Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 173 Recovering the Three States
"Sorry..."

At night, Liu Jilian led the elite cavalry of Longxi to take away all the captured herds and supplies.

Zhang Lin and his men also led their troops to retain the tens of thousands of foreign troops, and at the same time rescued Lu Ruyue and Lin Ruzhen.

Lu Yuyue and Lin Ruzhen gathered the remaining soldiers and the foreign invaders. There were only 400 elite cavalry and less than 900 armored soldiers left under their command, most of whom were injured.

More than 3,000 tribesmen were driven away and trampled to death by the Longxi army, and less than 10,000 tribesmen were left.

The herds of cattle and baggage were all looted by the Longxi army. If Gao Pian had not brought the imperial edict to protect them, these tribes would probably have been captured and taken away by Liu Jilong.

Xue Kui, who followed from behind, led the Tianxiong Army to set up camp on the battlefield and summoned Lu Ruyue and Lin Ruzhen.

"Shang Yanxin and Zhe Buhui are dead?"

Xue Kui couldn't believe that these two foreign generals who had roamed the Yellow River and the Wei River were killed by Liu Jilong in one battle, and asked hurriedly: "How many foreign soldiers do you have left?"

"There are four hundred elite cavalrymen, less than nine hundred armored soldiers, and more than three thousand foreign soldiers!"

Standing inside the tent, Lu Ruyue became the only surviving Qiliben and the leader of the current Linwei Fan army.

Lin Ruzhen remained silent, and it was unknown whether he was sad about Shang Yanxin's death or because of the series of disastrous defeats.

Compared to them, Xue Kui was undoubtedly the one who felt more uncomfortable.

The two states of Lin and Wei fell into the hands of Liu Jilian, and Lu Ruyue suffered heavy losses, which shattered his idea of conquering Linwei to protect Qinchuan.

He had already thought about how the court would punish him after the battle.

"It's just that we lost the two states of Linwei. Look at what you look like."

Suddenly, Wang Zonghui raised his voice to mock everyone, and before anyone could speak, he continued:
"Most of the population of Linwei Prefecture is in the hands of the imperial court, so we can definitely set up a new county!"

He turned his gaze to Xue Kui and said in an unquestionable tone: "Why doesn't Xue Zhuguo restore the Wugong County of the Wei and Jin Dynasties in the Luomenchuan area, send soldiers to cultivate the land, and station the Jiedushi of Lu here?"

The Luomenchuan that Wang Zonghui mentioned is a river valley plain more than ten miles east of their camp.

Although it is not as wide as the river valley of Shanggui, it is large enough to support tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians.

"Humph! This matter needs to be reported to the emperor first."

Xue Kui didn't want to pay attention to Wang Zonghui, who caused his failure, because he knew that Wang Zonghui would not let him go.

"The army will be stationed here, and light cavalry will be sent to Chang'an to deliver a message to the Supreme Lord that the two states of Lin and Wei have been seized by Liu Jilong!"

As soon as Xue Kui finished speaking, he stood up and walked out.

Seeing this, Wang Zonghui immediately waved his hand and said, "Okay, you all go down, Qianli you stay."

"Yes……"

Zhang Lin, Liang Zun, Lu Ruyue and others retreated one after another, and soon only Gao Pian and Wang Zonghui were left in the tent.

After seeing everyone leave, Wang Zonghui chuckled and said, "Qianli, do you also think that this is my fault?"

What Wang Zonghui was talking about was obviously the matter of losing Linwei and Wei states that everyone was complaining about.

Gao Pian originally thought so in his heart, but now that he heard Wang Zonghui say this, he suddenly had some guesses in his mind.

"The chief inspector has his own considerations. I don't care if it's right or wrong. I just follow your orders."

Gao Pian's words were ambiguous, and Wang Zonghui chuckled as he picked up the wine pot and wine glass, stood up and walked to Gao Pian to pour him a glass of wine, saying:
"Speed is the essence of war. Don't you think I don't know?"

"Qianli, ah Qianli... my brother and I are paving the way for you..."

As soon as these words came out, Gao Pian immediately became alert: "Please ask the supervisor to give instructions."

"Hehe..." Wang Zonghui raised his glass with a smile. Gao Pian quickly picked up the glass and clinked it with his, then drank it all in one gulp.

Seeing him drink the glass of wine, Wang Zonghui smiled and said:
"If Linwei is recovered, Xue Kui's achievements will be further enhanced, and the Southern Court will definitely transfer him back to the capital."

"Only by defeating this can Xue Kui be frustrated, and Qianli, you can leave the Shen Ce Army..."

Gao Pian understood and asked tentatively, "Does the supervisor want me to be the governor of Qinzhou?"

"Qianli is indeed smart. It's no wonder that my elder brother thinks so highly of you."

Wang Zonghui smiled and nodded, and said at the same time: "If Liu Jilong only had one Hezhou, how could the court attach importance to Qinzhou?"

"At present, the three states of He, Lin, Wei and Lanzhou are in his hands. He can already threaten Guanzhong."

"Xue Kui failed to stop Liu Jilong, and the Supreme will certainly not be happy. At that time, my elder brother will naturally recommend you to take the position of the governor of Qinzhou."

"Liu Jilong has become powerful in Longxi, and only then can you become powerful..."

There are many people in this world who want to play the game of keeping the enemy at bay. Liu Jilian is one of them, and so are Wang Zongshi and Wang Zonghui.

They wanted to support Gao Pian, but they needed a reason to do so.

Now that Liu Jilong has become powerful, it is a good reason.

Gao Pian was thirty-two years old at this time and had a strong sense of morality. Therefore, when he learned about the ideas of Wang Zongshi and others, he felt somewhat resistant.

In his eyes, keeping the enemy in the fold was not a glorious method, not to mention that he came from a famous family...

"Okay, go down and have a good rest."

"At present, the two states of Lin and Wei have fallen into the hands of Liu Jilong. When the palace gets the news, my elder brother will help you with the rest of the things."

"You just need to take a good rest now and wait to take over as the governor of Qinzhou and the governor of Tianxiong Army..."

Wang Zonghui smiled and put down the wine pot and wine glass. Although Gao Pian felt uncomfortable, for the sake of his future, he still stood up and bowed: "Thank you for your kindness, Chief Supervisor!"

"Haha, go down..."

Amid Wang Zonghui's laughter, Gao Pian left the tent and couldn't help looking up at the sky.

His morality told him that this was not the way he wanted to be promoted. What he wanted was to gain military merit on the battlefield and be promoted in that way, rather than using any means.

But when the words came to his lips, he couldn't find the words to refuse Wang Zonghui.

"Just this once..."

He sighed deeply and then returned to his tent.

By the time he returned to his own tent, Liu Jilian had already crossed the Wei River with tens of thousands of captured supplies and tens of thousands of herds of livestock.

When he returned to Longxi County, the fortress in the south of the city had been dismantled, and the damaged city wall in the north had been simply cleaned, waiting to be repaired.

"The imperial court actually assisted these foreign bandits. I think the imperial court is almost doomed!"

"Humph, I'll remember those three killers today."

A group of people walked into the Longxi government office. Shang Duoluo and Zhang Chang were cursing at each other, while Liu Jilong walked in front with a helmet in his arms.

When he walked to the main seat and sat down, he did not mention the affairs of the court, but just arranged:

"The war is over. Tomorrow we will start recording the names of the dead and wounded soldiers, and will also register the civilians we rescued."

"I think the captured supplies are enough for us to eat for a year. Tomorrow you can take people to count the exact amount."

"I will obey your orders!" Everyone bowed and Zhang Chang asked:
"Governor, the imperial army is still camping on the south bank. Should we ignore them?"

"Don't bother with them." Liu Jilong was too lazy to care about them. After all, the scene of Gao Pian bringing the imperial edict to stop him today was still vivid in his mind.

Although he didn't care about the tens of thousands of foreigners, and even welcomed seeing them pour into Qinzhou and disrupt Qinzhou, this was no reason for Gao Pian to stop him.

Gao Pian was one of the few famous generals of the late Tang Dynasty whom Liu Jilian knew. As for his deeds, Liu Jilian only remembered that he recovered Annan, garrisoned Bashu and fought against Wang Huang's uprising.

He didn't remember the details very clearly, and even these details about his life were only known to him because he learned about his poems from reading them in his previous life.

It was too dark today, so I couldn't see him clearly, but judging from his voice, he was probably much older than me.

Facing such an opponent, Liu Jilong still felt it was better to be cautious.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong looked at Shang Duoluo and said, "Prepare writing materials for me. I want to submit a petition to the court."

"Submit a petition to the court?" Shang Duoluo and Zhang Chang looked at each other. You have to know that they had just rejected the court's face.

"Governor, we have just rejected the court's request, and now we are submitting a petition. Do you want to take the Qinwei official road to Chang'an?"

Shang Duoluo asked Liu Jilong carefully, but Liu Jilong nodded and said, "Of course."

He glanced at everyone and naturally knew what they were worried about, but he also spoke to comfort them:

"Don't forget, I didn't ask for the position of Defense Commissioner of Helinwei. It was given to me by the imperial court."

"Now that I have recovered the three states of He, Lin and Wei, if I don't take this opportunity to submit a petition for something, do I have to wait until the court has figured out a way to deal with me before submitting the petition slowly?"

After Liu Jilong finished speaking, everyone finally reacted.

According to the official positions granted by the court, Liu Jilong's recovery of the three states of He, Lin and Wei was more correct than Xue Kui, the governor of Qinzhou. Thinking of this, Shang Duoluo hurried to find paper, pen, inkstone and ink, and Liu Jilong quickly finished writing the memorial.

He dried the memorial and handed it to Shang Duoluo: "Send someone to deliver it to Chang'an via the Qinwei official road tomorrow morning, and ask them to record the direction of the mountains and the topography along the way."

"Yes!" Shang Duoluo happily accepted the memorial, while Liu Jilong looked at Zhang Chang:
"Send a light cavalry to Zhuang County tomorrow to see what the situation is."

"We are tired today. Let's go and have a rest. We can talk about it tomorrow if there is anything."

Liu Jilong stood up and walked towards the inner hall. Seeing this, Shang Duoluo, Zhang Chang and others stood up and bowed, then went to the east and west halls of the yamen to rest.

Before dawn the next day, the Longxi army sent out more than 200 light cavalry, who were divided into two groups and headed for Zhuang County and Chang'an.

Chen Ying, the team leader, got the opportunity to go to Chang'an because of his cleverness, so he escorted the memorial and marched eastward. Soon he was discovered by the outer scouts of the government army and was taken to the camp's tent.

Chen Ying walked into the tent, but seeing all the generals and officials staring at him, he straightened his back, then bowed slowly and said:
"Longxi Army Chief Chen Ying greets all the generals!"

Although Chen Ying was young, he had studied in Wuquan for a year and knew basic etiquette.

"I heard that Envoy Liu sent you to Chang'an to report the victory. I wonder if you can show me the report?"

Xue Kui spoke with a smile. If others saw him, they might just think he was a kind-hearted old man, but Chen Ying would not do that.

Facing Xue Kui, Chen Ying said calmly, "According to the Tang Code, the position of Governor Xue seems to be not much different from that of my envoy. I wonder with what status you are asking to review the memorial?"

"You kid..." Xue Kui was embarrassed by Chen Ying. He didn't expect that Chen Ying, with such a young age and official position, actually knew the contents of "Tang Code".

"If Governor Xue can't convince me with any reason, I will go to Chang'an!"

Chen Ying was neither humble nor arrogant, and Wang Zonghui said, "I am from the palace. I am in charge of all military and political affairs west of Longshan. I would like to see the memorial from Envoy Liu. Is that possible?"

Chen Ying didn't know that there were eunuchs in the army. He hesitated for a few seconds, but finally took out the memorial.

Anyway, once the memorial is sent to the imperial court, it will always be reviewed by someone.

Seeing him handing over the memorial, Wang Zonghui signaled to the person next to him to take it. Soon he took the memorial in his hand and read it through at a glance.

He had the memorial returned to Chen Ying, and then said, "Envoy Liu was appointed by the imperial court as the defense envoy of the three states. He has made great contributions in recovering the three states."

"You should carefully escort this memorial to the Southern Court in Chang'an. There will be officials to lead the way for you."

Everyone didn't know what Wang Zong saw, they just felt that his tone suddenly became softer.

"Go back!"

Wang Zonghui signaled Chen Ying to step down and asked someone to let him pass.

Chen Ying bowed and then left the tent, taking more than ten light cavalrymen from his own unit and continued on to Chang'an.

After Chen Ying left, everyone looked at Wang Zonghui, and Wang Zonghui said with a dark face:

"Liu Jilong, a country bumpkin, actually dared to claim the title of Jiedushi of Longyou based on his merit in recovering three states!"

"This killer!"

"How dare a country boy ask to be appointed as the governor of Longyou!"

When they learned that Liu Jilong had actually requested to be appointed as the Jiedushi of Longyou, there was a burst of curses in the tent.

The Longyou Jiedushi was mainly responsible for guarding against Tubo and was in charge of 75,000 soldiers. His status was higher than that of the Hexi Jiedushi.

During the Kaiyuan and Tianbao periods of the past, the military governors of Longyou were people like Gai Jiayun, Huangfu Weiming, Wang Zhongsi, Geshu Han, and Guo Ziyi.

How could Liu Jilong dare to ask for the title of Jiedushi of Longyou?

Thinking of this, the generals in the tent couldn't help but curse again, and Xue Kui frowned, and soon said to the two brigade commanders at the door of the tent:

"Go tell Lu Ruyue and Lin Ruzhen to come!"

"Yes……"

At Xue Kui's summons, Lu Ruyue and Lin Ruzhen came into the tent soon and bowed to Xue Kui respectfully.

Xue Kui motioned for the two to take a seat, and then said, "I summoned you mainly to ask you, how strong is Liu Jilong, and how many soldiers and horses are under his command?"

"Liu Jilong he..." Lin Ruzhen was about to speak, but Lu Ruyue spoke first:

"Liu Jilong is very powerful. When he attacked Hezhou and Linzhou, I saw that he had about 10,000 soldiers, including nearly 3,000 armored cavalry, nearly 5,000 infantry, and another 2,000 stationed troops."

What Lu Ruyue said was half true and half false. The truth was that when Liu Jilian raided Daxia, the number of soldiers and civilians under his command was indeed close to 10,000.

The false fact was that Liu Jilian did not have 3,000 elite cavalry and 5,000 armored soldiers at all, but Lu Ruyue still made a false report.

"With Lanzhou's barren land, can it support 10,000 soldiers?"

Gao Pian immediately raised questions, after all, he had learned a lot about Helong's situation from Zhang Yitan.

"Maybe it's support from Hexi..."

Lu Ruyue deliberately described Liu Jilian as a force supported by the Zhang family in Hexi, which made everyone in the tent look unhappy.

"This matter needs to be reported to the court. As for whether Liu Jilong has so many troops, I will find out for myself."

Xue Kui signaled the two men to retreat, obviously not believing that Liu Jilong could mobilize 8,000 armored soldiers.

You must know that when Lun Kongre was in charge of the eleven states of Longxi, he had only 20,000 soldiers.

With only Lanzhou, Liu Jilian could not mobilize 8,000 armored soldiers even if he recovered Hezhou and seized some spoils.

Lu Ruyue deliberately exaggerated in order to highlight their importance.

There were many people who saw through Lu Ruyue’s thoughts, but some chose to expose her, while others chose to agree with her.

"Although Liu Jilong doesn't have 8,000 soldiers, now that he has occupied four states, it's only a matter of time before he can get 8,000 soldiers."

Wang Zonghui suddenly said, "The court must increase the number of troops in the Tianxiong Army to prevent Liu Jilong from causing chaos."

"Of course." Xue Kui still didn't know what Wang Zonghui was planning, but given the current situation, Qinzhou really needed to increase the number of troops, so he rarely rejected Wang Zonghui's suggestion.

Soon, Xue Kui and Wang Zonghui each wrote a memorial and sent light cavalry to deliver it to the Southern Court and the Northern Court.

After everyone had dispersed, Wang Zonghui sent someone to summon Gao Pian to his tent to wait.

Gao Pian waited for less than half a cup of tea before he saw Wang Zonghui walk into the tent from outside.

He stood up and prepared to bow, but Wang Zonghui raised his hand to stop him.

Seeing Wang Zonghui take his seat, he sat down as well.

"You are here not for anything else but mainly for your taking over as the governor of Qinzhou."

Wang Zonghui got straight to the point and said, "Today those two foreigners boasted that Liu Jilong had tens of thousands of soldiers. Whether this is true or not, it's best to confirm it."

"Yes..." Gao Pian nodded in agreement, but he felt unhappy.

"Those two foreigners are familiar with Liu Jilong. You'd better recruit them so that you can be in charge of Qinzhou in the future."

"Besides..." Wang Zonghui hesitated for a moment, then tried to ask:
"You have had a lot of contact with Zhang Yitan. Do you think Zhang Yitan has any intention of separatist regime in Helong?"

Although Wang Zonghui had to work for the benefit of the Northern Division, he was also aware that he was a servant of the Royal Family, so he took Lu Ruyue's words today to heart.

If Liu Jilian was really the leader of the Longxi forces supported by Zhang Yichao, then most of the Helong land would have already belonged to Zhang Yichao.

If Zhang Yichao really intended to cause chaos at that time, the imperial court would be able to take precautions in advance.

Thinking of this, Wang Zonghui turned his attention to Gao Pian.

Gao Pian thought of Zhang Yitan when he heard this. After struggling for a moment, he said in a deep voice, "Although I think it is impossible, the court must be on guard."

"In your opinion, how should we guard against it?" Wang Zonghui became interested, and Gao Pian continued:
"Right now, Zhang Yitan is being held hostage in Beijing, and Zhang Yichao is interested in having Zhang Huaishen take over the post of governor of Hexi."

"Why don't we think of some way to transfer Zhang Yichao to the capital, and then promote Zhang Huaishen to be the governor of Hexi, and then send someone from the court to take over as the governor of Hexi?"

With just a few words, Gao Pian gave Wang Zonghui direction.

However, Wang Zonghui was a little troubled about how to transfer Zhang Yichao.

"After all, Zhang Yichao is not easy to deal with, and Zhang Yitan is a hostage in the court, so it's not easy to transfer him to the capital."

"Forget it..." Wang Zonghui shook his head and said, "I will report this matter to the palace when I return to the capital. You just wait for now. I think it won't be long before you can take over as the governor of Qinzhou and the governor of Tianxiong Army."

"Yes……"

Gao Pian nodded in agreement, and then chatted with Wang Zonghui about some arrangements after taking over as the governor of Qinzhou.

However, when they were plotting to seize the position of governor of Qinzhou, three groups of light cavalry followed the Qinwei official road and headed straight for Chang'an.

(End of this chapter)