Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 339 February
"It would have been fine if the Six Garrisons' troops were unable to wipe out the bandits, but why were they ambushed and defeated by the bandits, with thousands of soldiers lost?!"

In the Purple Palace, Li Yi questioned the ministers, but they all remained silent.

This question was incomprehensible not only to the emperor, but also to them.

Linghu Tao commanded six garrisons with 50,000 soldiers and horses, but was still unable to defeat more than 40,000 bandits.

Not only was he defeated by Pang Xun's ambush and lost most of Yanzhou, but Wang Xianzhi in the south also broke into Chuzhou and headed straight for Yangzhou.

It was originally thought that the siege of Xu and Su would be lifted and the grain transport would be able to return to normal.

It now seems that not only will the grain transport fail to return to normal, but even Yangzhou, which is one of the most important cities in China, will be plundered by bandits.

Thinking of this, Li Yi's temper flared up and he asked, "Why are you all silent?!"

Seeing that the emperor was angry, Lu Yan took the lead to step out and comfort him, "Your Majesty, this fact was caused by the negligence of Linghu Shixiang."

"I suggest that all the towns take strict precautions and defend themselves. I also dismiss Linghu, the governor of Huainan, the governor of all the towns, and the governor of the eastern part of Henan, and transfer him to Fengxiang as the governor."

"As for the matter of suppressing the bandits in Hehuai, I think it would be better to let Li Fu, the governor of Xuanwu Army, lead the various towns to suppress the bandits!"

"Your Majesty, I don't think it's possible!" Gao Qu refuted the candidate proposed by Lu Yan as usual.

Fortunately, Lu Yan had improved his Qi training these days, so he did not argue with him. Instead, he bowed to him and said, "What do you think, Prime Minister Gao?"

Gao Qu ignored Lu Yan and bowed to Li Yi, saying, "Your Majesty, I think Li Fu has the talent of a general, but he does not have the ability to coordinate the overall situation."

"Why not appoint Wang Xiaonian, the general of the Left Jinwu Guard, as the governor of all towns and the envoy of the eastern part of Henan to quell the bandits!"

After Gao Qu finished speaking, Wang Shi in the team was moved, but he did not recommend himself because he knew that the emperor did not trust him very much.

However, compared with his insight, many officials in the temple nodded, then bowed and recommended him.

"Your Majesty, I think Wang Jinwu can be sent to fight and suppress the bandits."

"Your Majesty, I second the proposal..."

"His Majesty……"

Many officials came forward to express their opinions. Li Yi frowned slightly when he heard this. Lu Yan noticed that his expression was not right and said quickly:

"Your Majesty, how about appointing Wang Shi as the governor of Huainan and the governor of Huainan Road to suppress the bandits, and appointing Li Fu, the governor of Xuanwu Army, as the governor of Henan East to suppress the bandits?"

Li Yi felt relieved after hearing this, and then looked at Jiang Shen: "What do you think, Prime Minister Jiang?"

"I think this plan is good..."

Jiang Shen answered respectfully. He was not good at military strategy and he never interfered in such matters.

Li Yi nodded upon seeing this, and then looked at Wang Shi in the team:
"In that case, Wang Shi will be appointed as the governor of Huainan and the Huainan Road will lead the expeditionary army southwards to quell the rebellion soon."

"Your Majesty, I obey your order..."

Wang Shi stood up and bowed respectfully, then returned to the team.

At the same time, Jiang Shen also bowed and said, "Your Majesty, Qinzhou reported a few days ago that Liu Muzhi of Longyou has received the imperial edict and is only waiting for the envoy sent by the court to arrive in Longxi County, Weizhou."

"Good!" Li Yi breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that he finally heard good news.

"In that case, we will still follow the previous plan and have Yang Zhiwen and Zhang Huaiquan purchase grain and fodder to replenish the Guanzhong granary."

"I accept the decree..."

The matter of purchasing grain from Longyou was thus finalized, and all the ministers in the Purple Palace breathed a sigh of relief.

It was originally thought that the war could be ended by encircling and suppressing the bandits in Xuzhou and Suzhou. However, now that Wang Xianzhi is attacking Yangzhou, the grain transport is still under threat and is being cut off at all times.

Not only that, even the grain ships on the canal were captured by Wang Xianzhi, so that the grain prices in the two capitals rose sharply for nearly half a month and had reached the level of four hundred coins per dou of rice.

Not all officials in Beijing are powerful. Many officials below the fifth rank are troubled by the sudden rise in grain prices.

Now that we have the grain from Longyou, no matter whether the people can eat the grain after the price is stabilized, at least the officials in Beijing can be guaranteed food.

Thinking of this, many officials felt relieved, and Li Yi ended the regular court as usual and went to Xianning Palace.

However, just as Li Yi and his men were finishing the court meeting, wars were raging in Huainan and Henan, thousands of miles away from Chang'an.

"The world does not belong to one person, but to all the people. However, in today's world, officials are corrupt, taxes are heavy, rewards and punishments are unfair, people are living in misery, and the world is full of resentment."

"We, the righteous men, are heartbroken when we see this, so we write furiously to fight against the injustice and to rectify the world!"

"kill!!"

"Boom bang bang-"

On February 15, the fifth year of Xiantong, Wang Xianzhi led his army south along the canal. While looting along the way, he took the opportunity to recruit refugees from Huainan.

Within a few days, the bandits near Baishuitang (Hongze Lake) and Hangou, as well as the hungry canal workers, revolted.

They killed the grain transport officials, looted the food and fodder from the canal ships, and then went to Wang Xianzhi for refuge.

After the Chuzhou bandits, grain transport workers and Wang Xianzhi joined forces, they gathered a crowd of nearly 100,000, all led by Wang Xianzhi.

After gaining power, Wang Xianzhi thought that the court had labeled him a rebel, and no longer cared about anything else. He issued a manifesto in Shanyang County, Chuzhou, denouncing the court officials for corruption, heavy taxes, and unfair rewards and punishments. He called himself the General Junping Tianbu and the Commander-in-Chief of All the Heroes in the Country.

After the manifesto was issued, Wang Xianzhi went south along the Hang Canal. He not only robbed the grain transport ships, but also took the opportunity to capture Baoying County, break into the government warehouse, and distribute grain to the people in Baoying County.

Three days later, the army marched south to besiege Gaoyou County. By then, Li Xiang had already arrived in Gaoyou with his cavalry and soldiers from Yangzi, Guangling, Liuhe and other counties.

When Wang Xianzhi led an army of 100,000 to attack Gaoyou with 6,000 defenders, Pang Xun in the north did not stop.

On the seventh day of February, while Pang Xun was besieging Xia Qiu County, he recruited the bandits in Mount Tai, gathered 30,000 bandits, captured Xia Qiu County, and allowed his troops to plunder the entire Yanzhou.

On February 12, Li Xun, the governor of Yicheng Army, led the Yicheng Army into Yanzhou. Upon learning of this, Pang Xun attacked Yunzhou to the north.

At that time, there were only 1,500 armored soldiers left in Yunzhou, the seat of the Tianping Army. The governor Yang Gonghan could only defend Yuncheng, the seat of Yunzhou. Pang Xun led his troops to successively conquer Zhongdu and Shouzhang.

The bandits near Daye Lake learned of Pang Xun's reputation and came to surrender one after another. Pang Xun gathered an army of 50,000.

On February 15, Li Xun led 6,000 Yicheng troops northward and fought with Pang Xun in Juye County, south of Daye Lake. Li Xun was defeated and fled, losing nearly half of his troops, and retreated to Caozhou.

A few days later, Li Fu, the governor of Xuanwu Army, was promoted to the governor of the eastern part of Henan Province. Li Fu immediately mobilized troops from various towns of Xuanwu Army and led 800 elite cavalry, 5,000 officers and soldiers on horseback and infantry, and 7,000 infantry to march towards Yunzhou.

When the army reached Caozhou, Li Xun, the governor of the Yicheng Army, simply trained his troops and led 4,000 Yicheng Army soldiers to join the punitive army and serve as the rear army.

The news that Li Fu was leading nearly 18,000 troops and approaching Zhongdu County spread like a thunderclap throughout the city that had become a paradise of sin.

In Zhongdu County, tens of thousands of people were struggling under the bullying of bandits. Women were raped and men were robbed. The streets were filled with crying and begging. It was a chaotic place, like hell on earth.

When Pang Xun learned that Li Fu was leading his troops to attack, he immediately summoned six generals, including Xu Ji, Zhao Keli, Zhang Guan, Yao Zhou, Zhang Xingshi, and Wang Hongli, to the county government.

Everyone gathered together, and Pang Xun informed everyone of Li Fu's movements, with a hint of solemnity in his tone.

Xu Ji frowned upon hearing this, and stepped forward and bowed, saying, "General, Li Fu is knowledgeable about military affairs, and he has elite cavalry and tens of thousands of armored soldiers under his command. Our army has only more than 8,000 armored soldiers. If we engage him head-on, I'm afraid we won't be his match."

"In addition, we have already seized almost all the places that can be seized in Yunzhou. If we fight Li Fu for a long time here, we will inevitably run out of food and grass, and eventually suffer a disastrous defeat."

At this point, he paused again and continued, "Why not retreat to Qizhou in the east, attack Ziqing Town, and wait for an opportunity to move south."

"In this way, we can avoid Li Fu's edge and let the court know how powerful we are."

As soon as Xu Ji finished speaking, Wang Hongli, who was sitting in the third seat on the left, stood up and expressed a different opinion: "General, what the military commander Xu said makes sense, but if we go to Qizhou, we may be attacked from the north and south by the government troops from Yunzhou and Yizhou, and fall into a passive position."

"Why not take advantage of the fact that Li Fu hasn't reacted yet? Our army will go southeast through Yanzhou and enter Yizhou, and first defeat the Yizhou troops in the south that are attacking from both north and south."

"There are only 4,000 soldiers and horses of Li Yan from the Ziqing Army in Yizhou now. We can plunder Yizhou and pretend to march south, leading the war to Yangzhou where Wang Xianzhi is."

"When Li Fu enters Yangzhou, we can take the opportunity to go north to Qingzhou and plunder Zibo and Qingzhou."

"If the imperial court wants to encircle and suppress us, we will move westwards into Yicheng and Xuanwu towns where the troops are scarce."

"If the imperial court recruits us, we will immediately propose to ask you to be the governor of Zibo and Qinghai or the governor of Wuning Army."

"Good!" Wang Hongli's proposal made everyone's eyes light up. Xu Ji also nodded and said, "This is a good idea. As long as we enter Qingzhou, we can attack Zibo and Qizhou from Qingzhou to the west, and then attack Puzhou and Huazhou after passing Yunzhou, threatening the eastern capital Luoyang."

"This way we can not only avoid being surrounded by government troops in one place, but also break the imperial court's strategy of attacking us from both the north and the south."

Pang Xun listened to Wang Hongli and Xu Ji's analysis, and a hint of approval flashed in his eyes.

Of course, what attracted him most in this plan was that he could divert the disaster to Wang Xianzhi in order to avenge Wang Xianzhi who had diverted the disaster to the north.

Thinking of this, Pang Xun stood up and gave a decisive order: "Follow the plan of Wang Du and lead the army to attack Yizhou in the southeast!"

Upon hearing this, Xu Ji, Wang Hongli, Zhao Keli and others bowed and praised Pang Xun for his wisdom, then stepped back and issued military orders.

Two hours later, Pang Xun's military order spread throughout the three armies. The soldiers who were willing to go south were ready to go. As for those bandits who were addicted to the gentle life of Zhongdu County and were unwilling to leave, Pang Xun was too lazy to remind them that Li Fu's army was approaching.

In the end, Pang Xun led 8,000 silver knife soldiers and 30,000 bandits to the south, while the remaining nearly 20,000 bandits occupied the four captured counties in Yunzhou and Yanzhou, continuing to enjoy their "fruits of victory." The next day, Pang Xun led an army of more than 30,000 soldiers to the southeast, aiming directly at Yizhou.

At the same time, the elite army led by Li Fu also entered Yunzhou and successively recovered several cities including Juye, Shouzhang and Zhongdu.

The flags of the Xuanwu Army and the Yicheng Army fluttered in the wind. The people thought that their savior had finally arrived, and they flocked to the streets with anticipation in their eyes.

But they soon discovered that these so-called "official troops" were no different from bandits.

The Xuanwu Army and Yicheng Army under Li Fu's command not only failed to appease the people, but continued to do the evil deeds that the bandits had done before.

The soldiers of the Xuanwu Army rushed into people's homes, robbed property, and dragged women into alleys to rape them.

The soldiers of the Yicheng Army randomly arrested people on the streets, beheaded them in the name of "remnants of bandits", and hung their heads on the city gates to show their "military achievements".

Flames shot up into the sky and shouts of killing echoed in his ears, but Li Fu, who was in the Zhongdu County Government Office, ignored everything.

At this moment, he was sitting in the main seat of the county government office, looking coldly at the bandit leader who was brought up.

The bandit leader's face was covered in blood and his body was covered in wounds. It was obvious that he had been severely tortured.

"Continue..." Li Fu waved his hand, signaling his men to continue the interrogation.

"Where did Pang Xun go?" Li Fu's voice was cold and majestic.

The bandit leader trembled and replied: "Pang... Pang Xun has gone south to Yizhou..."

Upon hearing this, Li Fu frowned and stood up to walk towards the bandit leader. When he came in front of him, he said coldly, "Do you know the consequences of deceiving me?"

The bandit leader kowtowed repeatedly, his voice trembling: "I dare not deceive the commander! Pang Xun did go south, I saw it with my own eyes!"

Li Fu snorted coldly and waved his hand. The soldiers on both sides understood what he meant and immediately dragged the bandit leader away.

After watching the bandit leader being dragged away, Li Fu turned to the general beside him and said, "Pass the order down. The whole army will rest for a day. At noon tomorrow, move south to pursue Pang Xun."

"I obey your orders!" The generals took the orders and left. Li Fu stood at the gate of the county government office, looking at the flames rising into the sky in the city, frowning slightly.

He remembered clearly how Linghu Tao was dismissed.

He must eliminate Pang Xun as soon as possible so that he can maintain his position and have the opportunity to bribe the eunuchs in Chang'an and take a higher official position.

While thinking, he turned and walked into the county government office, ignoring the wailing people in Zhongdu County.

The next day, Li Fu led the troops from Xuanwu and Yicheng towns southward and pursued the traces left by Pang Xun's army.

While Li Fu was chasing Pang Xun, Longyou also welcomed important customers such as Yang Zhiwen and Zhang Huaiquan.

Fifteen hundred Shenwu soldiers and more than three thousand civilians escorted hundreds of thousands of pieces of silk and satin. After passing through a pass in the easternmost part of Longxi, they entered Longxi County of Weizhou.

Longxi County is strategically located. After Liu Jilian took over this place, he built several passes along the Wei River.

Behind each pass is a river valley plain washed out by the Wei River. After nearly ten years of reclamation, these plains have now become fertile fields.

Just like now, Yang Zhiwen, Zhang Huaiquan and the people they brought had just walked into the pass and they saw endless farmland.

It is now late February, and people have already started farming. Spring planting is only half a month away.

Across the pass, Qinzhou in the east, although with a large population and numerous river valleys, did not have enough arable land.

Weizhou in the west is not as good as Qinzhou in terms of terrain, but just looking at the farmland behind this pass, it is enough to see how much Longyou values agriculture.

"There must be at least tens of thousands of acres of arable land here, right?"

Zhang Huaiquan couldn't help but take a breath, while Yang Zhiwen nodded in agreement.

The two sighed slightly, but did not stay for long.

They continued to march westward along the official road with the Shenwu Army and the civilian laborers. After about fifteen miles, they saw a pass that was backed by the mountains and connected to the Wei River.

The entire pass is covered with bricks, is three zhang high and more than twenty zhang long, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack.

Yang Zhiwen and Zhang Huaiquan continued to lead the team into the pass, but this time behind the pass was a narrow official road along the Wei River and close to the mountains.

The road was long, narrow and rugged. It was only two miles, but it took them fifteen minutes to walk.

After two quarters of an hour, the terrain ahead gradually widened, but a brick-covered pass appeared.

Looking at the brick-wrapped pass and the hundreds of elite Longyou soldiers stationed there, the Shenwu Army officers behind Zhang Huaiquan couldn't help but say:

"This place is easy to defend but difficult to attack, and there are so many passes. I'm afraid even if we raise an army of 100,000 we won't be able to break in."

"Yes, there are only a few trebuchets, and the city walls are so solid. We have seen four passes along the way, and I wonder how many more there are behind them."

Listening to the sighs of the colonels, Zhang Huaiquan and Yang Zhiwen looked at each other and agreed with them deeply.

A quarter of an hour later, they passed through the pass again, and what appeared before them was another piece of cultivated river valley land.

This river valley is even larger, with at least 100,000 acres of cultivated land.

They walked south and soon saw a pass standing on the south bank of the Wei River.

There is also a pass on the north bank opposite to the pass, and between the two passes is the Wei River, which is more than 20 meters wide.

A stone bridge was built across the Wei River, but no one knows how it was built.

The team stepped onto the stone bridge and, led by dozens of elite cavalrymen from Longyou, successfully passed the two passes and arrived at the river valley where Longxi County was located.

"Minister Yang, Commander Zhang!"

After walking out of the north bank pass, Zhang Huaiquan and Yang Zhiwen immediately saw Gao Jinda coming to greet them.

At this time, Gao Jinda not only served as the Chief Clerk of the Protectorate, but also served as the Governor of Weizhou.

Daily government affairs can be handled by Weizhou Changshi and Beijia, but the trade with Chang'an still requires Gao Jinda to make a trip in person.

"Gao Changshi..."

Zhang Huaiquan and Yang Zhiwen had both met Gao Jinda, so they naturally knew how to address him.

Gao Jinda returned the greetings to the two men and continued, "My general has also come to Longxi and is waiting for you in the county government office. Please come this way."

He prepared a carriage for the two of them, and when they heard that Liu Jilian was also in Longxi, they couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

"Thank you, Mr. Gao..."

The two men gritted their teeth and returned the greeting, then dismounted and got on the carriage, heading towards Longxi County.

The official roads in Longyou all have standards, and the narrowest cannot be narrower than three meters, so the official roads are relatively wide.

The carriage was moving relatively steadily on the solid official road. Yang Zhiwen and Zhang Huaiquan also opened the windows and looked out.

The carriage traveled about four miles from south to north, and saw working people and farmland on both sides of the official road.

Soon, the carriage arrived at the south gate of Longxi County, and the two men began to look around Longxi County.

The city wall was still brick-covered, and it was taller and thicker. Even Zhang Huaiquan didn't know what kind of catapult he would need to break through such a wall.

The streets in the city are paved with blue bricks, and most of the people wear coarse linen clothes, but they are very neat.

The soldiers patrolling the city were strong and sturdy, looking even more robust than the soldiers of the Shenwu Army.

The people in the city looked at them curiously, and from time to time asked the patrolling soldiers about their origins.

The soldiers were humble and immediately explained the origins of Zhang Huaiquan and others, which in turn earned them contemptuous looks from the people.

Most of the people in Weizhou migrated from Xichuan and Shannan West Road, so they naturally knew what the government army looked like.

They could smile and ask questions to the Longyou Army without any airs, but they were unwilling to have anything to do with the government troops.

"It seems that we are disliked by the people..."

Yang Zhiwen felt those contemptuous looks, smiled bitterly and spoke to Zhang Huaiquan.

Zhang Huaiquan had mixed emotions. After all, when they were in Hexi in the past, the people loved them very much.

But after arriving in Chang'an, it seemed that to the people, the government troops were no different from bandits, and they were always despised by the people behind their backs.

The two gradually fell silent, but the carriage did not stop.

About a quarter of an hour later, the carriage slowly stopped and Gao Jinda's voice was heard from outside the carriage.

"You two, we have arrived at the county government office..."

(End of this chapter)