Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 156 The hero is late
"Zhang Zhifang? Tianping Army?"

In early May, when Li Yizhong sent someone to deliver the news from Guangwu, Liu Jilian learned that Zhang Zhifang was about to lead 3,000 Tianping troops to enter Guzang.

What surprised him was not Zhang Zhifang and the Tianping Army, but the number of the Tianping Army.

Historically, the number of Tianping troops stationed in Liangzhou was definitely not as many as he knew now, because he remembered it was two thousand or two thousand five hundred, and they were all new recruits.

Because they were all new recruits, they were unable to move into Guzang at first, but instead divided Liangzhou with the Guiyi Army.

Now the Guiyi Army has become the Hexi Army, and its power is even greater than in history. Therefore, in order to deal with it, the imperial court can only increase the number of troops stationed in Liangzhou.

I just don't know whether the Tianping Army this time is composed of new recruits or old soldiers.

The Tianping Army was a detachment from the Pinglu Army. Although its combat effectiveness was not as strong as that of the Pinglu Army, it was still considered the elite of Shandong.

Historically, after the invasion of Wumo, they should have reached an agreement with Wumo to jointly govern Liangzhou.

However, due to the large number of E'mo's followers, the Tianping Army was eventually assimilated by E'mo. By the Five Dynasties period, among the more than 2,000 Tianping Army soldiers, only a few families who had intermarried with the Han people could speak Mandarin, and the rest could only speak foreign languages.

While thinking this, Liu Jilong was awakened by the shouting and cursing of Zhang Chang and others.

"Damn the imperial court! They are determined to destroy Hexi!"

Chen Jingchong’s curse was relatively civilized.

"Damn it, Governor Zhang won't agree to let them move in!"

Ma Cheng was more worried about the Tianping Army entering Liangzhou.

"If I were Suo Xun, I would set an ambush and kill them in Longdao!"

Zhang Chang was more impulsive. If Hexi did as he said, it would be tantamount to rebellion, and Suo Xun would not have the courage to do so.

Shang Duoluo, Cuoben, Zheng Chu and others also followed suit, but the cursing was basically within the framework of the three of them.

Liu Jilong was not very anxious because he knew that Zhang Huaishen would not back down, so he was more worried about the Umu and Uighurs in the north.

"Governor, aren't you anxious?"

Li Ji couldn't help but ask Liu Jilong, and the others shut up and looked at him.

Facing their doubts, Liu Jilong shook his head and said, "I have never heard of this Zhang Zhifang. I don't think he is a powerful figure."

"As for the 3,000 Tianping troops, although they are powerful, a strong dragon cannot suppress a local snake. Moreover, we have 7,000 armored soldiers in Liangzhou, which can completely suppress them."

"What I'm worried about now is the reaction of those bastards in Dunhuang after Wang Jingzhi returns to Dunhuang."

"If they rush into Liangzhou like wild dogs, and the imperial court instigates them, then Xiao Zhang Jiedushi will be in danger."

"In addition, I am worried that the imperial court will support the Uighurs and the Umos. If it is really as I guess, the entire Hexi region may be in danger..."

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone's expressions changed.

"If the imperial court really supports the Uighurs and the Umos, what difference is there between them and animals?!"

"This...Will the Supreme agree to them doing this?"

Only a few people dared to speak out. Zhang Chang and Ma Cheng were two of the few. The rest remained silent.

"You guys...still underestimate that Supreme Being."

Liu Jilian shook his head and sighed. Li Chen was the emperor after all. Even if he treated the Guiyi Army well, it was limited to the situation where the Guiyi Army had not recovered Liangzhou.

Now that the Guiyi Army has recovered the three states of Liang, Hui and Lan, and has been requesting the Hexi Jiedushi to issue a banner, it is natural that Li Chen cannot maintain the same attitude as before.

The Hexi Jiedushi's banner was granted, but the price was the splitting of the Hexi Army.

Faced with the Guiyi Army, a force that spontaneously launched an uprising and recovered lost territory, most emperors would be wary of them, unless they were very confident emperors like Li Shimin.

After all, forces that are built up from scratch often have the qualifications to compete for hegemony.

Although the Tang Dynasty was not in a situation where it would collapse at the slightest touch, it was better to be safe than sorry. Li Chen would naturally not feel at ease with Hexi.

Splitting Hexi, then gradually winning over the divided Hexi, and finally replacing them with his own people, this should be Li Chen's method.

It’s a pity that he doesn’t have the skills of his father, Emperor Xianzong of Tang, Li Chun, so he can never figure this out.

After all this mess he made, it was only a matter of time before civil strife broke out in Hexi. He must hurry to recover the three states of He, Lin and Wei and strengthen his own strength.

However, civil unrest in Hexi would also be beneficial to him. If civil unrest occurred in Hexi, he could legitimately go north to recover lost territory.

In addition, Zhang Yichao and Zhang Huaishen have seen the true face of the Tang court, and they are probably not willing to border the Tang court.

The civil strife in Hexi is beneficial to themselves, but detrimental to the people who have just enjoyed peace.

But as long as the troops are dispatched quickly enough, the people can be protected from disaster.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong looked at Chen Jingchong and asked, "How do you distribute the fertile fields and newly reclaimed fields outside the city?"

"Each person will be given eight acres, and IOUs for military pay will be given to the brothers in the army, which will be paid after we capture Hezhou!"

Chen Jingchong explained the matter of land distribution and military pay. After listening, Liu Jilong looked at Shang Duoluo and the others and asked, "Do you have any complaints, brothers?"

"No!" Shang Duoluo and the others answered subconsciously. After all, few people who could follow Liu Jilian from Hexi to Lanzhou would be so stubborn as to care about military pay.

Apart from anything else, a literacy class is equivalent to several years of military pay. What's more, Liu Jilong never goes back on his word. Since he has written the IOU, the military pay will definitely be paid.

“Has the water level of the Yellow River dropped?”

Liu Jilong pondered for a moment, then asked Chen Jingchong, and Chen Jingchong nodded quickly:

“According to the people, it has definitely dropped compared to this time last year, but we don’t know exactly how much it has dropped.”

"But I have already led people to lower stone pillars in the river to measure the water level. Next month we will be able to clearly see how much the water level has dropped."

"Okay!" Liu Jilong nodded, and then asked, "What's the water level for the water to turn over?"

"It's submerged six feet in the water and it's normal to get water." Chen Jingchong responded.

During their conversation, Liu Jilong had already determined that this year's drought was unlikely to affect Wuquan.

However, it is hard to say about Helinwei and the vast areas of Longxi.

Liu Jilong glanced at everyone, then took a deep breath:

"Train and study hard. After the harvest at the end of July, we will immediately send troops to retake Hezhou!"

"Yes!!"

Amid their responses, the Longxi Guiyi Army in Wuquan continued to lie dormant.

However, compared with their dormancy, the war in Hexi did not stop.

Although Yizhou was recovered by Zhang Yichao, he only recovered Yiwu County, the seat of Yizhou.

There are two counties in Yizhou, namely the seat of government Yiwu County and the jurisdiction of Nazhi County.

After Zhang Yichao recovered Yiwulu County, Pugujun and An Ning of Xizhou and Tingzhou presented their maps and books and joined Zhang Yichao.

However, this allegiance was only in name only. In reality, the two were still expanding their influence in the Western Regions.

Many Uighur tribes wandering in the Western Regions did not recognize Pugu Jun and An Ning, so they gathered in Nazhi in Yizhou and frequently invaded Dunhuang and Yiwulu.

Previously, due to the urgency of the Eastern Expedition, Zhang Yichao had not dealt with them. Now that Liangzhou was recovered, Zhang Yichao could no longer tolerate it. In April, he led his troops westward to attack the Uighur tribes who had accepted the throne.

Zhang Yichao led 3,000 armored soldiers and marched for more than ten days until they reached the vicinity of Nazhi.

Since Yi and Sha states had not fought back several times before, the Uighurs in the Nazhi area never expected that Zhang Yichao would lead his troops to attack.

They were caught off guard and were besieged on all sides by the army commanded by Zhang Yichao. The soldiers from Hexi fought bravely, and the area within fifty miles of Nazhi City was littered with corpses.

The Uighur nobles outside the city abandoned their horses and walked into Nazhi City to defend it.

If it were in the past, Zhang Yichao could only sigh at the sight of the city, but this time he brought the Shandan catapult invented by Liu Jilong.

After ten days of siege by the Hexi Army, the city walls collapsed under the heavy load. The army rushed into the city, leaving countless corpses in the streets.

In this battle, the Hexi Army won a great victory, captured tens of thousands of camels, horses, and oxen, and recaptured the city of Nazhi.

When Pugujun of Xizhou and An Ning of Tingzhou heard the news, they sent messengers to send fine horses, fearing that Zhang Yichao would continue to advance westward.

“Xiao Xi…”

A bucket of water washed away the bloodstains in the courtyard of the Nazhi Yamen. Zhang Yichao, with half white hair and armor on, sat in the main seat and groaned tiredly.

Li En, Suo Zhongyi, Wang Jingyi and others sat below the main seat and watched the soldiers clean up the bloodstains.

"This Nazhi City used to have more than 2,000 Han people, but now there are less than 300."

"If you want to use this place to march westward to Xizhou, which is more than 500 miles away, I'm afraid it will be impossible to achieve it in the short term."

"The more than 7,000 captured Uighur men and women cannot be left here to avoid chaos."

After Li En sat down, he briefly described the situation in Nazhi City.

Although Nazhi was recovered, the population of Nazhi was reduced to only a few hundred people by the Uighurs. Although more than 7,000 Uighurs were captured, they could not be settled here, which gave Li En a headache.

"Send it to Liangzhou."

At this time, Zhang Yichao did not know what was happening in the east. He only thought that Liangzhou had a large population and could easily accommodate 7,000 Uighurs.

As he finished speaking, hurried footsteps suddenly sounded outside the yamen.

A general with a high nose and deep eyes walked into the yamen, hurried to the hall, and handed the letter in his hand to Zhang Yichao.

"Jiedushi, urgent news from Shazhou!"

Zhang Yichao took the urgent report from him, opened it quickly, and then read the contents with a frown.

"what happened?"

Seeing Zhang Yichao frowning, Li En hurriedly asked.

Zhang Yichao closed the letter, rubbed his brows and said, "Jinda sent a message that the Tuhun in the West Sea are preparing to plunder Shazhou, and they hope that I can send troops back to help."

"What a bunch of bastards!" Li En couldn't help but curse, and Suo Zhongyi also stood up and bowed:

"It was not easy to recover Nazhi, so we still need to send people to garrison here. Suo Hui, one of my subordinates, is talented and can lead two regiments of infantry to garrison here."

"No need..." Zhang Yichao frowned and refused, looking at Wang Jingyi: "Let Kang Tongxin lead two regiments of troops to stay here, and leave him enough food for half a year."

"I obey your command!" Wang Jingyi bowed in response, while Suo Zhongyi had an unpleasant look on his face.

Li En glanced at him and felt that he was ignorant of the overall situation. After all, Zhang Yichao had already given Huizhou, a prosperous place that was not inferior to Ganzhou, to Suo Xun, but Suo Zhongyi still wanted to take the position.

"The army will rest for a day and return to Shazhou tomorrow."

"Yes!"

As Zhang Yichao issued the military order, everyone left the government office and notified each regiment to withdraw the next day.

The next day, the army left the wounded and two regiments of soldiers in Nazhi to rest, and the remaining 2,400 people followed Zhang Yichao to withdraw to Yiwulu, preparing to return to Shazhou after resting in Yiwulu.

It was nearly 800 miles from Nazhi to Yiwulu and then back to Dunhuang. After Zhang Yichao led his army to rest briefly in Yiwulu, he immediately went straight to Dunhuang.

After entering Dunhuang, Zhang Yichao did not go to Dunhuang City to rest.

In order to avoid the Tuhun spies in Dunhuang and Shouchang, he hid during the day and moved out at night, leading his troops into the Kunlun Mountains. He encountered the Tuhun army upstream of Ganquan River and immediately set up a battle formation.

Faced with Zhang Yichao's miraculous move, the Tuhun army did not dare to fight and fled back to Tuhun territory in a panic.

Zhang Yichao led his troops in pursuit for more than a thousand miles, and the army went deep into the Snow Mountain. He captured three Tuhun prime ministers alive, captured more than 300 Tuhun soldiers, and seized 4,000 camels, horses, cattle and sheep.

"First, take the twelve prefectures of Shanxi, and then the other members will attack the yamen."

"Looking back, I see the Qin Fortress as low as a horse, and gradually I see the Yellow River flowing straight north."

"The might of heaven rolls across the Yellow River, and the soldiers marching across thousands of miles sing the songs of the Han Dynasty..."

In mid-June, when the singing of "Dazhen Music" once again stirred outside the city of Dunhuang, the people of Dunhuang who were weeding in the fields emerged one after another and looked towards the official road in surprise.

The Sanchen flag was fluttering on the official road. The triumphant Guiyi Army, led by Zhang Yichao, escorted more than 300 Tuhun captives towards Dunhuang.

At the same time, the south gate of Dunhuang City was completely opened, and Gao Jinda led hundreds of Dunhuang officials out of the city to welcome the triumphant army.

"Gao Jinda, congratulations to the governor on his triumphant return!"

"Congratulations to the Jiedushi for his triumphant return..."

On the official road outside the city, more than a hundred officials, led by Gao Jinda, bowed and sang, letting the surrounding people know that Zhang Yichao had fought deep into Tuhun territory and returned victoriously.

"Any news lately?"

Zhang Yichao returned triumphantly, feeling much more energetic and refreshed.

Although the soldiers behind him had lost a lot of weight, the thousands of camels, horses, cattle and sheep they captured in this battle were enough for them to eat after resting.

"Jiedushi, there are indeed some things."

Gao Jinda bowed and said, "Wang Jingzhi, who was sent to Chang'an, has returned, and he has brought back the imperial edict."

"But in the more than half a month since he came back, he insisted on waiting until you came back before announcing the contents of the imperial edict."

"I'm glad you're back." Zhang Yichao nodded. He didn't think there was anything wrong with Wang Jingzhi's behavior.

If the imperial edict was sent to him by the Supreme Being and the Ministry of Personnel, then Wang Jingzhi would naturally have to wait until he returned before announcing it.

He turned around and looked at Li En and the others: "I will go back to the yamen to bathe and change clothes first. In an hour, I will summon the civil and military officials in the city and read the imperial edict in the yamen."

"Yes!" Everyone bowed, and Zhang Yichao also shook the reins of his horse and returned to Dunhuang City first.

This expedition to the west and the south lasted nearly three months. For the people and society of that era, it was difficult to see any major changes in three months. Therefore, Dunhuang today is no different from when Zhang Yichao left.

He returned to the yamen first, then took a bath and changed his clothes.

Half an hour later, as Zhang Yi walked out of the bathhouse with wet hair, he saw Wang Jingzhi, who looked anxious, in the inner hall.

It had been almost a year since he last saw Wang Jingzhi, so Zhang Yichao chuckled when he saw him and said, "You've lost weight after being gone for so long."

"I returned victoriously this time and captured a lot of cattle and sheep. I'll have someone kill a cow and reward you."

"Jiedushi, I'm afraid the imperial edict cannot be announced!" Wang Jingzhi didn't care about any rewards, he only cared about the imperial edict.

Faced with Wang Jingzhi's anxious interruption, Zhang Yichao frowned slightly and had a bad feeling in his heart.

"What's wrong?" He sat in the main seat and looked at Wang Jingzhi seriously.

Wang Jingzhi felt bitter when he saw this. He took out the imperial edict from his arms and handed it to Zhang Yichao: "This is the imperial edict. Please take a look first."

According to normal procedures, the imperial edict must be made public only after the incense table is set up.

Now that Wang Jingzhi took it out and handed it to him in advance, something must have gone wrong.

Thinking of this, Zhang Yichao frowned, took the imperial edict, and unfolded it to read.

However, within just a few breaths, Zhang Yichao couldn't help being moved several times, but fortunately he suppressed it.

A quarter of an hour later, he closed the imperial edict and handed it back to Wang Jingzhi. Wang Jingzhi lowered his head and did not speak for a long time.

The wet hair was almost dry, and Zhang Yichao slowly said, "Do Huaishen and the others know about this?"

Hearing this, Wang Jingzhi nodded and said, "I was worried that the people in the court would win over Suo Xun and instigate him to fight against Liu Jilong, Li Yizhong, Jiu Juyan and others. Therefore, after arriving in Guzang, I told Xiao Zhang Jiedushi about the imperial edict."

"Xiao Zhang Jiedushi asked me to wait in Guzang until spring. He also wrote to tell Suo Xun, Liu Jilong, and Li Yizhong about the matter. He then mediated the conflict between them to prevent them from being provoked into internal fighting."

"Until the beginning of April when I returned to Guzang, the situation in the three states of Liang, Hui and Lan had not changed much."

After Wang Jingzhi finished speaking, Zhang Yichao breathed a sigh of relief, as if he was glad that Zhang Huaishen handled the matter properly.

But he also knew that if the imperial edict was announced, the powerful people in Guasha would inevitably interfere in the affairs of the three states and be anxious to divide up the benefits.

Therefore, even though he breathed a sigh of relief, he was still holding his breath in his heart.

"Jiedushi, otherwise this imperial edict will not be announced, right?"

Wang Jingzhi wanted to conceal the imperial edict. After all, the journey from Dunhuang to Chang'an was nearly three thousand miles, and it would take more than half a year to go back and forth.

Considering that Yanzhi Mountain is closed in winter, it is possible that the project will be delayed for a year.

If they choose to hide it, they can at least keep it secret for a year or two.

However, Zhang Yichao shook his head at his suggestion: "I'm not dead yet. Even if they know about the imperial edict, I can suppress it!"

Zhang Yichao's confident answer made Wang Jingzhi relax instantly.

Yes, as long as Zhang Yichao is still here, even if the powerful people in Guasha want to divide the benefits, they have to see if they are qualified.

Without Zhang Yichao's approval, even if the powerful people of Guasha instigated Li Wei, Li Yizhong and Suo Xun to rebel, they might not be able to defeat Zhang Huaishen.

"I know..."

Wang Jingzhi nodded to show his attitude, and Zhang Yichao also waved his hand and said, "Back off."

"Yes……"

Wang Jingzhi left the inner hall, and Zhang Yichao also tidied himself up and put on the scarlet official robe that Chang'an had given him a year ago.

He stroked his official robe with his hands, and a hint of sadness unconsciously appeared between his brows.

"Uuuuuu——"

Suddenly, the sound of trumpets, bells and drums was heard outside the hall.

Without any hesitation, he put on his futou and walked towards the main hall...

(End of this chapter)