At most, we will have to tighten our belts for another two years."

"That's true……"

Gao Jinda followed Liu Jilian with a wry smile, and at this time Liu Jilian had also finished inspecting the official warehouse in Linzhou.

After making sure there were no rats stealing in there, Liu Jilong continued on his way back:

"Cao Mao has been very aggressive recently. I heard that he arrested eighteen officials from the Censorate, and implicated fifty-three officials and more than three hundred people."

"Have you, the chief historian, heard about this matter?"

"Of course I know." Gao Jinda did not dare to lie to Liu Jilong, he immediately said:
"But this matter is the Censorate's own business, and it is not convenient for us to deal with it."

"Fortunately, Cao Ya Ya did not use the punishment himself, but only asked the Protectorate to handle the exile according to the rules."

"Um……"

Liu Jilong was very satisfied with the treatment of Cao Mao. He was most worried that Cao Mao would act on impulse. Now it seems that Cao Mao is not as weak as he thought. However, if you think about it carefully, you will know that for a person who lost his parents at a young age, the most tormenting thing in the world is probably nothing more than this.

Unless he insulted Liu Jilong, it would be difficult for Cao Mao to get angry.

"These people should still be sent to Hexi according to the old rules."

"Yes."

Liu Jilong gave instructions, Gao Jinda agreed first, and then reported the difficulties.

"This group of criminals and their families number at least 2,000 people."

"Hexi is willing to exchange saltpeter, but Ganzhou's wine envoy has also sent news that Marshal Zhang Jie hopes to buy a batch of grain."

"It seems that he is preparing to use military force against Xizhou." Liu Jilong nodded and analyzed.

With a population of more than 200,000 and two million acres of arable land in the five states of Hexi, there is definitely enough food in Hexi.

Apart from going to war, Liu Jilian could not think of any other purpose for Zhang Huaishen to buy grain.

"Agree to it for now, but don't guarantee the quantity. At the same time, check the grain prices in Shannan East Road and Shannan West Road."

"If the grain prices in these two places have also risen above 700 coins per stone, then go to Jingnan and ask."

"If none of these three places work, then wait until the autumn harvest and sell 50,000 shi to him."

Fifty thousand shi of grain is undoubtedly a drop in the bucket for the expedition to Western Province.

However, Liu Jilong himself also needed food, so he naturally couldn't sell too much to Zhang Huaishen.

Although he hoped that Zhang Huaishen would recapture Xizhou and open up the northern route of the Silk Road.

While thinking, Liu Jilong and his companions arrived at the Protectorate. After greeting the soldiers at the door, they walked into the main hall while chatting.

At the same time, Cui Shu, who had been waiting in the main hall early, hurriedly handed over a letter after seeing Liu Jilong.

"General Jie, Shang Moyan has established a firm foothold in the Eight Kingdoms of Xishan!"

Liu Jilong was not surprised by Cui Shu's words. After all, the most powerful countries among the Eight Kingdoms of Xishan had been destroyed by Shang Moyan.

Considering the time, it wouldn't be a big problem to destroy the remaining countries in half a year.

After reading the contents of the letter at a glance, Liu Jilong explained:

"Shang Moyan wanted to exchange his herds and captured Hankou for armor and food."

"These things can be traded with him, but I need him to come to Didao to discuss matters."

Liu Jilong handed the letter back to Cui Shu and instructed him, "Send the letter to the eight countries in Xishan and tell Shang Moyan to come to Didao to see me."

"Yes!" Cui Shu agreed without hesitation, and Liu Jilong returned to the inner hall after a few greetings.

Cui Shu quickly drafted the letter, asked the elite cavalry who came to deliver the letter to have a good rest, and sent another group of elite cavalry to deliver the letter.

However, before Liu Jilian's letter was delivered to the Eight Kingdoms of Xishan, the war in the south broke out.

"Uuuuuu——"

"kill!!"

On the second day of April, Yang Jisi and Yang Qiuqing led a group of 100,000 barbarians and invaded Annan along the Xidao River (Red River).

There are mountains on both sides of the Xidao River, and the road is narrow, long and rugged.

Facing Dali's invading army of 100,000, Wang Shi had only 7,000 elite soldiers and 300 cavalry.

He left two thousand soldiers to garrison the rear to suppress all the barbarians who attempted to cause chaos.

As for him, he led 300 elite cavalry and 5,000 infantry to rush to Guyong County in advance, and fought a booming defensive counterattack in Guyong County, where the terrain was like a crack in the sky.

At noon, Wang Shi mobilized the people of Guyong County to dig trenches and build stone bridge fortifications, sheep horn walls and other defensive fortifications.

With 3,000 infantry and 300 elite cavalry stationed in the city, Wang Shi was confident that he could repel the generals sent by Nanzhao.

From mid-March to early April, Wang Shi made sufficient preparations. The Dali army, which arrived outside the city last night and began to attack the city this morning, was still as powerful and well-armed as ever.

The general of Guyong County once summoned all the barbarians in the area of Guyong County to come, but after seeing the scene of the grand ceremony with flags flying all over the sky, the nearby barbarians did not dare to confront the army and just watched from a distance.

Of course, many barbarian tribes became disloyal and tried to secretly surrender to Dali.

Wang Shi also knew what they were thinking, so he did not count on this group of people, but left the difficulties to himself.

He did not allow anyone to fight back, but asked them to wait for his military order.

Because of this, the soldiers and civilians in the city could only watch as the Dali infantry filled the trenches and pushed the cloud chariots to attack the city.

A quarter of an hour later, as Wang Shi walked down the bridleway, people around him began to dissuade him:

"Envoy Wang, the number of bandits outside the city is several times that of our army. Are we really sure of our success?"

"Envoy Wang, why don't we withdraw to Jiaozhi..."

"Bam—"

As the cloud chariot crashed into the city wall, all the great groups pushing the siege equipment climbed up the ladders, trying to sacrifice their lives.

Faced with this situation, Wang Rong remained calm and finally took out the wooden whistle and blew it.

"Beep--"

Soon, the Tang army on the top of the city heard a shrill whistle, and they began to throw stones, shoot arrows, and pour boiling water.

Faced with the counterattack of the Tang army, the weakest barbarians with the weakest willpower began to flee, but the consequence of fleeing was death.

Yang Qiuqing led a thousand armored soldiers as the supervisory team, and any soldier who escaped from the battlefield would be beheaded on the battlefield.

Such bloody means stimulated many barbarians in the army, but these stimulated barbarians would be dealt with by the Nanzhao army.

“Climb up!”

"quick!"

"kill--"

Amid the shouts and cries of killing, Dali's soldiers continued to climb the city ladder and finally saw the dawn.

Everyone rushed up in a rush, but they didn't know how to take care of their own lives. They often died shortly after climbing up the city wall and were thrown down by the Tang army as corpses.

Facts have proved that Nanzhao's siege skills are not inferior to those of the Central Plains.

Yang Jisi and Yang Qiuqing built a large number of siege weapons outside Guyong City to attack the city.

Under their offensive, the trenches and moats were filled, the fortifications at the city gate were surrounded, and the cloud chariots crashed into the walls of Guyong one after another.

In just two hours, Guyong City was already on the verge of collapse under their attack.

At the same time, Yang Jisi and Yang Qiuqing began to command the people outside the city to build military camps.

The barbarians responsible for the siege attacked the city several times and were driven back several times.

After repeating this several times, the morale of the army had been lost, and this was exactly the opportunity Wang Shi wanted.

"Open the city gate!!"

In front of three hundred elite cavalrymen, Wang Shi raised his arm and shouted. The Tang army at the city gate was stunned, but still reacted.

They opened the city gate, and Wang Shi took the opportunity to lead the three hundred elite cavalry out of the city.

"kill!!"

The three hundred elite cavalrymen on horseback began to harvest all the barbarians under the city. They charged back and forth, stabbing one barbarian after another.

The barbarians were wearing leather armor, so when facing the Tang army wearing heavy armor, they seemed so fragile that they were broken by one sword and killed by two swords.

"Follow me!!"

Wang Shi raised his gun and shouted, his eyes fixed on the Dali military camp across the moat.

Without any hesitation, he launched a charge on the military camp on the other side of the Xidao River as soon as the military order was issued.

Because the moat was filled and the Xidao River valley was a flat terrain with a low terrain in the southeast and a wide terrain in the southwest, these 300 cavalrymen in Wang Shi's hands even played the role of nearly a thousand elite cavalrymen.

"kill!!"

The shouts and fluttering flags showed the might of the Han people. The barbarians who tried to harm the elite cavalry had already fled back to the military camp in collapse.

"Sir, our army has won this battle. We must send the news of our victory to Chang'an!"

"That's right!"

For a moment, the soldiers of the Tang army raised the heads of the barbarians in their hands, and only Wang Shi sighed.

They did repel Dali, but Dali had too many troops and the loss of only a few hundred people was not worth mentioning.

After getting through today, there is still a lot of time waiting for them to get through...

(End of this chapter)