Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 189 Recovering the Four States
"I hereby award 30,000 pieces of silk to the officers and soldiers of Xichuan. The decree is as follows. Please follow it and execute it. I am very respectful."

"I, Bai Minzhong, the governor of Chengdu and the governor of Jiannanxichuan, have received your order..."

On the eighth day of October, with the angel's horse galloping non-stop, the imperial edict from Chang'an was finally delivered to the Chengdu government office, but for Bai Minzhong, this was not a good thing.

After he received the imperial edict, he immediately frowned and said:

"I am a minister. Logically, I should do whatever the court orders me to do. But the situation in Xichuan, I think the angel should have seen it all along the way."

"Xichuan has not been at war for 24 years, its armor and weapons are not in good repair, and its mules and horses are in short supply."

"Wenzhou and Fuzhou only have 3,000 soldiers and horses. If we divide our troops to attack Wuzhou and Dangzhou, we will not be able to do it."

"30,000 pieces of silk can buy 4,000 draft horses and 3,000 riding horses in the capital, but in Xichuan it can only buy 2,000 draft horses and 800 riding horses."

"Besides, the heavy snow is about to close the mountain, and it is too late to dispatch troops from other places. With only the infantry from Wen and Fu states, it is more than enough to defend the city, let alone attack it..."

Bai Minzhong wanted to explain the situation in Xichuan to the angel, but the angel interrupted:
"Master Bai, it's not that I don't want to listen, it's that the court is in a hurry."

"Xichuan has 50,000 soldiers under its command, and Nanzhao is extremely respectful to the imperial court. In addition, the Tubo in the west is in internal turmoil and is unable to invade."

"How come we can only dispatch 3,000 troops to attack Wu and Dang states in this situation?"

To the angel, what Bai Minzhong said was just an excuse.

Seeing this, Bai Minzhong could only sigh: "In that case, I will send out troops..."

He realized that the court had sent an angel who knew nothing about military affairs to supervise him, and whether the soldiers had mules and horses was of no concern to this angel.

Thinking of this, Bai Minzhong hurriedly summoned the generals of Xichuan Town to discuss the matter.

Because of the presence of the angel, the generals were very cooperative on the surface and all said they would dispatch troops to support Wen and Fu states.

In just a few words, Bai Minzhong dispatched 7,000 soldiers from various states to support the two states, which made the angel very satisfied.

However, Bai Minzhong was very clear that if he wanted to wait for these 7,000 state soldiers to arrive in the two states, he would probably have to wait until the beginning of next spring.

Fortunately, he did not reveal it, but just cooperated with the generals and the angels to perform a play.

On that day, Chengdu assembled 800 armored soldiers to rush to the aid of the two states. Bai Minzhong even brought angels to the city gate to see the soldiers off.

Although the eight hundred soldiers were wearing armor, most of them were thin young men, and behind them were forceful men carrying armor on their backs.

The four thousand laborers were either carrying armor or carrying food, which made the angel look ugly.

Without draft horses or mules, they had to use porters to carry armor and food, and those skinny young men were obviously poor hired boys.

This situation is also very common in the Shen Ce Army.

Many sons of generals and soldiers only knew how to eat, drink and have fun, and were afraid to go into battle. Therefore, when they needed to go to the battlefield, they would pay to hire some poor men and let them put on armor and go into battle.

It was precisely because of this that the hundreds of thousands of Shen Ce troops in the capital were unable to eliminate even a small Dangxiang tribe and could only appease them.

There are 80,000 soldiers in Jiannan Road, but except for the western front where they need to face harassment from Tubo, the troops in other places have been at peace for more than 24 years.

Previously, tens of thousands of hungry people gathered in Sanchuan, and it took Dongchuan more than a year to suppress them, which shows its fighting strength.

Although Xichuan is better than Dongchuan, there are only a few soldiers who can fight, and they are all concentrated on the western front and cannot be withdrawn, so Bai Minzhong can only watch these "mercenaries" go to the battle.

"Bai Sikong, could it be that the seven thousand Xichuan soldiers are all this kind of soldiers?"

The angel looked unhappy, but Bai Minzhong didn't care: "When I took over Xichuan, the Xichuan troops were like this."

"That is why I want to train a mule-horse army and leave a good fighting force for Xichuan."

"Then I will have no choice but to report all the situations in Xichuan to the Supreme!" the angel threatened.

"But please report." Bai Minzhong bowed and then turned and left.

The angel was furious and soon rode back to Chang'an. Outside the city, these "mercenaries" were setting out from various states and rushing towards Wen and Fu states.

At the same time, the main force of the Longxi Army, which was neither hurried nor slow, wasted eight days under the city of Youchuan.

The Yuchuan Castle, which was considered sturdy eight days ago, has now become a ruin. Many sections of the east wall have collapsed, and only the city gate and the tower stand in the ruins.

Fifty steps away from the city wall, sixty catapults were lined up in a row, still throwing stones.

The miserable Youchuan soldiers could only send out a light cavalryman, who knelt in front of Liu Jilong in a dusty manner and handed over the maps in his hand.

"We are willing to surrender. Please stop fighting, Heavenly Army."

After eight days of heavy bombardment, the 200 armored soldiers in Youchuan City finally couldn't hold on and chose to surrender.

Shang Duoluo stepped forward, took the map and handed it to Liu Jilong.

After Liu Jilong briefly flipped through it, he slowly said, "Order all the people in your city to leave the city, take off their armor and weapons, and surrender."

"If you surrender sincerely, I will distribute the land according to your population in the future, so you don't have to worry about being targeted."

"Yes!" The foreign soldier nodded quickly, then stood up and walked out of the tent, riding back to Youchuan County.

Soon, the surviving armored soldiers in Youchuan County walked out of the city wall, took off their armor, and piled the armor and weapons aside. The others knelt not far away.

"Shang Duo Luo, you lead a hundred armored soldiers into the city, and I will take the armor away."

"The last general takes command!"

Liu Jilong sent Shang Duoluo to accept the surrender and count the money and grain in the city. He then ordered the civilians to dismantle the catapults and load the captured armor onto carts.

An hour later, Shang Duoluo returned to the outskirts of the city, walked into the tent and bowed:

"General, there are more than 18,000 dan of grain in the city's warehouses and storehouses, more than 500 dan of beans, and asphalt..."

Listening to Shang Duoluo's report, Liu Jilong nodded and said, "Let the civilians replenish the money and food on the baggage carts, and take all the stone fat away."

"An hour later, the army moved out to attack Yile."

Under the command of Liu Jilian, food and fodder were replenished on the baggage carts, and the army broke camp and attacked Yile County, sixty miles away.

Huaidao County has been captured by Hukesi Guang. Excluding the one hundred armored soldiers stationed in Youchuan County, the main force of the Longxi Army now has eight hundred elite cavalry, one thousand armored soldiers, and three thousand civilians.

Under such circumstances, it seems difficult to take over Yile and Hezheng counties.

However, as they sent troops to surround the two counties, the official road to Linwei and Wei states became safe.

There is still more than half a month before the heavy snow blocks the mountain, so they have enough time to mobilize troops to attack the city.

The army set out for Yile and Hezheng, and they arrived outside Yile city in the afternoon of the next day.

To the north of Yile is the Tao River, and to the east and south is the Xi River. If you want to attack Yile, you must use a ferry bridge to cross the Xi River to attack.

The West River is only five meters wide, but the ferry bridge has been cut off, and there are a lot of footprints on the bridge, all of which are traces leading to Hezheng County in the north.

"You want to cut off the floating bridge and prevent us from attacking Yile so that we can focus on attacking Hezheng?"

Liu Jilian dismounted and looked to the north. Although he could not see He Zheng who was more than ten miles away, he could guess what the Tubo in Minzhou had been doing in the past few days.

Perhaps after learning that Yukawa was surrounded, they cut off the pontoon bridge, abandoned Yile and defended Hezheng to the death.

"Send troops across the river to take a look. I'm afraid Yile is already an empty city."

Liu Jilong dusted off his hands, and Shang Duoluo quickly agreed, then ordered: "Build the ferry bridge!"

"Yes!" Several captains straightened their backs quickly, turned around and directed the civilians to build a pontoon bridge.

As the floating bridge was laid, piles about ten feet long were driven into the riverbed and hammered in three feet using blunt weapons to ensure that the floating bridge would not be washed away by the river water.

An hour later, with the construction of the pontoon bridge completed, five hundred elite cavalry crossed the river and headed to Yile County.

Soon, the elite cavalry returned, and the leading captain bowed to Liu Jilong and said, "General, there are only more than 30 gold mining slaves in the city."

"According to what they said, they went to the mountains to pan for gold for ten days. When they returned yesterday evening, they saw that the city was empty. I guess they all went to Hezheng."

Liu Jilong nodded, then shook the reins and said, "Leave 500 civilians to take care of the wheat fields, and the army will move out to Hezheng."

"Yes!" Shang Duoluo and many captains responded, and the army continued to march towards Hezheng ten miles away.

Before dusk, the army took two hours to reach the outskirts of Hezheng County.

Two unknown rivers converge into the Tao River here, blocking the Longxi army's way to attack Hezheng.

Hezheng County is located on the east bank of Taoshui River. The city is not big, but it is surrounded by rivers on two sides and backed by mountains on two sides, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack.

The west bank of the Tao River is an alluvial plain with tens of thousands of acres of crops cultivated.

Going down the river, there are several large and small river valley alluvial plains.

The river blocking the Longxi army's way was only about 70 to 80 zhang wide, while the Tao River was only about 20 zhang wide.

For the Longxi Army, building a pontoon bridge to cross the river was not difficult. "Set up camp. Tomorrow we will first build a bridge across the Tao River. There is no need to rush to build a bridge to Hezheng."

"The last general takes command!"

Liu Jilong gave an order and then signaled the army to set up camp.

At the same time, the town of Hezheng County on the north bank of the river was crowded with people, each looking for a place to curl up and lie down.

On the horse trail, thousands of armored soldiers lit bonfires and looked toward the south bank from time to time, fearing that the Longxi army would cross the river at night and attack Hezheng County.

In the dark night, fires flickered in the camp of the Longxi army, and a position for sixty catapults was built, two hundred steps away from Hezheng County.

At the same time, many civilians in the camp were building a pontoon bridge, preparing to inflate the sheepskin bags tomorrow so that they could cross the river to the west bank.

In the tent, Liu Jilong summoned Shang Duoluo and said directly:

"Holding on to Hezheng is a dead end. We don't need to attack by force. It will be enough to send catapults to attack the city wall on the south bank tomorrow."

"Don't move the catapult forward. This city is not big. If it moves forward, it will easily hurt the people in the city."

"We just need to knock down the city wall and then surround them."

"In addition, when the floating bridge over Taoshui is built tomorrow, you will send two hundred elite cavalrymen to Linwei and Weizhou, and order Zhang Chang and his men to dispatch a thousand soldiers to surround Hezheng."

Liu Jilian decided on the strategy for attacking Hezheng in just a few words: besieging the city was the best and attacking the city was the worst.

Anyway, they have tens of thousands of acres of arable land behind them on the west bank of Yile and Taoshui River, so there is no reason to rush to attack the city.

"I will obey your orders!" Shang Duoluo bowed and responded, then said:
"General Ji, now Hezheng is also in our hands."

"In this way, we will own eight states."

"Our army has captured more than 3,000 sets of armor. Should these armor be shipped to various cities to train new troops?"

Shang Duoluo asked Liu Jilong, and Liu Jilong nodded:

"The population of Wuzhou and Dangzhou is too small, so we can form a town from the two states, Minzhou Town, Chengzhou Town and Wuzhou Town, and each army will have three armies and nine regiments."

"The troops stationed in each town will be the main force, and new soldiers will be recruited locally to fill the army."

After giving the order, Liu Jilong asked Shang Duoluo to go down and rest.

At noon the next day, the civilians built a floating bridge over the Tao River, and two hundred elite cavalry crossed the river to the west bank. They then split into two groups and headed north along the official road, one heading to Weizhou and the other to Linzhou.

At the same time, Liu Jilian also sent people to shoot arrows at the Hezheng city tower every day to persuade him to surrender, and offered the condition of being a senior cavalry captain and having his honors dispersed.

However, the foreign soldiers in the city ignored these conditions.

Liu Jilong was not in a hurry about this. He just ordered the catapults to throw heavy river stones and try his best to control the landing point of the stones on the city wall.

Three days later, Liu Jilian received good news from Wuzhou.

"General, the three counties of Wuzhou were recovered three days ago. Governor Li sent his subordinates to ask if we need to dispatch troops to attack Minzhou."

Inside the tent, the elite cavalrymen who came from Wuzhou bowed and asked Liu Jilong, who nodded and said:
"No need. You should ask him to guard Wuzhou well. Besides, I have organized Wuzhou and Dangzhou into one town, with three armies and nine regiments. When you go back, you can pass on my military order and ask him to recruit new soldiers, register them, and measure the land."

"I obey your command!" The elite cavalry responded and slowly withdrew from the tent.

After he left, Shang Duoluo in the tent asked, "Governor, is Dou Jingchong going to withdraw?"

"Let him lead his troops to Dangzhou and assist Hu Siguang in governing Dangzhou."

"Yes……"

As the two of them were responding to each other, there was a sudden commotion outside.

"what happened?"

Liu Jilong asked curiously, and the armored soldiers outside the tent bowed and said, "General, it's snowing."

"It's snowing?" Liu Jilong chuckled, "Auspicious snow means a good harvest. It's finally snowing!"

It hasn't snowed in Longxi for many years. Now it's snowing, which seems to indicate that all the suffering is about to end.

Of course, once the snow started, the government troops of Jiannan Road and Shannan Road would probably be even less likely to attack the two states of Wudang.

The imperial court's wishful thinking failed, and I have recovered four states. I don't know how the imperial court will deal with me this time.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong tidied up the desk, took out the four treasures of the study, and quickly wrote a memorial.

"Send a team of elite cavalry to deliver this memorial to Chang'an and tell the Supreme Lord in Chang'an that Liu Jilong, the governor of Longxi Army, has recovered the four states of Chengwu, Min and Dang, and is requesting to be the governor of Longyou Army!"

"Yes!" Shang Duoluo happily accepted the memorial and echoed:

"General Jie has recovered four states, this petition will surely succeed!"

Hearing this, Liu Jilong shook his head and said, "The court will not really grant me the title of Jiedushi of Longyou."

"But I don't care about this title. I just want to see what kind of money and food they will give me to compensate me if they don't grant me the title of Jiedushi of Longyou."

"Yes!" Shang Duoluo felt lost for a moment when he heard that the court would not promote him to the governor of Longyou.

But he thought about it and realized that it was just a title.

Longxi is different from Hexi. In Hexi, many Han powerful people assisted Zhang Yichao in recovering Hexi, while in Longxi, Liu Jilian led a group of peasants to conquer the lost land without having to please any powerful people.

After thinking it through, Shang Duoluo sent someone to deliver the letter to Chengzhou, and asked Geng Ming to take the Qishan Road to deliver the memorial to Chang'an.

Galloping horses came out of the Longxi army's camp, but the foreign soldiers in Hezheng County were still holding on.

Three days later, Weizhou and Linzhou received military orders to mobilize troops.

Before the heavy snow closed the mountains, the newly recruited soldiers at the beginning of the millennium arrived outside Hezheng City, in addition to two thousand civilian laborers and thousands of horse-drawn carriages.

Faced with a Tang army that was several times larger than its own, Hezheng County still put up a stubborn resistance, and Liu Jilian was not in a hurry. He simply led his troops to surround this city that was eating up its resources, waiting for them to run out of firewood and surrender on their own.

On October 30, the last day of October, the memorial submitted by Liu Jilian, the elite cavalry general of Longxi, arrived in Chang'an, and high-ranking officials from the Southern Court and the Northern Court were summoned to the Purple Palace by Li Chen.

"For more than half a month, Shannan West Road and Xichuan just watched Liu Jilong recover the four states?"

Li Chen sat in the main seat and asked, "Could it be that the court can no longer control Nanjing (Chengdu)?"

"Your Majesty!" Upon hearing that there was a good opportunity to impeach Bai Minzhong, Cui Xuan immediately bowed and said:
"Feng Ao and Bai Minzhong neglected military orders and should be punished!"

"Your Majesty..." Pei Xiu stood up and spoke for Bai Minzhong:
"Feng Ao and Bai Minzhong each submitted a petition, saying that the troops in the two provinces are not fit for duty, that the armor and weapons of the Xichuan troops are not in good repair, and that many of the mules and horses are empty. They requested that the court allocate money and food to train a mule army."

When the Tang army went abroad to fight, the best means of transportation was the ox cart, followed by the horse cart, and the worst was the mule cart.

The so-called mule army refers to the infantry who fight in mule carts.

The fact that Bai Minzhong dared to say this shows that the military strength of Xichuan is indeed not as good as when Li Deyu was in charge, otherwise they would not even be able to gather cavalry.

"Mule Army..."

Li Chen only felt a burning pain on his face.

When Li Yan (Wu Zong) was in power, Xichuan was still able to mobilize cavalry, but now even mule troops need to be trained?

If the Xichuan troops are all of this level, won’t Nanzhao attack Chengdu again if they find out about it in the future?

Thinking of this, Li Chen looked at Pei Xiu and asked, "Have the money and grain from various states been transferred to the warehouse?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, about 70% were transported to the warehouse." Pei Xiu explained truthfully.

Hearing this, Li Chen took a deep breath and said, "Liu Jilong once again requested to be appointed as the governor of Longyou on the grounds of his merit in recovering four states and guarding against Tubo. What do you think?"

"Your Majesty, although Liu Jilong has made great contributions, he is too young to be appointed as the governor of Longyou. However, the title of governor of Longyou Army is too low. Why not temporarily appoint him as the governor of Longyou, the inspector of the Ministry of War, and the founding duke of Longxi County?"

Cui Xuan took over the conversation and promoted Liu Jilong to various honorary positions, but refused to grant him the title of Jiedushi of Longyou.

Although both the Surveillance Envoy and the Jiedushi were local officials sent by the imperial court, they had many differences in their duties and status.

The Jiedushi held a banner and represented the emperor. He had the power to conquer and kill, and his status was relatively respected.

The Observer had no official banner and relatively little power, so the Jiedushi was usually set up in areas with greater defense pressure, while the Observer was mostly set up in areas with less defense pressure.

Logically speaking, a military governor should have been appointed for the Longxi region, but the problem was that Liu Jilian was not a member of the imperial court, but a military commander promoted from the local vassal state.

If we really grant him the post and banner of the Jiedushi of Longyou, what should we do if he takes the opportunity to occupy Qinzhou?
Because of this, Cui Xuan's proposal was recognized by everyone, and Li Chen also pretended to be magnanimous and said:
"In that case, Liu Jilong will be promoted to the rank of Jinzi Guanglu Dafu, the Governor of Longyou, the Inspector of the Ministry of War, the Founding Duke of Longxi County, and his fiefdom of 1,500 households."

"In addition, the Longxi Army was awarded 120,000 pieces of silk as a reward for the three armies."

"Also send 3,000 draft horses to Xichuan, and order Bai Minzhong to repair the weapons and armor and train the Xichuan troops."

(End of this chapter)