Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 182 Send troops southward
"When the army goes on a punitive expedition, it is customary to have several camps marching out. When encountering an enemy, it is difficult to rescue the front and rear. When marching out, the troops must first form a square formation."

"After the formations are formed, we will fight against the bandits, either attacking the front or the rear..."

In July, in the Longyou River Valley, on the Luomenchuan Plain behind Wugong County, nearly 10,000 soldiers and horses were lined up.

On the two-meter-high school platform, Gao Pian, dressed in military uniform, calmly commanded nearly 10,000 elite cavalry and infantry to move around calmly, and the troops of each camp followed his command as if they were his own arms.

"There are 4,000 soldiers in the central army, and 2,800 of them are selected as combat soldiers. Each team consists of 50 men, totaling 56 teams."

"Among the troops, there are 400 crossbowmen, 400 archers, 1,000 cavalrymen, 500 jumpers, and 500 special forces."

"The left and right Yuhou armies each have 2,800 men, and each army has 1,900 combat soldiers, for a total of 76 teams."

"Each army has 300 crossbowmen, 300 archers, 500 cavalry, 400 leapers, and 400 special forces."

"Have you written it all down?"

On the school platform, Gao Pian questioned the generals behind him, such as Zhang Lin, Liang Zun, Wang Zhongren, Lu Ruyue, Lin Ruzhen and others, who all responded.

Xue Kui still valued Gao Pian, so when he was transferred back to the capital, he took a lot of generals with him, allowing Gao Pian to easily control the Tianxiong Army.

Today, the Tianxiong Army has 8,000 new and old soldiers, and the Chengwu Youyi Army has 4,000 people, totaling 12,000 soldiers.

Ever since he saw the military strength of the Longxi army, Gao Pian knew that the Qin and Long armies were inferior to those of Longxi. Therefore, after he took over the two states of Qin and Long, he immediately began large-scale military training.

Only 2,000 Tianxiong troops were left in Qin and Long states, and the rest were basically transferred to Wushan County.

The reason for going to so much trouble was mainly due to Gao Pian's many years of experience in the military.

During the process of pacifying the Dangxiang, he discovered that the Tang army in Guannei Road and Jinggi Road had long lost the experience of fighting as a complete army or even multi-army combat.

It was precisely because of this that tens of thousands of Tang troops encountered numerous loopholes in the process of pacifying the Dangxiang, and this was mainly due to insufficient coordination among the various armies.

At present, he has assembled nearly 10,000 soldiers and horses for training in Luomenchuan in order to hone the coordination among the armies.

Even though the terrain in Longxi is not suitable for a battle between tens or even hundreds of thousands of troops, the soldiers trained in this way will not panic too much when they are attacked.

Gao Pian learned about the process of Liu Jilian's recovery of Longxi from Lu Ruyue and Lin Ruzhen.

The tactics are not new, it is nothing more than "pursuing relentlessly and holding on tightly".

From this style of fighting, it can be seen that Liu Jilian was very confident in his soldiers. He believed that even if he pursued them, their formation would not be disturbed and they would not give the enemy a chance to feign defeat.

Under such relentless pursuit, poorly trained soldiers could easily be completely thrown into disarray, and it would be extremely difficult to organize a counterattack.

Therefore, when fighting against Liu Jilian, one must be wary of his style of fighting and must keep a close eye on the training of the Tianxiong Army and Chengwu Army to ensure that they can stand firm.

"Since ancient times, it is often easiest to take advantage of a situation and attack, while it is the most difficult to stabilize a situation after it has collapsed."

"From today on, have the cavalry march aggressively and have the infantry retreat in formation. Anyone who retreats will be punished with twenty strokes of the cane."

Gao Pian gave the order with a cold face, and Zhang Lin, Lu Ruyue and others bowed in response.

Soon, all the generals withdrew and led the cavalry and infantry to begin practicing retreat and assault training.

As Gao Pian expected, both the Tianxiong Army and the Chengwu Army were only able to advance while the situation was favorable. Once they retreated, their formation became chaotic, like headless flies, only knowing how to follow the banner and flee.

"call……"

Gao Pian had a headache after watching this. He took a long breath and comforted himself, "Don't worry, there is still enough time."

As soon as he finished speaking, he heard a familiar voice.

"Governor Gao's military training is quite good. If someone from the palace sees it, they will definitely be delighted."

Wang Zonghui's voice came slowly. Gao Pian turned around and bowed, saying, "It's all thanks to the support of the governor."

Wang Zonghui was very pleased with Gao Pian's words and said proudly:
"If it weren't for the obstruction of the Southern Court, your identity as the governor of Qinlong would have been confirmed long ago."

"After nearly a year of delay, they actually fell behind in training the troops."

"I will return to the palace to report on my work in a few days, and I will leave the Qinlong area to you."

"Don't worry, Commander!" Gao Pian bowed in response, showing no emotion.

Seeing this, Wang Zonghui restrained his smile and said slowly: "This Liu Jilong is really not easy to deal with."

"Did something happen to the spy who went to Sanzhou?" Gao Pian immediately thought of this.

"Hmm..." Wang Zonghui nodded in agreement, and then said:
"There has been no news from these spies for several months. I'm afraid they have all been dealt with by Liu Jilong."

"I need to go back to Beijing to discuss this matter with my elder brother."

"In the meantime, Qin Long's affairs will be handed over to you."

"I will definitely fulfill your mission!" Gao Pian remained respectful, which made Wang Zonghui very satisfied.

He stayed at the school platform for a short while before turning around and leaving with his people.

After Gao Pian sent him away, he continued to closely monitor the army's training and refused to be careless in the slightest.

He knew very well that Liu Jilong would not stop at this point and would definitely lead his troops south to capture the seven prefectures of Longnan or the two prefectures of Hehuang.

Before that, he must train his troops well so as to provide him with sufficient obstacles when he attacks other places.

"Kill! Kill! Kill..."

The shouts and cries of killing from Luomenchuan stirred the Wei River, and the four states and ten counties in Longxi also ushered in new organization.

Liu Jilian changed the military system, using the Longxi Guiyi Army as its banner, and set up four towns, twelve armies and thirty-six regiments, named after the four states, twelve passes and counties.

That is: Hezhou Town, Lanzhou Town, Weizhou Town, and Linzhou Town.

Hezhou Town was under the jurisdiction of Baohan Army, Fenglin Army, and Hezhou (Fenglin Pass) Army; Lanzhou Town was under the jurisdiction of Wuquan Army, Jincheng Army, and Guangwu Army; Weizhou Town was under the jurisdiction of Xiangwu Army, Weiyuan Army, Zhangwu (County) Army, and Longxi Army; Linzhou Town was under the jurisdiction of Didao Army, Daxia Army, and Changle Army.

The four towns and twelve armies had a total of thirty-six regiments, with a total of 7,200 soldiers.

The governor leads a town, the commander leads an army, the colonel leads a regiment, the brigade commander leads a brigade, the team leader leads a team, and the cook leads a cook.

The military garrison system was the system implemented by the Tang Dynasty in the Western Regions, Hedong, and Hebei regions. There was nothing wrong with Liu Jilian copying it to Longxi, and he would not be impeached for usurpation.

All he did was to define the responsibilities of the Zhechou Duwei and Guoyi Duwei of the Zhechou Mansion as leading the army.

In the Longxi area, excluding Qinzhou which was in the hands of the imperial court, there were twelve armies remaining.

Songzhou, one of the seven prefectures in Longnan, belongs to Jiannan Road, but will be recovered by Liu Jilong in the future.

After regaining the entire territory of Longxi, Liu Jilian had a total of 13 towns, 39 armies, 117 regiments, and 23,400 soldiers under his command.

Although his number of soldiers was not as high as the 75,000 soldiers commanded by the former Longyou Jiedushi, in this era, it was enough for the court to be cautious of him.

However, Liu Jilian was not in a hurry to recover Shan and Kuo states in Hehuang. Instead, he planned to recover Longnan first and then target the two states, preferably peacefully.

The foreign people could let Shang Bibi and others take them away, but the Han people could not.

In return, Liu Jilian would support Shang Bibi to gain a foothold in Tuhun and Duomai, and help him take over the six Tibetan vassal states at the junction of Sichuan and Tibet, so that Jiannan Road would have to increase its military forces on the western front, leaving the southern front empty.

The whole process will be long, but given Liu Jilong's age, he is old enough to outlast most of the strong opponents.

Because of this, in the following days, Liu Jilian continued to follow the fifteen-word strategy of "building high walls, storing up grain, developing water conservancy, training strong troops, and promoting manual labor."

Time passes and the autumn harvest arrives.

Since Gao Pian was stationed in Qinzhou, Liu Jilian could only take action on Cheng and Wu states in advance. Therefore, when the people were harvesting grain and hemp stalks, Liu Jilian had already arrived in Longxi County, Weizhou.

On the north bank of the Longxi ferry, four thousand soldiers gathered, and another three thousand civilians were escorting food and fodder.

Liu Jilian was wearing armor and sitting upright on the saddle.

It is only the Yin hour (3 o'clock) now, and the wind in the valley is cold, making people's hands and feet numb.

In such a dark environment, the army crossed the river and marched southward, following the abandoned road of Tubo and advancing towards Changdao County of Chengzhou.

Dou Jingchong, Wang Sifeng and other generals were dispersed to command the various armies, while Shang Duoluo, Li Ji, Geng Ming and Hu Siguang followed Liu Jilong in the central army.

"If it weren't for Gao Pian, we wouldn't have to set off so early."

On the way forward in the dark, Li Ji exhaled a puff of white mist and said, "Governor, you don't have to come this time. We can deal with the Tibetans in Chengzhou and Wuzhou."

"Yes, at this time, the barbarians in Changdao have been bribed and surrendered, so you don't have to come in person." Hu Siguang also echoed.

Hearing this, Liu Jilong warned the two men, "Gao Pian is not an easy guy to deal with. Besides, this is your first time leading troops to an expedition, so I must stay with you."

After he finished speaking, he looked at Shang Duoluo and said, "Are you sure that the Jie from Changdao County is truly surrendering?"

"Replying to the Governor, it must be!" Shang Duo Luo said firmly:
"After I heard the news, I personally went to Changdao and found that there were no more than 500 soldiers, no more than 4,000 people, no more than 20,000 acres of cultivated land, and less than 1,000 heads of livestock."

"That Jieer Saxi heard that we were trying to persuade him to surrender, so he asked me to go and meet him."

"I only asked him to move to Hezhou, and gave him 500 pieces of silk, 1,000 acres of land, and 100 hectares of pasture, but did not take his property or livestock, and he agreed to surrender."

Seeing how easily Chang Dao was persuaded to surrender, Liu Jilong couldn't help but frown and said, "It's so easy. Has the imperial court never persuaded him to surrender before?"

"It's funny." Shang Duoluo couldn't help laughing, "The Tang court has never tried to persuade him to surrender in all these years."

"If Fengzhou and Xingzhou had sent officials to persuade him to surrender, he would have surrendered long ago."

"In addition, he also promised to persuade Shanglu County to surrender on behalf of our army."

"Where is the salt well?" Liu Jilong frowned and asked, but Shang Duoluo shook his head:

"It is said that the salt well is controlled by Qiliben Liwei. Liwei relies on the profits from the salt well to support more than a thousand soldiers. Xue Kui, the governor of Qianqinzhou, tried to persuade him to surrender several times, but he refused."

"I'm afraid this official won't surrender easily. We have no choice but to attack him by force."

After Shang Duoluo finished speaking, Liu Jilong nodded and spoke after thinking for a while:

"Our Tangqi is ten miles east of the ferry. If there is no spy to report, Gao Pian will have to wait until we attack Yanjing to know our intentions."

"It's 200 miles from Luomenchuan to Yanjing. It will take Gao Pian at least three days to get there."

"Within three days, we must capture Yanjing, catch up with Liwei, and keep Hankou!" Liu Jilong said in a deep voice. Shang Duoluo couldn't help asking, "What about Fankou?"

"Just give him the title!" Liu Jilong narrowed his eyes as he played a game of chess.

He had already learned about the situation in Qinzhou by interrogating the prisoners.

Since Qinzhou acceded to the Tang Dynasty in the fourth year of Dazhong, the imperial court has relocated the population several times to balance the local population. Now it can be divided into six Han and four Fan.

However, as Lu Ruyue and others led tens of thousands of foreigners to migrate to Qinzhou, the balance between Han and foreigners in Qinzhou was broken. That was why Xue Kui built Wushan County in order to prevent Lu Ruyue and tens of thousands of foreigners from pouring into Fuqiang, Shanggui and other counties.

Now he was driving the Li Wei and other tribes to Qinzhou, and there was no valley in Qishan Road to accommodate them, so Gao Pian could only settle them in Shanggui.

When Gao Pian was here, these foreigners did not dare to move, but it was impossible for Gao Pian to fight to the death with him in Qinzhou forever.

As long as Gao Pian is transferred away and given some time, these foreign people will riot sooner or later, just like the riot of the Tibetans in Yuanzhou in history, which led to the Tang court losing Yuanzhou.

Qinzhou has five counties, but the arable land is basically in Fuqiang and Shanggui.

As long as Fuqiang and Shanggui revolted, he could send troops to retake them, but the prerequisite was to obtain the flag of the Longyou Jiedushi.

If one wants to obtain the banner of the Jiedushi of Longyou, one must first recover the entire territory of Longxi.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong shook the reins and quickened his pace.

The road ahead was quite wide at first, about a hundred steps on either side.

But as they continued to move south, the river began to narrow on both sides, until the army entered Woniu Mountain, when the valley began to narrow.

Many of the official roads ahead have collapsed, but fortunately the collapsed areas are not difficult to clean up.

The two-zhang-wide official road stretched the team of four thousand soldiers and three thousand civilians to nearly ten miles.

When they encountered collapsed areas along the way, they sent soldiers to clear the way, and when they encountered broken bridges, they built bridges.

As the sun rose to noon and the army was cooking, Liu Jilian could not help but look up at the mountains and sigh.

"I didn't know the difficulty of the Qin-Long Mountains before, but now I know, and I can understand the difficulty of Zhuge Kongming's Northern Expedition."

Although Liu Jilong had passed through Longnan in his previous life, that was on the highway after all.

At that time, he only remembered that the place was full of tunnels and the speed limit made him feel drowsy while driving.

Now that he had walked the mountain path himself, he finally understood how difficult it was to march in the mountains.

While sighing, Liu Jilong looked along the river valley at the two mountains. He saw the mountains were covered with yellow autumn colors and mature trees were everywhere. From time to time, he could see giant trees that were tens of meters high.

Most of these giant trees were destroyed in the tug-of-war between the Northern Song Dynasty and the Western Xia Dynasty. They were hard to see in later generations, even in the Yuan and Ming dynasties.

Fortunately, I am here. There will no longer be a hundred years of tug-of-war in the Helong area, but only a hundred years of peace.

"Governor, let's eat."

Hukesiguang's voice woke Liu Jilong up. He came to his senses and looked at the food Hukesiguang handed to him.

In the wooden bowl as big as his face were pieces of meat, thick corn rice, and wild vegetables that he didn't know where they came from.

Liu Jilian looked at the soldiers in front and behind him, most of them were eating rice with wild vegetables.

"Where did this mutton come from?"

He asked Hu Siguang, who explained, "Just now the soldiers shot and killed two yellow sheep. There is not much meat, so the generals can only eat it first."

Hearing this, Liu Jilong did not distribute the meat to the soldiers. After all, if he didn't eat it, how would Shang Duoluo and the others feel comfortable eating it.

After having their meal, the army continued their march.

This official road connects the official road from Luomenchuan to Chengzhou, but it just goes in a circle.

Unless Gao Pian sent out the Forty-Litang Cavalry to Woniu Mountain, it would be impossible for him to know that Liu Jilian and his men were attacking Chengzhou from here.

Tubo built this official road because they were worried that Qinzhou would be recaptured by the Tang army and the connection between Chengzhou and Weizhou would be cut off, but they did not expect that it would be used by Liu Jilian.

As he was thinking this, the sky gradually darkened. Liu Jilian ordered to set up camp for rest and calculated the marching distance for today.

"We only walked sixty miles today, and this mountain road of less than thirty miles took us four hours."

"I hope we can walk faster after arriving at Qinchengguan Road tomorrow."

After closing the map, Liu Jilong picked up a bowl of soup and rice and started eating.

Soon, Shanduo Luo also returned from the front army.

"Governor, the fork in the road is 40 miles ahead, but the mountain road is difficult to walk on. It will probably take a day to walk there."

"Is there anyone at the fork in the road?" Liu Jilong asked.

"No, I'll station a team of Tang cavalry there. As long as no one finds us tonight, we can cross the river tomorrow."

As Shang Duo Luo explained, he took out a map and pointed to the fork in the road.

Seeing this, Liu Jilong nodded and asked him to pay more attention. Then he finished his soup and rice and went into the small tent to rest.

The long and narrow mountain path made people feel very insecure. Liu Jilong didn't sleep much the whole night and dreamed several times that he fell into the river.

Fortunately, nothing happened that night, and he got up the next morning to continue commanding the army forward.

After two days of hard work, they finally passed the abandoned road before dusk and arrived at the official road from Wushan County to Chengzhou.

The Qincheng official road was built between the ravines of two mountains. It was only about ten steps wide on either side, and in the middle there was the Luomen River, about three feet wide, flowing northward.

After building a bridge across the Luomen River, Liu Jilian looked at the Qincheng official road which was only three meters wide.

"Dou Jingchong!"

"The general is here!"

Dou Jingchong, who was in his thirties and had dark skin like an old farmer, hurried forward and bowed.

Liu Jilong pointed at the three-meter-wide official road with his whip and said, "You lead the people to build a stone wall here and set up camp. Make sure it is solid."

"Tomorrow the army will continue to march towards Chengzhou. You will lead a group of soldiers to station here to prevent Gao Pian from sending troops to cut off our retreat."

"The last general takes command!"

Dou Jingchong bowed in response, then selected a group of armored soldiers and took three thousand laborers to the area to collect river rocks and clay to build stone walls.

After the army crossed the river, Shang Duoluo and his men ordered them to camp along the river.

The next day, Dou Jingchong led his men to build a seven-foot-high and ten-foot-thick stone wall overnight, blocking the official road between Wugong County and Chengzhou.

After Liu Jilian left him enough food to last for a month, he continued to lead his troops along the official road.

Compared with the official road built by Tubo, the official road built by the Tang Dynasty is much easier to travel.

The width of three zhang shortened the length of the team to six li.

After marching for three days, they finally arrived at the Chengzhou River Valley on September 20th.

Shang Duoluo stepped forward and introduced two official roads, one in the south and one in the north, to Liu Jilong: "Governor, the official road in the north leads to Changdao and Yanjing, and the official road in the south leads to Shanglu and Wuzhou, Shannan Road, and Jiannan Road."

"Less than twenty miles north of here is Changdao County. The governor can lead the army to camp here. I and Hu Siguang will personally lead five hundred elite cavalry to surrender the city, and then bring Suo Xi and his five hundred armored soldiers to surrender to you."

Shang Duoluo and Geng Ming were the main forces in this battle, so Shang Duoluo would naturally make the deployment, while Geng Ming would coordinate matters such as the army's march and camping.

It can be said that Liu Jilian did not spend much effort during the five-day march.

Seeing that Shang Duoluo had made arrangements, Liu Jilong nodded and said:
"Be careful, lest this official pretend to surrender."

"I obey your command!" Shang Duoluo bowed in response, then called Huke Siguang, and the two of them led five hundred elite cavalrymen and marched north along the official road.

Liu Jilong rode his horse to the river, and Geng Ming also followed on horseback.

"What is the name of this river?" Liu Jilong asked Geng Ming. Geng Ming smiled and said, "West Han River, Governor."

"West Han River..."

Liu Jilong hesitated for a moment, then looked at Geng Ming:

"Geng Ming, you and Shang Duoluo have been studying for half a year. Let me ask you, what should you do after you stay in Chengzhou?"

Geng Ming has followed Liu Jilong since Jiuquan, but along the way, he has always been taciturn and always does whatever Liu Jilong asks him to do.

Facing Liu Jilong's question, Geng Ming still had that honest smile on his face.

"The governor asked me to guard Chengzhou, so I will guard Chengzhou well."

"The governor said that the government army will have catapults in the future, so I ordered people to burn bricks and pile them into walls to make the two cities of Yanjing and Shanglu high and thick."

"If the enemy attacks, I will not fight. I will just defend these two cities and then cultivate the land on Changdao."

Geng Ming's words were very straightforward, but they were what Liu Jilong wanted him to do most.

If the Tang army invades in the future, the Longxi army will not need to fight quickly and decisively. It only needs to build strong defenses and defend the passes and cities.

Given the financial resources of the Tang court, if they were unable to capture Longxi in a short period of time, the only outcome would be peace talks.

Liu Jilian was not afraid of his generals fighting stupid battles or setting up strong camps, but he was afraid that they would want to prove themselves and rashly send troops to cause the city to be breached.

Because of this, Liu Jilong showed a satisfied look on his face. He reached out and patted Geng Ming on the shoulder:

"I'll give you eight words. If you defend the city according to these eight words, I won't blame you even if the city is lost."

"Yes!" Geng Ming remained the same and only knew to do what Liu Jilong told him to do.

Liu Jilong smiled and turned his head to look at Xihanshui:
"Deep trenches and high fortifications to calm people's hearts..."

(End of this chapter)