A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 304 Pei Ji Arrives
On a sweltering afternoon, a sudden downpour came without warning.

Suddenly, dark clouds filled the sky, followed by lightning and thunder, and then a torrential downpour. In the blink of an eye, the raindrops turned into a silver waterfall.

The marching army was soaked to the bone in the open field.

Even the Right Minister, Duke of Wei, was not spared.
When his servants frantically searched for a tarpaulin, he was completely soaked.

Once the tents are set up,

Pei Ji looked as if he had been pulled out of the water.

"This awful weather," Pei Ji couldn't help but curse.

"What did you say, sir?" The servant asked loudly, unable to hear what he was saying amidst the pouring rain.

Pei Ji waved his hand.

The army, which had been marching like a dragon, stopped and set up shelters in the rain, such as felt hats, oil-coated clothes, and felt tents.

It was as if the Milky Way had burst its banks.
Pei Ji frowned. This sudden downpour would once again slow down the march for the day.

quickly,

Many generals and soldiers rushed into his tent.

"How far is it from Jinzhou?" Pei Ji asked.

"The original plan was to reach Jinzhou City and set up camp for the night, but now we don't know when the rain will stop, and we are still twenty miles away from Jinzhou," a military advisor said.

Deputy Chief Supervisor Jiang Baoyi was also soaked to the bone. He sat to the side, took off his shirt and wrung it out, saying, "After this downpour, I'm afraid the roads will be muddy, and the logistics and supply convoy will be even slower."

"I wonder how Haozhou is doing. It's been besieged for so long. I hope it doesn't fall like Jiexiu. Otherwise, our route north to Taiyuan will be blocked."

The downpour lasted for nearly half an hour before the clouds finally parted and the rain stopped.

"Hurry up the march and get to Jinzhou City."

Jinzhou is still 320 li away from Haozhou. At their current speed of 40 to 50 li per day, it will take them at least seven or eight days.

If we include the time spent traversing the Hanhou Ridge, it might take more than ten days to arrive.

Jiang Baoyi said to Pei Ji, "Please, Prime Minister Pei, ride into the city first. I will follow with my troops later."

Pei Ji looked back at the troops lining up, the ground now a river, and felt a growing anxiety.

"Alright, I'll go to Jinzhou first. You should hurry and bring them here too. We must get to Jinzhou today; we've already wasted too much time on the road."

A knight is galloping towards us from afar.
Horse hooves pounded the water as the horse came rolling in.

The vanguard scouts on light cavalry tumbled off their horses: "Reporting to the Right Minister, Commander Li Yi has sent someone to report the victory!"

"A victory report?" Pei Ji's spirits lifted. "Where are they?"

"Right in the back."

Moments later, Li Yi's messenger arrived with news of the victory.

The messenger presented a victory report written in Li Yi's own handwriting.
The letter was still sealed.

He opened the sealed clay seal and quickly scanned it, becoming more and more astonished with each reading.

Incredible news of victory: Liu Liu'er, the Hu Tuoding King of Lishi, surrendered to Li Yi with 7,000 troops. After accepting the surrender, Li Yi mobilized 3,000 of Liu Liu'er's troops. With the help of Sa Baoyu Run, the commander of Jiahu Fort in Queshu Valley, they broke through Jiahu Fort at night, captured Liu Wuzhou's general Huang Ziying alive, persuaded 5,000 of his troops to surrender, and also rescued 5,000 captured and imprisoned Tang soldiers.

incredible.

Generals Jiang Baoyi and Liu Hongji both came over: "Prime Minister Pei, what did Li Yi say? Did they really win?"

Pei Ji handed them the letter, "We did win. Jiahu Fort has fallen, and Huang Ziying, who defeated Li Zhongwen and ambushed and annihilated his nine thousand men, has also been captured alive."

"Yes, of Li Zhongwen's nine thousand men, five thousand are still alive and have been rescued."

Jiang Baoyi and Liu Hongji huddled together to watch the spectacle, marveling at the victory. Prince Yong'an, Li Xiaoji, and the Imperial Secretary, Tang Jian, also rushed over, expressing their astonishment upon hearing of the great victory.

"This Li Yi truly deserves to be called a lucky general chosen by the sage,"

Liu Hongji smiled and said, "With Jiahubao captured and Queshu Valley opened up, we won't have to go around Hanhou Ridge anymore, which will save us a few days. The supply route will also be open."

Pei Ji stroked his beard. "We can't be too happy yet. Haozhou is still besieged. We need to speed up our march and get to Haozhou as soon as possible to defeat the enemy."

"Let's proceed according to plan."

After Pei Ji finished speaking, he was helped onto his horse and headed towards Jinzhou City.

Due to a heavy rain, the marching speed slowed to a snail's pace for the next few days, with only thirty li (approximately 15 kilometers) covered per day.

Several days later, they finally entered Huoyi in Lüzhou.

Pei Ji's vanguard cavalry had just entered Luzhou territory when they received good news: Li Yi had led 20,000 troops north and had lifted the siege of Haozhou, with the enemy retreating.

The vanguard cavalry captain immediately rode back at full speed.

"Prime Minister Pei,"

"Good news! Li Yi led 20,000 troops north and has lifted the siege of Haozhou. The enemy has retreated."

Pei Ji was travel-worn and his head was spinning from the scorching heat.

"Where did Li Yi get 20,000 men?"

After figuring out the situation, Pei Ji was stunned.

"Young man, you are indeed remarkable. You are skilled and bold. You can make a big show of things by carrying flags and drums, and you can even bring out your true colors as a big banner. You are quite something."

It was a bit too risky. They hastily assembled 20,000 troops, but 10,000 of them were surrendered soldiers, and another 2,000 were just rescued defeated soldiers. Only 2,000 soldiers were actually usable.
This is a gamble, no different from Li Zhongwen's previous actions. This time, he was lucky to scare off the enemy. If it weren't for the fact that the Prime Minister happened to arrive with a large army, and the enemy hadn't been frightened away, what would Li Yi have done?

Pei Ji was still criticizing the young people for taking risks.
News of the siege of Haozhou's evacuation spread rapidly through the army, with some shouting "Wow, victory!" followed by a growing chorus of cheers. Pei Ji fell silent.

His face doesn't look very good.

A few days later,
Pei Ji proceeded along the Sparrow and Mouse Valley and arrived at Jiahu Fort.

The garrison commander Qiu Shenyan and Sa Baoyu Run came out of the city to meet them from ten miles away.

"I have good news to tell Prime Minister Pei. News has just come from Haozhou that Liu Jizhen has been persuaded to surrender by Chief Steward Li."

Upon hearing this news, Pei Ji, who was dismounting, forgot to remove his stirrups and almost fell. Fortunately, his servants helped him remove the stirrups and get off the horse.

"Has Li Shihu Liu Jizhen been recruited by Li Yi?"

"He made some conditions, and General Manager Li sent someone to report to the emperor. Before the court responded, Liu Jizhen promised to cease hostilities and not leave Shizhou."

Pei Ji was preoccupied with many thoughts.

Accompanied by others, they arrived at Jiahu Fort. While entering the fort, he tripped over a pebble on the road, and his purple robe fell and was covered in dust.

After entering the fort,
He ordered a pot of tea and pondered as he drank.

If he initially thought Li Yi was just lucky when he first received the good news, he no longer thinks so.

Liu Liu'er's surrender may seem like good luck for Li Yi, but upon closer examination, it also reflects Li Yi's solid and well-planned strategy. Without him securing the spirit stones, without his timely deployment of troops to Yong'an Fort, without Yu Jun's attack on Li Shi Hu's supply lines, and without Li Zhongwen's troops breaking through the defenses and entering Haozhou City to reinforce the city, Li Yi would have been in trouble.

Therefore, Liu Liu'er would not have suffered a series of failures, which would have led to her being driven to desperation and forced to surrender.

The capture of Jiahu Fort and Huang Ziying was no accident. After Li Zhongwen's vanguard was wiped out, Li Yi did not hesitate or stop. Instead, he seized the time to march rapidly to Huoyi, first stabilizing the city, and then finding the Hanhou Ridge road.
Instead of passing through Sparrow Rat Valley, they circled around to the north, occupied Lingshi City, and reinforced Yindi Pass, trapping Huang Ziying, who wanted to continue ambushing Li Yi, in Jiahu Fort in Sparrow Rat Valley.

The two-month siege led to the conflict between Yu Run and Huang Ziying, and ultimately to Li Yi sending troops to breach the fortress.

Now, Li Yi, with a hastily assembled force of 20,000 men, has lifted the siege of Haozhou and is also recruiting Liu Jizhen of Anshi Prefecture.

Every step was not a matter of luck; it was all carefully calculated.

I really underestimated this kid before.

At the same age of seventeen, Prince Yuanji of Qi was stationed in Taiyuan with 30,000 elite troops and enough food to last for ten years. However, he only dared to keep his troops holed up in Taiyuan and watched as one city after another was defeated one by one by a roughly equal number of enemies.

From the moment Li Yi split his forces with Li Zhongwen halfway through the campaign, to the complete annihilation of Li Zhongwen's vanguard of nine thousand elite troops, every step of Li Yi's subsequent actions was fraught with risk and precariousness.
But step by step, he fought his way out of such a terrible situation and reopened the entire situation for Lü Jiehao.

Li Yi managed to rely on his five thousand palace soldiers and six thousand auxiliary soldiers.
To turn the tide when all hope is lost, and to save a collapsing edifice from imminent collapse.

Not only did they block Liu Wuzhou's offensive, but they also launched a counterattack without making a sound.

What's most remarkable is that this kid achieved such a record with virtually no casualties; on the contrary, his army grew larger with each battle.

Currently, he commands over 30,000 troops from various factions.

He was the Right Minister of Works and the Grand Commander of the Jinzhou Road Army. He was supposed to command 40,000 elite soldiers and 20,000 auxiliary soldiers, but more than 10,000 of them were originally Li Yi's men.

Now, Li Yi's troops are almost the same size as the troops under his command excluding Li Yi himself.

Pei Ji took out the Hedong map he always carried with him.
Unfold slowly

Luzhou was stabilized, and Haozhou was relieved of its siege.
His gaze fell upon Jiexiu City, the seat of Jiezhou.

Li Yi said that after the enemy retreated from Haozhou, they arrived at Jiexiu, where there are now about 15,000 people.

Li Yi did not go to attack Jiexiu; he remained stationed in Haozhou.

"I invite all generals to come for a military meeting!"

The army's deputy commander-in-chief, General of the Left Guard, Jiang Baoyi; the army's chief clerk, Vice Minister of the Interior, Tang Jian; the army's military advisor, Prince Yong'an, General of Shanzhou, Li Xiaoji; and the army's commander-in-chief of Linfen Road, General of the Right Valiant Guard, Liu Hongji.
The various stewards also arrived one after another.

Pei Ji held the Grand Commander's tally in his hand, his gaze sweeping over the faces of the generals one by one.

"You've all heard plenty of good news these days, haven't you?"

"There is more good news today. Liu Jizhen, the rebel chieftain of Lishi Hu in Shizhou, has also surrendered."

"Good news! The siege of Haozhou has been lifted, the rebel Hu of Lishi has surrendered, and Liu Wu's five thousand elite troops have also been recruited, and the pass to Jiahu Fort has been opened."

But don't get too excited yet.
Huang Ziying was merely Liu Wuzhou's vanguard.

Although the siege of Haozhou has been lifted, Jiexiu City has still been captured by the enemy. If we want to reinforce Jinyang, we must first recapture Jiexiu.

Pei Ji raised his voice a few decibels.

"Jiexiu is defended by about 15,000 men under the command of Wu Zhou's generals Xun Xiang and Zhang Wansui. Although Li Yi has made great contributions one after another, his tens of thousands of troops dare not launch a frontal attack."

He dares not, but we cannot run away.

I've decided to accelerate the march, change the entire army's route, and skip Haozhou, heading directly to Jiexiu.

"General Li Yi is skilled in using unconventional, risky, and ingenious tactics, but he still lacks experience in direct combat. We should take Jiexiu City."

"Send an order to Li Yi of Haozhou, instructing him to continue guarding Haozhou."

He has over 30,000 troops under his command, so let him send 20,000 to Jiexiu. Let Li Zhongwen and Wang Xingmin lead them.

"Send another message to Liu Shirang and Yu Yun, instructing them to also meet at the city walls of Jiezhou."

Pei Ji's plan was simple and direct: after his troops left Sparrow and Rat Valley, they would head straight for Jiexiu City via Ling Shi. He had over 20,000 combat soldiers and over 10,000 auxiliary troops under his command. If he transferred another 20,000 from Li Yi, he would have a force of over 50,000.
Dealing with Liu Wuzhou's 15,000 troops, who had just retreated from Haozhou, was not difficult at all.

They didn't even dare to fight Li Yi's 20,000 men, so if he sent over his 50,000-plus army, Xun Xiang and Zhang Wansui would probably just abandon the city and run away.

Tang Jian, the Vice Minister of the Imperial Secretariat, had spoken with Li Yi several times and said with a smile, "Why doesn't the Right Minister directly summon Li Yi to Jiexiu for a meeting? This young man is a lucky general."

Pei Ji said expressionlessly, "He can guard Haozhou; we don't need to trouble him with Jiexiu."

(End of this chapter)