Great Han Empire

Chapter 467
At the beginning of March, the soldiers of the battalions in northern Xinjiang finished their rest as scheduled and returned to their respective garrisons one after another. They began to reorganize the army according to the order of General Zhengbei.From the Duliao River to the Great Wall Fortress, from the Lishi City Camp to the Juzhu Fortress, groups of infantry and cavaliers marching rapidly can be seen everywhere on all the roads. The tense atmosphere of the imminent war enveloped the land of Bingzhou.

Li Hong ordered Li Wei to lead part of the history, and Yan Liang led the six battalions to gather in Mayi, Yanmen County, and build a levy for the general Xingyuan of the Peking University.

Li Hong ordered Xianyufu to gather his troops at Longshan Daying, Zhang Yan led his troops to Juzhu Fortress, Qu Yi led his troops to Duliao, Xu Rong led his troops to Shanyuting Meiji, Zhao Yun and Yang Feng led their troops Gathered in the Great Wall Fortress, Yushi led his troops in Wuzhou in Yanmen County, and Yan Rou led his troops in Pingcheng in Yanmen County.Li Hong demanded that the Eighth Army for Conscripting the North begin training immediately and wait for the order to attack.

At the same time, according to the order of the emperor, Li Hong recruited [-] cavalry from the Xiongnu, with Liu Bao, the wise king of Zuo, as the commander, and was restrained by Xu Rong.[-] cavalry were recruited from Karasuma of Shanggu and Daijun, and Shanggu Dawang Loulu was the commander, under the control of Yan Rou.Li Hong ordered Liu Bao and Lou Lu to assemble before the end of March, and then enter their respective camps.

Just when the Northern Expedition Army was busy reorganizing and changing defenses, the Xiongnu rebel Xu Buguduhou and the Eastern Qiang leader Xu Kui led their troops to Chen Bing on the Yellow River and threatened Meiji, while Baima Tong and Tuobawei led their troops to attack Heping City in Wuzhou. attack.

Li Hong immediately ordered Qu Yi and Liu Bao to lead their troops to garrison on the south bank of the Yellow River, and ordered Yushi stationed in Wuzhou and Yan Rou in Pingcheng to block Baimatong and Tuobawei.

The intention of the Xiongnu rebels and the Xianbei to launch an attack at this time is obvious. They want to take advantage of the fact that the reorganization of the northern Xinjiang troops has not yet been completed, and severely beat the Han army, so as to delay the progress of the Han army reorganization and delay the progress of the Han army. The time when the army went out to attack.If there is a drastic change in Luoyang, the Han army may lose the possibility of going out to fight.

Li Hong was very anxious, and continued to play the emperor, begging the emperor to launch the northern Xinjiang war immediately.Hu people are so rampant, how can they bear it?

The emperor returned the decree and returned to Beijing for further discussion.

Li Hong had no choice but to order Xian Yufu to lead the military campaign of the Peking University General, and take charge of the campaign for the Peking University General's Mansion.Order Zhang Yan to guard the counties of Bingzhou to prevent accidents.At this time, if the disaster victims flooded into Bingzhou and caused any trouble, it would be even more difficult to go out to fight.After Li Hong made the arrangements, he handed over all the matters in northern Xinjiang to Xian Yufu, and quickly went south to Luoyang with Xiao Yu. Zhu Mu and Tian Chou were also with him, and Pang De led a hundred black panthers to escort him.

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At the end of March, Li Hong arrived in Luoyang.

Those who came out of the city to meet Li Hong were Shang Shuling Lu Zhi, Wei Wei Liu He and Huben Zhonglang General Yuan Shu.The four greeted each other, and then entered the city.

Li Hong and Lu Zhi walked together, chatted for a while, and immediately talked about the Northern Xinjiang War.Li Hong said bluntly: "Lord Lu, the Youzhou War has been over for three months. Why hasn't Shang Shutai come up with a specific strategy for fighting out of the fortress? All the money, food, armaments and civilians are ready, and we are waiting for the imperial court's war strategy and His Majesty's imperial decree. I really don't understand, is it so difficult to decide the strategy for going out of the fortress?"

Lu Zhi sighed: "This matter is not only the general who is anxious, but we are also anxious. Shang Shutai proposed seven strategies for the Northern Xinjiang War, but every time they were discussed in the Sanfu and Yitai, we couldn't pass it. We had no choice but to Repeated revisions are in vain."

"Can't pass?" Li Hong asked in amazement, "Why? What are the main reasons? Is it because the rebellion is not over or the treasury is exhausted?"

"Now that the Xiliang rebel army has been defeated, the Qingxu ant thief is gradually losing its attack power due to the famine. It is estimated that it will be defeated in the past two months, and the money supporting the war in Northern Xinjiang comes from His Majesty's Wanjintang and the treasury. It doesn't matter, so these things you said are not the key, the key is that the attack time of the battle outside the fortress cannot be unified." Lu Zhi glanced at Li Hong, and smiled, "You proposed two attack times in the plan of Shangzuo. One is May, the other is August, and the focus of the ministers' debate is precisely the issue of the attack time."

Li Hong immediately understood the crux of the problem.Lu Zhi avoided serious matters and ignored them, and did not tell the truth at all.The delay in going out of the fortress is not because the attack time is difficult to determine, but because the attack time is directly related to the issue of the emperor's order, and directly related to the fate and future of all parties in Luoyang.

"now what?"

"Your Majesty knew that the General had set off to return to the capital, so he simply stopped discussing the matter. Your Majesty said that everything will be decided after the General returns." Lu Zhi smiled and said, "The General returned to Beijing this time, and the time for the attack has been confirmed. ?”

"I'm rushing to Your Majesty, requesting that the attack time be advanced to mid-April." Li Hong said with a wry smile, "I have already confirmed the attack time, but the ministers still have different opinions. What's the use of my coming back? Can you convince everyone?"

Lu Zhi smiled and said, "It's not to convince everyone, but to convince His Majesty."

Li Hong didn't make a sound.What does His Majesty think, who knows?What he knows about the situation in central Beijing is only the appearance, how can he know the undercurrent inside?But if the emperor's rule is uncertain, Luoyang will be unstable, and if Luoyang is unstable, there will be no guarantee for the army to attack outside the Great Wall. Without guarantee, the battle cannot be fought.Li Hong intends to do everything possible to persuade His Majesty to establish the imperial line as soon as possible, and quickly get rid of General He Jin.There is no time to procrastinate on this matter.

Li Hong didn't talk about it anymore, he immediately talked to Lu Zhi about the results of last year's battle in Youzhou and the recent army reorganization.After carefully inquiring about some details, Lu Zhi asked, "Judging from the recent deployment of the armies in northern Xinjiang, is the general planning to attack in two ways?"

Li Hong said with a smile: "It's not two routes, but three routes. In order to ensure the complete recovery of the four northern counties and rescue the captive population, I plan to capture Wuyuan in advance, march into Yinshan, and complete the attack on the Hu allied forces in the shortest possible time. surrounded."

Lu Zhi looked at Li Hong in surprise, and said cautiously: "General, do you still remember the Sunset Plains War 12 years ago? In August of the sixth year of Xiping, the Son of Heaven took Tian Yan, the general of the Xianbei Zhonglang, as the commander, and commanded the Hun Zhonglang After Zang Yu, Huwuwan Captain Xia Yu, and Xiongnu Dashan Yu Tuteruo were killed, a total of 20 troops marched out of the fortress to fight in three ways. In the end, they were diverted by Tan Shihuai to lure the enemy to gather in the sunset. There are 10,000 troops, but only [-]+ troops actually go out to fight, so we will attack in different ways..."

"Although we went out to fight, we stopped when we reached Yinshan Mountain. The distance between the front and back of the battlefield is only about [-] miles. Due to the large number of our troops, there is still a great guarantee for the three armies to support each other when they are advancing layer by layer. "Li Hong explained, "If we don't take the method of splitting the attack, we will not be able to cut off the retreat of the Hu people, and we will not be able to form an encirclement of the Hu people. In other words, the Hu people will retreat safely under our pressure. Yinshan, in this way, although we regained the lost Border County, we also lost the people of the Han Border County. At the same time, we failed to wipe out a large number of Hu people. The strength of the Hu people still exists, which is very important for the safety of the Border County. It is a huge hidden danger, and the war in northern Xinjiang will continue in the future. We have spent such a high price to go out to fight, at least to ensure the peace of northern Xinjiang for ten years, otherwise, even if we win this battle, we will not What is the difference between defeat and defeat?"

Lu Zhi pondered for a long time, and then slowly said: "The general's opinion is very good. Tomorrow, the three government offices will listen to the general's report in the Jiade Hall. I hope that the general's northern border strategy will soon be supported by His Majesty and ministers." Agreed. The sooner the general goes to battle, the sooner our country of Han can clear up its shame."

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The emperor arranged for Li Hong to live in Zhangyuetai.Lu Zhi and Liu He bid farewell to Li Hong, and went back to the palace to play the sage.Yuan Shu ordered Lu Ben to order Wei Duan to lead two hundred guards to guard around the post house.

Li Hong was very happy to see that it was Lu Ben who ordered Wei Duan to be his guard again, so he asked him to have a chat.Wei Duan was very excited and didn't know what to say.Li Hong took his hand and said to the Southern Army guards surrounding him, when I went back to Luoyang the year before last, your Lord Wei and I fought the enemy side by side on the long street, and he and I were life and death friends.After Li Hong left, Wei Duan was immediately surrounded by his subordinates, and everyone kept asking questions.A team leader said that if your lord is a friend of General Zheng Bei Da, then he will not be able to achieve success in the future.Wei Duan scolded, if you want to make a fortune, you have to go outside the Great Wall to kill barbarians, you want me to die.Who do you think General Zhengbei is?Will I send you an official to do it casually?
Yuan Shu stayed with Li Hong all the time.The two haven't seen each other since their farewell in Jizhou.The past is tacit to each other, no one mentions it, the two are like old friends for many years, very affectionate, chatting and laughing.Yuan Shu smiled and said to Li Hong: "Your Majesty is worried that something will happen to the General, so he specially ordered me to dispatch people to take care of the General's safety during his stay in Luoyang. However, as in the past, without His Majesty's order, the General and his subordinates are not allowed to Go out privately."

Li Hong shook his head, pointed at Zhu Mu and said, "Brother Gongding, Brother Gongding wants to go home and have a look, can you accommodate me?"

Yuan Shu smiled and said: "The general has orders, I dare not obey, but..." He looked at Zhu Mu and said, "Ding, are you going to stay in the post house for a while and talk about it in a few days. Now the general has a special status , you are the in charge of Zhong Lang in the General’s Mansion of Zhengbei University, and there are people watching every move you make, if His Majesty finds out about going out privately, it will be bad for you and me.”

Zhu Mu and Yuan Shu have been friends since they were young, so of course they wouldn't pay attention to Yuan Shu's tricks. He put his arms around Yuan Shu's neck and threatened with a smile, "Gaolu, I'm going back now, will you let me go?"

Yuan Shu joked, "Didn't you touch a woman for more than a year? Forget it, I'll spare you once. Go home and hug your wife and kiss your child."

Zhu Mu was overjoyed, scolded him a few words, bowed to Li Hong and was about to leave, Yuan Shu grabbed him, pointed to the back door and said, "Don't cause trouble for me, just go through the back door honestly." The two went out while laughing and cursing at each other.

It was the first time for Xiao Yu and Tian Chou to visit Luoyang. They were both excited and curious, standing on the height of the post house and looking around.Tian Chou pointed to several buildings and asked Li Hong where that place was. Li Hong said, I don't know either.Although I have been here once, I basically stayed here and didn't go anywhere.You can ask Mr. Wei, he is from Luoyang, he must know.After Tian Chou walked away, Li Hong took Xiao Yu's hand and said that tomorrow he will enter the palace to meet the emperor and queen mother.Xiao Yu was very nervous and scared.She grew up so big, she never thought that one day she would go to Luoyang and meet the emperor and queen mother in the palace.Li Hong said, don't be afraid, the emperor is very gentle, and the queen mother is also very kind.There is also a little prince and a little princess in Yongle Palace, both are very cute.Xiao Yu asked timidly, were you afraid when you first met the Son of Heaven?Li Hong said with lingering fear, it was more than fear. At that time, I was very scared and sweated all over my body.When Xiao Yu heard that Huarong turned pale, she became even more frightened.

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On the second day, Jian Shuo of Xiao Huangmen came to Zhangyue Terrace with a few court ladies very early.

The emperor thought very carefully for Li Hong, he asked Jian Shuo to send Li Hong's wife a complete set of gorgeous clothes, and asked Li Hong to give gifts to the Queen Mother, the little prince and the princess.When Li Hong saw the clothes and jewelry given to Xiao Yu by the emperor, he could only describe it as dumbfounded.He originally prepared some gifts, but compared with what the emperor rewarded, it seemed too shabby.

Xiao Yu came out surrounded by several court ladies, Li Hong and a group of subordinates looked dumbfounded.No matter how beautiful this person is, he is still much inferior without clothes.Jian Shuo praised: "The general's wife is really beautiful, especially those eyes..."

Jian Shuo then told Xiao Yu some things to pay attention to in terms of etiquette, and then took them into the carriage and hurried into the palace.This time I went directly to Yongle Palace.

Xiao Yu was extremely frightened, her face turned pale, and she almost suffocated.Seeing that she was too nervous, Jian Shuo was worried that something would happen if she went in to meet the emperor and the queen mother, so he quickly comforted her in a low voice: "Madam, don't be nervous. If you are too nervous, you may be rude, and if you are too nervous, you will hurt the general, so please Madame, you must relax. You can think about the great general’s feats and the future glory and wealth, so that your mood will be much easier.”

When Xiaoyu heard that her fear and gaffe might hurt Li Hong, she broke out in a cold sweat, and then miraculously calmed down.She didn't have to kill herself for Li Hong's sake, not to mention that it wasn't a matter of dying.

Li Hong took Xiao Yu to visit the emperor, the queen mother, the little prince and the princess in turn.

The emperor and the queen mother hadn't seen Li Hong for two years, and when they met again after a long time, they were very affectionate with each other, and the little prince sat beside Li Hong and asked non-stop.Princess Liu Xiao has grown into a great beauty. Although she is only 12 years old, Li Hong is very surprised by her astonishing beauty.The emperor was very emotional, pointing to Liu Xiao who was sitting with Xiao Yu, talking and laughing, and said, seeing her now is like seeing her mother, she looks exactly like her mother, except for those eyes.Her mother's eyes are full of dreams and happiness, but unfortunately I...

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(End of this chapter)