Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 392 Shatuo Grass
"If he's rebelling, then he's rebelling. Why is he using my name?"

July 10th, outside Xiaoguan Pass.

When Liu Jilong learned that Huang Chao's uprising had started in Caozhou and that he had captured several counties, he was undoubtedly very happy.

After all, once Huang Chao's uprising began, the imperial court's forces would have to be dispersed to suppress him.

But when he saw that Huang Chao was using his own banner and calling himself the Prefect of Longzhou and the Military Governor of Longzhou under the Longyou Protectorate, his mood instantly soured.

He had never even met this Huang Chao. Huang Chao's claim of using someone else's name to intimidate others is a bit too far-fetched!

"General..."

Husiguang stood inside the tent, hesitant to speak, and said, "This Huang Chao seems to have a connection with Chief Secretary Chen."

"Chen Ying?" Liu Jilong's face was filled with doubt, then he immediately reacted: "Did Chen Ying recruit him as a broker? Is he really a broker under the Protectorate?"

Chen Ying was in charge of recruiting brokers, so it would be plausible that she became acquainted with Huang Chao as a result.

He knew that there were many heroes in the late Tang Dynasty, but he did not take any action to recruit them, because many of the heroes in the late Tang Dynasty were basically from commoner families or military backgrounds.

In this era that values ​​family background, few people would be willing to accept his offer and move their entire families to Longyou.

Moreover, the household registration system collapsed in the late Tang Dynasty, and many people did not have household registration at all, so it was not easy to find them.

Instead of focusing on this, we should cultivate and discover the students who graduated from Longyou, such as An Pohu, Zhang Wu, and Xin Dang, who have recently shone brightly.

The former was historically unknown, and given the situation in Longyou, he might have died in the battle between Shang Yanxin and the Tang court. However, he has now distinguished himself because of his peaceful governance of Longyou.

Compared to the former, the latter was an unexpected surprise.

His name was Zhang Wu, and he was from Hechuan. This was undoubtedly the former Shu general who often defeated the enemy with fewer troops.

With this in mind, Liu Jilong stopped thinking about Huang Chao and focused on military and political affairs.

He picked up the memorial delivered by Gao Jinda's light cavalry and kept glancing at the names of the generals promoted by the various governorships.

Unfortunately, in the end, only An Pohu, who was by his side, and Zhang Wu and Xin Dang from the Longxi Governor's Office stood out.

Although Xin Dang was not as famous as Zhang Wu, Liu Jilong still remembered him, simply because without him, the Pang Xun Rebellion in history might have been even larger in scale.

Historically, Pang Xun besieged Sizhou with a large army, and Du Tao, the governor of Sizhou, was a close friend of Xin Dang.

When Xin Dang, who was over fifty years old, heard that his friend was in danger, he immediately took up his sword and sailed a small boat into Sizhou.

He wanted to persuade Du Tao to leave, but Du Tao refused and insisted on holding Sizhou. So Xin Dang went out of the city again, settled his family, and returned to Sizhou.

The rebel army surrounded Sizhou completely, so Xin Dang drew his sword and charged into the enemy ranks, entering Sizhou through the water gate.

After that, Xin Dang assisted Du Tao in commanding the defending troops to repel several attacks by the rebels.

Later, as the enemy's siege intensified, Xin Dang broke through the encirclement once again and sought help from Huainan.

As a result, the supervising officer Guo Houben was a coward and refused to send troops. Xin Dang scolded him and said that if he did not send troops, he would kill him. Only then did Guo Houben give him five thousand men.

However, seeing that the rebel army was numerous, the government troops dared not follow Xin Dang into Sizhou. Xin Dang berated the government troops, and only then did they reluctantly follow him into Sizhou.

Later, when Sizhou was short of food, Xin Dang once again volunteered to break through the encirclement and go to Huainan to ask for food. He was chased by the rebel army for more than 30 miles before he escaped.

Not long after, he returned to Sizhou with grain, but a few months later, due to a lack of food, he went out of the city again, only to return with more grain.

There were seven such instances, which amazed Liu Jilong, who was idly researching this period of history at the time.

Even after living in this world for more than 30 years, Liu Jilong still remembers the shock he felt when he read this history.

He just didn't expect that Xin Dang would come to his command in such a muddle, and judging from his advice, he was obviously very satisfied with Longyou.

Given this, Liu Jilong naturally wouldn't let him go.

Li Ji's incident exposed the lack of competence among many generals in Longyou. Liu Jilong also reviewed the military reports sent by the various governorships and was furious that the governorships could defend the city and suffer more than 4,000 casualties.

Many commanders were simply causing trouble. The fact that the wartime situation could be brought to a standstill was entirely due to the excellent qualities of the middle and lower-ranking officers and the rank-and-file soldiers.

Not to mention the various governor-general's offices, even Cao Mao in Shuofang did not satisfy Liu Jilong with his command.

Of the more than 5,000 casualties in the capture of Shuofang, nearly 3,000 were due to Li Ji's poor preparation for attacking Huizhou and Cao Mao's lack of preparation for the Battle of Mingsha.

If these mistakes could be avoided, the casualties in capturing Shuofang would not exceed three thousand.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong felt extremely troubled, feeling that he was too busy to personally go to the various governor's offices to command the war.

Fortunately, the battle revealed many talented individuals. An Pohu was perfectly capable of serving as a vanguard, and Zhang Wu and Xin Dang's current official positions were truly beneath them, given their performances.

After calming down, Liu Jilong immediately approved the reward and promotion he had received from Gao Jinda, which was marked with a red circle.

As a result, An Pohu and Zhang Wu were both promoted to captains, and were able to lead the troops of a garrison on their own.

Gao Jinda did not specify how many ranks Xin Dang would be promoted, but Liu Jilong was not stingy. Considering Xin Dang's merit in assisting Gao Jinda in defending the second pass, it would not be an exaggeration to promote him to the position of Prefect of Weizhou.

However, since all the prefectures in Longyou have now been appointed as governors, Liu Jilong thought about it and decided to establish the Shuofang Prefecture as the Shuofang Governor-General's Office, with Cao Mao as the governor-general, and transfer Yang Xin, the chief secretary of the Xichuan Governor-General, to the north to serve as the chief secretary of the Shuofang Governor-General's Office.

Xin Dang went south to serve as the Chief Secretary of the Xichuan Governor's Office, assisting Shang Duoluo in defending the three prefectures of Xichuan.

After making these arrangements, Liu Jilong reviewed the contents, confirmed that everything was correct, stamped the document, and handed it to Husiguang.

“Send it back to Linzhou by fast horse, and then send it to other prefectures.”

"The last general takes command!"

General Husiguang accepted the dish and then sent someone to deliver it.

After arranging everything, he returned to the tent and bowed, saying, "General, the gunpowder and horses from Lanzhou, and the grain from Shuofang have all been transported here."

"Should we send the 30,000 laborers in the camp back to continue transporting money and grain, or should we leave them temporarily to help us transport grain deeper into the region?"

According to Hu Siguang, with gunpowder in their hands, breaching the rammed earth city walls and passes would be a piece of cake, so they simply marched straight into Guanzhong and stirred up a storm.

However, Liu Jilong did not answer his question immediately, but instead asked, "Has Wang Shi made any moves?"

"No, this guy is still launching a fierce attack on Longxi, as if he won't turn back until he takes Longxi."

As soon as Hu Siguang finished speaking, Liu Jilong nodded and said, "This Wang Shi is unyielding. He probably thinks that we dare not venture into Guanzhong, but what he thinks is true. I am indeed not planning to attack Guanzhong now."

"General, why don't you attack Guanzhong?" Husi Guang asked anxiously.
"As long as we take Jingyuan and Longzhou, Wang Shi's tens of thousands of troops will be trapped in Qinzhou, and it will not be easy for them to retreat to Fengzhou. Our army can take this opportunity to launch a pincer attack with Governor Gao, and we can kill at least 10,000 enemy soldiers."

“You’re right.” Liu Jilong first affirmed Husi Guang’s idea, then added:

"Several passes within Longzhou are built with rammed earth and bricks. Given our army's situation, we are afraid we will not be able to take these passes easily."

"In addition, the Zhisheng Pass and the Jing River within Jingyuan are not easy to capture. Having gunpowder does not make us invincible; we also need to consider the terrain."

"Furthermore, the solar terms seem to have arrived earlier this year, and the autumn rains will likely arrive sooner, at the latest within a month."

"If that's the case, we'll need to take over the three prefectures of Jingyuan and Long within a month, and we'll also have to deal with Wang Shi in Qin Prefecture."

"Are you confident you can resolve all these issues within a month?"

Liu Jilong's words stumped Husiguang; he really hadn't noticed that the solar terms had arrived earlier this year.

Thinking about the early arrival of the solar term, Husi Guang couldn't help but think of his own gunpowder, and quickly said:

"If the solar term arrives earlier, wouldn't half of our gunpowder and cavalry be rendered useless?"

Gunpowder getting damp and horseshoes rotting from being soaked in water—these were all inconveniences that the autumn rains would bring to the Longyou army.

That is why Liu Jilong did not intend to venture deep into Guanzhong. After all, he had not yet captured Guannei Road and the key passes around Guanzhong. To rashly take Guanzhong would actually mean taking a place that was easy to attack but difficult to defend.

If the battlefield is set up in Guanzhong, but we haven't yet captured Qinzhou, the transportation of supplies will inevitably run into problems.

Moreover, the Guanzhong Plain was already short of grain, and the Tang court had to make every effort to ensure the grain transport from Guanzhong every year.

If we take Guanzhong, how will we solve the food shortage for the millions of people in the capital region?

So when he learned that the autumn rain had come earlier than planned, he started to make new plans.

First, he definitely had to take Xiaoguan. Taking Xiaoguan would allow him to control the throat of Guanzhong. He also had to take Yuanzhou in the south.

However, he does not need to go deep into the Loess Plateau to take over all the counties and prefectures of Yuanzhou. He only needs to take over the key Xiaoguan Pass, Pinggao County, Shimen Pass, and Mupan Pass.

Then, turn your troops around and attack Qinzhou. After taking Qinzhou, combine the 100,000 people and farmland of Qinzhou with those of Yuanzhou to form a pincer movement.

This not only pushed the supply problem 400 li further towards Chang'an, but also made it easier to attack Chang'an next year.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong said to Husiguang:

"Tomorrow, send 1,000 elite cavalry to escort 20,000 laborers from Longyou back, leaving 10,000 laborers in Lingzhou to prepare for an attack on Xiaoguan."

"Your subordinate obeys!" Upon hearing that Liu Jilong wanted to attack Xiaoguan, Husi Guang immediately perked up.

After receiving the order, he left the tent and began instructing the ten thousand laborers from Lingzhou to gather timber from the surrounding mountains and forests to begin building catapults.

There were still many forests in Guanbei during this era, and with sufficient rainfall, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that it was lush and shady. However, there were very few large trees; most were small trees, only a few meters or two long.

The scouts of the government troops who had been keeping a close eye on the movements of the Longyou army immediately reported the situation to Zhu Xiechixin after discovering that the Longyou army had sent out laborers to cut down trees.

"That scoundrel Liu Jilong is cutting down trees; he must be planning to launch a forced attack on the city."

"The imperial reinforcements stopped at Pinggao and refused to go north, so why should we guard the pass for the imperial court?"

Zhu Xie Chixin was already very dissatisfied with the court at this time. It was not only because Zhou Bao was incompetent and caused them to lose troops, but also because Wang Shi refused to come to their aid and the court's reinforcements were cowardly.

For a moment, he couldn't help but think of breaking through the encirclement and returning to Daibei to establish his own independent regime.

In his view, the government troops were nothing special.

Although the Shatuo elite cavalry were no match for those in Longyou, the government troops in Daibei were no match for them.

If the father and son can break through the encirclement, they will surely make a name for themselves in Daibei. After all, with 2,500 elite cavalry in their hands, plus the 3,000 elite cavalry from their hometown, they have a total of 5,500 elite cavalry, which is already a considerable force.

However, while his plan was well-thought-out, figuring out how to break through became his problem. "Those bastards..."

Zhu Xie Chi Xin couldn't contain himself and couldn't help but get up and pace back and forth.

Upon seeing this, Zhu Xieyi immediately said, "Father, I don't think the rebels outside the city will necessarily fight us to the death."

“What they want is Xiaoguan and Yuanzhou. If we withdraw from Xiaoguan, it will save them the trouble of attacking.”

"In my opinion, we should seize the opportunity and break out to the south at dusk, retreating directly to Baiquan!"

Baiquan County is one of the counties in Yuanzhou. It is located in a valley southeast of Pinggao. It is not wide, but it is enough for the two thousand cavalrymen to rest.

Zhu Xie Chixin chose to break out at dusk because he felt that Liu Jilong would not expect them to break out in such a hurry at dusk.

Since ancient times, the best time to break through is either at dawn, afternoon, or midnight. Who would choose to break through at dusk?
If a normal general couldn't think of this, then Liu Jilong certainly couldn't either.

Zhu Xie Chixin also thought of Zhu Xie Yisheng's idea, but he also knew that such tricks were useless. They still had to cut off the tail that needed to be cut off.

"Breakout... who knows how many of our people will die..."

Zhu Xie Chixin couldn't bear it, and Zhu Xie Yisheng didn't refute it.

In his view, it would be good if half of the 2,500 Shatuo elite cavalry could escape.

Today's crushing defeat was due to their lack of strength. They will get their revenge when they are stronger and more powerful in the future.

"Pass on the order!"

Despite his reluctance, Zhu Xie made up his mind.

Zhu Xieyi Sheng didn't say anything, but calmly bowed in agreement. He then ordered the three armies to cook and eat. After eating, they put on their armor and prepared to break out.

Time passed, and wisps of smoke rose from Xiaoguan Pass, quickly recorded by the cavalry of Longyou, and all military reports were sent to the command tent.

Liu Jilong led Husiguang and the others to the east side of the camp, where they saw a forest that had been cleared to the ground, and couldn't help but sigh.

When they returned to the camp, it was only 17 p.m., but smoke had already been rising from the chimneys in Xiaoguan for quite some time.

When Liu Jilong returned to camp with his horses, he noticed the smoke rising from the chimneys inside Xiaoguan Pass and couldn't help but ask Husiguang:

"It's only the hour of You (5-7 PM) now, but the smoke from the chimneys at Xiaoguan looks like it's been rising for a long time."

"I'll go get the military records to look at," Gao Shu, who was following behind Hu Siguang, said first, and then rode off.

Husiguang, Li Yangchun, and the others remained where they were, facing the smoke rising from the chimneys of Xiaoguan, and speculated, "Could there be some change?"

"Let's wait for the military intelligence report to arrive before making a judgment," Liu Jilong instructed, and then waited for Gao Shu to deliver the report.

Fifteen minutes later, the military dispatch was delivered to Liu Jilong. He quickly flipped through it and discovered the time when smoke began to rise from the chimneys inside Xiaoguan Pass.

He silently noted it down, then took out yesterday's military dispatch and examined it. After confirming it, he handed the dispatch to Gao Shu and said to Husi Guang:
"For the past three days, the government troops have been preparing meals at 2:45 PM every day, but today they started at 4:40 PM."

"There's no reason why they would prepare food six quarters of an hour early. Either they're planning to launch a surprise attack on us, or they're preparing to break out."

Liu Jilong pointed his horsewhip at Xiaoguan and instructed Husiguang, "Our army just dispatched laborers to build siege equipment, and they have already started cooking six quarters of an hour early. They are obviously aware that they are no match for us and are preparing to break out."

"You should immediately order the cavalry in the south to assemble in the middle of Qingshui River. Also, gather the elite cavalry in the army and tell them not to raise their banners, but simply to put on their armor, prepare enough fodder for their horses, and wait to send troops to pursue them."

After a moment's thought, Liu Jilong deduced the intentions of the Shatuo elite cavalry within Xiaoguan City based on the changes in the smoke rising from the chimneys.

Husiguang and the others looked solemn and immediately began to make arrangements according to his instructions.

The reason Liu Jilong did not use the elite cavalry in his camp to head south in advance was because he was afraid of alerting the enemy.

Although the number of cavalrymen in the south was not large, there were still two or three hundred of them.

Even if they couldn't stop all the Shatuo elite cavalry trying to break through, it would still be enough to give the Shatuo people a hard time.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong dismounted and went to rest in the tent closest to the camp gate.

The soldiers inside the tents consciously stepped out to protect the tents, and Ma Yi, Li Yangchun, and others did the same.

Time passed slowly, and the soldiers in the camp began to prepare at the fourth quarter of the hour of You (5:45 PM) until the hour of Xu (7:00 PM) when movement was heard from the direction of Xiaoguan.

"Buzz, rumble—"

The tranquility of Qingshuichuan was shattered by the sound of horses' hooves as hordes of Shatuo cavalry poured out of the south gate of Xiaoguan Pass and headed straight for Yuanzhou to the south.

"Beep--"

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!"

At the same time, whistles and bugle calls sounded, and countless elite cavalrymen from Longyou mounted their horses and calmly charged out of the camp through the south, east, and west gates.

"You scoundrel Liu Jilong, how did you know I was planning to break through and head south?!"

On the way to break through, Zhu Xie Chixin couldn't help but curse loudly, and Zhu Xie Yisheng's heart sank even further.

The father and son had little time to complain and could only rush southwards.

The two sides' actions differed by only a dozen or so finger snaps, and the distance between them was only a hundred or so steps.

The two sides were originally on two separate lines, east and west, but as time went on, they gradually became one in front and one behind.

The elite Shatuo cavalry drew their bows and arrows, charging and shooting as they went.

Needless to say, the elite cavalry of Longyou were unstoppable, their arrows flying like locusts.

The two sides chased and fled, raising dust and raining arrows. Many horses were hit by arrows, and many riders fell to the ground.

The horses of the Shatuo people were the Turkic horses commonly found in northern Taiwan, known for their excellent endurance but relatively slow speed.

The Hexi horse is a new breed of horse bred by the Tibetans and Liu Jilong using Ferghana horses, Tibetan horses, and Turkic horses. It is tall, has moderate endurance, and is fast. Its disadvantages are that it has a large appetite and is not easy to recover from when it gets sick.

However, this weakness is negligible in a chase.

The two sides had only charged seven or eight miles when the vanguard of the Longyou elite cavalry had already clashed with the rearguard of the Shatuo elite cavalry.

The military spears clashed with the muskets at dusk, and whenever a Shatuo cavalryman had to take up his spear to fight, he was destined to be swallowed up by the elite Longyou cavalry using sheer numbers.

The dull thud of hooves echoed through the Qingshuichuan Valley, and Zhu Xie Chixin and Zhu Xie Yisheng's emotions fluctuated with each thud.

Before long, two or three hundred elite cavalrymen appeared ahead to block the road. Zhu Xiechixin immediately recognized them as the cavalry sent by Liu Jilong to Pinggao County.

"Ignore them, charge through!"

As soon as Zhu Xie Chixin finished speaking, the flag soldiers beside him began to wave their flags.

Hundreds of Shatuo cavalrymen quickened their pace, surrounding Zhu Xiechixin and his son, completely enveloping them.

"Stop them!"

The Haoshui River was wide enough that it would have been impossible to completely block the breakout of the more than two thousand Shatuo cavalry without tens of thousands of troops.

Only by constantly wearing down their momentum during the pursuit could the Longyou army have the opportunity to severely damage and annihilate them.

Zhu Xiechi could feel the constant wails coming from behind. He buried his head and shook the reins, hoping to shake off the elite cavalry behind him a few dozen miles away.

Zhu Xieyi Sheng kept firing arrows to disrupt the elite cavalry from Longyou in the rear.

Gradually, the sun sank behind the western mountains, and the light began to fade.

Many people began to light torches on the galloping horses, while some unlucky ones dropped their torches off their horses.

Thousands of flames moved rapidly in the Qingshui River, gradually heading south.

Under the cover of night, the cavalrymen's cries of agony and the neighing of horses echoed continuously, and the feeling of horses' hooves trampling flesh was chilling.

It's unclear how long the chase lasted, but Liu Jilong only ordered a halt when large patches of fire appeared ahead.

"Beep--"

"General, we've caught up with them at Sishuichuan!"

Upon hearing the whistle, Husiguang galloped to Liu Jilong's side and pointed with his whip at the distant firelight, saying:

“That’s the Pinggao army’s camp. There should be four small rivers, each a dozen feet wide, between us, but their camp is twice as big as we estimated yesterday.”

"This is probably reinforcements sent by the government troops. Could it be that Wang Shi has returned to reinforce us?"

Liu Jilong had previously ordered the withdrawal of the Tang cavalry to intercept and harass the Shatuo cavalry, thus missing about two hours of military intelligence.

Judging from the torches lit by the government troops under the cover of night, the camp was indeed quite large.

Under the cover of night, Liu Jilong could not determine how many Shatuo elite cavalry he had killed, but judging from what he could see, the Shatuo elite cavalry had probably suffered heavy casualties and would be difficult to fight independently as an army.

Having thought of this, he decided not to linger in the battle and turned his horse around to go back.

"Leave the patrol cavalry to scout ahead, then retreat!"

"Beep——"

Liu Jilong led his troops to retreat, while the surviving Shatuo elite cavalry rushed into the river without regard for anything else. They crossed several rivers in succession until they were sure that the Longyou elite cavalry in the rear had retreated. Only then did they dare to stop and gather around Zhu Xiechixin.

Even in the pitch-black night, the burning torches allowed the disheveled Zhu Xie Chixin to roughly gauge the number of people he had lost.

Looking at the fewer than a thousand torches around him, Zhu Xie Chixin, whose body was soaked by the river, felt an unnamed fire erupt in his heart.

"Liu Jilong!!"

After shouting, Zhu Xie Chixin looked at Zhu Xie Yisheng and said, "Remember this humiliation!"

Zhu Xieyi's face was gloomy, and his hand unconsciously tightened his grip on the reins. The resentment in his tone was obvious to everyone else.

"Father, I will definitely pay you back!"

(End of this chapter)