Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 378 The War Begins
"Wang Shi has already led his army into Qinzhou. They will reach Chengji in three days at most. Chengji is where the government troops store food and fodder, but the spies have not been able to find out exactly how much food and fodder there is."

"In addition, Wang Shi has an army of more than 83,000 soldiers, tens of thousands of civilians, and no less than 20,000 elite and light cavalry."

"More intelligence, our people are still exploring..."

On May 22, as the government troops began to take action, spies in Longyou also began to spy.

Zhao Ying stood in front of the pavilion in the inner courtyard and bowed to Liu Jilong to report the intelligence he had just obtained. Liu Jilong and Feng Hui were sitting in the pavilion. The couple were having a meal, while their children were studying in school.

"Ji Lang, please sit down and eat together."

Liu Jilian listened quietly to Zhao Ying's report, and this final piece of information also meant that he had already figured out the approximate number and quality of the government troops.

He was thinking in his mind, while Feng Hui invited Zhao Ying to sit down and eat.

Zhao Ying shook his head: "I have work to do outside the courtyard. I can't stay here for long. I'll take my leave..."

As soon as he finished speaking, he turned and left. Feng Hui looked at Liu Jilong helplessly, only to see that he was in deep thought.

She did not disturb Liu Jilong, but picked up some food for him and ate quietly.

When Liu Jilong came back to his senses from his deep thoughts, he spoke up: "In order to defeat me, the imperial court has mobilized no less than 150,000 troops and horses, including at least 40,000 elite cavalry and light cavalry."

"The famous generals from each town have been transferred to the surrounding areas of Longyou. This battle will not be easy to fight. You stay in Didao. If Zhao Ying wants to take you away, you will follow him..."

His voice was a little low, and Feng Hui's face showed bitterness when he heard it: "I heard that the envoy of the Khitan requested you to allow him to ask for the princess of the Khitan Khan for you, and the dowry is several thousand cavalry."

"I am not someone who doesn't know how to advance or retreat. If I can help you, you..."

Liu Jilong shook his head and interrupted her: "The so-called dowry of several thousand cavalry is nothing more than a few thousand light cavalry."

"If I grit my teeth, I can recruit several thousand light cavalry from the people, but there is no need for that."

"The terrain of Longyou is here. A few thousand light cavalry cannot influence the battlefield. The elite cavalry in the army are enough for me to use my power."

"It's just a battle on the battlefield. Who can be sure of winning battles one after another? Who can be sure of victory when sending troops?"

"I reminded you of this only because I was worried that you were too stubborn and didn't want to leave."

Liu Jilong comforted him and then said, "Don't worry, just wait for me to come back."

He stood up and walked out of the pavilion. Feng Hui watched him leave, feeling heavy in his heart.

Soon, Liu Jilian walked out of the inner courtyard and came to the central hall, where many people had already gathered.

Seeing Liu Jilong coming, they stood up one after another and bowed to Liu Jilong.

"General, news has come from the Xichuan Governor's Office that Shang Moyan is seriously ill and bedridden. The affairs of Duokang will be under the control of Mo Ludanzeng."

"Mei Ludanzeng led an army of 15,000 to station in Maozhou three days ago, 5,000 more cavalry than previously agreed."

Gao Jinda bowed and reported the information from the Xichuan Governor's Office, and Cui Shu also bowed and said:
"Xichuan and Dongchuan mobilized no less than 30,000 troops, and Shannan West Road also stationed 20,000 troops in Xingfeng and Fengzhou. The governor of Shuofang Town in the north was replaced by Zhou Bao, the chief military officer of the Shen Ce Army, who stationed troops in Huizhou."

"General!" Li Ji could not hold back his anger and bowed, "Other places are easy to deal with, but we must take down the Shuofang Town in the north as soon as possible. The elite cavalry of Shatuo and Pingxia, plus the original elite cavalry of Shuofang Town, the number of elite cavalry is no less than 10,000, and they are a constant threat to Lanzhou and Liangzhou."

Cao Mao took over the conversation and bowed, saying, "General, Zhou Bao led 5,000 imperial guards to station in Shuofang Town. There are nearly 10,000 elite cavalry and no less than 7,000 infantry in Shuofang Town."

Military intelligence from all sides was passed on by everyone, but Liu Jilian had already learned about the Tang court's troop deployment one step ahead of them. Even so, he was not nervous.

"How is our military force deployed?"

Liu Jilong walked forward and saw a huge sand table in the hall, on which the troop deployment had just been adjusted.

There were 8,000 elite cavalry, over 10,000 light cavalry, 40,000 cavalry and infantry in the Longyou army, as well as more than 4,000 military officers, military doctors, cooks and others.

In addition, there are 40,000 garrison troops and state troops who were mobilized half a month ago.

At present, there are 6,000 cavalry and infantry and 10,000 state soldiers stationed in Weizhou, 3,000 cavalry and infantry and 5,000 state soldiers stationed in Lanzhou, and 6,000 cavalry and infantry and 5,000 garrison troops stationed in Liangzhou.

In the south, Chengzhou and Wuzhou were stationed with 6,000 cavalry and infantry, and 5,000 provincial soldiers.

The number of troops in Longzhou, Maozhou and other areas of Dongchuan and Xichuan governor's areas was 6,000 each.

Apart from these, the troops that can be mobilized in Linzhou now include 8,000 elite cavalry and 22,000 horse infantry.

There were still 15,000 troops stationed in the prefectures and counties in the rear, responsible for maintaining local public order and recruiting soldiers, just waiting for Liu Jilian to issue the order to recruit soldiers.

But before that, Liu Jilong continued, "Pass on my military order. All towns must defend themselves strictly and not attack rashly!"

"General?!" After hearing Liu Jilong's words, Li Ji, Cui Shu and others could not help but speak up:

"If we send out troops now, we might be able to catch them off guard!"

"Yes, General Jie, we can gather our troops and take the opportunity to attack them by surprise."

The two expressed their own opinions, but they were basically the same. Gao Jinda frowned and said, "If we don't take the initiative to attack, and choose to defend, we should also increase the number of troops to defend the city."

"Now our army is facing the front of the government army in seven states, but there are only 33,000 combat troops and 25,000 state troops and garrison troops in these seven states."

"With such a large force, facing the government troops that are more than twice as numerous as ours, it is obviously not a good opportunity..."

Gao Jinda was worried that he could not defend the city, but Liu Jilong said: "Defend the city according to the usual city defense training, and there is no need to worry about not being able to defend it!"

"The imperial court must fight first. Only when the imperial court fights first can we fight back!"

Liu Jilong still maintained his own opinion, while Cao Mao frowned after hearing it, and said after a moment:
"If the imperial court attacks first, we will definitely advance together, and the ranks of the imperial army will be stretched out, which will make it easier for us to surprise them, but can we handle it?"

All the armies advanced in unison, and the distance between them would widen as they went deeper into Longyou. After all, there were few roads in Longyou, and all the official roads were controlled by the Protectorate.

They could only advance along the official road and reunite after breaking into the city.

Simply put, the deeper they went into Longyou before they captured the city, the weaker their connections with the various armies became.

This will be beneficial to Longyou's counterattack, but it also means that the pressure on Longyou to defend the city will become greater.

If something goes wrong at some point, causing the government troops to gather somewhere, the difficulty of the raid will increase.

At least in Cao Mao's opinion, he did not have the confidence to be the first to defeat the five troops besieging the city pass before being defeated at a certain point.

Not only Cao Mao, but even Li Ji and others did not have confidence and certainty.

Even if they counted the provincial troops and garrison troops, their army was no more than 100,000 strong, while the troops mobilized by the government army, at least from the intelligence available, should be no less than 150,000.

They use the few to defeat the many, the weak to defeat the strong.

Li Ji and his men wanted to launch a surprise attack, and they also wanted to gather troops to form a situation where they were outnumbered and outnumbered locally.

Their ideas are not much different from those of Nurhaci during the Battle of Sarhu in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

The quality of the Longyou army was relatively high. Although the government troops outnumbered them, the government troops were divided into five groups. If Longyou assembled 30,000 elite cavalry and infantry from Linzhou to deal with a single government army, except for Wang Shi in the east, they would be outnumbered when fighting the other government armies.

If nothing goes wrong, we can indeed gain a local advantage, or even defeat a government army, and bring the overall force back to a level.

What's more, Liu Jilian had said a few months ago that he would first take over Shuofang, then Qinlong, and finally march south to occupy Sanchuan.

Li Ji and Cui Shu's ideas were completely in line with the offensive goals previously set by Liu Jilian.

Logically speaking, Liu Jilong should have followed their ideas, but he did not.

In front of everyone, Liu Jilong said: "The government troops have come from afar, so they will not rush to attack. Even if they rush to attack, they will not attack from the north, but from the south where the terrain is more complicated."

"Gao Pian and Li Fu in the south have no less than 30,000 troops. If they have hope of taking over the six states, they can even increase their troops to 50,000."

"Whether we go to the north to fight, or confront Wang Shi in Weizhou, or go south to deal with Gao Pian and Li Fu first, we will leave a strategic gap."

"Don't forget, our complex terrain is both our strength and our weakness."

"If Weizhou is the center, it takes 800 miles to go south to Maozhou, the southernmost part of the country, 300 miles to go north to Huizhou, and 800 miles to Lingzhou."

"That is to say, the north-south distance where our army is fighting is 1,600 miles. Even if our army has cavalry and infantry, it will take 15 days to raid from the northern battlefield to the southern battlefield."

"If we stay in Linzhou and rush to help the three parties, the distance is basically about 800 miles. It will take seven days to reach the battlefield, and half a month to go back and forth."

"The government troops were divided into many places in order to facilitate the division of our troops, or to deliberately let our main force go to a certain place to fight, so as to form a situation where a small number of troops fight a large number of troops in one place and a large number of troops fight a small number in other places."

In simple terms, what Li Ji and his men wanted to do, "concentrate forces and attack one point", was actually what Wang Shi, Gao Pian and others wanted them to do. Wang Shi and Gao Pian were confident in the troops they trained, so they were sure that they could hold back the main force in Longyou with a small army.

It only takes three to five days, including the distance traveled, and the government troops in other directions will have at least half a month to attack the city.

No matter how strong the city of Longyou is, half a year is enough to change many things.

Not to mention anything else, just the loss of Gutaoguan, the fall of Longxi County, or even the sudden attack by elite cavalry on Liangzhou and Lanzhou are small things that can develop into big events.

"Damn it, how are we going to fight?"

Li Ji and his men just felt that their brains were not enough. They had been thinking hard about tactics for so many months, but it turned out to be a trap deliberately set by Wang Shi, Gao Pian and others.

"Don't be upset."

Liu Jilong pulled up the flag on the sand table that represented the 30,000 troops outside Linzhou City and asked, "If you decide to send troops, where should you send them now?"

He asked everyone, but they were all hesitant after what he had just said and had no idea how to send troops.

Since Wang Shi and the others are waiting for them to take the initiative to send troops, they will definitely not get what they want.

After thinking it over, even a radical like Li Ji became conservative: "General, let's increase our troops everywhere and defend them strictly to wear them down."

"General, I second the motion!" Cui Shu also seconded the tactic of holding out.

The grain from Chang'an was transported to Luoyang via the Tongji Canal, and then from Luoyang to Guanzhong.

Now, the hundreds of thousands of soldiers on the Western Front feed the horses, and the food they consume every day is thousands of stones, and the distance for transporting them by horse-drawn carriages is more than a thousand miles.

Even if the grain from Jiangnan was transported to Dongdu for sale, and then sold from Dongdu to Guanzhong, and then sold from Guanzhong to Longxi, the consumption would still be a considerable amount.

If they hold their ground and refuse to leave, given the Tang court's situation, it will take three or four years at most for them to negotiate peace.

With 100,000 combat soldiers, state soldiers, and garrison troops joining forces to defend, Li Ji and his men are still confident that they can hold on.

However, simply holding on would not achieve the result Liu Jilong wanted.

"I said that we must first take over Shuofang Town, then Qinlong, and finally march south to Xichuan."

“This process and the result will not change, even if the government troops come with more than 100,000 men.”

"Their plan is good, but we only need to disconnect their five armies so that we can capture a point by surprise."

After he finished speaking, Liu Jilong drew several routes on the sand table with his hands.

Everyone stared at them intently, their expressions gradually changing from solemnity to confusion, and finally to astonishment.

"Gather five thousand cavalry and infantry, follow this route, and wait for my order to set out."

Liu Jilian re-planted the flags representing Linzhou's 30,000 troops back into Linzhou, but this time there were five flags missing.

Under his military order, the entire Protectorate began to operate.

At the same time, there was a hurried knock on the door in a courtyard in Lanzhoufang, Didao City.

"Qiè Biao! Gather in the barracks, hurry up!"

Hearing the hurried knocks on the door, a figure in the shrine in the courtyard bowed respectfully and burned incense in front of the tablet.

After doing all this, he turned around, picked up the helmet on the table next to him, and glanced sideways at the fifty-year-old woman standing in the corner.

"Mother, I will fight the battle that Aye has not yet finished. Wait for me to come back!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he walked out holding the helmet and soon opened the gate with one hand.

Outside the door, Ma Yi, Gao Shu and others, who were dressed in armor, looked anxious. Only when they saw Li Yangchun coming out did they breathe a sigh of relief.

"Let's go, gather the troops in the barracks. We're probably going to be chosen to go to war!"

At Ma Yi's urging, Li Yangchun followed several people out of the yard, jumped on his horse, and rode towards the military camp outside the city.

Soon, thousands of cavalry and infantry rushed out of the military camp outside the city. Each of them was wearing armor and riding on horseback. It can be seen how urgent the military order was that the cavalry and infantry were required to gallop on horseback to hurry on their way.

As they galloped out of the military camp, the various troops of the government army also moved into various states and counties according to the original plan.

Among them, the main force of the government troops, numbering more than 100,000, arrived at Shanggui County, Qinzhou on time on May 25th.

When the three armies arrived at Shanggui County, Wang Shi immediately began to reorganize them.

He was well aware of the importance of military discipline, especially the private transactions between military merchants and generals, which not only affected military morale but could also leak military secrets.

Therefore, he immediately sent a memorial to Chang'an, reporting the current military situation in detail and requesting further support from the court.

At the same time, just as the three armies had just set up camp to rest and many generals were preparing to go out of the camp to have fun, Wang Shi took the opportunity to issue a strict order:
"All merchants accompanying the army must stay 20 miles away from the official army camp, and officers are strictly prohibited from staying overnight in the merchant camp."

As soon as this order was issued, it caused quite a stir in the army.

Many generals were extremely dissatisfied with this, especially those who were accustomed to staying overnight in merchant camps and enjoying the services of military prostitutes, who complained secretly.

Because of this, after the military order was issued, some unrest inevitably occurred in the army.

Some generals secretly instigated ordinary soldiers and small military leaders, trying to force Wang Shi to revoke his order by creating chaos, but Wang Shi was prepared.

Ordinary soldiers and small military leaders do not really care about the selfish desires of their generals; they care more about practical benefits.

Therefore, Wang Shi decisively ordered the opening of the Qinzhou Prefecture Government warehouse in Shanggui County and distributed 200,000 strings of cash as a reward to the entire army.

As Wang Shi expected, after the ordinary soldiers and small military leaders received the money, the dissatisfaction of these incited soldiers disappeared immediately.

For ordinary soldiers and small military leaders, they had no chance to enjoy the treatment of camp prostitutes. The riots in the army were just instigated by the big military leaders for their own selfish interests.

Now that Wang Shi had distributed the rewards, their attention immediately shifted to the upcoming battle.

"With this money, we can get even more after we conquer Longyou!"

"Yes, I heard that the slaves of the foreign people in Longyou are in great demand. If we capture a few and bring them back, we might be able to sell them for a good price!"

In the military camp outside Shanggui County, the eyes of these rewarded soldiers were gleaming with greed. They now only wanted to capture Longyou as soon as possible, plunder the entire territory of Longyou, and vent their frustration for so many days.

While they were excited about the upcoming war, a few days later in the Xianning Palace in Chang'an, Li Yi also listened to the memorial that Wang Shi sent by express horse.

He showed satisfaction with Wang Shi's methods and arrangements, and then his gaze turned to the ministers in Xianning Palace.

The four nobles of the Northern Department and the three ministers of the Southern Court were all waiting here for Li Yi to answer questions. After they finished listening to Wang Shi's report, Li Yi slowly spoke:

"Now everything is ready. We just need to wait for the imperial court to issue the decree to suppress the rebels, and then we can send troops to suppress Long."

"I would like to ask you gentlemen, how should this anti-traitor document be written? Who should write it?"

It is not difficult to write an anti-enemy document, the difficulty lies in who is willing to take the blame.

If the imperial court lost the battle, the officials who wrote the edict to fight against the rebels would have a hard time. Even if they were not sent to the rebel army to be humiliated, they would not be able to hold important positions in the court.

However, this kind of document could not be handed over to an official of ordinary rank, so Li Yi had to ask.

But in the face of his worries, Xu Shang stood up and bowed:

"Your Majesty, when I went to the Ministry of War this morning, I was stopped by Zheng Ting, the Minister of War."

"Zheng Ting has already prepared the document, please review it, Your Majesty..."

As soon as Xu Shang finished speaking, he took out a memorial from his sleeve.

Seeing this, Tian Yun walked down the golden platform, took it from Xu Shang, and walked back up the golden platform to hand it to Li Yi.

Li Yi calmly opened the memorial. He frowned at first, but as the document went on, his brows gradually relaxed and a look of joy appeared on his face.

"Zheng Ting's writing is good, so let's use it to write the anti-bandit writing."

After he finished speaking, Li Yi slowly stood up, holding Zheng Ting's edict in his hand and said:
"Pass on my decree, and appoint Fengxiang Town Jiedushi and Prince's Guardian Wang Shi as the commander-in-chief of the Longyou Camp and the military commander of Guannei Road, and promote him to the rank of General of the Cavalry and Duke of Qi County, and lead the army to attack Longyou!"

"I will issue a decree on the first day of June to fight against the rebels. I will take this opportunity to recover Longyou and restore the prestige of the imperial court!"

(End of this chapter)