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

Chapter 323 Your humble servants pay homage from afar from the city tower of Haozhou.

"incredible."

Lu Chengqing, who had been guarding the north gate of Haozhou, was so astonished by the victory report from Wenshui that he could hardly speak. After a long while, he finally uttered a word of disbelief, then held the report and ran swiftly up the ramparts leading to the city walls.
"Great news! A resounding victory!"

Just as I was about to climb the city wall, I got so excited that I lost my footing and fell. I quickly got up, not even caring about the dust on my robe.

"Duke Rongguo, good news! A great victory at Wenshui! Three thousand light cavalry broke through the heavily fortified city of Jiuli in the night, beheading the rebel leader Huang Ziying, killing over three thousand, and capturing seven thousand."

"Annihilate them all! Annihilate all 10,000 bandits in Wenshui!"

Li Yi patted the dust off his robe. "An hour ago, the signal fire came from the beacon tower on Hidden Spring Mountain. I already knew we had won."

"How could the Duke of Rong be so calm?" Lu Chengqing was impressed.

Li Yi smiled and accepted the good news: "I only know that they have captured Wenshui City, but the details cannot be conveyed by the beacon fire. Let me see how they won."

The report of victory was written to him by Li Zhongwen at the Wenshui County government office. The details were roughly as Li Yi had predicted: using the previously dug secret passage, three hundred cavalrymen infiltrated the city, and taking advantage of the chaos as the city's soldiers looted, they launched a surprise attack to seize the south gate. Then, two thousand cavalrymen stormed into the city.
They surrounded the area on three sides, leaving one open, and Li Zhongwen led a thousand cavalry to intercept and kill them from the outside.

"Three thousand cavalrymen captured Jiuli City in one night and annihilated ten thousand enemies. Wow, wow, wow!" Lu Chengqing exclaimed in amazement.

Lu Chisong and Liu Zhan also arrived quickly.
Upon hearing of the victory, the two were speechless with astonishment. They had thought it was just a lucky shot, and that they would be lucky to inflict some casualties during the ambush outside the city.

They actually breached the city and annihilated the entire enemy force.

Lu Chisong slapped his son hard on the shoulder, startling Lu Chengqing.

Why did you hit me, Father?

"Does it hurt?"

"Ouch! Father, you've trained before, you can draw a bow with great force, this palm strike is very powerful."

"Then I'm not dreaming." Lu Chisong stroked his beard and laughed heartily.

Lu Chengqing was left speechless, both amused and exasperated by his father's antics.

Liu Zhan's face flushed with excitement. The last time the Haozhou army captured Wenshui, it was because Pei Ji's 80,000-strong army was approaching Jiexiu, and the rebel forces in Wenshui had been transferred away, leaving only a few hundred men. With the help of the Wu family, they captured Wenshui.
Who would have thought that with the fierce general Huang Ziying stationed in the city with 10,000 men, they could still breach the city again and wipe out the entire garrison?

"The city of Jiuli, it was taken over in just one night."

Li Yi looked at the rising sun in the east.

"Let's bring breakfast to the city wall, and brew some tea to celebrate."

Lu Chisong was so excited that he wanted to write a report of victory to the Emperor in Chang'an. He didn't even have time to eat breakfast, let alone admire the sunrise.

Although Lu Chisong had only served as a county magistrate for four terms, his family was renowned for its classical studies, and his father was a famous poet. He was also very talented in literature.

"Your humble servants bow from the city tower of Haozhou, for in this battle you have routed ten thousand rebels and beheaded the traitor Huang."

He wrote a proclamation of victory, several thousand words long, in one go during the time it took to eat breakfast.

After finishing writing, he presented it to Li Yi, saying, "Please have the Duke of Rong review and polish it."

"Lord Lu's writing is excellent, and his calligraphy is beautiful. There's no need to revise or polish it. Let's just send the good news to Chang'an as is." Li Yi stamped his seal on it.

Lu Chisong excitedly handed the proclamation to his son, saying, "You must deliver this to Chang'an immediately. You have three days to deliver it. You must travel day and night and not miss the deadline."

Lu Chengqing was enjoying his millet porridge and watching the sunrise when his father told him to put down his bowl and leave.

"Hey, I'm still not full."

"His Majesty is eagerly awaiting good news. Now that this report has arrived, His Majesty will be overjoyed, and the soldiers of Changchun Palace will be greatly encouraged. Go quickly."

When the Lu family father and son arrived, they also brought their retainers and attendants, and Li Yi immediately gave them twenty fast horses.

On the city wall,
Watching Young Master Lu lead ten riders gallop out of the city.

Liu Zhan, holding a warm sesame seed cake, laughed and said, "The steward's painstaking plan to intercept Huang Ziying has been for nothing."

"Hahaha, Huang Ziying knows how to save us trouble. He was afraid our ambushes along the way would be too much trouble, so he just sent his men straight to Wenshui City to die." Li Yi laughed. "Quickly send someone to inform Zhang Nan, Zhang Bi, Yong'an Sanbao, and Lengquan Pass."

Tell them not to wait anymore; Huang Ziying can't go.

"Lord Rong, now that Huang Ziying has been beheaded, what should we do next? Should we defend Wenshui or retreat?"

Li Yi gazed at Yinquan Mountain to the north.

"I remember Liu Liu'er is currently herding horses in the Wengu River Valley and Xiye River Valley in the mountains west of Wenshui, right?"

"Yes, when Pei Xiang Suodu was defeated, this guy immediately switched sides and joined Liu Wuzhou. Then he followed Huang Ziying to besiege Haozhou. As a result, when the camp was burned that night, he immediately led his troops to flee, all the way to the mountains west of Wenshui."
Huang Ziying repeatedly ordered him to meet at Wenshui, but he refused to go.

"How many men does this guy have left?"

"About five thousand."

While eating sesame pancakes and drinking mutton soup, Li Yi said, "This guy is two-faced and fickle; keeping him around is just a menace."
I think we should take advantage of this opportunity to quickly eliminate Huang Ziying. Taiyuan won't be able to react in time, and Liu Liu'er is still in the mountains, unaware of the situation. Let's strike while the iron is hot, send troops into the mountains, and wipe him out.”

Liu Zhan hesitated and said, "Isn't this a bit risky? Although we just won a battle, Wenshui is less than two hundred li from Taiyuan. Liu Wuzhou could arrive at any time."

“Even if Liu Wuzhou sends troops immediately after receiving the news, it will take at least three to five days for them to arrive. We can take advantage of this time difference.”

Liu Zhan felt that Li Yi had been extremely cautious before, but now, as he won more and more battles, he was becoming bolder. He didn't know whether this was a good thing or a bad thing.

Lu Chisong, however, supported it.

The better the fighting here, the more it can restrain Liu Wuzhou, and the better things will be for the south.

“Since we’re going to fight Liu Liu’er, I think we should defend Wenshui City. We should draw 1,000 combat soldiers from Xiaoyi, Yong’an, and Haozhou, and then transfer 2,000 auxiliary soldiers, making a total of 5,000 men to garrison the city.”

Li Zhongwen and Li Daoxuan led their three thousand cavalry into the Wengu River Valley to attack and annihilate Liu Liu'er.

Li Yi and Liu Liu'er were old acquaintances. This guy lacked willpower and strength. Although he had several thousand men, both the soldiers' equipment and the generals' command abilities were only at the level of ordinary mountain barbarians.
They are currently staying in the valley upstream of Wenshui City. They have no castle, so attacking them is relatively risky, but eliminating them would make Haozhou safer.

This guy always following Ding Yangjun around is quite annoying. "Only three thousand cavalry?"

"Didn't we also send 5,000 people to Wenshui? They can provide support at any time, and if there's really no opportunity, they can withdraw."

Liu Heizi received the military order and led more than ten riders to Wenshui.

On the city wall of Haozhou,

Lu Chisong sought advice from Li Yi on military strategy.
"Actually, I don't know much about military strategy, but when an opportunity arises, you have to act decisively. Once you decide to strike, you must be quick and not procrastinate. I call this a blitzkrieg."

Swift as lightning, ending the battle quickly is the only way to avoid any unforeseen complications.

"The Duke of Rong is absolutely right. Prime Minister Pei is dragging his feet too much in Suoduyuan."

Wenshui City
Li Zhongwen, Li Daoxuan, and the others were still cleaning up the battlefield.
The Tang law enforcement team patrolled the city, and anyone who dared to rob or rape was executed on the spot.

Last night's battle yielded a great deal of spoils; Huang Ziying's troops looted for a whole day and night, taking everything from the city.

In the end, most of them fell into the hands of the Tang army.

Regarding these spoils of war
Li Zhongwen said that following the military tradition, the spoils were divided among three people: one part was handed over to the state, one part was kept by the military camp, and the rest belonged to the person who captured the spoils.

Li Daoxuan did not object to this.

However, he proposed that all the men and women from Wenshui who were captured by Huang Ziying's troops should be released and not treated as slaves or spoils of war.

“That works too.” Li Zhongwen thought of the Duke of Rong in Haozhou, guessing that he also supported the idea of ​​the Prince of Huaiyang.

Post-war reassurance of the people

All the spoils were registered, and those that should be handed over to the authorities were handed over to the authorities, while those that should belong to the soldiers were returned to the soldiers. However, since it was wartime, these spoils could not be kept indefinitely.

Therefore, we must immediately arrange for people to register and classify the spoils of war, then pack them up and have the able-bodied men of Wenshui City transport them back to Haozhou City.

In Haozhou City, they might sell some of the spoils of war, or transport them back to Guanzhong through merchants and send them back to their hometowns.

Generally speaking, all sorts of miscellaneous spoils, except for valuables such as gold and silver jewelry, might be kept with the soldiers. The rest, such as horses, mules, slaves, silk, and cloth, would be taken to the rear and sold in bulk. The money would be converted into cash or sent directly back to the soldiers' homes, or stored in the military warehouse and transported back together after the war.

Although the battle of Wenshui was arduous,

After the battle, the entire army was extremely excited. Firstly, they had achieved great merit, capturing Jiuli City and capturing or killing tens of thousands of soldiers—achievements accomplished by three thousand cavalry in a single night.

They went into battle and won.

Those who perform well can directly receive several rank medals.

Not to mention the huge amount of spoils captured after the war; Huang Ziying had ten thousand men who looted for them for a whole day and night.

Even if only a third of it goes to him, it's still a huge sum of money; he'd be rich instantly.

When Liu Heizi arrived at Wenshui City in the afternoon...
The morale here is high. Many soldiers are cleaning up the battlefield while holding the slips of paper given to them by their officers for the temporary storage of spoils of war. They are excitedly shouting Guanzhong chants, which are powerful and resonant. Some are even singing folk songs, like "Brother and Sister".

"To suppress Liu Liu'er?"

"Yes, the steward said that Liu Liu'er is fickle and will always be a threat if left alive. He still has about five thousand men under his command in a valley dozens of miles northwest of Wengu City. We should take advantage of the fact that he is unaware of the Wenshui matter and wipe him out."

Li Zhongwen looked at his deputy, Li Daoxuan.

"Fight! Five thousand mountain barbarians, daring to jump around like this, do you really think our Great Tang has no one to fight back?" The young prince raised his fist.

"Okay." Li Zhongwen accepted the order.

that night,

Li Zhongwen and Li Daoxuan once again led their three thousand light cavalry, marching under cover of night to a mountain valley more than forty li upstream from the Wengu River.
Where the Wengu River and the Xiye River meet, there is a large river valley plain. Liu Liu'er has been staying here ever since he retreated from Haozhou.

They survived by plundering the surrounding area.

He kept delaying the orders from Liu Wuzhou and Huang Ziying.

In the middle of the night, while Liu Liu'er was sleeping with the woman he had robbed, Li Daoxuan had already led a light cavalry to quietly arrive.

The simple wooden palisades in the valley could not stop the Tang cavalry, and the five thousand poorly equipped mountain barbarians were no match for the three thousand elite cavalry.

Faced with the sudden arrival of Tang cavalry, the Shanhu people lost all will to fight and scattered and fled.

Tianming,

Li Daoxuan carried Liu Liu'er's head back to the Hu camp in the valley.

"That kid was pretty fast. We chased him for half the night before we caught up. We almost let him get away."

Li Zhongwen looked at the Shanhu chieftain who died with his eyes wide open and shook his head mockingly: "Why did you give up being the Duke of Loufan and the Governor of Lanzhou? You had to keep jumping around. If you don't have the ability, don't jump. Now look what happened, your head is gone."

He summoned Liu Heizi: "Commander Liu, I would like to trouble you to return to Haozhou and report to the Duke of Rongguo that my troops have successfully annihilated Liu Liu'er's troops, beheading Liu Liu'er and more than 800 of his men, and capturing more than 4,000."

Liu Heizi, who was warming himself by the fire, picked up a mountain barbarian flag from the ground, wrapped it around Liu Liu'er's head, and said, "Your subordinate obeys."

He grabbed Liu Liu'er's head, summoned his men, and led ten riders to Haozhou City, a hundred miles away.

On his saddle were the heads of the three mountain barbarians he had personally cut off in the battle the previous night, which he had also brought with him.

“These mountain barbarians are truly pathetic!” one of the cavalrymen laughed.

Liu Heizi shook his head, "Wrong, that was the Duke of Rong's strategic planning and skillful command."

"Yes, our Grand Steward is truly amazing. Even Huo Qubing, the Marquis of Champion of the Han Dynasty, is no match for him, right?"

"Our chief steward also has the rank of champion general."

(End of this chapter)