Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 320: Showing the Enemy’s Weakness
"Susu..."

In April, when spring is at its peak in the Central Plains, willow catkins are flying like snow on the official roads between Xuzhou and Suzhou. The mountains in the distance are shrouded in a thin layer of mist, appearing and disappearing, like a painting in ink and color.

If you only look at the general idea, you might think this place is too peaceful and safe, and would never think about going anywhere else.

But if you look carefully at the countryside on both sides of the official road, you can find countless abandoned farmlands, and there is no human habitation within a dozen miles...

"Screw rustle..."

Suddenly, the rustling sound of armor was heard on the official road, and an army stretching for several miles was coming from Suzhou to Xuzhou.

The official road, which was more than 50 feet wide, was occupied by soldiers. The entire army was divided into three armies: front, middle and rear, with space for baggage carts to pass between each army.

Since it was a domestic march, the army did not have many baggage vehicles, and it was obvious that they were only needed for a short-term march.

"Aye, we only have so much food and fodder. If the Silver Blade Army really rebels, I'm afraid our food and fodder won't last even three days."

In the central army, Wang She was talking to his father with a frown on his face.

Faced with their worries, Wang Shi, the soon-to-be-appointed military governor of Wuning, was confident.

"If we don't do this, these arrogant soldiers will probably know our intentions when they are in Suzhou."

Wang Shi's gaze lingered on the soldiers in front of him, and from time to time lingered on the abandoned fields, with a look of regret in his eyes.

The soldiers in the central army at this time were the Changshan soldiers trained by Wang She under the order of Wang Shi.

Changshan had nearly a thousand soldiers, but the entire army had only a hundred elite cavalrymen, and the remaining nine hundred were fully armored elite soldiers equipped with bows and crossbows, swords, spears, blunt weapons and arrows in accordance with the "Tang Hui Dian".

From Annan to Henan, Wang Shi deliberately walked very slowly and did not enter Henan until the beginning of spring in order to reduce casualties.

Even so, there were still more than seventy people who suffered from acclimatization along the way.

Wang Shi left these people at post stations in various states and counties to rest and recuperate, waiting for their condition to improve before going to Xuzhou.

Despite so many people falling, Wang Shi was still confident that he could suppress the Silver Sword Army.

Although he was confident, the imperial court was not.

The imperial court ordered soldiers from Zhongwu and Huainan to escort him to Xuzhou, but the quality of the soldiers sent by the two routes was shocking.

The Zhongwu Army in the front was slightly better, with nearly 60% of them wearing full armor, and only equipped with bows and arrows, spears, daggers, axes, golden hammers and other blunt weapons. They had fewer horizontal swords, crossbows, crossbows and crossbow arrows than Changshan.

The remaining 40% basically wore breastplate and skirt armor, a fu hat on their heads but no helmet, no shoulder pads, and only had three weapons: a crossbow, a spear, and a dagger.

The former were undoubtedly heavy infantry, while the latter were light soldiers serving as garrisons.

Compared with the heavily armed troops of Changshandu, their quality is poor, but compared with the officers and soldiers of Huainan Road in the rear army, their quality is much better.

The Huainan Army in the rear consisted of only 40% heavy troops and 60% light troops.

Neither army had any cavalry, not even light cavalry, so this escort team of 3,000 people was actually a mixed army consisting of 100 elite cavalry, 1,800 heavy vanguard troops, and 1,000 garrison light troops.

Wang Shi was very satisfied that about 60% of the three armies were fully armored. However, Wang She was still not reassured. After all, the seven armies of Wuning, including Yindao and Jiama, had 8,000 fully armored elite soldiers.

While thinking, Wang Shi spoke again to comfort Wang She: "Hearing is not believing, seeing is believing..."

"It is true that the Wuning Seventh Army was brave and good at fighting, but that was more than 30 years ago."

"More than thirty years is enough time for an iron knife to rust and for wood to rot."

"To know the true situation of the Wuning Army, we, father and son, must see it with our own eyes..."

Wang Shi's confident look infected Wang She, and Wang She gradually put aside his anxiety.

At the same time, Wang Shi looked at the abandoned fields and said, "The Wuning Jiedushi controls the four states of Xu, Si, Su, and Hao."

"These four states had a population of nearly one million in the past, and Xuzhou alone had more than 400,000 people, which was quite prosperous."

"It's a pity that after the An-Shi and Yuan-Ping rebellions, these four states gradually declined."

"I flipped through the 'Yuanhe County Atlas' and found that these four states now have only about 80,000 households and only 400,000 to 500,000 people. I think the people's escape has become a normal thing."

"But what I heard is not as good as what I saw. I never believed that the area was in decline."

“Now that I have entered the four states, I realize that the situation is far more serious than I imagined.”

He raised his whip and pointed to Longji Mountain not far to the west of the official road, motioning Wang She to look there.

Wang She turned his head and keenly noticed the smoke coming from the Longji Mountain.

"There is so much smoke from cooking fires in Longji Mountain, which shows that there are countless people who have become bandits."

"If those arrogant and brave generals of Wuning Army had the ability, they would have sent troops to defeat them long ago. Why would we allow them to occupy the mountain and become kings?"

Longji Mountain runs from northeast to southwest, extending from Xuzhou to Suzhou. It is about 100 miles long and more than 30 miles wide from east to west. It is an important barrier for Xuzhou to defend against the north.

Such an important place is home to countless bandits who rule the mountains.

Any military governor with a sense of crisis would not allow them to act recklessly, not to mention the two states of Xu and Su which relied heavily on Longji Mountain for military purposes.

There is only one reason why we failed to win the war, and that is our lack of strength...

It was for this reason that Wang Shi was so confident, and Wang She's eyes gradually brightened.

Suddenly, a group of elite cavalrymen rode back in front of them. Wang Shi and Wang She looked over and saw the elite cavalrymen galloping up to them and bowing:
"General, we have entered the territory of Xuzhou, only 20 miles away from the capital Pengcheng."

After the elite cavalry reported, Wang She looked at his father. He thought he would order a hasty march to Xuzhou, but Wang Shi asked, "How many miles is the nearest post station ahead?"

"It's called Qili, it's the Dapeng Posthouse, the terrain is open..."

As soon as the elite cavalryman finished speaking, Wang Shi looked at Wang She and said, "Order the three armies to march to Dapeng Posthouse and set up camp."

"In addition, send Zhao Qian, the chief military officer, to Pengcheng and order the chief secretary to buy ten old cows, two hundred sheep, and one thousand chickens and ducks as a reward to thank Zhongwu and Huainan for their escort."

"This banquet will reward the army for three days. After three days, the troops of Zhongwu and Huainan will return to their bases. You must ask the chief secretary to prepare money and food, and do not let the soldiers feel embarrassed on the way back."

Wang She was stunned when he heard this, and couldn't believe it, so he asked, "Let them go back?"

"Yeah!" Wang Shi nodded and then stopped explaining.

Wang She was helpless when he saw this, but he had to follow the military order.

Soon, the three armies all knew about setting up camp at Dapeng Posthouse and slaughtering cattle and sheep to reward the three armies.

Knowing that they could eat precious beef and mutton, not only the officers and soldiers of Zhongwu and Huainan towns, but even the elite Changshan soldiers under Wang Shi's command were drooling all the way.

Since the Dazhong period, prices in various provinces have skyrocketed. Even in Dongchuan and Xichuan, which are known as the land of abundance, the price of a sheep is around two thousand to three thousand coins.

Most of their military pay was around twenty strings of cash. After taking care of the rice and flour needed by their families, they rarely had money to buy meat. They could only hope to have a meal of meat on the days of training.

Now Wang Shi asked for ten cows and two hundred sheep, not to mention a thousand fat chickens and ducks...

For a time, soldiers such as Zhongwu and Huainan felt guilty, thinking that they were too lazy on this journey and treated Wang Shi and his son badly.

At the same time, Zhao Qian, the chief military officer of Changshan Du, led more than 20 elite cavalrymen to Pengcheng. When they arrived at the city wall, the city was closed and there were countless armored officers and soldiers on the city walls.

"Who is coming?!"

On the top of the city wall, the general wearing Ming Guang armor leaned over the parapet and questioned Zhao Qian and others.

Zhao Qian was not angry when he heard this. He bowed calmly and said, "I am Zhao Qian, the governor of Changshan under the command of Envoy Wang. I have come here on the orders of Envoy Wang. Please accept the orders from Chief Secretary Wang!"

Zhao Qian's neither humble nor arrogant, and his confident attitude immediately intimidated the general.

The general did not respond, but turned his body to look at the forty-year-old official in red robes in front of the tower: "Sanlang, is this Wang Shi trying to trick us into opening the city gates and then doing something bad?"

"I don't think so..." The man called Saburo shook his head and continued:

"He is coming with 3,000 elite soldiers. Although we have seven armies, there are only 3,000 of them in Pengcheng, and the remaining 5,000 are stationed elsewhere."

"If he intends to deal with us, he might as well just surround Pengcheng and ask the Tianping, Yanhai, Xuanwu and other armies to encircle and suppress us."

"I'll go down and see what he's going to do."

This person is obviously the strategist of the Seven Silver Knife Armies, and is also the Chief Clerk of Xuzhou, holding a high position of power in the Wuning Army.

Faced with his explanation, everyone accepted it, and then escorted him to the corridor, opened the city gate, and filed out.

"So you are Zhaodu Yuhou. I am Wang Mingyi, the chief officer of Xuzhou. May I ask what military orders you have?"

Wang Mingyi walked out of the city gate under the escort of the military commanders and generals of the seven armies of Wuning and introduced himself to Zhao Qian.

Zhao Qian looked at Wang Mingyi and the hundreds of fully armored soldiers behind him, frowning slightly.

In the Wuning Army, most of the important positions were held by people with the surname Wang, which was related to the origin of the seven guards such as the Silver Blade Army. During the Changqing period, Wang Zhixing, a guard general of Xuzhou, fought bravely and refused to obey the governor Cui Qun. He then expelled Cui Qun from Xuzhou, led his troops to occupy Xuzhou, and asked the court to appoint him as the governor.

Emperor Muzong of Tang Dynasty took into consideration that the imperial court had just launched a campaign against Youzhou and Chengde and was unable to suppress Wang Zhixing's rebellion, so he appointed Wang Zhixing as the military governor of Wuning Army and the inspector of Xu, Si and Hao states.

After Wang Zhixing took control of Xuzhou, he was very worried that someone similar to himself would appear in the army, so he tried to eliminate all his subordinates who posed a threat to him.

The soldiers of Wuning Army could not bear the humiliation and prepared to resist and expel Wang Zhixing. When Wang Zhixing heard the news, he immediately recruited two thousand fierce bandits as the backbone of the army with the sons of his clan as the backbone. He named them the Seven Armies, including Silver Knife, Carved Flag, Gate Spear, and Horse-Holding Army, and asked them to take turns to garrison the Yamen City.

Later, Wang Zhixing amassed wealth and used it to make friends with the powerful and influential, rising step by step, and even died as a general.

Although he was promoted, soldiers from the Seventh Army, including Yindao and Jiama, stayed in Xuzhou and gradually became arrogant.

The successive military governors of the Wuning Army did not have sufficient troops, so they could only tolerate and indulge them and were unable to restrain them.

Even so, whenever the Jiedushi interfered in the affairs of the Seven Armies, they would expel him from the country on the grounds that he was "disrespectful."

Since the establishment of the Silver Knife and other seven armies, they have expelled five military governors.

Even Tian Mou, who had connections with the Chengde Army, had no choice but to sit with these arrogant soldiers and sing for them while holding a wooden board when he came to Xuzhou to serve as the Jiedushi.

In order to appease this group of people, Tian Mou spent tens or hundreds of strings of grain every day.

At every banquet, Tian Mou had to wait for these guards to eat and drink their fill before they could discuss matters.

Perhaps it was because of this kind of frustration that Tian Mou died of illness less than two years after taking office as the Jiedushi of Wuning Army.

Thinking of this, Zhao Qian became angry and wanted to swing his sword to kill all these arrogant soldiers.

But after thinking of his own commander's plan, he suppressed his temper, forced a smile and bowed:
"Wang Changshi, this is the military disc from the commander-in-chief. Please follow the contents of the disc."

Behind him, elite cavalrymen rode out, dismounted and presented Wang Shi's military disc.

Wang Mingyi took the military disc and looked through it and he breathed a sigh of relief, because in addition to the requirements for cattle, sheep, chickens, ducks and food to reward the troops in the next three days, the disc also included the money and food needed for the troops from Xuanwu and Huainan to return in three days.

This military disc proved that Wang Shi did not want to fall out with the Silver Knife Army, and stated the time when the troops from Xuanwu and Huainan towns left.

Thinking of this, Wang Mingyi sneered in his heart: "What a famous general who terrorizes the southern barbarians? He is nothing but a bully!"

Although he looked down on Wang Shi in his heart, Wang Mingyi still responded with a smile: "The state treasury has sufficient money and food. In two hours, I will definitely send the things you need to Dapeng Posthouse."

As he finished speaking, he took out his seal, stamped it on Wang Shi's military disc, and then returned the disc.

Zhao Qian took the military disc and bowed, saying, "Then I will take my leave!"

He turned his horse around, shook the reins and rode away.

Looking at his back, the rest of the Silver Blade Army surrounded Wang Mingyi and couldn't help asking, "What's written on the military disc?"

Wang Mingyi did not hide anything and immediately told everyone the contents of the military disc, then sneered:

"This Wang Shi is just a guy with nothing but a facade. After we send the Xuanwu Army and the Huainan Army away, we will ask for benefits from him."

"If he doesn't give it to me, I'll use the same method to expel him from the country!"

Upon hearing this, many generals in the Silver Knife Army still felt that it was a bit of a loss to use the money from the Huazhou treasury to help Wang Shi reward his troops. After all, they had long regarded everything in the four states of Xu, Si and other provinces as their own.

Fortunately, they were all persuaded by Wang Mingyi, and Wang Mingyi sent people to buy cattle and sheep and sent them to Dapeng Posthouse.

Two hours later, Wang Mingyi personally led 500 armored Silver Sword Soldiers to Dapeng Posthouse, followed by hundreds of laborers who were driving cattle, sheep, chickens, ducks and transporting food.

"Sir, everything we need to reward the troops is here, take a look..."

"No need to check. I believe that Wang Changshi would not lie."

Looking at the cattle, sheep, chickens and ducks delivered to Dapeng Inn, Wang Shi interrupted Wang Mingyi's attempt and said actively and enthusiastically:

"You and I both have the surname Wang. We might even be relatives hundreds of years ago. Why should we be so formal?"

Wang Shi was born into the Wang family of Taiyuan and was the son of the former prime minister Wang Qi. He was able to humble himself and tell Wang Mingyi that they were relatives. This surprised Wang Mingyi and made him look down on Wang Shi even more.

After all, she is a descendant of a famous family, but she actually tries to get close to him, a commoner.

Of course, looking down on others is one thing, but you still have to respond on the surface.

"Please don't torture me, sir..."

Before Wang Mingyi finished speaking, Wang Shi pulled him to the tent and said to Wang She, "Da Lang, greet the brothers in Xuzhou."

Being called a brother by a noble family like Wang Shi made the five hundred Silver Sword Soldiers who came in full armor very happy, and they couldn't hide the smiles on their faces.

At the same time, they were more convinced that Wang Shi was just a piece of cake.

Soon the banquet began, and the cattle, sheep and poultry were all cooked into appetizing food using various techniques.

At the dinner table, Wang Shi even took Wang Mingyi and called him a brother, which soon made Wang Mingyi let down his guard.

When the Silver Sword Army soldiers saw that Wang Mingyi was drunk, they also began to drink without restraint.

The banquet lasted until late at night, until everyone was drunk. When Wang Mingyi woke up the next day, he broke out in a cold sweat.

"Damn it, drinking really messed things up!"

Wang Mingyi subconsciously reached out and touched his neck, and after confirming that his huge head was still hanging on his shoulders, he breathed a sigh of relief.

He put on his clothes and walked out of the tent, only to see that the Xuanwu Army, Huainan Army, Yindao Army and Changshan were all drunk.

If there wasn't enough firewood added to the bonfire, this group of people would have caught a cold.

Thinking of this, Wang Mingyi tightened his robe and then walked towards the tent to look for Wang Shi.

However, when he arrived at the tent, Zhao Qian stopped him and said apologetically:

"Master Wang, the commander is still drunk, please see..."

"I'll just go in and take a look."

Wang Mingyi smiled and stuffed something into Zhao Qian's hand. Zhao Qian looked down and saw that it was a gold bar. A flattering smile immediately appeared on his face:

"Just make sure you don't move the imperial edict and military disc on the table."

"Of course." Wang Mingyi responded with a smile, but in his heart he despised Zhao Qian and others even more.

The so-called elite Changshandu seemed to be just so-so, and the so-called famous general Wang Shi was so drunk that he didn't wake up until noon. It seemed that he was indeed a guy with a reputation in name only.

Thinking of this, he walked into the tent, but saw Wang Shi sleeping on a couch covered with felt, with imperial edicts and military discs scattered on the table.

He stepped forward and opened the imperial edict and military disc one by one. After confirming that the court and Wang Shi had no other intentions, he walked out of the tent with peace of mind.

When he came out, he naturally had no way to avoid Zhao Qian and could only pretend to be nice to him.

After he returned to the tent and sent someone to wake up all the members of the Silver Knife Army, he returned to Pengcheng with the five hundred drunken Silver Knife Army.

After he returned to Pengcheng, the military generals such as Yindao, Diaoqi, Menqiang, and Jiama, who had been worried all night, came to look for him one after another.

After he told everyone about the shameful side of Wang Shi and Changshan, he said to everyone:

"Let them be happy for three days. After three days, we will leave the city and send the Xuanwu Army and Huainan Army away. Then we will demonstrate to Wang Shi and ask him to pay some benefits, like Tian Mou!"

"it is good!"

Everyone cheered, and then started discussing how much money could be squeezed out of a famous family like Wang Shi, who was born in Taiyuan, and how to humiliate him.

While they were happily discussing, Zhao Qian walked into Wang Shi's tent at the Dapeng Posthouse, more than ten miles away.

At this moment, Wang Shi was extremely sober and showed no signs of hangover at all.

Seeing Zhao Qian walk into the tent, he looked up at Zhao Qian and asked, "How is it?"

"This fellow gave this to me. I'm afraid that in his heart, I, Changshan, have become a good-for-nothing."

Zhao Qian threw away the gold bar with disdain written all over his face.

Wang Shi was not surprised to see this, and nodded, saying, "Keep this thing. After we defeat them in three days, use this thing to buy wine to celebrate with the brothers."

"Yes!" Zhao Qian bowed in response, but Wang Shi lowered his head and began to write a memorial.

The time for the memorial was three days later, which means he was writing the memorial three days later.

In the memorial, he had already defeated the Seven Armies of Wuning, and also wrote down the many ills and solutions in the Xu and Si areas.

Soon, after he put the report into an envelope and sealed it with wax, he called Wang She and handed it to him, saying:
"Send someone to Chang'an in the morning three days later, and the matter will be settled by then!"

(End of this chapter)